Dad's Surprise Birthday Party

Yesterday, my dad turned 60. Several months ago, we decided to throw him a surprise party and get everyone from our old Mesa ward to come, as well as their Florence friends and as many family members as possible. We had an awesome turnout! About 80 people RSVP'd and there were several more that came in addition to that. Aunts Joanne and Merrilyn were able to make it, too.

Setting up...

SURPRISE!

My siblings all nominated me MC for the night... go figure...

A little comedy routine from PJ (here he is wearing my dad's old letterman jacket and glasses)

Becki, Carrie, and Me serving the Texas sheet cakes and ice cream

Dad's Decoy Birthday Party

Because of the surprise party we were going to have, we decided to have a small family party for my dad the day before so he wouldn't be suspicious on his actual birthday. We decided to make it an "adult" party and got sitters for all the kids. It was great! We had a lot of fun playing games, including a white elephant gift exchange.

Dad and his boys: Mike, Paul, Dave, and Sam (Joey was the only one we were missing)

Anna, Mom, and Me

Everyone thinks I look just like my dad

Dave and Becki

This was Ty trying to act out "hen." I wish you could have all seen the part where he was pretending to lay eggs... :)

Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year. Surprisingly, we all slept in and had Christmas morning a little later than I had anticipated, but it was nice. Jack was very excited about all the presents and unwrapped almost all of the gifts, including mine and Ty's.

After we opened our presents, we all headed over to my mom's. There was so much good food and we were able to play, eat, and talk the whole day.

Twiners!

Paul, Sariah, Ty, & Jennie

Becki & Me

Anna, Ty, & Me

Beautiful Sariah & Me

Noah, Anna, & Jack

Jack & Andrew

Hanging out at the firepit

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve! We had a nice, quiet evening with lots of good food and finished the night off making spritz cookies. My mom found us this awesome 1960's cookie gun at D.I. for four bucks and it makes perfect cookies. We decided to call them reindeer cookies this year, and plan on making it a tradition. We can't wait 'til tomorrow morning!

Temple Lights

A post everyday...isn't this fun? I love that the Christmas season is always so busy with family and friend activities that there is something to do everyday. Last night's activity was taking Jack to the Mesa Temple lights. We went with Cody, JoEllen, Ethan, and Gavin. Last year, we went on Christmas Eve and it was a zoo! This year we went on a cold Tuesday night and it was perfect.

Jack, Ethan, and Gavin

Gingerbread Houses

Last night, we had the whole Jefferies family (minus Joey) at our house for gingerbread houses. We've made these every Christmas that I can remember. Now that we are all older, though, just the grandkids made them. Here's all 12 of the Jefferies grandkids:

The "men" all participated in the traditional Polar Bear swim! I don't know how cold it was in the water, but by the sound of their screams, it was pretty dang cold.

Mike, Paul, Ty, Dave, Sam, and Dad

The girls: Carrie, Me, Mom, Becki, Jennie, and Anna

Jack and Brock

Of course, Ty had to be involved in the house making, too. Why does his house not surprise me?

Sisters

Mom and Ty have a "special" relationship...

Visit with Santa

Ty's work had a fun little party for all employees' children to come sit on Santa's lap. Jack was just in heaven with all the cookies and juice. Santa rode in on a four-wheeler with lights strung all over it and even had a dog in a reindeer suit with him.

After Santa left, Ty gave me an official FBI tour. I had to go through security and get a visitor's badge first. I was so worried that Jack was going to touch something or go somewhere he shouldn't, but he did just fine and everyone I met was so nice. I could tell Ty was just so proud to be able to show him off.