He's official!

Caleb had his big day last Saturday!  He was baptized on March 3, and everything went great.  He said later that the water was cold, but he was one tough soldier and didn't even complain.

He was so excited - he got a candy bar, a new towel from his primary teacher, a tie tac, a memory book, and $10 to save for his mission fund.  It was like his birthday all over again!  Today he got to go up to the pulpit and be recognized, get his certificate, and say a scripture or article of faith (his choice).  He did great!

He is still diligent about reading his new scriptures on his own and trying to apply them...like at the dinner table when Ella hit him for some reason and he hit her back and there was shouting and crying (lovely picture, I know).  We got onto Ella, then got onto Caleb for retaliating.  He said - emphatically - "THAT is what the scriptures tell us to do.  If someone hits you, you should hit them back.  Do the same to them that they do to you!"  We were trying not to laugh while we explained that he might be either mixing up the Golden Rule, or reading about Mosiac law, the old laws that were before Christ came and established new laws more along the lines of "love everyone, and if someone is mean to you, love them anyway."  :)

We really enjoyed having so much family come to town and celebrate with us, and a big thank you to everyone who could make it.  Mostly we spent our time visiting and eating; we did manage to take Mom and Dad M to IKEA for the first time, which was fun.

 McKinley, enjoying an IKEA french fry.

 *not actual size :)

This is how Rachel goes to IKEA - riding in the shopping cart bag, since she is not tall enough for the playland.
Caleb got ahold of grandma's camera in the backseat:

Those two top teeth that look a little askew have both come out now, so he is two dollars richer and two teeth poorer.  We visited Kip's job site:

Grandma M and Ella

We also played board games - this is the kids decorating a sleeping grandpa Mitchell with monopoly pieces; then we went for a walk.

 

We did also try to get a picture of all the cousins that came, but a group that size and age is kind of fluid, so here are our best efforts:

We had a great weekend!
After we dropped grandpa and grandma Mitchell off at the airport, we came home and promptly got sick.  Somehow over the weekend we picked up some stomach bug or something - it hit me first, Kip that night, and the kids throughout the week.  Ick!  Sorry to everyone who got sick in the days after the baptism.  :(  Maybe it was bad hot dogs...?

So as you can imagine the rest of this week was spent "recovering" from illness and vacation - we did manage to attend dance class, pack meeting, book club, a meeting for a Relief Society brunch, a meeting for the teacher appreciation lunch for seniors, and library story time.  We missed stories last week, so the kids insisted.  We had our furnace replaced on Friday - bye bye, 22-year-old-dog-hair-stuffed-beast-of-a-furnace, hello brand new 95% efficiency unit.  Yay!  We have become complete believers in high efficiency products - with the replacement of our toilets and laundry appliances, our electric bill went down $30 in one month and our water usage went down by 50%.  50%!!  We are excited to see how our new furnace changes things.

Caleb is still battling a cold, but the rest of us have recovered and we're all looking forward to the new week.  Spring is coming!  It was warmer today and the kids spent the entire afternoon outside in the backyard.  Ella caught her first ladybug, we have some unknown flower blooming in our front flower bed, and the snow is almost gone.  Spring is always such a breath of fresh air - literally, and for the soul.  I love it!