Utah Trip post #2

Shane's brother Tyler is married to darling Emily. We are so glad that we got to be in Utah for Emily's graduation from BYU on Friday (4/25) and wish her all the best as she starts her full-time work with the United Way. Hooray! One of the main reasons we took the Utah trip was for Grandma's 90th birthday. Here is the beautiful birthday girl! We enjoyed a luncheon at Magleby's for Grandma's birthday party Saturday afternoon (4/26). Great food and good conversation, too. After Grandma's party, we were blessed to have the opportunity to meet up with Carter's birth family and spend time playing at the park together. Here are a few pictures of the get-together. First, Carter and J* (his biological brother) going through the tunnel together. J* was such a great helper with Carter.
Carter was really sweet with his birth mother. He was glad to swing with her for quite a while on the swings and got excited to see her, and then was sad when we had to leave. Here is Carter with his biological brother and sister:
In addition to all that has already been mentioned, we enjoyed a BBQ with Shane's family Saturday night and a dinner with Megan's family on Sunday. We also loved spending time with our wonderful friend Melanie. How did we not get any pictures??

Anyway, it was a very fun trip!

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Utah Trip post #1

We found a great deal on airline tickets and decided to take a trip so that we could be at my Grandma's 90th birthday bash. We ended up being able to see several friends and family members we haven't seen for a long time. We are sad we didn't get to meet up with more good people we know, but we only had 5 days and two of those were days Shane had to work from my parents' house.

The first day after we arrived (Wed. 4/23), we had lunch and hung out with the H clan. It was probably the first time Carter had really played unsupervised with other little kids. So thankful for cousins and to Kim for a fabulous meal!!! Later that evening we met up with our friends and neighbors from Provo, Kim and Brandon (congrats to you guys on expecting twins -- we are so excited for you!) and then ran by to visit the soon-to-be-married Ben and Paige and can now confirm that they will be living in way too nice of a place for newlyweds. Good times.

Thursday (4/24) we met up with a few of the cute girls I worked with at Thanksgiving Point before and during our engagement. Shelly, Rebecca, and Aubrey all have kids around CJ's age, too, so that was especially fun. I haven't seen those girls in forever! For old times' sake we took the kids to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum and afterward had lunch at the deli. Here are some snapshots from inside the museum:

And here's one of us mommies before we left the deli (minus Rebecca, who had to change London's diaper a.s.a.p. and so missed the lovely photo op):
For dinner that night, my brother Kyle came over and we had fun hanging out the rest of the evening together first at Mom and Dad's and then over at my brother Rob's house. Also glad to see Rob's wife Liza and their 5 beautiful daughters -- oh, and my sister's husband, Dwight, also happened to be in town for work and stopped by while we were there -- a TOTAL party! Carter truly delighted in playing with all the cousins and uncles.

Here are a couple of pictures with Kyle and my parents:

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swim lesson #2

Here CJ's teacher Danielle is showing him how to pull up on the pool wall (if he falls in) and walk his hands along the wall to get over to the pool steps where he can stand up. The other technique taught to the kids is to float on their backs if they fall in the pool.

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Ward Luau

I am on the ward activities committee, so I was busy serving food during the luau. Shane and Carter hung out at the luau with Shane's cousins Brittney and Brad and Brittney's hubby Dan: And there's Uncle Joe by Carter:

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New favorite thing to play: fridge alpha magnets

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"wowie"

...is what Carter calls the scrape on his knee in the most pathetic little voice he can conjur up!

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Carter Meets MacGyver

Ben and Sherrie stopped by tonight to give their new Yorkie/Poodle puppy the Carter test. He and MacGyver became instant friends and both escaped the encounter unharmed. What a cute pair!

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quick to forgive

just put a rock in his mouth:dad removes rock:
the aftermath:
buddies again:
if only we adults were as quick to forgive!

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He would NOT let go of that balloon while he ate dinner

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