Christmas

Christmas was great this year. I can't believe it has come and gone. That is one thing I don't like about Christmas, you plan and plan for this holiday and then in one day it is gone. But we do have the memories and this year we made many.

We started off on Christmas Eve in Heber for the Edwards family party (no pics, I spaced taking pictures). We had some yummy food, some fun games and a special visitor. We then made our way to Collin's parents. There we had some more yummy dinner, by the time I was done with this dinner, my tummy ached so bad, the thought of eating made me nauseated. We did a little program, Cooper sang "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth," I didn't even know he knew it. It was darling. And then we started the present opening, the kids got spoiled as usual and so did we.

On Christmas morning, Collin and I got a unexpected Christmas gift, the kids slept until 7:30, we actually had to wake Bode up. This is amazing! Bode never sleeps past 6:30. We couldn't believe it, it was fabulous. Cooper was so excited to see what Santa brought him and Bode and Peiton just loved unwrapping everything. Bode did his share at unwrapping almost every one's presents.

We spent the whole day in our jammies, having naps, watching movies and just vegging. It was awesome. We finally did get dressed and headed to my parents for Christmas night activities. We has some more yummy dinner and did a little karaoke while the kids ran around wild. This year for Christmas gifts we drew names and instead of buying a gift for that person, you had to go and do something with that person. It could be whatever, go to a movie, help that person if they needed help with something or just spend time with each other. My mom and dad spoiled us too, our trip to California this past October was our Christmas, and they still surprised us with some more gifts, one being the coolest, a scrapbook of our trip to California, it is awesome.

Like I said before, I can't believe this Christmas is over, we had a good one and I guess now that Christmas is all down it is time to move on to those New Years Resolutions, which are always so much fun to plan. I hope all of you had a great Christmas and now have a Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve & season greetings...

Day 24- Christmas Eve festivities & the Richards wish you a Merry Christmas!

“Twas the yearly happenings in the Richards Family”

Twas the night of Thanksgiving, Natalie sat in her house
Reminiscing the past year, with Collin her spouse.
The time has now come to send cards out to share,
In hopes to make contact with those whom we care.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Christmas time danced in their heads.
And mama in her pj’s, in a blanket did wrap,
To write this poem of a 2008 recap.

When down in the kitchen there arose such a clatter,
For a bucket of paint did tip over and splatter.
Once again have I painted a room in our home,
For I like to constantly change the place that I roam.

One accomplishment that I’d like you to know,
The St. George marathon I did run, that my shoes surely show.
Obsessed with diets and workouts and keeping house clean,
I keep busy, doing the mommy thing.

With Collin life stays so lively and quick,
Except for the month that his knee was too sick.
A basketball injury, then surgery came,
Luckily a cruise to Mexico his injury did not maim.

Now Cooper! Now Bode! Now Peiton and Nat!
A good father and husband, we are sure of that.
Replaced the main floor, UTES WON! He’s so merry,
And he still makes us watch “Little House on the Prairie.”

Now Cooper leaves every morning for first grade
And this past year in baseball he played.
He’s starting to read and play basketball too
And loves to ask questions like all seven year-olds do.


Coop’s the best big brother any kid could wish for.
He lets Bode wrestle him right to the floor.
And Peiton, she loves her older brother,
For he cuddles and protects her, she wouldn’t have any other.

Next there is Bode; he works on his own time.
But for a four year-old with downs, he is definitely in his prime.
Still waiting for first words and diaper-free days,
He likes to sneak over to the neighbor’s and resume his play.

His favorites consist of watching all movies,
Reenacting all the actions, we think it’s pretty groovy.
He loves cheese quesadillas and going to preschool on the bus,
He sure is the light in the lives of all of us.

Last but not least there is Princess Peiton
With her, the drama of a girl, we know has just begun.
Now she is one and loves the attention on her,
Loves to scream, loves to laugh, loves her daddy for sure.

Pei Pei’s all over the place, crawling from here over to there,
And she can even walk, but on her own she does not dare.
We love her sweet personality and are so glad she is here,
And look forward to seeing her grow even more this year.

