Christmas Highlights

We spent a very merry Christmas in Prescott, AZ with Grandpa and Grandma Howe.  The days were sweet as we played, laughed, ate goodies, read stories together, took walks, went shopping (without the boys!), and made memories.

The Polar Express!

Grandpa and Grandma treated us to a magical and fantastic ride aboard the Polar Express in Williams, AZ. It was a one hour train ride including cocoa and cookies, X-Mas caroling, reading the Polar Express book, and meeting Santa. It was a ride Noah (my train fanatic!) will never forget!

Snow fall in Bremerton

Our first day of snow came a few days ago. We woke up to an even better blanket of snow this morning and have enjoyed it's beauty and even getting out in it. Noah and Winchester have had a ball mostly just tromping around in it. Hudson however has not enjoyed the snow as much because he doesn't care for his mittens and has discovered that snow and bare hands aren't a good combination. He has enjoyed looking at the snow from the warmth of our home much better.

An Early Christmas

Ben left for his final patrol on the USS Nebraska this past Friday. Last weekend, we grilled t-bone steaks in our wood stove (a Selph family tradition) and opened presents. It was a sweet time together with our boys before Ben had to leave.

Last Days

We had a wonderful last few days together before Ben had to get underway on his last patrol. We headed off to one of Noah's favorite parks where we caught a fabulous view of Mt. Raineer. It was a good day and we cherished Ben's last bit of spare time together.

Trimming the tree

This year we are decorating early due to Ben's upcoming patrol. Hudson is loving the lights on the tree. He and Winchester both are difficult to keep away from grabbing the ornaments!

Adventures in tree hunting!

The boys enjoyed romping around the X-mas tree lot finding not only all sorts of trees but lots of mud too! Noah must have picked out 8 different trees that he thought would make the most perfect X-mas tree.

A very Happy Thanksgiving

Great food, wonderful friends, and most importantly... a great God who has blessed us in so many ways. We are truly thankful!

Kenny and Mollie Howe visit (a.k.a. uncle KK and Mo Mo)

It was such a treat for Uncle Kenny and cousin Mollie to visit us for our second Thanksgiving together from California. We had so much fun exploring around, making a giant ginger bread house, watching movies, playing Mexican Train, and eating lots of great comfort food!

A Halloween weekend

Noah was the friendly fireman and Hudson the adorable Dalmatian. We had Ben's cousin and wife over (Tim and Elizabeth Wycoff) for the weekend and enjoyed seeing Jane and Hudson play together.

Fun with Fall

One thing is for sure about living in Washington, there are tons of leaves to rake. We enjoyed a morning of jumping in the piles and learning how to use the rake.