Carlee's Baptism Celebration.....

We had an amazing weekend celebrating for Carlee's baptism.  First to arrive here in Montana on Thursday evening was Andy's parents and they brought Danielle and her kiddos, and Chris and Aubrey and their kids.  They got in pretty late, but we woke up our kids to say hi, they all just love each other so much and get so excited!

The next morning was a lazy morning.  We all took our time getting ready, the kids just played, and we just sat and visited.  Eventually we made it out the door for some girl shopping time and the men headed to the virtual archery range.  Us girls had so much fun at Target and Murdoch's, that is about all we have here in Helena.....After our shopping was over and the kids had enough, we went home and made dinner.  It was about this time that Mike and Erin showed up and they also brought Lauren.  We had a great dinner together and a wonderful dessert of Uncle Chris's cookies, I am pretty sure he made 6 dozen for everyone!

Friday night was a highlight for me because us girls finally had time to do our "Favorite Things" activity.  This year was just as wonderful as the past 6 we have had.  We all laughed and cried and talked, sometimes all at the same time!  There were some great "favorites" this year.  Danielle gave us each her favorite cookbook and showed us some of her favorite things in the book to make and she also gave us a bottle of the Torani syrup in coconut flavor to make dirty Dr. Peppers.  Aubrey gave us each cool water bottles and a pair of socks.  Lauren chose a super cute scarf and wrote each of us a letter that made us all cry.  Erin gave us all bubble necklaces.  I gave a baking mat and a picture of President Monson.  KayLee....well she always goes above and beyond....she gave a coat, purse, jewelry, ice cream scoop, chap stick, lotion, and more that I know I am forgetting at this moment.  After all was said and done us girls stayed up late chatting, doing nails, and taking horrible pictures of ourselves that caused me to laugh so hard I was crying.  I love these women and I am so grateful for their presence in my life, they inspire me and are great examples to me, I am just so lucky to have them as my sisters and KayLee as my mother-in-law.

Saturday morning my family had family pictures so we went and did that and left everyone home to get ready.  Pictures went well, Marin had a few moments, but I feel like we got the job done and I am so excited to see the final product from my friend Janna.  We took some pictures on my camera but I know they don't look as great as Janna's will.

When we got home from pictures everyone helped to do a quick pick up and then we headed to McKenzie River Pizza for lunch.  We had a great lunch, good food, good company.  After eating we came home and started to change and get ready for the baptism.

Our family headed up to the church early to get some pictures of Carlee and get her changed into the cute white suit.  She looked so adorable and yet so mature at the same time.  She didn't seem nervous at all and I could tell how special she felt each time someone came up to congratulate her.  The program began and talks were given about baptism, one talk was about the Holy Ghost given by KayLee.  Erin and Lauren played a beautiful musical number while some of the grand kids sang along.

At one point during the program I looked backed behind us because we were sitting in the front row, and I was overcome with emotion.  We had so many people there to support Carlee on her special day, it just meant so much.  Each of Andy's siblings were there, his parents, Aunt Chris and Uncle Glen came from Bozeman, my parents, so many of our friends from Helena were there, it was just so wonderful.  I will say this over and over, but it is because it's true.....Andy and I are so blessed with the people in our lives, they are great to us.

The baptism itself was great.  Carlee just walked right into the font and was ready.  Seeing my little "stinker" standing there with a big smile on her face brought tears to my eyes.  The feeling of the spirit was so strong and peaceful, I was so happy that Carlee was so happy.  I was so proud of her for choosing to be baptized.  After the actual baptism was performed it was just her and I in the bathroom getting her back into her dress.  She kept talking about how warm the water was and that it felt good.

After many pictures and hugs we headed back to our house for food and fun.  It was so nice to sit and visit with everyone and to just relax.  Carlee was having a great time with her friends and her cousins.  I would watch her walk around the house and I knew she felt special and that she was happy, and that is all that mattered to me.

Again, I am just so overwhelmed by the love and support we had from family and friends over the weekend.  I so appreciate the effort of everyone to show Carlee they loved her and were proud of her, it just means the world to all of us and we couldn't have asked for a better weekend for Carlee.

8 is great when your horsin' around.....

We celebrated Carlee's 8th birthday last night with a horse party of course. Before her friends showed up I took some pictures of her and her cake, something I always forget to do until it's about time to cut the cake.

 
Birthday girl loves her cake.

  Kissy kissy.

 
The cake was so fun to make. The ruffles were fun to play with and I chose to make them in her favorite color and topped the whole thing off with her very first Breyer horse. Needless to say, Carlee loved it! 

Now it was time to party. Carlee's riding instructor came with some horses for everyone to ride. It was a perfect evening, just a little chilly.

  Quinn, Hallie, Marin, and Tessa chillin on the bench eating pizza while they waited their turn to ride.

  Carlee and her best friend Natalie were the first to ride.

 
 Carlee on Luna.  Luna was the horse Carlee first learned to ride on, she's a sweetie.

 
 Girl talk on horse back.

 
 My Tessa May, she loved riding and I think she looked good doing it too!

 
 I love this picture, the girls were just having so much fun. Carlee is pulling Quinn, and Candy is pulling Tessa, they loved trotting.

 
Carlee and Hallie.

 
And finally my little Marin had a turn to ride. She loved it so much, it was so cute.

Next we were on to the hide and seek game. Andy bought some saw dust chips and hid some toys and of course candy in it for the kids to find. I was not to fond of him doing this in the house, but he pulled it off. He made some sort of box thing and put the tarp inside of it and it worked out great. The kids loved trying to find everything.

