Happy 14th Birthday to Mason!

UNBELIEVEABLE that we now have a 14th year old! I mean, he'll be driving us around next year! WOW!

His birthday was on Monday, January 23rd and he had school, an orthodontist appointment, basketball practice, Landon's basketball practice, and THEN we went out to eat.

Here he is modeling his gifts.....skull candy ear phones, the "DONE" hat from the Bama BCS National Championship, and a new pair of Nike shorts

Crazy boy!

So to celebrate with his friends, we let him have a sleepover on Friday night and invite all his buddies. We had 11 boys (plus our 3 kids)......WHAT WAS I THINKING?!!

Let me tell you...this is a CRAZY group of boys! But tons of fun and that's why Mason loves them so much. While Clyde Leonard had already left for the night, the other boys included Brandon Steuver, Kyle Killough, Gabe Kauffman, Cameron Seivert, Brody McGehey, Cash Snooks, Chance Hine, Zac Kujath, Kelton McCoy, and Taed Heydinger.

And they LOVE Mason soooo much too!

AHHHHH....what memories. I survived but what happens at the Owen home, stays at the Owen home. I WILL share with you a text that one of my friends sent me after picking up her son....

"Lost teeth, busted head, and vomit......NOW THAT'S A PARTY"

HMMMMM......I'm speechless!

Christmas in Alabama 2011

This year I got to take my mom out for her birthday, on her birthday so that was really nice. We spent Christmas Eve over at the Owen's and we always have such a great time with everyone....

Look how Brayden has grown! He had a big boo-boo on his nose from falling that day

Here's all the grandchildren on the Owen side...can you imagine the chaos when it's time to open presents? LOL!

Christmas Day was spent over at my aunt's house for my mother's side of the family. I had not been in 4 years so it was great to be together with everyone and see cousins that I haven't see in a while. I sure missed seeing my Aunt Gail there...it's been 2 years since she left us.
We also went over to my dad's for a little while as well.

The day after Christmas was spent with my brothers and their families. Speaking of CHAOS...

Lots of presents + Lots of people + very small living room = a huge mess!
Here are the grandkids on my side of the family.....

Face shot of me with my brothers and mom...

The older girls here with my cousin Joey's daughter Jessica who was visiting here from California

And the men with our special guests for the day......Terry Rob and Joey!

It was so good to see Joey as it had been, I don't know, maybe 10 years since I had seen he and Jessica. I call him my Western Cousin because he is the only other family member who is on my side of the US. Terry Rob (on the bottom with glasses) lives in Gordo and went to school with my brother Kerry. He doesn't have much family or money so every year, he joins us for a little while on Christmas. My brothers are good to pick him up and take him places or let him visit them in their hometown. Terry has definitely become a tradition around the Richardson home at Christmas (I think it's sweet that they want to spend time with him).

I did not get to any of my friends while home and that made me sad. But we will make special efforts the next time we are in Alabama to see all our friends. Mike took the kids along with his brothers and their kids and his nephew Brent to see Alabama play basketball.

This year we played a lot of Bunco and Mexican Train. We are so blessed with families on both sides that have fun together and enjoy each other. Thank you to the Owen's and Richardson's for making Christmas 2012 so special to us!

Christmas 2011

What will I remember about this Christmas?

Two years ago Landon woke us up at 2am to open Sant's gifts. Last year, I told him he couldn't wake us up until 6am. This year I said 4am because we were leaving to go to Alabama hopefully by 6am. So this year, I learned that I must be much more specific when it comes to Landon on the night Santa comes. He and Haven get up at 12:15am and decide to stay up and watch TV until time to get us up. So they sit there until 3:45am, wide eyed, looking at their wrapped gifts, shaking them all (I'm sure).

And here's what they all got! They must have been good little boys and girl this year!





This was the year of LEGOS for Landon

We pulled out for Alabama at 5:30am and made it to Van Buren, AR to spend the night. We made it into AL at 4:30PM on Friday, with a rather uneventful drive this year...an answer to prayer!