Caleb is home!

Caleb got home from his mission a couple of days after Christmas. He was home for a week and then went out to school at BYU Idaho. We have been dying to see him! It worked for us to go visit him last weekend. It is only a four hour drive, so that was nice.  We picked Caitlyn up from Mel's Saturday morning and drove out to Rexburg.  We stopped for lunch at Jack in the Box. 

We picked Caleb up and then went to a trampoline park.  I took this picture after they jumped, Hallee was mad about something so she did not want to smile.

The trampoline park was really small and there was a ton of little kids.  They were still able to have fun though.  The boys had fun playing dodge ball.

Hallee joined them for dodge ball.

Hallee and Cailtyn had fun jumping together. 

It was so great to see Caleb.  He is as handsome and sweet as ever.  He is such a great guy.

After the trampoline park we dropped Caleb off at his apartment so he could shower and finish up some homework that was due. While we were waiting for Caleb we went and checked into our hotel and played a game.  We got a suite so we had plenty of space, which was really nice.

Hallee and Wyatt loved these chairs.

They had wheels on the bottom and Hallee and Wyatt would scoot all over the room.

When Caleb was ready we picked him up and went to Café Rio for dinner. 

After dinner Caitlyn, Caleb and I went shopping at Walmart. We dropped Keith and the other kids off at the hotel.  Caitlyn had to have this "fries before guys" Valentine to share with her cousins.  I told Caleb that we wanted to treat him to a shopping trip at Walmart so he could stock up and get anything he needed for his apartment.  He was so excited and so appreciative.  He kept asking if it was okay if he got certain brands.  He would only get one of each thing, so I started throwing in extras of everything. While we were driving home he thanked me and said, "You don't know what this means to a poor college student."  I told him I did and that is why we wanted to do it.

After we went shopping we stopped at Caleb's apartment and unloaded the groceries and then we went back to our hotel.

Caleb brought his laptop and showed us pictures from his mission.  It was so fun to see all of the pictures and hear the stories that went along with them.  He was in a tough mission.  He slept in a hammock, washed his clothes in a bucket and had bugs in his food a lot.  I admire him so much, I'm sure there were many times he wanted to just go home.

We had to get a picture with Keith in it.  I'm so glad that Keith loves my family and enjoys spending time with them.

It was 11 PM by the time we finished looking at pictures.  Caleb wanted me to cut his hair, so we did that before we took him back to his hotel.

I had to get a picture of Wyatt and Caleb, they have always been buddies.  I'm so glad we had this time with Caleb.  It was so great to have him all to ourselves! He texted me yesterday to thank me again and told me how much he is loving his oven mitts and strainer! I love that such simple things make him so happy. 

We drove home on Sunday.  We stopped at my parents for a birthday dinner for Ataiya, Rockwell and grandma. 

Look, I made Jackson a tie!

Wyatt is such a funny kid.  He has big ideas and loves to create.  He stapled a piece of paper and put it around Jackson's neck and then put his clip-on tie on there.

We haven't had a lot of snow this year, at least not in Provo.  Wyatt is always willing to help when we do have to shovel.

Jackson loves to play in the snow.  I love watching Jackson and Wyatt chase each other in the snow.

Jackson just sat in the snow and watched us shovel, he looked funny just sitting there.

He really is a fun dog.

I have been part of Jody Moore's life coaching program for a year now. It has helped me so much and I love everything I learn in there.  It's definitely been worth the investment.  She had a live event a couple of weeks ago and since I have been in the program for a year I get to go for free. 

I'm so glad I went, it was really good.  She is so wise and has so much good information to share.  She is really funny too, so she is easy to listen to. 

After the event I stayed in Salt Lake and went to Ataiya's track meet.  Provo was racing as well and the boy Caitlyn likes is on the track team.  I was pretty sure I saw him so I sent Caitlyn a picture of him to be funny.  After that me and Mel took a selfie with him in the back ground.

Then Mel took one of me with him in the background.  He is the one on his phone.  I thought I was pretty funny texting these to Caitlyn.

It was fun to watch Ataiya run the mile.  I'm so impressed with her hard work and dedication.  She keeps knocking time off her mile.  After that I went to Elijah's basketball game.  I love watching my nieces and nephews do what they love.

One night we watched Cool Runnings with the kids.  No one wanted to watch it, but they all ended up liking it.  Hallee fell asleep in the tent chair during the movie. She looked so sweet.

Wyatt started his orthodontic work last week.  He is starting with a jaw expander and a head gear.  He has been great about wearing the head gear and not complaining.

