Quiet Christmas

It was just the three of us for Christmas this year.  (It's only fair that we share Darwin and Debbie once in a while!)  So, things were pretty quiet and very laid-back, but it was kind of nice to come up with some of our own traditions.

I have wanted to do a shepherd's dinner on Christmas Eve for several years and we finally got to do it!  We spread a blanket on the floor in front of our fire place, turned off all of the lights, and ate a simple meal of flat bread, hummus, olives, cheese, carrot sticks, dried figs, and grapes.  While we ate, we talked about the shepherds from the Nativity story - about why the angels came to them and what they did after the angels left.  It turned into a good discussion and a neat activity for us.  Definitely something I want to continue.

After dinner, we filled some thermos' with hot chocolate and headed out on a Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt.  We had to drive around for a long time because most of the houses in Sherwood were too classy and didn't have the cheesy stuff we needed to find.  We eventually found everything though.  Next year, I need to bring a snack in the car.  Spencer was "starving" after 20 minutes!

The evening would have been perfect if Spencer hadn't eaten a cookie that "may contain peanuts" and made him sick to his stomach.  :(  We've got to be more careful.  The poor guy couldn't even eat a cinnamon roll for Christmas breakfast because he still felt a little queasy.

Santa Claus and Grandparents did not disappoint on Christmas morning!  Five-years-old is such a magical, fun age for Christmas and Spencer was super excited about everything.  Alan and I also got some nice gifts, so thank you to everyone!  I got new pots and pans which doesn't sound exciting, but my old ones were really bad so I am thrilled!  I baked and burned the cinnamon rolls while we looked at Santa's gifts.  They were still edible if you cut off the bottom and put a lot of frosting on top.  I need some more practice with that new recipe!

Spencer was one-year-old the last time we did Christmas by ourselves.  That year, I made a huge Christmas dinner.  I spent most of the day in the kitchen and then we ate the whole meal in less than 15 minutes.  I swore I would never do that again and this year was much better.  I made the rolls two days before and then just did a turkey, mashed potatoes and green beans on Christmas.  It wasn't bad at all.  Here's Alan carving the turkey wearing the awesome apron Katelyn made him.  She made all three of us one!

Spencer decided that he doesn't like turkey or mashed potatoes so he had a roll and green beans for dinner.

Ladder-ball was Santa's family Christmas gift to us this year.  Christmas day was cold, but dry so Spencer and Alan got to try it out.  Alan and I really wanted to go see a movie that day, but Spencer just wanted to stay home and play with his new toys so that's what we did.  I was a total blob with a headache for most of the day.

Lucky for us, Alan had the entire week of Christmas off work!  By the next day, we had to get out of the house.  We wound up checking out the Portland City Library.  It's a huge building, but the kid's section wasn't anything spectacular.

Then we had lunch at Burgerville - something we never do unless we're traveling.  If I have to eat fast food, Burgerville would probably be my top choice.

Then it was back home for more play time and blobbing.  The rest of the week was much the same, we found a few fun things to do, but mostly just hung out together at home.  We found a cool model train display at a local Presbyterian church.  We stayed for quite a while and attempted the five-page scavenger hunt.

While I can't say that we prefer to spend Christmas without family, our Christmas did turn out nice.  It was very low-stress and we could certainly focus more on the Savior without the chaos of traveling.  Also, Alan has never had that much time off to just relax at home so that was nice for him.  Spencer and I loved every minute of having daddy home.

We hope all of you had Merry Christmas' too! 

Gingerbread Houses

I grew up making graham cracker gingerbread houses every Christmas.  Since we weren't going to be with my family over the holiday this year, we invited some good friends, the NewMyers, to do this fun tradition with us this year.  We ate dinner at their house and then drove back to our place to decorate the houses.  I had to do some trash digging at the school cafeteria to get the milk cartons and building the houses took some time, but it was totally worth it.  The kids (and I think the adults!) had a great time.

J. was too little to help decorate, but he had fun playing, eating candy and just being cute!

S. and M. are such cute, little friends for Spencer.



Alan and I kept busy helping with frosting and taking pictures, so Spencer did the lone house for our family.  He did a good job!

We're so grateful for good friends that can keep us company when our family is gone!

