hello, goodbye.

is it just me or does each year pass by at an alarming rate? i think it does. & here we are with twenty-tweleve fast upon us. its kinda freaking me out a bit. 

twenty-eleven was a great year for casa del ray. 

2011: summary!

rj traveled a lot for work: china, italy {twice}, dallas, TX

we took a trip up to the great white north, & skied & frolicked in the snow & mountains of Whistler, BC. 

it was the first winter of skiing for the wee ones. 

C turned 5! {& started kindergarten in the fall!}

i took the train north to Seattle to spend the weekend w/ one of my bestest gals, Codie. 

sister turned 3! 

along with my parents & sister we spent 10 days on the Big Island of Hawaii! 

{rj, shelly & i all got tattoos there too!}

C learned how to swim all by himself there! 

rj & i celebrated 8 years of marriage, it was his turn to plan & he surprised me with a stay at the Nines hotel downtown PDX.

nana & steve came to visit. 

the spring-fall months were really busy for lifecandids photography full of portraits from new babies to families, & weddings! we are so grateful for all our wonderful clients. 

the most significant change that 2011 brought about for us, was our decision to take a new opportunity & that involved MOVING 3 HOURS NORTH! 

rj accepted a new job, we sold our house, bought a new house & moved to outside the Seattle area! 

its been an amazing change & feel really blessed to have been given this new opportunity. 

all in all 2011 was a blessed year for us & we are really looking forward to the new year.

goodbye twenty-eleven.

hello, twenty-twelve!

snowflake lane.

over the weekend we took the kids to see snowflake lane in downtown bellevue. its a nightly show starting at 7pm where drumming toy soldiers, a snow queen, sugar plumb fairies  all come out along the sidewalks. they drum, sing & dance. then a bubble machine fills the air with "snow"! the kids loved it! 

carter's favorite part was most likely the candy cane sucker, meeting rudolph & getting hot cocoa at Starbucks afterwards! he's not so fav part, the "snow" because it landed on his nose & his hair! haha.

that was sis's fav part! 

oh, & sis chose her outfit for the event. pink tutu & all! ;) 

deck the halls....

helping to decorate the tree! 

O, Christmas tree!

last week the kids, shelly & i all went down the road to get our Christmas tree. the boy, could NOT wait

any longer. Christmas just might pass us by if we didn't have a tree. right. that. second. 

so! being the wonderful mommy that i am, we went a tree huntin' right after he got home from school.

i am kinda ashamed to admit this, but we went to a tree lot. gasp! oh, the horror!  yes i know. 

growing up in the country one never, ever, ever went to a tree lot. you go cut yours down & lucky for us, we always went to the Grey's to cut down said tree. but this year bubs did not want to wait & did not want to drive that far {his words, not mine} anyways, back to the lot. i felt good about buying from this one in particular because it helped raise money for the local boys & girls venturing club {think co-ed boy scouts}. the kids have to work the lot and the money they earn goes towards their outings for the year.

so, to me, that was a good reason to purchase a tree from a lot. 

when we stepped out of the car, bub says, {draws a deep breath in}"ahhhh, it smells like christmas!"

 then they ran literally the entire time. like bees buzzing from flower to flower. 

they, buzzed from tree to tree.

 "how about this one?!"

"or THIS one...."

& so on....

then we found the one. "not small or thin" {again, bub's words, not mine}

she's biting him. ha!

children bailed for 50cents? um, why not?!!! ;) 

summit west.

last weekend while my parents were still visiting for Thanksgiving, we drove up to the summit on snoqualmie pass. the ski resort is 4 resorts all connected: east, west, central & alpental and the best part is

that its only about 25 mins from our house! 

we can't wait to bust out our skis and snowboards!!!

house tour. sister's room.

sister's room was the first to get some painting treatment. she, of course, chose purple.

which is her current fav. she also insisted on helping to paint. which lasted for about 10 minutes

then she needed to leave to take a "shocolate" milk break. painting is hard work, people. 

phone pic. excuse the weird coloring happening here. its not pink, promise. 

but we painted stripes one one wall.

done!

& of course she NEEDED her own Christmas tree with PURPLE lights :) 

her closet has some shear purple curtains on a tension rod. it makes her walk-in closet a special 

spot for all her dress-ups!