New Years Eve

For New Years Eve we headed out to the Farm. My kids love their Cousins and their Cousins love my kids, the age difference between them all makes no difference. Sadie was especially attached to Kenedy and made Kenedy's shoulders and back really sore from all of the piggy back rides she was getting. 

She also had really sore legs from the airplane rides she kept giving Sadie and Madi.

Michelle likes to have me braid her hair when ever I am around and I enjoy doing it. 

Dustin and Sara along with their kids were in town and it was fun to see their girls whom we don't get to see as often. Here are Ryker and Avy spending time with Charlotte.

Alison put together a really fun game for the grandkids and adults as well, but first, the grandkids, Rylee and younger,  got to play their game.

She bought a bunch of fun, cheap and random items and wrapped them up in saran wrap to make a big ball. One at a time the kids got to pick a number, 1-6, and while the person next to them rolled the die, got to unwrap the saran wrap ball until their number was rolled, then it was the next persons turn, whatever they unwrapped they got to keep. It was so fun to watch and the kids had such a fun time playing. Rylee scored by winning a five dollar bill, some candy and some necklaces.

Ryker was kind to let Kenedy have a break and let Sadie ride around on his shoulders for a while.

Cuddly Cousins

Avynlea and Kinsley                                    Kenedy and Sadie

After giving Charlotte some airplanes rides Ryker thought it only fair to have Charlotte give him a ride. She thought that was pretty funny and liked Ryker pretending to get a ride. 

After a little bit, the rest of the grandkids, Avynlea and older and the adults got together to play our own saran wrap ball game. I had a lot of fun watching the kids play but did not realize how much fun it was until I got to play. This was the funnest game! We managed to get the ball around the circle twice and everyone got at least a couple of items. Their were 8 $15 gift cards to Olive Garden and I got 1, Avy got 1 and Kenedy got 2 of those 8 cards. We scored big time. Among other things, Kenedy got some pepper spray, which Ryker unwrapped but let her have, we got candy and I even got a pack of tissues. It was so fun watching everyone play and seeing the items that were being flung out as the ball was unwrapped. It was a frenzy of excitement!

After the game I brought out my chocolate fondue pot and different treats to dip into the chocolate. We hade Nilla Wafers, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, and marshmallows. A yummy treat for all! 

At one point Whitney's girls needed a break from all the craziness and she put them in her parents room to watch some Peppa Pig episodes. She thought it was cute when she checked in with them later to see Kefford hanging out in there with them.

Michelle put together some Minute to Win it games and Adults and Kids alike had fun participating. It was a bit chaotic and out of control but I think everyone had fun throughout the game playing.

Rylee got to spend some time holding Caleb and she thought that was pretty great!

Bob had some sparklers left over from the 4th of July and the kids took them in the back to have fun with them. 

These next pictures crack me up. I knew Avynlea liked to have her picture taken but did not realize how much until Alison showed me these pictures she took. In the top left you see Avy sitting at the Island smiling for the camera. In the top right a picture was taken of the ones eating at the table and if you look where the arrow is pointing you can see an Avynlea blur running to the table so that she could get in to the third picture that was taken, bottom left, Avy smiling for the camera again. She is such a cheese ball. Bottom right was taken at a different time but with the cheeser still smiling and hamming it up for the camera.

By 11:00 everyone left to go to their own homes. We were planning on staying the night and going with his Parents to church the next morning. My older three kids went to stay the night with their Cousins at Jeremys and Rylee stayed with us at Bob and Alison's so she could be with Isabelle. Rylee and Isabelle really wanted to stay up until Midnight and by the time we had them ready for bed it was about 11:30. I played Apples to Apples with them until I got bored and then had them make up their own version of the game to be played with two people. 

Midnight finally came and Rylee had her first lesson in how unexciting staying up late really is. 

Happy New Year

Seattle

When I found out that Kefford had the entire week off after Christmas I tried talking him into taking me to California. He was not as into the idea as I was, he did not want to drive for 14 hours to get down there. He knew I was missing my family and so he said why don't we go and visit Joshua and Mallory and their new baby. I was keen on that and we left on Monday to drive to Seattle. His Uncle Mark lives in between us and them and we took a break from the drive to stop in and visit him and Debbie. Keffords cousin Tiffany was there with her daughter Allie and it was fun to visit with all of them for a couple of hours. 

