The Happiest Place on Earth!

The Whitfields did Disney!

exhausted at the end of the day! 

It was amazingly magic for all 4 of us.  We saw princesses and characters and cars.  We rode gentle rides like It's a Small World and Teacups and Swings.  We rode fast roller coasters like Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, the Matterhorn and Splash Mountain.  We did 3-D Star Tours, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Goofy's roller coaster. We all enjoyed our favorite Submarine Nemo ride.  We explored everything that we could! Both kids were so brave with the rides (Cam was tall enough to hang with the big kids!), and our days were filled with full days at the parks and also at our hotel's water slides and pools. We could see the fireworks shows from our balcony and enjoyed a parade one evening.  The days were full and exciting, and this trip exceeded all of our expectations.  I just love my family.  And I love the Volks who met us there. 

Our giant family photo album continues to tell the story...

We LOVE traveling with the Volks! 

On our last evening, we met Auntie Pippy and MB at the beach for dinner.  Perfect ending to the vacay!

Disney truly is the HAPPIEST place on Earth, and we did not want to ever leave:

The Christmas Spirit

Nothing beats Christmas with little kids.  And add surprise snow to the mix? Heart overload.

2nd annual mother-daughter experience at "The Nutcracker"

The kids and I spent a few days in Spokane prior to the holiday.  We had such a wonderful trip being spoiled by Grandma and Papa.

Christmas Eve brought us a surprise snowstorm in Boise.  It was beautiful.  We snacked and ate all day, playing with toys, watching Christmas shows, and anticipating Santa! We even walked in the snow to the neighborhood barn for a Christmas Eve church service.  Doug made his famous homemade meat pies for dinner which we ate all dressed up in new jammies in the dining room!

Sophie asked Santa for Barbie Zoo Doctor and Cameron asked him for a giant crane holder.  And Santa did not disappoint.  In fact, he might have gotten a little carried away with surprises for the kids.  I guess good behavior does pay off!

We lounged in jammies all day long... taking turns building legos, eating snacks, playing with games.

Then we finally showered and dressed to head to my brother's house for a surf and turf dinner.  The cousins exchanged presents, we shared stories from our day, and we toasted the holiday.  Perfection.

The temperature has now dropped low... Doug continues to monitor it hourly on his new weather station, a gift from my parents.

The snow will be here for a while, and it's beautiful outside our windows.  The house is clean and tidy, decorations are all packed up, and now I truly understand the line from "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"...  "And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again..."  Doug returned to work, the temperatures didn't rise above 15 degrees, the roads became solid ice, and the holiday exhaustion hit the kids!! We ended the Christmas Break with days spent hibernating at home as we welcomed 2016.