Sunriver

Day 1: Okay so we forgot our camera so no pics for this trip so we'll just blog. So we got into town last night, the whole drive down I was reading test questions to Ronald (not too much fun but it helped Ronald out). It got down int he 20's last night but Ronald got a fire going and that was nice and toasty.
Today though was super sunny and actually kind of warm. It got into the 60's while we were in Redmond while Ronald was taking his test and it was so warm we ate outside at a burger joint called Jody's (we highly recommend Jody's if your ever in Redmond, the burgers were awesome and so were the onion rings!).
We caught up with Jessica & Alex Po in Bend and headed back to the house in Sunriver. After unpacking their car and Alex and Ronald chopping some wood and trying to chip the ice in the driveway we all went on a walk to go feed the ducks and geese in the pond by the Woodlands golf course. It was fun to watch the kids feeding the ducks, but the geese came right up to you and hissed so they kind of got scared because of that.
Now its time to get dinner ready and figure out what we are going to do tomorrow.

TP Time!

Nope these are not old pictures from Halloween of Jared trying on a zombie costume! :^) This is Jared wearing almost a whole roll of toilet paper. If you ask me all babies eventually find the "fun" in unrolling the tp. I did get mad at Ronald for letting him do it (read lack of supervision here since he was supposed to be watching him). So after finding Jared playing with the tp Ronald wrapped him up like a mummy and Jared started busting out of the wraps and started traipsing around upstairs looking like a white zombie.

Christmas

This year we enjoyed Christmas with our family. We went to Christmas Eve dinner at the Benson Hotel to their London Grill, mighty tasty (they no longer have Banana Foster but try their Pistachio Creme Brulee it was amazing).

Then on Christmas morning Kathie and Jim came over for breakfast at our place and we all opened our stockings together here, then loaded up the cars and went to their place to open presents. Jared had tons of fun just maneuvering and climbing all over and through the presents. Of course he just loved ripping up the tissue paper and climbing into the empty boxes. It was good times had by all. Of course we enjoyed Christmas dinner their as well, nothing like Prime Rib and Crab to celebrate the season (thanks again Kathie it was delicious!).

So now another Christmas has come and gone and we are grateful to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for giving us the ability to be together forever as a family. We have had a blessed year and look forward to the New Year with hope and excitement for new things to come. We hope that this Holiday Season was joyous and bright for you and yours,

Love the Elia Ohana

More Snow!

When it first started snowing, just 2-3 inches on this table on our patio.

After snowing off and on all week long, we measured the table this morning and it was 13 inches deep!

We got freezing rain early Sunday morning, and they cancelled Church for the second week in a row. There was a layer of ice about a 1/4 inch thick that would crack and shatter under foot when you walked on it.

Icicles above our neighbors door.

Jared is growing up so fast! He started walking on Saturday after much coaxing from his parents for months he just steps away from the couch and takes four steps away from the couch before sitting down. He started getting the hang of it now and can just stand there keeping his balance with no problem now. He can also walk across our whole house from sliding glass door to sliding glass door!

As for the snow, it has been going off and on almost constantly since last week Sunday. The freezing rain this past Sunday kept us home all day. Then we woke up Monday morning to really heavy snow and about another 6 inches or so of new snow. That's when we measured the little table on the back patio and there was 13 inches of snow on it. They cancelled Ronald's work so he stayed home with us. We tubed down this little hill in our neighborhood, Ronald took Jared on a run too! He didn't enjoy it as much as watching us from the truck. Later in the afternoon Ronald went to an impromptu service project at the Portland temple for a couple of hours to shovel the walks.

We are enjoying all the snow, it really makes it feel like Christmas.

Snow!!!

"Mom, that?"

That's snow Jared, "now, now" (snow without the s), yup its cold!

So all week the weather men on TV have been saying that it was going to be really cold this weekend, and it may even snow. Well for once they were right! We woke up this morning and it was cold, but no snow. However after a few minutes it started and it hasn't stopped yet! We've gotten at least one inch of snow maybe two now and its not melting. Normally it melts instantly around here but its sticking around and it is getting colder so we should have snow on the ground tomorrow as well.

We all gotten bundled up and went outside and made a really small snowman for Jared. He has seen snow a couple of times but this is the first time he is actually recognizing what he is looking at is different from rain. Its too cute.

Decorating for Christmas

Last week Saturday we took an early drive with my parents to go get our Christmas tree. We go to the same tree farm every year called Noble Star and pick out our own noble fir tree to cut down. Last year it snowed on us, this year it was sunny and about 4o dergrees. You have to love Oregon winters.

We got the tree home set it up and then we all went to Mt. Angel where they had a Christmas festival through out the town. It was okay, but the best part is there is this Bavarian restaurant called the Glockenspeil. They had some very tasty sausage and cheese fondue! It was delicious! Then Santa showed up on a firetruck and Jared had fun watching Santa and listening talk to all the kids there.

We started decorating the tree when we got home, putting lights on it and trying not to over do it like we did on our last tree in Utah that was a beacon for Santa so he could land in Herriman (seriously the tree had so many lights you couldn't look at it directly for fear of going blind). It took us a couple day s to decorate the tree but we set up our North Pole Christmas village and Jared just loves pointing at it and saying "that, that" his favorite word.

My First Birthday Luau

Part of the reason my Grandma and Grandpa came in to visit me was because they were throwing my a first birthday luau. It is a big tradition in Hawaii and so that is why all my Aunts, Uncles and Juju B came to Oregon to visit.

A bunch of my Moms family came, my Dad's friends from work as well as his family and a bunch of Mommy and Daddy's friends. Everyone loved the food and it sure was tasty.

I have to thank a bunch of people for a fun First Birthday Luau. My Grandma and Grandpa for all the party favors they brought from Hawaii and even made; macadamia nuts, chocolate covered macadamia nuts plus my Grandpa's homemade coconut candy that he and Grandma made just for my party. Also Grandpa made a ton of beautiful Hawai'ian crafts for my table decorations, and he even made a beautiful coconut ukulele for me (I like to pluck the strings) and a hawai'ian drum (I love to bang away on it). I want to thank my Grandma for cooking her sweet n' sour chicken that everyone raved about, Aunty Caroline for cooking the Kalua pig, Daddy for making the mac salad and cooking the Kalbi and all my Aunts and Uncles that helped with decorating for my luau and helping set up. Also I wanted to thank Uncle Paul for playing and singing the most beautiful music at my luau. That really made the luau!

I am glad everyone that came had a good time, and thank you for the presents, I am finishing up my thank you cards and getting them out real soon.