FHE and Gifts!!

Our second Sunday Doyle dinner was at Andy's house this month...the first family dinner since the folks have been back! We feasted on Taco Salads and talked and played and then we all received fabulous gifts--FUN!
Dennis and Mary Kaye had brought back something for each person from Switzerland or a surrounding area they visited while on their mission. Asher's age group got a cute Pinocchio ornament puppet from Rome. Rylan and Asher both had fun pulling his string and I was so nervous it was going to get broken. I tried to let them have fun, though!
Rylan's age group got some fun twirly toys, also from Rome. They even light up! Lots of time has been spent playing with this toy. They took them out in dark backyard and flew them up in the sky. They really are pretty fun! I'm pretty sure Lauren was wearing this cowboy hat and Rylan took it from her. He wore it the rest of the night and had fun running from Lauren and trying to tease her...little stinker! But he sure makes a cute cowboy :)


The boys of the family were presented with aprons and a bar of swiss chocolate! They each got to pick out their apron...Kevin chose my favorite--Formaggio--YUM! The boys each put on their aprons and walked the catwalk showing their stuff. I think I was laughing too hard to get a picture of Kev--darn!

The girls were given scarves which I LOVE! I can't wait to wear mine out on the town :)

It was a really fun night and we're excited to have the parents at ALL our family dinners! Thanks for the souvenirs :)

Welcome Home!

Kevin's parents (my fantastic in-laws!) returned home from their mission in Geneva, Switzerland. They left in October of 2008 (just weeks before Asher was born) and after an invited extension they are now back home in Utah! We've missed them the last 23 months but we know the work they did in Switzerland was important...and they had a wonderful time! We were able to read their daily doings through a Doyle family blog and they were able to keep up with all of us through the blog as well. Technology really can bridge the gap across the world! Something cool...while Kevin and I were on vacation, I mean, living in Belgium, we had a family in our ward, the Kimballs. Sister Kimball was the Young Women's President and I was the secretary and they had a daughter (Kristin) in YW. We loved them dearly but lost contact over the years. Who would have thought they ended up moving to Switzerland where they would meet my in-laws? Crazy and fun! Anyways, they had a great time serving their mission in Geneva. Quite possibly the dream mission for them!

So, for the welcoming home...Elder and Sister Doyle's flight was scheduled to arrive just before 8:00pm on Labor Day. It was also Andy's birthday. So we all met up at Andy's house. I stopped at Little Caesar's on the way so we could all dine on pizza. Angie brought a salad (with some fresh garden veggies--yum!) and Steph brought a birthday cake so we could sing to Andy. It was a fun pre-party before the real party! Some of the kiddos and siblings made 'Welcome Home' signs while we all anticipated the time to leave for the airport.

The folks were told (by someone other than me...I wouldn't lie like this :)!!) that Matt would pick them up and the rest of us would welcome them at their house. We all were there at the airport waiting and appreciated the info from other passengers--"They're coming!" "They'll be here soon!". We were glad to know they were off the plane and on their way. As they rounded the corner Kevin rolled out a small red carpet and some grandkids ran right up to greet them. They were surprised! When they got some space they walked down the red carpet and started giving and receiving lots and lots of hugs and smiles. There was a first meeting with Asher and Nixon, but really, I'm sure all the grandkids had grown a lot. After we had a few minutes to take pictures and get resituated, we all headed off to their home for more chatting.

Ha Ha! I just love the look on Dennis' face--surprised? shocked? overwhelmed? longing to be back in the peace and quiet of the Geneva, Switzerland mission office?!!!

At home the kids ran crazy and the chatter was constant throughout the entire house. It was a late night but it was a fun night. We're happy to have them back!

Annual Doyle Girls Weekend!!

Every year the Doyle girls get together for an over-nighter. This year we stayed at a hotel in Sandy, which is where we met up to get the party started.

Our first activity was to get pedicures.

Steph made reservations for us months ago at the Elase Academy and she got us a great deal. Half of us had a great experience, half of us had a less than great experience. My girl was fantastic and I would certainly go back and have her give me another pedi! We had some stories to talk about after we left... such as, knowing the wax was extremely hot, too hot in fact, they went ahead and asked us to dip our feet in. Heidi went first and wasn't shy to say it was too hot. They're solution? Just do it again and dip your foot really fast! Well, okay then! Poor Steph had a girl that spoke little english and dumped the wax on Steph's shoes, camera, bag, and any other possession Steph had there. Sad. But of course she had a positive attitude and spent the rest of the weekend scraping wax off her things.

After our pedis we stopped at John and Aubrey's house to get swimsuits for those who forgot and to pick up Ashley. Then off we went to Park City for dinner and shopping. Dinner was mexican at Loco Lizard. The chips and salsa were fantastic. Some of the best I've had. My dinner was nasty. I had a beef plate that smelled like vomit so I pushed it aside and was grateful for the yummy chips and salsa!
After dinner we headed over to the outlet mall to go shopping. We were short on time so we were quick in each store. I think everyone bought at least one thing. I went looking for accessories and shoes but left with a shirt and some workout clothes!
When we were finally kicked out of Down East (where Angie got a super cute bracelet that I loved and Heidi loathed) we loaded back into the van for a drive back to Sandy. We figured we'd better stop at Target to get some breakfast food since we would be leaving the hotel before they served breakfast. We all got out of the van only to find that Target had closed about 2 minutes before we arrived. So off to Smiths. Heidi was excited to stop at Arby's for a chocolate shake and that sounded good to me, too. We pulled up, Mary (our chauffer for the weekend) ordered for us, and we were told their shake machine wasn't working. Heidi yells "just peel out Mary!" Through all the laughter Mary kindly told the guy we weren't ordering anything and off we went for shakes at McDonald's.

