New Year's Eve!

We spent the first half of the New Year's Eve at Grandma Flores' home.

You can always find the kids playing ball out front breaking things...

Sorry Butcho.



Somehow, I put my camera up to take a picture of the gang and manage to catch my boy doing push-ups...Why? who knows; Mark said he just got down and started doing them in the middle of a play...crazy boy!

The adults, hanging out back!

The New Year's Eve festivities at Uncle Johnny's...

This year the ward was invited for a night full of BBQ, laughter, and fireworks! We had a great turn out.

Here's Chris and the Smith daughter sitting and watching BOLT together. Could they be sitting any further apart!?! lol

doesn't that fire look awesome!?!

nomi, posing while drinking the famous "sugar" drink that kept us going allll night!

...and the festivities begin...something small at first, the sparklers! (always my favorite!)

testing out the fireworks...

The outdoor hang-out. The men pretty much hung out on the patio, cooking up the meat, while the women stayed warm inside.

los compadres...loaded up with explosives...lol
There is a story to the box Chris is holding:

Ronnie, Nomi's boyfriend, went out and bought a $35 firework. He wanted one BIG one to light right at 12:00 am. So he comes in with this box. No one, including himself, had ever used or even seen it. We had been able to do all the fireworks in the backyard but we weren't too sure how "big" this one was going to be. So the men took it inside to investigate; read all the instructions and warnings...Well, all it said was, "CAUTION: has a fanning effect." Once Chris read that he decided they needed to move it to the front and put it in the intersection, away from the trees. So they go walking, and keep walking, and walking...to the intersection. Meanwhile, Nomi is complaining how they are going too far, and we weren't gonna be able to see it, and they were exaggerating the outcome, "Like it's gonna hit the trees and start a fire or something!" she said....Well, 3 seconds later, Nomi literally ate her words...

This thing was HUGE! It went over the trees and flew in every direction. It would ignite and then flare a rainbow of colors, not to mention it lasted about a minute. For a minute there I felt like I was watching the "Down Town" display of fireworks....We all just stood there with our mouths open. I wish I could have taken a picture but I was holding Mia close to me so she wouldn't get scared. It was sooo awesome, but boy were we just waiting for those cops to come around the corner...So we all rushed inside and the men got rid of the evidence asap. We decided that we will have to invest in at least 3 of those next year...totally worth it!

So now back to the next day...

Chris feeling all special sitting with the bigger boys, playing their games.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!