Enloe

First Day of School

2011-04-10T20:39:00.000-06:00

Carter's first day of Preschool with Mrs. Johnson

Hayden 4th and Jackson 6th

Olivia 1st grade

More August in Spokane

2011-04-10T20:30:00.000-06:00

Heather and my costco trip before they headed back to Arkansas--Harper, Hadley and Carter

Carter zonked on Aunt Carol

SILVERWOOD

Jackson, Jake and Hayden

Hayden and Jacks with Grace--I'm pretty sure one of them should marry her someday

More ice cream on the face and shirt than in the belly

Jackson showing off!

Roco and Carter

The old playgroup back together again

Jacks and Sam

Hayden and Ski

Trip to CDA beach with friends

Mom and Dad's 50th Anniversary

2011-04-10T20:11:00.000-06:00

Lake Coeur d'Alene

2011-04-10T19:24:00.000-06:00

After Priest Lake, we all headed to the Coeur d'Alene cabin for the rest of the week.

Olivia had her first loose tooth

I was so glad Devey pulled it out for me. it grosses me out!

COUSINS!!!!!!!

Olivia is obsessed with babies! She just loves Taraka and Ben's baby Taylor.

Carol's Tea Party

2011-04-10T18:58:00.000-06:00

While all the boys were still up at Priest Lake, Carol threw us a very girly Mad Hatter Tea Party. The girls were in heaven! We all got to invite a friend. Olivia and I brought Emily and Katie Christensen.

Priest Lake

2011-04-10T18:48:00.001-06:00

While we were in Spokane last August, we spent a little time at the Priest Lake cabin. It was mostly a mancation, but us girls went up for one of the days. It is the most beautiful place!!

Our trip to Spokane....last August...guess I'll start blogging again

2011-04-10T17:34:00.000-06:00

Shock games

Carter is crazy! He put this popcorn bucket on his head and wouldn't take it off for days.

Since Mark and Heather's family was in town for my parents' 50th, they got to go to Shock games, too.

Olivia loves the dance team more than the actual football team.

He really wouldn't take the bucket off for days, even to sleep. It was so gross and sweaty!

Carter with his best buddy Tucker and his dad--Ben and grandpa--Kevin

Arena Bowl Champions!!!

July so far.....

2010-07-20T12:06:00.001-06:00

Right when we got back from Arkansas, I drove Jackson up to Camp Reed. He was 2 days late, but he really wanted to go anyway. It was his last big thing with his 2 best friends--Travis and Nate. He absolutely loved it. He was quite the character as usual. I picked him up on Saturday and got there in time for the awards ceremony. They award one camper each week "The Spirit of Camp Reed Award" and Jackson got it. Nate left before I got there, so I don't have a picture of him. This picture is of Jackson, Travis and 2 of his counselors. Travis is the one in red. He is Jackson's age--but as you can tell he got his growth quite a bit earlier than Jackson. He is over a foot taller than him:)

Olivia did the Shock Dance camp for a few days and then performed at half time during the game on Friday. Her cousin Natalie and her friend Ella did it with her.

We went out to the lake for 4th of July weekend with my parents, Paula and Myron's family and Carol. It was not very warm! I didn't even get in the water. Andrew just loves any opportunity to wakesurf, so he braved the cold. Then he decided to go for a triple decker with Jax and Liv.

The Thursday before we left for Utah we had a good bye party at the shock center. I will put up pictures as soon as I get them. Our friends, the Merrills, couldn't make it to the party. Jackson and Hayden really wanted to see Kacen and Kavery, so we visited them the night before we left. They were crazy as always, so I took a few pictures of the buddies together.

When we got to Utah, we moved into Parker and Aria's basement while we decided on a house. The day after we got to Alpine we went to the park to play soccer with a kid from Jackson's team. After, he introduced us to Snoasis. It has been a family favorite these past few weeks since we have been here!

A few days after we got here, our cousin Nichole brought her 2 kids to visit. It was so fun to play for a few days with all of them. My kids love Tyler and Kate, so we had a great time!

We took lunch to the splash park in Highland the first day they were there.

We had to take them to Snoasis on the way home--ofcourse!

The next day we went to Jump On It. It is a place with wall to wall trampolines.

Saturday night was girl's night! It was so good to get away. We met our friends Carrie and Becky at Asian Star for dinner. Everything was sooooo good! Then we topped that off with dessert at Corner Bakery.

On Monday we took the kids to the movie "Despicable Me."

That night we met up with Eric's mom and his cousins Russ and Lori at Texas Roadhouse.

Tuesday we went to Seven Peaks with Nichole's family, and then we said goodbye. They headed to stay with other family here in Utah.

Earlier in their visit, Aria got all her old soap and shampoo she didn't want anymore and made an awesome slippery trampoline for all the kids!

The kids all fight to sit with Aria when she mows the lawn. Carter was waiting patiently for his turn. He was beyond excited when he finally got to ride with her!

Arkansas

2010-07-19T13:40:00.002-06:00

The last 2 weeks of June we spent in Arkansas with Mark and Heather's family. We spent one week of it out at Beaver Lake. Everyone loved it! The kids love being together with their cousins--they all played so well we hardly knew they were there. Even though it was hard to arrange everythings to get there with our move, we were so glad we made it work!

Moving:(

2010-07-19T13:02:00.000-06:00

The last week of May and the first 2 weeks of June were the worst!!!!! I was packing up our house to move to Utah. It was sooooooo sad. Eric was gone most of the time, but he came home a few days before I left for Arkansas. While he was gone his mom came and helped me pack for a few days. It was so nice to have her around helping me! When Eric got back we worked nonstop with all the last minute stuff like patching holes and shrink wrapping stuff. The kids even got shrink wrapped. They thought that was pretty cool! Everything was really crazy, because we already had tickets to go to Arkansas to visit Mark and Heather before we knew we were moving. It turned out that the people who bought our house wanted to close while we were gone. We then needed to get everything packed up before we left, and then the movers came while we were gone. To make things even crazier, I left on Tuesday the 15th with Carter and Olivia. Eric stayed until the boys were done with school and came on the 19th. I had to get everything packed that we would need for Arkansas--everything we might need until we see our stuff off the moving truck (which was an undetermined amount of time, since we hadn't found a house)--and everything the boys would need to finish up school that week, etc. All of that stuff on top of trying to make sure I had everything packed up for the movers made me pretty much crazy! Can I just tell you how much I hate moving?????

Olivia went to Ethan's house after school on one of the days that I had a goodbye lunch. Cassandra sent me this picture of them eating lunch. They are so cute! They were supposed to get married, but now with the move I'm not sure if it will work out.

On the last day of school Jax and Hayden went to our friend Max's birthday party. I was already gone to Arkansas, but Nichole sent me the pictures. We are so sad to leave all our friends! Later that afternoon Aunt Carol took them to Toy Story 3-3D and then they took lots of friends to the Shock game. Jackson took Travis, Nate and Kacen and Hayden took Tyler and Kavery. It was a fun guy night with Dad!

Lost Finale Party

2010-06-20T21:23:00.000-06:00

When my sister Carol throws a party, she doesn't mess around!!! She had her lost finale party at my house, so everyone could watch it in our theater room. Everything we ate was island themed and had some significance to the show. All the stuff was covered with Dharma labels. Even our soda was covered with beer labels.

May Moments

2010-06-18T15:34:00.000-06:00

We had a busy May, and I was no good at taking pictures and documenting. Pretty much if a picture was taken, it was taken with my iphone. I do have a few other pictures I need to post, but Eric has the camera with the memory card. When he gets here to Arkansas tomorrow, I can post more. Then when I get caught up, I can post what is actually going on now! This is kind of a silly looking picture of Jackson. He took it himself with my phone. But I saw it, and it reminded me that I really wanted to brag about him! He is growing up so much, and I am so proud of him. When Eric and I were in Arizona, he spent the night with a friend on his soccer team. They had an out of town game that Saturday, so he drove with them. When I got back Jackson told me he was kind of like a missionary. I asked him what he meant. He said when they were driving back that his friends parents were asking him all kinds of questions about our church. He said he knew all the answers and it was fun to talk about it. The next day I was talking to his friends mom. She told me that she was really impressed with Jackson. She said that he must really listen in church. She also said that she didn't know why everyone thought that mormon rules were so strict, because it really seemed that by everything Jackson told her that all the rules were to make us happier. She said they were so interested in everything Jackson was telling them, and her son kept on trying to get Jackson to play on their ipods but they wanted Jackson to keep talking about his religion. I was so proud of him! I'm also so impressed by how hard he works at something when he wants it. The last several months he has practiced soccer nonstop. He wanted to make the first team of his soccer club. Then we found out we were moving, and he decided he wanted to make the first team of the club in Utah where he was going to try out. I kept on telling him not to get his hopes up. Sure enough, he went down to three days of tryouts and made the premier team. He said, "I told you mom!" He was one of 4 new players on the team, and there was over 40 boys trying out for the 2 teams.

