An April Run for Olivia

Today I ran my first ever 5K Race!! It was in honor of April Roper, the girl who was killed in a house explosion from a gas leak in February. My sister Melanie lives kitty corner from her and has been doing a lot of work as a volunteer to get this race together. The money is going to April's daughter Olivia for college. They had about 1200 people sign up for it!

I took the boys in the double stroller which made it difficult to run but I was with my two cousins Shannon and Sarah and we just chatted the whole time! It was so much fun and I can't wait to do another one soon! Half marathon here I come!

Sarah, Carter, me, Shannon, and Matt (Preston in stroller)

Mom and Dad

They gave everyone flowers to stick on the fence of where their home used to be. So sad.

A Lovely Afternoon

Yesterday afternoon while the baby was napping, Carter and I went outside to play in the backyard. The weather was perfect, with a bright blue sky. We chased each other, digged in the dirt, and my favorite part of the afternoon was laying on our backs and looking at the clouds. We found a big one that we couldn't decide if it looked like a dragon breathing fire or an elephant. Carter decided on the dragon and made his loudest growling noise! Every plane was exciting as it flew past, and the dandelions were so fun to pick! (Fertilizer is coming I promise) It just made me so happy to be there enjoying the little things, especially Carter.

Gettin' Ready

Call Me Crazy...

but does he look ready to crawl

to anyone else?

My Boys

P Squared

I could not decide which picture was cuter, so I just put them both! Megan and Peter stopped by for a couple of hours yesterday which was a nice change of pace for me. As soon as Megan walked through the door I had to tell her how excited I was because I didn't have to clean up anything before she came because it was already clean! This is a rare occurance for me, with being the mom of two, well lets face it THREE, active and messy boys! The housework seems to never be done and every day is just a battle to do the basics. Does anyone else sympathize with me or am I just going crazy?! Aside from that, these pics are so fun because these two are holding hands, awwww. I love that they will have each other!

Mmmm Cereal...

The Greatest Woman I Know

Thank you... For always having the best advice, for your support in me no matter what,for being such a fun Grammy, for rubbing noses like eskimoses, for being the peacemaker, for being my favorite shopping partner, for giving me my GOOD decorating taste, for your testimony of the gospel, for being my best friend. I love you mom, Happy Birthday.

Jungle Gym

Dad digging out the sand pit and Carter helping spread bark.
Jax(he lives next door), Austin, Kate and Carter hard at work
"I am Tiger Woods"
Helpful, happy cousins
The Finished project, yes that is a snow shovel.

Today the Jungle Gym was finally completed and passed a thorough inspection by the Grandchildren. It is going to provide hours of fun and enjoyment. Carter loved the sand pit and the slide especially.

