Despain Family Christmas Party!

Every year, just before Christmas, my mothers side of the family all get together at this big day care center in Burley to have a party. It is so much fun to sit around a talk with family that you don't see all the time. There is great food, conversation, a gift exchange, and a few rounds of lightning (basketball).


We all gather and eat until everyone is stuffed. Then we do the children's gift exchange. This is for all the kids who are under the age of 12. They each have the name of another child in the family and get to buy that person a gift. I am still not sure who had Ryker, but I hope they didn't feel bad because they bought him the cutest stuffed horsey. Although it was darling, Ryker has developed a fear of horses. I tried to convice him it was a dog and he gave me the funniest look, but still didn't want anything to do with it.


Then all the kids go and play while the adults have our white elephant/gag gift exchange. We used to get some really crazy gifts but people have started mixing in a few nice ones. It is always so funny to see some of the things people come up with. The best was when we gave Jason's old Iphone away (it was destroyed after being in the pool in J's pocket for 2 hours.) all of the younger cousins started fighting over it. They were bound and determinded that they were going to be able to fix it.


After the gift exchange is over we clear all the tables and chairs and play lightning. It came down to Jason and Derek this year. Derek won on a lucky shot!


After the party is over some of us go to Derk and Amy's house to play games. That is usually our favorite part of the day, because we just can't stop laughing. We play catch phrase and my mom always gives the worst clues. Like she gave the clue "alcoholic beverage" and that was it. I started naming all the beverages I could think of and then of course I got teased for knowing so many. Another highlight of the night was when my grandma gave her clue for nightmare. She said, "It's like when you go to sleep and wake up like AHHHHHH!" She actually closed her eyes and then started screaming. We were all laughing so hard the other team couldn't even start giving clues.

We play games until everyone is so tired we can't stay awake much longer. That ends the night of the Despain Family Christmas Party! Can't wait for next year. Here are a few pictures of the event.

Halloween!

I started this post the day after halloween and I am just getting it posted. Sorry.

We started out Halloween by getting Ryker a pumpkin. We got it in Utah at a patch by Grandma and Grandpa DuBois'. They had a really cool place right next to the patch and we took some pictures of Ryker and his Pumkin.

Then we had our "Souper Pumpkin Carving Party" on Monday the 26th. We had some awesome friends come over which included. Ashley, Jason, and Hudson Hull; Luke, Lindsey, and Tyler Coats; Terrence and Callie Smith and their kids: Aleah, Ethan, and Tracen. We also had Derek, Jessica, Halle, and Reese Wilkinson. (They just added one to their clan on the 30th of Oct. Congratulations you guys!) And we had Mike and Hilary Ramsey and their son.

We had such a blast. It was so fun to sit around and eat everyone's yummy soup and chat with adults while the kids played. We also had fun at the end of the evening carving pumpkins. We usually take lots of pictures but neglected to this year.

On Wednesday we went to a ward Halloween party where Ryker enjoyed playing the little games they had set up and even won some prizes at a few of the booths. We then went out into the freezing cold and did a "Trunk or Treat" It was fun but very, very cold.

On Halloween the weather turned out perfect. It was warm enough that we could walk around the neighborhood but cool enough that Ryker wasn't hot in his costume. We dressed him up as a monkey...which is very fitting right now. He loved the costume and loved trick-or-treating even more. He would go up to the houses and knock on the door himself, (it wasn't loud enough so I would knock too) and then when the person would come to the door he would say "treat" in sign language and then when he received his candy he would give them a big smile and say "Thank you" in sign language also. He was so well behaved all night and I had a blast taking him. He is the sweetest boy and I can't believe how fast he is growing up.

Me, my dad, and Carli...

So this month has been full of parties and it isn't over yet. My dad turned 50 this year on the 9th, I turned 24 on the 10th and my sister turned 19 on the 11th. We usually have a joint b-day party if we have one but this year I decided to throw my dad a surprise party. It was a lot of work but turned out really well. I invited all of his family and my moms family, and some of their closest friends. I made a cake and everything was decorated in black and sliver and "over-the-hill" decorations. I think he really enjoyed it. I have a few pictures below of the cake but Carli took most of the pictures during the party. We have also enjoyed a visit from Grandma and Grandpa DuBois and we are throwing our Souper Pumkin Carving Party on the 26th. We will miss all our friends that we did it with from Portland, but wanted to keep it going here because we enjoyed it so much. So look forward to a post from that.