On May 15th I ran a relay marathon with my neighbors--Chris, Lark and Elizabeth. It was way more fun than I ever thought it would be. I had a cold and wasn't feeling well, so I almost ditched out and had someone else run. I ran the second leg, and it was all on the trail. It was such a beautiful day, and it gave me motivation to get running more and do a longer race again.

Hayden and his friends from his baseball team all got their numbers shaved in the back of their head. I'd never even seen him with a crew cut before, so it was a little bit of a shock. He loved it, though. Then on Sunday as we were walking into church I realized how funny it looked when he was dressed in church clothes. We sat in front of a 90 year old couple. I could hear them talking about him. The woman said--in only the way a 90 year old woman can whisper--"I feel sorry for him!" I told her husband later that it was ok. Hayden meant to do it to himself and he likes it!

The boys were evidently bored this Sunday afternoon. All three of them decided to get in the bookshelf cupboard at the same time.

A great Saturday afternoon in the sprinklers!

I went with Heidi, Danna and Meghann to the Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum concert. It was such a fun girl's night!

We went out to dinner at Anthony's with the Pypers for Taraka's birthday. It was probably the best salmon I have ever had--so good! It was such a beautiful night!

Olivia's Dance Recital and Goodbye Princess Palace

2010-06-18T15:19:00.000-06:00

On May 13th, Olivia had her dance recital. She took from Miss Maureesa's Dancing Queens. She loved it! Miss Maureesa did such a cute job with all the costumes and dances. Each class had two dances and two costumes. Olivia's class did a ballet number first--they were adorable little doggies. Then they did a tap number to Hannah Montana's Hoedown Throwdown. She was so animated and cute. Olivia just loves her Daddy! She was very particular that he needed to be there for her recital. He had been coming home on Fridays, but he made his plane ticket special, so he could come home on Thursday and go to her recital. He made sure that we had flowers for her, and she was so happy to have her daddy at the show!

When we sold our house, the people that bought it put in our contract that we needed to paint Olivia and Carter's rooms and the downstairs bathroom. We took pictures in Olivia's room before we said goodbye to the princess palace--so sad:(

Arizona

2010-06-18T15:02:00.000-06:00

Last month, Eric and I went to Arizona--without the kids. It was such a great trip! We met Eric's brother and sister-in-law Corey and Brenda and stayed with Ryan and Nichole. Nichole got babysitters for her kids pretty much the whole time we were there. It was such a relaxing fun time. It was our 14th anniversary just a few days before, so it worked out great. We ate delicious food, got pedicures, went shopping, sat by the pool, saw a movie and went to the Shock vs Rattlers game. My mom was nice enough to watch the kids from Wednesday night until Sunday morning for us:)

A little April

2010-06-17T20:48:00.000-06:00

Eric was on the Shock website and saw this picture. We knew right away it was Jackson.

That darn Gymboree! Gets me everytime. Good thing I have only 1 girl, and I don't go in there very often anymore.

This was a lazy Sunday afternoon. It was so nice, we all took a nap on the trampoline.

Carter, Milo and Tucker

We went to Utah for the Shock vs Blaze game. Hillary, Lindsey, Ron & Anita, Parker and Aria and Robyn and Kevin came to the game. We had several friends and people from Eric's work that came, too. Here is Hillary & Leif.

I had a garage sale with my friend Bunny when I found out I was moving. We put Carter in the chair at her house watching a movie. We needed to keep him occupied so we could price all our junk.

Carter and Tucker are together pretty much all the time. Every time one of us goes to pick up our kid at the other's house, we end up taking them both to our house. Tucker is just like part of the family. Sometimes they are so dirty from playing outside that we have to throw them in the bath before we can send Tucker home.

Carter is buddies with Milo, too. They are pretty cute together!

Easter Afternoon

2010-06-17T15:58:00.001-06:00

My family and the Pypers came over for Easter Dinner and Egg Hunt!

Carter's handle came off his basket and his eggs spilled out all over the ground. He was very upset, but Uncle Myron and daddy came to the rescue.

Eric and Taylor Pyper. I just love her cheeks!

Carter and his best buddy Tucker.

Kid Pics

2010-04-06T23:40:00.001-06:00

I LOVE these pictures of my kids!!! It was a crazy day. We had one thing after another. We grabbed Hayden from his baseball game and Jackson from his soccer game and ran over to meet Katie to take the pictures. The kids changed in the car. I took off Hayden's baseball hat, and his hair was pretty bad! We did our best to look presentable--and I think they looked pretty good! Olivia was hilarious! She kept on doing poses for Katie. She probably had 5 times the poses of the boys. She was quite the diva. I'm definitely going to have her do pictures again--Katie Dawn Photography!

Easter Morning

2010-04-04T12:10:00.001-06:00

There is still much more Easter fun to come this afternoon, but here is a quick look at what we did this morning. Eric's parents are here from Vernal, so the kids are loving having Easter with them. They end up coming here most Easters, so it is almost a tradition. Carter and Liv got bunny ears in their basket. Carter got some spiderman stuff and Liv got a Tamagachi. She told me yesterday that she was getting one. I asked her how the Easter Bunny knew she wanted one. She told me, "MOM, don't you remember??? You emailed him!" The boys got a gerbil. Don't ask me why. Hayden has been bugging me to get a pet forever. I finally broke down and told him he could get a gecko for Easter. He has been telling everyone. We went to the pet store yesterday and realized how expensive it would be to get everything that it required. When I heard from the saleslady that I would have to come twice a week to buy live bugs to feed the gecko, I decided against it. Jackson's friend Bailey was with us. His mom told me that she would happily give us her daughters gerbil--with everything and $10. You know you are in trouble when they offer to pay you to take it off their hands. I couldn't pass up free. When the kids stop taking care of it and playing with it at least we aren't out any money.

Eric loves to make a big yummy breakfast on Conference Sundays. Anita made sticky buns, and Eric made eggs, bacon and abelskivars. Ben and Tucker and the Guys came over between sessions. It has been such a great day so far. I love Easter and I love conference Sundays--so it is double greatness. It is so wonderful to be able to hear from our prophet and apostles and recommitt myself to do all the things that will make my family's life better and grow closer to Christ!

I guess I better stop blogging and get ready for my family to come over for dinner and egg hunt. More fun to come......

Spring Break

2010-04-04T12:05:00.001-06:00

Last week we drove down to Utah for spring break. Jackson had his first soccer game and Hayden had a baseball tournament in Yakima on Saturday, so we left on Sunday. I drove to Missoula and then Eric drove the rest of the way. We didn't run into any weather, so it was fast. The kids were easy. I got to listen to my book and scrapbook on my laptop. The weather was pretty good on Sunday and Monday. Then on Tuesday the wind started blowing like a thousand miles per hour. I'm surprised our car didn't lift off the ground! Then Wednesday we woke up to a snow storm that didn't really stop. Considering we never really had snow this winter in Spokane, it wasn't that fun to go on vacation and get snow in April! Brenda and her kids met us in Alpine, and we hung out with Aria and her kids for a few days. Leif, Carter and Jorie are so cute together. Leif is over a year younger Carter and Jorie, so he isn't talking as much. When he is with them, though, he carries on the cutest little conversations. It is so fun to listen to them. Leif and Jorie are adorable! I just want to squeeze them and take them home with me!

We loved staying at Aria's, and the kids loved playing together. We mostly just hung out at home. We took the kids to Diary of a Wimpy Kid on Monday and then we played cards a ton. It is great that Aria and Brenda love to play games as much as I do! On Tuesday we visited our friends the Baileys that live really close to Aria and Parkers. We went to dinner and left the kids all at home with pizza. It is really the best way to do it. I love that we both have kids old enough to babysit. After that I had a super fun girl's night with Brenda and Aria and Brenda's friends Carrie, Becky and Jamie. They are great--Love hanging out with them!

