Colleen and Justin

Family Camp out 2010

2010-07-12T11:42:00.001-07:00

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.

2010-07-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-11-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-09T13:04:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-09T12:56:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-09T12:44:00.000-08:00

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!

A day of firsts for our family!

2009-05-22T15:47:00.000-07:00

On Saturday May 16 our family had a couple of milestones. The first one was the completion of my first (and probably last) marathon!!!! After 16 weeks of training I was so happy to finally be running down Ogden Canyon. I didn't finish quite as fast as I'd hoped for, but my ultimate goal was to just do it, and I did it! The weather was perfect and the scenery was gorgeous. After I crossed the finish line the kids were playing on a playground in the park while I got my piece of bread and Jamba Juice (there was better food at the finish lines of my 10K and half marathon, that's for sure!). When I went over to get them I saw JR crying under the slide and I knew right off that he was really hurt. The last thing I wanted to do was go to the Doctor after running 26.2 miles, but what is a mother to do? Justin had to go to work, so we ran home so that I could have a quick shower and then it was off to the instacare. 2 1/2 hours later we had x-rays confirming two broken arms. Neither Justin or I have had broken bones, nor any of our other five kids, so this is a first for our family. Now that he has his casts on life is much better because he can bend his elbows and touch his fingers to his thumbs. The five days of splints were enough for me, it was like having a baby again. I had to feed him, dress him, open doors for him, buckle him in, and even help him put his shoes on. The doctor expects about a month in casts so he should be free by the time we go on the family camp out to the lake!

Greenville Idol presents: Taralee Carter

2009-05-04T12:55:00.000-07:00

Taralee's school held a talent show that they called, "Greenville Idol". Taralee performed some stand-up comedy from Brian Regan. She made it through the first round of 3 mom judges and then she made it through the second round of the student body voting. Now she gets to perform one last time in front of the whole school when they reveal the top 3 winners. This isn't very good footage, but it gives an idea of funny she was!

I'm not a fun mom!

2009-04-27T12:17:00.001-07:00

Upon leaving the grocery store today Melanie says, "Mom, you're just not a fun mom. You're always mean and we never get to do anything fun.

"Like what kind of fun stuff do you want to do?" I ask her.

She comes back with, "Well, you never let us ride in the driver shopping carts."

It's true, I hate those enormous carts that are impossible to maneuver. The kids always fight over where they get to sit and before long they are all running around the store. Even Addilee, who has probably never sat in one, tells me EVERY time we get a grocery cart that Mom hates those!

I guess I'm going to have to relax a bit and be a more fun mom, maybe.

We're Lost!

2009-03-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

Several of the girls in Justin's office and some of our neighbors convinced us to start watching the series Lost. Over Christmas we checked out season 1 from the Library and it didn't take very long to get addicted. We caught up to the rest of the world last week and now we have to suffer with everyone else waiting for a new episode each week. We are totally "Lost" without it!

Can you spot the difference?

2009-03-12T09:14:00.000-07:00

After: Before:

This is what happens when I suffer from spring fever. I've been wanting to paint this wall since we moved in and with the winter dragging on I just decided to do it! I love the way it turned out, and now I'm itching to paint the downstairs bathroom. (I don't know why it put the after picture first, I'm still trying to figure out this blogging thing.)

Melanie turns 5!

2009-03-04T15:25:00.000-08:00

Melanie started asking for a birthday party last week, but I was a little hesitant to agree to one. I asked her what she wanted to do for a party and she said she just wanted to take Stella to Grandma Ashbaker's to soak in her hot tub, watch a movie and eat gummy bears. I thought that was a great idea for a party so that is what we did! After our soak Grandma and Grandpa took us to Pizza Villa for pizza, yum yum! Then it was off to redbox to claim our free Monday rental. The girls wanted to see Horton Hears a Who (again), but they only lasted as long as the gummy bears held out and then they wanted to be in on the cake decorating. I should have bought more gummy bears! After dinner (leftover pizza, thank you Grandma) we had the Anhder's over for the traditional cake and ice cream. She opened her presents, which included a new summer wardrobe and a coloring book. (toys were provided only by the grandma's & the aunt's) I can't believe Melanie is 5, it seems like just last week that she was 4. (hee hee)

New table and new grills!

