Bowling and Rock Climbing

The week of New Years we got to do some really fun family outings. Our first was bowling. This is a Ricks staple when the family gets together. And it's always a blast. And I'm pretty sure I did awesome. And Jocelyn almost beat Jessi. :) Our first round we tried to look pro but we all pretty much sucked, so the second round we pulled out the bumpers and were unstoppable.

Jocey giving some tips to her grandpa. ;)

Why can't I be this cool? 

Proof that I was actually there.

Emma just enjoyed hanging out and eating snacks.

Our second family outing was rock climbing. Jake does this regularly and really showed us all up. But it was still awesome. I didn't do the rope climbing but did get to play in the boulder room. I kind of felt like Tom Cruise in the beginning of Mission Impossible 2 where he's free climbing on some mountain but pretty sure I didn't look nearly as cool. I realized I have no muscle strength in my arms or legs. Time to get pumped up (said in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice).  They also have a kids play area so once I was done Tom Cruisin' it up, I spent my time there with the girls.  The others moved on to the ropes. Have a looksie.

Weslie and Jessi making their way to the top.

Dave doing things on his own.

Mike made it to the top.

This wall was crazy. Some of the climbs you were literally sideways.  Jake's a pro.

They have a cool tunnel in the kids play area. I was so proud of how brave Jocey was.  It was pitch black and pretty small.

The next series of pictures shows you just how small the tunnel is.  Apparently there is a real challenge for adults to attempt to crawl through.  Weslie did it. Watch Jake make his way through.  The rest of us were too chicken.

Crazy right?!

And this is what Emma did to entertain herself.  This girl cracks me up.

I love this picture. So precious.

Stay tuned for our third family outing.

"Once Upon a Time"

After Christmas we went to Fairytale town with our friends, the Walkers, who were in town visiting family for the holidays. That place is so great for kids and it's cheap which is a plus. Anyway, here's some pictures of our adventures.  And sadly, I didn't get very many with our friends.  It doesn't mean we don't love you.

Both girls loved this slide.

"I can't put my arms down."

 

Walking the Crooked Mile.

 

 Checking out the Three Little Pigs, that weren't so little.

 

Afterwards, we met up with some other friends and ate lunch and then the next couple nights had some awesome game nights. It was fun to get together and see everyone again!

"Have a Holly Jolly Christmas"

Oh how I love Christmas! We stayed here for the holidays and had lots of fun. But first here's some much needed Christmas cuteness.

It's rare that I can get them to sit and look at the camera at the same time. Hence the following pictures.

 

Ok, now that I've got that out of my system, on to Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at Dave's dad's house. As is tradition though, we went to the McCaffree's for dinner and fun. After eating we played Christmas "Family Feud." It was lots of fun. Then we read excerpts from a Christmas story that we used at our Ward Christmas Party that goes over the different characters of the nativity. And then Grandpa Great read THE Christmas story from the Bible. Always a good time.

We headed home and the girls found Christmas jammies to sleep in. Then we added a new tradition from the Hughes family. Along with milk and cookies for Santa, they also set out reindeer food. Jocelyn (and Jake and Jessi) had a blast making the reindeer treats. Apparently, they like oats, carrots, and glitter (it makes it easier for them to spot from above). After that Jake and Jessi opened their presents since they were spending Christmas day at their dad's. Then we went to bed and waited for Santa to come.

Making the reindeer treats.

Setting out the reindeer treats.

The next day we ate lots of food and opened lots of presents and had lots of fun! When we went back to our house, we were happy to see that Santa had stopped there too and filled our stockings. That guy...doesn't miss a thing.

This was one of the girls favorite gifts. A Frozen playhut.  Thanks Germany Broughs!

The girls opening and enjoying their presents.

  

 HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Jocelyn's Rainbow Birthday

We went with a rainbow theme for Jocey's 4th birthday. She is 4! How crazy is that?! Anyway, thanks to Pinterest, I had some great inspiration of what to do and how to decorate. We invited all of Jocey's friends (from preschool and church) and most of them came. Yep, there were 14 little kids in our house...at the same time. We enlisted my in-laws help and some of the parents stayed too, thankfully. It was a little crazy but we all had a great time. Take a look.

