Family Camp out 2010

I really had good intentions of keeping our blog a little more up to date, but mostly I feel like we don't do anything "blog worthy". We had our annual Carter Family camp-out a couple of weeks ago and since this is the most exciting annual event for our kids I thought we should note it. I couldn't get all the pictures on one post so look back for all the photo's.

This is what we call T.E.A.M. work (Tara, Emillie, Addilee(she is eating a cookie by me, but she is still part of our team) and Melanie.) I guess we can call it the J TEAM so that we include JR.

Taralee put together the first annual camp awards. These crazy people are the recipients.

Taralee on water skii's

Emillie on the wakeboard.

Addilee taking a nap on the Whale.

Family Camp-out

Grandma and Grandpa brought in ice and treats!
We couldn't convince them to get into the water.

Emillie, Taralee, Randi & Natalie can sure keep each other giggling!!!

Mmmm....Smores...Melanie's favorite part!

Addilee, too!

This is the first year that we were owners of a boat. We kept it running for about 3 days straight! Everyone that knows me knows that I like water about as much as a cat, but I am into family things, and this is something we can enjoy together as a family!

Time to Catch UP!

I don't have a good excuse for letting my blog get so behind, but I'm finally just going to get it all caught up. So the next 3 or 4 posts (I've already lost track) should get us back to the present.




Mindy and I started a new business this year called, The Divvy Up. It's a semi-annual children's consignment sale held at our local fairgrounds. I knew this would be a large task, but it really has kept both of us very busy. We held our first sale in July and felt really good about it. Our second sale was just a few weeks ago, in October, and we were very happy with it. After talking to other people around the country that do this we expected a 50% increase, so we were excited when we checked in twice as many items in October than we did in July. It's been a learning expeirence for both of us, but we've also had a lot of fun with it, too.

We put together a float for the Fourth of July parades. We enlisted our children to pass out hangers with attached fliers to the crowds while Mindy and I rode on the back of the trailor and threw candy. The weather was so nice and cool that day, that we actually had a good time.

Here is a photo from our July sale. With double the items and the addition of 10 vendor booths our building was really full in October.
Saying "Goodbye" to the Goodrich's when they moved to the end of the earth this summer would have been so much harder had we not spent 4 years in Nebraska. This family has been so special to us since we met them in 1997. Kathy and I traded so much babysitting when our kids were little that I'm not sure what I would have done without her! Of course we'll always stay in touch and with my 4 girls and her 6 boys there is sure to be a wedding in the future!

Catch UP! #2

After The Divvy Up I tried to do a few fun things with the kids. We went camping to Twin Lakes with Justin's family, we went to Bear Lake twice, once with Aspen Dental and once with Logan Dental. We also went to the local pool a couple of times. Our kids love, love, love the water so they could spend all day at the lake!
We went to Lagoon twice this summer. When we bounced back we ran into some "Nebraska" friends, The Van De Graaff's. Their family moved to Idaho the same time we moved to Utah, but we never expected to see them at Lagoon! We spent quite a while riding rides with them and catching up. What a fun surprise!
I thought this picture at Lagoon was fun. We were in line to get on the train and the kids all ran over to get a drink. I didn't really get many pictures of the older girl's because the spent most of their time on the big rides. Addilee loved riding the bumper cars and the little swings. When we bounced back we spent most of the day swimming at Lagoona Beach, which was fun.

Catch UP! #3

Justin baptized JR this summer after he turned 8. They do Stake Baptisms here, which made me miss individual baptisms in Nebraska. Fortunately for us there were only two children baptized that day. JR went second and when he went back in the dressing room to get dressed he discovered that the first boy had taken his clothes. It took quite a while to convince the boy and his father that they were indeed JR's clothes and to give them back. It was a very spiritual day with our families. After the baptism and confirmation we went back to the house for donuts and juice. Robin and Richard invited us to go water skiing so it was off to the lake and then to the Rodeo that night.
Everyone else posted first day of school pictures so I feel like I should, too, even though we are 1/3 of the way through the school year. Here are the kids (and one neighbor) enjoying our traditional ABC 123 pancakes! Melanie is in 1/2 day kindergarten this year, which means I get the pleasure of making a trip to the bus stop every day at noon. JR is in 3rd grade, Taralee in 6th, and Emillie in 9th.

Catch UP! #4

Halloween is far from my favorite holiday, but the kids do love it. I think they love the candy most, but they also have fun dressing up. Emillie went to a party with her friends dressed as an angel. Taralee trick-0r-treated the neighborhood with her friends dressed as the Toothfairy. JR was a cowboy, Melanie and cowgirl, and Addilee dressed as Dora again to trick-or-treat the neighborhood.
Emillie loves spirit day at school. Go Bobcats!!!
You know the cake is the most important thing about a birthday at our house. What could be better for Emillie than a phone/cake?
I surprised Taralee with a birthday party for her 12th birthday. I made the cake a couple of days before and hid it in our oven. I wasn't planning on baking anything until that day I decided to bake some muffins for the party. It didn't take long for the whole house to smell like melted plastic, yuck! I was able to salvage the cake with the leftover frosting, but the cake plate was a loss. We played games and made flower barretts and notepads. I think she liked it!