Alan's Early Christmas Present

A few weeks ago, Alan hinted that he wanted tickets to the BYU v. University of Oregon basketball game for Christmas this year.  The game was on the 21st, so he got his present a few days early and it was a good one.

The three of us drove down to Eugene on Saturday afternoon.  We had a yummy dinner at Olive Garden and then killed some time at Barnes and Nobel before the game started.  We parked across the street from Hayward Field and Alan had to get a picture.  (That's where the Olympic trials and NCAA track and field championships are held.)

This is the only picture I took at the game, but we had so much fun!  Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't really like sports and almost never watch them so that's kind of a surprising statement.  The game was close the entire time though and we happened to be sitting in a big crowd of BYU fans.  Sadly, BYU wound up losing during overtime, but a $4 box of Red Vines made it all better. :)  We didn't get home until after midnight, but that game was worth the drive.  Merry Christmas Alan!

I was reminded of one of Spencer's strengths during this game though.  Alan and I both wore blue to cheer for our Alma Mater, but Spencer insisted on wearing green to cheer for the Ducks, "because they are closest to us."  We tried to convince him to cheer for the Cougars without success.  Even being surrounded by BYU fans and watching the Ducks trail BYU the entire game until the last minute, didn't sway his allegiance.  Spencer can be stubborn like that it all kinds of situations (like not wanting to go see Frozen yesterday!).  As frustrating as it is sometimes, this game reminded me how strong he is.  Spencer will stick to what he knows is right.  He is definitely not a push-over and will not bend easily to peer pressure.  In the world he is growing up in, that is a great, life-defining characteristic.  I'm proud of and so grateful for his strength!

Basketball and Fudge

The title of this post probably sums up Spencer's and Alan's favorite things about December.  Spencer has been playing on a basketball team at the YMCA since the middle of November.  He was nervous and mad that I signed him up at first, but now he loves it.  His team is for 5-6 year-olds and it's the first time he's ever been one of the shortest kids in a group.  I'm always amazed at his energy level during games.  He sprints all over the court and jumps up and and down every time someone on his team makes a shot. 

Spencer's team is the Florida Gators and they have two great coaches.  I'm so glad one of them is not me!!  I didn't want to pay for the expensive professional photos so I quickly snapped this shot from the side.  That's probably really bad form, but I want the picture for my blog book, not a super expensive hard copy that I have to store somewhere else.

Spencer has made several baskets during games.  I'm not sure if this was his shot or not though.  He's really cute and excited when he makes a basket and actually leaves the game to come give me a high-five.

And, it wouldn't be Christmas time without Alan and Spencer making rocky-road fudge.  I'm so glad Alan has taken ownership of this treat so I can get out of the kitchen for a little while!

Pre-Christmas Catch-up

Yikes!  I'm a little behind!

Spencer was excited to write a letter to Santa this year.  He started writing it by himself, but got tired and needed some help finishing. ;)

 

It says, "Dear Santa,  Here's my Christmas list: Planes Busy Book, Care Bear (not Grumpy Bear), Bey Blades, and Space Legos.  I have been a good boy this year.  Is there a village in the North Pole?  Merry Christmas!  Love, Spencer"

Since we weren't leaving town for the holidays this year, we headed out to get a real tree.  I finally figured out that the reason there are so many tree farms here is that land-owners get a tax credit if they use their land for a business and since Christmas trees are easy to grow, they make a perfect crop.  Anyway, we wound up way out in the hills at a small farm in some guys' front yard.  We went late one afternoon after Alan got off work and it was cold and almost dark.    It took some searching and was nearly dark by the time we found it, but we got a gorgeous 8-9 foot tree. 

Spencer and I decorated it the next day.  He did a great job placing the ornaments all at his level!

Alan helped us do the star that evening just before he left for Scouts.  Knocking the tree over made him a little late though. ;)

Moving Forward

I don't know if anyone noticed, but I haven't been blogging as much the past few months.  It's not just because I've been slacking though.  I have been busy working on a big project that has taken a lot of my computer time lately. 

Alan and I have decided to apply for ADOPTION!!

We have prayed and prayed about our options in bringing another child into our home for the last five years.  The answer in the past was always to "wait".  It has been a hard lesson in patience and faith for me.  I always felt like I would be ready to accept any answer, as long as it was a concrete answer.  I wanted to KNOW what action I was supposed to take.  Sitting and waiting is hard.

