Carter Turns 6!

My oldest is six years old! Eek what does that make me? Oh how time does fly. This little guys birth will forever be engraved in my brain like it was yesterday. So many emotions were felt that Christmas Day in 2005. But most of all I never forget what a complete miracle this little boy is. I think about it all the time. He is without a doubt a gift to us from our Heavenly Father, plain and simple. Twenty-three week babies weighing 1lb 8oz & 12 inches long just don't survive very often and when they do they have all sorts of problems. When I went with Carter as a toddler to NICU follow-up clinics I saw all sorts of preemies. Many of them with many struggles and they were born later on than Carter. So I don't take him for granted, he's definitely a cherished little boy. He is also everything you'd expect a miracle child to be too. He has a calm sweet spirit about him. He's very loving and obedient. He's tender hearted and a protective big brother. He's definitely one of Heavenly Fathers special ones and I love him to death.

Carter is really enjoying Kindergarten this year. Besides struggling with speech he is doing very well. Intellectually Carter often surprises me. When we are doing homework like math he just seems to pick up on it easily. He's a smart little boy. Carter's favorite thing to do right now is play Mario on the Wii. His favorite food is hot dogs. He loves candy & treats. His favorite color is green and he and Garrett are obsessed with penguins (because of Mario).

I was pretty lazy with his birthday this year. I did feel bad because I went all out for Garrett's. But Christmas is just a hard time for a birthday and I never know what day to celebrate it on. I wanted it to be special so we invited all the cousins and went to Boondocks on the 26th. First we sang to him, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream. Then they have a play area to climb in and we played lots of arcade games, drove the go-carts, and went bowling. I'm pretty sure he had a good time.

Big 6 year old!

I bought the cake this year (lazy mom).

He was happy to get lots of fun presents.

Both families came to celebrate.

Dad took Carter on the go-carts. He loved it!

They always enjoy bowling.

I had to throw in this picture because I love to see these brothers cuddling under a blanket together watching TV or Carter with his favorite Christmas gift a Nintendo 3DS.

Christmas 2011

I always have mixed feelings about Christmastime. I do love fun traditions, decorations, parties, baking, and the whole spirit and excitement of things. But it's usually a very busy and overwhelming time for me too. I don't like rushing around desperately trying to find presents for everyone.  We have lots of birthday parties, Christmas parties, our anniversary, and Carter's birthday keep us busy during this month. I have to admit it was nice not having to work this year though. Although, being pregnant I'm a lazy butt. I do feel guilty because I did the very minimum and didn't really do any of the fun Christmas activities I would have liked to of done with the kids. I really struggle with ambition to do anything while pregnant. So maybe next year ;) But I think we did enough to keep these little boys excited for the season.

Mark and I celebrated our 8th anniversary by going to Salt Lake. We dropped the boys off at Grandpa & Grandma's and stayed at the Little America hotel. It's always nice to just get away for a night, eat a nice dinner, and do a little shopping with my lover :) Downtown is always fun at Christmastime too. I can honestly say Mark and I are meant to be. He's my best friend and I love just being around him. Yes, he does know how to drive me nuts (I call his technology devices his first wife) but I love him anyways and we are a lot a like and have so much fun together with our little family. I'm blessed to have such a good husband.

We started the month out by decorating the tree. Yes, it is a pathetic little tree. But it fits in our little family room. Carter and Garrett did a great job of putting all the balls in the same spot :)

The boys made cute Shepard's at the Slater Christmas party.

Ty and Korver were there too.

We have some fun traditions at this party that we did when I was a kid too. We had the "grab bag" (a present is tied to a string in a box, everyone pulls out a gift at the same time). We also did the "peanut bust" (grandma throws out candy and peanuts and everyone gets knocked in the head with them as they try to fill their bags). Don't ask me where those weird names came from :)

 We spent Christmas Eve at the Westergard's. We had a nice turkey dinner. I should have taken a picture since Susan always decorates the table so pretty. See I'm just not with the program this year.

Christmas morning at our house was a lot of fun this year. It gets funner each year as these boys get bigger and more excited about it. They are wearing their new pajamas and checking out their stockings.

Here's a bunch of pictures of the present opening chaos.

They took turns opening things and were really interested in seeing what each other got and showing it off. 

The morning wouldn't be complete without a "sad face" from Garrett. He can't find a present with his name.

In the afternoon we went to my Mom's house and had a fabulous lunch then opened gifts.

Garrett was having a rough afternoon and was very emotional. He was happy to get a rocking horse.

Carter got some walkie talkies and a marble run.

Come to find out Garrett was emotional because he was sick. We asked him to smile for a picture and he puked everywhere. Poor kid. This was the beginning of a month full of sickness and puking at our house. My carpet will never be the same :(

Mark got a bunch of dress clothes for work.

