Christmas morning

Here are some pictures from Christmas morning, starting with our lovely tree ("before").





And waking up early, cuddling, etc....... (aren't Rychen P.'s PJs so cute? The Joneses do new PJs every Christmas Eve.)




It was fun to open presents together, as a family, taking turns. This is the first year Rychen P. was old enough to really know what was going on. We were blessed to find a lot of things to wrap up, that were either free or cost very little. Rychen P. wasn't in a hurry, though--he wanted to play with each toy before going on to the next!





And then we went to Grandma's house, to open more presents there and spend the day with them. Rychen P. loved playing in the pile of wrapping paper! A funny thing he did was stuff tissue paper into a bag over and over, then say "1-2-3 Go!" and pull it all out.

And here is our traditional picture at the Beach House (we have several of these, at different points of our family). There is something noteworthy of this specific point of our family story... there is a 4th member of our family, very small, maybe you can see if you look really, really, close (get out your electron microscope!) Or you could just look at my tired face and see right there :-)

A funny picture of Dad, enjoying the stocking stuffers in a unique way...



Here's a random picture, I think from Christmas Eve. Rychen P. was eating some potato wedges and ketchup on the floor, and next thing I know he was finger painting with the leftover ketchup! It was hilarious, and I was just in the mood to grab a peice of paper and let him go at it!

Christmas with family

These first few pictures are from an extended family get-together before Christmas.

Rychen P. was fixated on this brain-teaser toy, which I am pretty sure is not meant for toddlers. He needed some help, but he loved turning the wheels and pushing the buttons to get the marbels from the top compartment, down to the bottom. Rychen's cousin Denver was fun to help Rychen P. with this.

This is Rychen P.'s second-cousin, Ella. It is fun to see him play with a cousin! (He has 2 first cousins, both in Utah)

Here he is with (great) aunt Alison! She is the only one cool enough to put dates on her fingers with Rychen P. How sticky! Wait, I mean, How funny!

We had lots of family time with the Joneses, everybody including Whitney and Paige from BYU. Here is everybody with Andrew's mom, Mary Lo ("Grandma S." who lives here in Salem). Standing: Madison, me, Rychen, Logan, Paige, Whitney, Courtney. Sitting: Mary Lo, Andrew, Carol and Rychen P.

Rychen P. played this marble game all week long! He just can't get enough. (Of course, Dad and Logan don't mind building it up either!) Rychen P. had fun racing the other kids and kept track of which marble was whose!

Quick cuties

This picture I just have to post because it's my favorite! Sweet little Maggie Dog! Maggie is my parents' dog, which they obtained after I left the house--after years of begging to get a dog!! (Can you believe that?) So now when I visit, Maggie is my little baby, and she remembers me every time!

One morning Rychen and I noticed we were twins in our plaid PJs and brown shirts. Of course, being the dork I am, we HAD to take a picture.

Speaking of PJs, I am posting this to my humiliation because I know what a crack up it is. I was cleaning out my brother's room (he's on a mission) and found these old one-peice Dinosaur PJs which actually fit me.....almost!

St. George

Before Rychen left Las Vegas, we took a family drive to St. George to visit some friends. We had some extra time so we also toured a little bit. Here we are at the temple (after spending over an hour in the visitor's center), the Brigham Young home, and tabernacle.

Trip to LV and SLC

We just got back from a long trip to visit friends and relatives in Las Vegas and the Salt Lake area. I uploaded more than 100 pictures! I don't know where to start! It was so fun to be with aunts and uncles, and Rychen P. was so fun the whole time, lack of sleep notwithstanding. He was basically uncle Evan's shadow for 2 weeks straight. Evan even got him to play in the snow, which he was very hesitant to do. Rychen P. loved throwing snowballs.

He also really took to Laura--my sister who has barely been around Rychen ever! But within 5 minutes he was wanting to kiss her, and wanting to do what she was doing too. Laura was/is 9+ months pregnant so it's too bad we didn't get to be there for the new baby. We have a great video of Rychen P. hugging her belly though! Here is a picture I took of us, with one specific purpose: There was only a couple days overlap, when we were both pregnant at the same time!

Another fun person to note was my cousin Don, whom we called "Counkle Don" because his relation to Rychen P. is less than simple. He was hilarious, and we had fun playing red light/green light and red rover. Here is Counkle Don holding Rychen P., and my brother Erick, his wife Melan, and cousin Ethan.

In Ogden, visiting Laura and Jon, we went to Souper Salad. We love salad buffets. Rychen P. made a huge mess, as usual.

These two pictures are of the Massey family, our friends in Las Vegas. (we hooked up my high-school friend with Rychen's mission buddy and now they have 2 kids!)

Another thing we did in Las Vegas was visit the petting zoo, excuse me, the Wild West petting zoo. (Aren't these bathroom doors hilarious?) One funny thing that happened was when we were feeding some animals, and a swan nipped Rychen P. in the leg! I had to carry him the rest of the time, he was so terrified! This petting zoo is awesome, by the way. They have wallabys, llamas, wild burros, one HUGE bull, and all sorts of rare animals I'd never heard of before.

(Notice the stark contrast of weather between Las Vegas and SLC?!! A couple years ago we stayed in a hotel in Las Vegas and swam outdoors in January!)

Child of God Returns

Here's another rendition of "I am a Child of God," or as Rychen P. says, "Child of God Song." This morning as I practiced piano for church, he got the little songbook and wanted to sing along! So I played a few that he knows. It was SO HILARIOUS, the way he stands and holds his book, like he's performing in a recital!

Deck the Halls!

Being Oregonians, our fun (code word for freezing) family tradition is cutting down our own Christmas tree, the weekend after Thanksgiving, from a local Christmas tree farm! It was really cool my first time, but now it's just cold. Anyway.... Rychen Parker did have a great time though, because Dad made it super fun. So I put on a happy face.


Step 1: Look for a tree. (They all look the same to me, but for some reason we have to search high and low for the perfect height, shape, top angle, fullness, without any imperfection whatsoever.)

Step 2: Saw the thing down! Timber!

Step 3: Measure it, pay for it, and pack it in the car!






Step 4: Unload, set it up, and show it off! (notice the fourth hat-bearing member of our family)









Step 5: Oh yeah, decorate it, of course.


We put it upstairs since we have this cool diagonal window facing the street corner. Hopefully it will stand out more when it's darker outside.







Here are our other decorations, most of which was inherited or gifts.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a day full of fun! It started out early with football (youth from a couple wards here) - Rychen took Rychen P. and met Logan there too.

Then we went to play some games and bake at Grandma Jones' house. Here is Rychen P. helping to make bread and pies. He loves bread! He was waiting for this for 2 days! He was so excited about the bread, and so patient, that when we finally sat down for dinner, all he wanted was bread!

And here was dinner, at the Gates family's house.

Rychen P. enjoyed some of their toys, especially this doll stroller! He pushed it everywhere, and even took it outside. I had to beg him to come back in, out of the freezing cold!

...and, finally, we took the opportunity to take some cutsie couple pictures in our fall colors!