5 Random Things

My cousin Megan started this post and I think it was a fun one so I will continue it-Here are 5 random things that you probably didn't know about me!
#1 I Have a REALLY BIG family!
I am the youngest of 6 kids (3 boys, 3 girls) and I love being the youngest! I have 3 grandparents still alive,13 aunts, 13 uncles, 64 first cousins, 31 are married, and they have 83 kids between them (with 1 on the way),3 brother in laws,3 sister in laws, 9 nephews, 8 neices, 2 kids, 1 husband, and a partridge in a pear tree! Another fun fact about my family is that one set of my great grandparents were alive until I was 10(they died within 4 months of each other). I am very proud to be part of such a wonderful family and awesome extended family. What a blessing they have been in my life!The amazing part to me is that I am pretty close to most of my cousins and know every single one of their kids names! Ask me later if you want proof...
#2 Handwriting
I have always been obsessed with my handwriting and actually won a penmanship award in 4th grade. If I am ever talking on the phone with someone and I have a piece of paper and pen in front of me, you better believe that before the conversation is through, my name will have been written over and over about 100 times! Before I can decide if I like a name for my children I have to write it out and if it is fun to write, it's a keeper! I know it is so silly, but it's true! I am always working on making my writing better.This is something that me and my husband are definitely not alike in!
Coloring is another one of my strong suits and I get a little out of control about Carter staying in the lines if I am helping him. In 2nd grade we would all color the same picture and not put our names on them. The teacher would gather them up and we would have to vote on which one we thought was the best (besides our own). Me and my best friend at the time, Kristen Carter, were always the winners. On a side note, if I was ever playing with my barbies their pretend last name would always be Carter because I thought it sounded cool for some reason...little did I know I would someday name my son that! Isn't it funny how names stick with you?
#3 The Mafia
I think the mafia is fascinating! I actually wrote a paper in highschool about Al Capone and I think that is where my interest came from. I think it is just amazing how many things are(or used to be) under their control.The secrecy, murder, and family elements. So interesting! I saw the Godfather for the first time in college while on spring break with my roommates. We all loved it so much we decided to rent the next 2 movies and watched them all within 2 days! Those movies are long too...we liked the first one by far the best if any of you wondered. I have also been to Alcatraz in San francisco and saw Al Capone's cell. I recommend going there to anyone that has not been. The summer camp that James and I worked at was owned by a man named Chuck Fisher. I am convinced to this day he is somehow tied to the mob. I have told a few of you about his gun, "the convincer". Ask me the story if you haven't heard it!
#4 Burglars
My parents' neighbors had their house broken into while they were at home a few weeks ago and I had forgotten all about the same thing happening to me! In highschool one of my friends had a HUGE house that all of us girls were hanging out at. Her parents were out of town so she was scared to be home alone and wanted us to all come over. It was about 11pm and we were in the main family room and all of a sudden we heard footsteps upstairs. There were about 10 of us over there, so we just figured someone had gone to the bathroom or was walking around up there. After about 2 minutes we knew that it was not someone that we wanted to be there. We called the police and they told us to get out of the house as quickly as possible. They got there shortly after and caught two boys in the house trying to steal a computer and TV. That is one of the times that I can remember being truly scared.
#5 Sassy Girl
I know I seem like such an angel now (haha) but when I was about 9, I was a terror in my primary class. The teacher was a totally nice guy, but for some reason I decided it was my goal for that year to make his life a living hell. I would get all the other kids in my class to repeat everything he said, not sit in our chairs, anything to be obnoxious. His wife called my mom and asked her if she could make me stop. That didn't help. Eventually they changed teachers and I never had a problem after that. His daughter Karynn ended up becoming my best friend all through highschool. She said that she hated me for a long time after that because I was so mean to her dad! I did apologize to him when I was about 15, but to this day I will always feel bad about it. What was my problem? Who knows.

Well that sums it up, I hope you learned something new about me!

Underpants Boy

Carter had gone into the bathroom and after a lot of high speed spinning he came out miraculously trasformed into underpants boy. In his Superhero outfit of shirt covered in his dinner, blue "ees" as his cape and no trousers! The world all of a sudden feels a safer place! We managed to capture a couple of pics of him "Fwying" around the bedroom.

Family Night

For family night this week I had the idea to put together a family chore chart so that I could help Heather around the House. We move it along one space each night and I do that chore for 30 minutes, at the same time Heather does the chore I did the night before. Carter loved helping Mummy color the chart and moving it along, soon he will come to love helping Daddy with the Chores, maybe.

Easter Fun

Carter was throwing the eggs out of his basket so that he could put it on his head as a hat!
His yummy Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons Easter Egg
Yummy!
Me and Preston ready to go to church(Carter wouldn't get in the picture)
The loot

