Christmas Break with the Richeys

We spent a wonderful (and very busy) Christmas break with the Richey family this year. It began with a fun drive down to my parents' house, which we spent writing parody Christmas songs for the different members of my family. That's been our little tradition for three years running, now!

We hit bad traffic in LA, so it was a huge relief to finally make it. Cal loves his cousins and grandparents so much. My mom read the boys books that night. We were all so tired!

Here's my little Cal, fast asleep Christmas Eve:

This next shot isn't a great photo, but it does seem to capture the awesome chaos that is Christmas morning at the Richey home. My favorite is Brooks in the foreground. It was so fun to play with the twins. They're getting super big, and very mischievous. :)

Some of the highlights as far as presents this year included Mr. Whale, a toy that Reed's sister Diana apparently stole from him when he was younger. This was an act of sibling reconciliation.

Cal received Thomas Trouble from his cousin Brandon, which we love!

My parents got Cal a totally cool VW van pop-up tent. Carson got a tent, too, and the boys stored their gifts and treasures inside all week while playing. We all thought they were the best, until we attempted to put them away. Reed, my dad and my brothers spent hours consulting youtube videos to no avail. We're still not sure if we put it away correctly. I'm kind of scared to take it out again!

The days after Christmas were wonderful -- and busy! We enjoyed wonderful weather, which we tried  (and failed) to feel guilty about, given the frozen state of the rest of the country.

My mom and dad took us all to The Lion King at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, which is an amazing building in the Art Deco style.

My mom is so good at planning fun activities and making it convenient for everyone, and my dad is always so generous about treating us to these awesome events. They even arranged babysitters for the kids so we could go. I love spending time with them and making memories.

After our big putting to the Lion King, we set our sights on prepping for Rachel and Taft's wedding, and hosting the groom's family. It was so fun to meet the Memmotts. We spent hours playing "Time's Up" (it was the biggest group we've ever had!), rocking out to "Just Dance" on the Wii, and going to movies at the Krikkorian. 

Reed, Cal, and I saw Frozen (which I loved -- highly recommend it), and got in a little time at the theatre arcade, too!

The weekend was filled with meaningful events for our family, including Rachel's endowment on Friday, the beautiful wedding ceremony Saturday morning, a fun luncheon with close family, and the reception at the carriage house that evening. Rachel looked beautiful, and we are excited to have Taft in our family.

And check out these two little friends in their wedding outfits. They were so good the whole day!

I love the holidays, and I'm so glad we got to see our families during this special time of year!

Olsen Family Thanksgiving Break

We spent a fun Thanksgiving with the Olsen Family in Utah this year. Cal was so excited to see his Grandma & Grandpa and his cousins, he got his suitcase out and packed (the essentials--all toys) almost a week before our flight.

We flew right into Provo, and boy was it cold in Utah! Luckily, Cal had his wool hat and mittens that Aunt Heather had knit him.

The boys had such a fun time together. They are both getting to the age where they play well and really enjoy each other's company. It was sweet to watch. 

One of the days, we all met up at the new Scheels sporting goods store so we could ride the indoor ferris wheel (yes, you read that correctly -- land is so inexpensive in Utah that you can build a store large enough to house an indoor ferris wheel).

There are so many fun activities in Utah at Christmas time! We also took the boys to see a small display of gingerbread houses, which they loved. Each of us got to vote on our favorite.

Cal took this picture of two houses that he really liked:

Even better, we were surprised to discover that the rest of the building was basically an awesome children's museum about the history of Utah. There were so many cute hands-on exhibits for the boys, including a house with a table and a kitchen, a yard where they could fish, milk cows, and hang laundry from clothespins, and a grocery store with hundreds of moveable food items.

The boys loved it, and so did the parents! It was fun to see them imagine, and to play with them.

Thanksgiving was filled with food preparation, the Macy's parade, and the Westminster Dog Show, which I insisted on watching. Cal helped Grandma make her famous rolls:

And of course, we all made ginger snap cookies (Cal was shirtless at this point, nbd).

