Carlile 2012 Farewell Tour

On the off chance that the Mayan Calendar is correct, we thought we should fill you in on our 2012 events.

Trevor has made the most out of his 17^th year. Baseball took his high school team to Memphis, TN this spring, and with it, their 1^st ever spring tournament championship. He spends as much time as he can, chasing a little white ball (golfing), not to mention all the girls. Socializing is his middle nameJ

Tye didn't realize that turning 21 and becoming an adult meant taking on some new responsibilities. In July, he and Lauren welcomed Braylon to our family. He was promoted to Assistant Manager at the theater, as well as continuing his studies in the engineering dept. at the U, and getting ready for a wedding.

Brittany, Jacob and Spencer continue to enjoy their home and jobs in Ogden. They are excited to be adding, what they think is a little girl, in February. Spencer is an overly “helpful” 2 ½ year old, but will make a great big brother. We look forward to the times we get to have them come and stay with us.

Marc and Janaye continue the SSDD (same stuff, different day). We took Trev, Britt, Jacob and Spencer on a Disney cruise in October. Tye and family weren't able to come due to school, so we “owe” them one (oh darn)! We also enjoyed other trips to Disneyland, CA (our family had never been), Memphis & Nashville, TN, and Jeremy Ranch. On a sad note, the sunbird was finally put out of its (our) misery, but it gave us 25 years of good use.

We hope you all have a great last few days of existence…

And a Merry Christmas too (if we aren't all Zombies)

Love,

The Carliles

Marc, Janaye and Family

Bears don't live by houses...That just makes me laugh to even say it:)

