Family in town.

Elna, Hattie, Callie, & Jace.

I think this picture was taken the first night Nate and Char’s family was in town.  Elna was giddy about having her cousins here!

One of the nights they were here we went to see the lights at the zoo.  Unlike other years we’ve gone, the weather was really nice this year.  None of us were too cold, which was especially nice since we had to stand in a line for the train for an hour.

All of us on the train to see some of the lights around the zoo.

A family picture in front of the train.  After the ride we walked around for a while until our kids were ready to go eat dinner—then we split ways—we got some dinner and they went home.  Elna and Hattie were so great the whole evening and we promised Elna that if she was happy the whole night we would go to Voodoo donuts after—when we got to Voodoo there the line was so long, and we almost left, but in the end we decided to stay for Elna.  They were so well behaved even though it was a very late night for them!

A few days before Christmas Char made sugar cookies for the kids to decorate and for us to put on plates to take caroling.  Our girls loved it!

After caroling on Christmas Eve Grandma and Papa gave these cute jammies to the grandkids.  Here they are reading with Papa before opening the jammies, and reading a story with Grandma after.

Elna and her fun Uncle Jared!  Once the girls warmed up to their aunts and uncles they were huge fans.

The day after Christmas all of Brian’s brothers and their wives, and Jace, went to a Blazer game in Portland.  We parked at Lloyd’s center, had dinner at Qdoba—my new favorite mexican food restaurant, and then we walked from there to the game.  The Blazer’s won, and it was a fun night!