Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Noon Years Eve @ the Zoo


The Phoenix Zoo had a "Noon Years Eve" celebration today, complete with sparkling cider at noon. We thought it would be fun. It was crowded and crazy busy!

How do you pretend it's Winter here? You put a bunch of nasty piles of man-made snow in a dusty field of dying grass, encourage thousands of young people to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in crowds on it so that they can say they stood in snow, let them take pictures, and call it good. Oh wait, that's not all. In one of the mounds there was a sign saying they should dig in it for candy like the animals that have to dig in snow for their food. Gross. This picture actually makes it look a lot better than it was. It was the cleanest mound we could find.

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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Game night

After Carter went to bed tonight we played board games... cheesy ones like Life and Operation! We haven't done that in a long time.

We need some cool games that weren't made for children. Jacob (Shane's brother) gave us the game Last Word for Christmas and it's a lot of fun, especially since it's a grown-up game. ;-) We highly recommend it. What are your favorite games to play in small groups or as a couple?

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Sunday, December 28, 2008

Delilah


We are watching Delilah. She's our neighbor's cat. Carter has been so excited to go check on her at night and again in the morning. This picture says it all -- is there any question about how Delilah feels about Carter's affection? No, my friends, there is not.

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Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas 2008 Highlights


Keeping it to under 3 minutes for you.

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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Christmas Eve dinner and Carter's first present

Carter loved his turkey, potatoes, stuffing, etc. that made up our small but traditional Christmas Eve dinner with Megan's parents. It was our first official Christmas spent in our own home! These pictures are of us all during dinner.
And for dessert? The traditional Danish pastries made in Megan's family every year at Christmas time growing up. Shane did most of the work this year because he wanted to make sure that Megan got to keep this as one of her favorite traditions since we've been in Mexico for Christmas the last two years. We love both the tradition of opening one present Christmas Eve (from both of our families) and the tradition of getting new pajamas for Christmas (from Shane's family). Carter got to open his new slipper socks and jammies on Christmas Eve after his bath.

...and then he ran off to play cowboy for a while before bed!

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Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Grandpa Snuggles

My parents are here for Christmas. Carter is overjoyed to have friends to play with! My dad tuckered him out (or maybe it was the other way around) and they had a sweet little rest together this afternoon.

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Friday, December 19, 2008

Why we aren't spending money on Christmas presents:

I'm not even exaggerating -- Carter spent nearly the entire stinking day playing with this box today, the function of slide being the most popular. I am so glad that we didn't spend more than $20 on his Christmas presents this year.

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Saturday, December 13, 2008

Stars upon thars...

One really fun thing about having a toddler is that as your child grows and learns to communicate and understand better, you can share your love for certain things with them! I bought Carter this stuffed Sneetch long before he understood what it was or the story of the Sneetches. He still may not understand fully what the story is about, but he loves watching the video of the "neetches" and cuddling his "neetchy." It's fun to have your kids appreciate stuff that you liked as a child. Do you remember the awesome old school videos of Dr. Seuss stories?

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Christmas Carol 2008

We went to see Shane's cousin Brad in "A Christmas Carol" at the Hale Theatre. It was so much fun -- a great way to get in the Christmas spirit -- and Brad did very well! We've seen the same show at the Hale Theatre in Orem, UT in the past because my brother Kyle has been in the same show there for the last few years. I missed Kyle watching the show!
Here is the cast singing outside after the show (Brad is talking to someone off to the right in the background -- you can see his top hat):
Brad in costume:
Brad and I:
It's not often at all that Shane and I actually go on a date, so it was nice to have a night out. We also went to dinner at a restaurant across the street called Joe's Real Barbeque...and dinner was AMAZING. My new favorite food is a baked sweet potato with cinnamon honey butter!

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The big NEWS!!!

Yes, it's true...we are beyond blessed to be able to announce that we have officially been chosen to welcome another sweet baby into our family! Please keep our dear birth mother and the baby in your prayers. She is five months along right now and the baby's gender is not yet known. We are so excited to have the opportunity to meet her on Monday morning because we already feel a special connection with her! Thank you, all of you, for all the wonderful love and support as we continue along on our adoption journey!
Please visit our family adoption website at http://www.meganandshane.com/ to find links to the profiles of some of our friends who are still waiting to find their babies.

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Saturday, December 06, 2008

Daddy's work Christmas party 2008

Shane was really excited to take CJ to the family Christmas party at his office. However, not having been to one of these parties before, Daddy underestimated the craziness that would be present at the party. Carter didn't get to see Santa because the line was too long and Carter's patience was too short. However, he was thrilled to get to frost and eat this fabulous cookie -- frosting first. That'll do for fun as far as this two-year-old boy is concerned!

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Friday, December 05, 2008

To Infinity and Beyond!

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Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!

Carter is really into the whole watching the same movie a zillion times over and over again phase and the movie he wants to watch right now happens to be Toy Story 2 (or as Carter knows it, "Buzz Lightyeaw"). He found this old baby toy of his, strapped it around his neck (safe, right?) and took off to rescue people. Note his adorable stripey jammies from Melanie -- SO cute!

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Tuesday, December 02, 2008

There's a turtle in the bathtub!

Carter came up with this all by himself -- he puts a washcloth on his back and tells us he is a turtle! I love these pictures of him playing in the tub.
This picture cracks me up because he freaks out about us rinsing his hair, but of course he doesn't mind doing it himself like this...
"Momma turn turtle??"

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Go Diego Go!

