Ugly Sweater Party

So much to post about in December, and so little time. These are pics from our annual Rivermill Christmas party. Again, I cried all night due to laughing at these funny guys. We stuffed ourselves, then danced it off doing "the evolution of dance". Next we had the difficult task of choosing a winner for the ugliest sweater. Jen's sweater had little acorns dangling from her sweater. (What the ?!?!?)

AND THE WINNER IS ...........

This cool dude, because he went the extra mile and purchased the silver pants to go with it!

What Should We Make?

What should we make?
Let's make a man.
Let's make the biggest man we can!
We will call our snowman Ned.
But first he has to have a head.
And then we'll string him up with lights
So he will shine all through the night.

Avery made her own little snowman, then she spent a gross amount of time LICKING him. (She says it makes him smoother).

Still LICKING........

And now she's EATING him.

Hope you are enjoying the snow too!!

Have a Regular Christmas

Thank you to those who cheered me up after my last post. I'm over my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and another thing I'm grateful for is wonderful friends who pick me up, dust me off, and set me back on the path. Mothers need that every once in a while!

Wanna know the perfect age for Christmas? It's 4.5

The joy this little one finds in every new thing is so contagious and she is making this holiday season so much fun for us! She's been wrapping up things around the house to give to people, and she's cutting out scraps of wrapping paper and taping them to the walls to "decorate". (You know the song, "Deck the Halls with Wrapping Paper, la la la la la......")

And I keep finding the strangest things tucked in our Christmas trees. Things like pencils, cotton balls, pictures she's drawn, anything she thinks would add beauty to the tree. *smile*

She sat on Santa's lap at preschool today, and guess what she told him she wanted? A "DS" and and IPod Touch.
That was news to me.
Dang those older siblings for putting ideas in her head.















She is really digging the whole idea of reindeer landing on our roof, and has been acting like a reindeer for three days now. She makes all of her friends that come over pretend to be reindeer with her.















Last week we had a real treat and went to the Festival of Trees with Aunt Jess and Uncle Brent. Of course we couldn't go to Salt Lake without making a detour to go to In N Out Burger! Yes, we stood in a line in below freezing temperatures for a burger and fries, and was it worth it? MMMMM Hmmmmmmmm! Avery wore her cool "worker hat" the whole time. (Said she was going to put reindeer antlers on it when we got home).
























I loved the gingerbread houses- here's my favorite one, "Snowmen at Night"

















And a close second- the gingerbread outhouse. I'm thinking this could have been my Christmas Card this year, dang.

Even Santa needs a man-cave.

Look at the chairs on this ski lift! These creations just amaze me, and they almost inspired me to try and make a gingerbread house myself.

Almost.

Off to see the lights at Temple Square! The best part about that for the kids is riding the train, of course. Bailey really wants to live in a big city. But she also wants to live on a ranch with lots of horses. What to do?

For Jess and Brent, who are getting lots of practice with our kids at being great parents someday. ;) I'm thinking this could be your Christmas card this year, what do you think?

Feeling "Un"

Isn't the blogging world amazing? It's such a love hate sort of thing for me. I love getting glimpses into people's personal photo albumns and getting to know people better. The down side is the fact you now can see everyone's lives who look so picture-perfect like a Hallmark card, and compare them to your own life that is so real, and messy, and difficult, and not perfect. It gives you an (unrealistic) barometer to measure against. I haven't blogged for awhile because I'm feeling very un-interesting, un-motivated, un-talented, and un-everything compared to all the amazing things I see people blogging about. My tank feels empty, and it's not a good place to be, going into the giving season of Christmas.

I've been focusing way too much on the have-nots instead of the have's, and I need to practice what I preach to my kids about focusing on your blessings. I am not talking about material things, because I am spoiled far more than I deserve in that area. I do realize that it is very bratty of me to be having a pity party for myself when I am one of the most priviledged women in the world, just because I was lucky enough to be born here in the U.S.. What some women in the world wouldn't give for my life! So my pity party needs to stop here.


Here's what I'm grateful for:

















Three perfectly healthy and amazing kids. And one incredible husband. And food on the table. And a warm house. This was our little family's Thanksgiving Day. What more could I possibly want?!

My *Favorite* Sister

Happy Birthday Sista! This is my incredible sister Nessa. She looks just like me only prettier.
And she's smarter.
And she can run alot further.

Wait a sec, what did I get?!

Anyhoo, here we are in Moab, because she is about to run the Other Half Marathon. My brother Logan and I were there to cheer for her. And to help her eat pasta.


We did a quick hike to this arch the night before, and did it in the dark with only a headlamp and a cell phone light to guide us back down, which was fun!

This is my picture of her crossing the finish line, but that guy really isn't her, she's way up there. I was really taking a picture of the clock that says 2:15. Can you imagine running for two hours? I can't.

She's still smiling! This is her third one, so she makes it look easy.

She is so motivated and inspiring to me in so many ways. She is always seeking ways to improve herself. She's got a fabulous job, and she's getting her masters degree too. She's a daredevil and always up for anything. She is very generous and considerate of everyone, and yes.... she's available folks! I personally need to screen any potential dates though, because she deserves only the best.

Happy B-day Ness! I love ya.

***By the way, my handsome brother Logan-who looks like Matt Damon-is available too!

(Don't hate me guys!)

We Highly Recommend This......

Our cousins were in town for the weekend, so we spent a Saturday at the corn maze. If you haven't been there, this one is the best one around! There's so many other activities that the kids loved too, like jumping off these giant straw bales.

Here's our cheerleader doing some straw stunts.....

Aunt Jessica landing on her feet

Avery taking the plunge

Dave's still got it.

After this we were picking hay out of crevices, but everyone was all smiles.

I love this picture for the rare moment that it is when these 7 kids are together! They're so great.

Then we got lost in the corn maze. We got separated from the kids, but guess who made it out first? Yep, they were all waiting for us slow adults to find our way out. And we were worried about them!!!

Next we did some riding, some sliding,

Some train riding,

Some ropin',

And then some hog-tying of Ryan

The reason we were all together was to celebrate Dave's Dad's retirement. We all went to dinner, then opened gifts. Here's Dad with his "Bucket-O-Beer". This picture cracks me up. Doesn't he look thrilled to be retired? Every picture I have of him looks like this one. He really smiles all the time- just not in pictures!

It wouldn't be fall without a "playing in the leaves" picture! This is what my kids look forward to at Grandma's House

It's even better with cousins!

Where Your Money Went

Thanks to all our family who sponsored our kids in their fun run to raise money for their school! I thought you might want to see pictures and proof that they really did run all 30 laps. Cade took this fundraiser very seriously and didn't want to let anyone down. The 3rd graders ran first, and he sprinted the entire time and did 2 1/2 miles in 25 minutes. According to him, he came in 4th place, although it's really impossible to tell.

It was a nice HOT day, so Dave is pouring water on him after to cool off.

Next up is the 5th graders, and Cade thought it was his job to pour water on Bailey at every lap. Bailey was not so serious about the run, necessarily, but was as we like to say, "working on her popularity" with her friends by having a waterfight the whole time,

And stopping to get pictures with her cool teacher, Mr. Haramoto

Cade got bored of watching Bailey's 30 laps, and asked if he could do hers too. So he joined in and we are guessing he ran at least a 5k that day. I wish I had his spontaneous energy!

We are the cheering section! Run, kids, RUN!