As for me, some of my really awesome friends brought me over some cupcakes and some gifts. It was totally unexpected and I loved the gifts. Ashley and Callie you guys are so sweet. It really made my day. I had received my gift from Jason earlier in the month because we celebrated my birthday with his family when we were visiting. He spent two whole days looking for my gift and he bought me an absolutely beautiful coat. I didn't help him one bit. It was the right size and everything. I love it so much. He did a wonderful job and made me feel so special. Thank honey!

That night Jason, Carli, and I went to Albion to go through the "Haunted Mansions". It was really neat, and I was scared most of the time. They have this old college there that they decorate up and you go through three different buildings, each one getting scarier as you go. It was a lot of fun. I had a great time this year. I will post a few pics from the evenings, but I don't really have anything fantastic.


Callie, Me, and Ashley when they brought over my cupcakes they made me and their gifts.









A picture of my cute family before we left to get scared silly.

Me opening my gifts. And I am wearing the amazing coat Jason got me! Good job babe. :)

My Dad's awesome cake! The hill looks more like a pool!

We have really enjoyed the month of October so far and are looking forward to taking Ryker to the Pumpkin patch next weekend, visiting the DuBois in Utah, Our pumpking carving party, and most of all Halloween. Ryker is going to be a monkey and I can't wait until his costume shows up!

Yet another head wound.

We have at our house something we call the curse of the grandpa. It just seems like whenever Ryker is standing anywhere close to my father he gets injured. This particular injury occurred when Ryker tumbled off the front step onto his head. It caused a nice mark and the pictures below show it well. It never seemed to dampen his spirits though. He is such a happy boy all the time. I love this little boy.

The Playroom!

My mom and I decided that when Carli and Logan moved out to go to college that we were turning Carli's room into Ryker's playroom. Well Logan decided not to move out so the room is now Logan's room/Ryker's play room.

it has been so nice to have a place to put all of Ryker's toys. He plays in there and has his own little space. He loves it and I don't have to pick up so much. It has been great. Here are a few pictures of the room. As you can see by the first one, He loves it.

Finally...July Part II

Ok so here is finally the second part of my "Awesome July". I still never received any pictures from my sister from our adventure at the zoo :( . But here are some great pictures from Ryker's 1st Bday.

These first two pics are of Ryker a few days before his birthday. My friend Crystal sent Ryker a present and this is him with it. I love the awesome smile he has on his face in both of the pictures.

Here are pictures from Rykers party. We had a BBQ in the back yard with hot dogs, hamburgers, and lots of watermelon!!! Ryker had a ton of fun opening his gifts and he got totally spoiled.

Next gift please!!!

He had a lot of fun with the wrapping paper and even had to taste test it.

Here he is with his adorable cousins who were helping him open his gifts. This is Hallie and Reese Wilkinson, they came to the party with their mother Jessica. Thanks girls we had a ton of fun.

I love this next picture. My younger brother and sister bought Ryker a basketball hoop and he was so excited that he climbed on top of the box and started dancing. This is Ryker's signature dance move. He puts his hands behind his head and moves them back and forth. (kind of like the "sprinkler") It is soo funny.

This is him playing with the basketball. He already has some sweet moves!

After opening presents he decided to play some of his own games. I think this is a version of hide and go seek?

This is a cute picture of Ryker and you can kind of see his birthday boy shirt. LOVE IT. Also note the nice bruise on his forehead. He ran into the corner of our kitchen table a few days before his party.

This is his Awesome Cake that took me most of the day to decorate and if you can't tell, the cupcakes are decorated like a road!

A close up.

Ryker's first bite! He didn't really blow out his candles and I had the video camera for it.

And one of his last bites!

His party was a lot of fun and I think he enjoyed it. He was spoiled rotten and got a ton of gifts. He received clothes and toy cars, a basketball hoop and bowling set. He was given bath toys and of course cards and money.

We had a really awesome time with everyone who showed up and missed those who couldn't make it.

Our July ended with the 24th of July celebration in Oakley where I was able to show Ryker off to some of my old high school friends and we ate scones and watched a parade and a rodeo. It was fun to see my classmates and hang out in Oakley. I didn't get any pics from this event because we were usually in a hurry.