 
 Carlee and Natalie looking for the goods. Andy even bought the cute horse bags for the kids to put the goods into.

 
 The whole gang. Time for cake, ice cream, and presents!!

  Happiness.

  Wait for it, wait for it.....

  BLOW!!!!!

 
And that's a wrap and a super fun party. Overall the kids had a super great time. Andy also made each kid a lasso to play with and take home, that part was a little crazy but great fun.

It is so weird to look at these pictures of Carlee, she looks so big and beautiful. More than anything I love her smile in all of the pics, and that is what I love most about her, she is always happy. Carlee is such a joy to have in our lives and I am so lucky to be her mom.

A random December….

The winter is starting to set in here and lots of things are happening.  Most importantly to Carlee, she is still able to ride.  They have moved to an indoor arena at the fairgrounds, but that doesn't bother her at all.  Porter is doing basketball right now, which somehow I haven't taken pics at the game but we do have his team photo.  The games are so fun to watch!  Marin and Tessa are just keeping me entertained at home.  They are just so excited for Christmas to come.  We had a good visit with Grandpa Matthew and Grandma KayLee.  They took a chance on weather and made the drive up here.  They were able to be here for the kids Christmas programs at school which was so fun.  The Warren school Christmas program is the best one I have ever seen!  Grandpa Matthew helped the kids set up and put on a special nativity performance, the girls were too cute.

We had a wonderful Christmas!  We spent Christmas Eve with my parents and my Uncle Jeff who came from Utah and he made my Grandma Pat's spaghetti with sausage and meatballs.  Then Christmas morning my parents came over again to open presents and to be a part of all of the happenings.  The the most amazing thing happened!  We were skyping with Andy's family in Utah and the then the kids started to freak out that they were talking to Caleb.  Little did I know that Caleb was in our basement!  Lauren and Caleb had made the drive on Christmas to surprise us!!!  I couldn't believe I was seeing them!!  Of course the thing I was worried about was the Christmas mess!  We had such a nice visit with them.  Andy and Caleb pulled the kids around on the 4-wheelers we were borrowing from friends.  We played games and of course we laughed a ton.  The visit wasn't long enough, but I was so grateful for the time we had with them and the effort they made, on CHRISTMAS DAY, to come see us.

We ended the year with an 11 year anniversary for Andy and I.  We had a nice dinner and a movie date out.  New Years Eve was pretty uneventful as Andy worked and the kids and I stayed in and had a slumber party in the basement.

Looking back, 2012 was an amazing year.

The hunt for the tree begins….

I love that we have this tradition of going to cut down our own tree.  The kids love it and it is so fun to be outside trying to find the perfect tree.  This year we were able to go with our friends the Christensen't and the Beecher's.  We all drove up together and brought doughnuts and hot cocoa for after!  All of the kids had a blast exploring the mountain, finding walking sticks,  and "accidentally" stepping in the river.  Jack took a liking too Tessa and stuck with her everywhere she went.  Even Molly had a good time.  Eventually the men went off over the top of the mountain to find the tree while us ladies hung back and played with the kids.  Of course Andy found and cut down the biggest tree on the mountain….but it was pretty, I will give him that.  The funniest thing though was when we were trying to load Andy's tree in the truck, it was so long and huge it barely fit.  Poor Molly almost didn't make it home with us.

Eye suggest not to let your little sister hold a knife….

So of course this happens to Carlee……Marin was holding a knife and poked Carlee in the eye.  Oh the joys of making dinner while the four kids are starving and Andy is working…..  There are been so many times where I can't even imagine what we would do if Andy was not a doctor!  Luckily he was at the hospital and ready to take care of Car when we got there.  Andy put this crazy dye in her eye that you could see only when he shined a fancy light on it.  Her eye is fine, just a scratch, but it was a close call.

And we're back…..

So we headed back down to Utah again, this time it was for business.  Luke was being baptized and we had tickets to a U of U football game!  Even though we were just there it was great to see everyone again.  When we first got there we took the kids to the Farmington pond to feed to ducks.  That was funny, they were all over Marin!  I took another morning for some girl time and hit Tai Pan.  The girls loved this because all of the Christmas stuff was out already and it was fun to see the decorated trees.  Of course Tessa wanted the pink one.  Saturday morning was Luke's baptism which went so well!  He is such a cute and good kid.  We were happy for him and happy to be there!  After the baptism Andy and I headed down to SLC for the football game where we met up with JD and Summer.  The game was great and I couldn't believe how we lucked out with the temps, it was so hot!!  After the game we went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with our cruise friends.  It was so fun to see everyone again and it really made me want to go on a cruise again!  Like always it was great to see everyone, but great to be home too.

Halloween Fun 2012….

Halloween was so great this year.  We started things out with pumpkin carving with Gramps and Nana.  Before they came over Andy and Marin found some wigs in the Halloween box to surprise Nana when they got to our house.  Funny thing was that Nana and Gramps showed up in wigs and masks too!!  The kids have a love/hate relationship with the pumpkins.  It's so fun to carve, but not so fun to get out all of the gooey seeds.

Halloween night was a blast.  This year Porter was the blow-up cowboy, Carlee was a Utes cheerleader, Tessa was Cinderella, and Marin was the blue Angry bird.  Andy took the kids to the ward trunk-or-treat and then we met up with Gramps and Nana for trick-or-treating.  The weather was so great, it got a little chilly at the end of the evening but not cold enough for us to stop filling the candy bags!

 



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