Family Pictures by Liz

This Family Picture session was AMAZING!  We got at least 50 great shots.  There are so many it is hard to choose my favorites.  All of us were cooperative.  Daniel even enjoyed himself.  He was more fun during these photos than on our wedding day.  He was meant to be a daddy.  Although I stole his best mans secret of grabbing his butt to keep the smiles coming...

 Our beautiful girl!

Daddy, Daughter 

 A close contender for our Christmas Card.  Really...They are all good.

 Mommy, Daughter

 I wonder where my other arm is...thanks Jayson!

It is great to be eight...The winning picture for the Baptism invites.

 Modeling Chase!

 CUTIE!!!

 The traditional fun Dad and The Boys picture.

 Artistic shot by Liz.  She was amazing!

She was also a great bargain...If she had known they would be this good she may have charged more...he he

 Love

My boys!

I was going to give up the blog, but I have been persuaded to keep it up.  I have known for a long time that my mom and sister LOVE seeing the pictures and reading my unedited posts.  This weekend my MIL shared with me how much all of the family blogs mean to her.  She has children in Phoenix, Florida, and Georgia.  Blogs help her feel close to the family and involved in our lives...so...for her...and the unspoken others.  I am going to keep updating...and...maybe I will even start updating more often.

Chase sneaks off with the camera

Chase loves to find my camera and take pictures.  He will put it right back where he found it (or he hides it).  I always find his treasure when uploading my camera.  These are 2 gems from the last upload...

A picture of each of us... from Labor Day. 

It has been awhile...

So here is an update from June to the beginning of September.  I am going to do my best here.

June 5, 2010 

 Carter participates in the Chandler All-Star tournament and does a great job!

June 24, 2010

 Carter and I chillin

Chase and I chillin

 June 27, 2010

 White-Trash baby!

July 3rd, 2010

 Celebrating a day early.  We went to mesa and it was crowded.  There were tons of games and historical figures...impersonators that is.

 CUTE BOYS!!!

 Almost the entire family with the Washington's.  Don't mind my hair...It seems I had a comb over going.

July 26, 2010

 Chase's first day of Kinder...which he loves.  No hating school for him.  He wasn't even nervous. 

 Carter begins second grade, but he was nervous.  He didn't have any of his best friends in his class, and it was hard for him when his bestest friend changed schools.  He is has plenty of new friends now.

 Chase getting off of the bus for the first time.  Yes, I followed the bus.  No, I do not feel stupid.  I drove Carter on his first day...I had to at least follow Chase.  He didn't even notice I was there.

August 25, 2010

 Ahhh...Football begins.  I have a love hate relationship with football.  Carter has really excelled this year.  He got his first true touchdown!  He plays mostly @ corner and and reciever, but he plays a bit of safety also.  He is a football freak.  He loves getting his aggression out on the field instead of in other ways....ways that get him in a bit of trouble.

September 1, 2010

 Baby girl turns one!  This gets 3 pictures because it is a monumental milestone.  She was all smiles and business.  Taylor is the family's princess.  The boys can't get enough of her.  Daddy demands her the second he gets home everyday...even when she is sleeping.  She is a happy baby that knows how to lay on the charm!

 She is also talented in the speach department...NOT with walking...she has still yet to master that skill...she can say quite a few words.  Lets list them for fun...at least the ones I can remember.  Uh. oh (that counts as two), Hi, Hey, Hello, Daddy, Mama, Carter, Ball, Thank You, Yeah, No (with attitude) that is all I can think of but I know there are more.  Maybe I will post them later...but probably not.

 Eating cake was all business.  She made a giant mess.

Both hands on deck!  She litterally grabbed handfully and lodged them into the back of her throat and went for more.  She loves chocolate!  No...no...no...her cake was not fabulous looking.  I didn't have the heart for it.  This cake is embarassing, but it tasted good.


That is it for now.  Maybe there will be more later.  I stoppe posting because nobody leaves comments...and that is LAME.

Labor Day Get Away

We spent Labor Day together!  I know, it is amazing!!!  Daniel and I are never at the same place at the same time unless one of us is sleeping.  Daniel is so busy with work during the week.  I work and sleep all weekend.  Football and baseball are filling the boys time.  We honestly needed a break...

So, all of us took time off!

We began our family journey to 70 degree weather in the mountains...

The air conditioner in the car went out 30 miles into the trip...

It was 107 degrees..

We booked a campsite...

I thought it was in the middle of nowhere...

It was 2 miles away from a Wal-Mart...

Oops...

We got new fishing gear...

The fishing sucked...

We took a teething one year old camping...

She cried almost the entire trip...

Except at night...

She slept ALL NIGHT...

We took a brand new card game to play with the kids...

It was WAY too hard...

Funny...isn't it...

With all of this... it was still on of our best family vacations...

No fish, but plenty of crawdads...

He was a little jumpy at first...

But as the crawdads began to calm down due to lack of oxygen...

Even Chase joined in

AND...

Even Taylor joined in the fun when the boys caught frogs...

Also...

Because I am feeling generous...

Pictured below you can see on of the dirtiest pair of pants ever...

We let her get as dirty as she wanted...

I will begin to catch up on blogging, but until them...