2009-02-23T08:53:00.000-08:00

After 15 1/2 years of marriage we finally made a furniture purchase at a real furniture store (Shopko does not count as a real furniture store!). We've been wanting this dining room table for a long time and we finally got it this last month. There was a little hassle with the delivery (a little surprise when we opened the box to find the wrong table), but after it was all said and done we are really happy with it. It's nice to have a seat for everyone at one time!

Emillie and I are also sporting new grills this month. She is wearing her Dr. Poole & Dr. Willis ortho sweatshirt that she got the day she got her braces, and I'm wearing my Nebraska College of Dentistry sweatshirt where my orthodontist, who is in the background, got his training. She was a good 2 weeks before she wasn't in a ton of pain, but lucky for me I was feeling pretty good after a week or so. Also lucky for me I will be done by the end of the year, she will be sporting her grill for two years. What we won't do for some mother-daughter bonding.

Something I forgot to blog...

2009-02-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Taralee and a friend, Kristen, went to the Mall to go shopping. While they were there they bought milk shakes, but they didn't finish them. They brought them back to the house to eat them while they were "hanging out". When Kristen's mom came to pick her up I reminded her to get her milkshake from the Kitchen. She said, "Oh, yea" and ran off to get it. She came back empty handed and said she changed her mind she didn't want to take it with her.

I didn't think much of it until we said goodbye to them and I went into the kitchen only to find Justin talking on the phone, sipping on Kristen's milkshake. No wonder she changed her mind! We had a good laugh and Justin called Kristen to offer her a new milk shake next time they go shopping.

No More Wisdom...

2009-01-20T17:03:00.000-08:00

Ever since Justin took a pan of my mouth last fall he has been itching to remove my one and only wisdom tooth. I finally made it in last Friday to let him extract it. I'll admit I haven't been in as much pain as I thought I would, but I'm certainly glad that I only had one and not four! He was such a good dentist and took very good care of me. I'm well on my way to recovery, today is the first day that I haven't looked like I had a golf ball in my cheek.
In other exciting tooth news, Emillie will be getting braces next week. When the orthodontist told her she was ready for braces, she grinned ear to ear and has been giddy with excitement ever since. I told her to be careful what she wishes for!

I guess I didn't do that great!

2009-01-15T17:00:00.000-08:00

The below pictured groceries have roughly a $133.00 value, with their sale prices. I spent $63.47. As per your guesses I guess I didn't do so hot. I need to have Lana show me a thing or two about couponing. Or I can just give it up.

Guess how much?

2009-01-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

Most of you know about the crazy coupon ladies in Utah (no offense to those of you who are), but my friend Mindy called me at 9:30 Tuesday night and said, "Want to go to Albertons with me at 6 am for their killer sale?" After hesitating for a few moments she showed me where to print coupons on the internet and we went grocery shopping at 6 am. Now I've stood in line for electronics, toys, cricuts, and even for my friends, but I have never (until now) stood in long lines for GROCERIES! After it was all said and done, we were gone for 2 hours and this is what I came home with. Now keep in mind I did not have all the great coupons most of the other crazy ladies did, but guess how much I spent on all these items. I'll post the answer in a few days. FYI: I'm not going to do this again, it wasn't worth it.
p.s. Today I checked out at Sam's club right behind the lady that I checked out behind at Albertsons yesterday. She told me her friend wasn't as quick to get in line as we were and it was 10:30 before she was able to pay for her groceries. That is 4 1/2 in a grocery store. At least I'm not that crazy!

Christmas at home!

2009-01-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed spending Christmas in our own home this year. Christmases at Grandpa and Grandma's have been fun and memorable, but it was nice to be in our own home this year. We declared Christmas pajama day and some of us even stayed in them for a few days. After we opened presents we had our neighbors, The Anhder's come over for breakfast. The kids were so anxious to show each other what they got!

