Christas Party 2008

Christmas 2008

We had a great Christmas season. Any time we were not sleeping and going to bed early, we watched some Christmas movies and read stories and just did things together as a family. What we thought was going to be a very simple Christmas turned out to be very nice. Our family was blessed to have experianced several Christmas miricles this season and really emphazised the true meaning of Christmas.

The gift Tyler was most excited for was a mummy sleeping bag so that he could go camping in the winter.

Brieanna's was the Cheata's One World movie We have also had the most fun with a couple of wii games that we all got.

And then we can't forget Kynleigh who was just happy to be there.

Here are the two boys in their new PJ's

Our family Christmas party was held at Travis's home this year and was a blast as usual anytime the Doman's get together. Just a side note, this is a picture of a gift that Becky made for Wendy using all the grandchildren. I thought it turned out so cute.

Brieanna's Choir Concert

At our elementary school if you are in 4th thru 6th grades, you are welcome to join the school choir. Brieanna was extremely excited and immediately signed up. I am not sure where she gets her enthusiasm for singing as Troy and I can't sing if our lives depended on it. Although I always teas that I can't wait till the Resurrection and then I will be able to sing on key because I really do like to sing, it is just that no one around me wants me to sing. She had practice before school a couple times a week and didn't even mind having to get up a little earlier. I would often times catch her directing music from the radio imitating her music teacher. She also practiced non stop at home. She had a CD of songs that she even downloaded onto her iPod and then played on the CD player in the kitchen any chance she could. I am proud of her for really giving it her all. She is a sweet little girl who is quickly growing into a young lady.

Grandpa Doman's Bday Party

On December 6th, we drove up to Idaho Falls to meet at Chuck-a-Rama for a birthday party for Grandpa Doman. Pretty much all of the Doman side of the family was there and it was fun to visit as we have not made the trip up there for quite some time. This is the first time that they have seen Kynleigh and it is kind of sad that grandpa may not even remember her. Alan had everyone stand up and share a memory that they had with Grandpa. It was very touching to hear and be reminded what an amazing man and example he is to us all. He truly exemplified the Savior in all he did in his life.

On the slide show below I intrusted my camera to Collin and he was quite the photographer (you will notice that most of the pictures are of the little cousins)

Here is what Troy wrote and shared.

Some of my most favorite memories with Grandpa Doman are the many different opportunities I had to sit next to him out in his shop and hand him tools or put more firewood in the stove or other various tasks. Sometimes I would just sit there want watch. I liked it when he was welding, that was my most favorite thing.
I also remember getting in his truck and just driving down the road and talking. We would talk about tractors and other farm equipment. He would always tell me that "they don't make them like they used too" In fact I remember one time Grandpa and Grandma Doman were in the van with dad and mom and all the kids. We were just driving down an old country road when all of a sudden Grandpa Doman told my dad to stop the Van....he thought he saw something. We stopped the van and Grandpa walked out into this field about 25 yards off the road and stopped in front of this really old truck that had a big flat bed. He looked at it for about 5 minutes and then he turned to the rest of the family (we followed him out of the van) and said " I used to own this and I sold it about 30 years ago to old such and such" I can't believe I recognized it.....we all couldn't believe he recognized it. It was really cool to see Grandpas eyes light up and we took a bunch of pictures of him standing on the running boards.
Another memory I have of Grandpa is when Caryn and I were just married we used to try and find any reason we could to drive up to Idaho Falls and just hang out with family and visit. One time we went up to see him and grandma just right after Tyler had burned his hands. Tyler’s hands were wrapped really well in gauze and so you couldn't see what his hands looked like. We had lots of pictures though and so we all gathered around the kitchen table and pulled out the pictures. Grandpa took Tyler and held him in his lap and started to look at the pictures. He could see the scared hands and the horrible blisters that had to be cut off and all the skin that had been burned so badly it was a pure white color. He then just took Tyler’s hands and put then next to his face and wept. I'll never forget how he seemed to communicate to Tyler how sorry he was that Tyler had that happen to him. You got the feeling that Grandpa would have done anything in his power to have taken that pain away. It is the greatest showing of compassion I have ever seen someone show.