Wednesday and Thursday night we stayed with Carrie. She is best friends with Brenda, so I have gotten to know her pretty well in the past few years. She is so nice and welcoming. We all wanted to stay at the same house, so the kids could be together as much as possible. It was super fun! On Thursday we took the kids to How to Train a Dragon. I thought it was so cute. Eric's cousin Penney came with her kids and so did Becky and her kids.

Thursday we had a birthday party for Carrie's dog Bruno. My kids loved it. We had cupcakes and sang. Olivia wanted to play dog games, but we ran out of time. Carrie's husband Ty thought the idea of a dog birthday was crazy, so he left before we sang happy birthday. We laughed a lot!!!

Wednesday I took the kids over to Penney's for haircuts. Jackson really wanted his hair highlighted and cut, so he could look like David Beckham. He now spends time everyday doing his hair. It is pretty funny, because he has never cared much before. He and Hayden were pretty funny with Carrie's daughter Maddie. They were both flirting a lot and she was back. I don't know if they knew they were flirting, but they were pretty funny!

Carter didn't want to smile for my picture. I guess he thought if he couldn't see me, that I couldn't take a picture of him.

Thursday night, Mark and Austin got into SLC to go to conference. My parents were there, too, so we all met at Tucanos for dinner. My kids had never been to a Brizilian BBQ before, and they thought it was the greatest thing ever. Tucanos is Eric's favorite, so it was a good night! We had to leave early Friday morning to get back for Eric's tennis match and the first Shock game of the season.

Random March

2010-04-04T11:28:00.000-06:00

March definitely flew by this year. I don't like how time goes so fast. That means that the kids are getting older--and I want them to stay young! Olivia had a Reader's Celebration during school a few weeks ago. It was so exciting for her. She got to get up in front of the class and all the parents and read one of her stories. It was the first day of March Madness, and it started when there was only 7 minutes left in the BYU game. Luckily for Eric, he downloaded an app on his iphone that showed all the games. When all the other kids were up front, Eric had the sound off ofcourse, and he watched the game as they went into double overtime and finally won the game. Since Eric is usually at work or out of town for these types of things, she was soooooo happy to have her daddy there.

Hayden had his first baseball game of the season 2 weeks ago. I was laughing so hard, because his pants are kind of tight and his cup is kind of large. He looks pretty funny. He always walks funny and is constantly adjusting himself. When he first put it on for a practice, I heard a knock. I told Hayden to go get the door. He started laughing and told me that he was just knocking on his cup. He is pretty cute! We are not a baseball family. I went back and forth about him even playing baseball again. He plays soccer and likes it better. The problem was that most of his friends are on the baseball team, and he wanted to be with them. I hardly have to drive him, because our neighbor is an assistant coach and he drives them most of the time.

Olivia and Tucker at Chuck E Cheese. Tucker is Carter's best friend. He is the funniest little boy ever. I wish that him and Carter were my twins. He is so sweet. He always gives me hugs and snuggles with me.

Carter fell asleep in the car watching a movie.

This is a serious bad hair day!! Olivia can wake up with the worst hair ever. I don't know how she does it.

We met the Nelsons at Round Table for lunch one day. Olivia and Carter hung out with Milo.

Eric found a Florida sweatshirt at Kohls for $10. He bought it in honor of his cousin Ryan who is the hugest Gator fan ever!

Olivia loves skate night for school. She will wake up in the morning and tell me that it is the greatest day ever. I ask her why and she says--in only a way Olivia can, "Uh, skate night! Duh!" She is the cutest, tiniest little girl out on rollerblades. On St. Patrick's Day, we went to my friend's house for a green dinner. It was delicious! The Ribs weren't green, but pretty much everything else was. My kids ate quickly and ran downstairs to play. Not Hayden, though. He stood over the ribs eating and groaning about how good they were. He is hilarious. He just really loves food. I volunteered in his class and was correcting papers. One of the questions said to name something they cherished. All the kids said things like--my family, my mom and dad, my home, my sister, my dog, etc. Hayden's said, "I cherish FOOD!" That is so Hayden. We broke out the boxing gloves after dinner.

This Winter from my iphone

2010-03-09T23:33:00.000-07:00

I have been really bad about taking pictures these past few months!! That is one of the reasons I haven't blogged in forever. Another reason is that there hasn't been anything too exciting going on. This post is made up of a selection of pictures that were taken with my phone--not the best quality. My cute friend and neighbor has 2 daughters that babysit Olivia sometimes and love her. They took her to a basketball game, and Olivia really wanted to dress for the occasion. Everything had to be pink!

On Olivia's friend Katie's birthday, we took the girls to get their nails done. Olivia thinks it is the coolest thing!

Sometimes I have to take Olivia to school when she misses the bus. It is usually my fault, because I am doing her hair. The boys tell me they aren't waiting anymore, and they leave without her.

The neighbor girls that love Olivia, gave her their old American Girl matching pajamas.

On Martin Luther King Day, the high school girls had a gymnastics camp that Olivia went to. She was a natural!!!! She has the perfect body for it.

We have seriously had the best winter ever! We had the smallest amount of snow before Christmas, it snowed once during Christmas, and then it hasn't really snowed since. It has been spring like weather for a few months. My kids have never played this much outside during the winter. This was early February, and they were out on the trampoline in shorts and tshirts. I probably would wear more clothes outside in February, but they are kids and crazy.

We spend more days than I care to admit at places like Chuck e Cheese and McDonalds. I put Olivia in 1/2 day Kindergarten, so we do a lot of playing in the afternoons. Hayden thinks it is so unfair, because he had all day kindergarten and didn't get to play so much.

I tend to take a lot of pictures of Carter--maybe because he is 3, and I don't want him to grow up! (A lot is relative. A lot compared to the other kids)

Sometimes we realize that we haven't seen Carter in a while. When we call out for him, he doesn't answer. Then we find him asleep in his bed. He also keeps the light on. No matter how many times I turn it off. He will wake up and turn it on again. No idea why.

This day he fell asleep in the car, so I put him in our bed when we got home. I came in later, and he was just about falling off the bed--completely asleep!

Carter likes to wear my Uggs. He also found Olivia's old Uggs and has taken them over. He wants to wear them all the time with whatever he is wearing.

The past few months we have spent a huge amount of time at Jackson and Hayden's basketball, indoor soccer and futsal games. Unfortunately I never took my camera to take pictures of them. I spent my time chasing Carter and Olivia and trying to keep them happy during the games. They spent a lot of time playing on my phone or on Jackson or Hayden's ipod touches. Carter took about 300 pictures of random things. He took the rest of the pictures in this post. It is just a sampling.......Life according to Carter....

Here I am sitting at a basketball game. Why not take pictures of my feet?

And Olivia.......

and mom and Olivia.......

and mom getting ready in the morning.....I have to be right next to her when she is doing her hair or makeup.

another lovely picture of mom......at a basketball game.......I say to her over and over, "say Cheese mommy!"

Doodle Bug on mom's phone is also good for passing the time during Jackson and Hayden's games. Olivia drew this picture.

Valentines

2010-03-09T23:15:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure that sugar cookies are my very favorite dessert--and I love eating Valentine's cookies. I was in charge of bringing sugar cookies for Olivia's class party for the kids to decorate. I thought if I didn't make them, I wouldn't eat them. So I ordered cookies from the grocery store. Unfortunately, they were really good, and I ordered way more than Olivia's class needed. So I ate a few........

The kids decorated some of the left overs at home.

Can I just tell you that I'm pretty sure that my kids are the messiest kids on the planet!!!! When Olivia decorated her cookie at her class party, there was frosting everywhere. Way more than any other kid in the class. I am constantly amazed at how much of a mess they can make with anything. I think it is supposed to teach me patience and self control--and I am failing miserably.

In January I had a baby shower at my house for my friend Kristi.

Where's the Fire?

2010-03-09T23:03:00.000-07:00

Carter's playgroup joined with another playgroup to tour the firestation last month--or maybe the month before--I can't even remember when it was. How pathetic! Carter loved it! All the other kids were so well behaved and quiet. Carter spent the entire time asking the firemen questions while they were talking. I'm very glad that they ignored him, most of the time. He kept on saying, "what's that for Mr. Fireman? What's that one for Mr. Fireman????"

