A Visit From Anne

Friday January 27th I had jury duty from 8-4, it was a pretty long day but it got a thousand times better when I got home and Anne was here with her cute little kiddos. We had pizza, watched a movie, held the baby, and talked late into the night. I really wish we could spend more time together. I love having her up! And I love snuggling that baby!

Ski Day #3 Was Crazy!!

The kids had the 23rd off of school so Charles decided to take the day off to go skiing. We woke up to about a foot of snow and snowblowed the driveway before we left, but the snow just kept falling. We considered cancelling due to the roads but we had signed the boys up for a snowboarding lesson and they didn't want to miss, so we headed over to Park City. We knew traffic would be bad because of the snow and Sundance Film Festival so we left plenty early. Traffic was a little worse than we thought, the Park City Exit was backed up about 2 miles onto the highway. We decided to drive around to the Junction and come in from the other direction, which worked out great and we made it in plenty of time. We picked up boards for the boys and dropped them off  at 9:00 for their all day lesson. Then we headed up the mountain with the girls for some awesome powder skiing. It was so so deep!! In this one picture I got Charles skied right to a complete stop in the powder. It was my first real powder day, and it was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun.

The boys had lunch with their snowboarding group and we went to the main lodge for fries, of course. My fry people tell me mid mountain fries are much better. Haha! I'm telling you, the snow did not stop all day. For real. We picked up the boys at 3:00 and found our truck buried in a foot of new snow that had fallen while we were skiing. We headed for home only to discover a mountain of snow in front of  he driveway. So crazy!

We couldn't get the new truck in or the old truck out.

We spent the next hour or two shoveling and snowblowing. I have to say, I really do love winter, and this winter has been awesome. Snow days are the best!

A Day With My Boys

The majority of our Saturdays this winter have been spent watching Jacob play basketball, and I have loved every minute of it. I haven't done a great job of taking pictures, keeping track of wins and losses or recording them here, but it really has been fun to watch him play competitively. Most of the time everyone is able to go  to the games, but sometimes the girls have skiing or babysitting, etc. On the 21st it was just me and my 3 boys, and it was fun to spend the day with them.

After the game we went to Costco and ate at Wingers.

These monkeys are the best!

His Bear!

On January 17th Jacob earned his Cub Scout Bear award. He was a little late, as he's been in Webelo's since November, but he did it! Scouts has kind of taken a back seat to sports for this kid, but he really does love it so we do our best!

Ski Day #2

On Martin Luther King Day we headed to Park City for more skiing. The weather was a lot better this time, and I could see! We must have had so much fun that we didn't take any pictures. All I have are these pictures of us chilling in Miner's Camp. It was another full day of skiing, and we had a great time.

Apparently we wore Charles right out.

A New Baby!

On January 6th Anne had little Toby. We had Caleb's baptism the next day so I wasn't able to make it down to see him until Monday, but oh man, he was worth the wait. He was so tiny and cute!

Nerf Wars!

After Caleb's baptism, when everyone except Matt's family had gone home (they were staying with us), Charles and Matt took the boys to Toy's R Us in search of Nerf guns. Why? I have no idea, but they found some serious Nerf guns. Apparently they ran into some kind of Nerf gun expert there. Who knew? Anyway, they learned a lot of very important information. And spent way too much money. Matt came home with one and Charles came home with 3. Add that to the million we already own, and that's a lot of Nerf guns. And a lot of bullets. Which to me are worse than Legos. Once all the guns and ammo were ready to go it was war.

I pretty much won.

Caleb's Baptism Day

Caleb made the decision to be baptized into the LDS church, and Saturday, January 7th was his big day. He was so excited he could hardly stand it. He was up bright and early and dressed in his best. We took a few pictures before heading to the stake center.

Caleb had the biggest smile on his face all the way there. This picture makes me laugh because this kid has claimed the center seat, in the middle row of the car since day one. No matter who else, or how many people are in there, this is where he sits. It drives people crazy when there are only 2 people back there and he's right next to the other person because he has to be in that middle seat. So funny.

We got to the stake center and got the jumpsuits, and of course took some more pictures.

His program went so well! He asked Suzanne to play the piano, and Aunt Jenna to lead the music. Uncle Matt and Jacob were in charge of the prayers, and Grandma Balch and Grandpa Carlile gave the talks. They all did an awesome job. Caleb was baptized and confirmed by his dad, with his 2 grandpas as witnesses. His grandpas, uncle Matt, Uncle Joe, Troy Morgan and Bishop Dahl were all able to stand in the circle. We are so grateful that so many people were willing to make the drive in the dead of winter. Caleb's friends Ryan and Tate even came to see him baptized. He had an awesome group of supporters, and even more that weren't able to make it, move back Carlile's!!! Anne was planning on coming but went into labor the day before.

After the baptism everyone came back to the house for lunch. I love love love having everyone over. It feels so festive to have a house full of family. There really is nothing better.

Caleb was able to open a few extra presents before people headed for home. We gave him some scriptures and Grandma Balch gave him a case for them. He also got a new tie tack from Grandma Suzanne. Lucky lucky boy.

There was a snowstorm rolling in, so after lunch people started to head home. Matt and Joe's families stayed a bit longer to play. I spent all of that extra time loving on their babies. I just can't get enough of those kiddos.

It was a great day for our family and we are so proud of Caleb for taking that step. We love him so much. And I have the hardest time grasping the idea that all of my kids are now baptized. So crazy!