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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Turkey week in Arizona

We just don't sit still here in Utah. From one vacation/road trip to the next, we are just go-go-go. Not the way I prefer it, but my husband does! But we love being around both our families so it does make it worth it =)
We made the 10+ hour drive to Fountain Hills, AZ (near Scottsdale) to spend the week with Aaron's family. 
Can't complain about 70+ degree weather the whole week!! Carter absolutely loved being outside, as did we.

Hiking with the fam, and posing with Steve



A toddler + water= major fun.. and a tantrum when you have to leave ;)




So up until this past week, I had never ran any race (except sprints when I did track in high school). Aaron's brother's girlfriend (on the right) is a big runner and looked into the turkey trot down in Arizona so us 3 signed up! It was just a 5k but it was really fun! It was sooo nice to get lots of exercise while we were down there, because I ate A TON. Not a good thing when you're training for a figure competition...
Before the race, there were some random samples of this "energy towel" that you breathe in... Here's Aaron just soaking it in...
Mr. Aaron happened to finish before me (yes, indeed he is faster) and managed to get a pic of me crossing the line, and feeling like I was going to THROW UP. 
(For future personal reference, I ran it in 24:06, and placed 2nd in my age group.. gotta beat that next year!)
Aaron got 4th in his age group so we felt pretty "fit" that we actually placed. Neither of us are what you'd call "runners."

Thanksgiving day- Carter had very little turkey, and lots of pie and chocolate cake.

On the way home to Utah, we stopped in Flagstaff to visit Aaron's aunt and uncle- Carole and John, and got to meet a bunch of extended family I didn't know yet. Carter loved getting out to run around and play with the "big kids." =)

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Carter's birthday and Halloween

Well I've put off this post because I'm waiting for a certain family member to email me their pics of Carter's birthday that they took!! So for now, here's what we've got:

While we were on our cruise, my dad and Aimee took Carter to their ward trunk-or-treat party. We had forgotten to leave his cow costume, so they got creative and made him a little mummy =)
Aimee made a cute little Halloween dinner with some deviled eggs with spiders and bats...
And mummy dogs =)

We missed out on the trunk-or-treat so we decided to go trick or treating too, on Halloween. Carter kept his cow "hat" on maybe 30 seconds... he hates hats.
 Carter's Uncle Ryan got him a kinect game for kids.. with a PANDA in it, and he LOVES pandas. It was cute watching him copy Aaron, trying to play the game.
 Happy guy on his birthday!
 So Carter's actual birthday, we went to Chuck E Cheese with some friends, since he had never been. Carter had a good time, but I honestly think the dads had more fun, playing each other in arcade games :)
 Val and Taylor getting intense
 Carter with his buddy, Brighton

 Auntie Val got Carter a Woody doll.. he lOVES that thing!
Here's where we're missing a bunch of photos. But we did do a PANDA theme for his birthday (the following day), and we had some fun little cupcakes.
I bought him these panda ears to wear for his birthday, and we were practicing the night before... Did he wear them for the party? NOPE of course not!
Here's some more fun times with his buddy Brighton. They're about 3 months apart and have a good time =)
 So funny story... I took Carter to his 2-year old check-up. He ran around naked in the doctors room at first, and then after the visit, I put his clothes back on, and he sat behind the door, with his EYES CLOSED like this, just smiling. It was sooo silly and weird! He is full of so many quirks that keep me and Aaron laughing daily.
Some of his 2 year-old stats:
He's in the 10th percentile for both height and weight. He's a little guy, but he's developing just fine.
He's the pickiest eater.. goldfish are his staple, and he loves juice and milk. He also loves oatmeal and I have taken to sneaking pumpkin puree in it, with some peanut butter (and a bit of sugar). He loves it, and I'm proud of that ONE vegetable he'll eat.