Of course I have a million more memories I could share but these are the ones that stick out.

Grandpa Doman B-Day

Thanksgiving 2008

This year we had Thanksgiving at Emma’s house. Emma had this game thing that was the hit of the day. It is 2 paddles that you try to hold onto without letting go as it shocks you harder and harder till you beat the game. To me it was not that much fun playing the game, but I had a blast watching it done.
I will put some various photos of some of the guys doing it on a slide show and then a couple videos. I hope you enjoy.

The turkey was beyond delicious. Emma soaked it in apple juice the night before and then stuffed it with oranges, lemons and grapefruit. (I could really have my fruit mixed up but the point is that it was great) The turkey was SO MOIST that you could not even transfer it to do the carving without it falling apart off the bones.

Here is a picture of Brian’s masterpiece.

At the table, we all went around and said what we are grateful for and it was a tender moment and some tears were shed, might I add by others besides me, but including me. I am grateful to have married into such a wonderful family and one that is so CRAZY!

South Carolina Trip Slidshow

South Carolina Trip

My sister Jeanne just moved back to the states from Puerto Rico and Laura and her family is moving from Georgia to Germany a couple days after Thanksgiving. We thought it would be nice if we could all get together one last time before Laura moves. My brother Jeremy lives on the border of North Carolina and South Carolina and is the only one out there with a big enough house to accommodate all of us and he and his wife Courtney were kind enough to have ALL of us at their house for 2 nights. (On a side note, if I could ever have my dream kitchen, it would he pretty much like Jeremy’s kitchen)

My mom bought me a plane ticket and Kynleigh flew into Atlanta. I was a little worried about the flight with Kynleigh. So many people stopped me at the airport and told me how beautiful and cute and adorable etc she was. I just smiled and said lets just hope you still think so AFTER the flight is over. (Troy said I had karma on my side as he sat by a screaming child on our red eye to Atlanta the year before when we when out to pick up 2 cars for his work.) Well Kynleigh was an angel and ate as we took off and then slept the WHOLE flight and then I woke her up to eat as we landed. This happened both ways so I am truly grateful for such a good baby.

I wish I had a picture of me and my mom trying to get all of our things into her car at the airport. She has a 2 door (yes a 2 door car) and we had all of her things for the 4 day trip, all of mine and Kynleigh’s things, the car seat, stroller and then gifts and so forth from Laura. We had to put everything in and out several times before we finally got it all to fit it was ridiculously funny (NOT, although we did laugh a lot at ourselves).

I had such a great time with everyone and enjoyed getting to know Courtney as the only time I have met her is at my stepdads funeral. My poor brother Jeremy was so sick most of the time but he was a trooper and stayed up playing cops and robbers with us till about 1 or 2 in the morning.


Kynleigh decided to puke on my night shirt the first night at Jeanne’s (because she never pukes) The next day we were leaving to go to Jeremy’s house so I asked Jeanne to bring an extra t-shirt. Being the jokester that she is, she thought it would be funny to bring a Florida Gators shirt for me to wear. Yes you heard me right, my number one enemy team. Somehow Chris has brainwashed her into liking the GATORS instead of Florida State Seminoles (Go Noles) why she gave in I will never understand, she even lived in Tallahassee for a couple of years. Well when I came out of the bathroom that night everyone was laughing but me, they thought it was just so funny, well it kind of was, I even laughed because even I thought that was a good joke.

One thing about being with family is that you never get any sleep. We stayed up so late every night and the later we stayed up the sillier we all got. Here is a video of us when we were playing Cops and Robbers and everyone started doing these funny dances. I think we thought they were sillier than they are just because we were so tired.

Jeanne was always at the center of all the fun. Here is a video of most of the cousins chasing their Aunt Jeanne.

Picture of all us siblings with my mom

Things we are grateful for

I thought that this Thanksgiving season, we would take a few minutes to write down some of the things that we are grateful for. I know that we could never get to all of them, but it is a start of realizing some of the things we do have and enjoy in our lives. I did not help the kids with their lists, I wanted to see what they came up with on their own and I am pretty proud of them. On a side note, theses are not listed in any kind of order.

