Okay, technically this was Chuck's work party... but let's be honest, it's really just an excuse for everybody to hang out as friends. Craig and April inherited the um, pleasure? of hosting the shindig from Sean and Melissa and did a great job.
It was definitely a little bittersweet for our family knowing that it was our last holiday season with this crew before Chuck switched shifts.
Carma got comfortable fast - plate of sugar, cozy chair and footrest just her size haha.
Carma and Elias had no idea that they'd ever met before (I promised them they had!!) but they quickly buddied up and were adorable and played and played.
Marco Polo = the best thing ever for friendships; our girls group uses it... maybe not religiously haha but possibly fanatically?... to keep up in between girls nights. I love it when there's so much back and forth interaction that we're all on there at the same time or close to it - right at this second we were just missing Nyc and Melinda and they were both only a video or two behind.
I also included that screenshot because somehow this is the only picture I got of girls' night, whoops? I feel like we were FaceTiming Nicole the whole night though, maybe we took a screenshot of that haha. It was SUCH a fun night; we did a 'favorite things' gift exchange and things got hilarious and ridiculous so fast and in the end only minimal swapping was needed. The friendship of these six women is one of my greatest gifts ever.
Chuck and I headed out to Shari's one night with a group of friends and awesomely didn't take a picture with all of them, whooops!
The occasion was that Dan the Man was in town for a quick visit, but I made sure to get pictures of him the next morning when we put him to work - first giving Jack a haircut...
and then being Carma's personal stylist.
Once again she requested lots of bows and once again Dan came through haha.
Group shot with only minimal cropping required ;). We love any time we get to see Dan and this visit was no exception. Earlier in December I had posted a picture of Dan and Carma from a different visit with a caption that I want to quote here: "I also love him because he is funny and nice and loyal and has integrity and stands up for me and gives service like nobody’s business and because he loves my kids and my husband. I also love Dan because Heavenly Father instructed me to love my fellow man, without making them earn it or fit some predetermined mold to ‘deserve’ it. Dan the Man, thanks for being you. We love you."
We decided to send 2018 out with a bang... or a dart, at least, with a big nerf battle.
It's always extra fun to get Chuck out because he's so dramatic about taking the hit haha:
This was Brehner's first time participating in one of our crazy battles and holy moly, the kid was a natural. So fun!
A few of the group shots...
The peanut gallery! Aka the smart people (me and Janell) who stay off to the side and out of the way:
Although for the record, Janell has participated before and she's prettttty handy with a nerf blaster...
Always a good time, even when it's a wee bit chilly and snow was in the forecast haha!