The English family had a great Easter! We had an Easter egg hunt on Saturday at Grammy and Grandad's house (which I forgot to bring my camera to) and also a yummy barbeque. Melanie put money in all of her eggs so Carter made out with I think 4 quarters and 10 pennies, wahoo! She even had a 5 dollar bill in one of the eggs so the older kids were definitely on the prowl. Austin ended up finding it with quite a few hints to help him! Carl and my dad FINALLY finished the play set in the backyard so Carter was the first to officially go down the slide. (pictures to come soon!)It was lots of fun.Then yesterday Carter woke up and the Easter bunny had been to our house and brought him some fun surprises! He got some sidewalk chalk, a DVD of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse(his new favorite), and the best of all, he and Preston were lucky enough to get an English easter egg from their Grandma and Grandad English a.k.a. the London Market! haha Here is a picture of all of the fun stuff we all got! My basket is the wicker looking one...if you look closely you will see some awesome motorcycles across the front. James got the last of the easter baskets at walmart and thought this one was so funny he had to get it. I loved it of course! I also got Phantom of the Opera-the Easter Bunny loves me! James got a fitness magazine and some dove truffle eggs. Then we went to my parents again last night for dinner. We have had a tradition since I was little to watch Ben Hur with Charleton Heston on Easter...this one was no exception. What a fun couple of days we have had!

Healthy Breakfast

Carter had a good nutritious breakfast today. I had donuts left over at work and he decided that he wanted to try each one.

Fun with Peter!

The boys had the privilege of having baby Peter over twice last week to play. Megan came over for lunch on Wednesday then we had dinner with the whole family on Friday. We watched the Diana DVD that James' parents had saved up for and played a new game called Ticket to Ride. If you have never played it, I suggest you do! Very fun. As for this picture, it is one of my favorites ever! We look over and he is flashing us!! We had to capture it on film!!
Peter playing on Preston's hippo mat
All 3 boys hanging out in their pajamas-they love being together!

Hippity Hoppity Easter's On It's Way!

As I was looking on the calendar yesterday I noticed that Easter was coming in two weeks. I had to go to the grocery store to pick a few things up and noticed easter egg dying kits. My family used to do this every Easter growing up...the memories! I even bought the same brand we used to use (paas). So we decided that we would do this fun activity for family night. Carter loved every second of it!
He wanted to help stir the egg and was very annoyed that I wanted to take this picture!
Admiring his work
Yay! This is going to be the best Easter ever!

Family Reunited

James, Preston, and Greg
Lisa, Kevin, and Bethany
Mom, Wyatt asleep, Shauna, and Mike
Scott and Lisa

Scott my brother just got a new route at his job so he gets 5 days off in a row...it was time to come back to Utah! We all got a babysitter and went out to dinner at the Smokehouse in Orem. We miss these guys living in Boise! Great stories, laughs, and fun were had by all.

Play Date

My neighbor Shannon has a little boy Barrett that is 3 months older than Carter. I have watched him for her a few times and the boys get along great.Carter was so excited when I told him that Barrett was coming over. How adorable is this picture of the two of them together?!
Carter is showing Barrett his blue motorcycle with no front wheel(still one of his favorites Mum and Dad haha) Also notice how Carter has taken out every toy and book possible to show off with...I guess it doesnt matter what age you are, we all are showoffs from birth!

The Cutest Boys on Earth!

Enough Said!

Eat Your Greens!

I saw some asparagus at Costco for a good price yesterday and LOVE it myself, so I decided to buy some. We made it for dinner tonight and Carter was shoving it in his mouth like it was candy! Honestly, I gave him about 4 of my spears alone as well as James giving him a few of his. Good times.

Sunburned!

All of us got quite a bit of sun yesterday! I love that it is so warm outside, we have been able to take walks, and play in the yard all week. It won't last too much longer so we are enjoying it while we can! James was out helping my parents yesterday put some playground equipment up for the grandkids in their backyard. Carter played on the dirt hill on the side of their house most of the day. Needless to say, he definitely needed a bath last night...eating dirt is not always the best idea.

Carter has been obsessed lately with "cancakes" so I just thought that I would capture of shot of him indulging himself in a chocolate chip pancake made especially for him by his Daddy! A direct quote by Carter after this bite, "Mmmm Good!"

Boys in sweater vests...need I say more?