     While that title makes no sense to most, it is those types of statements that keep things interesting at our house. Just so you know, if your house faces south from every side and you look out the window and see a bear, it is probably white.
     So I have started and saved multiple posts over the last year, just never quite finishing them and thinking I will get to it again later. One of the funny things I have found is that by the end of the year, all my posts are pretty much what I put into my family Christmas letter. So here I am thinking whether or not to write anything, or just wait till Christmas? Well, I guess I can go into more detail now, and just summarize later for the letter.
Where to begin....
     In reference to the title, Trevor was given a brain teaser by his baseball coach. Overall he did fine, but this particular question had him puzzled. He wrote his answer, and subsequently the all the coaches found out  and thought it was hilarious. These are the things I need to do better at putting into writing so I will remember how funny it was, and to also have something more than life events to write about.
     You would have never guessed with our ability to travel that we had never taken our kids to DisneyLAND. Yes, we have been to Disney World multiple times, but never Disneyland. So this January we hopped on a plane and spent almost a week in CA. We went just a couple of days though since the park was so busy from the Rose Bowl fans and locals who were still out of school. We went down to the Hollywood walk of fame and to the beach. Marcs family was also there, and we hung with them a lot too. We got to take Brittany and Spencer with us as well while Jacob was out of town for work. Tye even made the trip down for a couple of days before the new semester started. He had to leave early to get back to work and go be with his "sick" girlfriend.
     I guess you could say she wasn't really "sick," except in the morning...So as we got off the plane from LAX to SLC, Tye called me (Mom), to inform me that Lauren was pregnant. My first response was "by you?" It wasn't intended to be mean, but I was trying to not let all the family around me know what he was saying and also, if you know anything about their relationship, they just didn't spend all that much time together. Apparently the time they did spend was put to good use?...(or as I said, conjugal visits) It was my birthday that weekend, and I didn't want to ruin it by telling everybody and having the yell fest/lecture that was sure to be had by Marc. Shockingly, Marc ended up not yelling all that much when I did tell him, but the lectures have been pretty much nonstop. ( of course, they always were happening before anyway) This isn't the life you have envisioned for your kids, "when you have already been there and done that," but at least we knew that it could all turn out OK.
     Moving forward, Trevor was once again playing on the high school baseball team. We got to all take a fun spring training trip to Memphis, TN. We, of course, toured Graceland while we were there. The varsity team actually won the tournament. Some of the fields we played on were like college fields, they were awesome. One of the teams they played was the same school from Blindside. After the tournament was over, we headed into Nashville for a couple of days to see the sights. Trevor and Marc have been there already a couple of times to see the Titans play, but I have not. We went over to where the Grande Ole Opry is, but because it was Easter Sunday it was closed. We got to see the Vanderbilt fields and all of downtown.  Once we returned to SLC, the boys took region. We fell short in the state championships, but it was a great season. 2 of our boys were being highly recruited by the pros, and we always had scouts at the games to watch them. (Brady was drafted and is now playing for the Yankees) Trevor had a pretty good season of baseball on the sophomore and JV teams. He has pretty much moved into only playing 1st base and not pitching anymore. They played a summer league, but no travelling for tournaments. This fall they had qualified for a tournament in Vegas, so after not picking up a bat or ball for 3 months (because of golf) we got to go play 4 games. I was so happy to see Trevor perform so well after his down time, he even turned a TRIPLE play. (L3-U3-6, which means a line drive hit to and caught,out 1, by Trev, he then touched first base,out 2, and then threw it to shortstop at 2nd base for out #3)  
     In June, as soon as school was out, we headed up to Jeremy Ranch with Marcs family for a little close to home getaway. Trev enjoyed all the golf courses up that way with a friend he brought with, while we mostly just relaxed and swam at the pool. Britt and Spencer came up a few days before Jacob was able to, but even Tye and Lauren came up for a couple of days. Lauren was almost 7 months pregnant, and was starting to have a few contractions. Shortly after, her Dr. put her on bed rest hoping she could at least get to 34 weeks or more. We had a fun baby shower for her, but she had to be careful since she wasn't supposed to be out of bed except for potty, shower and eating.
    Phew, she made it to 37 weeks exactly. Now they didn't (couldn't) stop her when her water broke. She was admitted on July 20th, but Braylon didn't make his debut until 3:17am on July 21,2012. He weighed in at 6 lbs 2 oz and 19.5 in. long. Not too bad for 3 weeks early. (Just as a side note, there was a horrible mass shooting at a theater in Colorado at the opening of Batman on July 20, so we were happy that he waited so his birthday won't be the anniversary of that tragedy.)
     All things baby related... Britt found out that she is having baby #2 in early February. So far, all indications are that it will be a baby girl.  Britt is at 26 weeks. Braylon is now 3 months old and growing so fast. He weighs in at a whopping 13 lbs 9 oz and 24 in long. We love having him around. He is usually very good natured and a good sleeper. My sister Janessa had a baby girl, Brecklyn, just 2 weeks after Braylon. I am pretty sure they look 2 months, not 2 weeks apart. In December, my other sister will be adding #5 to their family in New Zealand. They think it is a girl as well. We are hoping that they will still be able to come over next summer as planned so we can all see the new addition.
     So back to everything else, possibly in no particular order. Trev killed the Sunbird just before we went to Disneyland ( we didn't know it was actually dead till we came home. Wasn't January a fun month...?) It took 3 months for Marc to decide he could part with it, and that was only partly because my dad won a car at our baseball raffle and we bought it from him for Trev to drive. Trev made the golf team again this year. He is now a Junior at BHS and is taking some hard college courses. Tye is a pretty good dad to Braylon. He was just promoted to Assistant Manager at the theater and is still going to school at the U.
     Just a few weeks ago we took Trevor, Brittany, Jacob and Spencer to Orlando for a Disney cruise or "Mickey Boat" as Spencer called it. We had a blast, but also were sad that Tye, Lauren and Braylon weren't able to join us. We are planning a family trip for Christmas, and hopefully everyone will be able to go.
     Hopefully I will get better about updating this blog, but don't count on it, cuz playing with grandkids is much more fun.  Maybe when I have some more time I will add some pictures too.

