A Party, New PJ's and New Books

On Christmas Eve we had a fun party. Guests included: Sam and Wendy Horrocks (my seester) with their 4 children Jacob, Porter, Ethan and Emma; my cousin Emily who came down from Utah for a fun visit and my cousin Kevin and his wife Becky with their children William, Katie and Lizzie. Kevin's parents, Kim and Kimberly Crookston with their sons Daryl, Brian and Nathan also joined us from California. Wowsers it is a lot of people when we all get together but we have fun.

I don't have many pictures because I really just wanted to enjoy myself and not worry about getting all the right pictures. I do wish that I had taken of the whole group though - it's on the list for next time.

Here are the Grinch twins. I can't even count how many times these two wore these same shirts this holiday season. Ben just loved having the same shirt as his dad!

Brian and Nathan kept the kids entertained while getting a work out at the same time. You guys can come back ANYTIME!!

We played the "White Elephant" game. This is the "true" game where the presents cannot be new items bought from a store. They must be used items around your house that you think someone else might enjoy. We played the rules which allow a present to be stolen 3 times before it is "retired". Here is Kevin stealing a present from someone. The older kids were confused at first but by the end they completely understood the stealing part. :) So nice of us to teach our children to steal on Christmas Eve.

After everyone went home - early of course, so that kids could get ready for bed so Santa could come...Ben and Lizzy opened their traditional Christmas Eve present of new pajamas. This year, however, I added a new tradition. A friend of mine gives her children a new Christmas book on Christmas Eve and reads it to them before they go to bed. I loved that idea so Lizzy opened our first copy of "The Night Before Christmas" and Ben opened a book entitled "Santa Claus The World's Number One Toy Expert" by Marla Frazee - the story and illustrations are adorable.

Ben and Lizzy loved their new PJ's and new books.

I feel a little guilty keeping the whole Santa secret going but I didn't even need to ask Lizzy to clean up the toy room and her bedroom after all of the cousins left and Ben and Lizzy were very eager to get to bed. I'll milk it for all it's worth as long as I can I guess. :) I could have sworn I saw sugar plums dancing in their heads as I looked at their sweet sleeping faces. Santa must love giving presents to these two...I know I do! :)

Butter Beer Wars

Anyone who knows Troy, knows that he loves Harry Potter. He is not a fanatic or a crazy or is someone who has lost his identity to the story. He just really loves the books and the fun stuff that goes along with them. He met some kindred spirits when my cousin Kevin Crookston and his wife Becky moved down here to Yuma. They love Harry Potter just as much, if not more than Troy does. Case in point...

In the story all those in the wizarding world love to drink something called Butter Beer. Even the students at Hogwarts love it so it isn't an alcoholic drink. I've just always assumed it is something like rootbeer. During our Thanksgiving festivities Troy decided to search for a recipe for butter beer. Little did Troy know that Kevin's parents had just returned from a trip to the new Harry Potter theme park in Florida with reports of the delicious butter beer. As an early Christmas present, his parents gave them a butter beer kit. They brought it over the other day and the challenge was on!

After blind taste tests by anyone willing (this is my sister Wendy) it was decided that Kevin and Becky's version was great and Troy's was great but when we put them together...WOWSERS!!!! DELICIOUS!!

So, for those who are wondering, butter beer contains homemade butterscotch syrup, cream soda, real whipped cream and butter nut and rum flavoring (JUST the flavoring!). NO this is not low fat but oh man it is HIGH flavor! DELISH!!! Warmed up is even better!!!

Duct Tape Did The Trick

I've written before about the behavior exhibited when my children get together with their cousins. CRAZY!! Two of their cousins stayed the night a couple of days ago. They were all up early and running around like hooligans. So Troy took drastic action...

The boys laughed the whole time they were being taped up and then had a contest to see who could get themselves out of the tape first. Somehow Ben won. (I think he had a little help from his sister) They had so much fun they begged to be taped up again. Boys! :)

Homemade Pioneer Celebration

Growing up in Utah with July 24th being even more celebrated than July 4th, we just can't let the day go by without some sort of commemoration and PARTY. So we created our own celebration. Our cousins the Crookstons and my sister's family, the Horrocks, came over for some homemade pioneer fun. Here are a few pictures from our party...