We made it to Seattle about 2:30 and had to drive around a bit because we got there sooner then expected and Joshua was out running errands with his family. 

Finally we were able to get to his house and see my new nephew Amos. 

We were all smitten and had a lot of fun holding him and loving him. He is so cute and a pretty chill baby which was nice.

I woke up early tuesday morning and when I came downstairs to use the bathroom I saw Mallory on the couch with Amos. I offered to hold him so she could get back to bed and I was really happy when she took me up on that offer. I had a couple of hours of holding my nephew and I loved every minute of it. While they were sleeping I changed his diaper and fed him his bottle too, it was baby heaven!

We wanted to explore downtown Seattle a bit and once everyone was up, dressed and fed, we headed out to Pike Place Market. It was different from what I expected but not bad, just different. We went to the fish sellers who throw the fish around and it was fun to watch them call out and throw the fish.

We were also taken to the famous gum wall which was disgusting. It is the practice and tradition of people to put their chewed up gum on this wall and it was covered. About a year ago the city came through and cleaned it all off but that didn't stop the people. They just started over and covered  the wall again with their disgusting gum. I took some pictures of the kids and then I had to get out of there, it was grossing me out. 

We enjoyed walking around but it was pretty cold and that part was not too fun. We decided that we would shave to come back again sometime this summer when it is warmer and we would be able to see more without feeling.

On our way back to Joshua's we drove by Seattles Space Needle. Nobody wanted to get out to look at it so I opened the sunroof and took a picture out that. I thought that was pretty clever of me!

Kefford spotted a Ferrari dealership on his was back and had to make a stop so he could go in and get some pictures.

We decided to leave early Wednesday morning. It was a short trip but we did not want to overstay our welcome and Kefford was really worried about the roads on the way home. A big storm was passing through and they were predicting really ugly roads for driving. We definitely wanted to avoid all of that. Since we were leaving so early I made sure to get some pictures of Kenedy and Ryker with Amos since I hadn't already done it.

joshua decided to try a new look with his mustache, he makes me laugh a lot!

The next morning we got up pretty early and got ready to head out. Mallory wanted a picture with Amos and out entire family so we made sure to do that before we left.

I am grateful that we got to spend time with Joshua, Mallory and especially baby Amos. hopefully it can happen again soon!

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve we let the kids sleep together in the bonus room. I am pretty sure they stayed up rather late but since I didn't have to hear them I was ok with it! About 6:00 I got up to make a breakfast casserole and then at 6:30 went upstairs to check on the kids and wake them up if necessary. With church being at 9:00 we didn't have a lot of time to hang out and chill before we had to get ready. We decided we would do stockings before church and then open up gifts after we got home. We didn't want to rush and it worked out pretty good. 

Anyway, when I went upstairs I found all of the kids awake and hanging out waiting for us. Supposedly Rylee woke everyone up when she was rustling through her stocking and making noise.

Kenedy decided to try for a little more sleep after the stockings were opened. Nice try kid.

When I went to Harry Potter World this summer I got some souvenirs for the kids. I told them I got them something but they were not going to get them until Christmas. I wrapped them in red tissue paper and put them in their stockings. I let everyone know to wait to open the red gifts until we did it at the same time. They were pretty excited to see what I got them. 

I got everyone a chocolate frog. They are super big chocolate frogs and I am hoping taste as good as they look. Each chocolate frog comes with a collectors card and everyone but Kefford got Gryffindor, he got Ravenclaw.

After stockings were opened, we got ready for church and then ate breakfast, which turned out really delicious! 

Normally we make going down to see what Santa left under the Christmas tree a bigger production but with us going to church they just came down when they were ready. Rylee has been wanting a Kindle for Christmas so badly and has been talking about it a ton. She was walking around the tree examining all the gifts and when she was done came over and commented that she did not think she got a Kindle because none of the gifts looked like it would be one. That girl!

It was snowy and pretty icy and a little bit treacherous walking into church in my high heels but I could not resist getting a picture of me with all of the snow.

I really enjoyed the sacrament meeting we were able to go to. It was beautiful and I really felt the Spirit. I had my doubts about Christmas on Sunday but being able to go to church was pretty great and so much better then I thought it would be. Whoever put together the program did a really great job!

After church we came home where I made the kids get together for a church clothes picture before they could change.