So, it has been a while...a long while.....

2010-03-09T22:41:00.000-07:00

So I guess I never finished even posting my pictures from Christmas break. It's only been like 10 or 11 weeks...I'm right on top of things:) Eric and my brother Mark took the boys up to Silver Mountain a couple times while they were here over Christmas. Jackson and Hayden are loving the snowboarding and Austin, Braden and Chad were on skiis. Hayden

Hayden

Chad

Austin, Braden and Hayden

Jackson

Sorry Jackson--I guess dad din't take very many pictures of you! Hayden definitely dominated the camera!

Olivia got her doll with the matching clothes from Grandma Enloe for Christmas.

Natalie had Olivia for Christmas, so Paula made them matching Olivia the pig pajamas. Olivia absolutely loves them!!!!!!!

Christmas at the Lake

2009-12-25T17:00:00.000-07:00

This year is Wagstaff Christmas, and my whole family always goes out to the lake for Christmas. Mark and Heather's family came even though Heather's obgyn told her he didn't really want her to travel since her baby is due in February. When I told Jackson they weren't going to come he cried. Austin and Braden are his favorite people in the world. All of my kids were elated when they found out that Heather decided she would be okay and she would travel. Devey just got back from BYU Idaho, and we don't see Andrew that much, so it is fun to see them.

Austin is quite a wiseman!

Hadley was very excited to be an angel.

Hayden was another wiseman.

Olivia was Mary.

Santa came! Olivia asked him specifically for a pink basketball. Not sure why.

Olivia and Carter were very upset that we had to wait for everyone to be ready to start opening presents.

Hayden and Jackson asked for soccer jerseys. Hayden wanted a Ronaldino AC Milan one, and Jackson wanted a Christino Rinaldo Real Madrid one. They thought this Christmas had to be the best ever!!!! I'm looking at Jackson and thinking I really miss his summer blond. It has all been cut off, and he seems so pasty. Winter is so sad!!!

Holiday Fun

2009-12-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

Olivia's kindergarten class party was so cute! She got to wear her pajamas and bring her blanket--which she was very excited about. The party was gingerbread man themed. Their gingerbread men ran away, and they went on a hunt all over the school to find them.

This is the picture that Olivia showed people around the school when she was looking for her gingerbread man.

Last Saturday night, the Merrills came over for dinner and gingerbread house making. Even Carter needed his own "Gingerhouse." Carter and Olivia were very into it. Jackson just wanted to finish it really fast, so he could get back to the Cowboy's game. The Merrill kids were pretty much pros. They made our kid's houses look pretty sad!

Erickson Family Pictures

2009-12-24T20:34:00.000-07:00

This Thanksgiving we took family pictures in Vernal with Eric's family and his whole extended Erickson family.

Corey and Brenda's family

Aunt Hillary and Olivia Jeff and Hillary

Lindsey and me

Jorie, Lindsey and Olivia

Eric's parents--Anita and Ron

Parker and Aria's family

The whole Enloe family

Eric's Uncle Darwin's family

GG Lois with her 4 kids--Darwin, Robyn, Lois, Anita, Rod

The whole Erickson family

Aunt Robyn's family

Uncle Rod and Aunt Margo with all their grandkids

Uncle Rod's family

GG Lois with her 2 daughters and their daughters

GG Lois's 90th Birthday

2009-12-24T16:49:00.000-07:00

We went to Vernal this Thanksgiving to celebrate Eric's grandma's 90th birthday. Every grandchild and great grandchild was there. We had a huge open house and GG Lois was so happy! We all love, admire and adore her. She is the greatest lady and such a good example.

She sat in a chair and watched the program. Olivia sat and watched with her. We sang 2 of her favorite songs.

She wanted us to sing "When He Comes Again" and she wanted Jackson to sing the 2nd verse as a solo. She actually told him she wanted him to sing at her funeral, but we thought we would do it now, so she can enjoy it.

We also sang "Have I told you lately that I love you." Eric's grandpa Bryce used to sing it to her. I guess we did it right, because she was crying.

All the grandsons took turns dancing with Grandma. It was very cute!

All of GG Lois's siblings that are still alive were there to celebrate, too.

A Little Late--3 months ago--Keith Urban!

2009-12-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

Back in September I had a great girl's night to the Keith Urban concert. We bugged Danna's husband Brady to get us free tickets, and he came through for us. I liked Keith Urban before, but I was in love after seeing him in concert. He was amazing!!!!!! In this picture are Danna, Heidi, me and Taraka. I'm feeling pretty white and winterish looking back to how tan I was back then. I need to move out of the winter arctic!

Little Big Town opened for him, They were actually really good. I recognized a few of their songs.

Las Vegas Girl's Weekend

2009-12-24T16:01:00.001-07:00

The weekend before Thanksgiving I went to Las Vegas for a super-fun weekend with my sister-in-laws. Nichole isn't really my sister-in-law. She is actually a cousin-in-law, but we claim her. Nichole, me, Hillary and Brenda got all dressed up to go wait in line for the midnight showing of New Moon. We dropped off Parker at his client's house and stopped for a picture in front of his Bentley.

We got to-go dinner and ate it in line. We really aren't crazy Twilight fans, but we thought it would be a fun excuse for a girl's weekend.

They let us into the theater 3 hours before the show started, so we just hung out and talked. In this picture are Lindsey, Betty, me, Carrie, Brenda and Becky. It was so fun that Betty met us there for the movie. It was great to see her, since she decided to get married, move to Vegas, and desert us. Potty training Carter was brutal without her. She potty trained Olivia for me. Anyway--Brenda's best friends Carrie and Becky came for the weekend, too. It was so fun to have them there! They are awesome and fit in great with us.

Friday started with pedi-manis and then lunch and shopping.

Dinner was at Serindipity's. It was the greatest, because they brought our dessert before our food. That is the way it should be.

Nichole, me, Hillary, Lindsey and Brenda

Do you think the group of us bought enough shoes?????

Nichole took the picture of the 3 of us. Pretty impressive camera work, since she is in the picture!

I finally finished my posts from a month ago

2009-12-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

I loaded lots of pictures at Thanksgiving time, and then I only posted the birthday season post. Today I wrote the captions for the other 2 posts and posted them, but they are after birthday season. Don't miss these 2 extra-ordinary posts! Not really that exciting, but just in case you didn't want to miss them.

Birthday Season!!!!!

2009-11-25T16:27:00.000-07:00

Our life from Oct 10th to Nov 5th is totally crazy!!!! All 4 birthdays..... This post will take you thru our different celebrations. First is Carter's 3rd birthday on Oct 1oth. My family and the Pypers came over for dinner and Diego birthday cake.

This was Oct 23rd, and it is actually Hayden's 9th birthday party. I guess Carter really wanted it to be his birthday again. Hayden had a few friends over for a sleepover at our house.

2 days later, on October 25th--Hayden's actual b-day--we went to dinner at my mom's house. We celebrated Hayden and Olivia's b-days. Half the cake was NY Giants and the other half was Hannah Montana.

On Olivia's actual birthday--October 28th--Aunt Carol threw her an adorable Olivia the Pig tea party. She loves Olivia the Pig sooooooo much!

Olivia even dressed as Olivia the pig.

Aunt Paula made her the cutest Olivia bag!

Then came Jackson's b-day sleepover. He knows how to work the system. I told him he could have 4 friends spend the night. One of his friends couldn't spend the night, and could only stay for a few hours. He convinced me to invite one more friend. Then after school on the day of the party, 2 of his good friends from our neighborhood showed up to play. They were still there as guests started to arrive, so I felt bad and invited them too. His 4 friends turned into 7.

Then the next night we went to the Shock practice center and had a big football and soccer party for both Jackson and Hayden. It was such a fun night! After that party I was so glad birthday season was finally over!

Halloween Celebrations

2009-11-25T16:09:00.001-07:00

I loaded all these pictures a month ago, and then I forgot to ever write anything and get them posted. It has been a while, but we had great Halloween festivities! The week before Halloween we went to a super fun party at our friends the Solteros. Everyone had to dress in their favorite decade 60s, 70s or 80s. We ofcourse chose the 80s. We look pretty hot, huh????

