Cheesy Faces and Spooky House

Maddix and Carter with two of their favorite little friends, Isabel and Ethan.  Carter doing his new found "cheesy face!"

The Three Stooges (AKA Maddix, Carter, and baby cousin Chaz.)

The boys had a fun Halloween this year.  Maddix has been looking forward to it since the end of June.  We got them this little playhouse this summer.  One of the first things Maddix thought of when it arrived was that we could make it into a "scary house" for Halloween.  I must admit I thought it was a great idea too.  Last year he was disappointed when we made him stop handing candy out to the kids and go around trick-or-treating himself to all our families homes.  So, this year we learned from our mistake and  knew he'd want to hand out the candy.  He'd been getting so excited to decorate his playhouse and make it spooky.  Finally the time came we got it all "spookified".  However,  Maddix told me we hadn't made it spooky enough.  He said it was too cute with all the smiling pumpkins, etc.  Well we did our best and it was so funny because even Carter wanted to make it spooky.  He kept going around saying "spooky" and he even added a little ghost to hang on the door.  Maddix wanted to be Wolverine again and Carter was going to be Batman.  However,  Carter is absolutely in love with backhoes, tractors, dump trucks, etc.  He can literally spot them from a mile away when we're driving around.  And recently he's discovered Bob the Builder show, which he refers to as backhoe show.  Well I couldn't pass up this opportunity to dress him up as Bob.  It was an easy costume to make since we had most of the stuff on hand.  He really enjoyed being Bob and it fit his little personality perfectly.  It was so cute when he got into his costume for the first time and the spooky house was there.  He took his hammer and starting building/hammering on his house.  He's a natural...must take after Dad.  Also Carter started really getting into taking the pictures when we told him to make a "cheesy face."  All in all it was a fun Halloween for all of us.  The kids enjoyed handing out the candy despite the cold weather.  Maddix felt so cool when one of the trick-or-treates told him that his scary house was "awesome!" This may be a tradition for the next couple of years?

Maddix's First Day of Preschool

September 8th, 2010 was Maddix's first day of preschool.   He is going to Over The Rainbow Preschool with Miss Jeri.  He gets to attend with 3 of his little friends from our ward...Stetson (his best bud), Tre Dyn, and Reagan.  It is really a bittersweet thing.  I'm happy for him because he's really wanted to go for a while.  But it's sad because it means he's growing up too fast!  I don't want my little bud to be leaving me so soon.  Hopefully this will help ease us into a kindergarten schedule for next fall.  After all it is only 2 days a week for 2 hours each.  The good thing about it is that I get an opportunity for some one on one time with Carter.

Carter's Curious George Birthday Bash

 August 20th was Carter's 2nd Birthday.  He was so cute.  All week long we'd been watching Curious George to get him really excited for the party.  All day that day I'd been telling him "Happy Birthday" and calling him the "Birthday Boy".  I don't think it really sunk in though until we were all set up for the party.  Once he saw all the treats and presents I think he finally realized...wow this is all for me!  Of course we had our jumbo George there since he was the inspiration.  I had to do some sewing repairs on his ears before the big party since Maddix had cut them off a while back!  The party wouldn't have been complete without our monkey cupcakes and banana splits.  The regular party crowd turned out and it couldn't have been more fun.  I'm so blessed to have Carter as a son.  He is just the sweetest little boy.  He has such a tender heart.  He loves little babies.  Ben and I have the opportunity to serve in the nursery that Carter attends at church.  He is so sweet to all the little ones.  He is just drawn to whoever is the youngest.  He'll give them hugs all the time.  He's usually easy going.  However Maddix knows how to get him upset.  And he definitely means business if anyone (i.e. big brother) tries to cheat him out of his precious tractor time.  He's really affectionate and cuddly.  It's my favorite when he gives me a kiss on the lips...cracks me up.   I love my little blondie!

Cabin Fever...