I didn't know that Wyatt had a field trip at the same time as his appointment. He said he was a little sad to miss his field trip, but very happy about missing the whole day of school. We went to Sam's Club for lunch and shopping.  It was fun to have some one-on-one time with him.

Caitlyn was so excited to spend the night with the girls for Ataiya's birthday.  She loves spending time with her cousins, that is definitely her happy place.

Mel told me how good Bright Star was at Hale Center Theatre.  I decided to get Keith and I tickets.  It was so good!  It was an amazing, sad story and they did a beautiful job telling it.  I can't stop thinking about it. 

It was so nice to have a night out.  It seems like the only place we go together is to Jonah's basketball games.  We really need to prioritize date night.  This was definitely a good one to kick it off with.

I never got to see a baby!

We were watching some home videos the other night.  Hallee was a baby in the videos and Wyatt was two-years-old and he was playing with Hallee and in his cute, little voice he said, "she is so cute."  We also saw Jonah making Hallee laugh in the videos.  When we were finished Hallee got emotional and said, "I wish we could have another baby, I never got to see a baby."  Poor girl, she really doesn't like being the youngest sometimes.  Watching those videos sure made me miss my little kids.  I didn't think I missed that stage because I enjoy the kids being older for a lot of reasons. I don't miss the physical exhaustion of taking care of little kids, but I realized that I miss that stage a lot more than I thought.  I miss the adorable things they said and did and that they just wanted to be with me and it was so easy to make them happy.  I like having my kids in school all day, but I think I am in a bit of a funk trying to figure out what my purpose is now.  Seeing those videos reminded me that I felt a lot of purpose back then.  I was working so hard at home so that Keith could go to school and work crazy hours.  I felt accomplished, proud and driven.  I took pride in taking care of everything so that we could spend time as a family when Keith was home.  I loved taking pictures of my cute babies and toddlers and taking them to story time and other activities that they loved.  I guess I didn't realize how precious that time was and how much I miss it.  Now I am the taxi driver. Instead of all of us going to activities together I am just going back and forth to drop kids off at their activities.  My kids aren't interested in spending time with me or each other a lot of the time.  I miss that time when they all loved doing any activity as a family.  Now I have to force them to do family activities.  They would all much rather be with friends or on electronics.  There are definitely good things about the stage of life we are in, but I didn't realize until the other night how much I miss my kids being little. 

Speaking of forcing my kids to hang out with me.  They were all so excited that I was home from New York and they all wanted to say hi and give me a hug and then they wanted to go do their own thing. They didn't have school the day after I got back so, I told them that we were all going to lunch and thought they would be excited, only some were.  We did end up having fun though.  I may have to force them to do things sometimes, but they usually have fun once we get going.

Jonah has been busy with basketball.  The basketball season is long and drawn out.  Sometimes Jonah will go weeks between games.  He has enjoyed playing in the Salt Lake league as well as the Provo league so he could have more games. 

Here he is shooting a foul shot.  He has developed a lot this season.  He is a great defender and really limits the other teams offense when he is on the floor. 

It's been fun to have the family come watch him play.  Tiff, Mel and Elijah have made it to games too. 

A couple of weeks ago Jonah was ordained a teacher.  He loved having Kyle and grandma and grandpa there. 

He was only a deacon for a little over a year so it seems a little strange that he is already a teacher. 

Jonah loves church, a big part of that is the social, but he really enjoys young men's.  Once he got out of primary he has really started to enjoy church a lot more. He really is a great kid.  I can see him growing and maturing in really great ways.  

The kids are looking so grown up.  Caitlyn is taller than me and Jonah is getting close.   

Wyatt and Hallee have been playing well together lately.  I love hearing them laugh together. 

I ordered an Alexander Hamilton shirt on Amazon.  I love it.   

Kristin brought over some clothes and toys that Emily didn't want anymore.  Hallee has loved the Legos!  We have had fun building them together. 

We had fun playing catch phrase one day. Hallee is usually happy to play a game, but I have to force Wyatt.  I know once we get started that he will have fun. 

We had fun watching the Super Bowl.  The kids were just excited for the food.  I made a good spread this year! 

School was canceled one day because of snow.  I had to laugh when I looked outside and this was all we had.  I know they have to take other things into account to make those decisions, but it did feel weird to have no school because of snow, but not enough snow to play in.  A few days later we got a bigger storm and it was really bad roads when I drove the kids to school.  Luckily, we live really close to the school. 

JJ was in town for the weekend and wanted to stop by with Haley.  I was so flattered that they would want to see me.  They came over Monday morning (they braved the snow day, HA!).  I loved visiting with them for a while and then I dropped JJ off at the airport here in Provo.  It really made my day, it feels so good to feel remembered and important!