On Christmas Eve we went sledding with the Ahhder's and then had dinner at their house. After dinner the kids acted out the Nativity for us. When it was time for the Shephard, Taralee, and her sheep, Addilee, to come on Addilee would budge. She was laying on her tummy with her head buried in her arms. Taralee had to push and pull her into the stable to see the holy family. Everyone was trying hard not to laugh as Addilee peeked up every once in a while to show us her smiling and laughing face.

Every time I turned around Addilee was making another snow angel.

Tara, Hannah, and Emillie

Justin, Melanie, and Talia. Conrad and JR in the back. Thanks Anhder's for a fun Christmas Eve!

In December?

2008-12-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

I have done more canning this fall than in the last 4 years combined. By the time I finished my salsa, beans, jam, and pears I called it quits and put everything away. Then on December 1st my mom brought me some pears from my uncle's tree. My first thought was, NO! I'M DONE CANNING! They were ready to put in bottles when I got them so I spent the first day of December bottling pears. It's a good thing they came later, because I had to use bottles that I'd already canned in once this year, but we had emptied. These pears even turned out yummier than the ones I'd already done. Thanks mom and Uncle Clare! Now I'm officially done canning for the year!

All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth!

2008-12-12T16:17:00.000-08:00

After JR and Conrad crashed on the trampoline JR had two really loose teeth. I tried to pull them out the day before Thanksgiving, but they were hanging on. Sunday after dinner I convinced him to let me try again and this time I was successful. It's been funny watching him try to eat things like apples and take bites of pizza. Maybe he'll get some new ones for Christmas.

How do mom's know so much?

2008-12-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

I logged onto my blog today and realized it's been quite a while since I posted anything. I don't have any new pictures, but Addie made me laugh the other day. After I fed the girls lunch I put her down for a nap, as we do every day. I went downstairs to work on a project and who would you know came down about 15 minutes later. She just walked in the room and said, "Umm, that was a good nap." I thought this was very clever of her, but what amused me the most was remembering back to the day when I tried the same thing on my mom. It didn't work for me either! How do mom's know so much?

Mmmm, the good stuff!

2008-11-12T08:55:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't updated my blog for a while, but if you know me you know that I like to make little projects big by letting them pile up and tackling them all at once. So now you have a months worth of events to read about

The past two years I have ordered bulk Guittards chocolate chips and dipping chocolate from Karen so now that we live 900 miles apart I had to place my own bulk order. Thanks to a friend here who knows far more people here that I do we were able to gather the minimum 500 lbs. required to place an order. Emillie and I laughed about me weighing out 5 lb. bags of chocolate on my new "Biggest Loser" kitchen scale. Do you think they had this in mind when they marketed it?

Volleyball

2008-11-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

This was Taralee's first time playing volleyball on a team and she really had a great time. Her team was undefeated when they finished their season. She is already looking forward to playing next year.

Trick-or-Treat Time

2008-11-12T08:46:00.000-08:00

Can I just say that we had the best weather in Halloween History this year! I'm pretty sure I've never been trick-or-treating in flip flops before! I made Emillie put this costume on (she wore it to school) for a picture, but then she was off in a flash to spend the holiday at the corn maze with her friends. Taralee trick-or-treated with us for a while, but she, too, eventually went her own way with her friends. Addilee was so cute running from door to door, with Boots waving his hand out of her backpack, collecting treats. She only lasted about a half hour or so and then she wanted to go home. I took JR and Melanie a little longer, but after another block they declared that their bags were too heavy and they just wanted to go home and eat their treats. I wasn't about to argue! I think they had just as much fun handing out treats at our house, and yes, you guessed it, we passed out toothbrushes!

The Great Pumpkin Carving

2008-11-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

Carving pumpkins is something that I could really do without, but in the essence of making memories it is something that we do every year (usually another great FHE). Melanie was so careful with her pumpkin and spent over an hour carving it's delicate little features, right down to the ears! She was adamant that no one help her and even asked the next day if she could work on it some more.

