Krista's Family Christmas

Every year my mom's side of the family gets together for a family Christmas... and I'm always amazed at how big our family is!

It was really nice to see everyone, especially since the big snowstorm last year kept us from getting together. Here are a couple of highlights from the day:

The whole family

My Mom and Auntie Kim

My nephews Wyatt and Taj with their new Nerf guns

Brian and Mike

- Krista

Cottage Grove Visit

I can't believe how fast Christmas has zoomed by... it feels like yesterday that I landed in Portland, but today we landed in Amsterdam and are on our way to Berlin tomorrow for New Year's.

I have a million pictures/stories to post, but I figured I'd go chronologically, so I'll start with our visit to Cottage Grove to see Molly & Mike... which was great of course! We had a very relaxing time - were forced to stay inside most of the time because of the rain, but we found ways to entertain ourselves and went into Eugene one night which was fun.

It was nice to see them as always, though we were sad we couldn't see the rest of Brian's family (if only they would invent a teleport machine, traveling would be so much easier!).

Here are a few photos from the visit:

Molly, Mike & Brian on the morning before we left

Brian and I opening presents

Molly, Mike & I on a walk during a rain break

More to come soon! Happy holidays to everyone!

- Krista

Christmas Cookies

One of my favorite things about Christmas is making Christmas cookies with my Mom - we've been making them ever since I was a tiny little kid (I put wayyyy more frosting on them back then).

This year, we went over to my sister's and had some help from my nephews, Braxton and Wyatt. They're pretty cute kids! I couldn't believe they stayed focused frosting cookies for over two hours - I could have never done that as a child.

Here are a few pictures of our day:

The boys and I

Our strange looking gingerbread women

Kena & the boys

- Krista

Cyclocross

I've been in the Portland area for almost a week now, and have thoroughly enjoyed my visit so far (aside from fighting a cold for the first few days... airplanes are such a hub for germs!). Brian doesn't get here until tomorrow, so I've spent my time Christmas shopping, relaxing and spending lots of time with my family. It's been great.

Last Sunday I went with my Dad and brother to a cyclocross race, my first ever. If you've never heard of cyclocross, take a quick look at this Wikipedia page on the subject - it's a pretty cool sport.

Todd's race started at 8:00 am, so we had to get there bright and early - it was also absolutely frigid outside (around 20 degrees), so my Dad and I were all bundled up and trying to stay warm while Todd was on the racing track. It was a lot of fun though, and I'm excited to watch again next year.

(Or maybe next time I could actually race... we'll see.)

Here are a few photos from the morning:

Todd freezing in his bike shorts before the race

Todd racing

- Krista

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s hard to believe Thanksgiving has already come and gone and now we’re on to the Christmas holidays. Where does the time go between summer and Christmastime?

We had a nice Thanksgiving, though of course we missed being with our friends and family. Last year we got together with some American friends in Amsterdam, but this year no one was doing anything so we decided to make our own dinner.

It was quite a feast, but I kept having this distinct feeling that any non-vegetarians or veggie sympathizers would laugh at us. Our meal consisted of:

• Tofu and asparagus stuffed red peppers (Brian’s creation)
• Brussels sprouts (recipe courtesy of my sister)
• Winter pear salad
• Garlic mashed potatoes (the most traditional thing on our menu)
• Chocolate cake, American style (Brian had been craving this for ages…)

Here are a few photos so you get the idea:

Hope you all had a wonderful, delicious Thanksgiving.

Next up: Christmas in the States!

- Krista