Merry Christmas

After a long night of helping to wrap all of "Santa's" gifts he dropped off after MIDNIGHT...it was finally Christmas morning.  Notice Coby's sweet shades...

These crazy hooligans didn't waste much time....

....ripping apart their **neatly and efficiently** wrapped presents (**Note - Coby thinks an "efficiently wrapped gift needs only 3 pieces of tape!  I love that man....Heaven knows I love him...but 3 pieces of tape is NOT enough!!)

Jaden has been on a Star Wars kick lately, and Santa must have known that this sweet light saber would perfectly fit the bill this year!

Coby may have been in on sharing this piece of information with the man in the red suit!  He's always full of it....GOOD IDEAS that is!

"What's this....?"

Remote-less batteries of some sort for the controllers on the X-Box!  Hallelujah!!! We may save a small fortune on AA batteries this year!

Cole got a little doggie that talked.  He was loving it....until...

He found something a little more interesting....a Beyblade arena and a few beyblades he found unattended...

But that was short lived as he quickly moved on to something a little more up his alley....CANDY!  

Corb has been WAY into Skateboarding and all things that go along with it...(well, not all things....)

A sweet beanie to go with is new skateboarding sweatshirt.

A little light reading.... I'm not even sure that this can count as a book...Hmmm....I don't know if Santa got the memo on appropriate reading material! :)  Sorry Mrs. Glade!

And last but not least...A Shaun White skateboard to go with his very own skate ramp (Built by Coby in the garage).  Is he not the MOST amazing dad EVER??!!  Cole was VERY interested....and after all it WAS unattended for a whole 3 seconds before he confiscated it with his sticky baby fingers!

Cobe got a super warm jacket that will supposedly NEVER EVER get warn out.  Hmmm...I wonder where that "warranty" went!  Just in case!

And what Christmas would be complete without Compression socks??!!  I hope they help with all the twitching in his legs!  :(  

A Utah Truffle for me....HEAVEN!

And then I got a surprise....I had only asked for one thing this year (And while it was fairly unrealistic...it was at the top of my list this year.)

That cute Coby got me an ELLIPTICAL machine!  He was very sneaky about it and I never suspected even once, because like I said, I knew how unrealistic it was!  As you can see....it was a FABULOUS gift and even better surprise!  Coby is the KING of surprises!  LOVE you babe!

After all that excitement...it was time for a little tickle time for this squishy monkey!  And even though he tried resisting....he didn't have much choice in the matter!

Then my parents and Ambie came over for our Burton Christmas morning.  

We got my dad a helmet this year...because as indestructible as he may think he is...we know he'll be MORE indestructible wearing this!  Beware pine trees!

My mom really wanted to get Jaden a fart gun from the movie Despicable Me 2.  And even a few weeks before Christmas, NO ONE had them in stock!  So, we settled for a printout and a demonstration by Jaden instead!  He didn't mind getting it later and was happy to show us all the "noises" it would make!

Sommy and Drew were even there to celebrate Christmas morning with us via Facetime.  My mom was pretty excited when she found out that we had all arranged for her to go visit Sommy and Drew and Little Ronan then next week.  ;)

Cole was LOVING his new Car and made sure to bring "blankie" along for the first ride!

He couldn't quite find the words to say thank you...so he did this instead!  

After all the present opening had ceased and the breakfast casserole had been consumed...it was time for a little siesta!

We were ALL on board with it...especially my dad...

Ambie....

And this handsome guy!  Hmmm....looks like someone didn't GET the memo!  

Merry Christmas!  Thanks Sweetie for making it such a GREAT one!  I feel so blessed to be able to wake up next to you every single day.  I really do have the best family EVER!  I am so thankful for this Christmas season.  And as festivities continued on, tonight I had a minute to reflect on what I was most thankful for.  I am so thankful for my Savior.  I am so thankful for the reason for this season.  I know that through Him, I'll always have this handsome guy by my side along with my all my boys.  What a feeling it is to know that we are an eternal family!  I am so grateful for the plan of salvation, temples and the knowledge that we can be with Jack and Jim again.  I miss them.  But what an awesome feeling it is to think that they got to have an even more amazing Christmas with the Man responsible for this season...Jesus Christ.  Merry Christmas everyone!  

