Birthday Boy

Carter turned the big 2 on August 28th. Our internet's been a little quirky lately, so I haven't been able to post any pics...I'm going to try again and hope it works.

Ty was able to take the morning and early afternoon off from work, so we took Carter and Taylee to the Zoo. The Hogle Zoo has two of Carter's favorite things: animals and a train. We started out our excursion by riding the train. We started out at the front of the train, but there was so much exhaust, we decided to move to the middle. Carter thought it was great fun. We were especially excited because the conductor was wearing a conductor's cap. We had just given Carter one for his birthday that morning along with a train set, but he hadn't known what to do with it. We showed him that his was just like the "real" conductor hat.

Carter and Daddy riding the train

Taylee and Mommy going along for the ride...I'm holding her binky in..

Carter in awe. He kept saying "whoa...whoa."

The white alligator

Can you spot the tiger in the bottom left?

It's decided...Carter is much smaller than a gorilla

After the zoo, we ate at Wingers in Lehi. Carter loves chicken with dip, popcorn, and chocolate milk and Wingers gives you a free kid's meal on your birthday-so we all had a blast at lunch. Even though Carter kept saying the wings were hot, he couldn't stay away from them.




After a long morning at the zoo and out to lunch, it was time for a birthday bath and nap. In celebration of Carter turning 2, we moved a big boy twin bed into his room and the crib into Taylee's room. This was a momentous occasion for all of us. Taylee slept through the night in her crib in her own room (yay!!) and Carter did awesome in his bed as well. He also got a little white table we set his train set on and a new desk with a computer game for his computer.








While the kiddos slept, I was hard at work on Carter's cake. I LOVE making cakes. When my sister Krista and I lived together, we experimented a lot with fondant and came up with some cool creations, but fondant isn't super fun for little kids to eat. I found a cake in taste of home magazine that I knew would be just perfect for my little guy....Candyland. Carter loves the game and candy is the key to Carter's heart so I knew a cake topped with candy would suit just fine. Needless to say, his cousins at his birthday party didn't complain about all the candy either :)






That night we had some family and friends over for cake and ice cream. Carter was excited to share his birthday with all his buds. Carter is terrified of fire because I talk to him a lot about the dangers of fires/ovens/stoves, etc. During FHE a few weeks ago, we talked about Shadrach, Mesach and Abindago (sp??) and Carter was so concerned they were in the hot fire. If he sees a picture of angels or Jesus surrounded by light now he says, "fire...hot." He DID NOT want to blow out the candle or get anywhere close to that "fire" on his cake. Thank you Shanda/Jamin/Jared/Braden, Lynsey/Peach/Caden, Chad/Crystal/Ella, and Sara & Angela for making it such a special day for Carter. He's lucky to have such good friends!



Race track and cars from J, Shanda, and the boys



Lightning McQueen from Aunt Sara...he's slept with that car a few nights...



Thanking Baby Caden for the fun pop-up book

All day long, if Carter disobeyed or got into trouble I told him "It's ok-it's your birthday." He got to have whatever he wanted for snacks during the day and make as many messes as he wanted. He figured out that this birthday thing was pretty big and by the end of the day was saying "birthday" if we corrected him or told him "no." He went to bed late the night of his birthday and the next morning woke up and begged for cake. I told him we don't eat cake for breakfast and he said "but...birthday" with a big grin on his face. I busted out laughing and Carter tried using the birthday card the rest of the day. I had to keep telling him his birthday was over and he would have to wait another year to use it again. What a smartie.