He's talking soooo much more, and it reminds me that I no longer have a baby =( 
It's fun though, that he can communicate, especially now that he's putting 2 words together
He recently has said his prayers really well! He'll actually repeat the words and that's fun

He's obsessed with Thomas the train. And Buzz and Woody. And cars/anything that moves
He's an organizer.. the fridge magnets, the train pieces, our shoes.... anything he finds, he will align them in a row =)
He hates baths- it's a fight everytime, and has gotten progressively worse at haircuts. In fact, he threw a total tantrum yesterday at Great Clips when Aaron took him, and has quite an ugly, uneven haircut now.
Carter has a stink face, where he scrunches up his nose.. no idea where he got it from or why he does it, but it's very humorous.
He has a hilarious, fake laugh that he's been doing for a while. He'll see a baby in a car seat and just laugh in their face loud. Why, I don't know? Or in the middle of Sacrament meeting, he'll just do this super loud laugh for no reason. Embarrassing, but still very funny.

When Carter gets hurt (or mad), tears will be streaming down his face, and he's bawling. You offer him milk or a cookie or ice cream, he immediately stops crying, and says yes. Just turns it off like that. So crazy.

He likes finding the box of holiday cookie cutters, and this is how they always end up...
also note the scowl, which is common
Carter has figured out how to unbuckle the top latch of his car seat... awesome.

He loves his Pooh Bear, and his "bee" which means blankie.

Little songs with actions are his favorite things ever, and he'll pay good attention to books now =)

That's pretty much it for this silly man.
We love him lots

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Cruisin' on the eastern Caribbean

These pictures are long overdue, and they are many. BUT they are fun!
SO here's how it went: we drove Carter to Yakima, WA (11 hour drive) to drop him off with my dad and stepmom. Then we drove 2.5 more hours to Seattle to catch a plane to Orlando. Next morning, boarded the Carnival Dream with our region from Vivint.
We hit up the eastern Caribbean, stopping in the Bahamas, and Virgin Islands: St Thomas and St Maarten
Atlantis in the Bahamas...
 Unfortunately neither me nor Aaron got to enjoy this stop much because he was in the ER at the Bahamas... which made me worried and not super enthused that day to have fun =( 
More on that story later...
 It was so beautiful!
 Me and Aaron on a formal night... not sure why he's not smiling?
 Me and Malia

 So this is what we did while waiting for our dinners, which took a ridiculously long time EVERY night. Late night dining (we didn't choose it) + slow waiter= lots of down time...
 THIS handsome beast is my husband LOL
 This would be Jared... very attractive
And our chipmunk friend Malia
 St Thomas lizard
We had some fun snorkeling on this island. Not a TON to see, but there were turtles and rays that were really cool
 Gotta love the towel animals!
 Malia, me and Stacey at dinner
The girls in our group we formed: me, Malia, Stacey, Paityn, and Kylie
 Me and Aaron lounging, watching the Cardinals beat the Rangers =) We were happy to have been a part of St Louis last summer
Us with the Hoyts
Our group at St Maarten

Waitin for the boys to get the rental van at St. Maarten

Amazing view at St Maarten.. all the boys =)
din-din
The Mr. and me
me and Malia being gearing up before a comedy show
 Well that finishes it... it was an awesome cruise. And I've got to say I have an awesome husband with an awesome job. I complain a lot about moving every summer, but there's not many companies that buys their employees a cruise every year. But Aaron also earned it with his hard work. He's the best!


 We got off the ship again in Orlando and headed to Disney World!!!!
I've always wanted to go, and quickly found out that one day is nowhere NEAR enough time there!
And we totally got the hook up, going to Disney World for FREE!
This is the man that made it happen. Mr. Brent Earl, aka bellhop at the Tower of Terror!!
Since he works at Disney, getting ready for an internship, he got us in for free, free parking, fast passes, and sneaks around the back, to the front of the line again on all the rides. Let me tell you, between all that and no kids, IT'S THE WAY TO GO!
 I have a minor obsession with MJ... anyone remember this??? Since Michael Jackson died, they brought it back, and I was very excited to see it again.
 The Hoyts came with us and the Earls to Disney- it was so fun


I gotta admit, we have a good life.