July was a fun month for our summer and we enjoyed the time we were able to spend with friends and family. August came and went so fast it was all a blur and now here we are already in September. Hopefully I will get better at this blogging thing but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Update!

This is not actually part two of our awesome July...but I had some pretty funny things happen that I wanted to share. Last Saturday, my family and I were eating at Taco Bandido here in Burley and while we were waiting for our food Ryker got a girlfriend. It was quite funny, the little girl came around the corner trailing her mother when she spotted Ryker. She stopped abruptly and said, "Ooooh a baby". She then placed her hands on the sides of Rykers face and planted a big kiss on his lips. Her mom came back to our table and grabbed her saying, "honey you can't just go around kissing perfect strangers". She then apologized and said, "She gets it from her mother." The whole table laughed and then my father told my brother Logan that he should take lessons from Ryker on how to get a woman! It was quite a funny event.

In other news I haven't had a chance to organize my pictures for July part two. We just had the Cassia County Fair where Jason had a booth and my Dad basically runs the place. We just moved Carli to Utah State and are going to Jason's brother's wedding this weekend. So when we return from that I will get it posted. Sorry for the delay!

Our Awesome July! (Part one)

We have had an awesome July. It has been such a fun month. First we went for our annual "Fourth of July" family vacation, and then we went and visited Jason's family where we celebrated Jason and Ryker's Birthdays, and we just returned today from a family reunion!

The 4th was so fun. We started the vacation by going to the Hogle Zoo. Jason's dad and nephew Jake joined us there. Ryker loved the animals and the train, and he really loved the carousel. We spent most of the day there and then went to the gateway mall to pick up a few items that we were going to need for our next days adventure. (I don't have pics of the zoo yet because my sister took all of those on her camera). We then headed for the Lagoon camp ground where we stayed in a tent. This was our first experience "camping" with Ryker, who actually slept really well despite the huge wind storm that we had that night. The gusts were so bad I thought our tent was going to fly away with us in it.

Here is Ryker and his uncle Logan in front of our tent! Sorry Logan, your eyes are closed but Ryker looks cute.

The next morning we headed out for lagoon. Ryker crashed in his stroller before we even hit the front entrance to the park! He is so cute when he is asleep. We were headed to the water park and Ryker slept through most of that which was great because after he woke up we found that he didn't really like the water. I think it was a little colder then he would have liked. So we left and headed for the rides.

Ryker got to experience his first roller coaster. Grandpa Parish took him on the ride and if you can see his face he actually looks a bit terrified.

He came off the ride looking like he enjoyed himself though. He never screamed or cried but he had an awful look the entire time.

After going on a couple of rides we headed back to the camp ground to clean up and eat some lunch. When all of us were finished and ready to go, we headed back to the park to ride the little train. Ryker basically passed out in my mothers arms before we could get to the train so grandma and grandpa sat on a bench with the sleeping boy while my brothers, sister, Jason and I went on some adult rides. It was fun and Uncle Logan won Ryker a helmet at the pitching booth!

After Ryker took a nap we went on the train. Ryker loved it and I got a lot of good pictures from the train. Here are a few of my favorites. This first picture is of Ryker on Grandma's lap right after we boarded the train. He was looking at all the people because the train wasn't moving yet.

This picture is of Ryker on Grandpa's lap looking at the animals as they passed by. He is the funniest boy and is always so interested in new things. I am always amazed at how smart he is.

After the train we decided to try a few more rides. We did the carousel which he enjoyed and then we tried the roller coaster again. The first picture is of Ryker getting on the coaster with dad and then standing in line with mom. The roller coaster was one of the only rides that we could go on with him. I didn't feel comfortable putting him on rides alone and it would have been nice if we had a bigger-little kid with us. LOL!

We really enjoyed our time with my family at Lagoon. It has been a tradition of my family to go there since I was little and I was really excited to be able to go again this year. I have missed it for the last few years, and it was fun to spend time with my family outside of Burley.

Although this blog only covers the first part of our Awesome July I think I am going to end the entry here. I have a lot of pictures from the B-day party that I want to get in order before trying to post them.

Look forward to more entries soon. Our awesome July is just getting started. We are holding Ryker's official Birthday party this week and we also have pioneer days coming up. I am so lucky to have all of these wonderful family members in my life from both mine and Jason's side. We have had a great summer spending time with all of them.

Look forward to part two of Our Awesome July coming soon!