A Christmas of Service

This year for Christmas, the Dong family (Mamie's side) decided not to trade gifts, but to trade gifts of service. Each family was to do some kind of service project and then write about it in a letter and send that to all the family for a Christmas present.

1. We started a Service Box. It’s our gift to Heavenly Father, since his gift to us was Jesus. Eveyone in the family was to look for ways to serve each other, by making the bed for another, helping mom put away dishes, etc. Pretty much most of them say that Teya and Kali cleaned up the whole house-cus they love doing that. They have been so good about taking a room and putting all their toys away and picking up everything off the floor. Teya also shared her nerds with Chris and made Kali's bed.



2. To carry on the family tradition, the kids helped make a lot of goodie plates and took them to friends. They loved taking turns knocking on the door and handing them out. We also took cookies around to all our neighbors to introduce ourselves.




And...Chris, of course, was helping by getting into mommy's lotion!



3. We have a giving tree at church, and we picked out three different little children (same ages as our kids) and we went out as a family and bought them clothes and toys. Teya and Kali were big helpers at what was cute and what wasn't. Chris was a big helper at throwing all the stuff out of the cart and running through the isles.





4. Our last main service project was that we went to an assisted living place and we caroled to all of them and handed out candy canes. The kids practiced singing “Rudolf”, “Santa Clause is Coming to Town”, and “Jingle Bells”, we sang other songs as well. They even came with bells to ring and Chris had a Rudolf blinking red nose that he loved to wear. To see those little kids sing, really brightned their days. It was a lot of fun!







Since we have been thinking more about “service” this month, it seemed like we found more ways to serve than just our “service project”. We had a wonderful season of giving. Our children really learned to like serving our family and others. It made us focus on what we can do for others and not what we were going to get.

Yakima, WA...Here we come!

We know where we are finally going to be...yep...Yakima, WA. It is a small town in the great northwest that is centered directly 3 hours from Ben's family and my family. So, it's a good compromise. Plus, it's in the part of the state that doesn't rain very much (a lot like Utah weather). We're really excited! Ben's got a really good job up there as an optometrist. We're planning on renting for a few months, then looking for a house to buy. Get this, since the economy has been down, the housing market has tanked...except for...yep you guessed it...Yakima. Lucky us!

We are really surprised at how wonderful our stay has been in Utah for these last six months. Wow, the time flies by. We have visited friends we haven't seen in years (some from our freshman days in college), as well as many close relatives. It has been so fun catching up with everyone.

Of course, we couldn't have left Utah without going to a BYU football game! Get this...thanks to my Uncle Stuart, we went to the homecoming game, 50 yard line, and they gave us free hot chocolate (that's the girls favorite part). It was so much fun!

Teya's Birthday - The Big 5

Well, this is not the normal creative birthday party that we usually have, but I think Teya and all her friends still loved it. Since we are in the process of moving (once again), we kept this a low maintenance party. First, we went to a really fun jump place called "Jump On It". It has tons of trampolines and some big blow up stuff. After an hour, all the kids were exhausted (not to mention us parents).




Later, we went to a nearby park for cake and presents. We even ordered a little princess cake from Walmart (it was tiny, but perfect for little kids). Too bad I don't have more pics, they're on grandma's camera...I'll try to add them later!



Teya got a princess couch for her birthday, and all three of our kids love to play on it. This is Christopher with his friend Tanner (shhhh...don't tell dad he was sitting on the "princess" couch).

Party! Kali's the BIG 3

Kali is our Big litle girl now. She loves to tell people that she's three. We had a little mermaid party for her and she loved it. Her favorite part was eating the cake she said. Birthday parties are just so much fun.

We tried to make it look like you're under the water...Do you like the fish? Teya helped me make them!

If you couldn't tell, this is Ariel singing on the rock. This was the only Ariel (just Ariel not all the other princesses) I could find in the store...it must not be Little Mermaid season.

They hunted for seashells in the "sand" (rice).

Went fishing.


And went on a "dingle-hopper hunt" (plastic forks)!

Make a wish!

We had a little time before opening presents, so of course we played duck-duck-goose.
Here are all her good buddies. Do you notice the hieght difference...my poor girls...no chance. Most of the other kids were Teya's age.

Kali had a wonderful party. We just love all our little cutie pies!

I'm a bad parent.

Yep it's official, I'm a bad parent. Today Christopher was on the counch and fell off and hit a chair. He has a goose egg the size of a quarter on his forehead...poor kid. And if that wasn't bad enough, it gets worse. So, I was on the phone and I heard a thump, thump, thump. I thought Teya had fallen down the stairs...I run over, nope, it was Christopher who fell down the entire flight of stairs. One thing is for sure, he's a boy. He cried for a second, then wanted to get back on those stairs and play. He had broken down my baricade I had for him at the top of the stairs. Man, he's getting more mobile every second! We finally just installed a gate at the bottom of the stairs.

Part 1: Family Vacation (Dong Reunion)

Right after Grandma's Camp, we drove 12 hours through the night up to Vancouver, WA. My favorite sister in the whole world hosted our family reunion. We went camping, OMZI, boating on the lake, and lots of eating. One of our favorite games was guitar hero. My sister had 2 guitars, drums, and the singing parts. I guess this is the closest we'll ever get to being in a real band! The funniest part by far was watching my mom (sing)and dad (play guitar). We were a little bummbed because Kali got sick, then Christopher, then Teya. Poor kiddos. Ben and I had to take turns staying home with the sick kids and going on outings with the healthy ones. Jana - Great job with the reunion. You put a lot of time planning it out, and it was a lot of fun! But, we did miss Jeff's family. Katie just had their 4th baby, Jason Jeffrey (another little JJ - how cute) and couldn't make it out.




Chistopher got a hold of the chalk and had a grand ol' time drawing a circle around him.


We went camping (well, only Ben Teya stayed the night since Kali was sick). Teya said it was her favorite part of the vacation because she got to sleep in the tent with dad and had HOT CHOCOLATE the next morning!



Next to Jana's house is a water fountain/park that's free to the public. The kids of course had a blast here.





We had a girls night out and got a manacure and pedicure. I've never had one before and it was pretty cool. Those massaging chairs are awesome!


Don't are nails look beautiful?



For the "guys" night out, they went go-carting. Ben had an awesome time...he said they actually go pretty fast. He's number 10!


I think them having to wear ninja masks was the best part!


We went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science Institute). Poor Teya was sick for this one, but the rest of us had a fun time.




They had this cool play room for little kids and Kali wanted to stay there all day. She loved the toy that used air to keep the ball in the air.



The best part had to be playing "guitar hero". I've never laughed so hard before! Ahhh...I love family!

Grandma's Camp!!!

We had a four-day Grandma's Camp put on by Ben's Mom, Ling, and her Sister, Auntie Shirley. All the grandkids had a blast. It was a fun-filled-packed few days. It was centered around the Olympics. We learned about different countries, exercises, chinese writing and food, ribbon dance, relays, and more. We took a bunch of pictures...so here you go. Thank you guys so much...we had a lot of fun!