Brieanna
Freedom, family, home, food, shelter, school, Kynleigh, sports, technology, friends, God, computers, electricity, beds, sun, Holidays, voices, military, USA, hard times, bodies, clothes, world, dogs, animals, hospitals, church,

Tyler
Freedom, family, home, food, shelter, school, Kynleigh, Jasper, technology, soccer, outdoors, music, friends, sports, cars, Mt Dew, clothes, blankets, pillows, mattresses, hats, snowboarding, parks, religion, Christmas, trees, doctors, guns, knives, camping, tents, fire, beagles, German Sheppard, fire alarms, rooms, stuffed animals, babies, parents, church, young mens, boy scouts, fake trees, air conditioning, heaters, football teams, TV, Hi Def, clean air, couches, hair,

Caryn & Troy
Troy, Caryn, Tyler, Brieanna, Kynleigh, family, Jesus Christ, testimony, revelation, Holy Ghost, home, clothes, chocolate, air conditioner, heaters, sun, snow, doctors, libraries, cars, cell phones, IPods, rainbows, flowers, shoes, eyes, ears, smell of fresh baked bread, computers, smiles from my kids, Troy’s job, insurance, friends, air plains, holidays, TV, TiVo, swimming pools, Lagoon, temples, church callings, freedom, military men & women, President Monson, hot water, Sunday naps, butter, shoes, blogging, disposable diapers, electricity, prayer, scriptures, flushing toilets, Wii, Dr. Pepper, ice cream, fire place, Twilight books, kisses, Wal-Mart, medicine, PJ’s,

Caryn and Kynleigh are on a Trip

I want to take a moment and pay tribute (Thanksgiving) to my wonderful wife. She and Kynleigh left for South Carolina on Friday and I have learned more and more each day how much I appreciate her and miss her. Thank goodness they come home tonight!!!! I have compiled a list of things I missed while she and my youngest were gone:

Good meal
Clean house
Help kids with homework
Do Brieannas hairdo
Drive kids to school
Pick kids up from school
Take Brieanna to school early for Choir practice
Take Tyler to school early for Orchestra practice
Take Tyler and all his friends to the skate park
Take Tyler to Scoccer game



But most of all I miss her warm, soft companionship that keeps me even keel and reminds me each day of the marriage covenants we made 14+ years ago.



p.s. I really miss Kynleigh because she is the only member of the family that will watch football with me all day Saturday. She is a bif football fan :)

Our blog

Okay, I have posted a LOT of things the last couple of days. They are not necessarily in chronological order, but hopefully you enjoy knowing what we have been up to this last month. I am sorry that I have not had the time to keep our blog more current. We love you all and hope all is well with you and your families.

Pumpkin Patch

The kids came home from school with a pass for a hay ride and a pumpkin from a local nursery. It was a beautiful day and we had a fun time. Of course when we got on the trailer, Kynleigh wanted to eat and so here Brieanna and I are trying to dump the formula in the bottle as the trailer is bouncing up and down. The relatively large opening in the bottle became very small at that moment. Water and formula were spilling everywhere, all over me, the baby, the blanket and anything around us. We were all a sticky mess. The driver noticed and stopped the ride long enough for us to finish. I really appreciated it, even though it was kind of embarrassing. Tyler and Brieanna found two good looking pumpkins that we brought home to add to the HUGE pumpkins from our garden.

Kynleigh's Blessing Day

November 9th was also a special day for Kynleigh. She was blessed during our sacrament meeting. Troy gave a beautiful blessing which touch everyones hearts that were there. We were also blessed to enjoy the day with many of Troys family and friends (Tony and Zoe drove all the way up here to be with us).

We are blessed with a very talented seamstress in our family. Willa made Kynleigh's dress which turned out beautiful. I won't lie, we were a little worried that by the time we blessed her, the dress would not fit, but I was able to button all the buttons and it fit great.

