{Sweet 60}

The party did not stop with the Easter egg hunt this year.  We had more in store!  My mom's birthday isn't until next month but we were all in town and her big 60 is coming up so Dad suggested we throw a surprise party for her.  This party took months of planning and hours and hours of prep but it was well worth all the effort to honor our lovely, talented, clever Mom.  What a better way to do it than to throw her a "Sweet 60th" party where the them was sweets...candy, candy and more candy.  This is not easy to do when we had to take our clever, talented Mom out of the equation.  All of us together equals one of our Mom.  Seriously.

 My little sister, Ashlee made this amazing cake all by herself.  Isn't it awesome!  That girl has some skillz which came in handy for this party. 

 Kelli and I were in charge of decor.  We went shopping and saw the black and white party supplies and knew it was our Mom to the T.  We added some fun candy flare (if you look close the utensils are wrapped with candy bracelets, the centerpieces are dum dum suckers) and of course you have to have the new fun paper straws.  Thank heavens for Pinterest is all we can say!

 Here comes the lady of the night unknowingly walking into her 60th birthday surprise party.  She thought she was coming to Michelle's house for dinner to celebrate Jeremy's bday that was the day before. (how convenient)  Dad had taken her to Billings, MT to buy bulls on Thursday and Friday and get her out of our hair so we could put the party together.  :)

 Here she is admiring her "sweets" table.

 We ate dinner

 then gathered for a program we had put together.

 We came up with 60 different candy items and made up sayings about her or our memories that went along with the candy name.  Here is Michelle talking about picking raspberries with Mom.  Love the typical raspberry bucket tied around her waste.  Other favorites were "You make a great Relief Society "pezident" that came with a pez dispenser.                       Jolly Rancher=You have been a great example for marriage having been married to a "jolly rancher" for nearly 41 years!
Slo Poke= Ummm....we think you know!

 After the program she got a group hug from the grandkids.

 Then it was time for gifts where we surprised her with a get away girls weekend to Las Vegas in May around her real Birthday.  We can't wait!

 After the program her sweet's table was filled with 60 candies representing soemthing about her.

Here is an attempt at a family picture minus the kiddos and Wacy who had to work.  I am hoping others got a better picture than my camera took!

It was an awesome evening to honor a Mother who has done so much for us.  We now understand more than ever that raising seven kids is not easy.  She has done a lot for us.  Love you Mom!

Easter Egg Hunt 2012

Easter is always a big party every year with the McGarry's and this year did not disappoint!  The Francis family drove from Vegas, Wacy was home from his mission, Kat has entered the family, we are complete this year.

 The kids all ready to dye their eggs.

 Macy was really into it this year and colored at least 7 eggs on her own.

 All the egg hunt loot.

 A bunch of my favorite people.

 More of my favorites

 My most favorite!

 We kept the egg hunt inside this year.  Snow put a damper on outdoor hunting...seriously lame!

 Everyone gathered to see what their eggs had in store for them.  (Notice cute little Krew walking around--love that boy!)

 Dad awaiting his fate...

 Logan and Whitney

 Macy popping packaged air with Uncle Matt, she ran away before this officially popped.  Scaredy pants!

 Macy getting some prizes.

Brigham is officially rich.  :)

My little cuties Easter morning.

March 2012

This month at the Ricks household:

Brigham lost his first tooth! He was eating a crescant of all things that loosened it enough to come out.

 We visited Grandpa's farm in the middle of calving season (Logan checking cows below) (Kids bending Grandpa's gate above)

 We deemed this little guy as the cutest calf on our visit.  :)

 Ashtyn turned 11.  Holy moly!

 She got gifts, donuts, chocolate milk and cake to celebrate and we also went to the movie "Lorax" at the theater.  She got to go to dinner with adults only at Applebees with Grandma and Grandpa McGarry and her parents of course.

 Haylee turned 9! Really, where has the time gone?  We had cake on FHE night for Haylee's bday and also sang to Brock, Zack, Ashtyn, Krew and Kelli who had March birthdays too.

 The morning of Haylee's bday.  We woke up early to let her open gifts before school.  There was no way she was waiting until after school!  Grandma had taken Haylee and Ashtyn out on a Grandma date for their birthdays and bought Haylee this cute dress she is wearing.  I have to put limits on her wearing it too much. ha ha

 High heel shoes an a peacoat were also on her list.

 She got all dressed up complete with a fancy hairstyle and took donuts to school to share with her class.  After school we treated her to her first pedicure.  She was in heaven!  For dinner she got to eat out with Mom and Dad all by herself.

We can't believe how fast time is going with these little ladies!  Happy Birthday girls!

February 2012

We have a little Valentines tradition where every year we go to a hotel as a family and spend time together.  The past few years I have had to leave early due to ear infections, sad babies etc. so this year we tried something different.  I had the kids pick a name and they turned into secret Valentines where they tried to do nice things for one another or leave secret treats for them.  They had fun doing this for each other.  I did 14 days of Valentines for Scott and left him a treat or something with a note for 14 days.  It was a lot of fun.  Scott let me get a pedi (he may or may not have come with me).  We gave each of the kids $5 to spend at the dollar store where they picked out gifts for their Valentine and then gave to each other for Valentines day.  It was fun to see what they picked for each other.  They know each other pretty well.  :)  We also had a family night together where we played fun games and spent time with each other.  Hooray for a month that reminds us to Love.  :)

Macy and Brigham checking out their Valentine gifts

 Ashtyn and Haylee got spoiled too.

 Playing a Minute to Win It game.

 Cupid's Arrow game.  I rocked this game...Scott was sad I was better at it than he was.  ;)

At the end of the month Brigham got to bring home Benny Bear from Kindergarten.  He had so much fun.  He really loves Kindergarten and learning.  It is fun for him to finally get to be like his sisters. 

January 2012

I am behind I know, I have been busy and I look back at the photos and realize why I haven't had time to blog.  This all happened in January alone.  I am exhausted just looking back at the photos!

 Haylee got to babysit her class pet, Angel, the lionhead bunny this month.  The kids had a lot of fun.  She was hard to catch and spent a lot of time under Brigham's bed.  They also don't smell very nice.  I was happy to get her out of my house after the weekend.  ;)

 The girls wanted to do a drill team fundraiser where they got to dance during half time at a Madison basketball game.  Above is my niece, Shaylee with the big red flower in her hair (3rd in from right).

 Haylee is on the back row to the left of the girl with the white headband.

 For some reason I only got a rear shot of Ashtyn? hmmm, maybe I did video on the rest.  She is the one with pig tails.

 Macey wasn't old enough to participate but she had a lot of fun seeing Shaylee. 

We got into painting this month probably due to cold weather and being stuck inside.



I decided to paint a stencil on one wall in my bedroom.  At the first picture if you look really close, I had to draw the stencil with pencil and then I went over it by hand with paint.  It took forever, but the result was exactly what I wanted and I am still loving it.

 Macy must have wanted new carpet but to her dismay we were able to get this gallon of popcorn butter off the floor.  What a mess!!! 

Macy also discovered Toy Story this month.  She loves any Toy Story movie and talks about it constantly.  When she saw Brigham's pj's she started wearing them as much as she could.  Good bye princess jammies, hello Buzz Lightyear.  She also still loves her princess movies and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.