{"id":3833,"date":"2018-12-31T15:47:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T23:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/?p=3833"},"modified":"2025-11-06T13:26:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T21:26:20","slug":"2018-december","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2018\/12\/31\/2018-december\/","title":{"rendered":"2018 – December"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

December! I can’t believe this year is all but over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picking up from where I left off with Arabella being sick… well before long Arabella was feeling back to her normal self and ready for Christmas photos (because it is Christmas time after all). This also means that it is the time of year to get a tree and decorate. The kids are fans of this event, I must say. Look at little Lijah’s T-Rex-max shirt below. We got a tree at a local farm and took it home to decorate. I love the smell of a live tree in the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We were also afforded an opportunity to visit the Nike Employee store. There were so many discounts, that if I were a Nike employee I probably wouldn’t ever have money. Also started going around the town to catch Christmas lights (see the reflection in the ornament photo). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This period also marked the FIRST TIME that Elijah got a haircut. If you can see his expression above, he was less than sure about anyone cutting his hair off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early mornings were kind of my thing, I’d arrive early and leave early in the afternoon. One day I noticed on the way inside that there was a framed chip hanging up. After reading it I saw it noticed that President Barack Obama had signed it while he was in office. Pretty cool! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is something really Christmassy that we can do while in the Northwest? We looked it up. The one consistent thing was Leavenworth. We made a trip up to Washington and visited!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was a cute town. The reviews noted that if you visit getting a hot fresh pretzel is also required. Normally they would have a lot more snow on the group by this point – but it happened to be an abnormally dry season. Either way, it was pretty magical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On our way back down we stopped at a roadside cafe that had a few signs hanging up. Why is that interesting? Well, see for yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gas has been rising lately, in fact, we filled up for 2.29 a gallon. Yeesh! Glad I drive a hybrid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After getting back down to Portland we went to Peacock lane. It is a long-standing tradition that if you are in the Portland area this is a place to visit each year around Christmas. Having been in more of the spirit both Ara and Lijah opted to take cheery photos in front of the tree, decked out and looking adorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Before we knew it, it was Christmas eve and we were back at Abundant Life Church. After that, we took a trip to the Aspen Meadow lights and gave everyone on both sides of the fam a chance to meet up. Even though it wasn’t reciprocated we still had fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas is finally here! Below is a picture of what our tree looked like before the chaos of the day ensued. Later that night we took a trip downtown and saw the big tree with hardly anyone around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you guess what else we did before the year finished?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We took a trip to Tillamook! I’m pretty sure that’s what you were thinking, right? Had some dinner and ice cream. Dinner is great! It is super cold outside, windy, rainy.. so you hurry inside and order a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. Elijah figured out early on that he was a huge fan of the Sandwich and Soup combination. Just look at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Blazers game on the 30th was a fun way to finish off the year. Also got the face painting done as well (so did the wife AND the parents). I leave you with a photo of the LAST sunset of 2018. Here is to 2019, ready or not, here it comes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

just Pray<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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note: this post was published on 08\/22\/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of December 2018 to keep chronological order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December! I can’t believe this year is all but over. Picking up from where I left off with Arabella being sick… well before long Arabella was feeling back to her normal self and ready for Christmas photos (because it is Christmas time after all). This also means that it is the time of year to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/dec21lea.jpg?fit=1241%2C931&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8038,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2022\/11\/27\/2022-november-part-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":3833,"position":0},"title":"2022 – November part 3","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"November 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey! Turkey Day finally arrived. We borrowed a table and chairs from Jacquie so everyone would have a place to sit. It was an experience! A little bit of chaos, and didn't play out how I thought it would in my head. I imagined everyone sitting down and praying, maybe\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/nov24-turkey.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/nov24-turkey.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/nov24-turkey.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/nov24-turkey.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/nov24-turkey.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7163,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2014\/12\/31\/2014-december\/","url_meta":{"origin":3833,"position":1},"title":"2014 – December","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"December 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I was walking into work the other day and snapped this photo. I like the cool weather and the clouds around - plus you still get some splashes of blue. So many different perspectives of the same building. Anyway... Arabella had her checkup and she is now over 16 pounds.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dec11-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dec11-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dec11-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dec11-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/dec11-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12622,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2026\/02\/07\/rain\/","url_meta":{"origin":3833,"position":2},"title":"Quick Update","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"February 7, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a story worth repeating. I love the rain. It doesn't matter to me if it does it day after day, there is something beautiful and peaceful about the rain. This month kicked us off with some good downpours (which aren't super common for Portland). Below: I snapped a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/feb1_rain.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/feb1_rain.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/feb1_rain.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/feb1_rain.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/feb1_rain.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9513,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2023\/11\/21\/2023-november-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3833,"position":3},"title":"2023 – November part 2","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"November 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey again This year due to our odd schedule of having to work evenings and being forced to sacrifice our weekends, things have been off. We ended up doing our pumpkin carving after Halloween. These are the designs the kids helped to design and carve. 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We have been going throughout the house and installing updates as much as we can. I also hiked up on the roof to see if there was any way to get Christmas lights installed near the roof line. Wanted to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/oct31color.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/oct31color.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/oct31color.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/oct31color.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jshox.com\/jay\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/oct31color.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6199,"url":"https:\/\/jshox.com\/jay\/2021\/11\/30\/2021-november\/","url_meta":{"origin":3833,"position":5},"title":"2021 – November","author":"me@jshox.com","date":"November 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"There is a newly updated Oregon plate - the Cultural Trust plate. 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