Brieanna's Birthday Party

Even though Brieanna had her birthday in September, we waited to celebrate it with her friends till October 24th when High School Musical 3 came out. We had 4 friends come over for cake and ice cream and next thing I knew the girls were all having a cake eating contest. I am pretty sure that Abbie won, but they all had so much fun being silly friends.

After we got everyone cleaned up, we headed to the theater for the big event. Try to imagine the whole theater packed with nothing but moms and tons of girls, most having some kind of party. Many of the girls and even moms had on shirts they made for the big occasion. Troy and Tyler were on a scout camp out so Kynleigh was invited to go with us. She was asleep when we got there and luckily enough she actually stayed asleep even through all the screaming. Every time Troy Bolton came on the screen they whole theater when up in a roar, it was hilarious. Boy am I grateful we are a noisy family so she is able to practically sleep through anything. The movie was really good. We all really enjoyed it, I laughed and yes, I even cried 2 times. I know I am pathetic.

Real Game

Most of you know how much we LOVE to go to the Salt Lake Real Games. One of the perks of volunteering with AYSO is that we often get free tickets. This time it was even more special because it was the last game of the season and it was in the new stadium that they just finished. We had a blast and Kynleigh slept through the whole thing. Every time we scored everyone around us threw streamers up in the air and then many people had bags of confetti that they threw up as well. (we know what we have to bring to the games next year) We were sitting close to a group of people that were completely wasted. I have to admit they were at times more entertaining than the game. They had their cow bells and a big Real flag. They definitely kept the team spirit up on our end of the stadium. We can't wait till next year - GO REAL!!!

Tyler is 12 years old!!!

Sunday November 9th was a special day in the Doman family. Tyler turned 12 and was ordained a deacon. I can't believe that my baby is 12. I am scared to even blink right now in fear when I open my eyes he will be graduating and going on his mission. It was a great blessing and ordination. Our new bishop had me bear my testimony which I was NOT prepared to do. I wish I would have had a little time to think things through in my mind, but of course I cried like I always do and of course after I was done I thought of all kinds of things I should have said. The main advise I gave Tyler was to always look to the prophet for an example. If the prophet is doing it, then it is okay for him to do it. That goes for the way he dresses at church. Tyler hates wearing a tie, like most men and boys and he also rolls his sleeves up past his elbows which I think it looks horrible and you would think I was killing him to make him leave them down for this special day.

He had a good birthday though. On Saturday he and Troy went to the BYU football game. A friend of Troy's that has season passes always seemed to have extra tickets this year and so it worked out that there was a game the day before Tyler's birthday. On Monday, I checked Tyler out of school and took him to lunch and shopping for some clothes. We had a good time together that we normally don't get with just the 2 of us.

On Wednesday Tyler went to the Ogden temple with us to do baptisms for the dead for the first time. We went with the Unsickers and Tyler thoroughly enjoyed himself and thought it was pretty neat.

Halloween

Cute little Spider

This Halloween was a special one for the Doman family. It was Tylers last time going trick or treating (because he turned 12) and it was Kynliegh's first time going trick or treating.

Tyler and his friend James went dressed as some kind of chain saw massacre, Tyler without the chain saw though. Brieanna went dressed as a sick girl which ironically enough that night she was up all night throwing up so it fit the occasion. Kynleigh was dressed as a zebra, the cutest zebra there ever was might I add.

This year it was very mild in the upper 60's during the day and so I was able to actually take Kynleigh out to a couple of houses. Then she sat on the front porch with Troy for a while passing out candy and showing off her cuteness while I went around for a while with Tyler. Brieanna whet with a friend to the mall thinking that she would be back in time to go around our neighborhood as well but did not come home till it was too late so even though she had fun and go lots of candy she was kind-of bummed out.

Proof of Life

Hello everyone....The Doman family is still alive...just not finding a lot of free time to Blog.Anyway....we are blessing Kynleigh on Sunday at 1:00 pm and ordaining Tyler to the office of a Deacon. It's going to be a lot of fun and a very spiritual day. Everyone is invited to attend and we hope to see everyone. You can even come over afterwards and we will feed you.