If you have a toddler, and even if you don't, you likely know who Diego is. You know, Dora the Explorer's cousin?! Yeah, that's the one. Well, Carter likes Diego, but isn't super into the show or anything like that. He just recognizes Diego wearing his "rescue pack" when he sees the logo-clad merchandise all over tarnation. Anyway, one day CJ saw a backpack in our closet and started screaming "rescue pack, rescue pack, Diego go-go! Carter have it! Please!" Well, okay. He wouldn't take the backpack off for like two hours. Shane was cleaning the side yard and Carter had to wear his rescue pack outside to help. I thought it was adorable.

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Sunday, November 30, 2008

CJ & his "Misschris" tree

Carter had such a fun time helping us get out the Christmas decorations. He especially loved the little "Misschris" tree with it's own little strand of lights. He's dragged it all over the house, bent the branches in every direction, and thoroughly squeezed it to death!

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Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving 2008

This was our third Thanksgiving since moving to Phoenix, and the first one we actually stayed here for! We have traveled to Utah for the last two years to be with our parents and siblings on Thanksgiving. (Probably because we knew we'd bee in Mexico for Christmas both years, lucky us!) Anyway, we were excited to share Thanksgiving with our amazing extended family (Joe and Claudia and family) here at "home" in Arizona. And we have to admit that the not driving 12 hours was nice too! Here we are with our little guy and his handsome new hair-do.
This is Carter's friend Clara.As you can see, they kind of have a love/hate relationship...

Here is the turkey man doing his job (and his lovely wife there behind him):"Yummy!"
And a special bonus, the newlyweds, Ben and Paige:
We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of food, family, friends, and fun...and of course, gratitude!

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Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot 2008

Thanksgiving morning brought a 5.5 mile turkey trot (allowing participants to walk/run/bike ride/inline skate) that we, along with Shane's cousin Brittney, participated in. This picture was taking right after I got home and collapsed on the couch. We drove into Phoenix to the start of the canal course and it was chilly, foggy, and overcast -- a welcome change from our usually sunny, hot weather. Although I just about died in the last mile of the "trot," with Britt and Shane's encouragement, I made it (walking)! Shane and Britt took turns walking with me and running on their own. We pushed Carter in his stroller -- note to self: try to get ahold of a jogging stroller before next year because trying to push through wet, sandy mud in our big bertha was not the easiest. I sound like such an invalid. Anyway, despite the pain it brought me, I could see the start of a new tradition. The "trot" was full of families who had been doing this together every year for about 28 years! And let's face it, I didn't have to worry about Thanksgiving dinner calories so much after that -- that's a bonus, right?!

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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

No animals at the zoo???

I think it's funny that Shane took Carter to the zoo and there are no pictures of animals! It was a cloudy, rainy kind of day -- not exactly common here in Phoenix. I went shopping with Paige and Brittney and Shane decided to take Carter for some zoo fun to make good use of our membership. Anyway, here are the pictures Shane took of Carter playing at the zoo!
This first picture is of CJ on the ark:
Here he is in the pretend outhouse, having a seat on the little throne:

Climbing through a tunnel:

And playing in the upstairs portion of the playhouse:
All in all, an eventful time playing at the zoo, despite not caring to see animals, I guess!

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

funny things he said

A few of our favorite things Carter has said lately:

-"CHITTEN NUGGETS!"
(yelled out the window of the car when we were pulling up to a drive-through window!)

-"B'ess Nana, go Nana's house."
(said in place of anything and everything we try to "help" him say for prayers)

-"Oh, TANKS!"
(rather than "thanks")

-"ZOO?! Go?!"
(said after I spelled out "Z-O-O" to Shane so Carter wouldn't know what I was talking about)

-"Oh, sawy."
(said to any adult that bumps into him, as if it was his fault)

-"Oh! pizza guy! Mom, pizza guy! Hi pizza guy! Bye pizza guy!!"
(said when the pizza delivery guy came to our house -- and we hadn't ordered pizza for months)

-"Happy??"
(repeatedly said to anyone who's sad until they will smile back at him)

-"Carter Turn?"
(said with a questioning tone, but intended as an order)

-"Oh, Shoes!"
(said whenever he hears the word "go" or anything that rhymes with it)

-"No tissue, feel bedder!"
(said when picking nose when asked if he needs a tissue)

-"No pooper."
(said when he's playing toys and doesn't want to stop for a diaper change)

-"Milk?"
(said out of the blue when he suddenly realizes he's tired)

-"Carter Bite?"
(said when you're eating something that you haven't offered him-a sure bet that it will be good)

-"Cold! Towel!"
(said after bath time when he has to take off the towel to get PJ's on)

"Sawy, sawy, hug, hug!"
(said in desperation on his way to time out -- every time without fail)

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Friday, November 14, 2008

Family Photos from October 2008

While we were in California in October, my cute friend from high school, Heather Keil, took our family photos. We were up against a bit of a time constraint, but we were really pleased with the results. These are just a few of the beautiful photos she took for us. If you live in Southern California, Heather is amazing! You can find her website at www.HeatherKeilPhotography.com. Thank you so much Heather!

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Happy Days

The last few days have been really great days for this little dude. We have apparently come through a particularly grumpy, disobedient, defiant phase with our little man and have entered a lovely, happy, sweet stage. Let's hope it lasts a while! I am just in heaven spending my days with such a pleasant little thing. Carter even let me take pictures of him this morning. Had to share, especially since Melanie gave him these cute Hanna Andersson jammies. When I got him out of bed, thebottoms were mysteriously off. Hmmm. That's been happening a lot lately.
But with a smile like his and those big brown eyes (not to mention his ALWAYS sticking-straight-up adorable hair), who could not just be charmed???


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