This weekend, we headed over the pass to
Leavenworth, WA. Rick was performing a wedding ceremony for a couple from our church over there, so we were able to use the opportunity as a weekend-getaway! I had never been to Leavenworth, but I'd heard a lot about it. I love Europe, especially Bavaria, so this was like a little piece of heaven to me. If you like little villages and the european style, go to Leavenworth.
This is the village during the day. This weekend was the Icicle Festival, so there were a lot of people. It was still really enjoyable to walk around, though. I still can't really figure out what they were doing for the festival, though. Some guy was announcing over the town loudspeaker system something about ice cube races... I'm not sure!
This is the same part of town at night. The entire village is lit up with beautiful Christmas lights. Even though the stores were closed, I loved walking through the village at night. It was COLD, but the ambiance was so magical!
This was one of the store fronts. I just liked the decorations!
A true Bavarian Christmas tree - pretzels and all!
On Saturday we has a chance to explore the village while it was awake! There were kids sledding on the hill right behind us (in the picture). There were people sledding at all hours of the night. I just couldn't get over people sledding down the hills in the middle of the village!
This, of course, is Rick's signature shop. If you know Rick at all, you know he LOVES cheese! He will stand in the kitchen with a block of Tillamook and a knife, and be happy as can be. This store, however, has stolen his heart! They gave out free samples of any and all their cheeses. They were very accommodating in answering our questions, and quickly won us over! Hence, Rick loves this store. He IS the Cheesemonger!
The drive home was beautiful. The trees were so majestic looking on the mountains... this picture was just along side the road as we were driving. I loved being able to get away and feel like I've actually been on a mini-vacation.
Congratulations, Bill and Katy! Thank you for helping us make this weekend a memorable one...
It is amazing what cabin fever does to you. Once the sun went behind the trees, though, it was FREEZING! So we headed home for some hot cocoa with whipped cream and sprinkles!
Our good friends, Nate and Laura, moved to Portland a couple years ago. When we decided to get away for New Years, we couldn't think of a better place to go, or better people to see than the Streibs! Much to our happiness, they were excited to have us down. We spent three days there enjoying Portland, all it's yummy food, and got some wonderful time in with our friends.
After watching Seattle destroy Portland, we ate dinner at Widmer Brothers... YUM, then headed back to the Streib's for some drink and card playing! We had so much fun. We even stopped our card game (briefly) to toast the New Year! Thanks Nate and Laura for welcoming us. We can't wait for some more time with you two!
Maddie and Taylor are, of course, always thrilled that they get to stay at Nani and Poppa's house. They got to play outside, take hour-long bathes every night, stay up late, get up late... what a great Christmas vacation!
While we were there, we got to see my sister, Kathy Lynne, Eric and my nephew, Nicolas. It was SO great getting to visit. We don't get to see them very often. It was a wonderful surprise.
Katie, Jeremy, Shannon, Tyra, Scott, me, Kimo. Sean was there, but he left before the picture. We missed Kelly, Matt, Bree, and Bethany. Hopefully next year! This was the first year we all got to see Scott in a long time... it was great catching up with him.
As you can see, Shannon and Tyra are about to pop! They are due a few weeks apart from each other! Shannon is expecting a girl and Tyra a boy... we can't wait to meet them!
Courtney, Shannon, me, Christine, and Nicole.
Here are the kids in their Christmas PJs. 
She was SO cute. The DVD, on the other hand, is going to get old after a short while... :-)
Taylor was SO wiped after a few presents, he put on his new spiderman towel, snuggled down, and watched Maddie practice her ballet. He was SO funny to watch.