Conrad is 15!

Happy Birthday, Conrad!  I can't believe we've got two kids nearing adulthood.  It has gone so fast these past five years.  Our kids are really growing up!

Conrad's birthday was the day before Easter, so he got his gifts and Easter basket all in one day.  He wanted to go fishing, so Bo took him floating on the South Fork with Mac and Brian.  He caught a cool cutthroat. 

We celebrated later in the day with my parents and Earle.  It was a fun day.  Conrad got a bunch of fishing stuff.  He wanted me to note here that he got 29 waist fishing pants for his birthday, and they were too big.  He is getting taller but still really skinny.  He is 5' 8" and 96 pounds.

Here is some pic:

Conrad's favorites at 15 are:

Fishing

Baseball Braves

Floating

Driving (almost has his license)

Spiderman ( because he's looking at his old pics)

We love:

How responsible he is

The peacemaker he is

Watching him play baseball

Driving around with him

being outdoors with him (if it's nice)

How mature he's getting

He's just a good kid

We are so blessed to have you in our family! Thanks for being such a great example to all the younger boys.  You are someone they can look up to.  Keep growing up to be the great man we know you are!

Easter 2021

Easter was a hit again this year!  The kids got some fun gifts from the Easter Bunny, and He hid them really well this year!

 We dyed eggs on Sunday this year.  I missed Caleb's.  Sorry, Caleb!

Hailey Got a Big Solo for Troylairs!

 Hailey has worked so hard on her voice the past year.  We haven't had much opportunity to hear her sing in public.  It was so fun to see her perform this song.  Way to go Hailey.  All that hard work is paying off.  

Here's the video go to 1:23.09 to listen.

Caleb's Baptism

Caleb was baptized on February 20th.  He was so excited to finally be a member of the church.  I want to share a story from about 4 months before he was getting baptized.  I was talking to the kids about baptism during "Come Follow Me" since I knew Caleb was getting baptized soon.  Bo made a little joke about how Caleb wasn't a member of The Church of Jesus Christ yet.  Caleb looked at us and was totally confused.  He said, What, I’m not a member?!  He has no idea he wasn't a member.  He thought that since he went to church every week, he was.  After that, he was really ready to be baptized.  His face was priceless at that moment. :)

Caleb is a deep thinker for his age and had a good understanding of what he was doing.  He asks questions I never thought of until I was a teenager or an adult.  His spiritual side is growing and maturing and fun to watch.  We are so grateful for this kid and his choice to be baptized.  It's great to know that each of our kids has made the first step in their life to get back to our Heavenly Father.  

Covid ruined any opportunity of getting together with family.  So, Caleb's baptism was our family, Earle, my parents, a couple neighbors, and a bishopric member.  It was broadcast over zoom.  But, it was so nice to have such a small setting and not have to do it with the stake.  It turned out so special.  We came home and had cinnamon rolls. That was his biggest request.  

Congratulations Caleb!!!  I'm so happy to be your mom and watch you make great choices on your way back to Heavenly Father.

Our Youngest is 8!

If you asked Caleb, he'd say he's FINALLY eight.  Being the youngest is hard sometimes.  You're the first to bed and the last to do anything else.  But, he's the perfect caboose for our family!  We are so blessed to have him in our lives.

Since we are in quarantine right now, his birthday was just us.  He did have some friends that have had COVID stop by with a gift, so they played for a few minutes.  No grandparents, and he was a little bummed.  But, we made the most of it.  We started the day out with the rest of the family getting a nose swab and testing for COVID.  It couldn't get any worse from there. HaHa!  We spent the afternoon playing games and watching shows.  He really wanted to watch AFV and Napoleon Dinomite.  

We had a fun party.  He wanted me to hide his gifts and have a scavenger hunt.  He and Brayden had a blast running all over the house looking for his gifts.  It was a hit!

Here are the highlights from the day.

At age 8, Caleb is very happy and loves just about everything fun.

Candy

Chicken Rolls

Playing with his brothers

Fishing

Camping

Friends

Legos

His Nintendo DS

Bedtime Stories

Phineas and Ferb

Playing Games

We love:

His kind and calm temperament

Watching him grow

How helpful he is

He's responsible 

He works hard

He has a great understanding of Heavenly Father and Jesus

Watching him play with his siblings

Reading with him

His great attitude, even though we couldn't do much for his birthday

Happy Birthday Caleb!  We love you and can't wait to see what the next year brings.  Keep being your kind, hard working, loving boy we love with all our hearts!  Love you through the galaxy and back!