Time Out!

2008-10-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

Karen and Elizabeth have been asking me to come back for Time Out For Women since before I left. I really wanted to go, but didn't feel like I should spend the money to make the trip. I guess I got over that because a little over a month ago I booked a flight to Omaha and found a couple of Grandma's to stay with my kids. I really had a great time catching up with friends and staying up late laughing. Look how tall I've grown since I moved away!

This is just a really great shot of Karen. She and Elizabeth thought it was really fun to take a bazillion pictures with my camera. Although this was my favorite, the one of the strange lady walking by was a close second. Oh wait, my second favorite was the one of Karen's second and third chin.

Here is the group of ladies that I went with. Most of them I already knew, but a couple were new to Nebraska since I'd left. Tracy and I discovered that we both grew up in Idaho only she attended our rival high school. I guess she turned out alright despite the obstacles she faced. Just Kidding! We all enjoyed the speakers and came away feeling glad we had attended the meeting.

Only Karen had trouble with the Mime statue pinching her butt.

Trip to Nebraska

2008-10-29T13:43:00.000-07:00

Of Course all good trips involve food. Here is the group eating at the Old Mattress Factory (sounds yummy, right?) during the lunch break at Time Out. My bunny ears are complimentary from Karen.

Here are the mom's of our group, Tayna and Amy. I couldn't believe how big these boys grew since I saw them last!

Isn't this a flatering picture of me? We had to really squeeze to fit all of us in at P.F. Changs. Our fortunes last year were so close to our own personalities and current life situations, but this time they weren't nearly as fun. We laughed about how good they were last time and since I was the one to keep them I told them I would include them in this year's blog so here they are:

Natasha: Life is a tradedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think

Wendy: You are contemplating some action which will bring credit upon you (she had a baby the next year)

Kristina: You have a deep appreciation of the arts and music

Suzanne: Depart not from the path which fate has you assigned

Karen: Maybe you can live on the moon in next century (I hope she lets me come and visit)

Colleen: Your future is as boundless as the lofty heaven (I'm still waiting)

Elizabeth: You like participating in competitive sports (She's back into running races since she had her twins later that year)

I had fun going to the Y early Thursday morning and surpising my friends there. As luck would have it Sue and Nancy already had a Starbucks date set for Friday morning so they babysat me there while Karen was hard at work folding shirts at Scheels. We had a good time catching up and laughing. They were both leaving for trips the next morning. I can't wait to hear how Italy was!

Halloween cookies

2008-10-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

Every fall we have a FHE where we decorate halloween cookies as a family. Addilee was so cute this year, being so careful with her frosting. After 5 or so minutes on one cookie I asked her if she wanted to put candy on it. She got so excited and proceeded to cover her cookie with a mountain of candy corn. The next morning she went right to the kitchen to find her cookie. It took her all day, but she eventually ate the whole thing by herself.

JR's Flag Football

2008-10-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

JR had so much fun playing on this flag football team. He looked forward to every practice and every game. The last two games were so cold that I was glad the season was over!

Taralee's Halloween Party

2008-10-29T13:40:00.000-07:00

Taralee wanted to have a Halloween Party with some of her friends so we took atvantage of a day off of school and planned a fun party. The weather was warm enough to play our games outside and of course we had fun making and eating ghost cookies, mummy pizza'a, pumpkin rollups, and candy corn cake. The girls all got to make a halloween hair scrunchy to take home.

Our Flood

2008-10-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

We had our first big rainstorm since moving here about a month ago. We were so bummed when the water ran down the foundation and through the footings of Taralee's bedroom. We pulled the carpet back and dried things out as fast as we could, but we will probably have to replace her carpet. We now have a long hose attached to that downspout to take the water away from the house!

MVC

2008-10-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

As a Most Valuable Customer at Kohl's I was recently awarded with an additional 30% off, which I have been waiting for. I bought new towels for our bathroom and the main bathroom, but my most exciting find was this mirror and picture that were on clearance.