I am in love with the big picture windows in our Living room but they were not doing a good job of helping me take good pictures. I tried taking pictures during the present opening but did not get as much as I would have liked because the light was being weird and washing everyone out. I did the best I could.

My Mom sent the kids their favorite candy with money wrapped around it. I thought it was a great gift and the kids loved their presents from her!

Rylee was super excited that she did indeed get her Kindle, Santa is good at disguising gifts. She also got new shoes, ear phones she was wanting and a Jasmine mug. The kids drew names this year to buy for each other and Ryker had Rylee and he got her some cute slippers and a flick in chicken toy.

Avynlea also got a Kindle which was thrilling for her, she also got Calico Critters stuff, new shoes  and for the sibling exchange Kenedy had her and she got her a pink pocket knife. Avy was so excited, she has been wanting one for a while.

Ryker didn't really ask for anything for Christmas, he didn't have any idea what to ask for since the one thing he wanted was way too expensive and he knew he would not get that, A 3DS XL. During the black friday sakes Kefford saw an ad for the DS XL on sale but the picture with it was of the 3DS XL and Kefford went to the store and managed to get the 3DS for the cheaper price. It was a holiday miracle! Kefford wanted to trick Ryker so he put the game system on the bottom of a really big box, packed it with 2x4's and brown wrappings and then placed a wrapped gift of underwear on top. Ryker opened the box pulled out the wrapped underwear, set it aside and then pulled all the other stuff out to find the 3DS. He ruined all the fun. He was so shocked and excited that it was fun to watch him. He also got a lamp and some underwear and from Avynlea he got a watch. 

Kenedy had a pretty great Christmas. She got a flat iron, a jacket, a shirt and another shirt plus some fox earrings from Rylee. She also got a new/old car. Kelsey got a newer car from the farm and he graciously gave his old car to Kenedy. It is not anything fancy but she was really excited and happy to have her own vehicle. I have my kids write thank you notes for gifts they receive from relatives and I was happy to see Kenedy wrote a thank you to Kelsey without any prompting. I have great kids!

I got a drink blender from Kenedy which was really fun. I love making smoothies and milkshakes but do not like using the big blender and washing the huge thing out every time I use it. I have used this personal blender a lot since Christmas and it has been awesome. I can make the kids their own drinks as well. Definitely a thoughtful and fun gift! Avynlea got me some drawer organizers which I have been wanting. She was happy to give them to me and let me know she thought of it all on her own. Ryker got me a bluetooth speaker and Rylee got me a gift card to Target. My kids are the best!!

Kefford got a box of candy bars, some new dress shirts and a Batman action figure. 

Overall we were all very happy with our Christmas gifts!

After all of the presents were opened we opened out Secret Person gifts from my family.

Emily had Kenedy and got her a mermaid tail blanket which she loved!

Ben had Ryker and got him a nerd gun, Harry Potter wand, a mini chocolate frog and Bertie Botts every flavor beans.

Amos had Rylee and he got her a blanket which his Mother made for him to give to her. 

Ashleigh had Kefford and she gave him a photo frame with pictures of him and Andrew Brown playing frisbee and a picture of Kefford and I that her and Andrew Brown recreated. The entire family like to tease Kefford and Andrew Brown about their bromance and this frame was perfect and hilarious! I really wish they lived closer, the four of us would have so much fun together. She also got him some candy and a gift card to Best Buy.

Heather had Avynlea and she got her a Belle Alex and Ani bracelet. Avy was so excited, she said she has been wanting one for a very long time!

Little Jeremy had me and I got a super cute snowman pillow, a really soft blanket and a minnie shirt. I was very happy!

I also got a late birthday/Christmas gift from Heather, Mermaid socks and a Gilmore Girls stamp set. I LOVED it! Such a fun gift and I love how well she knows me!

After hanging out around our house for a couple of hours we headed out to the Farm. Kenedy, Ryker and Avynlea got jars of candy with money inside and Rylee got a bag filled with baking supplies. All four of the gifts were perfect and the kids loved them. I only got pictures of Rylee opening her gift because the others were too fast. 

For the rest of the night we hung out and enjoyed being with family.

I know that the kids had a great Christmas and were collectively happy with everything they received. The best part was watching the kids being excited but also very grateful for everything they got. Rylee had an especially great Christmas and told Kefford this was her best Christmas ever! Kids are amazing and make the holidays so much more fun!

Merry Christmas!