   
   

Carlile 2011

Wow! It seems the holidays come more quickly each year. So much for a stress free season, I guess I had better get writing and wrapping so that Santa can visit.

Trevor has been a busy boy this year. In March, he made the BHS Baseball team. He got to spend a fun 10 day spring training trip to California, and then came home to finish league play and take the State title. Summer was filled with a baseball trip to Omaha and lots of golf. Then in August he made the BHS golf team, and got his drivers license. He is also in the Ping Pong club. He went on his first date to Homecoming in September. His freedom to drive means as much time away from home as possible.

Tye has remained busy with his Engineering studies at the U. He has a bit less than 2 years left to graduate. This summer he was promoted to a supervisor position at work and also started full time. He is still dating Lauren and says they are engaged, but no date has been set. We still enjoy having him live at home for now.

Brittany graduated from the Nursing program at Weber State this spring. She is still looking for a job that is conducive to being home with Spencer. Jacob has a new position at work, but is still doing a lot of the same things. When he has travelled, we have gotten to enjoy Britt and Spencer coming to stay with us. Spencer turned 1 in May. He is running around and has really started to talk a lot. He is a bit of a monkey and loves to climb.

Marc is still flying for Delta, but is now in an International category of flying. He’s gotten to go to Amsterdam, Zurich, Paris, Aruba and Hawaii. He can’t wait till he gets to go to Asia. Janaye finally has the time to do whatever she wants. No more team mom duties, ( gets to be a fan in the stands with everyone else) no more chauffeur, and best of all loves being Grandma. After 20ish years of marriage, we actually took 2 trips this year, just Janaye and Marc.

Happy Holidays

The Carliles,

Marc, Janaye

& Family

Its a great day to be a....

MINER!
Trevor made the Bingham high baseball team in March. It is a whole new experience for playing baseball. No more 40+ game seasons. 37 other guys fighting for playing time. And being the rookie. They only play about 15ish Sophomore games, and about 20ish JV games. He usually got to play in the Soph. games (either hitting, defensively or both) and saw a few at bats for JV.
For their spring training trip, the team rode a bus to California for 10 days. (With a stopover in Vegas on the way there and back) The Varsity team played in the Hard 9, and took 6th out of 16 teams. The Soph team went 3-1, and saw some pretty good teams.Opening ceremonies for the tournament was a lot of fun. Domingo came and hit lots of home runs (he is a Youtube sensation that the boys love). They even got some pictures with him.
The boys got to go to 1 college game (UCLA vs. Arizona) and 3 MLB games (2 Dodgers vs. Braves and 1 Angels vs. Red Sox- and yes the Sox won, YAY for Trev). Marc and I went to the first Dodgers vs Braves game with them. All I have to say is I am glad we don't live in LA with the traffic and confusing freeways, even with a GPS, getting to Dodger stadium was an adventure I would like to forget.

The boys got to hang out at the beach one day and go to 6 Flags on another day. 5 boys stayed in each hotel room, and boy did it smell like it. They all had fun playing cards and video games during their down times and late at night. Trev seemed to have lots of fun, but was glad to get home and sleep in his own bed, alone!

One of the nights there, Marc and I took a little trip to Newport Beach with Blake and Angie. We also got to see John Hilton a couple of times too. We had lots of fun with the boys and all the parents. We didn't stay the whole time since we had to come home for our next schedule of events...
GRADUATE...

We hurried onto our flight from CA. Friday morning and went straight to Ogden for Brittany's graduation ceremony from Nursing school. She has officially completed her schooling for her RN, she just has to take the state test to be licensed. I am sure she is relieved to have it all done, now she needs to be able to find a job. All she wanted for graduation was a trip to Washington DC. She went there while in high school and saw bits and pieces of lots of things that she really wanted to go back and enjoy. So off her and Jacob went and left little Spencer with us.
GRANDPARENT...