Progress

2008-10-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

We had a cement patio and 3rd driveway poured over the last couple of weeks. They are done now which is nice, but we still have alot of work to do before we are ready for grass.

How to tell your not a vampire...

2008-10-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

Justin and I signed up to give blood last week. I've never donated before so I was a little nervous. It really wasn't bad, even though I was declared a slow bleeder and watched people "hook up" after me and finish before me. The best part: they told me no strenuous exercise the next morning! My running partner didn't mind so we walked instead. It's sure good know that we are not vampires :)

School Spirit

2008-10-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

Last week was homecoming for our high school and Friday was spirit day. Emillie borrowed a cheerleader costume from the neighbor and wore it to school. She was a hit with her friends and even won best dressed for spirit day out of the whole school. Her big prize: a crunch candy bar. YEAH! It was even better when the team won the game that night!

This week we play Highland. I'm pretty sure a bobcat can take a ram anyday! (We'll see what some of our cousins have to say about that)

What I've really been up to...

2008-09-23T08:31:00.001-07:00

One of my good good friends, who shall remain nameless, informed me that I need to update my blog more often. I've been trying to think of what I've been doing that is blog worthy. I don't have pictures, but if I did they would be of chopped vegetables all over my kitchen for salsa, kids helping me "pick" beans (I finally had to give Addilee her own bucket to snap in so that I could go through them when she was done), and jars and jars of plum jelly. We were late getting our garden in because of the move, but we spent the 4th of July planting beans. We aren't getting as many as we would if the weather was still hot, but I've still managed to get 57 pints and I'm hoping for another picking. Our really great neighbors noticed that there is no way our tomatoes will be ripe before frost (since they are barely starting to get green ones) so they gave me enough tomatoes from their garden to make 2 batches of salsa. Another friend gave me plum juice which I turned into yummy jelly. Of course we had to have warm homemade bread to go with it!

So that is what I've been up to the last few weeks!

Eleven!

2008-09-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

Taralee was so excited for her birthday this year! She almost couldn't stand waiting until 9:00 that night when Justin got home to open her presents.
When he got here he gave her a picture of a "really cute boy". Too bad he is the only one that can see him. She was so excited for mirror that she wanted it hung up immediately.
Her new luggage tag for her new suitcase.
All her loot
You know birthdays at our house are all about the cake! She picked this one which made me happy because it was so easy and cute. She didn't want writing on it. Happy Birthday Taralee!

Office Party

2008-09-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

I made this cake for Justin's first Office Party. However, I forgot to charge the camera battery and when we got to the party it was dead so this is the only picture I have.

Your how old?

2008-09-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

For her 13th birthday, Emillie picked this present cake. She was surprised with a flower delivery as school from Mom and Dad.
She loved the ice cream cone so much that she couldn't put it down long enough to blow out her candles. All the other pictures show her licking it while we were singing Happy Birthday.
This is Emillie's new friend, Laurie. The are together about 27 hours a day.
She was so surprised with her gifts, even though they weren't boxers. :)
This is the face of a true party girl!

First Day of School

2008-08-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

We always have "ABC 123" pancakes for breakfast on the first day of school. This was the first year that I had to do it twice because Emillie leaves for school 2 hours before the younger kids. She was just as excited as they were to get this traditional breakfast!
Emillie hates shopping, but we managed to find her a few cute tops and some cute jeans. This was her favorite! If it looks dark in her picture...that's because it was! She is in 8th grade and leaves at 6:30 to meet her friends and catch the bus. I wonder how Taralee is going to like those early mornings next year when she is catching the bus with her.
Round 2 of "ABC 123" pancakes. It is so hard to get a normal face on JR for a picture.
See what I mean....he is all clown! He gets to ride his bike to and from school which is about 1 mile from our house. He is in the 2nd grade this year.
Taralee is in 5th grade this year and it is her last year in Elementary School. She walks to her school which is just a few blocks down the street. My 3 kids are in 3 different schools. I was thinking ahead and when Emillie is a senior in high school my 5 kids will be in 5 different schools. That makes my brain hurt!

