Temple Square Finale

Charles has a friend from high school/college, that lives in New Hampshire, who we haven't seen in years, and another in Logan...who we also haven't seen in years. (No excuse for that one.) We used to hang out a little when we were in Ogden, but we are pretty antisocial and haven't planned anything in a good, long time. Anyway, we decided to get together at Temple Square while they were in town for Christmas. We met there on Friday, December 30th, and it was a great way to send out 2011. I didn't get any decent pictures but here are a few.

My kiddos.

Let's try again.

And again. ;)

Charles and Jared

The girls

Kenlie, Jacob, and Brooke. Brooke and Kenlie were born just one day apart and were instant friends when they met that night.

I really wish I would've gotten a group picture but it was a little hectic. All three couples have four kids each, and Jared has one on the way. Anyway, no group shot, but here's one of Brielle, Brooke, and Kenlie at Chuck A Rama...the only place we dared to take that many little kids! I think the oldest was 9. It was so fun to see the two Argyle families again. We miss you guys!!

My baby is no longer a baby!!

 A couple days after Christmas we celebrated another birthday! My Caleb turned 3. I can't tell you how sad I am that I no longer have a baby at my house. So sad. But, I am also so glad that we have our Caleb to keep us entertained. We sure love that kid! He is really testing us right how behavior wise, but hopefully he'll shape up eventually!!

 I felt a little bad for how his birthday turned out. I had worked the two days prior, and had to go back in on his birthday to enter some stuff into the computer. I took all the kids with me, and they were excellent, so afterwards I picked up happy meals at McDonald's for them. His friends came over for the afternoon because their mom was working, and he didn't get a nap, which left him a little cranky. He had a pretty fun evening though, I think. I made spaghetti for dinner because it seemed like that was something he ate pretty well, but he told me at dinner that he didn't like spaghetti. Pretty sure the only thing that kid likes is candy and ramen noodles. Anyway, after dinner was present time! We Facetimed with Grandma and Grandpa Balch and he got some awesome transformers from them.

Here he is talking to grandma.

We were trying to teach him how to show "3" on his fingers, I think he got it!

 More superheroes!

 Awesome kiss, right?

 Poor kid always gets a store bought cake, but he doesn't seem to care. He got to pick out some motorcycles for it!

Hopefully he had an okay birthday. I'm going to have to start trying harder with that kid's big day! It's a hard time of year for a birthday. We sure love you Caleb!!!

Christmas 2011

Can I just say...we absolutely LOVE Christmas at our house. One of my most favorite things about Charles is how much he loves Christmas and how fun he makes it for all of us. I'm so sad that it is over!! Anyway, here are about a billion pictures of our Christmas Day.

Charles and I woke up pretty early, maybe sixish, but the kids were still asleep so we showered and got ready for the day. Then put our pj's back on. Charles started blaring music on his iPad. I was kind of hoping the kids would sleep in to make the day last longer, but Chuck just couldn't do it. They woke up a little before 7:00 and the party began.

The room before the kids got to it.

One Happy Girl!

And Another Happy Girl.

Jacob got a bunch of Stars Wars toys, which he loved. And so did Caleb.

Chuck checking out the dolls.

Boys and their toys.

Caleb got a spiderman house and a bunch of "guys".

Check out how excited Chuck is about his new alarm clock. Awesome! I guess he's easy to please. He did have a pretty low key Christmas giftwise this year. ;)

After we had opened our Santa gifts and gone through our stockings, we started in on the family presents. Brooke got all the boys Denver Broncos hats, and they love them.

And, of course, Caleb got a sword. And I get beaten with it daily.

The battle axe. They say they're Nerf, but that is some pretty hard foam.

Jacob was pretty excited about the axe Brielle gave him.

More American Girl stuff.

Love my boys.

Caleb picked this "guy" out for Chuck, and he loves it! When we were at the store picking it out he saw a Power Wheels car and wanted to buy it for his dad. I told him it was too big and he goes, "nuh uh, Dad's a big guy!" It was cute, anyway, he settled on this dude.

And... the Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle Lego set from dad. Spoiled kids...

We ripped through the presents pretty quickly, and finished in plenty of time to get ready for church. Our church started at 10:30, and we were able to take some pictures in our new church clothes before we left.

After church everyone changed into their new Christmas clothes and Charles' parents and brother Joe showed up. With more presents!! Yay! I got a new printer and the down comforter I've wanted our entire marriage. And Chuck, well, his dad knows him well. He got an awesome new pistol and a bear knife. And he was happy.

I sure have pretty daughter, don't I? And she loves that doll.

The matchy match girls...

And the matchy match boys. Chuck is such a good sport to wear matching clothes with the boys, and Jacob absolutely loves it.

We had a nice afternoon and evening with the Balchs. We had prime rib for dinner, and I totally forgot to take a picture! By the time dinner was done we were exhausted. We weren't very great hosts, but we did love having people over. Another awesome Christmas!!

Christmas Eve 2011

Yay!! Finally Christmas Eve!!

A picture of my boys watching A Garfield Christmas.

Grandpa and Suzanne came over on Christmas Eve to celebrate with us. We had some snacky food for dinner, and then it was time for the party to begin. Brielle played "We Three Kings" on the piano for us, and then dad read the manger story that we got from grandma Balch.

Then it was time for the nativity. Jacob was Joseph, Brooke was Mary, Brielle was the angel and Caleb was a shepherd.

The leaning tree. It looked crooked the entire season. It about drove Charles crazy!

Present time!! All of the kids got crocs and pj's.

After everyone was in their new cozy jammies we went downstairs to watch Garfield and Claymation Christmas. Then Grandpa and Suzanne went home and we continued on.

First off...jammie pictures.

Then we read "The Night Before Christmas"

We had totally forgotten to make cookies for Santa, so we grabbed the Papa Murphy's cookie dough our neighbors had given us and baked them really quick. They saved the day!

After the cookies were baked, the stockings were laid out and we were on our way to bed.