Cagle Christmas

The Christmas season has been so much fun this year thanks to little Macy! She is so excited about everything! She quickly learned who Santa is, and really enjoys watching him from a distance. The sitting on the lap thing doesn't go so well though. We have tried it twice and decided that was enough torture for the poor thing. We did get a picture of the second time though. It isn't a happy one!!! I'll have to scan it in later. She LOVES the snow that we have recently received and wants to go play in it all day everyday, but as soon as I tell her how cold it is, she decides to stay inside. Our Christmas tree is on a table this year in order to stay safe from the toddler and the puppy. I can't put any presents out because they would immediately be unwrapped! My nativity scene gets rearranged about 10 times a day and I often find myself looking for baby Jesus, just hoping he isn't in Abby or Macy's mouth! Macy also enjoys snowmen or "nomenenen." She is finally tall enough to see out the car window and enjoys looking at all the Christmas lights! or dights as she says. As for the Cagles there aren't any lights due to Payte's scrooge attitude towards all Christmas decor. I don't blame him on the lights though! (not a fun job!) And I know he isn't the only man who despises all the Christmas "clutter."

We are also happy with our freshly painted red Kitchen! It has brought a lot more warmth to that area, so we spend a little more time in there. (which isn't a good thing! we don't need ANY more food!)

We are all missing uncle "Ty" and uncle "Jew Jew" (Jared). We get to talk to Jared on the phone on Christmas eve, but since Tyson is in the CTM (brazil MTC) we won't be hearing from him this year. Jared comes home on February 24th! My parents have received the flight plans and everything, so that is very exciting! Jared is not wanting to come home though. He is so in love with Taiiwan, the people, and the work! He has been such a great missionary and touched many lives. Tyson is doing great as well. In the Brazil MTC they are able to go out and practice the language and hand out Books of Mormon. That has helped him a lot I think. He says he had stopped a young man on the street the other day, and as soon as Tyson started to bear his testimony the man started listening very intently. The spirit is so strong with those missionaries! I am so proud of my two brothers and the service they are doing right now. We sure do miss them, but wouldn't want them anywhere else at this time in their lives.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season! We surely feel blessed in these troubled times to have a home, health, faith, and family. Our knowledge of Christ is what gets us though the hard days, and I pray we can all celebrate His life not just this time of the year, but every day. Merry Christmas!

How could I forget my Angel?

I can't believe I almost forgot to post my cute Halloween pictures! Macy dressed up as an Angel for Halloween this year. The costume was made by my mother-in-law and has been passed down from 3 different cousins. It fits her perfectly! The first party we went to was for the ward on Tuesday night. She acted the opposite of an angel though! She wasn't too happy that night because she only wanted to play with the ducks in the pond! The primary had a tub of water with tons of ducks in it. All the kids Macy's age wanted to play in the water! So I would take Macy clear to the other side of the building and she would find her way right back to the ducks! Oh well! On Halloween evening Payte and I took Macy to my parent's neighborhood to just a few of the homes that I knew. She actually acted like an angel that night, which was very nice! After people gave her candy she would say, "Thank you! Bye-bye!" and then blow a great big kiss! What a doll! She had to wear a different halo that night though, because Abby got a hold of the original and chewed it up! Luckily my mom happened to have an extra on hand! So here are the pics of my angel plus some other fun ones.

New member of the Family

We have added another member to our family. We got a little Dachsund puppy names Abby. She is adorable, and snuggle, and sweet, but a PUPPY! I can't believe how much work puppies are, especially when you have a toddler too. Macy and Abby are two little trouble makers. We have had Abby for about a month now, and it is definately getting better. We are crate training her which is nice. She sleeps in her crate at night and we put her in it when we leave, so we don't worry about her going potty in it because they won't pee in their own bed. She of course likes to chew on everything, but hasn't ruine anything important yet. Macy lets her know when she shouldn't be doing something. If Abby takes Macy's blanket, Macy says, "No! Abby! Go!" Macy does like the water dish though. She puts her feet in it and tries to bring it to Abby, but ends up spilling the water everywhere. My patience has been tested, but I think I've become a better person for it. So good news of the week: Macy has finally started falling asleep by herself in her crib, which is so nice! Before, we would have to hold her until she fell asleep, but now we just turn a CD on in her room and she puts herself to sleep! I think Daylight Savings time helped out too. She goes to bed earlier now that it's darker sooner.

Other news: My baby brother Tyson left for Brazil on Tuesday morning. He will serve a mission for the LDS church for two years in the Brazil, Florianopolis mission. My other brother Jared is in Taiiwan right now and gets back February 24th. So my parents are officially empty nesters now. They're handling it pretty well though. Macy is able to keep them pretty happy. They go crazy over that girl! I'm glad she is loves so much. She will miss her uncle "Ty." She never got to meet Jared since she was born just 10 days after he left. They will have plenty of time to get to know eachother though. Well, I think I've gone on enough for today, so here are some pictures for your enjoyment!

No way to catch up!

It's been way too long since i've posted and there is just no way I can post all the pictures and tell all the stories that should be told. I haven't been slacking on journaling my life though because I found the wonderful website: LDSJOURNAL.COM! You must try it out! It lets you keep a personal daily journal online and is completely private. It also asks important and thought provoking questions that help keep an accurate and interesting history of your life. Another great thing about it, is that they send you e-mail reminders about once a week to tell you to write. Fun Stuff!

Anyways, I guess the biggest story of my life is my sweet daughter Macy. She will be 18 months old this month and is just full of entertainment! I'll just have to go through my pictures and tell the stories that go with them.