That’s a quick run down of our year, we hope you enjoyed
And that the length of this poem, of you it did not annoy.
We find ourselves so blessed with great family and friends,
We wanted to share the events of our year up till its end.

Springing into this holiday season, let us remember our savior dear,
He is the reason we celebrate, during this exciting time of year.
Hold close your family and friends, the ones that make your life bright,
And :”Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

Written with help from the all talented, Hollie Sorenson! Thanks Haws!

All I want for Christmas...

"All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth!"

Cooper lost both of his top front teeth on Saturday. He scored big with the tooth fairy! One fell out while he was eating his sandwich and he didn't realize it, all he realized was it was bleeding. He came up and told me that his tooth was bleeding and I took a look and I said " Coop, your tooth is gone!" and he replied "I ate my tooth!" He was a little startled. Well he had one next to it that was so ready to come out and he wouldn't let me pull it out. I told him, when you leave two teeth under your pillow for the tooth fairy, they usually leave double the money, it worked! I yanked that thing out and he scored with the tooth fairy. I love how he talks with his missing teeth, he has a little lisp and he looks too cute.

Swimming anyone???

"Swimming anyone??"

Yes, that would be a diaper, 2 swim suits and one swim diaper...I think he is prepared!

Cookies for Santa

Day 23- Make cookies for Santa

I guess you could say that we really didn't "make" the cookies. All we did was take them out of the plastic wrap, place them on the pan and a few in our mouths (I love cookie dough) and toss them in the oven, and ta-da! Beautiful Christmas cookies for Santa's tummy!

This is the Place...Christmas style...

Day 22- This is the Place Monument

For the Van Wagoner Christmas get together my mom and dad took us to This is the Place Monument. We usually go here in the summer and enjoy a day full of fun activities, this was something new. I loved it in the winter. It just brought such a great Christmas feeling, there was snow on the ground, music being played, nativity, hot apple cider at Brigham Young's home, Santa, goats, train rides and pioneers shouting "Happy Christmas!" And it wasn't even that cold until the end when are feet about had it walking in the snow.

Bode figured out that he could eat the snow, and he couldn't stop. There was snow on the ground, he ate it. Snow on Cooper's hat, he ate it. Snow on the bottom of his boots, he ate it.

Thanks for the great night everyone!

Church and hand-me-downs...

I always love to get the kids all dressed up on the Sunday before Christmas. This year it didn't really go as planned, but is worked out okay and I saved a little money. The plan was to have them all in red, black, white and grey. Cooper, I got him a new sweater and he had some grey slacks and I thought he had some black shoes, which he did, but they were to big (hand-me-downs) we put them on last night and his foot looked 10 times bigger than it was. Doubling up the socks wasn't going to work:( so his outfit didn't really work out.

Then there was Bode, I bought him some new black shoes for his outfit (which he is not wearing) and I decided they were too much money for one pair of black church shoes that he would wear twice, so I opted out on putting him in the Christmas outfit I got for him. Instead I got out a old red sweater and his brown cords. Now I will take back his black shoes and the black cords that went with his hand-me-down sweater.

As for Peiton, everything worked out great and she looked darling (I thought, besides the rash she has all over her face that I can't figure out what it is). She was wearing a darling hand-me-down dress that was worn by a few of Stacy's girls.

Anyway, they all turned out darling and like I said before, I saved some money and don't you love hand-me-downs? They are the best!

Merry Christmas everyone! I can't believe we are almost there! So exciting!!

LIttle People Nativity

Day 21- Little People Nativity

We go this nativity a couple years ago and it has always been so fun to play with. Today after church (notice after church we get into a scrounge clothes and just relax) we got it out and went through the Christmas story and then Bode had fun making all the figurines fight and tackle each other.

Make snowman or snow fort

Day 20- Make a snowman (we did snow fort)

Cooper has been waiting for this day that he can go play in the snow with his dad. Everyday since it has snowed he has asked me when he and dad can go out and play in the snow. Today was the day! Collin is so great to take them out and play and build amazing snow forts and what not. As for me I like to stay nestled inside where it is warm, call me a party pooper but the older I get the less fun I am.