Christmas Eve

I can't believe it's Christmas Eve already!!  After having a little Chinese food at Joanne's and a fun tiny visit, we came home and started our own little family's Christmas Eve.

We started a new tradition this year.  We gave the kids a new movie and all the treats to go along with it and plan to watch it together as a family after we open a few more gifts. Coby and I each took one of the older boys to go shopping for everyone in our little family.  They each did extra chores to earn money to buy gifts this year.  Here Jaden is giving Corb the special gift he picked out...a yoyo!

  

Jaden LOVED the gumball machine Corb picked for him.  I on the other hand.....

Here's Corb giving Cole his gift.

 Cole wasted NO time digging in to RIP that sucker apart.

But after it was all unwrapped....he seemed to enjoy the paper just as much as the present itself!

Here's a shot of the warm hat and mittens Corb gave him.  He would have NOTHING to do with trying it on...and then needed a mommy love.

Sweet...now Coby can smell like a MANLY man! 

Jaden gave me some "diamond" earrings!  Clearly, I was SO excited!  

I couldn't keep my LIPS off that KID!

And here's our very own SUPER man!  And SUPER he is!!

It was a GREAT Christmas Eve!  The kids are snug in OUR bed...another tradition!  And Coby and I are off to help "Santa" arrange and wrap the presents.  It's going to be a LONG night!  I hope it goes relatively quickly because I'd like to spend a little time with just my Coby!

Christmas Adam

Christmas Adam is a definitely looked forward to by my kids!  It's GREAT because they get to play with all their Rich cousins AND get presents from Honey!  What could be BETTER??!!

We tried to arrange a "secret" photo shoot with a shot of all of Honey and Poppy's grandkids.  I think it turned out GREAT considering Marse was working with a window of about 3 seconds!

Then we read the Christmas story from Luke in the New Testament.  It was sad not hearing Poppy's voice read it to us.  I hate that he's gone!  And I mean HATE!

The 4 year olds (ish) didn't last too long before their attention went elsewhere...

But as soon as presents were given...they were alive and crazy with excitement!

And thankfully...gratitude as well!

Cole on the other hand was HOT and COLD.  Happy one second and ANGRY the next!

Here he is HAPPY as he's looking at one of his "treasures"...a little rubber chicky.

Now he's thinking..."Hmmm....should I be nice....?"

NOPE!  

But by the end of the night, in their Christmas Jams from Honey...they were happy, cute and ready for bed!

I love Joanne's tradition of Christmas Adam!  We always look forward to it every year!  ;) 

BEST husband EVER...

I don't know if it's a completely known FACT....

BUT...let me say for the record...I married the BEST man on the face of the planet!!!

What's he doing you wonder?  Well, he's sewing rice bags for me.  A present I had planned to make for a few friends and for the boys for Christmas.  I ran out of time this year with all the hustle and bustle and...here he is...helping me out while he watches football!  I don't know what I did to get such a manly, yet girly man at the same time!  I LOVE this guy!

Seeing the lights at Temple Square

One of our traditions each year is to bundle the kids up and head downtown to Temple Square to see the lights.  We went with Marse and Lance and their family and Honey.

Although it was rather chilly, they were NOT a disappointment!

Cute cousins!

Even COLE was happy...for the most part.

Here he is thinking if he made a "good" decision to come.  Don't you love his gloves!!  Fitting like a "glove" did NOT apply here!

A little posing with Honey.  Cole looks like he's ready to make a mad dash...thank goodness he's strapped in!

We took a hot chocolate break as we watched and listened to the Nativity playing across from the Visitor's Center.

