Winter Retreat

We had a lot of money left in our Young Women budget so we decided to have a winter retreat.  We went to this cabin last weekend.  It was nice that it was only a 45 minute drive. 

It was a nice big cabin.  Upstairs there were a lot of twin beds, a ping pong table, an air hockey table and some basketball hoops.  The girls loved playing the games up there.

Downstairs there were three bedrooms and one of them was huge.  I got my own room, which I loved!  I loved sitting around on Friday and visiting with the young women.

I love to be there with my girl! Caitlyn was so excited and had a great time!

Everyone had fun playing games.

The meals were so good!

It was freezing when we got there on Friday.  It took a while to get the place warmed up. 

On Friday night Kathy Celaya (from the Stake Young Women Presidency) came to talk to the girls.  We met with her the Sunday before to talk about what we wanted the girls to learn and what we wanted to talk about.  Things were completely changed last minute.  She decided to have all of the Young Women leaders bear their testimony and give an example of an experience that we have had with the Savior and what we learned about Him from that experience.  I was a little stressed about it and a little frustrated about how everything got changed, but I have to be humble and admit that it was great and just what the girls needed.  After each one of us spoke Kathy would ask them questions and have them share what they had learned.  It was a really neat and powerful night.

After that we had fondue for dessert.  The girls loved it.  Some of the girls headed out that night with Camille and Kathy.  I was glad that all of the girls were able to be there for at least some of it.

The girls had fun staying up late and playing games that night.  I visited with the leaders until late.  It was fun to get to know them a little better.

It was so pretty up there.  We got up early and made breakfast for the girls so they could sleep in.  Later that morning Tasha and Jared Peterson came and spoke to the girls.  They did a wonderful job, they are so personable and real.  They talked to the girls about having a relationship with Christ and good relationships with other people.  It tied in perfectly to the night before.  After that we cleaned up and got ready for lunch.  I was able to leave a little bit early to make it to Jonah's basketball game.  I was so happy I did when he said, "You left early just for me?  Thanks mom!"

Caitlyn, Leata, Chloee, Gracea and Alisha played outside even though it was freezing.  I loved seeing them having so much fun together.  I think the retreat was definitely a success.   It was fun to have this time with the young women.

Happenings

Last Tuesday Hallee and I met Katie and saw "The Greatest Showman."  That was time number four for me and I'm still not sick of it.  I love how spoiled Hallee is.  At the movie, in a reclining seat with her bag of snacks!

Kenzie and Hallee both loved the show. I was impressed with how much Kenzie watched the show.  Hallee loved it and loves the music.

Hallee looked so cute for church yesterday.

I remember Caitlyn wearing this dress!

Poor Wyatt was sick yesterday.  He had a fever and laid around all day.  I stayed home with him until the last hour of church when Keith switched me.  It was nice to spend time with my boy!  He stayed home from school today, he felt much better, but I wanted to be sure before I sent him to school.  We had fun watching movies together today.  I'm glad that he is feeling good again!

Hallee got home from school today saying she didn't feel good.  She spent the rest of the day resting and watching movies. She came down with the fever this afternoon.  I figured a sonic run was in order and the kids were all happy to get a slushy.  Poor girl didn't feel good tonight.  I hope it passes quickly like it did for Wyatt.

The Circus

We enjoyed the circus so much last year that we wanted to go again this year.  Watching "The Greatest Showman" four times also made me want to go to the circus.  The prices were even better this year and Katie and Tiff came along, so it was great!

Caitlyn loves to play with Kenzie and hold her.

Hallee loved the ponies and was disappointed that she didn't have enough money to ride them.

Such a fun group of kids!

Love this cute family of mine.

The boys all sat together on a row.  Jonah loved talking basketball with Ben and having him quiz him on players.

Kiara and Caitlyn had a great time together. Caitlyn loves frozen lemonade.  She is getting more careful with her money, but she will always splurge for a frozen lemonade.

These girls are the cutest!

I love watching them watch the circus.  Tessa would get so excited she could hardly stand it.

I love this age where everything is so exciting!

It was so fun to be there with Katie and Tiff.  The night was definitely a success, everyone had a great time.

It's good to have you back mom!

Keith and the kids were excited for me to get home on Monday night.  They made a cute sign for me.  Keith was great and they had a fun weekend together.  I was lecturing Jonah about brushing his teeth (which is a common occurrence around here) and he said, "It's good to have you back mom."   Jonah can always make me laugh, even when I'm frustrated.  Wyatt wrote that I'm the perfect mom on the sign and Hallee made sure to explain to me that I'm really not perfect, he just meant that I'm the perfect mom for him.  Thanks Hal!

On Wednesday we took the youth to do baptisms for the dead.  The Provo temple was completely booked so we went to the Provo City Center temple.  We got to the temple around 6:15 PM and we didn't leave until 10 PM.  It was packed.  None of the kids complained.  They were all excited that the Priests in our ward were able to baptize them.  It was a cool experience.  I took this picture of the temple while I was outside texting all of the parents to tell them how late we were going to be.  It is a beautiful temple!

Hallee and Wyatt have started writing comic books in the tree house.  We have been cutting back on electronics and the kids are playing so well together.  We all get grouchy when we are on screens for too long.

Keith always has music playing and Hallee loves to dance.  She had fun dancing with Keith in the morning before school and work.  So cute!

Jonah is still rocking it on the basketball court.  He is an all-around great player. His team played great on Saturday.  It was so great to see the rest of the team work hard and play well.  There is one boy that doesn't get much playing time.  Jonah told me that he feels bad for him because he looked so sad when the coach pulled him out.  Jonah said he is going to tell the coach that he will sit out so Jonas (the other boy) can play more. I love that Jonah is more worried about how people feel than winning. 

Jonah's game was early on Saturday so Keith and I were able to go to the temple after the game.  I loved how pretty it looked with the snowy trees and mountains behind it.

On Saturday we went to dinner at my parents.  I was a little worried about driving out there with all of the snow, but the roads weren't too bad.

We had a great night.  We played scum after dinner.  We had fun laughing and playing together.  For the record I started out as scum and ended up as king.

Caitlyn wanted a picture of her and grandpa for her room.  It was fun to spend the evening with my parents.

Last night the Beck's invited us over for dinner. We don't get to see them as much as we would like to so we were happy that we could go.  The kids had a blast.  We had a great time visiting while the kids were off playing. 

It cracks me up that the twins are only nine months older than Wyatt.  They look so much older than him.  Wyatt sure has fun with them.

Snow Day

We finally had a good snow storm on Saturday.  The kids were excited to play outside. 

We all went outside Saturday afternoon.  They started out with a snowball fight.  I always have to get some pictures before I can put the camera away and play.  The kids love to hit Keith with snowballs.

Hallee had fun making snow angels.

And eating the snow.

Jonah purses his lips like a lot of us do in my family!

The kids all ganged up on me and Keith.

Nothing like a good race in the snow!

Caitlyn hit me right in the stomach with that snowball.

Jackson loves the snow.  He loves to run in it and eat it. 

I love watching the kids play with Jackson.  He really is a fun dog and the kids love him.

Caitlyn was a great sport when Jonah put snow down her neck.

Caitlyn calls Jackson her baby and even carries him around like a baby, all wrapped up in a blanket, sometimes. Jackson is a very patient dog.

Keith played with us for a while and then he got a work phone call so he had to go inside and take care of that. 

We went in the back yard after Keith went in and had a boys verses girls snowball fight.  After that they started working on a snow fort.

Caitlyn and Jonah had fun jumping off the swings into the snow.  The kids lasted a lot longer in the cold than I thought they would.