Last bit of December

Usually when Richie has time off, he doesn't really take it. Especially if we're not in a different town on vacation or something. If he has time off and we're in Riverton, he'll go into work anyway to get things done. That's what happens when you're busy working multiple jobs or working on a Masters. However, this Christmas break, he actually took time off! When we got back from St. George, he did put in a few hours here and there on his lap top from home, but other than that we just had a really relaxing week, easing ourselves back into reality after the Holidays. And I have hardly any pictures to show for it!
We always had a cozy fire burning, Richie had time to actually sit on the couch and read leisurely (gasp!), I had an extra pair of hands as we took Christmas decorations down and did the day to day things, and the kids had fun outings with just their dad. They went sledding twice and built a snowman in our backyard who is swimming away from a shark! Lucky kids. It's been so lovely. It also made today a little hard. The first full day back into real life always stings a bit.



One night some of Richie's family came over just because we hadn't seen them over Christmas break much, and Richie and his brothers spent forever working on this ridiculously hard puzzle of the earth. He had pulled it out to do with the kids, but they gave up within minutes. I had to chuckle at this group working so tenaciously to finish the puzzle.



A picture of Lindy taking a nap, just for good measure. I wanna go kiss those cheeks! She can be a real stinker, but she easily makes up for it with extra sweetness. And whenever I see the kids sleeping, it's like all of their misdeeds throughout the day have been washed away, and all I can think about is how angelic they look.


New Year's Eve we invited the Garner and James clans over for games and snacks. We played pie face, danced with glow sticks, played flashlight tag, and the kids watched a movie. Around 10 or so, they went outside to bang pots and pans and officially rang in the new year. :)