Melanie, Jessica, me and Bunny

I'm thinking maybe Eric should grow out his hair so he can have a mullet. What do you think?

Matthew's 80s coach outfit was great. The polyester bike shorts were the best.

The Solteros, The Ruizs, The Enloes and the Deutschs

Every year we go to my friend Emily's granparents for pumpkin carving. It has become quite a fun tradition. My kids love it! It fell on Olivia's birthday this year. She wanted to go to pumpkin carving instead of going to a movie.

Olivia's dance class did a Halloween dance for us, and it was really cute.

Hayden was a grave reaper, but he didn't have his mask on. I helped with his class party. Jackson and Hayden fight over which party I will go to, since they are at the same time. I have to take turns.

Olivia was a very exuberant snow white!

We went to a get together at the Merrill's house and then the Pypers came over to go trick or treating with us. Hayden went with the Merrills and Jackson was with his friend Travis, so we just had Carter, Olivia and Tucker.

Our neighborhood is the greatest for trick-or-treating. It is so much fun! All the neighbors get really into it. One guy sat on his porch dressed as the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood. Carter went up to him very serious and asked, "Are you a bad guy?" When we got back I stayed home to hand out candy. I seriously underestimated the amount of trick-or-treaters we would have. I started handing out Carter and Olivia's candy. I turned out the porch light at 9 and people still kept coming. I had to stop answering after a while.

Fall Fun

2009-11-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

Every fall we go to Green Bluff. It was a really cold weekend, so we had to bundle. Deanne, Paula and the Ruizs went with us.

Jackson and Carter

So sad!!!! Carter is growing up way too fast. We took this picture right before we took the crib down. He hasn't slept in it for months. He always ends up jumping in bed with one of his siblings. We decided it was time to move Hayden's bunk beds in Carter's room. Then Hayden got a new queen sized bed in his room.

Even though Carter has his own bed, he still talks the other kids into sleeping with him. I took this picture of Hayden and Carter snuggling in the bunkbed, because I thought it was sooooo cute!

Olivia absolutely loved soccer season! She was so into it. Last year it was painful to watch her, because she always was doing summersaults or holding hands with her friends. This year, she was very competitive. She got the fire in her eyes, and she was really good!

Carter's 3 Year Pictures

2009-10-04T19:04:00.000-06:00

Being the 4th child, poor little Carter hasn't been taken for pictures by himself many times in his life. He was uncharachteristically cooperative for these pictures. He was so darn cute and sweet that it was pretty hard to decide which pictures to get. I can't believe my baby is turning 3 this week! He is growing up way too fast!

Our Garden Pumpkins

2009-10-04T18:33:00.001-06:00

This year Eric has worked really hard putting in an awesome garden for our family! Between conference sessions today, the kids went out and picked some pumpkins from our garden. The Pypers were over, so Tucker helped too.

Mini Cheer Camp

2009-10-04T18:30:00.000-06:00

This week Olivia went to a mini cheer camp put on by the high school football cheerleaders. It was 2 hours on Wednesday and Thursday, and then on Friday they performed during half time at the football game. I don't know if cheerleading will be in her future--unless she gains a little more coordination--but she absolutely loved it! Carter didn't want to miss out on the dancing and posing for the camera, either.

1st Day of School

2009-10-04T18:25:00.001-06:00

After driving 18 hours home from Lake Powell on Labor Day, the kids were up bright and early to make it to the 1st day of school. The boys headed on the bus, and I drove Olivia--since it was her very first day of Kindergarten. We had to stop in Provo on the way back home to pick up some new BYU shirts for the boys. They were so excited after their big win over Oklahoma. It's too bad they didn't keep up that winning streak!

Carter was feeling a little left out that he didn't get 1st day of school pictures.

Olivia's Kindergarten teacher Mrs. McNeice is so great for her. We love her!!!

Lake Powell

2009-10-04T16:08:00.001-06:00

We had one of the greatest vacations ever with Eric's family last month. We went to Lake Powell and stayed on a house boat for our last hoorah of the summer. It was so relaxing. It was great to have absolutley nothing to do and just hang out. The kids love being with their cousins, and we all have the best time together.

I love my sister-in-laws!

Olivia and Hayden like to show off for the camera. Carter was crazy with the front flips, too. I guess we never had the camera when he was doing them.

Camden turned 6 while we were at Lake Powell, so we had smores out on the beach--after birthday cake ofcourse.

Eric and Lindsey

Jackson is a great big brother!

Hillary's pug Chuck wanted his turn on the surfboard.

I'm realizing I have a ton of pictures of Olivia. I'm pretty sure the diva jumps in front of the camera any chance she gets.

I think this was my favorite part of the trip. We played cards everyday and loved it!

Papa Ron looked after the kids sometimes when we were playing cards.

There is the diva again!

All the kids adore Hillary's dogs Chuck and Toby. The poor dogs had to put up with a lot from the kids.

It is impossible to resist this face. Carter went down the slide off the back of the boat any chance he got. Then he would run up these stairs and go again. He is such a daredevil. He has no fear at all--which is a little scary sometimes.

A very tired girl. I swear the boat puts all my kids right to sleep!

So sad August is over!!!!

2009-09-01T09:20:00.000-06:00

August was such a great month!!!! I need to get pictures from all of my family, because I realized that the extent of my pictures is pathetic. So here is August from my camera....soon I will post August with other people's pictures of us. Last weekend we took the boys to Las Vegas where the Shock played in and won the Arena Cup. It was so fun! We were behind 20-21 at half and came back in the 2nd half to win 74-27! It was great to visit Hillary and Jeff and Betty and Jeff, since they live there. Eric's parents, GG Lois and Lindsey also came. When we were at lunch with GG Lois, she was sitting across from Jackson. She told him, "you know Jackson, I want all my great grandkids to sing at my funeral. I want you guys to sing I wonder when he comes again, and I want you to sing the 3rd verse as a solo." He thought about it for a bit and replied, "I guess I could do that, but when should I start rehearsing?" We all had a good laugh. I had to explain to him that he was basically asking her when she was going to die. These Shock pictures are for you, Danielle--since you think every post is Shock pictures. I didn't want to disappoint you.

It was so fun hanging out with Betty and her new family.

Reagan and Hayden--and you can kind of see Lindsey and Jorie.

The Zumbrunnens came back for a visit. Olivia loves Emily and Kejia--she had to pose for a picture. She is so crazy! I think she learns a little too much from tv. She told me the other day,"Mom, there is this thing that you only have to do 3 minutes a day, and in a few short weeks your abs will be transformed! Also mom, I think you would really like a 'bump it' for your hair. They have little ones for your bangs, or bigger ones for the back of your hair. You would look soooooo beautiful!"

When Mark and Heather came, we had family pictures out at the lake. (Pictures of the whole family in future posts!)

On the way back from Blue Lake, we stopped for some bridge jumping. Here is Jackson climbing up to take his jump.

One of the highlights of Mark and Heather's visit was going up to the Priest Lake cabin. We took an awesome hike. Eric showed the kids a little fly-fishing on the river and we picked huckleberries. The climate is so different up there. It was crazy rainy there and cooler. It was so gorgeous! We were pretty wet, but the kids will always remember our hike. My parents were so cute. My dad was like a little kid in a candy store. This was his first experience picking huckleberries. We hit the mother-load of huckleberries. Eric has been up there quite a bit and has never seen them quite as good.

Jackson and Jake

Sharlene

We ended filling about 2 gallons worth. If you were to buy 2 gallons worth it would cost you about $80-90.

Mitchell

Braden

Hayden, Eric, Carter,Braden, Chad and Liv

Heather
Hadley

Silverwood

2009-08-07T20:14:00.000-06:00

Eric's parents, Hillary and Jeff came to visit us back in July. It was a funfilled, action packed weekend for sure. For some reason I couldn't fit all of these pictures into one post, so this one is Silverwood and the next one is Silverwood and the rest of the weekend. This tube ride was so fun when you have 4 adults and 2 kids. I kept on being on the top when we went up the sides. I was screaming so loud. I thought I was going to fly over on top of everyone.

Hillary and I have the best time together! I am so thankful to have awesome sister-in-laws!

Jeff

Eric

Shar

Hillary

You might be here a while..........

2009-08-07T17:41:00.000-06:00

Hillary and Jeff

Eric and Jackson

This is so Olivia!

