Rockey Family Christmas

We had a special evening with my mom's side of the family.  Of course, the entire family was not present, but it was a blessing to be able to see as many people as we did!

Brant, Grandma Erna, Mom, Maddie

Cousins - Lily, Jackie, Julianna, Abby, Amara

Family shot - minus Sarah and me

Mom's Christmas present to Grandma - a sweatshirt with all of her great-grandchildren's names on it.

All grandchildren present, with Grandma.

Maddie and Grandpa Pat - they must be sharing a secret joke.

Sisters with their Mama.

My beautiful Mama and Grandma.

Annual friend reunions!

December not only means vacation time with family in Oregon, but a time to reunite with our friends from the Pacific Northwest.  We cherish each of them, and only wish we could have more time together.  Here are a few highlights from the friends we were able to connect with this year!

Lori, Jackie, Sarah

Melissa, Dan, Jackie, Brant

Jackie, Kelsie

Lots of dear college friends and their babes!!  The last time we were all together, there were 2 children in the picture - the two girlies up in front.  Ha!  We sure multiplied by a few!!

Christmas in Sunriver: part 2

We gave our nieces a miniature pedicure set for Christmas, which was put to good use one afternoon.  I had fun playing "spa" and pampering them just a bit!

One of the highlights of the trip for the entire family, was our magical sleigh ride in the snow!  It was absolutely freezing cold outside, but somehow we managed to get our ride in during a break between snowfalls.  The scenery was absolutely stunning and we all had a terrific ride, complete with hot chocolate on the other side!

Let's do this!

Hopefully we are bundled up enough!  (Not quite!)

Zoie and Maddie, in front of our sleigh and horses.

Grandma Marty, snuggling up with the girls.

Seriously, I never warmed up on this ride...but it was still fantastic!

Two lovebirds.

Finally getting warm, with Grandma holding her in!

So pretty, riding peacefully next to the river.

The girls, after the sleigh ride - it was a hit!

Bundled up, but not convinced that he is comfortable. :)

On our double date, for dinner at the Lodge, with Seth and April.

Prom picture.

My true love.

Christmas in Sunriver: part 1

We went to Sunriver to kick off our Christmas vacation in Oregon with the Himes clan, and it did not disappoint!  The weather was a wintery wonderland, the family was all together, and we filled our time well, complete with ice skating, snowball fights, hot chocolate treats, movies, a sleigh ride and celebrating Christmas.  What a great way to start our vacation!

Donned in her snowsuit, ready to hit the white stuff!

Patiently watching everyone go down the tubing hill, as she was too small to go down.

Cousins!

Holding her new doll like she won an award - love this.

Grandma Marty loved her new mug from California Adventure.

The following sequence of pictures was from our ice skating experience.  Something went awry with blogger during the loading of the pictures, so there are no captions beneath pictures.  But I think they explain themselves quite well.  Maddie had been looking forward to ice skating weeks before we went on vacation, so this was a highlight for her.  She did quite well, and lasted much longer than I would have expected!  It was a good time! 

Oops!  It's hard to stay up on ice skates! :)

  

Candlelight Ceremony 2012

As Annual Passholders at Disneyland, we are given a few opportunities throughout the year to attend special events.  This year, we both (Brant and I) entered a drawing to get tickets for the family to attend the annual Candlelight Ceremony, where the Christmas Story is narrated by a celebrity reader, along with a 200 piece orchestra and choir.  As if you couldn't see where this was headed, we were selected to attend one of the many performances happening in the month of December!

On December 13th, the night before we were to leave town for 2 1/2 weeks in Oregon, with the threat of rain (which could potentially cancel the event), we headed over to Disneyland, to watch/take part in the reading of the Christmas Story, by Dick Van Dyke!!  You cannot even begin to fathom how excited I was, and how each detail of this event made me feel (Christmas Story + music + Dick Van Dyke + family + cold weather + Disneyland + night-before-vacation-starts = unbelievable glee!!)  The story was taken straight from Scripture, was sacred, beautifully narrated and left the crowd in complete silence.  Never have I been to Disneyland, and not heard a single noise.  Incredible.

Riding the tram into the park - pretty happy!

Pre-show, view of the stage. The backdrop was the Mainstreet Train Station.

Almost starting, and thrilled that the rain held off!

Hard to see, but the lights down Mainstreet were turned off, as the choir began filing down the aisles toward the stage, singing and holding candles.  It was a beautiful sight, and the crowd went silent.

Herald Trumpets on the roof

The one and only, Dick Van Dyke!!!  I hooted and hollered like the rest of the crowd when he first appeared, I was just so excited!!  This was his birthday - he turned 87, and still had a spring in his step!

He did a remarkable, sacred reading of the Christmas Story, straight from Scripture. It was awesome!

Geoffrey was even captivated. :)

The scene of the whole stage, post-show.

The girls.

The boys.

Merry Christmas, from Disneyland!