Soda

Nick and Xander love soda (K, all my kids love soda). When we are with extended family, they tend to have soda, which make Nick and Xander thrilled. They are so cute and know they have to drink in the kitchen. They found this little stool at Meg and Steve's house and just made themselves comfortable and settled in to enjoy their drinks. Aren't they adorable?!

 

Helping Grandpa

We were the last family to leave, which meant we had a few days with Grandma and Papa all to ourselves! Nick and Zack decided to jump in and help Papa take the tree down. I just loved watching them together. Just such a simple thing that was so sweet to me. Before I knew it, Papa had Nick on his shoulders to get the very top ones. Nick felt so important and loved. It just made my heart so happy that my kids have these awesome people who love them so much.

 

New Year's Day Relaxing

 January 1st is a pretty chill day. It is full of games, chatting, reading, napping, and eating. Today was no different. Well, except Oliver now joins us for games - the the table....which his own chair. I'm not sure what's happening, but I'm here for it.

  

I like to call this game "How many Erickson's can fit on the love sac?" How cute are these people!?!?

Oh I love this girl. She has read so many books this week - you know, to relax from school stuff. It is awesome to just be in her presence again!! I've missed my two college kids!!

Dog Groomer

 

I feel so bad about this. Zack needed a haircut before we left and I just didn't get around to it. His neckline was driving me crazy, so I went looking for clippers. I found some and was so excited. When I was cutting his neckline he kept complaining it was hurting. That's when I looked at the clippers. Not only did they have broken blades, BUT it was also a dog trimmer! Poor Zack had these marks on his neck for a week. It really hurt him! I felt terrible....and he won't let me live it down!

Manicurist Kallie

Having 5 brothers and no sisters can be hard on a girl. Thankfully Kallie has five AWESOME brothers who let her paint their nails. We went all fancy with Ben's and even did the BYU!  No one wanted to be left out, so Kallie had a line of nails to paint. Good thing she got lots of nail stuff for Christmas! Starting 2024 out right with great looking nails!

 

Welcome 2024!

 

Tradition! We celebrate New Year's every year at the cabin with our favorite people. We never have gotten an adult group picture, so I was so excited it finally worked out! Let's not talk about how it is blurry, but it's the best one we got!

I learned the kids can't count down from 10......

Uncle Dan has horrible aim...

And then we randomly had a fainting contest - which Amy came in strong!

Emily nailed the landing - but struggled getting back up. To be fair - it was so very very late!  And how lucky am I that this is my 24th year celebrating a New Year with this handsome guy of mine!? We might have a few more wrinkles, but I like to think about them as being caused by all the laughing we do. So excited for what 2024 has in store for our family!