Ofcourse we spent time at the lake! Jackson had to show his skills wakesurfing.

I am not a good wakeboarder! I'm always too scared to ever get any better. This day I was feeling pretty good. It was a perfect lake day, and I was feeling invincible. I actually got some real air and then.......I took the worst fall ever. 3 weeks and several chiropracter appointments later, I am feeling much better. I walked like an old woman and could hardly move for a week. It slowly got better, but as a mother, I don't know if it is worth it. I'm pretty happy being a bad wakeboarder and not getting any better.

Jeff

Eric

Jackson was getting really good air, and I guess I was feeling a little bad that my children are better wakeboarders than me. I need to just be okay that 10 year old bodies are different than mine!

Hayden

Hillary

The Shock game this weekend was amazing! It came down to the very last play of the game, and we won. Eric sat on the front row with the boys and Hillary and Jeff during the first half. Then the second half I went down on the front row with Hillary, Jeff and Jackson. Eric was up in the box with the little kids. Hillary and I had the best time ever! It was so exciting! I was completely hoarse from screaming.

Carter loves Shox the Fox. Carter is crazy down on the field after the games. He runs around throwing, catching, and kicking the balls and running into people--even people he doesn't know.

The week before this game, the boys were in Shock football camp at the practice center. It is always one of their favorite camps. Jackson loved being a star--he is one of the oldest kids in this age group. Hayden loved it until the last day when we got into the car. He was so tired from having sleep overs a few days in a row. He started crying and told me that it wasn't fair that he hardly ever got the ball. Jackson was bragging about his touchdowns.

Hayden is in the orange shorts, and Jackson is in the red shorts on the right.

Jackson is screaming out directions as the quarterback.

Jackson is running down the sideline on the way to a touchdown.

4th of July in Deer Valley--Better late than never!

2009-08-07T12:33:00.000-06:00

Last month we had a great Enloe gathering in Deer Valley for the 4th of July. Parker had a client with an awesome condo that we all got to stay in. There were a few gliches--the water heater was broken--but you definitely can't complain when it is free.

Jeff celebrated his 31st birthday while we were there. I'm pretty sure Olivia was more excited about his cake than anyone. She drove back to Las Vegas with Hillary and Jeff and got to stay with Aunt Betty for 4 days. Hillary brought her back to Spokane when she came to visit the next weekend.

We went to Park City and rode the Alpine slides. The kids thought it was the greatest thing in the world.

There was a pool at the condo that the kids wanted to be in every minute of the day.

All of the kids were always piled on Eric or Parker in the pool.

On the way back home, we stopped in Logan to see our friend's the Warnicks. They are moving to Dubai this month, and we figured it was a lot easier (and cheaper) to visit them in Logan than in the Middle East.

Back in June Olivia had her end of the year soccer party. The whole team got trophies, and that might have been the most exciting moment of Olivia's life. She shows her trophy to everyone and wants to keep it in the living room for everyone to see. She tells everyone that her trophy makes her special. I've tried to explain to her that "things" don't make you special. I told her that working hard in soccer makes her special, not the trophy.

Also in June, we went to my friends' sons birthday party. Tara's sister does facepainting, and Olivia was not going to miss out on that. She said later, "mom, aren't you so sad that we don't know that face painting ladies phone number so she can come paint our face again?" I told her that was very sad. I didn't tell her that I had her phone number and could easily get a hold of her.

"Rhinos and Dinosaurs and Vernal, Oh my!"

2009-07-01T08:28:00.000-06:00

Well, it looks as though my kids are having a great time with Grandma and Grandpa in Vernal! On Monday they took the Rhino for a ride. Olivia asked Grandma where the rhino's legs were? I guess she wasn't expecting a car. I'm kind of surprised the boys are wearing matching shirts. I packed that shirt for both of them, but I assumed they would wear it on different days. I'm also pretty sure that the Rhino and Dinosaur museum were on 2 different days. That means the boys wore those outfits 2 days in a row. Oh well, less laundry to do! Thanks again Ron and Anita! I'm having a great time with the house to myself and getting tons done!

Carter looks so old! I don't like him growing up. Just want him to stay my baby boy!

June Happenings

2009-06-29T19:28:00.000-06:00

Right now I am seriously enjoying the peace and quiet for a few days. Eric drove the kids down to Utah yesterday to stay with his parents. I have the house to myself. It would get really old if it was for very long, but right now I'm taking a few days to organize and clean out stuff. I will fly down on Thursday and meet them for the 4th.

Friday night we had another Shock game. The boys talked Eric into sitting in our front row seats with their friends Kavery and Kacen. They stood the whole time and leaned over the pads so they could be part of the game. Every time the music came on, they were dancing crazily--especially Jackson. He is always trying to win the dance for your dinner contest. He came close one time. The box we sit in is behind these seats, so we could watch their dance moves all night.

I finally took my camera to one of Hayden's baseball games. He is so cute! The other night he was looking in his wallet and asked me where his $20 bill was. I told him that I had used it to pay a babysitter, and I would pay him back. I found him later crying. I asked him what was wrong, and he said that that $20 bill was a special one. He got it for his baptism from a friend. I had no idea it was special, so now I'm in trouble.

He was pitching this night. I get so nervous when he pitches that he will walk everyone. He actually did ok--except the one kid that he hit with his pitch. His team is crazy into baseball. We are not baseball people, but we let him play since he had lots of friends on the team. We all had matching shirts with their names on it to support the team at the games. I looked hot in my Valley Hitmen shirt!

Olivia begged me to buy this shirt for her so everyone could know how much she loves soccer!

This mound of dirt kept Olivia and Carter busy the entire game. It was so great to not have to worry about them. I brought every snack imaginable and balls to keep them entertained, but they were more interested in dirt.

The boys had their end of the year piano recital at the Steinway gallery. They were cute and did a good job. There were a lot of kids their age that were really good. I think it was because they practice more than 3 minutes a day. Practicing is definitely a chore for the boys. They would much rather be playing sports. I'm a mean mom and make my kids take piano lessons. Hayden did one of his songs in the talent show at school, and it was all his idea. So it couldn't be that bad.

A Little of Everything

2009-06-10T16:53:00.000-06:00

This may just look like an ordinary sandal, but I love this sandal! For the past month or so, Carter has worn these sandals everyday. He had a pair the size smaller last summer, and at the end of the summer I bought him a size up for this year. Last Monday I picked up the boys from school and ran some errands. When we got to Sports Authority I couldn't find one of his sandals. I turned the car upside down, and it wasn't there. I was so sad. I called the carwash to see if it fell out of the car when I was vaccuming. They couldn't find it. On the way home I thought of checking at the boy's school. It was about 2 hours later......but there was the sandal all by itself next to the curb where I picked them up. It made my day! Such a little thing, but it made me so happy.

There was a reason I picked up the boys from school to go to Sports Authority...... Two days before on Saturday, the boys had their last soccer games. Hayden had a double header, and Jackson was just supposed to have one game. They went through all kinds of scenerios with me about what I would give them if they made a certain number of goals. They asked if they together scored 25 goals that day if they could get a cell phone to share. I knew it was impossible, so I told them sure. They then settled on if they could get 12 combined goals that day, they could get something $25 or under at Sports Authority. I agreed, because I didn't think there was a huge chance of them even getting 12 goals. I learned to be careful what I agree to. It turned out that Jackson's team was missing a lot of players, so his coach convinced Hayden to play with them. Jackson and Hayden scored 2 out of the 3 goals in that game. Then Jackson's coach had a game with his other team right after that game. They were short players, so they asked Jackson to play. He scored 4 goals! Then when you combine all the goals Hayden scored in his 2 games with the younger team--I had to take them to Sport's Authority. Jackson told me that it was the greatest day of soccer in his life so far. He wanted me to write in the blog that one of his goals was a header and another was with his left foot.

On another note...Carter brings so much joy to our family. He is adored by all. The kids fight over his affection, and the kid's friends always want to play with him, too. Some common phrases out of his mouth lately are.....

