Carter's 8th Birthday

Carter's 8th Birthday is on a Sunday! And to top it off, a fast Sunday! He was pretty disappointed until he found out that Papa, Grandma Lynne and Great Grandma "Tutu" were coming!

He woke up with the biggest smile and best mood. We looked at his baby scrapbook and talked about whether or not he was ready to start fasting. (8 is when we've started that with our kids.) Since our meetings don't start until 1pm, it was going to be pretty hard but he was willing to wait until noon and have 1 piece of bread only. Although he kept asking every 15 minutes "How much longer until noon?" he still had a great attitude.

He got a new shirt and looked dang handsome it! Here is a photo as we are ready to leave. By the way, we are waiting to have him baptized in Novemeber on the same day as the baby blessing.

Carter and Tutu looking nice before church.

The afternoon they arrived, (Saturday, July 5th)we sat and visited on the couch as Grandma Lynne prepared dinner. Tutu giving her undivided attention to Carter as she looked at every drawing and story from the first grade. He went in his 1st grade folder and brought out pretty much the whole thing. She seriously looked at each one and either commented or giggled. He was thrilled to have someone interested.

Giving Papa a goodnight hug. After this, he kept coming downstairs and telling us that he's just too excited to sleep and that his eyes just won't shut!

Carter loves to make people happy. He found a way by being a backscratcher. He started that with Michael because Michael was willing to pay. But for his grandmas, he insisted that it was free. Here is Grandma Lynne, (on the couch so Tutu could have the bed) going to sleep with Carter scratching her back.

Here he is with Tutu--she's hooked up to her oxygen machine and he's in there with a back scratcher up her shirt. He was scratching a little too hard but she was trying to sweet by saying, "Oh Carter, that felt so good! That was great, thank you." He wasn't catching the hint--he said, "Oh, no--I've BARELY started! And this is free!" Finally, I had to kindly end the session.

Finally! After church and a yummy dinner, the presents: a super soaker,

Then a pocket knife from Mallory

Very appreciated! Carter is famous for his enthusiastic reactions to surprises and presents.

Mallory helping Carter read the card from Tutu

Then a card and $20 from Grandma Peterson!

Iron Man action figure from Nick

Appreciated once again!

Another card with cash from Grandma Lynne

A box of gold dollars from Papa

And finally, the Ripstik! And in green--he didn't even know it came in that color. No more having to borrow Nick's and Mallory's.

Extremely happy!

He has to try it out right now and in the house

All three on the ripstiks

When I asked Carter what cake he would like, without hesitation, he said carrot cake. Thanks, Carter, for choosing the most time consuming cake in existence!

Stealing a kiss from the birthday boy

Saying Goodbye Monday Morning--the kids sat on the porch and pouted as they were driving off. . .

Family Night With the Caldwells

This evening with the Caldwell's is one of those examples of when keeping it simple, makes it more fun. We had to cancel the lake because of the obnoxious wind storm that suddenly formed at 4pm, but we still had a picnic dinner in their backyard. After dinner, Carrie gave a short but great family night lesson--the kids listened and participated. Then they played more in the yard. We left while everyone was still having fun--not waiting for the melt-down of moods. Here are some fun photos:

Mallory and Kylie

Kylie has been our neighbor for about a year, but it wasn't until softball when they got to know eachother. They played all summer without any fighting--they have a lot in common. They both like sports and playing outside, but like to do girl stuff too. These photos were taken right after the new camera, so I was experimenting. I was trying different settings with the flash and getting frustrated! But, some cute photos:

Father's Day

For Father's Day, we took the opportunity to visit my dad in Provo. We were already there for Michael's nephew, Brandon Peterson's, Farewell, so it worked out perfectly. I wanted Father's Day to be special for both Michael and my dad! We gave my dad a cool Nike Dri-Fit polo shirt, which he loved, or at least pretended to love, and Michael got a long wanted spotting scope. Since I had just received a new camera for my birthday a few days before, I took advantage of the beautiful June afternoon--the light was perfect for great photos, so I took a lot. So, here they are:

Michael and my dad, checking out the new scope, my beautiful mother (can you believe she is almost 68?), my 93 year old great grandma "Tutu" with the kids, Mallory with her daddy, the beautiful view of Timp from their yard (I took this photo also because this was the view from my bedroom growing up), Nick, Mallory, Carter, & all three kids, pretending to like eachother. Yes they were bribed to smile.

My 36th Birthday

The night before my birthday, when I got into bed, there was the blue bunny that Carter had given me for Mother's Day. It was holding a note with 2$ in it. He snuck in there pretty late, but wanted me to have it so I could wake up to it on my birthday.

I woke up to more of Carter's sweet notes. This time, Mallory joined in and they decorated the wall with notes in the shape of an "M". I never found out if that meant Mom or Megen:

If my birthday ended there, it would have been just great, but the family had more surprises. Of course the new camera was not a surprise, but Michael would not let me open it until after dinner. I played around with it a little. The kids joined in together to get the memory card for the camera and each picked out what they thought were my favorite candy bars (Toblerone, Milk Duds, and a Symphony Bar, and Stride Gum.) How cute! Michael also got a cookies and cream ice cream cake. It was awesome! Thanks guys.

Also, which made the day so fun, was that Jen Rouska and Liz Timothy took me to lunch at La Cabana, my favorite. Then Jen took me for a pedicure because she knows bending over to do it myself kinda sucks for me right now. We laughed so hard during the pedicures because the guy doing them is Vietnameze, so right there everything is going to be funny anyway, but add in that he is going crazy on my feet with the file. It tickled so bad and we were laughing so hard that I almost wet my pants. Ok I did, but just a little. . . Then we got drinks and ice cream from Mavrick. FUN BIRTHDAY!