chris.reese.girls1.2.3.4

We just had the snowstorm of the decade. Seriously. We've lived here for almost 8 years and I can attest it's the worst storm yet. We had snow, ice, and power outages galore! It lasted for about a week! Feel free to skip over my timeline, but I didn't want to forget this week! Chris and I were leaving on a no-kids vacation on Friday and as the week progressed my stress level got more out of control. Sunday:   Snow started falling as we were prepping for church around noon. But church went ahead as scheduled. It really started coming down during the 3rd hour of our meetings. I couldn't believe they didn't send everyone home in typical Seattle panic fashion. After church the kids went out in it for about 30 minutes before it got dark. Monday:  MLK Holiday! No school anyway. More snow! A relaxing day around the house and a few errands. Tuesday: Late arrival. Dance cancelled. Paige has PM Kindergarten and it was snowing lightly when I dropped her of...

Our little Paige is growing up fast! The past month has brought a few exciting events for her and I didn't want to miss documenting them.  Losing her first tooth! After working on this through most of December, all it took was a bite of an apple on January 2nd and OUT it came! She was so excited. Yay for a visit from the tooth fairy. Her second tooth came out later that month while Chris and I were in Thailand. It just so happened we were on Skype at the time, so I got to see it! Super cool!! Articles of Faith As part of our evening routine, we typically read from our scriptures. But about 2 years ago, we started a study of the Articles of Faith , which are 13 brief statements about our core religious beliefs. Every few days, instead of reading scriptures, we would study and say the Articles of Faith. We started with the first, and then as Paige learned them we would add more. In December, she was able to say ALL of them by heart! We promised a special outing with DAD...

We had  almost  the entire Dalley crew together at the end of December and for New Year's. My sis, Erin, had to leave for a wedding on the 29th, and my sis Camille and her fam could only stay on the 30th, but the rest of us hung out and enjoyed a major celebration at my sister's house in Puyallup. Chris also did a lot of coming and going, but despite all of that we had a fabulous few days together. Thanks much to my sister, who put in a lot of work to host us all! She has an awesome party house and we had a terrific time! This New Year's Eve marked the second year in a row Chris and I have not rung in the New Year together. We did a little pseudo celebration at about 5 pm before he headed home to help manage the big youth dance.  The girls didn't seem to mind the preemptive cheers and kisses.  As the evening progressed we played "Minute to Win It" games. My camera battery died (of course), but I did snag ONE photo of Paige doing the dice stack. ...

This holiday season is one I will remember as being surrounded by family and feeling much joy because of it. We spent Christmas in Yakima with ALL of Chris' siblings and his parents. We also saw much of the Hendricks and McNett families while there. And then after coming home and recouping for a few days we were able to spend much of the New Year with my ENTIRE Dalley family. Even though we only saw my sis, Erin, for a half of a day, it still counted and what a blessing to be surrounded by those who mean the most.  Here are a few pics of our "in between" activities. After Christmas with the Apkens...and before New Year's with the Dalleys. Here is my one pic from our breakfast gathering at Uncle Karl and Jana's house. Cousin Kasey and his wife, Amber, are a total hit with the kids. Can you tell they like him!? Here was Brynnie later that afternoon... We had a few days of downtime at home and I LOVED it. I love our little family. I love that we've...