Extremely filled up weekend

CHRISTMAS!!!
This long weekend started off with Christmas!!  It was kind of an interesting/different Christmas as far as who was here and who wasn't.  Randy and Courtney stayed the night Christmas Eve, so they shared Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Blake, Jared, my parents and I.  Then Randy had to go to work at 11:00.  Brian had to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so we saw him by taking dinner to him both days.  Celia's parents and brothers are here from Pennsylvania, so they all came down for Christmas dinner.  It was a good Christmas, even if we did have to work around work schedules!

Courtney, Randy and Jared opening presents

My mom, Jared & Courtney getting ready to eat yummy Monkey bread.  (Cindy, this is what it's supposed to look like!)

Blake and I in our Christmas red shirts!

CINDY CAME!!!!

Saturday, the next big thing happened!  Cindy flew in to the Idaho Falls airport.  It was a long hard day for her, but she made it .... only an hour and a half late.  It is always so good to see her! 

Cindy meeting Maden for the first time, she thinks he's tiny.

BABY BLESSING!!!!!

Sunday morning .... Maden was blessed in Brian and Celia's ward in Idaho Falls at 9:00 am.  Brian did a really good job and Maden was very content.

Maden, in his "tie" and "man pants".  What big eyes you have, Maden.

FAREWELL!!!!!!!

The last thing capping off the weekend was Jared's "farewell"!  He spoke in our ward in Groveland at 10:50 am.  We hurried home from Brian's church to get here in time for our Sacrament Meeting!  He did such a good job with his talk and I am so proud of him!  He claims he doesn't like talking in church, but you would never know by the way he spoke, appearing to be full of confidence. 

This is the picture that will be on his plaque in the foyer of our church.

Just before going to the church.

Randy, Cindy and Jared getting ready to go to the church.

Now, he's even more ready with his suitcoat on.

We are very proud to be his parents!

We had a dinner in our house after church.  We had tables and chairs every where in the living room and family room.  Leisja , Sarah, Danae (who is hiding behind Sarah) and Danielle came to wish Jared well! Thanks to all the people who came to support Jared!

After dinner, some of the kids played Nerts and Spoons!

They look pretty calm right here, but sometimes, it got pretty wild!

After most everyone had left, Nate, Sarah, Leisja and Alicia came and surprised Jared.  They played Nerts again, it was pretty crazy!

We tried to get a picture of Jared and Nate looking dignified like the missionaries they are about to become, as you can see it wasn't too hard for Jared, but Nate....let's just say it was a little harder!

It was certainly a packed weekend, but it was a good one!  I always look back and wish I would have taken more, better pictures, but I guess what you see is what you get.

My "Baby" is 19!

Yesterday Jared turned 19!  Holy cow, that makes me feel so old!  He's such a good kid, and I'm proud to be called his mom!

Since I was staying with Celia and Maden, Jared came to their house on his way home from Rexburg.

He likes hanging out with Maden, his days of doing that are numbered!

We ordered pizza, and ate cupcakes!

Then he played some games on the Wii.  This one he's trying to fly like a chicken, it was pretty funny.

Grandma time with Maden

I had the opportunity to spend a couple of days at Brian and Celia's!  Brian had to go back to work for 2 days, so I got to go help out!  It was great fun, I loved every minute of it.  I didn't mind changing the poopy diapers, burping the little guy, giving him a bath, playing with him during his "wake" time, and gettting him to eat and sleep.  Thanks for letting me come play!

Maden loved getting his hair washed!

He was pretty calm after he was all cleaned up.

Just hanging out, after getting fed and burped.

He was so wide awake, so I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures.  I think he looks like Brian!

Before I left, Celia wanted to take some "family" photos. This is a funny one!

We have a Grandson!!

Yesterday, December 5th at 8:06, Maden Michael Purcell was born to Brian and Celia!  He weighed in at 8 lbs, 4 oz and is 20 inches long.  He was born by C-Section, so he has a nice round head and face.  He has some dark hair and a cute little button nose.  He already has his Grandma (that would be me!!!) wrapped around his little finger!  I think his mom and dad are pretty proud of him too.  Welcome to our family, Maden!

