I love to see the temple

Lorien and Wyatt had a birthday earlier this month.  Every year, they have the gaul to get another year older.  

For their birthday, Grandma Judy sent the kids some ancestor's names so Lorien and Wyatt could take the names to the temple.  Wyatt turned 12 so this would be his first trip to the temple.

When I was growing up our closest temple was in Washington DC.  It was a whole day's drive down and then a whole day at the temple and a third day to drive home.  Needless to say, temple trips didn't happen more than once a year.  I think my kids are pretty lucky to have the temple just 30 minutes away.  

Grandma Judy came out to visit this week so we made plans to go to the temple with the kids.  Uncle Alan, Aunt Heather, Aunt Emily and Uncle Kenny also came to the temple.  It was a really sweet family event.  Uncle David and Aunt Angela watched all of the other kids so we could all go.  I am sure we will repay the favor in a few months when Evan turns 12.                                               

                                                

                                                               

Homecoming...

One of my oldest nephews came home from his mission to New Zealand last weekend.  Wyatt had his championship soccer game at 1:30 Saturday afternoon.  We watched, cheered, played and coached (depending on who you were) until the game was over.  Wyatt's team won (yay!) and we had a little trophy ceremony...then it was straight into the packed van for a drive to Utah.  

We rolled into town very early Sunday morning (good thing they had late church) and showed up for Keaton's homecoming.  Keaton gave a great talk.  He shared some excellent stories and his testimony.  I was so glad my kids got to see him and hear his testimony.  

After the homecoming part at church we went back to my brother's house.  My kids think Uncle Chris is pretty cool.  They think his house is one of the funnest places on earth...they are right.  Uncle Chris let the kids play video games and then busted out his WWII jeep.  

Uncle Christ took the boys out for a drive...and then ended up letting each boy "drive" the jeep, including Colter.

Keaton was a trooper and played fun rough house games with the kids.  Colter got some excellent cousin time.  My other brother, Caleb, drove down from Idaho with his five boys.  Caleb's youngest two boys are Colter's age.  He played the most with Sam, they kept racing a little truck across the living room floor. 

                      

We had to leave the next morning.  Will had a breakfast meeting in Salt Lake and as soon as he was finished we hit the road.  It was a very short trip but very much worth it.  We loved seeing family and on the drive home we drove through snow!  So...a pretty great trip!

Sunday hike

We are trying to make our Sundays more of a family day.  We always stay at home together...but most of the time we are all off in our separate corners of the house, doing our own things.

We decided every Sunday we would have:

A family meal

A family activity 

and a little alone time

This Sunday we let Lorien lead the way on a little walk/hike.  We walked around our neighborhood then Lorien showed us where this hill was with a killer view.  Getting home ended up taking much longer than we anticipated but watching the sunset with killer views in every direction was totally worth it.