Ty's New Toy...

This morning we got up and of course it had snowed.  Nothing new for us so Ty went out and cleared the driveway and fire lane.  He came in and said, "I think I'm going to get a new snowblower.  Ours is breaking and plus we need one that throws the snow higher."  Okay... so he listed ours on ksl.com and within an hour we had two people at our door to buy it.  Who knew?  And who knew that Lisa would have to break up the fight about who was here first to get it.  Seriously... it's just an 8 year old breaking down snowblower. Of course I called Ty and he couldn't stop them from fighting, so I decided whoever had the most CASH got the thing!  I figured Ty could keep the amount he settled on with them and I could keep the rest since I had to referee the idiots!  I thought the idea was brilliant! Bummer that I ended up with only $25 and one REALLY ticked off dude.

  

Bye Bye old small 7 horsepower fella...

Hello BIG GUY!!!!  This baby is an 11 horsepower snowblower...  

Ty says it's like a car... it's awesome!

Grandma Jo's Christmas Breakfast

Christmas morning we always go to Grandma Jo's and Grandpa Ric's.  We have the most luscious breakfast.  Grandma always makes her sausage souffle and homemade cinnamon rolls. We look forward to the Christmas menu all year!  Then we hang out and exchange gifts. We are getting so big, we took the present opening to the basement.  And when we tried to get a picture of everyone, it took two shots to get everyone!

The kids love drawing names and exchanging presents with all the cousins.

Santa Found Us!!!

We are so grateful we were all on the "nice" list!  We had a fabulous Christmas.  It ended up being a year of electronics for us.  All three kids got laptops.  CRAZY!  Jaden got a new ipod, since his last one is somewhere in a house boat at Lake Powell.  Jessie got a pocket video camera.  Jaxon got tons of toys... we went through 22 AA batteries for all his stuff!  Ty and I got a treadmill and clothes.  A very special thanks to my personal shopper... I LOVE all my stuff!

A little shot of the gifts before the kids opened them...

Jaxon wanted a picture of every single thing he opened.  He posed for each one!

Jessie is so careful when she opens her presents!  She had a great Christmas!

Jaden was totally surprised at what he found in his new backpack!

Hmmmm, it's VERY quiet around here...

Christmas Eve at Grandpa's

We spent our Christmas Eve with Grandpa Dick and Grandma Cynthia.  The kids LOVE going to see them, because Grandpa always plays fun games... and Cynthia fixes whatever they want to eat!   This year Grandpa surprised them with some pretty fun gifts.  Jaxon got a race track and Jaden and Jessie got an air hockey table.  Wahoo... thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Rasch Family Christmas

We had a fabulous Christmas this year starting with the Rasch Family party.  A special thanks to Shon and Tamara for hosting.  We had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed the company.  Then we opened presents.  Always some good laughs!  The kids got some great toys and then the whole family got "moose" pajamas from Glenn and Nancy.  It is so funny to see 19 people wearing the same thing in the same room!  

Jax got some working tools.

Jaden got an itunes card, his favorite!

Jessie got a beautiful jewelry box.

The guys got pajama bottoms, but no tops!

Here are 19 crazy people enjoying a very "moose" Christmas!

Jones Cousin Christmas Party... TOTAL BLAST!!!

This year the Jones cousin party was hosted by the Parkin's.  We had a fabulous dinner and as always the entertainment was SPECTACULAR!!!!!  

We were divided into groups and given two half gallons of ice cream, then told to create a sculpture that had a Christmas theme.  Here are the groups and results... 

This is my group, we made a Santa!  I think he turned out pretty cute!

This is the "standing up" group.  They all work standing up!  They made the lamp from the Christmas Story.  It looked awesome and so creative!

It just didn't stand on it's own, so they tossed in the napkins!

Here's Ty's group...  the NAUGHTY group.  I won't even explain this! (Just know it wasn't even Ty's idea.)  I will say, thanks to Melanie the title "pornaments" was a huge hit!  And so entertaining thanks to Belynda and Kristen, we have never seen so many shades of RED!

Here are the lucky ones.  Their ice cream was kept on dry ice, therefore it didn't melt!  Their Christmas tree was beautiful!

Next we played Hawaiian Charades.  This is where you spell a word with your behind. 

 Kimmi really liked this game!  

And of course Bryan thought is was AWESOME!

Ty cheated and used his phone to spell his word! 

We had such a great time.  This is always one of those parties that you hope never ends! I'm so thankful we have such wonderful cousins. We might be a little CRAZY, but we love each other and have tons of fun together!

A Christmas Night Out...

Thanks to our good friend Meggan, we scored some incredible seats to her dad's play, "The Forgotten Carols." We have the CD and know all the songs, but have never gone to the performance. It was EXCELLENT! Highly recommend checking it out this Christmas Season. We had such a fun evening. Thank you Michael, Lynn and Meggy... you made our week!

Merry Christmas!

All Decorated and Ready For The Season

The house is all decorated and the main Christmas Tree is done!  This year I cheated a little and put up all the decorations and the tree that goes in the basement on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  I know, I know... BAD, BAD, BAD!!! But I highly recommend this process! It was so much easier than putting the house together on BLACK FRIDAY after the early morning shopping. 

Here's the entry shot

Here's that beautiful freshly cut tree.  

It was hard to photograph because it's so tall!

Christmas Tree Adventure

Yesterday we went on our annual trip to get our Christmas tree with our friends.  Each year we have gone, it has been a new and exciting adventure. Just when you think you have seen it all... there is something that surprises you!  This year it was the SOLID sheet of ice that we drove on to get to the ranger station to buy our permit.  Here is a shot of one of our friends "ice skating" up the hill.

We got our permits and headed into the forest.  Still very icy roads, we came around a corner to a truck that had jack-knifed it's trailer.  Since we are always up for a good challenge, the guys helped straighten it out and get the truck on its way. Here's a picture of them trying to figure out the best strategy.

Finally we reached our destination! The boys were all set with the chain saw and ready to cut down any tree that Jessie and I say is okay!

We had to walk pretty far from the car to find our perfect tree.  And yes, that is a river on the other side! 

Ty doesn't like to waste any time when we say okay...  I think he's afraid we will change our minds and have to keep looking!  

The tree came down and it looks great!  After a LONG walk back carrying a very heavy tree due to all the frozen ice on it, we loaded it up and drove home.  We had an absolutely priceless time and some great laughs with some very awesome friends!

TWILIGHT Movie Night

It finally came!  Twilight started Friday and  as you know I have been so excited.  We had to make a party of it!  Most of my cousins were able to come to the movie with us.  Before the show we met a Jo's for some dinner and dancing.  (The three little boys love to dance when we get together!)  Then we left the little ones with the Grandmas and Grandpas and headed to the theater.  It was so much fun.  I liked the movie so much, a couple of us are going again this weekend.  Thanks for the awesome night guys!!!

I forgot to bring the camera into the movie, but here are a few of us at our "Pre-Twilight Party."

Let's Go City!

Last night we took the kids to the High School Semi-Finals Football game.  Of course we went to cheer on Park City who was playing against Juan Diego.  It was at Rice Eccles Stadium and it was FREEZING!!!   Unfortunately Park City lost... I'm not even putting the score on here... but we had a fantastic time with all of our friends and we are totally looking forward to next season. Go Miners!

Jaden wouldn't look away from the game, so here's that back of his head!!!

Jaxon got Dip-n-Dots for his half time treat.  Who's kid is he?