December in Hillsboro

We were in Hillsboro until the 18th of December. In that time we:

Had a Ward Christmas Party on the 2nd. (which turned out to be one for the books because something happened with the ham and what seemed like 75% of the ward got food poisoning and was throwing up for the next few days/week.) Luckily I was the only one in our family that got sick. (3 completely unrelated episodes of puking in 3 weeks... awful. I felt like I had been cleaning up vomit for a month!!)

Kylie helping care for Jayce while I was sick in bed.

Dallin accompanied a Soloist at Stake Conference on the 3rd.

On the 8th we had our first snow fall, and had enough to build a few tiny little snowmen and have a snowball fight. :)

The stick smiles are hilarious. :)

I hosted a play group with a bunch of Kylie's adorable friends on the 9th. We made count down chains for Christmas. and they did a lot of playing "house" and dressing up like princesses.

Kylie had her dance recital on the 10th. It was so cute!! The recital is only the girls in their specific dance class and they performed 12 different numbers with 5 different outfits. She was in heaven. We were a little worried during the first number because Kylie wouldn't move or dance, she just sat on her bench and sang, but she quickly got the jitters out and was dancing away! (we were sad family couldn't be there to watch, the weather was too dangerous!)

This is how intently McKenna watched her sister for the whole hour...

"who wants to make some cookies?!"

the tongue... apparently it's a nervousness thing. ha!

her pose cracks me up. 

Her class.

WE LOVE MISS HEIDI!

Best friend, Ella.

This Momma is proud of her dancer!

Dallin and I were supposed to perform at the Grotto with the Stake Choir on the 10th, but it was cancelled due to downed trees from the crazy weather!

Dallin and I performed with the stake choir at the stake Creche and Carol night on the 11th. The nativities were beautiful, the music was heavenly, and the spirit was so uplifting. Thank you to everyone who made that night such a success! Dallin and I sure love playing duets together! We are trying to find another one to learn! 

I accompanied a quartet at the RS Christmas Dinner on the 13th, Dallin was one of the 4 singers. They had a hot chocolate bar after the program. Such a fun idea and so delicious.

Kylie had an Encore dance performance on the 14th. It was just as adorable as the first time. Later that day, Jayce had a doctors appointment. We left  around 1:30 (which would normally be PLENTY of time) just as flurries were starting, but it quickly got worse, and everything in Portland shut down. We never made it to the appointment, and it took us all day to finally get back home (I think we got home around 6pm) Not how I thought that day was going to go...

The little bit of snow that causes so much drama in Portland

Friday December 16th was our "heart" day. We recently found out Kylie has a minor heart defect (a bicuspid valve rather than a tricuspid valve) that will need to be monitored over the years, and it is a genetic problem. So on the 16th the rest of the family had appointments to check our valves. We started with McKenna and Jayce, who both did amazing and laid very still for their echos. Their hearts are both fine!! And then later that day, Dallin and I had appointments to check our hearts as well. Dallin also did amazing and laid still for his echo! ;) Neither of us has the heart defect. Yay! Such a weight lifted off our shoulders, and so glad we caught it early with Kylie so we can monitor it and make sure nothing progresses or gets worse.

Kylie helping McKenna relax at the cardiologist

Saturday the 17th we had our second annual Christmas Piano Recital. We had the recital at the church. Our students did fabulous! They make us look good. :)

December 18th the ward choir and the RS sang songs in Sacrament meeting and I accompanied each song. They were beautiful, and they were the last two performances (for me) of the season. I was just SO GLAD to finally be done with all the practicing and stressing. As much as I love Christmas and playing the piano... all of this accompanying makes me overly anxious. lol.

Apparently all the playing wore our sweet Jayce out too... he fell asleep holding onto his toy one day.

And on the 19th we headed to Kennewick!!