Joanne's Christmas Tea Party

Joanne throws a fabulous "Christmas Tea" party.  I usually like to play pranks on her.  The last time I found tiny little mice (fake of course) and put them in different drawers to scare her.  She petrified of mice!  I may have been hit...but it was totally worth it!  

This year I decided to make mint truffles instead.  SO easy and pretty delicious if I do say so myself!

 Here are a few of cute guests!  (Becky DuPaix, Margaret, Katy and Marse and Tyson)

There was tons of food, TONS of treats and TONS of great people to visit with!  It was just perfect...except for one little thing.... It needed a tall, broad shouldered, handsome Jim!  He was missed! But, I think he was making the rounds and happy to see everyone that came to support Joanne and enjoy the festivities.

Christmas Shopping with Corb

We started another new tradition this year...shopping one on one for family gifts with each of the boys.

Corb and I went together.  We left bright and early Saturday morning and set out in search of a delicious breakfast.  He chose McDonalds....I chose Kneaders....He won!  

We went to a few stores and after he figured out that we were shopping for OTHERS and not himself...it went rather quickly.  Which I was kind of sad for.  We had a time constraint due to a basketball game that day.

I had such a blast hanging out with this cute kid one on one.  He's a RIOT!  He's seriously so funny, thoughtful and generous.  He did extra chores around the house to earn more money, gave us all the money he had saved and then thoughtfully picked each person's gift.  It's times like this that I am noticing how quickly he's growing up.  And I begin thinking that it will only be a matter of time before he's gone.  Gone for good because he's all grown up and serving a mission and then getting married.  He makes me so crazy sometimes, but I absolutely ADORE him and am SO grateful that he's here.  That's HE is the big brother.  He's a great big brother...when he's not teasing.  I love him so much that it makes my heart hurt with gratitude.  

Friend's White Elephant Party

We had a White Elephant party with some of our Besties...aka the Core Four and spouses as we (the girls)like to call ourselves!  :)

Because trying to find a sitter is IMPOSSIBLE in December, everyone was kind enough to let us have the party at our house.  We ordered in a little Papa Johns Pizza and talked and laughed like crazy!  Our topics of conversation spanned everything from talking cub scouts and the silver beaver award all the way to gun control...the conversation never lacked for complete entertainment!

Sieb's hosted their fun Candy Bar game.  I may have cheated....a little!  :)  But hey...when chocolate is involved...self control is non-existent!! :)                      

Then we pushed the kids downstairs (Literally) and then the "real" partying began!  

Bring on the White Elephant gifts!  I went first...and got some AWESOME "Handerpant" gloves!  :)  VERY awesome!

Ang decided that they were indeed QUITE AWESOME...and she stole them from me!

Coby may have gotten the best gift of all...AUTOGRAPHED Senior Pictures of Fab and Amy.  I think Amy wanted to die!  It was a HILARIOUS!  Way to go Siebs!  **And just for the record...if my Senior pictures looked as beautiful as Amy's....I'd probably have them displayed FRONT and center for my children to see!**

Since Fab is very PRO gun...I thought it fitting that he got the Duck Dynasty air fresheners!  He seems SUPER thrilled!

Then Amy got some "fish and chips"  Clever!!

Rob got an ice cream maker....I SO wanted to steal it!

Wipers for Brett...EYE Wipers that is!!

The fun kept going....

Rob got into the spirit and I think it took Ang by surprise!  :)

All because of Brett and Camille's "inside" gift of....

POP ROCKS!!  I'd like to explain...but this is a family blog...so I'll keep this one between the Core Four and our hubbies!  :)

As you can see from the picture above...Indeed I was the ULTIMATE winner...POP Rocks and a little white elephant creamer.

But, unfortunately, all good things must eventually come to an end!  :(  This little guy was COMPLETELY spent by the end of the night!

We had so much fun tonight!  My sides hurt from all the laughing! I LOVE spending time with these amazing people!  It's nice when every couple can click as well as this group!  Each couple adds so much.  They all adore their spouses (some it seems more than others) and always leave me wanting to be better for my sweet Coby! I don't know how we got so lucky!  Until next year...  

Baby in a box??

 Since we have Amazon Prime shipping...we've been getting a few boxes...

 And sometimes...the contents are REALLY great!  Today I found THIS....

He's pretty cute...and I'm thinking of keeping him.  I'll save the receipt...but I'm pretty sure I won't need it!  :)

Cole turns 1!!!

