I really needed something to look forward to, so we booked 3 nights away at a beautiful home here in Maple Valley on the Cedar River. We didn’t really do anything different than we would at home, but it was a different atmosphere and the view was AMAZING. We ended up leaving a night early because I needed to be back sleeping in my own bed. That worked out well though as Tom had a busy day at work the next day, so it was nice that he could get an early start instead of worrying about packing up, getting home, and then getting to work.
This was the view as we walked in the front door – breathtaking!
It was too cold to enjoy the fire pit, but the red chairs and fire pit added to the beautiful view!
This was the view from our bed in the master bedroom. I would love to wake up to this view every morning! It’s so pretty!
The girls loved this huge mirror in the master bedroom!
In the garage, they had a ping pong table and a dart board. Ashley got to play darts for the first time and had fun. It was freezing out there, so they only played a few games. (The weather was in the mid 30’s outside.)
Molly has grown up (huge growth spurt and matured as well) and changed so much this year. She is doing AMAZING in 7th grade and is doing a great job of teaching herself the violin during orchestra class. She loves to learn and is interested in so many different things. This can be overwhelming at times as she has no idea what she wants to do when she grows up….too many choices. 🙂
For our 25th anniversary, I planned to get my wedding dress out, along with my Mom’s and Grandmother’s, and have the girls and I try them on. We ended up being out of town that week in July, so we did it later in the year. When Mom, Dad and the kids came up in late December, I asked Mom if she could bring her dress and her Mom’s dress up with her for the the girls to try on as well. Everyone that fit in the dresses tried them on. 🙂
I love having these memories and photos. They mean so much to me!
New Year’s Eve has been my favorite holiday to celebrate with the Smalls since I started dating Tom in 1990. Mom always had fun decorations out and lots of appetizers available all evening to snack on while we played games and watched movies. We continued that same tradition after we moved up here. We were SO HAPPY to get to celebrate this holiday with them in person this year! Hooray!!!!
Somehow, we didn’t get a picture of Mom, Dad and the kids in front of the photo wall! I’m sad about that. Also, I was too tired to get up at midnight when Tom came in to get me. I’m sad I didn’t ring in the new year with everyone. But with those things aside, we had a great evening and I’m so glad we were all together!
Tom’s parents and the kids came up to visit us since we could not visit them at Christmas. We were around the house most of the time. But one day, Tom and Dad took the kids (the two adult kids too) up to the snow. They were not there very long, but I think everyone had fun.
They didn’t get any great pictures of Dad or Austin, so make sure to watch for them in the video.
