Mesa Temple Easter Pageant

Growing up in Arizona I think that I got spoiled by having the Easter Pageant so close as we went to watch it quite often and although it was always the same it was always amazing, but I am sure that I took it for granted. For those of you who have not seen it - it is awesome. It is such an amazing depiction of the Savior's life, death, and resurrection and the spirit that was there was undeniable. Well I hadn't seen it in four years because we were in Tucson and last year when we were going to go Gage was sick and I stayed home with him. Since we are moving this summer I decided that I had to get there to see it. Well, I think that it was more amazing this year than I remembered. It was so fun to watch it with my boys. Gage was so excitable and kept telling us everything that he saw. He would say "lamb, lamb, lamb, baaaa, baaaa," until he saw something else that sparked his interest, "baby, baby, soldiers, soldiers, fire, fire, Jesus, Jesus," he even included the airplanes flying over head during the production. It was lots of fun to see him get so excited about it. Carter was really entranced by the whole thing as well, I think that it was neat for him because the different New Testament stories that were depicted were familiar to him from the scripture stories that we read at night. Although he did get quite concerned at the end that they had really nailed the man depicting Christ to the cross. It was a good time with spent with family.

The Wild, or not so Wild, West

Brett, Gage and Dollar

Gage and I went to Prescott this past weekend so that I could work for my dad. Carter had a soccer game Saturday so he stayed home and enjoyed a boys night with Dad and Uncle Rustin. On Saturday Gage and I went to my brother Brett's house to ride horses. This was Gage's first time and he absolutely loved it! His ride with me was not so exciting as I would't even put the horse in a trot as long as I had Gage on my lap for fear that I would drop him (it didn't help that my brother only has English saddles which don't have a horn to hold onto like the Western ones do). Anyhow, my brother took Gage for a real ride and all I could hear when they galloped past was Gage giggling. My brother likes to play polo so I decided to try my hand at hitting a ball around with the mallot. I managed to hit the ball but I didn't have the confidence (or talent for that matter) to go for the ball while the horse was running, I almost did once but as soon as I started to lean for the ball I quickly saw visions of myself falling off the horse and immediately retracted. It was still fun - maybe after I get used to the English saddle I will be a bit more confident. Ever since we have been home Gage has been obsessed with horses and everytime he prays he says, "Tant tchoo for horsies." (translation: Thank you for horses). Thanks for a fun time Brett.

Taking care of Dollar after a good ride.

Pre-school Soccer, gotta love the herds!

(Carter is the little guy going for the ball in the red )


Well Carter started playing soccer and absolutely loves it! He has had so much fun meeting new friends and running around after the ball. He is surprisingly doing pretty well. He has had three games now and the first game was very entertaining to watch as a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds were chasing the ball and trying to get any kind of control. Carter was quite timid the first game and didn't get too much ball time but had it figured out by the second week and scored 4 goals.














Leader of the pack!

Still trying to figure this darn thing out!

Well, I finally got some things posted on my blog. We are still having internet issues and it usually stops working after about a half hour of use, so needless to say there have been several frustrating moments trying to get this thing going. I am still working out kinks with formatting but I don't have time in my 30 minute sessions to change things that have already been uploaded so I guess this blog will just have to get better as we go! I finally got things uploaded from February so I am catching up.

Happy Birthday Gage - The Terrific Two's

"Singing Happy Birthday to myself!"

Of the years that I have experienced as a mother I would have to say that so far two has been my favorite age! I love two year olds. I am so excited for Gage to be two. I know, I know, it is supposed to be the dreaded terrible two’s, but honestly two year olds are learning so many new things every day and they are so excited about everything in the world around them. When Carter was two he was a pretty big talker and could tell me exactly what he wanted so I am sure that drastically minimized the tantrums that were thrown - so we will see how it goes with Gage! Gage is talking sooo much more! In the last few weeks his vocabulary has really exploded. I attempted to compile a list of the things that he now says, but then I realized he says pretty much everything that we say, HOWEVER, he says it when he wants to say it, he is absolutely not a performer and never has been. (I guess that means he probably won’t be performing on Broadway!) I remember the first time he said “snow cone.” He really wasn’t talking at all at the time (this was the beginning of last summer so he was only 15 months). He only had a few words in his repertoire. We were by the pool and I was trying to get him to go inside to where my cousin was making snow cones and he really excited and said “Snow Cone” like three times, I had to look over at my cousin to make sure that I wasn’t making it up and she heard it too. Once we got inside I tried to get him to say it for everyone and he looked at me like I was crazy!

His favorite phrase right now is “Stop it Carter!” He says it so often that the other day he didn’t like something that his daddy was doing and he snapped “Stop it Carter!”

Gage was so excited to be the center of attention on his birthday, he relished every moment of the spotlight! He had just watched Carter celebrate his birthday 2 weeks previous and was so excited for it to be his turn! He mimicked everything Carter did on his birthday including not sharing any of his presents with him. His favorite thing to say after opening each present was “Mine!” but quickly learned to chime a thank you and give big hugs! We celebrated his birthday with my family on the big day and a couple days later had a few friends come over to play and had a blast, there were lots of balls, played in the sandbox, popped popcorn and played in the bouce house that we borrowed from my parents. It was fun to watch the kids play side by side as they all did their own thing. It is so much fun to watch and listen to a two year old.



















It's my Birthday!!
































Yay for Birthdays!!

Disneyland, Hollywood, CA Science Center, Aunt Linnie’s and the beach… gotta love L.A.

