Christmas with the family

A beautiful tree will all the gifts

In alphabetical order...

Amber (sleeping through it all). Notice the little bear on her bum.  So cute.

Brian

Kyla displaying the dragon fly she made Brian

Cecily

Cheryl

Denise

Dwayne

Gary

Janet

Joanne

Julie

Keith

Kyla

Parker

Piper

Sandi

Wesley (Finally!)

The aftermath (notice Amber is still sleeping)

What a great Christmas celebration!  It was so good to be up and see everyone. 

Guest Bathroom Cabinet: Finally finished.

Last Thanksgiving I finished the vanity for the guest bathroom.  I intended to work on the adjoining cabinet the following spring.  Then we found out that we were having a baby, then we decided to remodel our kitchen, then we decided to remodel the hallway, then we decided to re-carpet the bedrooms, then I traveled to New York City, then I began looking for a job, THEN I started working on the guest cabinet.

There has always been a need for a drastic overhaul of the guest bathroom.  We're not sure why they installed a changing table in the bathroom, but they did.

Ripping out the existing cabinet vastly improved it, but the empty space cried out for something useful.

The vanity took a lot of time and effort but I consider it one of my better projects.  The cabinet was just arduous. 

I'm happy with the way it turned out but I think I need a few smaller projects for awhile.

Wine Tasting

Sandi and I planned on going to the coast for the 'Stormy Weather Art Festival' in Cannon Beach last weekend.  We couldn't make it work out with a little one so we opted for a little 'staycation' instead.  Since we live so close to Oregon's Wine Country, we took a little drive Saturday afternoon to local wineries.

Beautiful Willamette Valley

It was Sandi's first experience wine tasting (and my first in a few years).  We were both surprised how approachable wine tasting was for us.  

The vineyards were beautiful even in the middle of a November downpour.  The trees were showing off their colors and the air smelled clean and crisp.  The actual tasting places were very warm and inviting.  

The wine we sampled didn't meet my expectations.  The first stop had a fairly good white, a mild Chardonnay, two Pino Noirs and finished with an ice wine.  I'm not a huge fan of Pino Noirs and I don't enjoy dessert wines all that much.  The second winery started with a blended white and had 4 varieties of Pino Noir.  The prices were in the $20+ range.  Though we hoped to purchase a bottle of wine for dinner that night we decided against it.

We tried to visit a 3rd winery but ran out of time. 

That night we got ingredients for a fine meal of pasta and shrimp scampi.  I bought a really good (less than $10) bottle of Syrah at the store.  A good way to end a good day.

Happy Halloween

For Halloween, Sandi's family has a tradition of chili and cornbread for dinner. The past Halloweens we have gone over to their place for dinner and a movie. This time Amber joined us!

Amber was supposed to be a pumpkin for Halloween this year. We bought a pumpkin at a nearby farm and I carved it out with 'Amber 2015'. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of keeping it in our house the week prior and it literally disintegrated on our kitchen table. So much for that idea.

Grandma had a family trip to Kansas over the weekend so Amber slept on Grandpa the entire time.

notice the cute cat on her bum

Amber's top says "Daddy's under my spell" so true.

We watched an episode of 'Sherlock.'  That's a perfect Halloween movie!

Palau Baby Shower

Friends at work wanted to throw Amber a baby shower.  It was originally scheduled before she was born but things came up.

Finally, before I left the company, we were able to have the shower.

 

 

I requested a simple ice cream social.  It turned out to be a very classy ice cream social.   The CFO gave a very nice little devotional on being good parents.  The team prayed for us as a family and we were able to show Amber off.

Sandi talking to Melissa, a good friend from the festival department

Scott and Tracy from the Business Department

Everyone was very generous with their gifts

Valerie worked hard to plan this

It was a great way to celebrate and begin the goodbyes

Our family with Andrew Palau

We really appreciated everyone making it a great event.  Everyone appreciated meeting Amber.  This is a good group of people to work with.

First Trip to Seattle

It's official: Amber is part of our family!

Amber had a great first trip to Seattle.  She got to hang out with Aunt Julie while we took a walk to the store.  Aunt Denise came over and nibbled on her ears.  We had a wonderful taco dinner while Amber slept.

Amber loved meeting her aunts and uncles

on a walk with Grandma and Grandpa

 On Sunday, we took a late morning walk around the neighborhood and Amber got a sense for where Grandma and Grandpa live. 

All of the cousins

Amber can't wait to start playing with all of her fun cousins. 

Girls unite!

Look at Grandma go!

a beautiful afternoon before we leave

plotting the gift exchange

Amber is looking forward to Thanksgiving when she can visit everyone again!