There still wasn't quite enough snow to make it as big as they would like, but I think they did a great job!


As the kids went outside, Peiton and I stayed inside and ate...yes ate, what I do best.

Peiton has this new thing where she loves to put on her shoes and the the shoes she likes to put on are the really pretty ones, with bows and it all. This was her selection today...

I love that she is such a girl!

Santa's workshop

Day 19- Santa's workshop

Tonight the kids went to my mom's for Santa's Workshop where she had many activites for them to do and then they all slept over. That would be 9 grandkids that were able to come, she had her work cut out for her. Coop had been looking forward to this for a whole week, counting down the days until he got to go to Grandma Bubba's to sleep over. They all had a great time and I am sure she did too and is very glad it is over:)

Visit grandparents

Day 17- Visit Grandparents

Today's activity was to make a holiday treat and take it to our grandparents and the kids great grandparents. I always love to visit with them because you don't see them as often and they just love it when they get to see you and the kids. I don't know why we don't do it more often, I love to spend time with them and they are all such amazing people and have had such a great impact on our life's.

These were the scrumptious cookies that we took, and luckily there was enough to pack up, I had quite a few.

We actually visited Grandma Van Wagoner on Sunday night, there is no way we could get in all the visits in one night if we really wanted to sit down and talk. We had a great visit with her and the kids loved all the singing toys she had. Bode decided he wanted to get rambunctious and wrestle Coop so Collin decided to take him to the car, which is why he is not in the picture.



We made our first stop to Grandma and Grandpa Richards house. She too had some fun things for the kids to look at. Grandpa wasn't doing so well so the kids weren't able to see him, but it was great to sit and visit with Grandma. She is such a darling lady that has so much to offer to everyone.


We then made our way to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's. They stocked us up with cookies and candy that Peiton could not quit eating, we cleaned them out. Grandma has these two buckets of toys that Collin says she has had forever, the kids loved playing with those. When it was time to go, Bode didn't want to leave. It was so great to visit with them too and see there darling house decorated, they are some amazing grandparents.

We then tried to catch Aunt Emeline (Collin's great Aunt) but she wasn't home so we just left the cookies on the porch. We were sad we didn't get to see her too. We also are bummed that we didn't get to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Edwards, we love them! They live in Heber and we didn't have time to make the trek up there, but hopefully we will be able to see them next week.

We are so lucky to be surrounded by all of these amazing people that have been wonderful examples to us. They have brought up some amazing children which would be our parents. I am so thankful for all that they taught them and how they raised them to make them the people they are today. Thanks for the wonderful legacy....We love you!

Rootin tootin cycle class:(

Today's cycle class could have been awesome, it was hills which I LOVE, but there was one BIG problem...every 5 minutes me and my friend Rachel would start smelling this awful and nauseating smell, o' and was it nauseating. The gentlemen in front of us, felt that he should torment us and toot every 5 minutes! Now this was no ordinary toot smell, it was horrendous! I have never smelt a toot as bad, and I have smelt some pretty bad toots (yes, they would probably be mine). We would catch whiff of it right when it happened (it was hard not to, his buttocks was right in my face) and immediately the towels went to the nose and the breath was held, which makes it kind of hard to concentrate on your workout. And then to make it worse, the fans in the classroom would whoosh it all over and it just lingered for a minute or so. So basically, my cycle class could have been really sweet, but since a gentlemen didn't have the common courtesy to put a plug in it, or just leave, class was kind of nauseating and not because I was working extra hard. That's all.

Letter to Santa

Day 16- Letter to Santa

Translation:

Dear Santa,

How are you doing? (He gets his "b's" and "d's" mixed up).

For Christmas may I have (he is so polite, I have taught him so well, right??) a

Didj and Martian Matter and Star Wars the Clone Wars DVD

and Legos batman set.