Brieanna is playing soccer

Okay, I know most of you who know "the Brieanna" that complains every time we have to go to one of Tyler's games or practices and proclaims that she hates soccer will think I have made a mistake in my title.

She has mentioned recently that she would like to play soccer. I have just smiled and said okay we will see what we can do, or keep thinking about it. When she has asked a couple of times, I began to think, maybe I should take her a little more serious. I have come to discover that she was in fact serious and I began to see if there was any openings in her age group. Since I volunteer MANY hours with the AYSO organization (American Youth Soccer Organization) it was quite easy to get her signed up.

Thanks to her Nana in Georgia and her birthday money from Grandma Marie Great she was able to buy soccer shoes, shin guards, and a soccer ball (all of which are pink).

Tyler has been in heaven this week. All he has ever wanted was to have a sister play. While I was pregnant, he would say that this sister will play soccer if it is that last thing he does, so again he is in heaven that Brieanna has FINALLY decided to play. He has been out almost everyday with her teaching her how to dribble, pass, do throw ins etc. Brieanna even took a soccer ball on our walk yesterday and kicked it around the neighborhood.

She will play in the U10 division and her first game should have been today, but if you are familiar with Utah's weather, it is always bad weather on conference weekend. So she will have a practice on Tuesday and her first game should be next Saturday. Her uniforms are lime green and the team name is the Sour Apples.

Tyler's new interest

Tyler came home from school very excited one day and announced that he wanted to join the orchestra. I won't lie, I was a little socked at first, but excited that he is branching out and doing something besides sports (not that sports are bad, just good to have a little variety) He picked the Cello to play. This is a program offered to 6th graders to prepare them for Jr. High. They meet on Monday's during school and then on Friday's before school. He is using one of the schools instruments and brought it home Friday. I felt kind of bad that he had to walk all the way home with it because I had 2 little daycare kids that day and couldn't leave to pick him up. It has been fun to see him play it (mainly making noise with it) and it will be fun to see him learn over the next year.

Brieanna's 10th Birthday

On Tuesday Brieanna turned 10 years old. We got up a few minutes early so she could open her presents. She got the movie Camp Rock (If you watch the Disney channel you will know about this movie, if not, you are defiantly missing out:)) She also got a Broncos pink and white jersey/shirt. Since we are such a football and sports family, (I am not really including ME in the football part of that family, but in the soccer and other sports, sorry) the kids have picked a favorite team which makes it a little bit funner to watch and follow that team. Brieanna has picked the Broncos. So she was very excited about that shirt and wore it to school that day.

I also wanted to make this day fun for her and decided to surprise her by checking her out of school and taking her to lunch. We had a fun time together and she will never complain about missing any part of school.

She has decided for her "party" we are waiting till October 24th when High School Musical 3 comes out to the movie theater and taking a few friends to see it. Troy and Tyler will be on a scout camp so it will just be a girls night out. She is excited and has it all marked on the calendar.

New Cousin

Leslie and I were due the same day, we thought that was kind of cool. Tristan Charles came to our family just 2 weeks after Kynleigh was born. I know they knew each other before they came down here to earth and we are excited for them to be best of friends. Here is a picture of the 2 of them and look at those 2 proud dads.

Here is the one and only proud Grandma PG!

Grandma PG is obsessed with FEET. So she had to get some pictures of the babies feet which is not the easiest thing to get when babies move constantly.

And last but not least, the 2 dads doing their Football Heisman Pose (these little babies don't stand a chance huh?)

Kynleigh is 3 weeks old

I guess I can say this over and over again with Kynleigh just as I am saying it with Tyler and Brieanna now but I really don't know where the time goes.

Kynleigh just keeps getting cuter and cuter each day.


Here are some pictures of some of her funny expressions. Notice how her feet are always flexed out, even when she seems to be relaxed.
I wish I could get them all as she makes us laugh. Many of her mannerisms and expressions remind us of Tyler but she definitely has some of Brieanna in her as well.

This picture I couldn't resist. Tyler's hands were ALWAYS up around his face and so are Kynleighs and then look at her mouth, wide open when she sleeps, just like her big sister.