No time to breathe, but here is a post

Holy cow. We are busy people. We just had our massive Monroe Pioneer Days, and we were so busy during that, that we only had time to take two pictures even! Here are things I promise one day to post about...The rest of our Disneyland trip, Eric's Priest Super activity, our Washington trip and Eric's 10 year reunion, Pioneer Days--to include my debut as a committe member who managed to put together a SMASHING parade, our Youth conference which Eric and I entirely put together...and have we really even mentioned yet that Brooke is 3 now??? Seriously, we have nad no time to breathe, let alone clean our house...as you can clearly see we've had major event after major event after major event. Don't worry though. Once August hits, we will have a breather!!

Pioneer Days!

Oh Pioneer Days how we love thee! Oh Monroe how we love thee!! Oh CJ, how we love that you are on the Pioneer Day committee this year and next!! Yes, it gave Pioneer Day a whole new flavor to BE IN CHARGE!!! And, I have the best husband ever. My family was supposed to be able to come celebrate with us, but were unable to, so Eric managed the house and children with delight and ease while I was busy up to my eyeballs for the week of/and for the celebration!! He still had time for sweet 3-on-3 action though! His team: Joe Spendlove, Morgan Wood (Logan's cousin), Eric, Orion Wilson, Logan Jones (manager) :) We loved doing the kids parade this year!!

There's my awesome neon green committee member shirt!!

This represents the heat and exhaustion that goes along with the concessions on the park.

And this represents my heat and exhaustion from a week of fun and hard work!! My partner Trish and I ROCKED the parade. It was SO JOYOUS the morning of to line them up in my order I had spent hours over and know and direct and do. I felt like check-in morning in R-Hall!! I loved it!! Hooray Pioneer Days!!

Viana's Cute!!

Viana: Daddy, can we go to the movie (rental) store and get new kid movies??
Eric: I don't know. Maybe. Do you like kid movies?
Viana: Yeah.
Eric: Why do you like kid movies?
Viana: Because they're not scary.
Eric: Do you like scary movies Viana?
Viana: Yeah.
Eric: Why do you like scary movies?
Viana: Because they're FUN!

OHS 10-yr. reunion

Eric's reunion was July 17-18. It was super fun and I'm really glad that we got to go! It was really well organized and there were several events that we got to go to. What I don't have pictures of is us at the Othello Brunswick...mostly because it's a bar. Don't worry, it's also a restaurant too and we left as soon as the, um, "happy hour" really got going. The next day they had a family picnic. That was really great. It was fun to see everyone's kids, and likewise fun to show-off our own!That night was the formal dinner. It, ironically, wasn't even in Othello...but that's ok! Here's everyone in Eric's class that could make it. That doesn't really look like that many...through out the two days we saw a lot of his class though.

This was our table (the BEST!) That's Me and Eric, Bri and Russell Stott (we are best friends. I am sad we don't live closer), and Colby Smith and his now ex-girlfriend. But we had a good time!!

I put this picture is here so that you can see how not much really changes in 10 years. These girls are exactly as they look and Eric says this is how they were then. It kind of cracked me up to be able to "classify" all theses strangers into the exact HS clique they belonged to.

Eric is receiving his "SKOR" bar for the award for most kids. There were several at this dinner with three, but we whipped out the big card of baby #4 on the way to take the prize!!

Earlier that day they had a golf tourny (SOOOOOO fun) but didn't get pictures there...but this is Adam Hill who was on our best ball team.

And to go along with the earlier picture of the girls typifying their HS selves...this picture typifies Eric's self. See how there aren't many people left? See how I'm soooo tired? See how Eric (way in the back) is socializing with every single person there...to the bitter end?? I LOVE THAT PART OF ERIC'S CHARACTER!!!

Thanks Eric for taking me to a great reunion!!!

A trip to Washington (and the Boise Zoo!)

We hadn't been to Eric's house for quite some time...so when Eric's ten-year reunion came time for due, we loaded the car and headed to Washington!! But first, then night before we left we found out about baby #4!! Yeah, this picture is totally supposed to have all of us in it, but, I guess when your baby #4 your life is just busier! So, we have family pictures with all the other pregnancy tests, this one, only gets Ram in it :)Going to Grandma's house pretty much means 2 things: Cousins and swimming. Even better when the two are combined!! The rest of the trip was great and relaxing, the reunion was so great (see separate post) and the drive home was just as great! We stopped in Boise to chop up the drive and had a splendid time. Boise is where Eric and I spent our honeymoon, so it holds a special place in our heart.

Here are three pictures of us at the Rose Garden on our honeymoon:And here we are 6 years later with 3 kiddos and one on the way!!The Boise Zoo is right next to the Rose Gardens, and since it was a Sunday when we went on our Honeymoon we didn't get to go to the Zoo...but we did this time!! It was SUPER great!!

Ram and I liked the real giraffes. Viana and Brooke were just as happy with the bronze one.

Ditto that on the tigers!!

Though they did actually like to watch the real one pace.

Ram and I were batty over these ears!!

And here's me, nesting, with my little flock. I love being a mom!

