~Christmas {Wishes}~

~We all were {wishing} that we would have a white Christmas, enjoy the Christmas spirit, and have a wonderful time together as a family....


~Cole {wishes} that his Uncle Matt lived here in Germany so that they could go on great boy adventures every day and that they could work on big trucks together~


~Kade {wished} that he could stop putting all of this candy on this silly gingerbread house and just eat it instead.. what kind of dirty trick is this?~


~We {wish} that we lived closer to our family so that our kids could play every day together and make memories~


~Your Mom & Dad are {wishing} they could hit the fast forward button 10 years and see if you two are still the best of friends - what amazing brothers you are~


~The kids were {wishing} when they went to bed that night.. that Santa would love their cookies, and that the reindeers would be able to fly better after they ate their carrots. And of course they {wished} that they had been even better that year so that they could have received even more toys from Santa~


~Cole {wishes} very badly that he could have a cat and a dog. He is sick and tired of hearing the same old "the Landlord won't let us have pets" answer he keeps getting from his parents. My boys love animals - their Mom & Dad don't love the hair~


~Kade {wishes} that every morning of every day he could wake up to a giant hug and kiss from his Nana! I love you Nana~


~Kade is {wishing} that he could be a rock star when he grows up, and that he could eat chocolate candy bars for breakfast every day.. not just on Christmas morning! Believe me.. so does your Mom on both of these {wishes}~


~Cole & Kade were {wishing} that they could stay in their pjs all day and play with their new toys. Oh the joy when our {wishes} come true~


~Cole was {wishing} that he was as good at real bowling as he is at Wii bowling. He also {wishes} that he would have been more patient with his cousin Maryn..maybe they are just a little too competitive and know how to push eachother's buttons???~


~Kristine was {wishing} that she could have started with the 8 layer delicious German chocolate cake.. but don't worry--- she was able to stuff herself silly with it after her lunch - yum, yum, yum! This is our favorite restaurant right outside of Roseburg~


~The adults were {wishing} that they also had rain boots on so that they could splash through all of the water like Cole & Kade! The entire trail was covered in water.. but we didn't give up and made it to the beautiful waterfall~


~Cole was {wishing} that this great adventure would never end~


~Kade was {wishing} that his parents would have brought him a warmer coat when they were packing for Oregon.. who would have thought there would have been record rain, snow, and low temperatures! We did our best to get out at least a few times~


