A Trip to the Cabin

On Friday morning, December 30th, we got up early and headed up to Strawberry. Grandpa went out the night before to get everything running, so he came out to pick us up and we snowmobiled into the cabin. We dropped off our stuff and headed out for a ride. The girls each got their own machines this trip, for the first time, and they had a blast. They were a little nervous at first, because normally they have someone with them, but they did awesome.

Brooke

Brielle

The boys rode with Grandpa and Dad, but they got to do a ton of driving which was great experience for them. The snow was easy to drive in so it was good learning snow.

Jacob

Charles

Caleb

Brielle

Grandpa, he was quite proud of himself for not getting stuck. Or lost. Actually I have no idea what he's doing here. Haha! No hands!

Brooke

Here is Caleb driving.

And Jacob driving.

After a nice ride and some lunch, the boys went to work in the garage while I pulled the kids up and down the hill on the sleds, and Caleb played in his fort.

Then it was time for another ride. We went down to the lake this time. There would be no snowmobiling across it this year, definitely not frozen yet.

Then it was back to the cabin for dinner, dress up and forcing ourselves to stay up at least until 8:00. Haha!

On Saturday after breakfast we took on the challenge of towing the old citation from the shed out to the trailer. It was a little more difficult that expected, but after digging the machines out at least 100 times, we got it!

Jacob got the steer the broken down machine out to the highway, he was loving it.

Afterwards we went on one last ride, had lunch and packed up for home. It was truly an awesome weekend. So fun.

On another note, this picture of my parents is in the photo album at the cabin and every time we go out there Brielle tells me how much she loves it so I'm throwing it in here for posterity sake.

It's Great To Be 8!

This kid turned 8 on December 29th. His birthday was pretty low key because he had asked to go out to the cabin to snowmobile for his birthday. We couldn't leave until the following day, so we hung out at home. He chose to have Café Rio for dinner.

And then it was present time!

Caleb got some awesome new Star Wars action figures, and some new xbox games.

He was one happy kid.

He wanted a chocolate chip cookie cake, and it took me 2 tries, but I think it turned out ok. He liked it, and that's what matters right?

We are sure glad to have this kid in our family. We love you Caleb!

My Little Reader

This girl has become obsessed with reading, which makes me so happy!

Christmas 2016-The Aftermath

I always feel such a let down when Christmas Morning is over! It makes me so sad to see empty space under the Christmas tree. Luckily we have some fun Christmas Day traditions to keep us busy. Oh and always plenty of new things to play with.

Our Carlile grandparents gave all the kids these awesome Boogie Boards on Christmas Eve. They are obsessed with them!

We woke up to a ton of snow on Christmas morning. After opening Santa gifts and going to church we decided we'd better dig our way out. We spent a good 2 hours snowblowing and shoveling the driveway and sidewalks. The kids were dying to get back to present opening. They had a chance Christmas afternoon to play out in the awesome snow.

Grandma and Grandpa Balch braved the crazy snow storm to drive down from Boise. It was a long, slow drive with an ugly detour, but they made it, just in time for prime rib.

The kids showed them all their Christmas toys, and we spent the evening relaxing and visiting. We sure love having them spend Christmas night with us.

The day after Christmas, when everyone had gone home, Charles sent the kids to bed early so he could have his turn on the boy's new xBox One.

It's nice to have kids to keep us young.

Christmas Day 2016

We did not get much sleep on Christmas Eve. I feel like the second my eyes closed there were kids in my room. They woke up at 5:00 begging to open presents. We had told them the night before they couldn't set any alarms, and they had to stay in bed until 6:00 so we sent them back to their rooms. They made it until 5:30 and we gave in. Pushovers. It was present time! We sent dad down to turn on the camera and to make sure Santa had come. He got some pictures before the chaos began.

The kids were dying to go downstairs, and it was finally time!

The boys dove right into their Santa gifts. They opened one while sitting on the other. They got new banana chairs and an xbox one. Lucky boys.

Charles got some weathertech mats and a bed cover for his new truck.

And...the crazy girls both got new iPhones. Spoiled rotten.

You know they're my kids when they get excited about new toothbrushes!

The girls also scored new shoes.

Brielle must have really loved those new Converse.

I was spoiled also with a new laptop, and I am in love with it!

After all the Santa gifts were torn apart and checked out, we let everyone dig into their stockings. We were spoiled with xbox games and controllers, hair stuff, Bluetooth speakers, computer mice and calendars. No one went without this year.

At this point, we had to put an end to present opening so that we could eat our Christmas morning rolls and get ready for church. Our church was at 9:00, so we loaded everyone up and headed out. We had gotten at least a foot of snow overnight (no, I'm not even exaggerating), and the church parking lot hadn't been plowed. We were a little early so Charles decided it would be a good idea to spin donuts all over the entire parking lot. In my car. I really enjoyed going to church on Christmas Day. It kind of made me want to have Christmas on Sunday every year. It was so nice to take a break from the crazy and think about the real meaning of Christmas.

After church we came home and started shoveling. And we shoveled and shoveled and shoveled. And snowblowed of course, for about 2 hours. The kids were going crazy wanting to open the rest of the presents. Personally I was loving the idea of making it all last a little longer. Once everyone had clear driveways and sidewalks we headed back downstairs for family gifts. I know I say this every year, but this is my most favorite part. It's so fun for the people getting the gifts, but I feel like it's even more fun for those giving. My kids fight over who gets to give their gifts to who first, because they are just so excited and can't keep all the secrets any longer! Oh, and everyone has to hug the person they are giving to. It's a rule. And I love it.

We had such a great Christmas morning this year. I just love the feeling that Christmas brings into our home. Once our presents were open and things settled down Grandpa and Suzanne came over to see what the kids got. Soon after Grandma and Grandpa Balch arrived. They had a crazy drive in the storm all the way from Boise. I'm so glad they made it safely. We had a nice prime rib dinner and were able to visit with them the rest of the evening. A perfect Christmas Day.