We had a rainbow ceiling made from table cloths, a balloon rainbow along our mantle, a rainbow pompom garland under our counter, a rainbow sign, and even the food and cake were made into rainbows.

The kids played "Pin the Cloud on the Rainbow," a spontaneous balloon toss game, and did a "Rainbow Walk" (like a cake walk but instead of winning cake, they won a little toy or candy, and because we're awesome and fair, we made sure everyone won).

After the games, we had cake and ice-cream and opened presents. Needless to say, Jocey got spoiled. And to end the party, the kids got to take home a cute little rainbow goodie bag with some toys and candy. It was a good day.

The next day was Jocey's actual birthday so she opened presents from us and Grandpa and Grandma Brough in the morning before church and then we had family come over for dinner and rainbow cupcakes and ice-cream and more present opening later that night. We love living close to so much family and are so happy they can celebrate with us.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful, smart, funny, and sassy 4 year old!

Monday Night Christmas Fun

Each Monday in December, leading up to Christmas, we did a fun Christmas activity for FHE.

Our first Monday, we decorated a gingerbread house. I went the easy route and bought the kit so all we had to do was put the big pieces together and then decorate. I think it turned out beautifully.

Lots of hard work went into making this a masterpiece.

But there was also lots of fun.

And of course my favorite part is the sampling of gingerbread and drinking some hot cocoa.

Ta Da! (Notice Dave's photobomb.)

The second Monday, we set up the Christmas tree. I would have done it earlier but Jocelyn's birthday is in the very beginning of December and we had a big party with lots of kids so I didn't want to decorate for Christmas yet. Anyway, here's how it turned out.

Jocey was so happy to help.

Emma also tried to "help."

Putting on the star.

I loved being able to see the tree through our front window.

The third Monday, we went to a friend's Christmas party. I didn't take any pictures but we read a Christmas story to all the kids, enjoyed a hot chocolate bar, and visited with our friends.

The last Monday before Christmas, we went to our favorite place to see Christmas lights. It's a neighborhood (actually just a court) called Dovewood. Last year was our first time, and I think it has become a tradition. There's probably about 10 houses and they go all out! Think the Griswold's house from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Sadly, we only took a couple pictures because we were having too much fun looking at the lights.

 

Yosemite Family Trip

Last November, we went to Yosemite for the day. It's sad that this is the first time I've been there and it's only a couple hours away. Anyway, we took a cooler full of food, drinks, and snacks and spent the day hiking around beautiful Yosemite. We loved it so much that Dave and I are going back in May for a little couple's getaway. We'll be staying in a B&B and spending a couple days enjoying the park and actually seeing the waterfalls, since they were mostly dried up in November.

We mostly stuck to one area and did a much longer hike than we thought. But fun was had by all (except for when Dave got his stomach pains). We saw deer, squirrels, lots of school groups, lots of trees, played in the dirt (mostly the girls), took pictures of beautiful landmarks, and just enjoyed being in nature.

This was my favorite part and where we spent most of our time.  I mean who doesn't want to walk straight through a tree?

 

All Hallow's Eve Fun

This year was the first year the whole family didn't do the same costume theme. Jocelyn didn't want to participate in our Ghostbusters theme. Sad day. Maybe Emma didn't want to either but seeing as she's still a baby, she didn't have much of a choice. Oh well. I knew this day would come.

Our first Halloween festivity was our ward Trunk or Treat. There were carnival booths for the kids, good food, and of course, trunks for treating.

 I'm the Ghostbuster's receptionist Janine, Dave is the wanna-be Ghostbuster, Louis, and Emma is a ghost.  Jocelyn is Rapunzel.

Our next festivity, as is tradition, was pumpkin carving. We used to do this every year with our friends the Hudsons but they moved. So we replaced them. No offense is meant, but the tradition must live on. We had the Haueters over and we made some good looking pumpkins.

And then last was actual Halloween day. The girls wore their cute shirts and then that night Grandma and Grandpa Ricks came to take the girls trick or treating with Dave while I stayed home to pass out the goods. As you can see one of the costumes changed.

 I talked Dave into wearing this to work too. He makes one good looking Clark Kent/Superman.