My Dad has a cabin up Farmington Canyon.  We went there a lot growing up.  I have a lot of fond memories of catching salamanders in the beaver pond, hiking around, making moose calls, playing the game of Aggravation and getting soooo aggravated when someone sent us back to home base, and of course playing Clue, one of my all time favorites.  My brothers and I got to the age where it was boring to be up in the mountains with no music, tv, phones, etc.  So it has been a long time since we've all been up there together.  This year we all said how much we missed it and wanted to take a trip back up there.  Well, we did it finally!  Unfortunately Ian and Jayme weren't able to make it this time, but hopefully next year.  It was the first time my boys have been there.  We had a good time.  We went to the infamous beaver pond that we'd discovered as kids and threw rocks into it.  I even scored a sweet smacker on the the lips from my angel Carter and caught it on camera!  We played games and even did a little 4-wheeling.  This is definitely on my to-do-once-a-year-list from now on!  Also on that list...go snow skiing once a year at least, go boating/water-skiing/wake boarding once a year at least,  and maybe go to Lagoon once each summer?!?

Lagoon...It's What Fun Is!?!

I love love love the first pic of the boys!  That is the look of pure joy!  That was Carter's first time ever at Lagoon and he loved it at first.  He's my little daredevil so I thought he'd like all the rides, but not so much.  He was sort of in a bad mood after they told him he couldn't ride one of the rides (too short).  He then was on strike for a little bit and wouldn't even go on the bumper cars (which he would have loved...he's an awesome driver on his tractor).  After he got some food in his tummy he was in a better mood and cheered up some.  His favorite ride definitely was the old antique Ford cars on the rails.  He rode that one like 4 times.  Maddix liked almost all the rides except the Dinosaur Drop scared him a little.  He said the swings and "old tique" cars were his favorite.  It was a fun family time.  We went with the Roberts family and their three boys.  All in all we enjoyed ourselves and look forward to next years trip to Lagoon.

Summer Photos of My Boys!

Anniversary/ Las Vegas Trip

For our 7th Anniversary we went to Las Vegas.  It was so much fun.  We got tickets to see Garth Brooks.  He put on such a great show!  I totally see why he got entertainer of the year every year before he retired.  He's awesome.  Ben has loved Garth's music forever.  He wanted to go to a concert so bad before he went on his mission, but wasn't able to.  Then during his mission he went into retirement and since then Ben's always said that we'd go anywhere to see a Garth Brooks concert.  Well, he's not officially out of retirement yet, but is under contract to perform one weekend a month at the Wynn/Encore resort.  So that's where we stayed and saw him.  If anyone gets the chance to go see him, you should definitely do it...you won't regret it.  Also while we were there, we went to Phantom of the Opera.  It was good too!  There were some technical difficulties that postponed the show for over a half hour and that detracted from the mood, but it was still really good.  And then the final highlight of the trip was our last stop into the Gold & Silver Pawn shop.  We are fans of the "Pawn Stars" show on the History channel and wanted to check it out.  As you can tell from the pics, the "Old Man" made an appearance while we were in there.  He cracked me up.  He acted so put out, like here we go again.  I've got to go make the fans happy.  He actually agreed to sign memorabilia from the customers!  He looks like he's asleep in all of our pics!  It was a really fun trip.  We want to go back sometime soon and see Ka...we've heard great things about that one.  

Our First Official Wedding For A Piece Of Cake Weddings & Events

This was the first wedding we helped plan and coordinate outside of Chantilly Place.  This was for my neighbors the Arnold's.  It was a lot of work but worth it in the end.  It turned out nice and they were really happy with it.  It was the first time I really felt like a real professional.  Everyone was asking me where to put stuff and how I wanted it!  They just kind of turned to me and told me to take the reins and run with it.  I felt like it really helped me get my feet wet.  I loved that they had the lights and chinese lanterns (that added so much to that space).  Our backdrop along with our linens and chair covers made everything look really nice.  It was a great wedding!