snowshoe date

It's official, we both love snowshoeing! We hiked up to Donut Falls and it was such a fun date!  Being outside in the mountains is a favorite for both Eric and I and the snow made everything so beautiful that day.  The waterfall was mostly frozen over - really cool!  

Birthday for Daddy

Happy Birthday Eric! We had fun celebrating our main man this year.  We had a birthday dinner of his favorite foods, including cheesecake, and Gabe topped the evening off with a scavenger hunt that he put together all by himself! Eric had to follow the clues to find his presents. It was so cute.  And he loved his wonderful drawing from Gabe and his new snowshoes!  

There are some that don't appreciate the quality of singing voices in the Richardson family

Christmas day 2013

 This year we spent Christmas Eve and day with Eric's side of the family. After breakfast we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's.  We had so much fun opening gifts and hanging out together!  Then later we had everyone over to our house for Christmas dinner - chicken a la king.  It was a lovely day!

Ian wasn't so sure about Crystal wearing a Darth Vader mask...!

He likes her much better this way!

Our beautiful family - we are so blessed!

Christmas dinner at our house.

Christmas morning 2013

Our first Christmas in our new home.  We had a relaxing morning (if you can call getting up at 6am relaxing!) of opening gifts, playing with toys and eating Christmas eggs - yum!  The kids were up and waiting at the top of the stairs in the pitch dark at 6am so we hustled them into our room while we got ready and let Ian sleep a bit longer!  The poor guy still had to get woken up, we just couldn't delay Gabe and Nyah any more.  It was so exciting to see what Santa brought!  We LOVE Christmas!!

 

Gabe created this amazing 3 dimensional beach scene for Daddy - he is so creative.





Lucky me! I got a 3-dimensional diamond ring that Gabe made for me out of paper and tape - it was beautiful!!

Enjoying our long-anticipated Christmas eggs!



Snow babies

After living snow-less for 4 winters, we are loving the snow. Bring it on!

lost Halloween pictures...

I just found all these cute pictures on my computer that I forgot to post. I couldn't leave them out of my blogging family journal!

Look at those masterpiece pumpkins...

Kids really don't like to pose for pictures.

Everyone is looking at the camera - woohoo!!

Halloween night, Nyah decided that she absolutely had to be a kitty cat. Thank goodness for Grammy's costume box and skills with the eyeliner!

the real santa

You really learn a lot when you eavesdrop. The topic today was about the "real Santa" because obviously there are a lot of fakes out there. To set the scene, we are in the minivan on the way home from school and it's Gabe, his friend Cole, and Nyah.  They are discussing whether or not it was the "real Santa" that came to Nyah's preschool.  The boys think not because his beard was not curly.  Gabe insists that Santa's beard is not flat and straight, like the imposter in the picture with Nyah.  Cole is just all around skeptical because he says he has noticed in the past 5 years (his life span) that all the pictures of him on Santa's lap are different.... different beard, different hat, different hair.  He is convinced that Santa is much more elusive than we think.  Gabe on the other hand insists he saw the "real santa" last year and he has a curly beard.  Then Cole asks if he had mistletoe or holly on his hat... because if not, he was not the "real santa".   He then asks if Gabe knows about St. Nicholas from the Dutch and how he is for sure real because someone saw his flyin' freakin' horses!! (his words) This enlightening discussion goes on for awhile before it slowly digresses into giggles about underwear and toilet paper.  I just love kids!!!!

turkey time

Turkey, pie, football, family.  Thanksgiving. This is one of my favorite holidays because the preparation is all food and when you have a bunch of people involved (which most Thanksgiving feasts do) then it's really not that much work. At least it wasn't for me this year!  I got to make the mashed potatoes and some scrumptious pies.  I just love how simple this holiday is because it tends to make it easier to really focus on the thankful part of the day and the real reason we celebrate.  It's funny because one day I was telling Gabe the story of why we have Thanksgiving and I started crying!! It cracks me up now, imagining him watching me bawl as I try to express to him my feelings about our country and how it was founded.  I just have such admiration, even love, for our pilgrim ancestors and the founders of our wonderful nation.  The entire thing from Columbus to the Revolutionary War to the establishment of our government was so obviously guided by God.  I firmly believe that.  I know things weren't perfect. People aren't.  But God works with what he has. And the really cool thing is that nothing, and no one, can stand in the way of God's purposes. Anyway, little tangent... I just love the holidays and love our country and love my family.  Here are the stars of the show this year:

Amy, me, Mindy, Mom... the cooks.

Everyone checking out the ads for Black Friday shopping!

Ian (who has never sucked on a binki) found Gage's and decided he is a big fan!

