5 Gifts from Me (Megan)

The first 5 people to respond to this post will get something made by me--my choice! This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees you will like what I make! (I can only hope!)
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done some time this year.
4. You have no clue what it's going to be--it may be cards, something delicious, a paper weight, or a complete surprise to you (and me)! Who knows?
5. Most importantly, you must offer the same deal on your blog. The first 5 people to comment on your blog get something made by YOU!

I was the second person to comment on Katie's blog and can't wait to see what surprise she comes up with! Now it's your turn. Leave me a comment on this post, and I will make you something AWESOME!!! (It will also be something special).

Part of the fun is that if you are one of the first five to comment, you get to carry on the task of making five more gifts for your friends. If you've already done this on your blog, comment anyway if you want and don't worry about making more gifts

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Fathers n' Sons

Carter went on his first official camping trip with Dad this weekend to the ward Fathers and Sons' Outing. They headed a few hours northeast of Phoenix where it was still cold. There were still a few rules about safety, but not much in the way staying clean, playing with sticks and rocks, getting sticky, or where to go potty. He had the TIME of his LIFE!

Helping "Grandpa" Joe gather firewood and starting up the fire.

Sticks in the fire, but stay on the log!

His first sticky roasted marshmallow.
Disclaimer on this one: I took our old digital camera so I didn't have to worry about anything happening to it. Nothing makes you appreciate a good camera like working with a junky one. No zoom, huge shutter lag, and the unique "feature" of flashing twice at night - once to get people to blink and once to take the picture of them blinking. But hey, it was cheap and digital and got us through at the time.

His bag of "gold" (spray painted gravel) and the prize he got for gathering it.

Proof that I was there too.

Loved the tents!

CRASH! The aftermath of going and going nonstop every waking minute and a rough night's sleep.

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Zombie Face (playing Mario on the Wii)

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Making Veggie Tales Puppets

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Lily's B-day

Our good friends Josh and Andrea threw a fun little party for their darling daughter Lily for her first birthday. We loved any excuse to go visit Lily (and her parents!). She is such a doll.

Carter was thrilled to get to go to Lily's house. He asks about her all the time and loves to see her. I think he liked being able to run around in her yard a little bit too!

Happy Birthday Miss Lily!

Josh, Andrea, and Lily are also now looking for another adoption miracle. Please visit their really cool website here and keep them in mind (along with us!) if you hear of anyone who might be thinking about making an adoption plan for their baby. :)

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Visit from the Bunny

So...the Easter Bunny maybe came a little late this year. The good thing is, Carter doesn't know any different, and the bunny saved a lot of money! He's happy enough, even if it was Wednesday morning before the bunny dropped off CJ's basket of fantastic treats! ;)

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Easter 2009

As much as we enjoyed our Utah trip, we knew we wanted to get back to Arizona in time for Uncle Joe and Aunt Claudia's annual Mediterranean Easter Feast. (Plus, I had to teach the Easter lesson in Young Womens at church). We enjoyed Salmon, nuts, dried fruit, challah and pita breads, hummus, etc. (And of course the variety of yummy Easter treats after dinner.)
Carter looked so handsome in his Easter outfit:
And he had a really fun time hunting for eggs:
Shane's sister Alona, her husband Aaron, and their kids Bentley and Kaya happened to be in town visiting Aaron's family. Bentley did some serious clean-up in the egg hunt department!
And Miss Kaya loved finding those eggs:

But not near as much as she loved opening them and finding the chocolate inside!
We had a great time sitting around visiting after the wonderful meal.
We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather for Easter! My favorite part of the day was when Joe read us Aubri's e-mail for that week. Aubri is in Jerusalem on study abroad this semester. She has the unique perspective of living in the place the Savior lived, walking where he walked, and visiting his tomb, etc. Her words were touching and reminded us all of the miracles each of us experience through His sacrifice and His example.

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Carter's wonderful, very good, not-too-hard day

Carter had a very fun day today. It started with him getting to take a bath in Grandma Linda's really big tub. So much room in there to play!
Then, Grandma Linda gave him his birthday present early -- a HUGE jungle animal set! Carter was beyond excited. Grandma won his heart for sure!
In the evening, we got to go to visit my friends from when I worked at Thanksgiving Point (before I met Shane through our engagement). We had a yummy barbecue and hung out. It was so much fun! Carter got along well with the other kids since they are all about his age. He loved playing in the toy room inside:
And on the trampoline outside:
We all had a great time and enjoyed seeing our friends again!

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Aunt Mindy's boys

Our trip to Utah was so much fun! We of course didn't take pictures of everything and we wish we had, but here are a couple of the fun visit we had with Shane's sister Mindy and her three boys. We were especially excited to meet Baby Zach for the first time! Here I am with sweet little Zach.

And here's Carter with Hunter and Wyatt (who Carter called Cousin Super Why!).

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Daddy & CJ's Excellent Adventure

While I spent the day with our good friend Melanie, Shane and Carter had fun playing at the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum and Cabellas. Here is Carter playing at the sand & water tables at the museum:
And here he is happy to be free of a stroller, running through the museum:

Also, loving the sand room, exposing the dinosaur underneath in his very own dig:
The fish at Cabellas are pretty cool. He told me all about them when we met up later.
I also heard all about the bears. There was a polar bear:
And he talked for DAYS about how he "shoot the bear out" with his gun. Apparently he was a pretty good shot for a two-year-old:
Another highlight of his day? Daddy let him stand up in the front seat of our cop-magnet acid red rental car and look out the sun roof. Don't worry, the car was in park at the time.

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Happy Birthdays to Mary, Emily, and Mom H!

We enjoyed spending a lot of time with family and friends on our most recent trip to Utah. We were lucky to be there for birthday celebrations for three of our family members: Shane's Mom, our sister-in-law Emily (bottom picture, left side holding Kaya), and our niece Mary (top two pictures). Hooray for birthday cake!

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