Christmas 2009

Having a toddler made Christmas so much fun this year! We spent several days in Seattle seeing a few friends and spending lots of time with family. I only have about ten photos from the entire 6 days we were there which is quite frustrating since it's rare that my whole family is together at once!

It has been a tradition in my family for years to travel to our Aunt & Uncles House in Hansville for a big family Christmas Eve dinner. We have taken the Edmonds ferry across every year, but decided to drive around this year. With two toddlers nap schedules, a long ferry line and Andrew having to do chemo, making the drive was the better plan. It was a beautiful drive, but took 2 hours and by the time we got there, we were only there for 2 hours then took the ferry home. My aunt is a gourmet cook, so the drive was worth it just for the food! We also only see our cousins once, maybe twice a year, so it's fun to catch up. It's a fun tradition, especially because a few of us cousins have our own children. Here are a few shots of the kids. It was hard to get 7 children all under the age of 6 to look at the camera...

Christmas morning was spent opening gifts, eating a big breakfast and then the rest of the day was spent watching movies, taking a walk...then ended with a big dinner that night:

It was a nice several days spent with family - laughing and telling lots of jokes, getting annoyed with e/o and also remembering many sad/happy events. A year makes such a difference in the life of my family (especially the month of December!) and we were especially aware that at this time last year we just learned of Andrew's diagnosis. It is a sad memory for our family, but we are committed to each other and God and the journey that lies ahead. We look forward to and anticipate lots of good news in 2010.

As a side note, I would like to include a few other pictures. The following pictures were taken of Riley's hair (a.k.a. the most awesome bed head ever) right after she woke up this morning:

And also, Riley and I have been sharing a car with Tyler the last 3 days due to mine being in the shop so we had to take the bus a few different times to get around. Talk about dry and cheap entertainment for a toddler! Riley was thrilled by the whole adventure of it and asked about every sound, what everyone was doing and told Tyler tonight that the bus ride was "real bumpy". She even got up at one point and stood in the middle of the aisle and acted like she was on a ride, laughing and squealing as she was tipped over every time the bus turned. So needless to say we will definitely take the bus again!

the santa train

last friday martha, henry, nana, riley and i rode the santa train out of north bend. we had such a blast...we want to make this an annual tradition for sure! riley is pretty obsessed with trains, and has never riden on one, so she was beside herself with joy when the train was moving and the whistle blowing! the train cars were decorated for christmas and there was the cutest 80 year old man who walked up and down the aisles leading the crowd in christmas songs. we rode about 15 minutes to the snoqualmie depot where santa was waiting for us, as well as cookies, hot cocoa and plenty of trains to play on. after about an hour the train came back to pick us up and we rode back to north bend.

i think some water got into my camera, so my pictures are turning out a bit blurry...but enjoy them anyway!

i came back to bellingham friday night BY MYSELF!!! i left riley in seattle under the care of nana, uncle drew, and her 3 aunties. tyler and i had all day saturday and sunday to ourselves, and i have all day today by myself. it has been a wonderful break. we spent the weekend going out to breakfast, browsing through shops, reading at a coffee shop, sleeping in and just laying low. i spent yesterday afternoon baking christmas cookies and sewing - what a treat! i am very thankful for my family. i have been kept up-to-date on riley's activities and she has taken long naps, slept great and been an overall gem :) she's been on play dates, walked through candy cane lane, read lots of books and is going to the aquarium this morning. her and i are both having a special weekend!

on my to-do-list for today is a hair appointment this morning, lunch with tyler, back home to read and finish up my sewing then a dinner date with tyler. i am getting very excited to see riley tomorrow morning!

i'll be in seattle tomorrow thru sunday, so not sure i'll be back on here. have a wonderful and joyful christmas!

december so far...

has been very full - so expect a long post!

we started off the month with a visit from the oranens. we had a great, laid back weekend and spent lots of time laying around the warm house and hitting up some bellingham favorites. erin was the photographer for the weekend, so check out her post for all the pictures!

after they left on sunday we hit the road for ellensburg. tyler had to spend monday & tuesday in idaho for work, so he dropped riley and i at kristen's house in ellensburg for some girl time. on monday he left early to leave for idaho and was only about 30 minutes from ellensburg at 6:30am when he hit a huge tarp on I-90 (that flew off a semi). luckily he wasn't hurt, but our car was...and it was 10 degrees outside and he was in fancy work shoes with no hat or gloves. it was quite the adventure and involved getting towed back to ellensburg, renting a car and continuing on to idaho several hours behind schedule. we spent an extra day in ellensburg due to car parts not coming in on time and therefore not getting our car fixed by the promised date. good thing we were warm and happy at the shooks! what lovely hosts! now check out these pictures of our two cute girls:

reading books & sipping on lukewarm vanilla steamers at the local coffee shop

a new favorite for riley - kipper on netflix (for free!)

a late afternoon tea party

making christmas cookies, hot chocolate & jammies

several brisk and QUICK walks from kristens house to our various errands/stops around town...it was between 5 & 10 degrees while we were there...