Nyah loves looking at books. Or hunting magazines it appears!

Guess who lost a tooth after dinner?! Isn't he adorable with that big gap!!

Gabe's Mayflower. It is a work of art. Three levels inside, deck with railing, flag and too many details to mention. Amazing what that kid can do with paper, scissors, and tape!

pumpkins and candy

That pretty much sums up October, right?  We spent the fall at Mom and Dad's and had a great time sharing all the festivities with cousins.  Here we are carving pumpkins. Mindy, Amy, and I and the all the kiddies. (My parents were actually in Tennessee visiting Mel's fam!) Yes, that is Ian standing on the table.  After taking him down 2 dozen times I gave up.

I think she is trying on the face that she is carving. She said she wanted a scared jack o lantern this year!

 Trick or treating was really a blast - we had so much fun tromping around the neighborhood with Mindy and Matt's families.  I love being so close to my family!!!! This year we had a darling witch, a funny little Chewbacca, and a tough S.W.A.T. man. Oh, and Wonder Woman showed up too. Love Halloween!!

crazy life

It's been a little nutso at our house these past couple of months. First we spent 7 weeks with Mom and Dad while we shopped for home sweet home.  What a blessing that was to have a comfy, cozy place to stay with a bedroom for each child and lots of cousins in the neighborhood to play with.  Ian developed a borderline obsession for horses during that short time as well... I'll have to tell you more about that later.  A few weeks before Thanksgiving we moved into our new house in Sandy. Mom and Dad claimed they loved having us stay with them but I still imagine they took a huge sigh of relief when we packed our bags and left! It was pretty much torture going from my mom's clean, organized, and cozy house and head over to disaster-ville. Can I just say that I hate moving? I really hate moving. Hate it. I get so overwhelmed with boxes to ceiling in every room.  Especially when you can't find the soap or the towels or the toaster or the dishrags or the silverware.... whew am I glad that is OVER! Double yuck. I had 90% of the unpacking finished by Thanksgiving so I decided to take a break and decorate for Christmas. That was the best decision! It is so uplifting to have the sparkly tree up and the pretty garlands and shiny ornaments and festive wreaths. With Christmas tunes playing, it's actually fun finishing up my work of hanging up pictures, etc. Except things are going very, very slowly because there's a new villain in town, name of Ian.  If he isn't climbing on the table and chucking off glass (to shatter on the tile), he's pulling every single book we own off the bookshelves, splashing around in the toilet, escaping out the door to run down the street in his socks, rearranging the pantry (cans in the garbage and cake mixes in the drawers) or plucking ornaments off the tree and (again) shattering them on the tile. He genuinely loves to create mayhem.  Neither of my other children were like this.  I'm in over my head because I have no idea how to deal with him.  At 20 months, it's hard to discipline. I say "no!" and he smiles and throws whatever it is he has in his hand.  I put him in time out and he smiles and swings his legs. I even gently swatted him on the bum (don't tell) and he smiled and laughed like it was a new game. At least he is a happy little guy.  And he is about as cute a button. But sometimes I wish I had a pen to put him in so I could vacuum or maybe even shower.

Back to the new house. I love it! It feels really good to be (half-way) settled.  We need to get some work done on the house (just new flooring and painting) and I have some furniture to buy but it's coming along wonderfully.  For now the upstairs is plenty of room but we have room to grow in the basement which will come in handy since I don't ever plan on moving again! Our neighborhood and ward is Amazing!  Everyone is so friendly and nice. It's almost weird. In a really awesome way.  I was blown away with how open and kind and accepting my ward was. The ladies literally gathered around and introduced themselves and chatted with me on our first Sunday. It was incredible. I feel like we are where we are supposed to be. This house, this neighborhood, these people. It just feels right. The kids are adjusting well too. I enrolled Nyah in a little preschool and she is loving it. She is pretty darn adaptable though with her super-friendly personality!  Gabe is the one that I was worried about.  This is his third elementary school this year. He has been amazing though.  Even though it's been really hard for him, he's been so brave and not complained at all. His teacher now is honestly the kindest, happiest, sharpest woman... another huge blessing.  I know we are being watched over. She welcomed him with open arms and a big smile! She has helped him every step of the way to adjust to their classroom and school routine, even going so far as to personally call me and let me know she was getting him a school tshirt so he would fit in on "spirit days".  What an incredible teacher!! 

Things are good.  We are loving having family so close to us.  It's such a treat to have Caitlynn over for a movie or my siblings come for football or run over to grandma's for Sunday dinner.  My heart is so full this Christmas season.  I feel so blessed!