I sure LOVE this squishy little lamb baby of mine!  He was a trooper today as he went for his year check up WITH shots!  :)  I always hate when they give them shots for those two seconds of torture.  He got three shots and cried...but not as long as I thought he would have.

His stats are:  31 inches for height (80th%)

                      24.6 lbs for weight (90th%)

                      19 inches for head (90th%)

In a nutshell.  He's healthy, with 7 teeth (4 on the top and 3 on the bottom), he can take a few steps, he can say "MaMa, DaDa, Ut-Oh, This...".  He's very stubborn and wants what he wants when he wants it...ten minutes ago!  I think it's the red hair!  But those dimples...OH those dimples melt me every time he grins!  He's starting to FINALLY sleep through the night...FINALLY!  By far the slowest one to figure that one out!  He LOVES and I mean LOVES his white blankey.  The one that was Jack's.  He likes to eat scrambled eggs with bacon and cheese for breakfast.  But as of late, he LOVES bananas.  Like Jack, he has to have both hands FILLED (to the point of dropping things) of whatever treat you are giving him.  And he has to have at least ONE each for BOTH hands!  He loves food!  LOVES it!  And I'm happy he's a good eater!  He loves his bottle now...finally!  He loves to give kisses...wet slobbery ones! And he LOVES his daddy and brothers.  I would say that I think he loves me best...but I think he loves to make me the MOST crazy!  Sometimes he just whines and whines for me to hold him and then WON'T let me put him down.  It makes for cleaning bathrooms interesting to say the least!  He hasn't been the easiest baby...and if I'm being honest, he's been our hardest so far!  Coby says it's because all the others were born during warmer months...I hope he grows out of it!  Because trying one more time for a little girl is looking less and less likely!  :)  

Jack's and Jim's tree

Decorating the tree at Jim and Joanne's house has always been a Rich tradition that we have all loved!  The kids especially!  But this year has been exceptionally hard.  Each year we'd head to the same tree lot and pick out the tree with Jim and Joanne while all the boys hid and threw peanuts at each other.  Joanne has been dreading it I'm sure.  So, this year we talked her into getting a "Jim" tree...similar to our "Jack" festival of trees tree.  Jim made it quite clear that he did NOT want to be an actual festival of trees tree...so we did the next best thing...created our own that Joanne can love forever.  All of the Rich's on Jim's side as well as Patterson's from Joanne's side came over and we made special ornaments for our "Jim" tree.....take a look....

Here it stands in all it's glory....but take an even closer look to see just how amazing it really did turn out!

Here's his name all spelled out

Here's the tandem bike along with lots of tools.  He was always fixing things! 

And of course we couldn't leave out his Saw!  

We made picture ornaments.  Here's one of all the kids.

I LOVE this star!  Coby made it out of an old bike chain.  PERFECT for a tree that represents Jim!

 A few days later, as is our tradition every Christmas, we headed to the cemetery to decorate a little tree for our little Jack and now for our Jim.  I don't love this tradition.  I never will.  They were both too young.  I hate it.  I really hate it!  The only comfort I get is knowing that they are together.  Merry Christmas baby boy and Poppy!  We wish you were BOTH here.  Oh...how we wish!

Coby's Christmas Party

Tonight was Coby's Work Christmas Party

It was a HOOT!  Great food, a sweet cameo of "Coby" the elf, and a jazz band for dancing!  I may have had too much fun... As I was bustin' a move....I broke the zipper on my new Ann Taylor Christmas dress (an AWESOME thrift find from Uptown Cheapskates).  But luckily I'm married to the most creative and talented man EVER...and was able to fix it!  We slipped behind a wall (small enough to walk single file) and the glass window to the building.  If you were watching...it may have looked a little riske'! I really like the new company he works for.  They seem super fun, young with actual morals!  :)  Coby's Christmas gift this year was a sweet blue tooth speaker!  I'm LOVING it!  I mean...he's loving it....!!  It was a fun party!  I can't wait for the next one!

Gingerbread Houses

Today we decorated gingerbread houses at Honey's.

We all had to be VERY creative to get the the houses to stick long enough to get them decorated with all the sugary deliciousness.  I'm not sure...but Jaden may or may not have eaten MORE candy than he placed on his little house! 

Livvy was loving all the candy...and only a few ended up in her tummy!

 

Milly Moo was so cute and even asked permission to eat some of the candy!  I should have asked her to teach my boys....

