Pioneer Day 2009!

Our Pioneer Day celebration this year was awesome! We went to Fort Buenaventura where they had a Pioneer skills and crafts fair. Our friends the Johnsons came with us and we had a blast! It was only $2.00 to get in and they had a bunch of fun things to do.

We started out riding the train. Carter loved riding in the little train. It is funny because whenever he does something a "big boy" would do he gets this look on his face "like he is so proud," and he looks so serious. It makes me and Mark laugh every time!

We also rode in the canoes. Carter would have liked it better if he didn't have to wear the life preserver. Sorry bud, safety first! We raced canoes against the Johnson's and TOTALLY kicked their butt! (ha ha) After the canoes we went and got some homemade rootbeer and checked out the different Pioneer skills booths. They were shearing a sheep, carving wood, making candles, displaying guns, making flower wreaths, and all kinds of fun things.

After going to the Fort we went to Roosters and had lunch. It was yummy, as usual. The best part was that Carter was pretty good during lunch so we were able to enjoy ourselves.

Here are some (a lot) of pics from our day:

Carter in his get-up before we left

Such a big boy...

His serious and proud face.



Chance had fun riding the train too.

Who is having more fun.. Lyndee or her mom?

A cute family picture.

A cute family picture of the Johnsons.

The Johnsons wishing they could have beat us in the canoe race...

Lyndee was really upset about losing the canoe race...

The motor on our canoe. I think it was like a 10 cylinder or something...

Carter "enjoying" the ride.

Is Mark imitating a mountain man?

The best looking horse on 25th st.

Carter was petting the dog that was part of this statue. So cute!!

Forget baby food... just feed your kid ketchup! Lyndee was loving the ketchup on her fries!
What a cute cowboy... Giddy up!

Slowly getting there... but still frustrated

So, I finally got a scrapbook page done in Photoshop but it is taking me FOREVER to learn the program! The frustrating part is that I just want to dive in and scrapbook but I don't know all of the functions to make it look how I want it. I am not thrilled with the text on the top of this page or the color of the photo. I still need to know A LOT more about editing pictures. Right now I know zilch. I got the program My Memories Suite for my birthday but it kind of limits you and it makes it harder to work with downloads other than their own.

Anyway, for those of you who use Photoshop (I have Elements 5.0) for scrapbooking or photo editing please tell me your tips and tricks that are your favorite or that you think I really need to know! I have been watching some tutorials on YouTube but it is kind of hard to see their screen sometimes. So those of you who live close by could come over and give me a lesson in exchange for cookies, babysitting, or $$$! help...

4th of July!

We had an awesome 4th of July this year. We started the day out by going to the Cherry Days parade in North Ogden. Carter really liked the parade. He liked picking up candy (and I liked having an excuse to pick it up too). It was funny though because he started throwing the candy back to the people in the parade! This kid loves to throw! After the parade we went to my parent's house and played in the water and relaxed. We had a BBQ for dinner then later we went to the fireworks at Weber High and after that we had fireworks at the Shaffer's house. It was such a fun day. The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I am so grateful for our freedom and the opportunity I have to live in the USA.

Here we are at the parade in our regular spot with our parade pals the Deckers.

Fun with Mommy.

Bonking heads with Daddy.

My brother Drew. He marched in the Weber High Marching Band. He does so good at playing the trumpet. This is his last year! Sad!

Garrett loves playing with Carter. They are buddies.

Carter kept going and sitting down in the street.

Here he is picking up some taffy.




Old Navy flag shirts and family pictures are a tradition.

Fun with Grandma Tammy and Uncle Drew.

You can't tell too well in the next couple of pictures but Carter actually had an accident and fell off a cement stair on the front porch and scraped up his nose and forehead. He recovered from it pretty quickly it just looks really bad. It looks worse now then it did the day it happened. It was so sad!

Carter loved playing with the fire hydrant. Colby, Drew, and I used to play with this when we were kids. Well, mainly Colby and I would torture Drew with the hose. :)

Fun Summer things...