Grandma Hall spent Christmas with us this year.

We love to tease Mom that they look just alike and act alike too.

Don't forget it's Carter's Birthday! He turned 6. We had his big party the next day.

I was too lazy to make a cake (I had too many other things I was in charge of cooking).

I did have cupcakes though because that's how we announced to the family on Christmas what I was having. A pink center of the cupcake meant girl and a blue center meant boy. 

What do you think the baby is?

Mark Graduates!

We have a new college graduate in the family! My handsome husband Mark graduated with his Bachelors Degree in Business Finance. He actually graduated in August but just walked in December. I wanted him to walk because I remember it was a fulfilling experience for myself. It's a time to celebrate all the hard work and sacrifice that's made while going to college. I also wanted pictures so my children can see that education is important to us as they grow up. This was a long awaited day for me too. I've been on his case about getting this done since we were newly married and I'm so proud of him. When he finally made up his mind to finish school Mark went full force and finished up sooner than I thought he could. It was a lot of work for him having a family, working full-time, and going to school full-time. I sure hope it pays off :)

 Wahoo!

He's in line on the right side waiting his turn.

They just announced his name :)

Walking down the center isle

Sitting with his business buddies

Our Family

One more on the way (I'm about 4 1/2 months pregnant)

Mark's parents were so proud. His mom even had tears in her eyes (loved it).

My mom was pretty proud too

Halloween 2011

I usually love the Fall around Halloween time, but this year I was a party pooper. I didn't do all the fun Halloween things I usually do during the month because I felt like death. I was in pure survival mode, just surviving each day. Why? Well, because I'm pregnant with baby #4 (3rd pregnancy, 4th baby). Pregnancy is really rough on me. Actually I hate it. Strong word I know, but I feel sooo sick and nauseated day after day and it gets me down. With the first two I was sick until half way. Even then it never fully went away it just became do-able. So in the beginning knowing that I'm going to feel like I have the stomach flu for 4 months straight is more than I can handle. Let's just say Mark gets to put up with a lot from me during this time. I'm miserable and I don't hide it. Bad attitude I know. This time around the nausea is a little bit better and I can control the puking if I control my brain. So that's good. However, I've never experienced this type of exhaustion before. I have bad fatigue and could sleep all day. No joke. I was reading about pregnancy symptoms one day and the article said, "You may feel so tired that you are falling asleep just reading this." The funny part was that it was true. My goal is to survive until Christmas. Can I do it?

So this Halloween wasn't all that exciting, but I don't think my boys knew the difference. I felt bad because I didn't even get excited about costumes. Garrett wore a hand-me-down from Carter, and I bought Carter the cheapest little fireman costume in the store. At least he picked it out, so he didn't mind. I'll do better next year when I'm not 3 months pregnant. Promise :)

We did carve pumpkins at Grandmas. They aren't so sure about touching those slimy guts though.

Carter finally got into it after some coaxing from Mark.

 Yuck! I could barely stand the smell.

Getting ready to head out trick-or-treating on Halloween.

I even got excited to go.

My cute Dino Garrett.

My handsome fireman Carter.

He's pointing to his pumpkin he carved by himself.

I didn't get any good trick-or-treating pictures.

Here we are at the Slaterville park at the trunk-or-treat.

It was insanely packed.

Some people get pretty creative.

This is a Garrett pouting moment. He was mad so he stands still and won't follow us. He sticks out his bottom lip and looks at the ground. It's just a memory photo for me because he's done it many times. I want to remember his personality.

American West Heritage Center

In October we went with Dan's family to the American West Heritage Center in Logan. This is the second time we've been and always have a good time. They have a bunch of land that they've set in a pioneer time theme. Even the volunteers walk around in pioneer attire. There's some real pioneer homes to walk through with farm animals outside. A town area with buildings like a mercantile and candy shop. Lots of little activities were going on for us to do. I enjoyed the nice day, fresh air, and sunshine. 

Carter is learning how to get corn off the cob for the animals with this machine.

They had lots of goats to pet.

There were ponies to ride.

Garrett loved the pony ride and begged to go back.

They had a candy cannon and the kids stormed the field in search of it. Here they are checking out their loot.

We got lost in the corn maze.

Garrett kept taking off and almost really got lost.

The very favorite part of the day was this huge slide set on a hill. They loved it and didn't mind the walk back up. Carter's with Logan here on their first ride down.

Carter coming down.

Garrett started getting pretty wild and began tumbling down head first. But he was all smiles.

This is the western town they have there. It's complete with cowboys having gun fights.

Of course we had to ride the little train a few times.

Choo Choo!