When someone says February 14th, what’s the first word that comes to mind? I dunno – love, flowers, chocolate, valentines? Well somehow when my sweet hubby was scheduling his clinical skills board exam (an 8 hour test that has to be taken in one of 6 cities in the Nation) these words did not come to mind (he wondered why the 14th was the only day in February that was open) and he went ahead and scheduled it for Valentine’s Day. In an attempt to makeup for his absent mindedness Jared got the whole week off and we decided to make it a family trip to LA. Jared’s Aunt Linnie lives just north of LA so we were able to stay with her for the week and venture though the LA traffic to Disneyland, the beach, the California Science Center and Hollywood – we may have been able to see more had we not spent half of our time in traffic. We had a great time at Disneyland, it was so fun to hear the boys giggling with delight all day. Every time we got off of a ride that Gage enjoyed he would say “again, again!” Fortunately for us it was not a busy day and many times we were able to oblige. Carter’s favorite rides were Space Mountain and Splash Mountain, he later admitted that they were the coolest because Gage couldn’t go on them and he got to go by himself with Mom or Dad. The first ride we went on was Pirates of the Caribbean, they have changed it a little bit and it seemed scarier to me, but maybe that was because Carter had a death grip on my hand and Gage was hanging around Jared’s neck for dear life crying, “Out, out, out!” It wasn’t so bad once we got further into the ride but I thought they were going to be terrified to go on another ride. I was nervous about taking the little guy to Disneyland but there was plenty that he could do and we all had a really good time, I would recommend it!

The beach was also a hot spot for the kids. I thought it would be too cold to really get in the water much past our knees, but of course the temperature did not stop Carter from getting in all the way to his neck and unfortunately for Gage we let go of his had for a few seconds and the sand washed out from underneath him and he fell and got soaked too. Neither of them seemed to mind until it was time to get out!! They then realized how frigid it really was! Good times though, Gage’s favorite pastime at home is playing in the sandbox so this was like a dream come true – the biggest sandbox he could dream of!

Gage hiding from the waves!

Carter's Baywatch Debut:

One day we went to Hollywood and the favorite place to play was Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Carter ran around on the sidewalk trying to find a hand or foot print that was the same size as his. Believe it or not he finally found a handprint that matched his perfectly and he was so excited! (It was Shirley Temple – funny huh!) He also got a kick out of the Darth Vader, C3PO and R2D2 tracks on the sidewalk (he doesn’t have a clue about Star Wars but has a friend that is way into it – crazy the influence a friend can have). Gage was super scared of the guy on the street dressed as Jack Sparrow (I think he was still having nightmares from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland.) And Jared even found his star on Hollywood Blvd – you didn’t know he was famous did you!?! Hmm!

We also had good times at the California Science Center (we would definitely recommend it) enjoying a session in the LA temple, and spending time with Jared’s Aunt Linnie. One night we were at dinner with Aunt Linnie and Carter asked her how old she was (he hasn’t yet learned not to ask a woman her age). Aunt Linnie jokingly responded that she was 29; Carter’s gasped, got real excited and announced, “really, you’re the same as my dad!”

These are the Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches that they let us hold at the Science Center - yes they are real and they were really creepy to hold, especially when they started running up your arm - Nasty!

Wholy Moley! Wherein the world did that boy get his monsterous mouth?!?

Bug Birthday Cupcakes

Carter saw these cupcakes in a magazine and asked me to make them for his pre-school class for his birthday, they turned out cute so I thought I’d share.

Batman's Big Birthday Bash at the Bat Cave

So, this would also be known as Carter's 5th Birthday. I decided that it was time to simplify things for myself, so last year I told Carter that when he turned 5 he wasn't going to get a friends party but that we could do something as a family (he has had a big birthday party every year and I decided that I didn't want to set that precedence for the rest of my kids). He accepted that and told me that he wanted to have a Superhero party. I obliged thinking to myself "I am sure he will have changed his mind by next year, besides there ." Since Carter doesn't forget anything he of course remembered that we had talked about having a Superhero party as his 5th birthday drew nigh. Since we live close to lots of family he wanted to invite everyone over and requested that they all come dressed as superheroes. He’s so stinkin’ cute and I have a hard time telling him no so once again I obliged (at the time I didn't quite realize that this meant I had to come up with 4 superhero costumes for our family before the big day). Even though I failed at my initial attempt to simplify my life and to not have a big party for his birthday, we really did have a lot of fun and my family were all really good sports. Carter was adamant that everyone needed to dress up. About a week before his party he was talking to Gramma and she told him that she really didn't want to dress up for his party, and he matter of factly stated that "you have to."
"Well I really don't want to!"
"Then you don't have to come."
"I guess I won't be able to bring you a present then."
Without even flinching he replied, "That's okay, you can mail it."
I know that makes him sound a little bit spoiled and bratty but it really was funny. We had some pretty cute costumes and some really creative ones. Carter was of course Batman and requested that Gage go as his personal sidekick – Robin. So here are some fun pics from the big day.

This is Carter with all of his cousins and a picture of all the "Supermen and Supergirls" that came to the paryt

My aunt was “Mighty Mom” and my 18 year old cousin and his best friend even showed up as Nacho Libre and Zorro!

We had a couple super-dooper creative costumes. My cousin came outfitted as “Aqua Girl” with goggles on her forehead, a swim suit over her spandex and a towel for her cape. Super creative and super fun! (she had hoped to bring a noodle for her weapon and a kickboard for her shield.)

My sister and her boyfriend came as "Super Bowl and Captain Underpants" (note the toilet seat around my sisters neck) with toilet plunger swords and all (no worries they were brand spankin’ new and contained no nasty toilet microorganisms.

Just a taste of the costumes that we had, like I said my family all did a really good job at humoring Carter on his b-day! So much fun!

We really had so much fun and Carter had a blast. My brother came down from Showlow and brought Carter a special present, an ice chest full of SNOW!! We had a fun little snowball fight in the backyard, so much fun, thanks J! Thanks everyone for making it such a great time!