Things you've never seen

We don't really know how it happens exactly, but we keep finding ourselves back at Disneyland. We always take charming pictures on the carousel and with princesses and outside Buzz Lightyear...basically, we have a lot of pictures that look the same from trip to trip. This is still fun to see how the kids grow (and never you worry, tomorrow will be a post of "the usuals") but today I thought we would entertain you with the never before seen side of Disneyland + Carters! We did a lot of new things this time and it was great!! Without further ado, the Neverbefores...

You never knew you could buy a pair of Incredibles.Or a family of little green aliens for that matter.You've never seen me and my sister at Disneyland together. Can you tell we're sisters? That's the same face for sure. (It really is the happiest place on earth even if you look like this sometimes). You've never seen my fat asian LaDon nephew Daniel with me at DL. And you've seen Ram...but those two teeth are sure cute. And you've seen the carousel, but you've never seen someone be THAT excited about it!

You've never seen the Buzz ads for World of Color...which was a first and it was AWESOME.

Nor have you seen Bert from Mary Poppins tell the Incredibles they had a special mission to ride Screamin' (3 times...ps. Saturday July 3--NOT CROWDED!!!! NO LINES. NO WAITS. NO HEAT!! It was a pleasant surprise!) You've never seen Eric as the Mad Hatter, or us dust off some amazing chicken from the mexican place on the wharf at California Adventure. And never have you seen us LOVE the bakery and tortilla factory tours. DON'T MISS THOSE!! We have in the past, but never will again!

You've never seen me spell my name at DL. And you may have seen a picture of me in front of Grizzly River Rapids, but did I mention that picture is from my hotel room? Never stayed inside the park before. It was awesome! (That was our anniversary treat for 2 nights). And never have you seen Eric with his Jack Skellington drawing. Animation Academy--INCREDIBLE!!! Don't miss that beauty either!!

You've never seen a picture of us on Davy Crockett's canoes. That was probably my favorite new experience! You've never seen me eat ice cream with an elephant. And you've never seen me play the piano at Disneyland. Now THAT was cool!!!

And you thought you'd never see the perfect picture of Eric an Ram in their matching Mater and Lightning McQueen shirts with Mater and Lightning, but here it finally is!!

So there you go, a little different flavor of a Carter Disneyland trip!

Brooke quits cold turkey

If you know anything about Brooke you will know that she loves two things: her flower blanky and sucking her thumb with her flower blanky. She is precious and dear when she self-soothes this way, but when the dentist says, "hmmm, looks like you've got a thumb-sucker here," you know it's time to break the habit. Joyously, Brooke only sucks her thumb when she has her blanket; so, get rid of blanket, get rid of thumb-suckin'. Since we were going to Disneyland for her birthday and for her potty-training celebration, we figured we might as well make the trip entirely about becoming a big girl--who doesn't have blankies. Or suck her thumb. About a month ago we introduced this idea to Brooke and asked her who she would like to give her blankies to since she was going to be a big girl. Mickey and Minnie were the lucky donor recipients. At Toontown Mickey and Minnie have their charming houses and that is where Brooke left her best friends (What started out as a beautiful crib-sized quilt ended up like this...)

Brooke hung the first blanky on Mickey's laundry drying rack. She was brave as could be and we walked right over to Minnie's house.

There she left her other blanky on Minnie's bed. She tested it out and decided Minnie would really like it.

When she came out of Minnie's house she jumped up into my arms and was screaming with glee, "I'm a big girl now! I'm a big girl now!" Enough to make a mother cry? Of course!!

She was awesome. And she's been awesome since!! The first night after the deed was done she woke up once in the middle of the night. I went in to help her and she said, "I want my...It's dark in here." It was so cute, she caught herself from saying blanky and moved on. Since then there has been no thumb sucking, no pining for blanky and no more little girl!

Brooke is 3 and a big girl. A really, really big girl.

Eric's Priests' Super Activity

Eric is an awesome YM president. He held his Priest Super activity July 8-10. The theme was 'Remember where you're going.' He and the priests went up north and did a plethora of activities that all focused on different aspects of, well, where they were going!

Their first stop was at the Mt. Timponogas temple. L to R: Little Nielson boy, Calten Brady, Andrew Hanover, Justin Hackworth, Garrett Lott, Heston Ross, Logan Jones.

That night they went to 7 Peaks water park and talked about conquering fears. Same kids as before plus Orion :) And what Priest activity would be any good without a late night trip to McDonald's for ice cream?? (Justin, Andrew, Bro. Neilson, little Nielson, Garrett, Calten)
They stayed at Orion's grandparents house (thanks Chidesters!) and took Trax up to Temple Square the next day. (Garrett, Bishop Jones, Calten, Justin)
They went and saw the Joseph Smith movie. Everyone cried :) (Calten, Bishop, Logan, Joseph Smith, Justin, Garrett, Heston, Andrew)
Miniature golf at Trafalga (Logan, Orion, Calten)
And the last morning they hiked the Y! (Andrew, Garrett, Justin, Orion, Heston, Bishop, Calten, Logan)
What a great activity for a great bunch of Young Men!!!

More to come! (fingers crossed)

Carters like birthdays, and Brooke's was no exception! She is three and thriving, and got a pretty good start to her 3 year old life at Disneyland! (Thank you Grandma!)