Friday, June 20, 2008

NYC 2008

Of course part of the fun of visiting Marci and family is taking a day trip into the Big Apple. Dwight took us in with Eliza, Annie, and some other girls in their ward. Marci kept Carter and the other younger kids at home, bless her. We started out at the Manhattan temple. Dwight and the girls spent some time in the temple while we went to the Met. (We were going to go to the temple, too, but realized the night before that Shane had no church clothes and no recommend.) I have always wanted to go to the Met...and I got to take my first cab ride to get there! All very exciting. Here I am in front of the Met:The superhero fashion exhibit was a lot of fun. We also enjoyed the Egyptian area and the decorative arts section. I definitely wish we'd had more time there, but was glad for a chance to visit at all. Here are pics from that: Who are those cool kids in the mirror?Check out the sunbathers outside the museum:
And my handsome hubby in front of the cool Egyptian temple:
For lunch we went to Ollie's -- yum Chinese food.
The rest of the day we spent walking the city starting in Central Park, which was PACKED with happy people enjoying the fabulous weather (80 degrees and cheerfully sunny):Eliza and Annie decide to hula hoop in the middle of Central Park:Check out this amazing little girl working three hoops! She's got mad hoopin' skills:Awww...
Love this girl:And this one:And M&M's (at the M&M store):
Here's what Shane was excited to catch a shot of in Times Square (imagine how happy he'd have been if the stock had gone up instead of down that day!):
And a visit to F.A.O. Schwartz included a little visit with my good friends Harry and Hagrid:At the end of the day I was SO TIRED but it was awesome!

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

Grace and Carter = Snuggle Buddies

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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Mystic, CT

Today we went to a town called Mystic. Ever heard of the movie Mystic Pizza? That was where it was filmed, at Mystic Pizza in Mystic, CT. We didn't have pizza today, though. We went to Mystic intending to go to the historic Mystic seaport. However, when we passed the old Mystic shopping village on the way to the seaport, we decided (having three teenage girls and two adult women in the vehicle) that rather than paying a bundle of money to get into the seaport, we'd rather spend that money at the shopping village! So we started out enjoying our picnic lunch in a grassy area and then enjoyed the little shops in the village. Carter and Grace mostly liked the toy store (well, we all enjoyed that) and feeding the ducks around the village. We didn't take many pictures, but had a fun day!

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Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Connecticut Trip 2008

My only sister, Marci, lives in Connecticut. We have never made the trip, all three of us, together to visit Marci and her family. Shane got a bonus week off of work this summer, so we decided to make the trip before Carter turned two and we'd have to buy a seat for him on the plane. Let's just say that the flights there and back were not so very great, but we really enjoyed our time actually spent with our favorite people in Connecticut! It took us a day or so to adjust after the miserable flight there, especially with the three-hour time difference, so we just hung around the house a lot. Carter loved having the cousins to play with. I loved all the green! We live in two such different climates and I just could not get over it all week! Below are pictures of Shane playing on the trampoline with Carter, Sam, and Grace, Sam (8), Cami (13) holding Carter, and Grace (6, what a poser). We were so glad to be able to be there for Eliza's momentous high school graduation. We tried to make the trip a surprise for the kids, but the three older girls found out a few hours before we arrived. Anyhow, E made a very beautiful graduate and we are so excited for her to be going to BYU this fall. We know she will have such awesome experiences there! Here are a few pictures from her graduation. We love you, Eliza! Peace, Love, OH-EIGHT!The tradition at Eliza's high school is for all the graduates to go jump in the town fountain after the ceremony, so Eliza came home to change afterward soaking wet!
We all met her in the driveway after putting a banner up for her (her nickname is Liza Jane).
I just love these pictures of the girls. Here are Annie and Eliza:
(l to r) Annie, Grace, Eliza, and Cami:And I also love this one of Annie:

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Eliza's Graduation -

Peace, Love, '08!

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Wii Boxing

Carter really wants to play the Wii games we play, but of course we have a hard time allowing him to have a turn because he isn't quite capable...or so we thought. Shane had the idea that he might be able to try boxing. Other than the ski jump, Carter had never been able to pull anything else off. However, he totally took to boxing like a champ! He almost always wins when he plays. He stands, looking very focused, in his masterful stance before the TV, and lets the guy have it! These pictures don't really even do the boy's work justice, but they will have to do for now until we get some decent video of his boxing skills. We just get the biggest kick out of watching him play! Oh, and did I mention he's not even two yet?

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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Independent Boy

The closer we get to that second birthday, the more opinionated and independent this little guy insists on being! On this particular day, Carter HAD to play "pooter" (computer). After a lot of struggling to keep him away from our real computer, Shane got him out an old keyboard and mouse that we were going to take to D.I. and got him set all up so that he thought the TV screen was his monitor. He sat contentedly for a while and clickity-clacked away on his "pooter."

Shane was going out to get the mail just before Carter went to bed for the night. Carter not only insisted on going with him, but also on wearing both his sandals over his socks and his hat on his head, even though it was dark outside.

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Saturday, June 07, 2008

Celebrating Ben's Birthday

These are our friends, Ben and Sherrie. For Ben's birthday, we went to dinner at On the Border together and then hung out afterward at our place and played the Wii.

Here are Carter and Shane having fun together with a balloon:

And here we are outside the restaurant after dinner:

Later on, at home, CJ showed off his "wowie" (he got his first bee sting at the family reunion):

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Sunday, June 01, 2008

Reunion 2008: day two

Some of Shane's siblings: Joseph, Sarah, Jared, and Analynn

Carter giving Grandma Kengie (Shane's mom) a big hug

Clarke, Karen (Shane's aunt), and Tiffany (Shane's cousin)

Alicia and Parry (Shane's cousin)

I still can't figure out why everyone loves playing a game that shocks and hurts!

Everywhere I went I would look down to find this sweet little face looking up at me!

Game time: (clockwise, l to r) Sara, Dan, David, Gretchen, Gene, and Tiffany

Dinner is served -- Hawaiian Haystacks

The Sarahs

The reunion was heavily attended by small blond boys...

Happy Birthday to Brad!


Here I am with Everton (the son of Shane's sister Kim) and Analynn (Shane's younger sister).

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