No party at the Love Shack would be complete without Troy's homemade rootbeer.

The kids shook jars of heavy whipping cream until they had made their own butter. (The dad's actually took over after about 2 minutes of this activity. The kids decided store bought butter was just fine.)

We had a costume - one pioneer bonnet.

Becky and Kevin Crookston with their son Will would not stop drinking the YUMMY homemade rootbeer. Becky is about to have a baby any minute.

We ate our homemade butter on homemade biscuits with honey (not homemade)

We sang, "Pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked...Sam and Troy thought it was funny to drag out the "walked" part.

We played good old fashioned sheer strength pioneer games...

Troy won

Sam won

Not sure who wonWendy's sweet baby Emma slept.

And of course we all swam and ate bbq hamburgers and hotdogs. We figured the pioneer kids would have been thrilled to have a pool so we should all jump in (not much else to do outside when it is 110!)

Kevin and Becky might have to move sometime in the near future as his job may be changing. We have loved getting to know them and making them a part of our Yuma family.

Welcome To The World Emma Horrocks

My sister Wendy had her 4th baby on Friday, July 9th. After 3 boys, she finally had a sweet baby GIRL - Emma Renee Horrocks! While Emma was making her entrance into the world, her big brothers were chillin' at the Love Shack. The boys stayed for two nights and 2 1/2 days - Lizzy and Ben wish they would have stayed longer.There is something about these kids and their shared DNA - they get into some kind of "Cousin Zone" where everything is hilarious and fascinating and requires very loud voices, running and absolutely no sleep! (Oh and no parental supervision is necessary - or so they think!)For sleeping arrangements we blew up the big air mattress and put it in Ben's room so they could all sleep in one room together. The irony is the word "sleep". :) I fell asleep to the sound of the three oldest cousins talking and laughing. I decided not to let it bother me - I remember those same types of experiences as a kid and I knew they were making some great memories so I just let them talk - which they did until after 10pm!
That was okay until Troy and I were woken up by the sounds of laughter and little feet running around the house at 5:30 IN THE MORNING!!! By 7am they were in the pool. Our poor neighbors.The kids had a great time swimming, eating, swimming, watching movies, swimming, doing crafts and swimming. And yes, they stayed up late again the next night and got up early the following morning. But oh they slept well once the party was over and the boys went home.Finally, on Friday afternoon, Emma was born. The boys were ecstatic with joy - they have been praying for a sister and Lizzy got her first girl cousin in her age group (the others are all teenagers and live far away). Lizzy helped me pick out a couple of girl outfits for little Emma but what she was most excited about was giving Emma her first little doll - the little mermaid doll Lizzy has lovingly shoved in Emma's arms in this picture.

There are so many posts I have skipped for one reason or another. I need to play catch up so here goes...
On Easter Sunday we got together with the Horrocks (my sister's family) and the Crookston family (some cousins whom I did not know I had until they moved to Yuma). We have a couple of friends who join us for Sunday dinner every Sunday - two ELIGIBLE bachelors who enjoy a home cooked meal. Troy was in a play with both of them - they came to dinner one Sunday and then the next and then the next and now they come almost every Sunday. Lizzy and Ben even call them Uncle Nate and Uncle Rob. We love having them come. I love their influence on my children and that they are willing to keep coming back. I'm still amazed at that.

Uncle Nate (Bigler) was talking with Becky Crookston, just the normal chit chat when you meet someone - Where are you from? What do you do? and the BIG one...Why are you in Yuma?
Well, Nate is from Brigham City, Utah originally. His mom is the choir teacher at the high school there. His parents are in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and a few other facts I do not remember - this stirred something in Becky's memory. She asked if he is related to so and so (I honestly can't remember the name) and low and behold - HE IS!! Turns out Becky and Nate are somehow, around the bend, not really, but kinda related by marriage! Whoda thunk? :)So we took one big family picture. Uncle Rob (Weiler) is taking the picture. We'll find a connection somewhere for him too. Lizzy and Ben call him "uncle" so I guess he's already related. :)

Nate and Rob hid the Easter eggs for the kids (they hid them very, very well, I might add)