Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014 Agenda

• Christmas Eve ginger bread house making with Willis Cousins
• meet up with Walkers and view the lights at the Washington DC Temple
• back home for nativity play with kids
• Christmas morning wake up and open presents!
• RELAX all day! 
• Christmas dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Walker, Uncle Joe and Aunt Vanessa!

A warm DC day

I love this city. Love it, love it. love it. Every time we go I marvel at how much there is to do, and that most everything is FREE. We had the good fortune of having a beautiful day in the December, so we headed downtown to hit up a museum, and see the trains and Santa at the White House. This day was perfection!

I've been using the timer on my camera a lot to get family pictures (above), but the candid shots that timer captures are priceless (below). Run, Clara! Run!

The newly renovated American History Museum. We highly recommend!

Hands down the best Santa and elves I have ever seen. In fact, I'm convinced the elf below was real. 

The family that plays together...

With two boys and two girls, the kids mostly stick to their gender when playing. It's funny to watch the boys in their room building lego, and the girls in their room having a tea party or doing dress up.  But nothing makes me happier than seeing this gang all play together.

And when I recently asked who would set the table, Clara, I mean Belle, eagerly jumped up to complete the task. I thought she did a great job!

Afton's 5th

This girl really, really wanted a birthday party with friends. But here is a little fact about me and December birthdays: it is really, really hard to muster up the energy to throw a birthday party during the  holiday madness. So what did I do? I called in the family reinforcements, made up some cupcakes and a cake, and arranged to have everyone go see Frozen at the same time. Afton was in heaven, and for the millionth time, I thought how lucky we are to have grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all living so close by. 

Afton in her birthday tutu and crown which was passed down by cousin Grace. 

Watching this little girl grow up is such a joy. The easiest way to sum up Afton is that she is enthusiastic about life. She is a happy, inquisitive little girl who loves passionately. We feel so blessed to have her in our family!