That being said, I thought I would be ecstatic when we finally felt prompted that it was time to act and move forward with our adoption application.  My faith was tested again though as I struggled with wanting to know for sure that we would adopt.  With more prayer and Alan's help, I finally realized faith doesn't work that way.  I don't need to know what the end result will be.  We felt prompted to apply for adoption and that is enough for us to move forward.  So, that's what we have done.

I have spent the last three months answering questions and compiling information about every possible facet of our lives.  I need to give a special thanks to those of you who wrote reference letters for us!  Our case worker is just about finished writing our Home Study and we are almost finished with our on-line profile page.  Once those two things are complete, we will be approved for adoption and ready to go. 

We are applying through LDS Family Services which means that we will most likely be adopting a domestic infant.  Birth mothers will contact us if they are interested after reading our profile.  Because of low birth rates, many birth mothers deciding to parent, and abortion, the number of babies placed for adoption is low.  We might wait a few months or a few years before we are chosen.  It's going to be another lesson in patience and trust in Heavenly Father's plan for our family. 

So, while we are thrilled with the prospect of having another baby in our home, we are realistic about the wait and heartbreak that adoption inevitably involves.  Please remember us in your prayers and thoughts if you come across a possible adoption opportunity.  Our Christmas cards may go out a little late this year as I am waiting to print business cards with the link to our profile to include in the same envelope.  They will be coming though, so watch for them.  And, if I haven't sent you a Christmas card in the past, but you would like to be included this year, you can email your address to us at alanandkristin@yahoo.com.  We feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many supportive and loving friends and family members.  Thank you!

Turkeython and Thanksgiving Weekend

Uberthon's Turkeython race now dominates the majority of Thanksgiving Day for us.  Alan about goes crazy trying to get everything ready on time, but it's a great way for Spencer and I to start out our Thanksgiving.  It was a cold 30 degrees that morning (but now that it's below 20 here, that doesn't sound so bad!)  About 1,200 runners came out to participate in one of the five races: 5k, 10k, 2.5k, family 10k relay and kid's race.  I ran the 5k and then joined Spencer on 2.5k.  I didn't feel warmed up until I was more than half way through with my race, but I must have been running faster than I thought because I somehow won my age group!  My leg has gotten bad again, but the cold must have kept anything from getting inflamed because I didn't have any pain that day.  The 2.5k was a good distance for Spencer - challenging, but not too hard.  He ran nearly the entire way and I was proud of him.

It was too cold to take off his mittens, so Spencer ate his orange slice like this.

Alicia was here and was an awesome announcer!  She also helped a ton with registration and at the packet pick-ups.

Finishers with our 5 lb. medals!

We had dinner at Darwin and Debbie's later in the afternoon after all of the race stuff was cleaned up.  Darwin and Alan were exhausted from not sleeping the night before.  Geoff's family came from Idaho so Spencer had some cousins to play with this year!

Grandma and Grandpa Larsen also joined us along with Grandma's sister Peggy who recently moved to Portland.  It was so nice to meet her!  Debbie and Alicia are missing in these pictures because they were too busy passing food.

Spencer and Kaitlyn are about 8 months apart and were really cute cousin-buddies.  They played cars, barbies, kitchen and did all kinds of Wipe-out tricks after watching the show on tv.

A few of us headed up to Mt. Hood to see some snow the day after Thanksgiving.  We ate some expensive, but yummy burgers at Timberline, played in the snow for a few minutes and then got back in our warm cars for the long drive home.  

 

I spent most of the rest of the weekend sitting on the couch and reading.  There was also lots of cousin playing, eating and football.  It was so fun to have Alicia and Geoff's family here this year!

I truly have so much to be thankful for this year.  Foremost on my mind right now is that I'm grateful for the hard things I've experienced in my life so far that have stretched me and have caused me to develop deeper faith in my Heavenly Father and Savior.  This kind of faith can't be learned from someone else, it has to be experienced and is more of a feeling than something I can put into words.  I'm so grateful for a Heavenly Father that loves me and has a plan for me.  I don't know what that plan is yet, but am learning to trust that His plan will work out in the very best way possible for me and my family.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!