Back to School Party

2008-08-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

Mindy and I had a "great" idea to host a back to school party for our kids and their friends. We thought it would be a good way for my kids to meet some of the kids they'll go to school with. It was a wild and crazy couple of hours, but the kids all seemed to have a great time!
Who is the most flexiable? These kids didn't have a problem!
Can they run the length of the yard without popping the balloon between their back? Most of them did!
When the sun went down we watched College Road Trip on the projector on the side of the house. It was chilly, but the kids didn't seem to mind! They gobbled up the whole back to school cake I made, several sno cones each, 4 pounds of licorice and 10 bags of popcorn. I guess it was a success!

Cakes, Cakes, Cakes

2008-08-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

Now that I have a blog I can show my cakes as I make them. I made the purple and red cake for Fred and Victoria's openhouse. The colorflow rectangles turned a funny color when we took it out of the fridge. The blue one is for my Aunt Carol's mother in law. The chalkboard is for the Back to School party we are throwing for the neighborhood kids tonight. I'll blog pictures of that tomorrow.

Twin Lakes Campout

2008-08-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

The highlight of the summer for our kids is our Family Campout at Twim Lakes. After 3 days of sun, dirt, water, and bugs they declared that this was the funnest year so far.

Emillie and Katie spent a good share of time suntanning, they thought they so cool until they were burned the next day. Emillie burned her leg on the fireplace, but is is healing up now.

Taralee and Jake rowed themselves around the lake on the supertube most of the weekend.

JR played with his new remote control boat and rode the tube behind Uncle Richards boat, but his favorite thing was when he got to drive Uncle Richards boat. I don't think the remote control boat is going to cut it for him after that.

Melanie is still scared of the water so she spent the weekend wearing her lifejacket walking along the shoreline.

Addie was such a good camper! She got braver in the water every day. She would walk out to about knee deep and then run back to me and say, "I did it, I did it." Then I would give her a high five and she would repeat the same thing, over and over!

Justin was a good camper, too. He hardly complained, even in the middle of the night when it started to rain I remembered that I'd left the camcorder and camera outside. He put a blanket over his head and went out to search for it. He couldn't find it, but we were happy the next morning when we found out the Robin had picked it up and saved it from the rainstorm. We pretty much stayed dry, but we were SO happy to come home to a shower, flush toilets, and a comfy bed. Until next year.

Neighborhood Bounce

2008-08-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

We surprised our kids with a new trampoline after we moved into our new house. It seems to be the hot spot for the neighborhood kids, especially on a hot day when the sprinkler is under it! Addie gets up every morning and says, "I want to jump".

Emillie's new haircut

2008-08-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

I am sorry about all the updates in one day, but we've had computer problems and we were FINALLY able to get our pictures onto the computer!

Emillie wanted a new haircut and this is the result. She says it is totally cute even though she doesn't like this self portrait all that much.

She has made a ton of new friends here and loves to play night games with them almost every night. She says she just wants me to keep talking about her on the blog. She is going to be in the 8th grade this year. Did I mention that school starts on Thursday? This truely is the "most wonderful time of the year" !

Rodeo Weekend

2008-08-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

Our family always gets into Rodeo Weekend in Preston. We usually go to the parade all three nights, but Saturday is always the best when the Cream-o-Weber truck passes out chocolate milk! For 7 years we have watched the parade at Shawn and Nathlie's house, but it is for sale now so this might be our last year watching the parade in the shade with them:(

The kids each got 5 tickets for the carnival,which was just right (except for Emillie who got sick after 3 rides)

We took all the kids to the rodeo Friday and Saturday night and they loved it. It is so fun to watch JR get so excited for the cowboys. It always seems that summer is over after the rodeo so I guess fall is on it's way now!

"Yolka Pots"

2008-08-16T08:13:00.000-07:00

Addie had us all laughing at church one day when she told us she was wearing "Yolka Pots" on her skirt. She is growing and talking more every day, even in full sentences now. The most exciting advancement she has made is that she now wears panties! This is a very exciting thing for her, but mostly for me! I think we need to go out to dinner or something to celebrate this milestone!

