Christmas Eve

We started the night with a fancy dinner of ham (a holiday exception), candied yams, green bean casserole, rolls, salad, and raspberry pie--yum! We had a really nice dinner together, and talked about the things we were grateful for and what we were excited about most for Christmas.

After dinner the girls and I got to open one present from under the tree...

Christmas jammies!

The girls were really excited about them and looked super cute in them too!

 

 

Then we headed out to look at Christmas lights, which is one of the girls favorite Christmas activities:

 

 

When we got home, we got in our "costumes" and read and acted out the Christmas story.

 

Bethany was our angel, and a pretty cute one at that. :)

 

Mom and Dad were the shepherds:

 

Travis, the narrator/Joseph:

 

I was (appropriately) Mary:

 

And Grace was the innkeeper...

 

...and wise men.

Riding on her camel:

And giving gifts to the baby Jesus: 

 

Bethany so sweetly came to see baby Jesus...

...then picked Him up and gently held Him and patted His back. :)

It was a slightly chaotic, but mostly very sweet retelling of our Savior's birth. Travis even declared it the best one yet!

 

After acting out the Nativity story, the girls listened to a couple of other Nativity retellings on an ornament and Nativity set we have.

Bethany showing baby Jesus the Charlie Brown nativity ornament :)

 

The girls listening to the Nativity set:

 

 Then we set out our stockings and cookies for Santa and sent the little ones off to bed. Grace kept saying throughout the day "I'm so excited for Christmas!" and told Travis and I that in the morning she'd come in to our room and say "It's Christmas mom and dad!" :) We were all very excited for the big day!

 

Christmas Letter 2013

Christmas 2013

Dear Friends and Family,

I feel like I say this every year, but I think I can safely say that 2013 has been our most eventful year yet! The highlights from this year being: Travis graduating from Podiatry school, moving from Cleveland to Youngstown (Ohio), a cross-country trip to attend Travis' sister's wedding (all three of these events happening in May!), finding out that we were pregnant with identical twin girls, Travis starting his residency, Grace starting preschool, and my parents moving out here to Ohio. It's truly been a whirlwind year, but yet SO FULL of wonderful things!

Travis is now officially a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM) and is working as a first year resident here at Northside Medical Center. He works with an amazing group of residents and doctors, and is enjoying his first "real" job in the field! Although Youngstown wasn't where we expected to be for this phase of his education, we truly feel SO blessed that Heavenly Father placed him in this program and us in this area. Travis is also serving as a counselor in the Elders Quorum presidency at Church, and enjoys serving with the other Elders there. And this has been Travis' biggest running year yet, as he's completed four ultra-marathons this year (three 50k (30 mile) races and one 24 hour race). He did a great job at all of them and we couldn't be more proud of his accomplishments!

Jenny (I) still work as a stay at home mom, and couldn't have a better job! I caught a little of the running bug from Travis and ran my second 5k in the spring, improving my time by over 5 minutes! I also spent some time at the start of the year working on my goal of becoming a Zumba instructor until...I found out I was pregnant with twins. :) Much of my time since has been spent preparing for our baby girls to join our family, and getting settled into and exploring our new home and town, but I love to read and spend time with family and friends whenever I get the chance. I also served as a primary teacher for the 6 year old class for several months in our new ward before recently taking "maternity leave." I'm excited (and nervous) for our little family to grow and know that Heavenly Father has blessed us with these two little baby girls for a reason; we can't wait to meet them!

Grace is four years old now and is our big preschooler! She loves to read (she can read the scriptures and Level 2 readers now), draw (bugs and people), play educational computer games, paint, play with Little People and blocks, watch movies, play with her grandparents, and write her name. She's in the Sunbeam class at Church and loves her teacher and learning the primary songs. Grace is ever curious and loves to learn about the world around her. We're so proud of our smart girl!

Bethany is two and is becoming such a big girl! She loves to look at books, play with her stuffed animals and baby things, blow bubbles, do puzzles, color, sing, play doctor, swing, have fun with her grandparents, be with her family (especially Grace), and cuddle. She's in the nursery at Church and loves her teachers and class. She's becoming a great talker, and we love to hear her say "awright" when we ask her to do something or explain a concept to her. :) We love our sweet toddler!

And now for our year in pictures...

Travis' Graduation

Our new (rental) house in Youngstown, Ohio

Chelsi's Wedding & Family Vacation

Pregnant with twins!

Grace's first day of preschool

My parents and their new home (that's just a mile away from ours)

One of Travis' 50K Races

Me at my 5K

Grace's 4th Birthday

 Bethany's 2nd Birthday

 We hope your year has also been full of wonderful new adventures and that this next year will bring even more joy and wonder into your lives!

Merry Christmas!
Love,
Travis, Jenny, Grace, Bethany, and Twins

FHE Gingerbread Houses

Last night, for our family home evening activity/treat, we did our traditional gingerbread house decorating. Travis and I have done this almost every Christmas since we've been married, and it's a tradition we always look forward to and enjoy. This was Bethany's first year getting in on the action though, and it was really fun to do it all together.

 

Travis and I were in charge of putting on the icing, which the girls then carefully decorated with candies and marshmallows.

Since it was Bethany's first year, Travis helped show her the ropes.

Gingerbread house decorating is serious business. ;)

I love how thoughtful and careful Grace is when she does her projects. She did a great job decorating it all by herself.

All done and excited to eat some of the decorations!

While Bethany and Grace were munching on their candies and mallows, Travis and I quickly decorated our gingerbread houses.

 

 But since we were slower at decorating then they were at eating their goodies, they generously offered to help Travis decorate his house too when they were done. :)

Our finished masterpieces:

 

Can't wait to eat some of these masterpieces tonight! ;)

 

Christmas Family Fun Day

After a long call week last week, this past Saturday was a much needed family fun day. 

In the morning, we went to White House Fruit Farm for their Christmas at the Farm event, where we sampled some tasty treats (like fresh apple cider, pumpkin butter, and savory pies), watched an electric train display, and picked up our favorite Farm goodies.

Then in the afternoon, we went to a local church's live Nativity, called "A Journey to Bethlehem."

We were greeted at the door by a Roman soldier who read us a decree.

Inside we found a guide who would take us on our Nativity journey. Our first stop was the office of Caesar, where we paid our taxes and were counted in the census.

Then we traveled to the palace of King Herod, who invited us to come back and tell him if we indeed found the King of the Jews.

 

Next we saw sweet angels in the starry sky inviting us to follow the star to find the Christ child.

 

Just outside we were met by three wise men, who told us of their story and their journey.

(We also met their faithful camel:)

A little farther on, we saw three shepherds, who told us they were also on their way to see the baby Jesus.

And finally, we arrived at the stable, where Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were resting. It was sweet to see the baby and happy mother and father, welcoming us to see their newborn son.

After we finished our journey, we went back inside for some hot cocoa and cookies, and for the kids to make some ornaments for the tree.

 

It was a touching activity, and I was happy we were able focus on the true meaning of Christmas as a family, and reflect on the events surrounding Christ's birth.

We finished the day by attending Travis' work party, where we had a lot of fun talking, playing, eating, and singing with his great co-workers and boss.

It was a great day!