Last Post for 2012

 The kids in their new church clothes from G&G Fry

 I got Chloe out of her dress and fed her lunch. She fell asleep while I was cleaning up

 Chloe & Mason

They were fine until they saw me and then they would start fake crying

 Uncle Paul, Brigham and Bailee

 The boys decided to eat their Gingerbread houses this morning while I was in the shower

 Gavin did vacuum the entire first floor of the house after I told him he needed to clean up his mess : )

 Chloe stuck her hand inside her house and was munching away

Gavin helped himself to a FULL pan of brownies while I undecorated the Christmas tree. I have decided that silence is NEVER EVER a good thing at my house!! It just means trouble.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

Farewell Big Mama : (

One of our good buddies at MMSC is moving to Utah so Bree threw a farewell party for her. 

Problem #1: Bree lives out in the middle of no where, somewhere between Sugar City and St. Anthony

Problem #2: It was dark

Problem #3: Neither Raini or myself had ever been there before

Problem #5: No GPS.  Raini printed out the directions on Mapquest and was relying on ME to guide her

Needless to say we thought we missed the road we were suppose to take and our piece of paper with the directions unfortunaltely did not know how to say "re-calculating" so we tried to "re-calculate" ourselves. We ended up on some podunk road that got bumpier and bumpier until we ended up at some weird cattle guard fence. 

We turned around and tried to get back to where we were. In the meantime Emily had been lost and texting us too, but she was now at the end of Bree's driveway with her hazards on as a beacon to help us find our way. 

Finally Monica called us to see where we were and we were laughing so hard.

Here is the conversation the best I can remember

 

Me: We are lost and have no idea where we are

Monica: What do you see:

Me: Potatoe  pilers (we were in "town")

Monica: Drive to a gas station or something

...we drive....

Me: (I read her the road signs)

Monica: You're on hwy 33? How did you get clear over there? 

 (lots of laughing and giggling in the background)

...drive some more...

Me: OK we are at a bar...with gas pumps

Monica: You're at the bar?

(more laughing)

Monica: Just stay there and I'll come get you. Don't drink anything!!

Me: OK mom!

 (more laughing and giggling in the background)

 Raini and I in front of the bar/gas station in Teton

 Monica!!

In our defense we were at one point less than 1/2 mile away from Bree's house. We had just made a right when we should've made a left. Oh, never a dull moment when Raini and I are together.

 Raini

Like I said, never a dull moment!

Bree, Raini, Emily, Tamra aka Big Mama, aka Salty Seniorita, aka Dorkus, and me. Monica was there too but we forgot to get pictures before she left.

Once we all got there we had a BLAST!! We got a tour of Bree's house and found out how amazingly talented she is. She made literally everything you can see in this picture, minus the table and chairs. We at yummy food, played my favorite game Wackee Six and of course talked, laughed and talked some more. Tamra is always a hoot and is so much fun to be around. It's going to be so weird to go to work and not see her there. It was sad to say goodbye : (

Fireball

This just in: Gavin has officially named his tarantula so from now on 

Mr. T will be known as FIREBALL!!

P.S. I just added like a gazillion posts so don't stop here, 

there's more to read!

Sledding

We FINALLY had enough snow to do some sledding. I got the kids all bundled up and Mason fell over and couldn't get back up just like the little brother Randy on "A Christmas Story". It made me laugh, but he wasn't too amused.

 First trip of the year

Gavin, Linkin, Mason and Chloe

 Ashley and Milo

 Gavin was a die-hard and wouldn't give up even though he was a human popsicle

 Close-Up of the above picture. Brrr!

 Chelsea was super excited (understatement of the year!)

This was her First Time EVER driving and ATV

Go Chelsea!!

 Gavin pulled Chloe all over the park while we were giving other kids rides on the sled. He just adores Chloe and is super protective of her.

Gavin, Thatcher, Isabelle, Jackson, Chloe and Mason

I put the kids down for a nap after we got back and Chloe didn't want to take her gloves off so I put her down with them on. She still had them on after her nap which is a miracle because normally she wakes up and pulls off her socks and pulls here hair out first thing. She was even pretty reluctant to take them off so she could eat her snack.