Me and my bundled baby!

Honey and two crazy 4 year olds (ish) and an ever growing Corbi-Mac!

LOVE this guy and his rugged, handsome face!  

These two are two peas in a pod!  Great buddies and I couldn't be happier!

We walked downtown and got to see the candy windows.  I've never seen anything like this.  It reminded me of something from the movie "A Christmas Story" LOVE that movie!  It never gets old to me.....that and "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation."  BEST MOVIE EVER!  I really could watch it at any given time!

Seeing the lights always gets me SO excited for Christmas!!!  It's only a few days away!!!  Eeeeek!

Breakfast with Santa

Every year Joanne and her siblings arrange for SANTA to have breakfast with all the cousins.

Here is our little "Rich" family.

I think Corb was trying to convince Santa that he really HAD been a good boy!

Jaden just lied!  Just teasing!  He was so excited to see SANTA and wasted NO time telling him that all he wanted for Christmas was a BOBPIT!  Heaven help me if Santa gets him one!

Here's a shot of all the cousins with Santa.

And one more with MOST of our little family.   Nice Leg grab babe!

Such a fun tradition!  The kids love it and I love all the cousin visiting I get to do...and also the food.  The food is pretty good too!  :)

Rich Siblings Christmas Party

This year for our adult sibling party we went to a new place that Joanne raved about.

Here it is in all it's glory!  Coby and I along with Ben and Whit got there first.  It was almost laughable!  It was a TOTAL and I mean TOTAL dive!  It was definitely something I could NEVER picture Joanne choosing!  It looked like some sort of dirty old market with tables and chairs.  I couldn't even tell if there even was a kitchen in this place.  

We were told that this was a one man show.  And to our surprise...it was AMAZING!  This cute little Vietnamese chef (also a convert to the church) was able to whip up a ton of different dishes eaten family style!  Just the way we Rich's prefer to dine!  It was SO good!

Here we all after the FEAST of all FEASTS!

Then we headed back to Joanne for games and to open our sibling gifts.

It was so fun to sit back, relax and laugh til our sides ached.

I love Coby's siblings and their spouses!  This is a such an incredible family and I feel so blessed...SO BLESSED to be a part of it!

Not a creature was stirring....WAIT...

That's right....we had a UNINVITED guest staying with us for a week or two.

This ugly little thing has been going all over...apparently!  I would find "traces" of him and just about DIE.  Then I'd go nuts cleaning, vacuuming and lysol-ing EVERYTHING I'd see he'd been.  GROSS!  I had Coby get a trap.  It was a fancy metal trap that the mouse could get into easily from two sides and then get trapped inside.  It had a clear top...so you could see if in fact we'd caught him.  Well, that little mouse was SMART and NEVER bothered to try and eat the peanut butter Coby's put out for him.  Finally I told Coby ENOUGH WAS ENOUGH...and that if I had to live in a house with a dog that shed incessantly, boys that pee on toilet seats...I WAS NOT living with a MOUSE too!  I mean, come on...I had to draw the line somewhere right?!!   SO...he got few of those little sticky pads you see our little friend hanging out on in the picture above.  How quickly did they work....in less than 10 minutes!  NOW that's FAST!!

When I saw it...he kind of startled me...and then I felt bad for him.  YES, I wanted him out...YES, I think mice are gross...but that sensitive part of me...the part that can't actually hurt living things no matter how vile I think they are (except for spiders...I feel good about having them killed....ALWAYS!!)  So, I decided that he needed a "last meal" if you will.  So, I gave him a cheeto and some peanut butter.  I won't lie...every time that mouse would squeak...I would drop it and run out the bathroom door!  Corb finally had to come to the rescue and put it on the sticky trap for the mouse.  Then...Coby promptly took him out with his goodies and placed him neatly in the trash can.  

Sorry little mouse...but if you want to live...you have to find another home and NOT in mine!  Tell your friends!  :)