Happy Birthday Jaden!

Jaden just had his 12th birthday this past week. We can't believe it! How fast 12 years go by. It seems just like yesterday we were bouncing Jaden up and down to keep him from screaming. Now, he has his own cell phone, is picky about his clothes and you all know I've always told him he can drink Coke with caffeine when he is 12. (That always seemed so far away!) I guess time flies when you're having fun!

Thank You Jessie!

With the weather being cold and we mean COLD, like -14 degrees at night and +7 degrees in the day, we have had to bundle up. Thank goodness Jessica has learned how to make hats. She has now made 4 hats in two days. We keep going to the store to buy yarn! Jaden and Jaxon are both so excited they wore their hats to school to show them off. Thanks for keeping us cute and warm Jessie Jo!

Fancy Dinner Night

Every now and again we have "fancy dinner night" with our kids. It's so fun. We try new fancy foods and have a candle lit dinner with each other. This year Jaden and Jessica set the table. They did a great job. Jaxon arrived right on time on his new Harley! This time the menu consisted of King crab legs with drawn butter, ribeye steak with fungus if you wanted it, and of course artichokes with either lemon butter or mayo to dip them in, and don't forget the fancy drink! Much to our surprise there wasn't any food left over. Jaden and Jessie loved the crab and Jaxon's favorite was the artichoke.

Christmas Morning High

The Rasch family had a fantastic Christmas. I hope we never forget that "high" that you get watching your kids open all their presents from Santa. Usually our morning starts around 4:30am, with Ty and I telling Jaden and Jessie to go back to bed until 7:00am. And usually we give in around 6:00am. This year surprisingly, Jaden and Jessie didn't get up until 6:45am! Here are a few pictures from our Christmas morning.

And The Family Parties Begin...

This year we were lucky enough to host a couple of the family parties. It's actually something we look forward to even though they mean a lot of cleaning and a lot of cooking. We enjoy it because we don't have to drive anywhere! We had Ty's family here on the 23rd, and instead of cooking, we ordered Chinese food. That was a brilliant idea for all you party hosts. There was no mess in the kitchen! We also hosted our Christmas Eve party with my dad. It was a lovely evening. We had fancy appetizers and a lot of gifts to open. We had a blast with both parties and are happy to host anytime!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

We went on our 2nd annual Christmas tree hunt the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We go to Christmas Tree Meadows with a group of friends a cut down our tree. Last year we were worried because the trees always look small out in the meadow, then you bring them into your house and they end up being HUGE. So we were very careful not to cut one down that was too tall. Our end result was hilarious! For those of you who remember our Whoville/Charlie Brown tree last year you will be impressed this year! Last year our tree was almost 6 feet tall and it was VERY skinny with lots and lots of space in between each branch. It also had a slight tipping forward issue! This year we were a little braver, and WOAH! It look smaller out in the mountains than when we got it into our driveway ready to bring in the house. This year we are proud to show you our 16 foot tree! It is a little taller than we thought it was going to be! We had to put two strands of lights on the top before we even brought it in the house. I think all together there are 1200 lights on the tree. So if you want your house to glow from your family Chirstmas tree, just join us next year, we promise it will be entertaining!

Finally, We Found the Camera!

Well, we were in a bit of a panic for a few weeks because we couldn't find our camera. Finally, we found it! So we can update our blog. We'll hurry and catch you up. Halloween came and went and so did Thanksgiving. We didn't take many pictures, because the camera was hiding from us in a very safe spot! We survived it all and we are looking forward to a great Holiday season!