Sweet Christmas Party

My title doesn't mean "sweet" as in "Dude, that is a sweet mullet", it's "Sweet", like Carrie Sweet...

We had our annual Sweet Family Christmas party on Friday night and it was a most excellent time. The longer I am in the Sweet family, the more I appreciate and love them. They are quirky, funny, sometimes quiet, but there is always someone nearby to laugh with....or at....and most of all, they are the most accepting and loving bunch of people that I've had the honor of knowing.

Sam wanted to get family pictures of each of his 7 siblings and it ended up being the highlight of the evening. The pictures started out serious but by the end of the night we were laughing so hard at all the funny poses. The party was at "Pipe N Tube" which is my brother-in-law's old office building....and it has a pool, hot tub, and kitchen area to boot! The building is for sale and Sam really wants to buy it and turn it into our house....

A HUGE thanks to my cousin Cody for all his camera lighting accessories and to our friend, Ryan Patterson, for his fancy camera!

This is a typical photo from the evening...Parker couldn't sit still. So we call him the "ghost child" in this photo:


Remember that pool I told you about? Well, the kids couldn't STAND being next to a pool and not getting wet....so they both have water spots on their sweaters in this picture. Thank goodness for Photo Shop because Sam removed the spots...however, I can't locate the fixed photo for this blog so you'll get the full effect with the untouched picture! I seriously LOVE Parker's ears!


We found some nice props as the evening went on...such as this lovely stuffed goose. Here are Sam's nephews, Zack, Jake, and John (or maybe it's John and Jake...give me a break okay? They are identicle twins!).


Out of all the pictures Sam took (around 60) this one is my FAVORITE. That is Sam's oldest brother Jeff, his wife Cindy, and Elizabeth and Dallin. I think they were making fun of Jeff for looking pregnant or something, but I can't believe how hard Cindy is laughing!


Here is Sam's brother James, and his kids--Nick and Sydnee. Nick is wearing his dad's glasses and hamming it up:


Here is a precious photo that should be framed!


Here is Fontella with all 8 of her children:


Here are the bro's. I think it's funny that they are all different in height, yet their right hands are all lined up at the bottom of the picture....


Now for some snap shots with the normal camera...
We don't do gift exchanges for the adults anymore because it got too crazy, but the cousins all draw names and get each other a gift. They try to keep the cost around $10. I like this picture of Dallin--all he wants is money for Christmas so his cousin was smart and wrapped a $10 bill around a Snickers bar. Score for him!!


Parker got some awesome PJ's that his Aunt Cindy made along with some books and Carson received some cars that he loved. For some reason, we didn't get pictures...

Once the gifts were opened, we couldn't contain the kids any longer...off to the pool! The pool wasn't really heated though so there was a lot of chattering teeth and goose bumps...but of course they still swam! Here is Parker just after he got out.


And Carson:


Lastly...Fern asked Parker who he loved more, Fern or James. Parker instantly responded "Fern". Then she said "who do you love more, Fern or Mom?". Parker said "Fern!". Then I said "who do you love more, Mom or Fern?" because I thought he was just saying the first out of the two choices. He said "Fern!" and killed my theory. So here is Fern paying Parker to love her more. I'm fine with that as long as she keeps the funding going until he's done with his mission and college!!