Christmas 2013

Sunday night we had our monthly Butikofer Birthday Bash (aka BBB). Uncle Kelly hosted and we had it at Grandma and Grandpa Butikofer's house. This is the first Christmas that we celebrated without either of them, but I'm so thankful and blessed that we all still get together as an extended family. 

Uncle Kelly had us all get out picture taken in front of the tree before we left. I'm hoping the Christmas party and pictures turn into an annual event. (hint hint Uncle Kelly)

 Chloe was so excited to have her picture taken

(notice the finger headed toward my ear for yet another wet willy)

 My mom and dad

Mom and I both wore our ugly Christmas sweaters but my oh so happy daughter was blocking the view for mine

My baby brother's family

Tayvri, Paul, Bailee, Erin and Brigham

We also did a gift exchange. We all brought one gift per family member and played a game to get them. We found this At Home Marijuana Drug Test and couldn't pass it up so we brought our five gifts and then this wrapped in different paper so we were still incognito. I was so excited when Garet picked it, it couldn't have went to a better person. He is a corrections officer at a juvenile detention center (and also the one trying to give me a wet willy in the above picture). 

Christmas Eve

We actually got to have it at my in-laws house this year instead of some random spot like in years past. Every year they get all the grand kids new suits and dresses.

They boys got matching suits

Chloe got a new dress with a headband that matches the boys suits

Evan is the baby of the family for now and he was having a blast playing in the paper. At one point he and Mason were swimming in it.

(Savannah, Mason and Evan)

Grandma was trying to put all the paper in a garbage bag and Mason was pulling it back out so he could play in it.

Isaiah, Drake and Aidyn made themselves some mustaches out of tape since that can't grow their own.

Every year our kids get to open one present from us and every year it's a pair of pajamas and a Christmas book

This year I found a book called "Santa is coming to Idaho".  The kids loved it because it talks about Idaho Falls and other places around here (obviously) so it hit home more for them. 

All three of my kiddo's we dead set on what they wanted from Santa this year so we didn't have to worry about them changing their minds and luckily for us there were no creepy crawly things like tarantulas on the list this year. 

Gavin asked for Skylanders Swap Force

(and luckily the "W" had it on sale for $37)

Mason asked for a "big dump truck and suckers

Hardest thing ever to find!! Practically no one sells the big metal tonka trucks anymore. You have to buy them online and then the shipping it outrageous.  I  Santa went to practically every store in Idaho Falls and Rexburg that I thought would have them. Finally I  Santa was at Toys R Us looking getting something else and happened to check one last time and they had one and only one so I Santa snatched it up!

Chloe asked for a baby Cinderella

Santa found one and the best part is her clothes are her body so there is no taking them off. She is never going to be naked and I don't have to redress her every time Chloe takes her clothes off and can't get them back on

Our tree

Don't be deceived, we didn't spoil our kids the gifts were just bigger and the smaller ones were boring things like socks, undies, gloves, etc

Christmas Morning

We don't let the kids go peek to see what Santa got them until we are awake because we want to see the look on their faces. Gavin's room is right above ours so we have him yell down the heat vent when they wake up. 

 

Chloe and her baby Cinderella

Mason and his big dump truck with suckers

Gavin and his Skylanders Swap Force

and he's off!

This is fuzzy, but I love it! Chloe calls Cody "my baby" and will hug him and pat his back so it was cute to see her sitting on her "baby's" lap while holding her baby

Showing me her princess shoes

Mason got a very noisy "boo tar"

Examining his new Beyblades

I got Cody a pair of "ballroom"(not for dancing) fire hose pants that he has been talking about for months and a couple of duck calls since that is his new favorite hobby.

Mason just chilling eating some "buggle gum"

It didn't take him long to get his Skylanders up and going

We headed to my mom and dad's and I made them hold Glenna (my best friend from high school's mom) hostage so I could see her before she left. Uncle Kelly was there with us too this year which was an extra special treat. 

The big window made for terrible picture taking but here is everyone from left to right.

Tristen, Kenny, Keylee, Kaitlyn, Faith and Paul's butt ;) On the couch is dad, Brigham, Erin, Uncle Kelly and Mason

Faith, Chet, Megan, Karen, Madisen, Bailee, Taylor and Braxton

Chet has a thing for weird random bear shirts so this was perfect

Faith, Chet, Megan, and Karen

G&G got Gavin some more Skylanders for his game

Dad, Keylee playing with the paper, Kaitlyn with bows on her face, Erin, Uncle Kelly putting the ninja turtle mask on Mason and Faith

Mason loves Uncle Kelly and wanted to sit on his lap so he helped him open his presents

Chloe with her Princess dress from Taylor

Princess Barbies from G & G

Princess Crowns and shoes!

My sister had my name and she knows me too well. I ended up with the rock and she wrote "Smoke Alarm Hero" on it. She bought me Sock Monkey gloves, an infinity scarf and then...well let's just say it made me scream and throw it when I realized what it was!!