~Kade was {wishing} he could get off this rock. As you can tell.. Kade was just a little scared! His big brother was trying to help him feel safe.. but he was wanting nothing to do with this huge & scary waterfall!

~~~I must say, we had a wonderful Christmas... and it was great to see so many of the {wishes} come true - we'll just have to keep working on the rest of them~~~

~Home For The Holidays in Oregon Part II~

~It was time to leave the beach for a couple of weeks and join up with the McLean side of the family. There were so many things to look forward to! All of the 5 siblings would finally be together after many years. Wedding, sledding, reunions, so many memories were made on this trip. We all gathered together at this rental house

which was big enough to fit the whole gang~

~The Youngs (Steve's sister Sarah, and her family) were the first ones to arrive! They got in from Atlanta very late.. so we had to welcome them in the morning. The cousins started out being very excited to see eachother and it was very cute to watch them play. This is Cole & Maryn enjoying some good bonding times on the sled~

~We all have been so excited to see Nana & Papa.. but Cole & Kade were out of their heads when they had their pals back! They were able to sneak away to sled before all the events would start to fill the week. They had fun sledding and enjoying all of the snow~

~The boys decided to separate from the women and go and take care of business! This was trip #3 in a week to the airport.. this time it was to welcome the arrival of Uncle Matt from Arizona! There was still a lot to do.. the boys hurried off to downtown Portland to enjoy some boy bonding time and get some of their chores done before the wedding rehearsal that was going on that night~

~Nothing warms the soul like some good old-fashioned Starbucks hot chocolates with creamy - yum,yum! This was a staple when we lived in Portland.. and it was definitely needed to warm the soul.. it was so cold and the boys were being champs with all of the hustle and bustle~

~Stop 4.. get fitted for the tuxedos.. check! And my boys are looking so incredibly handsome modeling their tuxedos! I think they enjoyed being a part of the big event. They were the ring bearers. Cole & Kade practiced it over and over again. During the wedding rehearsal, Cole walked down the aisle and then got down on one knee and presented the ring on the pillow to Dan just like he was a king.. it was awesome.. I don't know where he saw that.. but it was so cute. On the day of the wedding... they were doing so good walking together down the aisle.. but then Kade froze, and tried to pull Cole off the path with some serious peer pressure, and we decided that Cole could finish the rest of the way without his naughty sidekick~

~After the rehearsal, we rushed out for trip #4 to the airport! This time it was to welcome Uncle Jesse home from his 2 year mission for the church in McAllen, Texas - just in time for the big wedding. The kids were getting impatient.. but were so excited when he finally showed up! Welcome Home Uncle Jos~

~The whole gang was finally together for the first time! It was a great McLean Family Reunion. We had a good time catching up and Steve made a delicious Italian dinner for everyone to enjoy~

~The wedding day was finally here! We were so worried that the record snow from the "Arctic Blast 2008" would make it impossible for anyone to make it.. but it was so exciting to see the effort that everyone made to be there. Just a few of the guests were not able to make it. We had fun getting the boys in their tuxedos and they looked & felt so handsome!

I was definitely a proud momma & wife~

~The entire McLean family.. Jesse, Matt, Mark, Dan, Barb, Sarah, Steve - What a great looking bunch. You could feel the excitement in the air.. the siblings were having a good time being together again. Lots of laughs.. and things said that will never be forgotten~

~Have I mentioned that I love to see my man in a tuxedo! It was fun being able to sit back and watch and not have to feel the stress of being in the wedding party! Kade & Cole had a blast dancing to the music, and were so excited when they finally cut the cake and they were able to eat some. They had been staring at it the entire night~

~Leave it to Danny.. to take a break from his wedding reception to unbutton his shirt and have a little competition with his younger brother about who was the manliest with the most amount of chest hair.. I must say - it was close.. but I think Dan wins! Don't worry Jos.. you are still maturing and in a couple of years.. you will win the title~

~Congratulations Dan & Stephanie! We are so excited to have a new addition to the family. Stephanie was one of the most beautiful brides I have ever seen. The wedding was perfect and I could tell that everyone was having a very good time~

~We were getting a little nervous at the wedding.. we were really afraid that we would not make it home! This is what it looked like in downtown Portland after the wedding.. it was crazy how much snow had come down while we were in the wedding. The weather definitely made things exciting on this trip~

~After the wedding.. we decided that we wanted to take advantage of a down day and go and see my brother David and his family. This is Cole & Kade with their cousins Corry & Lizzy. The kids had fun playing games and opening presents.. we were definitely spoiled! Thanks David & Cathy for taking such good care of us. I wish we could have seen you more.. but the time we got was definitely enjoyable~

