BYU Football and New Mexico trip

Lynsey and Peach bought us All-Sport passes this year and we've had a blast at the games. The first game was SO HOT! By the end of the game, I had stripped the kids of almost all their clothes...just onesies left. Both of them were red and sweaty. I felt bad....but I think they had a fun time. Taylee was so patient and Carter...well, he found ways to keep busy. We missed the Air Force game to go to Lagoon for Tyson's work banquet, but then made the road trip to Albuquerque for the BYU/NM game and to see the Gibson family. We were worried about the 10 hour trip each way (and we were only staying one day), but the kids were amazing. Carter was an angel the whole time and Taylee only got upset the last couple hours of the leg home. It definitely helped to have Sara along. I LOVED getting to hang out with Janae and the kids had a blast together. I miss the days when all of us sisters lived close in Provo. In Albuquerque, Janessa and Craig got us tickets to the BYU tailgate party. Being in New Mexico's home territory, it was nice to be around so many BYU fans. Tyson and Craig also got to attend a fireside by Bronco and some of the guys the night before the game and they really enjoyed that. The game was a blast. There were some hostile NM fans for sure (it was their homecoming) but all in all people were pretty nice. The weather was beautiful and once again the kids were pretty good. The game started late, so by 9:30pm (with 4 minutes left in the game and after review a BYU touchdown taken away) Carter had lost it. I began walking back to the car with him...not sure yet if we'd won or not. We ended up taking the win and getting home safely. Thanks Janessa and Craig for a super trip! We'll have to do it again soon.

BYU vs Arizona

All decked out

A win for the Y

Road Trip
Taylee taking a car seat break at a bathroom stop


Carter got to choose a treat at the gas station...gummy sharks.





We made it! Janessa had yummy homemade pork salads waiting


Taylee was so excited to be out of the car...she konked right out


Carter found Mommy's mascara while taking an afternoon nap. I went in to check on him and he had it all over his eyes. He was quite confused when he woke up with black eyes.



BYU vs New Mexico

Taylee had fun playing at the tailgate party


Grace meeting Cosmo...Carter was hiding behind Tyson


Blue snowcones...


Grace and Abby wanted to join the BYU cheerleaders while they were doing their stunts...Janessa and Craig have to be quick on their feet







Taylee loves to eat Daddy's hair









Look at that gorgeous sky



Abby kept herself busy during the game by decorating her face with M&Ms...whatever works.

It's Back!

I finally have the internet...just hooked up today in fact. All is well. Seriously-I was really missing having internet in the home. I am sooo behind on pictures. We have done so many fun things since I have been able to post. We went to Albuquerque for the BYU/NM game and visited with Janessa and Craig and the girls. They're been some FUN BYU games (and hot ones too...) We went to Lagoon and Carter LOVED the rides. We got a surprise package from my best friend growing up, Adrienne: a beautiful quilt for Taylee and jammies for Carter. A visit from Uncle Chris on his way up to BYU-I and lots of just hanging out and being silly. I'll be posting pics once I get everything downloaded and kids to nap.

Movie Stars

Well...sort of.

So, Carter and I were on the news today. You can check it out at ABC4 news.com and then to Good THings Utah. We're in a clip about RealDeals-Cornbelly Cornmaze. If our internet was working right (it's still not) I'd put the clip on the post, but this will have to do. We go a call early this morning to dress warm and head to Thanksgiving Point (we live just a few minutes south of it). Once there, we were asked to play on some of the equipment while they did a live feed for a blurb about the halloween corn maze. They asked Carter and I to play on the petal bikes. Sure...that's easy enough. The only problem was I wasn't strong enough to petal the darn bike forward. I had Carter on my lap and kept trying to push it forward, but would roll back. I didn't know when they were going to tape, so I kept trying to move forward...just to roll backward. Finally, I stopped moving and just sat there smiling hoping that's what they'd tape. Of course, when I checked out the live footage that aired (it was posted tonight on the internet) all they got of Carter and I was us going back and forth. What a wimp...oh well. We got comped some free family passes to visit once it opens to the public and some sweet air time... :)

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.