I Promised You More - Don't Want to Disappoint...

After the Christmas morning festivities were complete, most headed outside to play in the snow. We were well over 2 feet now and it was calling our names. Lots of pictures ahead, prepare yourselves. We'll start with this one of David - love those beautiful blue eyes:

Sarah and Kenzie:Sarah going solo:
Aaron giving upright a whirl:
David and Brianna:

Chris:

The snow was quite sticky on this day. The first number of runs were essentially people snowplowing the path. Chris was really good at it:

We actually got Nathan out here to give it a whirl. I think he ended up having a pretty good time, what do you think?:

The beginnings of a train - Nathan, Brianna, Jon, Chris, Sarah, David and Kenzie:

The middle of a train - they're all still in there somewhere:

The end of a train:This time it was David, Kenzie, Nathan and Sarah - SMILES all around!:

Carly after a sweet run:

Aaron in a cool series of three shots:

Aaron and Jon:

Aaron laying down on the job of climbing back up the hill:

After a while of sledding, the adults (well James, with Kara's encouragement) took it upon himself to get a "group" project going. The snow was ideal for snow fort building and that's just what he set out to do. We had these handy dandy brick makers that worked amazingly. The beginnings of a masterpiece:

A second layer going on - Nathan joins in and soon gets assigned "Head Architect" position:

In the meantime, sledding continues. Jon, Brianna and Kenzie:

Not the prettiest landing, but a blast nonetheless:

Some pictures just say it all. Snowbound cars and boogie boards that do double duty in the winter. These babies have boogied their way from the warm waves of Hawaii to the chilly waters of the Oregon coast to the wintery hills of Snohomish, WA:

Back to the fort builders, others contribute their efforts during the process:

A view of the inside in process:

A window under construction:

Carly thinking that it's tough working so hard:

Paul fine tuning his craftsmanship:Finished snow fort - complete with tower, two doors and a window!

Nathan and Aaron pleased with their finished product:
From the other side:

Then it was back inside for hot chocolate, showers, music and games. It's nice when the cousins get together and play piano and violin. Nathan, Jon and Brianna:

And the Leavens Family traditional game of PIG - it's like spoons on crack. These are the final four:

So, in spite of the mishaps (forgot to mention a few power outages thrown in the mix of all of this - yeah for generators!) it was one of our favorite Christmas' to date. Thanks to the Hannas for making the trip and joining us - it's sure to be a Christmas that all of us will talk about for YEARS and YEARS to come! Thanks to everyone reading for joining us on our Christmas adventures. Hope we didn't overdose you with too many pictures, but they really do tell the story well.