This summer we discovered the Rexburg Splash Park! It was so nice for those really hot days in the summer, and I had so much fun watching Macy and all the other kids out there. The first time we went Macy met a cute little boy and played with him most of the time.

Macy continues to love dressing up and is obsessed with shoes. I think mostly because she knows shoes mean "go."

Macy is quite the talker too. I'll have to post some of the cute words she says later because the list is getting pretty long. But one of my favorites is when she says "happy!" I think "baby" is thrown in this video too. She thinks any little person is a baby.

For Labor Day weekend we decided to take Macy camping for the first time. She thought she was in heaven because she got to be outside all day long! She played in the dirt, rode the 4-wheeler and had a great time! The first night (well, the only night) we woke up to Macy screaming! We couldn't figure out what was wrong until I noticed she was touching her neck. There had been tons of hornets around and one had gotten in the tent and bit her. So we got her calmed down but I didn't sleep well because I was worried about her getting bitten again. The next day we went for a ride on the 4-wheeler to find huckelberries and she fell asleep on the way there. When we got back we were eating snacks and playing when a hornet bit her right on her bottom lip! It instantly started to swell and she broke into a rash. We gave her some benadryl and that took the rash away, but the swelling didn't go away for a while. I felt bad at the time, but we got some great pictures out of it! Poor thing! Just don't mind the boogers and dirt all over her face!

Before hornet bite......

AND AFTER!

She's a girl!!!

It's official! Macy is a girly girl! She's already into dressing up. She tries to put on my glasses, shoes, shirts, skirts, socks, and yes even my underwear!!! I'll have to get her some of her own stuff to dress up in before she ends up embarresing me! So here are some cute glam shots of my girl!

Over already!

You know how time goes by so slowly when you're anticipating an exciting event? Like girl's camp.....family reunions....trip to California? And then all of a sudden it's all over? Well it's already over for me! One month ago I was going crazy with anticipation and excitement to do so many fun things and it passed so quickly! We got back from California Sunday night and Payte has asked me every day since if I've updated the blog. So while he's off having fun with the boys I'm catching up. We had a great time visiting Payte's family starting with his sister Shannon in Chester, CA. We left on July 2nd at 9:30 p.m. and drove through the night. It worked out well because Macy slept the whole time! We got to Shannon's house at 10:30 a.m. on July 3rd and rested all day long to prepare for the 4th. The morning of the 4th, Payte ran in the Chester 3 mile "Fun Run" with his sister. Then we went to the parade and then to the awesome lake. Chester is a small town in northern california, but on the 4th of July it really buzzes with people! Unfortunately there were many fires in the area so it was extremely smokey and some highways were closed. They had set up camps for the fire fighters at all the schools in the town. We missed the fireworks that night because Macy was filthy and we were exhausted. (and no fireworks can be better than Idaho Falls or Menan!) Anyways, here are the pics from that weekend.

On Saturday July 5th we left Chester and drove to Madera, CA where Payte grew up and where his other sister and parents still live. We did laundry and went to church the next day so that we could leave on Monday to Cypress, CA where Payte's grandparents and extended family live. We had a great time catching up, spend the night at a hotel, just to get up and drive to San Diego the next day. In San Diego we went to the zoo the first day, Sea World the second, and the children's discovery center the 3rd day. We could have easily spent at least a week there because there's so much to do and see, but we'll have to do that another time! Unfortunately I don't have pics from Sea World cuz I left my camera at the hotel, but my mother-in-law and sister-in-law took some, so those will have to be posted later. But here some fun pics from our time in San Diego.

Crook Family Reunion

Last weekend was my mom's side of the family reunion. We went to Mapleton, Utah where great friends of the family let us come to their home and family barn where dances and parties are held often. It was all at the base of the mountains and there was a large pond with canoes, paddle boats and a rope swing. We played lots of games including siamese kickball, giant slip and slide, and volley ball with giant beach balls. My uncle Bill brought his accordian as always and we did the chicken dance together. Macy was a very good little dancer. The best part of the whole weekend was when my 85 year old grandma went down the slip and slide in her clothes! She thought it was so much fun that she talked my 90 year old blind grandpa into going down with her again! I got video of it, but it's sideways, so I guess I won't post it. I am so lucky to have such healthy, youthful, and fun grandparents! I will never forget that day! The last picture is the house my grandpa grew up in, in Heber City, UT.

Girl's Camp

One of the reasons I haven't been posting this month is because I've been doing Girl's camp stuff. Two months ago the Bishop came to my door and asked me to be the camp director. I told him yes not knowing what the dates of camp would be. That night as I looked at my calendar I realized I wouldn't be able to go to camp the whole week, so I told him that the same night. They decided to find someone else and have me be the assistant, but it took them a while to find someone, so I ended up doing alot of the work. It was tons of fun though, and I love those girls so much. I only ended up going on Monday last week and was so sad to leave that night! The girls brushed my hair, rubbed my shoulders, and played games with me! I hope I can stay in the Young Women's program for a while, because it's so much fun! The girl's make me feel so loved. So now I get to go back to just being the Personal Progress leader which is fine with me!

Summer Days!

So Macy and I have really been enjoying the nice weather lately. All she wants to do is play outside in our grass. She loves to go see the 5 horses we have in back so all day she says, "Horse! Horse! Horse!" We also go see the goat (Jasmine.) Jasmine loves it when we let her out to come and eat our weeds. She acts just like dog. It's pretty fun. Anyways, here are some cute pictures of Macy rolling in the grass.