In the recovery room, just a few minutes after he was born.

Celia was way tired!

"It's my birthday!"

I got to go to the recovery room and meet Maden!

Jared got to go into the recovery room and be the 1st uncle to hold Maden.

Finally, Grandpa Blake gets his turn!

Uncle Randy got his turn when he got off work.

I took a lot of turns!

Eyes are open!

Starting to get mad!

Snow Machining!

This morning Jared, Randy and Brian went for the first snowmachine rides of this season.  They got up at 4:30 and were in Island Park by 7:00.  They rode around for about 3 hours, then drove home.  They said it was great fun, and that all the machines worked really well.  There was about 10 inches of snow, which isn't really enough, but it was pretty good for November 24th.

Brian and Jared parked on the trail.

Brian riding the newest one.

Randy and Brian...Randy is pretty hooked, he loved it!

But this is what happens when you get up so early and spend time in the fresh cold air.

Baby Shower

Today we had a baby shower for Celia.  We had it at Grandma Purcell's house (oh wow, in a month that will be my name!)  It was done open house style and it turned out really good.  Thanks to everyone that came!  They got some really nice things and a good start on being ready for Maden to be born.

Here's Celia chatting with her former roommate Tara, her daughter Morgan and Tara's mom.  My mom, Beth Chambers is on Celia's left.

Brian came to be supportive and ended up babysitting this cute little girl.

It Snowed!

We woke up to about 2 - 3 inches of snow this morning!  Jared was in heaven!  He went out and put the blade on the four wheeler and cleared the driveway.

Oh, happy day!

Now, all he needs is for it dump in the mountains.

Upgrade #2

Well, it's hard to believe, but we have already made an upgrade to our snowmachines!  The one we bought at Rexburg Motor sports ended up having some broken parts and they were not very honest about it.  To make a looooong story short, we ended up trading the broken one on a brand new one! 

As you can see, this one is blue and white, so it is different from the others. 

Courtney named it Louie, but I'll bet it just gets called "blue".

Upgrade

Blake decided to upgrade our snowmachines this year (with a little convincing from Jared and Randy).  He decided to sell the two old green ones, so he put an ad on KSL.com and had them sold in two days.  He was able to buy a 2008 Skidoo Summit from Rexburg Motor Sports, and found another 08 on KSL.com.  They are both just like the one we bought last year. So, now we have a 2000, and three 08's.  Now all we need is some SNOW!

Since the 08's all look alike, the kids named them.  They call the 2000 James because we bought it from Dr. James.  The one we bought last year has an electric start, so they call it Lexie, the one we bought at Rexburg has a shorter track, so they named it Shorty, and the other one we bought from a guy that lives in Wellsville, UT, so they call it Willy.

Today, they made sure they would all start and put the brackets for the second seat on Willy.  Now, James, Lexie, Shorty and Willy are all ready and waiting for the snow to fly!

Brush your teeth party?

Friday morning I caught "my kids" having a teeth brushing party.  Randy had worked all night and came here after work to sleep for a while, Courtney had stayed here while Randy was working.  Jared and Courtney were getting ready to drive to BYU-I.  I guess this house has turned into a "Bed and Breakfast", or anyone just stop in any time for some food and fun!

Even Baby got in on the action!

Cat Tricks

Last night, I was working on the computer in my "new office" and our cat "baby" came in to talk to me.  She just circled my legs and talked and talked, I talked back to her and just kept working.  Pretty soon she was quiet and I looked around and saw this....

I just happened to have the camera right there beside me so I took a took a picture of her sitting on my new little desk.  I decided I wanted to take a picture from a different angle and stood up and got this shot...

She watched me and talked to me the whole time I was taking the picture.  As soon as I put the lens cap on the camera, she looked at me and jumped right onto my chair!

She thought she was so sneaky, but I booted her off so I could get back to work!  Silly cat!