Corb let his creative juices flow and made an A-Framed little house.  OR maybe it's because we been to Bear Lake A LOT during his 8 years!

Milly had to go home, so Marse and I and the kiddos headed downstairs and help decorate the "cousin's" Christmas tree.  Livvy and I even matched with our polka dots!

Today was a lot of fun!  Thanks Honey for always be so fun helping our kids get festive!  :)  We love it!

Jaden's first visit to the Dentist

Could that monkey hat wearing boy be any cuter??!!!

Today was Jaden's first visit to the dentist!  He did AWESOME!  He did, however, eat a few oreo cookies (courtesy of my mom) just before we left!  I'm sure it gave the hygentist a little scare!  :)  But when it was all said and done, there were NO CAVITIES to be found!  He got a little token and was able to pick a surprise.  He's seriously so cute! I can hardly stand it!  I can't believe how big he's getting!

Decorating for Christmas

Most favorite picture of the season!!

It may LOOK like he's helping...HELPING to take all the ornaments DOWN!!

After getting home from choosing Christmas ornaments that represented each of us individually, Coby turned on some jazzy Christmas music and we all started decorating the tree.

Corb has been VERY sporty this year, so he got the "sports" ornament.  Coby got a Football, Jaden got a glass wrapped piece of candy, and Jack got a little blond haired blue eyed boy on a sled.

                    

I got a glittery pink shoe and since Cole is the little lamb boy...he got a little lamb!  

And here it is...all decorated!

I made an ornament garland and strung lights around them and hung the stockings with CARE.

Here is Jack's Angel tree.  We miss him!  I love this tree.  It decorated so beautifully and we wrap it up every year so that we won't ruin just how nicely it's put together...but I HATE that we have an ANGEL tree.  

I love the glow of all the Christmas lights.  I just wish the Christmas season could just last a little longer than only one month.  It's always crazy with all the family parties...but it truly is the BEST time of the year.  

Thanksgiving and a Newbie

INTRODUCING.....

Dillon McKay Larson

Lanae and Jared had their little bundle of joy this Thanksgiving morning!!

He's so sweet and cute!  I think he looks like little Austin.  Same cute little mouth.  I wonder if he'll have those adorable dimples like his cute cute momma!!

It was such a great Thanksgiving day.  It was my family's year and we had Thanksgiving dinner at my cousin Chad and Natalie's house.  Chad and Natalie we so so generous to offer to host this year.  The food was excellent but the company was even better.  It didn't quite feel the same because my partner in Crime was breathing in the fresh scent of heaven with her new baby Dillon.  LOVE those sweet minutes of quiet and soaking in all the newness of a newborn.

I made the stuffing this year.  It was awesome!  If I do say so myself!  It was a coveted recipe that I've been hoping to get for years!  But thanks to a dear friend of mine I have it locked away in the vault!  ;)  

It was also this little guy's birthday!

I can't believe he's ONE!!  ONE already!  It feels like it's been a really LONG, but short year at the same time!  More to come on Cole's birthday later!

I'm pretty sure that Lanae and I planned out our little boys together long before we came to this earth! For little Dillon's birthday to fall on the very same day as my little Coleson...was so exciting!  There is NO ONE I'd rather have my little guys' share birthdays with than Lanae's little boys.  Think of all the joint birthdays!!  :)

This Thanksgiving was a little bitter sweet because it was the first without our sweet Poppy.

Oh how I miss him!  I miss that smile and those strong, broad shoulders and hands.  He had the best hands...paws as we call them.  Corbin has his hands and we couldn't be happier that he inherited those good looking hands from Jim.  I think he was close today.  I think that he and Jack were making the rounds.  I miss them both.  Terribly.  

But I am so grateful for so many things.  My eternal family, the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for my Savior.  I am thankful that I have a knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and for my faith in Jesus Christ.  I know that if I do my part, I'll be with Jack and Jim and my sweet Grandma again.  I know it.  I know as surely as I know that the sun will rise tomorrow.  And I am grateful.  So so grateful.  

Jaden's Thanksgiving Program

I love this little Indian!  His preschool class put on a little Thanksgiving skit.  There was singing, dancing and so much cuteness you could almost die!  :)  I love that he loves school, learning and singing.  He's at such a fun age right now!  JUST adorable!

A little love note

Coby went to the movies....

This was the note he found found waiting for him when he got back to his car!  

WOW....I have no words....SO wrong on SO many levels!!!