Grandma Rosemary brought a fun activity with her. On a long scroll of paper, we each drew pictures of what we were grateful for. Then, after dinner, the boys got to present it to us by scrolling through the drawings. They were so excited about it, so we got the show several times.

The day after thanksgiving, Reed and I dashed off to Boston, leaving Cal to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa. We are so grateful that they are so good to him. He absolutely loves his grandparents.

Reed at I flew back early Sunday morning, and we all went to church together. It's always a treat to see the Christmas decorations in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I got some extra time to enjoy them, since my RLS had me walking the halls during sacrament meeting.

We had some delays with our homebound Allegiant flight, but eventually we made it back to California, safe and sound.

This year, we are grateful for our wonderful family and friends, good health, Reed's wonderful job, and the new baby that will be joining us in January. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Boston Trip

We had a vacation within a vacation this year! Early Friday morning we hopped on yet another plane, this time bound for Boston. It was a very quick trip, but we squeezed in a lot of meaningful activities. Just after we arrived, we drove out to the LDS temple and did work for Reed's ancestors. It was my first time doing sealings -- what a beautiful ordinance. We caught the last endowment session of the night, too. 

The next morning we hopped in our little rental car and drove out to visit Reed's cousin Jeff and his family. Just as we pulled up in front of their home, I hit the curb and popped our tire. (Ironically, we had just been joking about how aggressively the guy at the rental counter had tried to up-sell us on the insurance.) Reed and I just sat in the car staring at one another in shock as the tire let out a prolonged squeal, like the air leaking out of a balloon.

Thankfully, we had a maintenance number to call, and plenty of fun activities to distract us while the tire was switched out. It started with a lovely brunch of waffles, bacon, and homemade maple syrup with Jeff & Saydi and their awesome kids. It was so fun getting to hear about the goings and comings of the Shumway kids. Next, we set out to hunt for a Christmas tree! Saydi led the caravan to an awesome tree farm up north.

The drive was amazing. Massachusetts really did not get the short end of the stick when it comes to natural beauty. It was cold when we reached the tree farm. I've never had the experience of sawing down my own tree, but Reed took his turn along with the kids, and soon we were hauling our conquest via bobsled over to the tractor-trailor for a ride back down the hill to our car.

We ended our outing with popcorn & hot cocoa in front of the fireplace while Christmas music played. Perfect! It was a brief visit, but a wonderful one. I'm so glad we got the chance to check in with the Boston Shumways. Thanks for a fun (and incredibly merry) day, guys!

Richey Reunion at Bear Lake

The last stop on our summer roadtrip was Bear Lake in Northern Utah for the Richey family reunion. We arrived a day before the group festivities began, so we made the best of the wait by exploring the Minnetonka Cave. 

 There were a million stairs to climb between the rooms. Cal was a trooper on the way up, but a little bit of a chicken on the way back down.

 After the fun morning at the caves, we spent the weekend hanging out at the sweet condo my parents reserved for us (thank you, Mom and Dad!), playing at the lake (which was interrupted by a wild rainstorm -- head for the hills!), a hilarious show at the Pickleville Playhouse, and family meals all together. Cal loved the Pickleville show; here he is on Daddy's lap in the audience:

 One of my favorite parts of the reunion was the skit night. Each nuclear family put on a skit depicting a family story. The Mark Richeys acted out a typical cousin dinner at Grandma Richey's house, complete with a rendition of "God Bless the USA" like Grandma always loved. I also loved Suzie's skit, which reenacted the time Grandma faced off with a group of Hell's Angels while moving her sister-in-law out of her house.

Cal loved the "down time" moments, when he and Carson got to watch Scooby Doo or Marmaduke on the downstairs DVD player. These two are such good little friends.

Thanks for a wonderful reunion, Richey Family! Love you all!