We got to have 6 full days of Spencer. He was so good, I am sure he didn't even miss his parents (hint, hint for him to stay with us again). He is very mobile and tried to get into anything within his reach. He slept through the night and usually a couple of good naps during the day. I tried to teach him to go down the stairs and to say Grandma, but to no avail. We took him to a couple of Trevor's baseball games, but usually it was cold and too long for him to sit still. We had a great time with him, but as I said when we had Lincoln, you forget what time and effort it takes having little ones around.
As you can see in the pic above, Marc is sporting a bit of facial hair. He is currently in the process of qualification training for transoceanic flights. So in the mean time while he is sitting idle, he thought he would grow something he can't normally have. Too bad he can't get it to grow that thick, even with the gray, on the top...JK

What I learned from spending the week with a 1 year old...

There are reasons most people choose to have children when they are young.

I forgot how exhausting the hours are that babies keep.

You don't realize all the muscles you use to hold, carry, lift, swing, throw etc. (that does not include the muscles you have used to use them as exercise equipment, I will be sore tomorrow)

Lincoln loves to brush his teeth, eat noodles, drink chocolate milk, mozzarella sticks, cocoa puffs, chocolate covered marshmallows, chase the kitty, be tickled, eat by himself, his blanket, and my most favorite thing, he loves to be cuddled!

Lincoln does not like cottage cheese, apples with caramel (from McD's), ketchup on fries, lucky charms, oatmeal, to be held by anybody else if he is sad, he will scream (the high pitched kind) if he is mad, but also when he just wants to get your attention.

He sleeps through the night, but does get up earlier than I am ready to be functional for the day.

He only got scratched by the cat 2 times, within minutes of each other. Who goes back for seconds? Luckily Mayo is a bit quicker than Lincoln. Lincoln did grab his tail or a wad of fur, but usually just wanted to pat him. He never even tried to eat the cat food, and really only tried once to play in the water dish.

The only times he opened cupboards or drawers was after I opened one...YAY!

I tried in vain to get him to say my name, Marc, Tye or Trev or even what the kitty says:( He will probably go home and say something totally random.

Everybody was so good with Lincoln, but all the dirty work was left up to me.

It was a fun week, but now it is time to sleep!

Love you Lincoln!

Permitted to have fun...

Wow, I can't believe it has been so long since I last updated this blog. I can't even say that I have been extremely busy. More likely just unmotivated, or lazy. As you can see, it hasn't been without some fun times though.
In August, Trev turned 15 and was immediately off to the DMV to get his learners permit. The test was hard with a bunch of random knowledge questions, but Trev passed it on his first try. He had never actually driven before that day, so when we got home to some safe/quiet roads we got him behind the wheel. 2 months in, and he is doing pretty good, even with the stick shift.

The next week, school started for both boys. Trev is in 9th grade, officially in High School. Tye is now attending the U of U. He drives to the Trax station on school days, and I am not quite sure he enjoys the ride, but it is nice to not have to drive his new car all the way up there. Yes, I did say new car. Finally after years of driving the Sunbird, he has his own KIA Forte.
For labor day weekend we (Brit's family and ours)headed up to Park City for some fun and relaxation. Trev and Marc did the zipline. We shopped at the factory stores. Spencer went for his first swim. The weather was so nice, it was a great weekend.

In mid-September Marc had a layover in Orlando, so Trev and I joined him. We went to Sea World for a couple of hours and then layed out by the pool. Of course getting home from Orlando is never easy, so Trev and I spent an extra night there and came home early the next morning. We missed out on the evacuation and fire on the mountains in Herriman.

The end part of September, Brit had a 2 day school trip to Evanston to work at the State Hospital. She needed someone to watch Spencer, so I decided it would be easiest to go up there with her so that she didn't have to leave him home. I only had to stay the first night and then Jacob came up for the second. There really isn't much to do in Evanston, except go to Wal-Mart, so that is what we did. Spencer is such a happy, well tempered baby.

