Thanksgiving

I took very few photos during Thanksgiving break but it was great having Max home and a lot of great family time. On Thanksgiving day, we had a slow morning then did a family run/walk to "green swing park" Theres a path near our house but it's been closed for awhile while a bridge was being repaired. But it finally opened back up recently so we made our way over to the park and checked out the new bridge, also we learned that Charlie doesn't like bridges!

Edwin tried to get Charlie to go over the bridge again and Charlie was terrified. (The bridge was only a couple feet off the ground)

Once we got to the park Charlie saw some people launching some helicopters so he ran off with them, and Max and Edwin followed him while I stayed and played with Miles. (hence lots of Miles pictures.)

Anyway, we had a good time then came home to shower and make sweet potatoes and let Edwin nap a bit. We then made our way to my Red Grandma's house, Shortly after we arrived, Thanksgiving dinner was ready so we ate then stayed for awhile playing games. We played code names and Watch ya' mouth with my cousin and his new wife. And Max took this really flattering picture of me. 

 

we also played foosball with our boys and had a lot of funs (I won...so that always makes it fun...because I always win...just don't challenge me to play real soccer)

The next day Max got up and went black Friday shopping and knocked off most of our Christmas shopping for our boys. He was gone pretty much most of the day until we went to Max's grandma's house for Thanksgiving. They decided to hold it at his grandma mumzy's house because the plan was to sell the house soon. The only picture proof that we did this was this amazing pie I made. haha. Its the same one I made for Max's birthday. 

The boys had tons of fun playing with their cousins and 4-5 dogs. 

And I went this whole blog post without mentioning gratitude. Whoops. There really is so much to be grateful for. I am in daily awe of the blessings from my Father in Heaven and do try to spend time every day reflecting on those blessings. Life is beautiful!

80s/90s dance

Max got to help plan a 80s/90s family dance at church. I was so excited. I actually loved going to youth dances and a couple proms with Max and I feel like there aren't as many opportunities to go out dancing in our old age. And it made it fun to bring our kids along to and see them bust a move! ha! (A more accurate description would be "run around like maniacs") We pulled out our sweat bands, converse, and leg warmers and had a blast getting ready. I even busted out the crimper! We brought Muddy Buddies to share (apparently Max felt like Muddy buddies were a 90s snack) and danced for a long time. Max had a couple cousins come and later his brother's family came. There was live music and DJ'd music. And it was such a hit with minimal prep that we're going to do it again for Valentine's Day. 

Charlie's Baptism

The Saturday following Charlie's birthday was his baptism. Charlie chose to be baptized to follow Jesus Christ's example. He has been looking forward to this day for a long time. Since his cousins were coming who are his absolute favorite people we decided to make a party out of the whole day. His baptism was scheduled for 11am. We arrived at the church at 10 am to make sure the font was filling and get some things set up. The boys came in like wrecking balls, they were loud and excited and running all over. I can't blame them, it was a pretty exciting day. The font was nearly full and we set up a TV for part of the ceremony. Charlie and Max then got changed and we took some photos while we were waiting for some family to arrive. Charlie picked all the poses...

As soon as my grandma started playing the piano for prelude music, the kids all calmed and there was a sweet spirit in the room.

My dad took some photos too, Since I didn't pull out my camera once the baptism service started...

Charlie's primary teachers spoke about baptism and charlie loved it. he was taking in their every word . He was then baptized by Max and it was a special experience and everything went well. While Max and Charlie were changing their clothes we watched this video along with others like it. 

Then an Elder serving in our ward gave a talk on the Holy Ghost followed by Charlie receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Charlie was beaming once again.
A couple more photos from my dad.

The Bishop had Charlie stand on a chair to see all the people there to support him. He was so excited, I was waiting for him to be silly and crazy but he was so cooperative and happy.

Charlie wanted to invite our neighbor Mindy, she said she would be honored to come. At her church, her preacher had been telling her some false things about the church we attend, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.. This led her to believe some misconceptions. After the baptismal service, she thanked us profusly for inviting her and couldn't believe how focused on Christ we were. She told us she wouldn't believe the negative things people say about our church and she will stand up for us. I'm grateful that Charlie is being such a good example of a disciple of Christ already.

After the baptism we set up a couple tables for a lunch/birthday party with family. I didn't take any photos here either so there are more from my dad. Some cousins even brought him some birthday gifts so he was pretty excited about that.

Charlie requested a doughnut cake which we built together.

We had a lot of fun and Charlie loved spending time with his cousins, I wish I took more photos of the people attending because August and Emmett were there too and Lexi and Kaden and some friends from church and their families. 

During the party we showed this little slideshow I made of Charlie, Charlie gave me some good input, all my boys love watching it over and over.  

After our lunch party, the fun didn't end. we went with all the cousins, (Gwenevere, Grace, Everett, Edgar, August, and Emmett) and their parents and went to the community center. We had a good time except for the moment Miles fell under the water when no one was looking and couldn't get out, but I got to him in time. A little traumatizing but we are all ok. And then after that, we found out that my brother and sister in law were dropping their kids off at grandmas so somehow we decided to do that too and went on a triple date with some mutual friends. We ate Thai food and ended up doing some karaoke in the vacant house next door. It was a long and wonderful day. We are so proud of Charlie for his willingness to follow his Savior Jesus Christ and to set a wonderful example for his brothers.