Carter turns 11

Today is Carter's birthday. I think that as your oldest gets older, it's hard to watch them grow up. I can't believe he's already 11!! He's turning into such a fantastic person and it's amazing to see the person he's becoming.

He opted out of cake and instead ordered brownie sundaes. He really took advantage and loaded up his bowl knowing this is one of the few times his mother wouldn't give him a hard time about how much sugar he was eating.

Carter and his gifts. He got several Scout things (including a sleeping bag) in order to get ready for some big campouts next year.

The Cubs jersey and the glasses were from my parents. Baseball is a passion of his and it's fun to watch him play and get interested in all of the stats. He plays for the White Sox-something he's embarrassed to admit-he would much rather be a Cub! Last weekend he got to stay in a hotel with Chris and go to a Cubs game to celebrates birthday. Then, we celebrated as a family on Sunday which turned out to be fortuitous because he is home sick today with a fever, sick stomach and sore throat. Poor kid has felt miserable all day. Happy birthday buddy!

Easter 2011

We celebrated Easter this year in between rain and thunder storms.

Grant with his basket after he found all of his eggs.

Chris and Carter trying out our new technique. After boiling the eggs, we used crayons to decorate the eggs. The crayons melted and made for some cool decorating.

Andrew with his "diver" egg. They had a lot of fun playing with the eggs after making them.

Hailey and Chris with their eggs. Hailey's was a girl egg with braids and Chris' was a pirate. I was a little concerned when Hailey wanted her egg to be married to Chris'. When she finally put them in the refrigerator, she said they were in there kissing. I said that her egg was trying to reform the pirate. :)

Andrew finding his eggs outside.

Cute Hailey

Alyssa was so funny once she realized what we were doing. She was ecstatic about finding these eggs (especially the plastic ones with jelly beans!)

Funny Alyssa

I just have a couple of pictures of Alyssa that I thought were cute.

She discovered that she could fit into our cabinet and play peek-a-boo. Hours of entertainment.

She was totally out tonight-gone. It took awhile to wake her up.

I'm working on giving her more independence and let her feed herself some pudding. Big mistake.

Conference tents part 2

I'm a little late in posting, but we had another positive Conference experience with the tents. The candy sure helped too.

Nauvoo

For the latter part of spring break, we headed down to Nauvoo with our friends, the Birds. In the chaos of leaving, I forgot my camera, so thanks to Kori for these pictures. We got to stay in a beautiful lodge together and the kids had a great time playing together. One of Andrew's highlights was a random cat that they found. The cat would come and lay on people's laps and was extremely affectionate. Much to Chris' dismay, 2 of our children are now begging for a cat.

In the family learning center we learned what the pioneers would do. They learned about baking bread in brick ovens, making candles, weaving and creating yarn, and making rope. Here, Braxton, Emma and Hailey are learning how to wind rope. Poor Hailey got her hair stuck in the rope and we had some tears, but overall it was a good learning experience.

We were able to take a horse drawn carriage ride and got to learn all of the interesting things in Nauvoo. We got to see all of the homes, the temple, see the Mississippi, and get an appreciation for the early Saints.

This is the "wishing well" (as Hailey kept calling it) outside of the home that Joseph and Emma Smith lived in. It was pretty deep.

Learning weaving at the family history center.

Learning at the little school house. They got to write on the slates, and no one got paddled.

In the evening, the missionary couples put on a show called "Rendezvous" which was fabulous. Here are the kids sitting on the stage before it began. All of the missionaries were so friendly to us and were so happy to be on their missions! It made me think of my own parents.

Sitting in the wagon outside of the lodge that we stayed in. Wonderful lodging!

Before we headed home, we stopped by Carthage to see the jail where Joseph and Hyrum were killed. It is the building behind us. We had a wonderful trip with a renewed sense of gratitude for the early Saints. What hardship they endured and what amazing faith they possessed.

Hailey and Emma on the wagon ride. What cute friends.