Christmas 2012

Santa brought Gavin something that he has been asking for since the beginning of September

A Tarantula!!!

He was so excited!! 

(I know it's crazy!! What were we thinking, right? I'm sure parents have bought their kids way worse things and I just couldn't bear to break his little heart. Don't worry, we laid down some very strict ground rules.)

Santa brought Mason a remote control firetruck that is really loud and obnoxious and he loved it!

Chloe got a new baby doll with a stroller, diaper bag, new clothes, bottles, and dishes.

 All packed and ready to stroll!

 This is the only other picture I got of the kids opening presents. I was either busy recording it or helping get presents out of their packages. Christmas morning was  little overwhelming! Cody and I didn't even get to open our gifts for about an hour because we were helping the kids with theirs and then they wanted us to play with them. It was so much fun. We loved seeing their faces and hearing the excitement in their voices. 

We had a hard time getting Mason & Chloe to open their gifts at first because the only thing they were interested in was their candy out of their stockings. We gave them some and then put them up so they would want to open their gifts.

 Gavin has yet to name him so for now he is "Mr. T."

 Chloe and Mason in their new clothes

 Years ago I heard about someone taking a picture of their house every Christmas Day and I thought it was strange, but I started doing it anyway. It's fun to look back and see what's changed and what hasn't and one day when we look back hopefully it will trigger some memories for the kids of their very first house and the years they spent there.

After we opened our presents we headed to my mom's for brunch and presents.

 Everyone but my mom & Karen

(the photographers)

 Chloe rockin' a bid, Santa hat and half eaten roll!

 The Blakely's

Kenny, Chloe, Cody, Taylor, Karen, Megan, Mom, Dad, Bailee, Paul, Brigham, Erin, Tayvree (in utero), Faith, Gavin, Madisen, Chet, Mason and Teri (Clockwise from the left)

 We ate, opened presents, played with kids & presents, watched "A Christmas Story" and "Elf", played Wackee Six, ate some more, kind of napped (see above), chased kids, and just enjoyed each others company. I'm so glad my family all lives close and that we are close, it's what makes life wonderful.

We left my parents around 5pm, stopped to visit my Grandpa and give him his gift but ended up leaving it because he wasn't there and then went back to the church to see the Fry's.

 They all ended up in their Laker's shirts and as Savannah put it they are "just keeping the dream alive!" I'm pretty outnumbered in this family as a Celtics fan.

 More basketball

 Gavin also got a remote control tarantula

Tarantula's, they're everywhere!

 We bought Chloe some new socks and she had to try on just about every pair of them

 Playing on the skateboard

 My Santa (Cody) gave me some coal for being naughty, but I must have been even more nice because I got three of my favorite things: Bert's Bee's lip balm, pistachios and Laffy Taffy's and I can't wait to read and re-tell the corny jokes!

"Santa" found the kids some suckers that look like the Abominable Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer mouths for the kids.

Christmas Eve

 The Elf left the kids a good-bye letter. Gavin was pretty sad, he almost started crying. He LOVED the Elf way more than I thought he would. It made everyday fun.I reassured him that he would be back next year so he would see him again before he knew it.

We met at my sister-in-laws church for the 

Annual Fry Family Christmas Eve Party

 We even had our own baby Jesus in a manger!

Evan wasn't very happy we put him back in there to get a picture

 Justin taught me a new use for Cheetos! LOL!

 The little boys playing some basketball

 The adults played some too once Cody was done "mopping" the floor

 The grandkids getting ready to open their gifts from G&G Fry

 Mason loved the frenzy!! He was laughing and squealing.

 I love the look on Chloe's face

 He's going to be a handsome boy in that

 Even Mason was excited to get clothes

 Typical Chloe - Missing at least one shoe and sock. This is pretty much how she ran around all night long until we made her put the other shoe and sock back on to go home.

 We played some Wackee Six and as usual it got a little intense!!

 All squeaky clean!!

 Gavin, Chloe and Mason in their new Christmas pajamas

 Daddy reading their new Christmas book

"The Night before Christmas"

 Daddy reading the Christmas story in Luke

We didn't have time to make cookies so we left Santa some milk and our Gingerbread Man cookie. I'm sure he won't mind ; )