We got to the ranch just in time to hold our new cousin, Deantre Robert Williams. He was already 2 months old, but so cute and little to us still. Since everyone was hogging Baby D, Ava took over with Stocky duty. Stocky is such a good-natured, sweet little boy too so she was pretty happy about it.
We had a fun adult gift exchange. Malorie came up with a fun idea to have a theme for Christmas gifts. In honor of Mom, the theme this year was emergency preparedness. There were some great ones in there. We did the game where you could steal a gift. It was fun. Then Brad and Sharol's family came up for a couple of hours to say hi and see Katie and the new baby.
The next day was bright and sunny so the morning was spent having fun in the snow! I decided to take my new camera out and test it out. I am really at a nice stage of life where I don't have to worry too much about Kasen and Ava (and most of the time Kinsley too.) I just have to keep an eye on Dallin. Today Kinsley decided to not even go out in the snow, so Ava & Kasen went up the hill and over to explore and look for animal tracks.
Kasen did play with Dallin for a bit before heading out to explore. He is such a good big brother. He and Dallin have a cute little relationship. Dallin loves copying everything Kasen does and Kasen is a good sport about it.
Practicing with different lenses was fun. Outside I stuck with my long lens to zoom in and out. I think it is pretty amazing the details you can capture on a camera now a days.
Some more action shots. Ava brought her camera out to take pictures too.
Jed came out to throw snowballs at Kasen of course.
Then Kasen had a better idea... in some of the pictures it looks like the giant snowball is coming towards him instead of away from him. I love the look on Kasen's face in these.
Dallin looks like a little Scandinavian or Russian boy with his pale skin and bright blue eyes.
Pretty soon Liam came out to play with everyone. He had to borrow Kinsley's boots and they were too big, so he had a hard time walking in the snow. He made it pretty far up the hill though!
Here are a couple attempts at some nature photography. Everything looks so pretty buried in snow and you really feel isolated up at the ranch on a snowy day.
Even the dogs came out to play in the snow with the kids.
Jaxon and Dallin stayed down and played in the snow with Abby and Jed. Dallin really liked tackling Abby into the snow piles. Jaxon wasn't sure about it. He was so funny in his giant snow suit. He looked like Ralphie on The Christmas Story. One thing Dallin couldn't control out in the snow was his tongue. He loved throwing snow into the air and trying to catch it on his tongue.
Dallin couldn't tackle his dad into the snow, but luckily Jed was there to help fix gloves and hats.James kept up with the big kids on their exploration down the other side of the hill. When he got back he was ready for some mischief and he and Dallin got into a snowball fight, but it was more like a snow fall fight.
Kholie came out to play with the little boys.
Dallin started getting tired and heading towards the house, but then got distracted again.
Ava the Explorer finally came in from off the mountain too.
The kids spent the whole morning out in the snow and had a great time.
I just walked around taking pictures of people.
James was pretty interested in watching Grandma's hourglass. I think he watched the entire half drained of sand. Finally, Ava & Kasen came in. They were frozen but warmed up pretty quick with some hot coco.
My dad got bored and starting trying to light a fire inside. That should turn out well when Jaxon repeats what he saw later at his own house.
Aiden loved my camera clicking each time I took a picture. He wanted to just follow me around and listen.Dallin was having the time of his life exploring inside now and playing with everybody.
Baby Deantre was the most beautiful baby. His big dark eyes were so cute. I only took about 1000 photos of him.
Deantre was so expressive and cute, especially for a 2 month old. He was pretty mellow and just cooed and wiggled. He loved it when his momma would come and talk to him though!
My dad saw me trying to zoom in on the elk heads and so he went and got out some of his elk possessions - a belt buckle and an elk tooth rings. Apparently, there was some pretty funny story about the elk paraphernalia that I missed, but I got the laughing faces of whatever was said.
Then it was back to Baby D. I love these pictures of Jaxon right in his face.
Dallin wanted to show Grandpa his basketball cards. Grandpa wanted to quiz him and see how many he knew and Dallin didn't hesitate to recite the names of nearly every player. It is so funny to me that he remembers and knows who each player is - especially at age 2.
Dallin didn't know as many football players so Grandma told him their names. They had fun together.
Then Dallin had to repeat the whole thing with Jed. He never gets tired of his cards.
Jaxon is used to being the only big kid at his house so he steered clear of all the chaos from the cousins playing together. He liked being upstairs by his mom and the baby. Unfortunately for Jaxon though is the fact that Dallin absolutely thinks they are best friends and never wants to leave him alone. I love some of the expressions I caught of Jaxon. What you don't see in the pictures are Dallin just outside of the frame talking non-stop to Jax. It is like Jaxon is silently begging for someone to save him from Dallin. 🤣
Love these pictures I took of my mom interacting with the grandkids.
Another kid with great facial expressions is Kasen. He is such a funny kid. I honestly don't think there is a better boy in the whole world, besides Dallin.
It's not a vacation to the ranch without some chess games.
Somewhere along the way somebody got a craft activity out for the kids. They made these crystal things for awhile.
It is a miracle anyone got any rest that night with everyone sleeping under one roof. The next morning we tried to line all the grandkids up for a picture. They were super excited about it.
Today was the boys' turns to hold Baby D. Most of the kids were in their jammies until noon.
Malorie wanted to bake a cake for Kinsley's birthday and they decided on a sprinkle cake. Malorie is so talented when it comes to baking cakes and they always taste so yummy. Kinsley loved it!