and this past weekend was full of christmas parties, the jingle bell run, hanging christmas lights, a cookie exchange and a dinner/movie date with friends...for as busy as the weekend was, it was very enjoyable and festive.

riley and i FINALLY got our tree this evening before dinner. we decorated after we ate and i'm thrilled to finally have it. this year we opted FOR THE SMALLEST TREE EVER...mostly because it took us so long to get one and i'm too cheap to spend $$$ on a tree when we leave for seattle next week.

here's to a cold and (hopefully!) snowy week!

thanksgiving in spokane

we spent thanksgiving this year with tyler's family and were able to fly over the mountains, rather than make the awful 6-hour snowy drive. i guess all of tyler's traveling has some perks...free tickets after thousands of miles! we were there just two nights, but had a lovely time. not many pictures though. i've been very lazy lately in the picture taking department. getting quite frustrated with my little digital camera...hmmm...

since we flew we were able to have a fun and yummy breakfast with my family on thanksgiving then were raced to the airport and were in the air and at melindas house in no time at all. melinda cooked up an amazing meal and i did not lift a finger...gasp! shame on me! it was quite nice though :) friday we spent the morning/afternoon in couer d'alene eating lunch, looking at boats and walking through the resort. we attempted a family photo. here are the pics:

how do you make an almost 4 year old and 2 year old smile at the same time when they're both past their naps? answer: you don't! you just stand in the middle of the hotel lobby and act like a monkey but to no avail

the denton family: riley & bjorn in the front, elizabeth, melinda, jon & tyler in the back

riley's cheesy grin and a horrible photo but she moved .2 seconds after i took this and my slow digital camera could not keep up

before we flew out on saturday we took tyler & jon's grandma arline out to breakfast to a diner their dad used to like to eat at. we got to wait for our table sitting in these awesome twirly chairs

hope your thanksgiving was delightful!

a perfect end to the day

a trip for me

i just got back on monday night from the most amazing city...new york! it was my first time to visit the big apple and it did not disappoint. my dear, long-time friend kim lives in brooklyn and works for the new york legal aid society as a lawyer, doing very honorable & good work with senior citizens, fighting for their rights as tenants. she is living out her dream and i get to benefit by a free place to stay and a lovely tour guide. thanks kim for the awesome trip! our friend carrie was there too, visiting her little sis who just had an adorable baby boy. so i got to hang with her too!

we walked, walked, walked everywhere - taking in the sights, people and of course all the good food along the way. we did a little shopping, but mostly eating, drinking & walking! i am already trying to figure out the best time to go back, and this time want to bring tyler & riley along. i was very thankful to have this little trip to myself, to spend time with girlfriends and just see & experience a different way of life. (could anything be more different than a stay-at-home-mom's world in bellingham and a single lawyer in NYC???)

i am, however, happy to be home and see my little bundle of joy. we have been having fun hanging out and getting back into the swing of things. tyler and i passed e/o in the air as he flew out monday for a week long work trip...so i anxiously await his arrival on friday! and speaking of friday...i am getting all 4 wisdom teeth pulled, so wish me luck!

kims apartment building in brooklyn

my 2 1/2 hour walk from kims apartment, across the brookyln bridge and all the way up to the west village



lunch at mary's fish camp...best trout BLT ever!!!


ramen dinner at midnight


street vendor shopping in soho


outside the maurice sendak gallery - resting our tired little feet


ice-cream in chinatown - yum, yum, yum

the view of manhattan from the brooklyn bridge park right before getting on the plane

happy 2nd birthday...

to my sweet little girl riley kathleen. you are...funny, sweet, talkative, energetic, smart, cuddly and so much more...we love you.

the weekend

thought i'd share a bit of what we did this weekend. i'm currently cozied up on our bed in front of the fireplace in the living room...yes we have been sleeping in the living room for the last week as we finish fixing and painting our bedroom. and for those of you who have been to our 900 square foot house, you know that it has to be a funny sight. but it proves to be quite a fun set up for all: the tv (aka football) is just a mere foot from tyler's head, it allows me to lay in bed and enjoy the fireplace and for riley the living room is pretty much two couches, bed & two ottomans squished together so she has had quite the jump around fun only a 2 year old could have.

our weekend started off with a rainy friday - so we found entertainment at lowes in the christmas aisle (who knew?) and the jump around fun zone with friends


saturday morning our friends took riley for a few hours to the pumpkin patch so we could make some headway on painting our bedroom


saturday afternoon we had a visit from tylers grandparents in their big "bus" as riley calls it. they are en route to their winter home in arizona, so they had to come get their riley fix! we had a great time having cocktail hour in their RV, dinner in the marina at anthony's and a big sunday morning breakfast in our house. riley was completely fascinated by the steps that automatically came out when you opened the door. she squealed with delight each time!

this afternoon we went to the harvest festival at our church. riley was quite upset about the thought of putting on her "ladybug coat" so daddy dressed up like a ladybug too. what a guy.

happy halloween week!