JR's 7th Birthday

2008-07-22T09:25:00.001-07:00

When I asked JR what he wanted for his birthday he could never come up with anything except boxer underwear. So after he blew out his candles he opened his present and was so excited that he got them. We told him that that was his only present because that is all he wanted. He was happy and fine with that. Then later we surprised him with a guitar hero game for his playstation. He was surprised and excited, but we didn't get nearly the reaction from the guitar hero as we did from the boxers. He loves his boxers and has already asked if we can get him some more.

First Day at the Office

2008-07-16T13:59:00.001-07:00

Well, it's official, Justin is a dentist. We were only in our new house a few days before he went to work (and it's a good thing because we've got a house payment to make now!). He likes his new office and seems to be adjusting quit nicely.

p.s. Purple is not his favorite color, nor does he have a purple toothbrush. FYI: purple is the color of dentistry.

Our Final "Goodbye"

2008-07-16T11:11:00.000-07:00

We planned on getting up and leaving before the crack of dawn on June 9, but it didn't exactly happen that way. It took us longer to load the "odds and ends" than we thought it would. Then when I was putting the final things in the van, Lucky, the cat, ran out of the van. After I got those things in I couldn't find her anywhere. We called and called for her all over the neighborhood. If it hadn't been just 3 days after her spay and declaw surgery she would have bee out of "luck"! After we looked for 45 minutes Karen offered to fix us breakfast. After a while Justin looked out and saw her in the front yard so he snatched her up and locked her in the van. We were frustrated to have such a late start, but we made it by 9:00 that night. (It took the cat 3 hours to settle down in the van and quit meowing!)

Cookies For Carter's

2008-07-16T11:06:00.000-07:00

The night before we left Nebraska, Karen threw us a going away party. It was sad to say "goodbye" to our friends, but we were glad she did it for us. Thanks to all of you who came to say "goodbye", the pictures I took of everyone are going to make a fun scrapbook page! (I hope Karen will still talk to me when she sees this photo:) ) Thanks, Karen!

Soccer Star

2008-07-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

JR played soccer for the first time this year. He loved every minute of it and was quite the soccer star. His team would have done better if he would have shared the ball a little more with his teamate and friend, Dillon. At the end of the season we had an awards party where he was awarded fastest runner and got a trophy. He was so proud and happy!

New House

2008-07-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

It took us 4 years to decide where to go after graduation, but it only took us 2 days to find a house to buy. We love the hardwood floors and the floor plan. We are having the buidler finish the basement so that everyone will get their own room, YEAH! The front yard is landscaped, but we'll have to get going on the backyard. One of the best parts is that the kids will all have someone their age in the neighborhood to play with.

Graduation Celebration!

2008-07-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

For 4 years we have talked about going on a cruise after graduation while the kids finished their school year. It came a reality on May 8, 2008, when we boarded Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas in Fort Lauderdale Florida. It was thrilling to watch the shore get smaller and smaller as we set sail for our vacation, except we were sad to leave behind our friends (and Justin's classmate), Dave and Amber who just barely missed the boat due to airline problems in Memphis, TN. We parasailed in Key West with our other friends who went with us, Karen and Nathan. We spent the day at an adventure park in Cozumel climbing rock walls and snorkeling. You can imagine our surprise when the cab behind ours contained our long lost friends, Dave and Amber. Justin was awarded the bronze metal for the fastest rock climber on our ship. After laughing and eating our way through the Caribbean my pants are snug, but it was all worth it!

The Day We've Been Waiting For!

2008-07-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

May 2, 2008. Even the cold rainy day couldn't keep us from celebrating Justin's graduation from Dental School. It was a great ceremony, short and to the point! We went to dinner afterward with Justin's mom and her husband Phil, his sister and her husband, Toni and Cody, and my mom. It's really hard to believe that it's been 7 years since Justin started his schooling at ISU in Pocatello. We loved living in Nebraska and will really miss it!