In early October the Titans were playing the Broncos in Tennessee. Marc had never seen the Broncos play in person and Trev has wanted to go to Nashville to see the Titans play at home. Spoiled Rotten and Marc decided that it was the perfect opportunity for both of them to go and see their teams play each other. They sat on the 30 yard line, a couple of rows from the field on the Titans sideline. Sadly for Trevor, the Titans lost. (They gave the game away to a crappy Denver team.) The trip was lots of fun for both of them anyway.

Brittany is working hard in school this year and making sure Spencer is well taken care of. I have watched him a couple of times this month, and enjoyed every minute of it. He was a little sick (cold) this last week, so I got to spend 2 days with him at Brits place. Of course I have to take my camera and take pictures of his cute little face. He has a few little Halloween outfits, so I put one on and had some fun.

Do you think he will make a good pilot? Last week was reality town for Trev at school and he got to pick what he wanted to have as a career. They spend the morning doing all the things adults have to do and learning how to manage their money. He was a penny pincher, and still had money left at the end. (all fake of course) I hope that he really does that when he faces the real world. He was one of the winners for the best dressed.

A Marshall no more :(

The time has finally come that Trev will enter the wonderful world of high school athletics. This was our last year to play baseball as the Utah Marshalls. Everything we did this year was bitter sweet knowing that it was the last of each thing. I have enjoyed the years of watching Trevor play baseball, and hope that he will be able to continue on in high school. We have gotten to know so many wonderful families through this game, and truely will miss all of them.

Our last month together, the boys played up a division in a high school automotive league. They did very well for being 14 year olds playing 16 year olds. They also got to experience playing, and winning, a game on Gates Field. This is the field which our Utah Marshalls founder Kevin Gates built at Kearns High (where he went to school, so some KHS alumni have made good).

It is sad to know it has all come to an end, but hope for the best for all of these fine young men. See you on the other side of the field, in a friendly game of baseball.

N-OmaHA

The keys words in the title are No and Ha, cuz I am pretty sure it was a laughing matter trying to get us to and from Omaha and play No baseball (or very little). We had quite the adventure for our last travelling tournament as the Utah Marshalls. First of all, we decided that a 14 hour drive was not on our can-do list so we decided to fly. The flights looked good, so there should be no problem, right? NOT! We never actually got to fly in or out of Omaha. Instead we had to fly in and out of Kansas City, MO and drive 2 1/2 hours. (we did have a pretty sweet ride though in a Mercury Marquis) Trev thought we were going to die from all the tornado warnings we heard on the drive. Once in Omaha, feel the humidity, and here comes the rain. It poured all night, making the fields unplayable. We lucked out that our fields were the only fields playable that day, although we did start late. We won 1 game and lost the other one. Now the problem was all the other games were canceled and needed to be made up the next day, so now we didn't get to play on that day.

All the boys went to the last college world series at Rosenblatt stadium, which will be torn down after the games are over. They watched they eventual champions South Carolina Gamecocks play. More rain came that night and the rest of the tournament was canceled. As always the boys had fun, regardless of baseball.

Making our way home, was of course not any easier. We had to drive back to Kansas City and try to make it home for Trev to get back for his summer PE class. We had the chance to drive around a while before our flight. We drove down to where the KC Royals and KC Chiefs play. The stadiums are back to back and share their parking lots. Luckily we made it on our flight and Marc got on the next one after us.

So the short answer is.... NO I won't be going back to Omaha any time soon.

Arrivals, Depatures, and near misses...

It is official, we are Grandparents. Little Spencer arrived on May 20th at 12:07pm, weighing in at 6 lbs 13 oz. and 19 1/2 ins. long. It was a bit of a long labor for Brittany, but she is grateful for epidurals. He is so cute and tiny, and a little yellow. He is having to do a bili-suitcase to help get his jaundice under control. Britt and Jake are doing well with the little guy, just trying to figure the whole parenting thing out while getting very little sleep. We are so excited to have him here, especially Trevor. He is already planning all the things he will get to teach Spencer as his uncle. I am sure that our gas bill will be going up a bit with all the trips to Ogden that we will be making now that he is here.