Love,

Cooper

(He circled the ones that he really wants. Santa is doing good this year!)

Hay ride with Mrs Claus...or...Christmas story

Day 15- Hay ride with Mrs. Claus (didn't happen)

Today we were suppose to go to Gardner Village and go on a hay ride with Mrs. Claus, but the weather was a little too freezing. So thanks to Grandma Holly we had a change of plan. This month of December, every Monday we have been getting something fun from Grandma Holly. The first week the kids got some warm, flannel sheets for their beds.

The second week we got this darling advent calendar, made by hand, yes made by hand, by Grandma Holly. It is so darling! She made 4 of these, one for each family.

She made each little ornament by hand just spent a lot of time on this and we love it and think it is darling.



And then today, this came....

So we sat down and enjoyed the cute book, some YUMMY clementines (which Peiton gobbled down), and delish hot chocolate. Thanks Holly for the fun activity.

Sorry to say, Bode didn't join us. He was in his room screaming because we turned off Alvin and the Chipmunks. I didn't want to hear him scream anymore so he went to timeout and missed out on all the fun:(

Cookie Chain

Day 14- Countdown to Christmas Cookie Chain

Today we made a cookie chain to have another way to count down until Christmas (I think we have about 4 different things telling us how many days we have left until Christmas). This one Cooper loved because as we were making the cookie chain he would have a one cookie for his mouth and one cookie for the chain, until I had to stop him so we didn't run out of cookies. I must admit, EL Fudge cookies are pretty dang good!

Johnson Family Christmas Party

Day 13- Johnson Family Christmas party

Well most of you know that the weather was a little crazy today, finally we got some snow, snow snow! That snow didn't stop us from traveling down to Gunnison for the Johnson Family party. A trip that would have taken us 1& 1/2 hours took us about 3, but don't let me forget to mention that Collin had us packed into the car and ready to go at 11:00 and we didn't leave Collin's parents until about 12:30. So yes, the kids were in the car from 11 to 3. When we got Peiton out of the car, she had totally soaked through her cute little Christmas outfit and was covered in urine, she was yummy! But the drive was worth it, we had a great time and the Lund's put on a awesome party that again had some awesome food...my gut growing bigger by the minute along with my bum:)

There was a great surprise, Santa and Mrs Clause came to visit. They were a big hit with all the kids. I wasn't sure what Bode would do, but he went right up and sat on his lap with a little confusion. Peiton screamed!

Thanks for the fun party Julie, we had a great time and we were so glad we made it.

Annual Peck Christmas Party

Day 12- Annual Peck Christmas Party

This would be the 3rd Christmas party the Peck's have hosted and I must admit, they just keep getting better. The Peck's know how to throw a party! Chad spends all day long cooking and smoking these delicious ribs, and this year they were the best! They just fell off the bone and I surely had my fair share of them. All of the other food was excellent too, and now my gut is feeling it ALL!
After the eating of dinner (that wasn't the end of the eating, we went downstairs and there was a whole lot more to eat). We sat down and played some fun games and just had good ole, hilarious conversation. This is a party we look forward to every year, one of the best! Thanks Peck's for a great night as usual!

Skip-a-roo!

Day 11- Plans cancelled! Skip-a-roo!

Day 10- Toys for Tots

This year instead of giving gifts to the cousins on the Richards side, Kelly had the idea of going to buy presents for the Toys for Tots and then taking them to a drop off. It kind of took a while for Cooper to understand the concept of not buying toys for himself. Hopefully with age he will understand it better.

Walgreens had a great deal, you buy 2 toys and you get one free. So we spent about $14 for 3 toys, and they had some pretty good toys too.


Bode wanted all of the coloring books and didn't want to give them up.


We went the toys off at Albertson's in Draper. My sister in law Kelly LOVES Good things Utah and watches it diligently, she found out that they would be there taking the toys. So, YES, we got to see Nicea....wow! I think this could be a tradition every year and I think it was great for the kids to actually get something for someone else.


Also....

The "Secret Elf"

Go here
to see the Richards "Elfing" it away!