Back at the hotel we started 'Sherlock Holmes' and within 15 minutes we had all gone to bed.

We had an early morning. We woke up around 6:00 I think, which is way earlier than I get up when I'm home with kids! But we had places to be so that's that.

We all got ready to go run the Race for the Cure 5k in Salt Lake. Steph is a strong breast cancer survivor so we all ran in celebration of her! Kevin has run the race with Ry the past 3 years and he wasn't about to miss it this year. He met up with us at the starting line and I was happy to see him and my two boys. About this time I started to feel nauseous, though. I was getting light headed and didn't think I'd be able to run 3 miles. With such a swarm of people it's not really a 'race' so I knew we'd be taking it slow...which was good since I felt so sick, but bad because I just wanted to finish and be by a toilet! But the race began and off we went--a little walk at first and then Kevin led the way pushing the boys in the stroller. We all followed behind him, weaving in and out of groups of people. He had no fear and cut people off all over the place. Surprisingly only a couple people were bumped or clipped. We all were laughing at his weaving and having a good time. Lucky for me there was a hotel about a half mile before the finish line. I ran in and quickly found the bathroom (as well as a line) while Kev waited and the other girls ran on. We met up with them after the race. Steph grouped with other survivors for their parade and we all chatted. Ashely ended up leaving with Andy because she was sick as well, and come to find out, Steph was sick, too! Ugh! Was it the Mexican food? It had to have been related.

The finish line--They made it!!

The Survivor's Parade--see Steph peeking through?!

I love this guy :)

Kev was sportin' a Xango sweat band but both the boys were on board with the "Breast Friends" groupies :)

Anyways, after a very long wait Kev decided it was time to go (spend the rest of the day at John's). The girls went back to the hotel to get showered (but Heidi went home). We stopped at a bake sale of Mary's friend and then went to lunch at Zupas...one of our favorites! After a delicious lunch and a great long conversation we were all feeling a bit tired and decided to call it a weekend. Kev was still at John's house so I came home to an empty house. When they got home, Rylan was sleeping and Asher was so excited to see me! We briefly cuddled on the couch and enjoyed being back home together :)

I'm excited for next year, girls!! (and Mary Kaye will be back with us!!)

Doyle Style Christmas

This year we celebrated Christmas with the Doyle fam at Mark and Angie's house...and it was perfect! Our party was on the 23rd, we had the traditional fondu for dinner, read the Bible story, sang Christmas carols, exchanged gifts, talked, laughed, and had a seriously good time.

Doesn't every round of Christmas carols need some sort of air guitar?



Matt gave us a spiritual Christmas thought from the Book of Mormon and then we read passed around the Bible to read the story of Christ's birth.
Even the kids joined in, and really, is this not one of the best pictures ever??!!
Asher had lots of fun ripping the wrapping paper off of his gift from Adam.
A blanket!! Adam picked out the material himself and seriously, Asher loves it. He points to the dogs and say "duh....duh...". Funny!


Rylan tried to say thank you to Oliver by hugging him. It was not appreciated!!

John gave Kevin a BYU sweatshirt and this super cool soccer player sculpture he made out of paper clips. Awesome!! Angie gave me a set of stainless steel mixing bowls which I've been wanting for a long time but never felt like spending the money on 'em. And I love 'em!!

Poor Gabe. Good thing he's so cute :)
Rylan, as well as a good portion of all the other kids, loved this mini tramp. I'm pretty sure it was constantly in use. I was even tempted to try it out!

Lights at Temple Square

We bundled up the boys and headed to Temple Square to meet up with Kevin's fam and see the Christmas Lights. I had a sudden fear when we first drove by the temple and there were no lights on. But when we met up with everyone else I learned that the lights aren't turned on till 6:15pm-whew!
We brought donuts and the Vostis brought hot cocoa in a big thermos. Matt's family also had donuts, but left them at their house. About halfway through our walk around the temple the hot cocoa came out. We drank to our heart's content (delicious!) and then suddenly after our brief brake, the majority of people were ready to go home. Dallin was the smart one who told me that really, everyone came for the donuts and hot cocoa; the lights were just a bonus. So off we went to Matt and Mary's house to dine on donuts, sing Christmas carols, play, chat, and laugh. This was where Rylan played with a race track and decided that that car transporter he'd been asking for for months was a thing of the past. From that night on he insisted he wanted a race track for Christmas and not a car transporter. Great...now what? Well, the lucky kid got both. Kevin's a sucker for toys that even he can have fun with!







It was such a fun night! Somehow we didn't even get a picture of the temple, so I guess we'll have to go again next year :)