There wasn't a cake crumb or drop of ice cream left!
It was Jordan and Abby's anniversary and they still chose to come hang out with us which either makes them really nice or really weird. 🤣 We got a little creative taking anniversary pictures!
It is so fun just being together. Everyone had fun laughing and talking. The kids get along for the most part. There are the occasional sharing issues and tantrums of course, but it was such a fun two days spent together.
Ava absolutely adores Stocky baby. She thinks they look like they should siblings.
I finally caught a picture of Clancy. He runs fast and furious with the big kids. I also caught Deantre's smolder.
Just when you'd think we had snapped enough pictures of the anniversary couple, Abby went and started posing again. We said do your best model pose and this is what we got! Then we took some family photos and I guess my dad thought he was invited.
Again I spent most of the evening just walking around talking pictures of people. I'm sure everyone loved it.
The babies were all working on going up and down the stairs. It is amazing how children develop. I love thinking about how persistent children are. They don't try to crawl or walk - fall down - and never try again. They just get back up and try again even if they've fallen 100x. Good examples for us adults. In a rare moment of luck I caught the Rasmussen kids in a picture. I love how they are all peeking out from behind Raleigh for a split second.
Then there is Lucy - ostracized by herself, looking down longingly from the outside. haha. Trevor face-timed in for goodnight hugs and kisses with Aiden. Funny stories were told. Bedtime stories were read. Mom and Dad got a little silly and then tired and then my dad gave me one of those looks that said, "If you take another picture of me tonight I'm going to throw your camera into the pond."
One of the most hilarious things was when Jaxon got in his pjs. He was so excited to show everyone his new pjs from Grandma and Grandpa. Meanwhile, Dallin ran upstairs to get his pjs on. He was so excited because he and Jaxon had matching pjs. Jaxon was less excited about it!
After a few swedish fish I think Jaxon realized that twinning is winning.
With so many kids and adults there were not enough chairs at the table. Luckily the kids were ok to eat on the floor and in fact thought it was just like camping.
KINSLEY'S BAPTISM - Originally when my parents were planning on leaving for a 6 month mission right after the first of the year, we worked it out to have Kinsley baptized over the break so they would be there for it. We got permission to have her baptized at the Ririe Stake center so everyone would be there. Then my parents got a different call, but Kinsley was already scheduled so we just kept it scheduled for December 29th. I had taken her over to the Meridian temple one day in early December to take some pictures to make a baptismal announcement with. She is just the cutest. Her enthusiasm for things is so contagious.It was a great baptism for her and I'm glad we kept it in Rigby because so many of her family was able to come. Ava and Grandma Erickson gave talks. Kinsley, Raleigh, and Grandma Foster sang Kinsley's favorite primary song "My Heavenly Father Loves Me."
There is truly nothing better than being part of family's that love you and support you! This is one thing we would have missed really bad had we stayed in Kentucky or anywhere else far away.
We had Subway sandwiches for lunch to celebrate. I asked Kinsley how she felt after her baptism and she said she felt as happy as on Christmas. She said, "I feel so happy I think I could even fly to heaven."
ERICKSON HOLIDAY PARTY - After lunch we headed to Firth for the Erickson holiday party. This is always a fun-filled event. Last year was the Jake & Jed ribbon dancing we've all tried to forget but haven't been able to. This year we weren't sure what to expect.
There was another talent show, but this time it was mostly kids! There was a lot of musical instrument playing.
The dancing came from boys again this year, but this time they were 4 and under. Mattie couldn't contain herself any longer and busted out her own moves. She has never taken gymnastics or dance, but she had some leaping and flexibility that was impressive.
The cousin gift exchange is always chaotic and awesome. The only siblings missing this year were Jason and Tresa's family but we still had a full house!
Eric was having so much fun he actually fell asleep. You know you are tired when you can fall asleep during the volume that accompanies an Erickson party!! Trena had asked everyone that wanted to participate to bring items for newborn kits to deliver to the hospital she visits in the Dominican Republic. Then at the party we assembled all the kits into individual bags. I love that the Ericksons always try to focus on a big service project each Christmas. They are all such wonderful people and I am so thankful after we are together that I was blessed to be a part of this family. All of Jed's siblings are just the most down-to-earth, unpretentious and kind people.
NEW YEAR'S EVE - We headed back to Boise after a stop to see Grandma & Grandpa Erickson and give Grandpa his birthday present a few days early. This was the year Ava hit her Grandpa's height. She passed Grandma about 4 years ago and has been measuring Grandpa every visit since we moved back to Idaho. While we were at their house Ava found this cute picture of Jed at a roping and this funny book in the bookshelf. Ava couldn't stop laughing at how cheesy it was and how in the world anyone agreed to publish it! It's always fun to treasure hunt at Grandma's house!
We made it back to Boise just in time for one last party in 2018. We went over to our friends the Rick's for an "early" New Year's Eve party. It was awesome. We had pizza and snacks, sang karaoke, played some fun games, and chatted. The best part was we faked an early countdown so we rang in the new year around 9pm. Ava and Kasen still stayed up until midnight, but the rest of us were in bed nice and early.
2018 has been so good to us and we are so thankful and mindful of the Lord's hand in our lives. We don't take the time to really appreciate everything the way we should all year long, but when we think back on the opportunity to be alive on this wonderful world another year we are so humbled at how much we've been blessed. Here's to 2019 and all that the future might hold!
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