Rives Family Christmas Swap

On the fourth day of Christmas my family brought to me, four boxes full of Christmas Goodies!!  Well they weren't just for me, but I had a few of them.

On Saturday, we visited with my Dad's family, and we had our Christmas celebration with them.  Since this was not anyone's first or only Christmas celebration, and we were all a little tired, we chose to go out to eat. My grandparents love to eat at Casa Hernandez when they are in town, but we found out when we got there that they were closed all weekend.  Not to be deterred, we drove to Wharton to La Casona and enjoyed a wonderful feast fit for our spicy crowd.

When we got back to Mom's house, we started the gift swaps.  All of the little kids started us off by opening their presents.  Once they were done, the real fun could begin.  We do two white elephant gift rings.  One is a $25 gift only for the adults, and the other one is a $10 gift/gag gift that everyone participates in.  Both of these are great entertainment and not to be missed.






Emmy sure does love Papa Bo.  She sat and opened presents with him almost the whole time.









She was pretty excited about her new Cabbage Patch baby.





We had so much fun laughing and hanging out.  We stayed up WAY too late just sitting around talking.  Brittany and I sat with Papa and went on a fact finding mission to learn more about his family.  It was a great night, and it makes me grateful to know I have such an amazing support system.  Although I don't get to see my family as much as I would like to, when it counts, they are there.  In the end, I guess that is what really matters.  That and the Special K treats...those count a lot too. :)

Christmas 2014

Christmas morning was spent at my parent's house.  We started a tradition of staying in El Campo for Christmas morning when Emmarie was born.  The tradition began because Bradley was working nights at Haliburton, and I wanted him to be able to spend any time that he had during his waking hours with us during the holidays.  We really enjoyed the slow pace and simplicity of being at home for the holidays because we NEVER stayed home during Christmas.  We were always at my aunt or grandmother's house.  Not to take anything away from those memories because Christmas with all of my family is amazing, but there is something special about not having to go anywhere or be on anyone's schedule.

We showed up in our pajamas bright and early (LOL) around 11:00 am.  Mom was cooking breakfast, and we brought our best appetites.  After we were through eating, we moved on to the part Emmy (and secretly all of us) was waiting on--the presents.

She got to open a few presents for little brother first.  She was really excited.  She was even more excited about the Frozen Barbies that she opened next...those were for her of course.







The big kids got to open a few presents during Emmy's reign as well.





Once she was mostly finished with her own presents, she went to "help" Papa with his.



Nana loved her James Avery ring that we got her.





It's really not about the presents at all (even though they are awesome).  Christmas is about getting to spend time with the people that you love and getting to see the joy and love that surrounds everyone during this special time of the year.



Later that afternoon/evening we had Christmas dinner.  I have a "once per year" rule with holiday food, so we decided to make Christmas an Italian affair.  Mom made lasagne; I made spaghetti squash.  It was really good even though it looks like soupy goop in this photo.  Britt made a salad.







Mom even busted out her Christmas dinner set for the occasion.



Right as we were about to eat, we had some Christmas guests show up.  YAY!  Kari finally got to meet Wyatt, and of course he brought his Mommy, Daddy, and Jackson along for the ride.





We had a lot of fun eating, playing games, cuddling the sweet baby, and thinking about how it doesn't get much better than this.  I guess it will get better though because next year, I will have two little babies to rain the Christmas season down upon.  I. Can't. Wait.

Dad's 50th Birthday

Y'all, my dad turned 50.  I know it's crazy.  I can still remember when he turned thirty.  To celebrate this momentous occasion, we took him to a "Disneyland esque" place for a carnivore--Fogo de Chao.

This photo just about sums up his excitement over the meal we were about to have.



Lots of people came to celebrate with us.





When the guys started circling our table with their skewers of meat, every guy's eyes lit up.



And everyone's smiles were a bit infectious.





We had to have some cake too.  Tres Leches is one of his favorites.





I caught him on camera trying to kiss my mom...gross.



At the end of the meal, I of course made some of them take a smattering of photos. 



As I told you that night, Happy 50th Birthday Dad.  I've enjoyed the parts of the first 50 years that I got to spend with you, but I know the next 50 will be even better.  Love you to the moon and back!

Gulf Shores Vacation 2014 {Family Photos}

At Christmas when we were all together, we started dreaming up this beautiful family photo we would take when we went on vacation in July.  We knew we wanted to have turquoise and coral, and quickly after we decided that the guys could wear navy...they weren't too keen on wearing turquoise.  I think the colors are really pretty together and it all coordinates.  It's riding the border of "matchy-matchy," but when you have a group this big, you have to make concessions unless one person is going to buy everyone's clothes.

On Sunday, after our first day at the beach, we headed back out in our awesome duds and took the pictures from this post.  Although they may not be perfect, and I still have a lot of work to do before they go up on the wall, they are a beautiful reminder of the time we got to spend together on vacation.  This means that to us they are priceless.


Our big, wild, and crazy group!



We are pretty cool too.



Remember when I mentioned crazy?  May I present exhibit A?  I had the tripod set up for these shots, and I think we were giving some of the evening beach strollers a show.



MoMo B & Papa





Mom and Dad.  I finally got him to be serious and smile.  I will have to post some of the silly ones later.


Our family unit.





GiGi looked mighty pretty.





Uncle Samuel's little clan


Sweet siblings.



I love this one of the two of them.



Beautiful Bekah


My handsome little cousin is growing up.  I give him three years, and he will be my height.



This was actually one of the first photos that I took while everyone else was making their way down to the beach.  This was one of the only times the whole week that Kari came down to the water, and I actually caught her in her natual pose--book in hand.



Brittany striking a pose.  You can hear more from her here.



I didn't take a lot of time on a photo of our little family since I knew we were taking more photos the next day in the outfits that I brought.



Mother and Daughter.



It was almost dark and everyone was heading back, but our photos wouldn't be complete without a sister pic!



This was so much fun, and I know that these photos will only become more special as the years pass.  Maybe in ten years, the rest of the family will forgive me for the pain and suffering that I put them through to get these.

But then again, maybe not. ;)