~This is just a "casual" reminder to Laura.. that she needs to find some of these arm warmers in the store for me!! I will not stop bugging you until they are in the mail - hint, hint, hint! I love you sista - it was good to be able to see you again~

~Sledding, sledding, & more sledding! Can you believe that this is one of the few activities that you can really do as a family.. when you cannot get around because of the snow? Good thing we were able to get the last two sleds at the store! There was only a little dramatic stuck car situation.. but nothing a lot of pushing, pellets of snow to the face, and some broken chains couldn't fix~

~Boys will be boys! I loved watching the boys make new paths and have competitions for who could go the furthest! We really didn't have the right clothes on.. and we didn't have boots, snow pants.. but it was hysterical and well worth it~

~This marked the end of our wedding week adventure! Everything went very smooth & the wedding turned out beautiful. We packed up the rental house and got everything (amazingly) into the cars.. next stop Roseburg for Christmas! The roads were insane and it should have taken only 3 1/2 hours to get there.. and instead it took close to 6 - ughhh! It felt good to be there! Next blog will be about our Christmas day events and other fun times in Roseburg~

~Home For The Holidays in Oregon Part I~

~We were all very excited for our trip home to Oregon to be with family for the holidays. There was a lot of sacrifices made in the way of stopping our European traveling for a few months.. just to save up for this expensive adventure.. but we knew it would be worth it. There were a lot of exciting things that would take place when we got home...Dan & Stephanie's wedding, Jesse's return from his two year mission in Texas.. not to mention spending Christmas & New Years with those you love.

The boys were so excited to finally be on a plane again~

~We had a two hour layover in Amsterdam.. so we decided to use this time for the boys to get their wiggles out on the indoor playground, and then Steve & Cole both had some fun with their aqua massages! Cole was giggling the whole time.. which was creating quite the scene. Nothing like a little pampering and relaxation to make for a great start to the next 10 hour plane ride . The boys did fabulous , we ate lots of food, and we were all able to watch 4 movies..even ones that are still in the theaters! NW Airlines hooked us up (or maybe this is what you should get for $1,000 per ticket)~

~When we arrived to the Portland airport.. we were a little nervous to see if all of our luggage would make it. We had 8 suitcases.. and they did pretty good by only losing 1 - we thought that it would be no big deal.. but with the horrible storm that came in, it actually took us a few days before we finally got it. We stopped off at Red Robin on the way to Oceanside, we have been without good old American food for so long..that everything tasted so good. When we got to the coast.. this is what we saw from my Mom & Dad's deck.. it had snowed and snowed.. inches and inches. This was what came to be known as "The Arctic Blast 2008" - it really made things a little more stressful.. getting around was quite difficult, but we tried to make the most of it~

~We were just excited to be toasty and warm inside.. it was fun to have the Christmas tree up and all of the decorations around... it was definitely beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. We had fun playing cards and catching up~

~Watching the storms come in became one of our favorite activities while we were here. The weather can definitely get intense on the coast. The wind would howl and howl - it was blowing at around 60 mph and the windows would shake all night long~

~That storm brought us a few more inches overnight.. so we decided it was time to go out and enjoy it. The boys & Laura all bundled up and went outside to build a snowman. The boys were loving the adventure.. and we were so glad we had packed winter clothes for this trip~

~Didn't this snowman turn out awesome? We tried to make it as beachy as we could.. how many snowmen do you know that wear beach hats and have black beach rock for their buttons and nose? The boys were all freezing & wet, and were very excited to come back inside for some of Grandma's delicious hot chocolate and world famous chocolate chip cookies~

~This explains a lot of what we did while we were at my parents house on the beach.. eat, eat, eat & eat some more. Because of the weather we were not able to get out a lot.. so we decided to entertain ourselves with food.. ughhh! So we definitely packed on some holiday pounds~

~The weather finally gave us a break and Steve insisted that we go down to the beach. It was freezing at the house, so I had to really be talked into it. The amazing thing was that it was much warmer walking on the beach. We had a great time running around and chasing seagulls, and just taking in the most incredible sunset..

it was just what this freezing, cold soul needed~

~The tide was out, so we were able to climb through this cave to the other side. Cole loved throwing rocks in the ocean, and Steve was loving all of the beautiful photos that he was able to take.. it was crazy to think that everywhere else

in Oregon other than this beach was covered in snow~

~This was the end of our first week in Oregon.. our next week would be filled with many more family members flying in, a wedding, Jesse's arrival from Texas, and lots and lots of snow and ice. This was a great way to start our trip.. very relaxing and a great way to get adjusted to the time difference - my parents always take such good care of us. Thanks to you both~