-Mom, Tucker not sharing! (You could replace Tucker with Olivia or any friend or sibling that isn't doing exactly what Carter wants right when he wants it.)
-I not grumpy! I Carter!
-I try some of your makeup? (When I respond that it is for girls and he is a boy.....)
-I not a boy! I Carter!
-you're Welcome!!!!! (he will give you a poopy diaper or something you don't even want and still tell you this)
-you otay mommy?
-I otay mommy!
-no way!
-go away mommy! (He tells me this when I sit on the couch and he is watching his cartoons. Unfortunately he learned it from me. Whenever I am doing my or Olivia's hair, he is right next to us climbing in the sink, turning on the water, etc. I often say, "Go AWAY!")

The kids love to snuggle together in my bed to watch tv. I think they are so cute, and I'm thankful they like each other--most of the time. They also sit together in the big chair reading old scrapbooks and laugh and laugh at all the cute things Jackson and Hayden did when they were little. Every time Olivia says to me, "Where is my baby book? Where are the scrapbooks with pictures of me?" I have to tell her that scrapbooking pretty much came to a screeching halt when I had my 3rd child. She atleast has a baby book. It is started. Poor Carter doesn't even have a baby book. All of her questioning has got me remotivated to start digital scrapbooking. Be on the lookout for pages coming soon. I will put them on the blog. I'm also going to make my blog into a book, but that doesn't account for the first 4 years of her life. I've got a lot of catching up to do! I feel bad, because the scrapbooking done 5 years later just isn't the same as the stuff I did for the boys right as it was happening. I forget too much stuff.

Here is some more pictures from Olivia's dance recital that I didn't have when I put the last ones in.

Liv is so funny! She is definitely an original. She tells me that she is famous. She says that all you have to do is be really cute and 5 1/2 and have a really cute name. She thinks that since Olivia the pig show is on tv now, that makes her famous too. She told me that Natalie thinks she is famous, too, but she isn't. She loves all of her Olivia the pig stuff. She was very into the monkey bars for a few months, and that is all she wanted to do. She had blisters all of the time on her hands. Then she taught herself to ride a bike. She told me that she used to be obsessed with the monkey bars, but now she is obsessed with riding her bike.

This picture was taken last month on our girls night at the Taylor Swift concert. We had the best time! From left to right--Meghann, Ashley, Danna, me and Heidi. That is a really gross picture of me! I look a little pregnant in that shirt, but I'm not. We will just blame it on the angle and the way I'm sitting.

Last week I had a great birthday! Eric took care of Liv and Carter, and I got a mani-pedi and lunch with the girls. Eric and Liv made my cake while I was gone. Liv doesn't like german chocolate frosting, so we had half chocolate frosting. Jackson was wondering why I didn't have 33 candles on the cake, but I told him it was too depressing! The next night Eric took me to dinner on the lake, and we had a birthday weekend.

This is Carter with his buddies Owen and Tucker. They have a playgroup on Wednesday mornings. Taraka took this picture of them last week at her house. They are so darn adorable!

Hopefully I will remember to take some pictures of Hayden's baseball for the next post. Olivia also wants me to take some pics of her with her soccer trophy, so I will have to add that too.

Siiiiiiick!

2009-06-07T10:32:00.000-06:00

Carter just came up to me as I was working on the computer. He had a very gross runny nose. I yelled to Hayden to go run and get a kleenex. Meanwhile I look over as Carter is licking his upper lip and saying, "that's nummy mommy! That's nummy!" YUCK!

Memorial Day at the Lake

2009-05-28T12:10:00.000-06:00

What can I say........Monday was a perfect day at the lake!!!! We even got our yardwork done in the morning. Then we headed to where the boat was over the winter and got it all cleaned up to put it on the water. While I'm looking at adorable Carter in this picture-- a little side note before I get back to the lake day. A few weeks ago on Sunday night, Carter went to sleep in Hayden's bed with him. He is not a fan of his crib anymore, and we need to get him a big boy bed. I had just fallen asleep and I heard Hayden screaming for us to come upstairs. I ran upstairs--Eric was in our closet packing and flung himself over the banister to get upstairs quicker. Hayden had Carter in the hallway and was screaming that he was choking. Eric was calm and acted quickly. He gave him the heimlich and a toy screw flew out of his mouth. Hayden said he was asleep and woke up when he heard Carter choking. It was so weird, because Carter is really past putting stuff in his mouth. I have no idea why he had the screw in bed with him either. It really scared us all, and the kids were really shaken up. I was so glad Eric was there. I know I would have done what I needed to do, but I would have been much more freaked out if it was just me. Everyday we can't squeeze the little guy enough! He is precious and growing up too fast. Everything he says is so cute to us. We are so blessed to have him in our family!

We have finally had some really nice weather for a few weeks. I thought the water would be too cold, so I didn't even wear my suit. It ended up being way nicer than I thought. We took the boat down the river and the water was about 10 degrees warmer in Anderson than in front of the cabin. I wished I would have had my suit on! It was just such a great family day!

The boys fight over who gets to drive the boat with dad.

My nephew Andrew came with us, and it was great having him with us. He was so cute. He just got home from his mission in Spain. He said that he had dreamed for 2 years of running down the dock and jumping into the water on a hot day. When we got to the cabin he did it immediately and was so excited! His family was home doing yardwork, but he couldn't handle knowing we were going to the lake and not going. Who could blame him? My kids love him and fight over him.

I'm not sure where Jackson got his love of being in the spotlight. If he has an audience or a camera is on him, he goes wild!

Olivia had to jump in the water every time we stopped the boat.

Jackson said he was going to take it easy on his first wakeboard run of the season, but he was getting pretty good by the end of his turn.

We started wakesurfing while Andrew was on his mission, but he picked it up so quickly! He is already better than me, and I did it a lot last year.

Hayden rocked the wakesurfing on his knees and had the best time!

A Lot of Catch Up!

2009-05-28T11:55:00.000-06:00

Last week was my friend Taraka turned 30! This picture was taken on her actual birthday--May 20th--at a girl's lunch. We teased her a lot about having a birthday week, because she had like 7 or 8 different celebrations. I love this girl, and yesterday she gave me quite a scare! We were at the park, and she was laying on a blanket on the grass. We looked over and she was sweating and hunched over in pain. She could hardly move and said she had never felt this much pain before. I left all the kids with our other friends at the park and I rushed her to the emergency room. The nurse there thought it was her gall bladder, but after she and Ben spent 3.5 hours there, the results were inconclusive. Poor girl! Last night she told me that she was going to take me to lunch sometime for everything I did for her yesterday. Seriously, you only take someone to lunch if they help you out when you are doing something fun! She took care of my kids until after midnight two weeks ago when I went to the Taylor Swift concert. I'm pretty sure the emergency room is not on the same level as a concert!

On Tuesday my parents had a runaway truck crash into their yard. It took out a few trees and made quite a mess. Crazy!

Today was Olivia's last day of preschool, and it was a very, very sad day! She has been a little tearful the past few days when she thinks about leaving Teacher Barbara. She is the greatest! The only way I could console Olivia was to tell her that we could visit Teacher Barbara anytime she wanted. Look out Barbara! Olivia told me this morning that she probably wouldn't visit everyday, because she goes to church on Sundays. These pictures were from preschool graduation on the 16th. They had a farm theme, and everything was adorable. I actually just watched it on video, and Eric took her. I was at the boy's soccer tournament that morning. A couple days before the graduation, Olivia told me that when I saw her up on stage I was going to think,"Oh! Why do I have the greatest child in the world?" Ofcourse it was because, "I have the best singings--way better than everyone else!"

On the 9th was Jackson's very last soccer game with his team he has been on since Kindergarten. They had 10 seasons together. It was a little sad now that everyone is splitting up for different select tryouts in U-11. They were such a good team, and the mothers were some of my best friends--so we always had a great time. One of the mothers gave coach Rudy a picture of the boys from the first spring season in kindergarten. I actually got a little choked up looking at it. They were so darn cute! I wanted them to be 6 again.

My family has been doing a huge garden up at my parents house, and all the families have put in a ton of work (Myron for sure the most!) These pictures were taken at the beginning of May, so it has come a long way since then. I will have to put updated pictures of it and the garden Eric has done at our house on the blog.

Eric did a lot of work on the garden boxes and the deer fence.

On May 1st, Olivia's dance class performed in her dance teacher's ward talent show. It happens to be the ward all my family is in, so she had lots of people cheering for her. Her recital was a few weeks later, but I can't figure out how to download her class pictures. They will have to be on a future blog post. Olivia's friend Katie is 3 1/2 months younger than her and about twice her size!