Enjoy

Carter Makes a Good Choice

As stated two posts below, Carter made the All-Star team.  His team has done pretty well.  They are 2-1 in the tournament!  They had a rough game this morning...no hits...bad fielding...too much heat.  Still they managed to make it to the semi-finals.  Which are tomorrow...see his problem...tomorrow...Sunday.  For some of my readers they may have forgotten that Sunday is a Sacred day in our home.

You may be saying to yourself (like I was), he is only 7...this is his first tournament on Sunday...we didn't tell them when he tried out that we don't participate on Sunday's...he is a part of a team...he has a duty to his team...oh, I could go on and on. 

Ultimately Daniel and I felt like it was Carter decision.  It took him until after the game today to make it.  He walked up to his coach and told he he wasn't going to play tomorrow because he wants to keep the Sabbath Day holy. 

I was so touched and impressed by him.  The tears were welling in my eyes.  I had to supress the overwhelming joy I felt.  Carter made a fantastic choice, and he made it all by himself.  Daniel and I did not even discuss the choice with him.  We have taught him to choose the right, and he made the right choice. 

As a parent, it is at time like this when the Lord seems to impress upon us that we are headed in the right direction.  One of my biggest fears it that I will not teach my children well enough or not prepare them enough to be a good person, to make good choices, and be strong enough to live righteously.  Right now, Carter is on the right track.

Um..Happy Birthday Chase...a few weeks late

Chase turned five 2 weeks ago.  He planned a big party.  We let him.  He had been planning this party for 6 months.  I think he did a great job.  They only get a big party when they turn 5 and 8....we haven't decided after that because we haven't reached that point yet. 

He planned a Batman party.  Each of his friends wore super hero costumes.  He wanted me to decorate with costumes also, but I am sure that is just because he wanted me to buy lot of costumes.  If you don't know...CHASE LOVES TO DRESS UP...LOVES IT!!!!  He had a bounce house filled with balloons. Some of the balloons had villians inside.  The kids popped the balloons and saved Gotham.  I was going to make Chase a simple yellow fondant cake with a black Batman symbol, but Daniel and Chase looked at pictures of Batman cakes online and decided this one was much better.  (It took 3 days...only because Aunt Emily lives too far away to make it)

Well...here is the back side...if you want to see the rest...go to my facebook...I don't know where the pictures are right now.

And

with 

18 

kids 

in 

attendance

he 

got

a 

ton 

of 

presents!

Happy Birthday my little Batman!

As requested here are a few shots of the new hair dew...these are the best I have right now.  Thanks Aubrey!

Carter is AWESOME!

Carter is awesome!  I am not just saying that because I am his mama.

He really is awesome!

He made the baseball ALL-STAR team!

The league put together 2 teams out of the entire league.  He was good enough that both teams wanted him!  He will now play in tournaments in the valley.  We will have three practices a week (and I don't mind).  This is an awesome opportunity for him.

And to think I secretly didn't want him to try-out.  

I couldn't bear the disappointment on a his face. 

Daniel and I are beaming with joy today.  We found out this morning and I had to drive down to the school and tell him.  We had sent him to school thinking he didn't make it because we didn't get a phone call last night.  So...i had to see the disappointment...and then I got to see the joy!  

Way to go buddy!

Work hard!

Tons of posts

I just posted about a billion posts.  To see them all you have to click on older at the bottom of the screen.  Now, little sis, you should have plenty to feast your eyes on.  I have one more post, but I will save it for another day.  This took forever!

Grandpa and Taylor

We ventured to St. George this past weekend.  It was amazing.  The weather was a little cool, but NOT HOT.  I didn't take many pictures, but we had a packed weekend.

Girls Night Overnight
Cousin Jocelyn's B-day party
Watching U. Brent participate in the Ironman
Ivin's Fitness Festival  (Chase and Carter won the trike-athlon)  All kids got a t-shirt...it was cute
Family BBQ
Church
Sunday Diner

After the fun Fitness festival we went to Wendy's for lunch.  Grandpa played with Taylor.  I think he is smitten with her.  Can you tell?

He let her eat his ice cream.  She would get mad when he got himself a bite.  She wanted more.  

She got lots of hugs and kisses!

I think he played with her more than anyone other than Daniel and I. 

 He was a big help.  

I got to eat my meals while they were still warm! 

Grandpa...Taylor loves you too!

Bath time

T's First bath all alone...sitting up.  Except daddy was being a stinker and wouldn't let me get the camera.  So here is an after picture.

Oh, and Easter

Oh, and Easter...

This year the Easter bunny and her mother had a little too much fun shopping.  When the Easter bunny was putting together the baskets the night before she realized that maybe they went a little overboard.  What is Easter really about?  Hmm.... not all of this!  So the Easter bunny took a lot back, and then she felt much better about herself and the message she was sending her kids.

The kids get their baskets youngest to oldest, but what does an Easter bunny get a baby...sippy cups, cheerios, a light jacket, and a few toys.

This is about half of what the Easter bunny had.  Oops!  Chase is at the perfect age for holidays.  He does not have any expectations and he is thankful for everything.

The smile on his face says it all.  It was a pretty happy boy.  Carter makes our house a home.

An Easter egg hunt

Taylor got one.

Chase scored many.

Carter racked it in...but was still kind enough to make sure his brother was well taken care of.