Sadly, Marc's Grandpa Clay passed away on May 24th without getting to meet his first great-great grandson. He was always a great guy to be around. He had a sense of humor that kept us laughing all the time. He never was one to let anyone get away with things that they shouldn't and told you how it was. I am sure that is why I got along with him so well. Marc always reminded me of Grandpa Clay with his big hands, a trait that Trevor shares too. I always heard the stories of Marc having to help Grandpa in the fields or clean the seminary buildings in the summer. He spent a lot of time up in Heber with his Grandparents, something I am sure he hopes that we can do with ours. (I just hope it is a lot of trips and not work that we are doing) We will miss Grandpa Clay, but know he is in a better place with Grandma Lola.

Our poor little kitty Mayo has been a bit sick lately. At first we thought it was just a simple bladder infection that we treated with medication. After almost 2 weeks of treatment, that we thought was going well, he took a turn for the worse. Now his bladder had produced crystals that were blocking his ability to pee. He was spending a lot of time in the litterbox, but not able to go. Or else he was hiding in dark places, something animals do when they are sick. A urinary blockage can kill an animal in 24-48 hours if not treated since it shuts down their kidneys. So off to emergency care to get him taken care of. (we must really love our cat to spend that kind of money on him) They had to insert a catheter to unblock him, and currently he is still at the vets for observation. He has to wear the cone so he won't lick the catheter out of place.

Needless to say the last 6 days have been quite eventful. They say things happen in 3's. So I think we should be good for a while.

Some lost...some found

Lost.... My mind? It has been a busy time at our house lately. Trev of course is knee deep in baseball, which means mom is too. Trev was in a bit of a hitting slump and struggling with his pitching. School for both boys has been a constant battle, except Tye is now done and has his associates degree. (He is planning to go to the U this fall) I can't wait for the next 4 weeks to go by so that Trev will be done as well. Of course that just means that it is time to stress and get all the work done before then. Brit came and spent about 4 days with us while Jake was in Virginia for work. We had a shower, at my house, for Brit at the end of April. She received many nice things for baby Spencer, who is going to arrive any day now. Trev had his I-pod stolen. My sister is here visisting from New Zealand for 3 weeks. And will the rain and cold ever go away? I have been trying to start my garden. Could Trev play some games that don't require me to bring my heater and bundle up like it is winter?

Found... Good things come to those who wait? So Marc flew the Red Sox a few weeks back and got to chat with Trev's favorite player Dustin Pedroia. Marc was wearing some of Trev's Red Sox gear, so Dustin asked him about it. Of course Marc told him that is was Trevs and all about Trev and playing baseball and his aforementioned woes. Dustin took Marcs phone and texted Trev a little encouragment note. It seems that since then, that Trev has been doing better. Thanks Dustin. Yeah school is out in 4 weeks. Trev is going to be doing some extra school for 3 weeks in June so that he can clear some room in his schedule next fall. (3 hours of PE everyday won't be a bad thing right?) Having Brit home for those few days made me miss having her around. All the laughter that her and her brothers brought to the house was so much fun. Trev earned his first paycheck by umping some little 8 year old teams. He wants to use his money to go golfing. That money will run out fast. It was either that or buy a new I-pod, but as luck would have it, we were able to recover the I-pod. The weather has been better the last couple of days and I am finally starting to see some sprouts in my garden. (too bad some more cold/rain is on the way). My sister leaves back to New Zealand in 4 days. It has been fun getting to know Joshua more since he was just 1 when they left. As of this posting Brit is due in 2 weeks, although her Dr. says it should happen sooner. As excited as I am to get him here, Brit is trying to take her nursing boards next week, so I guess I could wait a little longer for him to get here.