Their 2 numbers were so cute! Her teacher Mauressa does such a great job! Olivia is very sad that dance is over for the summer.

Olivia is such a fun, crazy little girl! She told me last week, "Mom- sometimes you ware me out, but I love you!" I told her that it was funny, because that is exactly how I feel about her. Last week Uncle Parker came to town for a golf tournament with Eric. He had absolutely no voice, and he told Olivia that he had lost his voice. Aunt Carol told her that maybe she should help him find his voice. Evidently Liv hadn't ever heard the expression of losing your voice, because she started looking around. She looked under the kitchen table and came up and said, "I don't see any talking under there!"

Cupcakes and such

2009-05-17T10:47:00.000-06:00

Olivia got a cupcake maker with her giftcard from Aunt Carol to Toys R Us. It is kind of a pain to make them, and they don't taste very good--but she loves making them. They sure didn't turn out pretty like the pictures. Olivia's friend Ella came over after dance one day, and they talked me into making cupcakes.

These pictures were taken at Olivia's soccer practice back in April, but I haven't blogged in over a month--so here they are.

This was before Carter got his haircut. I guess I didn't realize at the time how bad it looked. He is also really dirty from the rocks around the playground, so he is quite a train wreck.

Easter

2009-04-19T11:31:00.001-06:00

We had a really wonderful Easter weekend. We were so lucky to have Eric's parents come and spend it with us. We were very sad that they had to leave after church to head back to Utah. Olivia cried on Anita's lap during church and then fell asleep in her arms. She did not want grandma Needers to leave.

Olivia is never very excited for me to do her hair, but she endured.

Carter showed off his new sunglasses from the Easter Bunny! He is just about the cutest thing in the world right now. I just hug and squeeze and kiss him constantly. Anything he says is cute to me. I don't want him to grow up! He didn't sleep very much while grandma and grandpa were here. He had 2 monster tantrums that were the worst he has ever had, and we all said it is a good thing he is cute.

Olivia got a pink football from the Easter bunny and a rake. She showed me the rake she wanted at Target. I told her I would tell the Easter bunny. She told me I should just buy it then and give it to the Easter Bunny and he would pay me back. I agreed and thought that made life a lot easier if I didn't have to go back to Target later. I just adore Olivia...most of the time. Sometimes I think she is going to put me over the edge. The constant unanswerable questions and nonstop random noise and talking and screaming at times make me crazy! Then other times I remind myself what a great sweet girl she is. I really am lucky to have a little girl. Eric is out of town, and she has been missing him a lot. She told me the other day that we really needed to get a gift for daddy. I asked if she wanted to get one for his birthday, and she said that she just wanted to get him one so he would know how special she thinks he is. She is such a sweetheart. She said maybe we should get him some more copy paper to put in his office. Now that is a very practical gift. Not quite sure why she wants to get him that. I guess maybe her and Carter go thru a lot of it for drawing.

Jackson had an adventure finding his basket!
It was down in a window well with a lot of tumble weeds that blew over from the vacant lot across the street. It is a good reminder that we need to get them cleaned out! Jackson has grown up so much in the past few months. He just makes me so happy! He is the sweetest nicest boy now. It is not that he wasn't nice before, but he has just changed. He is so responsible and hard working. He tries so hard to be the best person he can be, and I'm so proud of him! We are so thankful to have him as a son.

Hayden also had to climb in the window, but he didn't have to battle the tumble weeds. He is just a fun kid! He must be going thru the stage Jackson just got out of, because I have to get after him about stuff more than I used to, but he is still great. He is constantly going and busy with sports and loves every bit of it.

Rainy Egg Hunt

2009-04-19T11:14:00.001-06:00

Ofcourse we had a few days of yucky weather right around Easter. It was raining on Easter afternoon, but we the kids still wanted to have an egg hunt up at my mom's house before dinner. Most of the eggs were filled with money this year, so the kids loved counting up all their change. It was also a good lesson to figure out how much tithing everyone needed to pay. Even with the rain it was a really good day. Deanne made primerib and we had lots of other delicious food! Kimmy and Jenny did a great Easter lesson for us after dinner.

Shock Game

2009-04-19T10:59:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday we took Eric's parents to a Shock game. Olivia was once again much more excited about the dancers than the game. She got every one of them to sign her Shock towel.

The boys were so cute watching the game together. We kept on having to pull Carter back down so he didn't jump onto the field during the game. The boys did a lot of dancing for the camera, and the announcer even commented on the crazy boys on the front row and put them on the jumbotron.

We had lots of soccer games that morning, too. The weather was rainy and cold so we only got a few pictures of Jackson.

Rivefront Park

2009-04-19T10:35:00.000-06:00

When Eric's parents were here over Easter weekend, we went to Riverfront Park with Carter and Olivia to feed the ducks, play, and ride the carousel. It was a beautiful day, and we had such a great time! The geese were pretty aggressive when they wanted food. There were some really big ones that were a little weird looking that freaked out Olivia. She ran up to grandma. I was laughing and telling Eric about Olivia, and then one came right up to my leg and scared me to death. I screamed and felt a little silly! Carter loved it. He couldn't get enough of feeding the geese. The boys were feeling a little left out that we had a day of fun without them while they were at school. We took them to a movie later that night.

Road Trip!

2009-04-01T12:11:00.001-06:00

For Spring Break this year we did the unthinkable.....we went on a huge road trip. Considering we never drive longer than a day's drive, ever, this was a change for us. We left after school last Tuesday (the kids were on half days for conferences) and headed to Utah. We stayed at Eric's Aunt Robyn's house. Eric had a meeting at noon in Salt Lake. We would have done something outdoors and springy, but it was snowing. We weren't ready to head out of Utah until 3:30, so we got to Arizona after midnight. We stayed at Eric's cousin Ryan's house in Gilbert. Corey and Brenda's family, Lindsey, Hillary and Jeff, and Eric's parents came too. All the girls and kids crashed the boys' NCAA basketball boy's weekend. We had fun with the kids, and the boys had fun going to the games on Thursday and Saturday and golfing and tennis in between. We were just so happy to be in warm weather, since up north we are having global cooling! The kids had the best time playing with their cousins. Ryan and Nichole's kids, Tyler and Kate, are just like 1st cousins to my kids even though they are 2nd cousins.

Tyler, Rhys, Malik and Olivia

Hayden, Jackson and Malik went to Tyler's scout day camp while they were there. The younger boys got to make tool boxes--which they were very excited about!

Jeff and Hillary snuggled with Kate during one of the rare moments that she was sitting still.

Lindsey squirted the kids off before bath time.

Liv went with Ron and Anita to visit GG Mary. She gave Liv a lion that she carries around with her non-stop now.

Liv with BBR(Big Bad Ron) aka grandpa.

Hilly and Jeff

Carter and Kate

Little miss poser

CHEEEEEEEESE!

Carter's favorite thing to say is "wook at me! wook at me! wheee!"

Grandma told Liv she was a monkey. Liv told her that she was only 1/2 monkey because she didn't like bananas.

Kate, Jorie, Carter and Olivia

The kids even got Grandma to go down the slide with them.

On Friday we took the kids to a park to have water ball races. It doesn't look like it would be that fun from the pictures, but the kids loved it. After an hour and a half we had to make them leave.

Olivia adores Grandma Enloe-- it might have something to do with the fact that Anita will do anything Olivia wants. Whenever they are around I put Liv's carseat in their car, and she is their kid for a few days. She cries hysterically whenever it is time for them to leave.

Olivia used her wet water ball to draw a picture of herself on the concrete.

And they are off..... who's ball will make it there first? Riveting, I know!

We had such a relaxing, fun time in Arizona! We were really excited to go see Corey and Brenda's new house in Aspen and hang out with them, but not excited to leave the beautiful weather. On Monday we drove to Colorado and arrived in the below freezing snowy weather. I didn't bring enough cold weather clothes for the trip. Yesterday I wore flip-flops, and my feet were really cold. I should have just worn my running shoes and sacrificed style! I guess it has been snowing back home and in Utah, so what is with this cruddy spring break weather? It is a good thing Brenda and I are home playing games and relaxing while it snows outside-- Eric, Corey, Jackson, Hayden and Malik are snowboarding. It feels like Christmas break??????