Brody's Baptism

     Well the family just keeps getting older and older. Time never seems to slow down, it just speeds up the older I get. Brody turned 8 in December and with that he is able to get baptized. He was so excited to have a day just for him. We were going to have the Baptism during the Christmas holidays, but it was such a busy time for everyone. We waited till January 18 to have Brody's special day.

     Brody picked everything on the program. The speakers, opening and closing prayer, and the songs were all selected by Brody. It was a program dominated by "Uncles". Uncle Reggie gave the opening prayer, Uncle Kesty talked on Baptism, Uncle Jimmy talked on the Holy Ghost, and Uncle Jeff gave the closing prayer. The Cousins along with Haydn and Tyson sang the Baptism song as well. I was so proud that Brody wanted me to Baptize him. We had been practicing a few days before to make sure we got it right the first time, and we did. I love that our Stake lets us do individual Baptisms and not with a bunch of other kids. It was great to have a program that was just focused on Brody. He loved it.





   
















      Brody was nervous and was not sure what to expect. He looked great in his "Whites" and in his suit that he was wearing at the baptism. He did great and we hope that he will always remember this day and all the people who came to support him. After the Baptism we had a lunch for all the family and friends. The kids all played basketball in the gym and had a great time with each other. What a great way to start the year.

   



















      The next day at church Brody was invited up on the stand where he was introduced to the church as the newest member. He was also invited to sit on the stand with the bishopric for the remainder of the meeting. He looked so cute up on the stand. He is growing up fast and that is scary. I also received a new calling on Sunday: 1st councilor in the Young Mens presidency. I have never been in Young Mens so I am a little nervous about the calling. It will be a great experience and I am sure that once I get over the "Newness" of the calling, I will love it.


Wind Warning

     Well we had a wind warning a few days ago and it was crazy. The wind was ripping off tree branches, throwing off shingles and moving trampolines. Kristi called me and work and told me that I needed to get home because our tramp was nearly in the neighbors yard. I came home when I had a chance and found the tramp up against our fence. I had Wyatt help me flip it over and put it face down. We put some rocks on it to try to stop it from flying away. When we flipped the tramp over the wind caught it and nearly sent us flying with it. There were tramps all over Cardston after the wind had died down. Just another day in good old Southern Alberta.

 Wynder Christmas 2013

     Well another Christmas has come and gone. It was a great 2 weeks off of Work and School for our family. We did so much stuff in the last 2 weeks that I don't really even know where to start. This 2 week break really felt like a long break because we were staying up late and waking up early almost everyday. I will do my best to remember what happened in the last 2 weeks. I really should do this "Blog Thing" daily, instead of waiting till the 2 weeks are over and then trying to remember all the fun and funny things that went on.

     We started the holiday season the way we always do by making Christmas crafts and gingerbread houses with the boys. Well Tyson and mom had a gingerbread train. We do this every year and the boys love to decorate and eat the houses. It is a great way to get into the Christmas spirit.

 Christmas Eve

     We spent Christmas eve at my moms this year. It was the first time in 8 years that all the boys were home at the same time for Christmas. We had a great time watching the Softball and family videos that Jo made for all of us. That is the best part of Christmas for me. I love to watch all of the highlights from the softball season and to watch all the family video that Jo had caught through out the year. There are so many funny things that happened through the year that Jo catches on video. We all had a great laugh watching us dance at Travis's wedding, watching Brody dance on the baseball diamond and all the funny things that happened camping in Was a.
     The Boys opened their Christmas pj's and we opened all the family presents together.

    It was great to have my brother Ryan here for Christmas and have some time to hang out. All the brothers went into Lethbridge a couple of days before Christmas and did some last minute Christmas shopping. This trip is always full of laughs and many jokes that probably cannot be repeated in this blog. haha. It was good to have some hang out time with Ryan because our visits are few and far between. Ryan and I took all the boys into lethbridge to go to a movie (The Hobbit) and then sent the boys home with my mom and stayed to go to another movie (Anchrman 2). Ryan Stayed at moms that night and we played hockey that next day with Kimball Lacey and his family. That night we played cards till late and the boys had a great time playing and hanging out together. Its funny now because Haydn and Brody Text and FaceTime Maddux all the time now. We also took the boys up to the gym to play some basketball and run around together.

Christmas Day

     Christmas day was exciting for the boys. The boys are still pretty good with sleeping in to a reasonable time which is good for mom and dad haha. Haydn's main gift was a iPod 5 and Brody's was a iPad mini and they were so excited to get those gifts. Tyson's main gift was some toys from the movie "Cars". The boys were good to each other this Christmas because they each bought gifts for each other and mom and dad. This was special because they used their own money to buy the presents. I bought the boys a new game for the PS3 called "Rocksmith". It is a game that teaches you how to play guitar. You plug a real electric guitar into the game system and it teaches you how to play a number of different songs. Haydn loves it.

Edmonton Trip

     We spent the 2nd week of the holidays up in Edmonton with Ryan and Brandi. We always have a great time hanging out and playing games with them. We spent one of the days sledding out at Brandi's moms farm. They have a lot of open space and the kids had a great time sledding with each other. The kids would sled down the hill and then we would take the "Gator" down and pick them up and drive them back up the hill. We did this so many times. We stayed out there for dinner and cards as well. All the kids play well together and have a great time. Tyson and Mieko played so good with each other. They did everything and went everywhere with each other. We also made our annual trip to Chuck E. Cheese together and let the kids run wild and play games. Of course we spent like $90 on pizza and tokens and we ended up with a couple of $1 prizes for our tickets haha. BUT, the kids always love to go there and they have so much fun so I guess its worth it haha.
     We really did not do that much. We like to just let the kids hang out and play during the day and then the adults can hang out and play cards when the kids are in bed. That seems to be what we do when we visit. Its good cause there is no pressure to do anything expensive. Its great just to relax and hang out.

     On new years eve we had our regular chocolate fountain treat. The kids love this and wait for it all year. Its messy but the boys have so much fun doing this. We actually counted down the new year for the kids at 10pm so they could go to bed and the adults come have some time to play cards haha sorry boys.
     The roads home from Edmonton were terrible. Edmonton had freezing rain the day before we left and it made the roads like skating rinks. When we drove home on saturday we probably saw about 25-30 cars in the ditch. Some of the cars had rolled and were fairly beat up. Luckily we made it home safe with no problems. We stopped at the mall in Calgary so the boys could spend some of their Christmas money. Haydn bought an Airsoft handgun and Brody bought a bunch of Duck Dynasty stuff. I bought a new pair of goalie skates and a new goalie stick. Don't tell Tyson but his Christmas money paid for Chuck E. Cheese haha. Whoops sorry Tyse.

   
   

Odds and Ends of the Break