'Twas the day before Christmas

'Twas the day before Christmas

and all through the basement,

Mom and son were laid up

cold and stiff like the pavement.


Papa in his pj's roams from room to room,

Toting foods and meds to wash away some of the gloom.

With time on his hands and no football to view,

He remembered a blogpost was considerably past due.


This year has been a blessed one, we dare not complain.

Our hearts our so full we might pop a vein.

The list starts with Caleb, our seven-month old

Already smarter than his parents, or so we've been told


A strong baby boy with an angelic smile,

Who now can sit up and snatch toys from a pile.

He loves balls, bottles and bouncing, no big surprise there

But car rides remain a challenge, especially when sunlight is bare


Katie's cut back at work to spend more time at home.

Playing Mom's even better than a day at Disney's Magic King-dome.

My days remain simple: work, change diapers and dream

Of a life where my golf shots never find a watery stream.


To all our friends and family who still believe in St. Nick,

Please accept this as our Christmas card, with a batch of new pics :)

This might look like just another picture of my brother, but if you look at the picture within the picture you'll see me posing on the 4th tee box at Thanksgiving Point.  In true Weiler fashion, we played 18 holes in cold, rainy, windy, miserable weather and never once thought about calling it a day. You might call it a small tribute to the man who taught us the game.

No problems with food for this boy. The orange nose is a product of his favorite: sweet potatoes

Caleb has a knack for ab workouts. Crunchin' with Caleb, the 4-disc fitness one-year anniversary diamond edition DVD set with a collectors set of burp cloths, is due out in summer of 2013.

And we wonder why he's not a fan of car rides.

Fun with Uncle Kevin and Uncle Doug at the Light the Night Walk to support Lincoln

First BYU-Utah game.  We'll get 'em next year, buddy.

First Halloween. The wonderful thing about Tigger Caleb is he's bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun.

First Rocky Fest. Italian Stallion meets the South Jordan Slobber King

Two Year Anniversary. Let's make the third one even better, honey.

Summer, in summary

After hibernating in the friendly confines of our basement apartment for much of the summer we jammed a season's worth of good times into a hectic couple of weeks.

And to start it all off, we really branched out by inviting other people into our home and hosting them for a meal. What would make us do such a crazy thing? Caleb's baby blessing.

Yep. He's that white. I told you we haven't left the house much this summer.

We dressed Caleb in the same outfit I wore when I was blessed, as seen in the next two pictures. Aside from the 30 year old photo, can you tell who is who? (For clarification and credit's sake, Caleb's white baby blanket was made by his great grandma Jorgensen. Thank you Evelyn!)

In an attempt to pawn off a stolen idea from a wedding dinner as an original idea for a family breakfast, we made Belgium waffles. Lots of Belgium waffles, with a wide assortment of fruit toppings. 

A quick lesson in photography: Family photos turn out better in the shade, and Rob squints in all lighting situations.

The following day we traveled to Lava Hot Springs, Idaho for a few days of fun with the whole Weiler gang.

Caleb does not enjoy the car. At all. And yet on the longest road trip we've ever taken, he slept for a good portion of the ride and was playful and grinning the rest of the way. Go figure.

No Weiler trip is complete without a night (or two) of wacky, oddball, backyard competitions featuring prizes only available at All-a-Dollar. This is what we do, and we love it.

Go ahead. Insert your best "air head" joke here. 

 Katie won the "Cutest New Weiler Girl". Guess who was second and appealed the ruling to the judges. Tough beans, Molly.

In order to compete in the Weiler Olympics, You have to pass Uncle Mark's conformity test. He measures levels of drug use a bit differently than the IOC.

The first time we tried this initiation ceremony for the spouses of our cousins, we also made them sing "My Heart Will Go On." But Harley's rendition of the song turned the torture treatment back on us, so we put a stop to it.

That's my Grandpa Queed,  a man who never found an activity he couldn't master, smashing water balloons with his head. Nothing out of the ordinary here. 

That's my Grandma Jean, the epitome of grace and good judgment, spitting goldfish crackers for distance. I've officially seen it all.

And it wouldn't be a reunion without a chance to shed some blood while experiencing nature.

That's not my foot, but I spent a couple moments on my first trip down the river in a similar state.

Have you heard the joke about the retiree, the accountant, the elementary school teacher and the great grandchild in the inflatable raft? Just one of the many reasons I love my family vacations.

Sadly, this will be the last family reunion picture with this cast of characters. Over the past 25 years we've traveled to California, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah to enjoy the great outdoors by day and sharpen our gaming skills at night. Thanks for the memories, Queed and Jean. 

Katie and I had to cut our reunion short a day so we could come home and finally cash in on Katie's Christmas gift: a night out on the town to see Wicked.

I always try to learn something about life when I go to the theatre, and I've been inspired to try and help other become more popular like me. Also, I want to be more green, which leads me to the other family activity of the week ....

The second annual Weiler 9-hole golf scramble! Katie withdrew (New Mom) but Leslie was ready to get back in the action.  I wish I could say she cheated by going to the driving range the night before, but I'm pretty certain Katie did the same thing last year.

Here's all you need to know about the good heart of my brother in-law. The guy puts up with three guys who have 30 years of golfing experience and can't play more than one hole under par in a scramble format but still have the gall to spout out swing tips after every shot, all while carrying a golf bag that once belonged to his grandmother in-law. And after all that, he still hooks us up with a boating day at Willard Bay the following week (and does all the boat driving).

First time up on a wake board. One small step for this man (possibly backward), but definitely no bonus points for good form.  It becomes even less significant when the parents can still strut their stuff on the water.

The judges reconvened after seeing this photo and stripped Katie of her medal.

All the family activities didn't phase Caleb from growing his bag of tricks, which makes it no wonder why we've been content to stay at home and be mesmerized by our talented boy.

Rolling over.

Picking up his head.

Sitting up (couch-aided)

Feet grabbing

Lastly, this picture marked Caleb's first meeting with Aunt Heidi. It also marked the first time Aunt Heidi got camera shy. Something about "Wyoming Hair" and being in the car all day. I don't think there's a correlation, just an interesting historical side note.  

Just one more Aunt and Uncle and nephew to meet. Our door is always open, Tracy and Arne :)

Hey Caleb, what'd you think of my post?