the last wedding

my not-so-baby sister got married on april fool's day, which is so fitting if you know steph–she is the life of the party and all about fun! she found a pretty perfect match in ben. the last balkman wedding! 

fun fact: i have been pregnant for all but ONE of four sibling weddings between nate's family and my family. i mean, really! i happened to be very pregnant for this occasion and aged myself by about fifty years when i wore compression nylons with sandals. lame, but the only way i could get through the day.

i always think there will be extra time when we come to utah for a wedding, but the week was jam-packed with family gatherings, errands, and wedding prep. sage and nora were so excited to wear their fancy dresses and toss flower petals down the aisle for the ring ceremony. the temple sealing was performed by my uncle kevin, and it was so cool to have all of my cousins and siblings together in that room. i really truly love weddings.

sage's favorite part of the wedding was dancing! and soaking up every last drop of cousin time. family ski day, pampering with all the girls, long conversations at night, games galore...and then it all ended too quickly.

my grandma with all of her children and all but one of her 24 grandchildren

my mom had to make me a custom maternity version of the bridesmaid dress. she's a genius (and i really need to get on that whole sewing thing...).

steph chose a pumpkin chocolate chip cake. dare i say it was the BEST wedding cake i've ever had? it was.

the kids sang "families can be together forever" at the ring ceremony

one last kiss goodbye and they were off to canada for their honeymoon!

(but everyone knows the after party is the best part of family weddings...and it didn't hurt that there was tons of leftover food and wedding cake!)

33 days

the best part of business school is having 33 days of christmas break. 

we had grand plans for how we wanted to use the free time, but we ended up spending a whole month in seattle with a few little side trips thrown in.
it. was. the. best.

for my own memory, let the iphone dump begin...

 sage proved that she really can sleep in any position on the airplane

we arrived just in time to help my parents trim their tree

i actually don't enjoy shopping, but malls at christmas time just feel so festive. my favorite kind of shopping is still spelled a-m-a-z-o-n.

we spent many hours visiting uncle chandler in the hospital as he recovered from surgery

 the girls were so patient at the hospital, and one night we slipped in a carousel ride downtown before driving home.

 

nate rediscovered his love for icees and talked me into buying the largest popcorn because, of course, it's the best value.

 lots of christmas stories

my parents surprised the girls with tickets to the nutcracker ballet. sage was enthralled and knew most of the songs.

we rode the monorail to westlake center to meet up with the boys

  

one rainy afternoon, we wandered the seattle public library. it's by far my favorite library.

^^ the red floor

 we watched the snowflake lane performance, complete with a downpour of fake snow and real rain.

 we ate at our FAVORITE dim sum place of all time, and it completely made me miss singapore.
 

 dear old santa came for a visit

we drove up to snoqualmie pass for a day in the mountains. the kids skied and went sledding for hours, plus we took as many chairlift pictures as we wanted.

 snoqualmie falls on new year's eve at the golden hour. sage love love loves my mom.

 we projected top gun in the living room for our family NYE party. uncle matt brought the wacky hat and fireworks. it was simultaneously the best show i've ever seen and the most scared i've been that some roof would catch on fire.

 we made foil dinners and roasted them in the fire pit + s'mores for dessert.

 a trip to the pacific science center, which has barely changed from my childhood memories here in the 90's.

 lunch with this beautiful grandmother of mine.

 my dad got suckered into doing the 200 piece frozen puzzle with sage and wouldn't leave until he'd finished it.

one of our last adventures with my dad was walking the seward park loop, a bakery stop, and lunch at geraldine's counter. this tree-lined path on a misty day screams pacific northwest to me.

my parents were pretty good troopers for letting us borrow their cars and house for a whole month (thankyouthankyouthankyou). i can't ever get enough seattle time.

christmas in seattle

this was the money year. the year when all my siblings came home for christmas in washington!

my sister steph had to go back to her ski instructing job before christmas day, but we still had time together. the grand kids are all at the age where everything about christmas time is magical. sage had been waiting and waiting and waaaiiittting to see her cousins and she couldn't get enough. 

things were a little more low key this year with my brother's reconstructive surgery on his amputation. we spent lots of time visiting the hospital and exploring the city. chandler never fails to amaze me, and to remind me that my hard things are miniscule. i loved spending so much time with stephanie and him. i also didn't pull out my real camera once thanks to chandler...he took all of these.

we kept traditions alive: dinner at westlake center with a ride on the carousel, mexican food with uncle matt's family for christmas eve, a date to the nutcracker ballet, a visit from santa, acting out the nativity and singing carols together, matching pajamas for the kids, breaking through "santa's" masking tape barrier on christmas morning, more matching outfits for christmas sunday, and we added late night movies for the parents who were beyond thrilled to have free babysitters (!).

i feel so, so grateful for this family of mine.

camden has all our hearts. cutest, funniest little boy i know.

i made sage cry three minutes before this trying to wipe something off her face...but i really do love these little girls.

we scrounged up a neighbor to get a group shot while everyone was mostly happy

we made name signs for each kid's present from santa and they still all rushed to each other's gifts. so funny.

my seamstress mother put so much time and talent into making handmade princess dresses for each granddaughter. they turned out beautifully, and obviously, dreams came true for a certain little girl.

i think dreams also came true for this TMNT too.

an original art piece in the works for years. talent!