We have been having such a great summer so far... I can't believe it is already July though! I went to girls camp, then Mark and Carter came with me for Youth Conference. We also hiked waterfall canyon, and have been swimming a ton. I am glad that we got to do a bunch of things before Mark went back to school because now we don't ever see him anymore.




Here are some pics of what we have been up to:

Our family by the waterfall

Carter's favorite thing (other than playing with balls) is to throw rocks into water.

On our way up. I love Carter's face in this one.

Nice ride little man.


A couple of weeks ago aunt Norma and Uncle Scott came up from Richfield and spoiled Carter with brand new furniture for his room, a plastic four wheeler, a rocking horse, balls, and a turtle sandbox! Can you say Christmas in June?! Thank you Aunt Norma and Uncle Scott we love you!

Playing ball with Aunt Norma

Lazy days of summer.


Youth Conference was at Box Elder Campground. We had so much fun at Youth Conference. The Youth in our ward are so awesome. It was still kind of rainy but we played a few killer games of Steal the Flag, and we had awesome dutch oven meals thanks to the Broadbents, and we also had a great testimony meeting.

This picture cracks me up! Jakey is so excited to be swimming.

All of the little kidlets in the pool. If we all still live here in 4 years all of these kiddos will go to school together. How awesome would that be? Pretty awesome.

Quarter of a Century!

As of June 17, 2009 I am officially a quarter of a century old! I had a great birthday celebration! Earlier in the day my sister in law and friends threw me a surprise birthday brunch. We had crepes with fresh fruit, which were awesome! Then I wanted to take Carter to North Shore but of course it had to rain. So, Carter and I went to the mall and went shopping instead. Later that night we went to dinner at Sonora Grill and then had cake at our house. Everyone gave me such nice gifts and were so thoughtful. Thank you for making my day special!

The whole gang at dinner

If you go to Sonora Grill you have to get the table-side guacamole. It is SO GOOD!

This was Mark's huge burrito

I had the salmon. Really good, but nothing spectacular.

Carter loved the tortilla chips. They were almost the size of his head.

Me and my favorite niece Emma

I love having balloons on my birthday. So, Mark got me this huge balloon. Thanks Mark!

My cake. Gotta love Costco cakes.

Free Paint!

My friend told me about a giveaway for a free quart of paint! I ordered a quart to paint an accent wall in my bathroom! I have been wanting to start it but haven't gotten around to it. What a perfect motivation to start, and it helps the budget out too!
Here is the link:
https://www.glidden.com/promotions/free-paint-giveaway.do

Our trip to California

It has taken me a while to get all of our pictures posted from out trip to California in May, but better late than never. The main purpose for our trip was to go and see Mark's mom and Stepdad who recently moved from St. Louis, MO to Indio, CA. We invited my mom along and were able to stay at their really nice house (on a golf course!) They also came to San Diego and Disneyland with us. We had tons of fun and can't wait until it is time to go back! We miss you Robin and Mel!

Since Robin and Mel's house is located on a golf course we got to drive their golf cart to the pool and back and around the golf course at night. At night there were warm breezes, and there were also bunnies and ducks all over the golf course. One of my favorite days on our trip was the day that we stayed at their house, went to the pool, relaxed, had an awesome ribs dinner, then watched the Bachelorette all together. Good times.

Here is Mark driving the golf cart. I would say he still needs some more practice driving... :)

That is one cool looking grandma and grandpa if you ask me!

Carter is trying to figure out what Elmo is doing in a chicken suit.

Carter and Grandpa Mel played "the drums" on the ottoman. It was so funny because Carter would put his whole body into trying to slam down on the ottoman.

The flowers were beautiful.

Mark and Mel hit some golf balls. Check out that form!

Carter the little Caddy.


Too cute!

Our plane ride home. Carter did pretty good as long as he had his Reeses Pieces. Funny story... when we were going home we kind of got screwed up on the time and we ended up barely making our flight. We were running down the airport like the family in Home Alone. Hauling butt with a kid in a stroller, a big-heavy carseat, and all of our luggage was on the top of my least fun list. Hopefully we won't have to do that again.