Back story: Years ago we all went to see "The Grudge" at the theater and it FREAKED.ME.OUT!! I spent most of the movie with my eyes covered and had my feet up on the seat for fear it would reach out and get me. For months, yes I said months, I had to sleep with a night light (and Cody was so excited about that), I left my closet doors open (so I could see that it wasn't hiding there) and when I would get up for work in the morning I would quickly stick my hand in the room, flip the switch and then peer in to make sure the coast was clear before going in. I would do the same thing when going out the the garage to get into my car. Ridiculous, I know, but that's what happened. 

My brother Paul also broke into my house and hung a big poster of the Grudge on the back of my bedroom door. I closed it and then I was trapped in my room having a near heart attack. I couldn't leave without going near the poster and I couldn't crawl out my window (believe me I thought about it) because my bedroom was on the second level of my house. 

My dad would also randomly make "that noise". You know what I'm talking about, that creepy creaky noise that the Grudge would make. Needless to say they have been teasing me about my ridiculous fear of that movie for almost 10 years now. 

Cody is convinced that if I watch it again I will realize what a stupid movie it is and that I shouldn't be scared and I reluctantly agreed. We couldn't find it on Netflix so my Mandy is letting me borrow hers. Wish me luck!

Ok, back to Christmas. So the last gift from my sister was a cell phone case, but not just any cellphone case, it has a picture of the Grudge on the back of it. At first I thought it was a lizard or dinosaur, or plants. It was green, but it only took me a second to realize what it was and I screamed and threw it. The room went quiet except for the laughter of my sister...my evil sister ; ) and everyone was staring at me.

Cody, Chloe, Tristen, Mandy, Keylee, Kenny, Kaitlyn and Faith in front

(Mandy is my brother Kenny's girlfriend that we absolutely LOVE! He is so happy now and a completely different person! He is the Kenny that I remember from growing up. She is already a part of the family. Her kids are Tristen, Kaitlyn, Braxton and Keylee. They are perfect together and Kenny has always wanted a bigger family and more kids so it makes it even better)

Paul, Bailee, Erin and Tayvri

Chet, Madisen, Karen, Megan and baby Chase hiding under Karen's shirt. He is making his debut on January 7th and I can't wait!!

My spoiled Chloe with her Princesses

Mason and Keylee

Look at those Baby Blue eyes!

My family : )

That's the scarf my sister got me

Flash Back to Childhood! This just happened!

We use to have the game "Ready, Set, Spaghetti" when we were little and we played it all.the.time! My sister has been trying to find it for a few years and I even tried to find it for her for her birthday last year, but alas, we couldn't find it. Karen mentioned it in front of her in laws at Thanksgiving and the hunt was on. They don't make it anymore, but Karen's MIL found it online and gave it to Karen for Christmas. I was as excited as she was!! She brought it Christmas day and we played it.

I was a big meanie and wouldn't let anyone except us four Blakely's play the first game, just like back in the day. It was SO MUCH FUN and I felt 20 years younger. I'm smiling now just thinking about it, it was that awesome! Our spouse's still think we are crazy, but we were all 4 excited and giddy.

Everyone watched us play. It was pretty much a big deal ; )

Everyone has their own plate and fork with their "spaghetti" attached to it. To start the game everyone drops their "spaghetti" into the middle of the game board and then everyone puts the "toppings" on. You want to try and tangle everyone else's "spaghetti" up as much as possible. Once the game is set up you roll the dye and you take off the corresponding topping. You want to pull off the toppings that have your "spaghetti" tangled up. The first one to get their spaghetti rolled up on their fork is the winner.

I won of course and then it ended up being a three way tie between the other three. Karen took second, Kenny took third and Paul came in last. Good game siblings, good game.

Here is the awesomeness!

We also played Wackee Six and taught Uncle Kelly how to play too. He even ended up getting a "Wackee" before we quit playing.

Then we watched "A Christmas Story" while others napped. 

Paul, Brigham and Bailee

Tayvri was playing with her dads foot and trying to eat his toes but quit as soon as I tried to get a picture

On the way home we stopped at another house that had lights set to music before heading home. Mason and Chloe had fallen asleep by then so it was just Cody, Gavin and I.

Playing with her Tangled dolls

Christmas Pajamas

Skylanders, Princess and Dusty from "Planes"

The kids got some super cute pajamas from the other Grandparents this year too. I can't wait to have them wear them.

Mason dressed up in Chloe's princess shoes and crown

Even though we didn't have a fun trip getting our tree this year and even though ended up being much bigger and bushier than we had anticipated it still smelled so good and I loved that it still had pine cones on it. I wanted to remember the little details about it before we took it down. 

Mason asked if we were taking it back to the forest. Wouldn't that be awesome, I wish we could.

Annual picture of our house at Christmas. Not much snow and what looks like a grave for the Jolly Green Giant right in the middle of our lawn thanks to our sewer line excavation.

The next morning the four of us were at Target when they opened so we could replenish our wrapping paper, bows, name tags and other fun things we could find.

Erin, Mom, Karen, Me and the floor cleaner!!

 Our Christmas card this year