Chuckers Game

Melaleuca night at the Chuckers game! Carson really gets into it! He claps and cheers and dances!! So fun!

Two Peas in a Pod

Pretty much every morning my kiddos are on my bed watching a movie while I get ready. Carson almost always sits next to Brooklyn and asks me to take a picture. They are so cute together and Brooklyn is starting to really like her brother. She smiles and talks to him while he tries to tickle her and give her kisses. I just love these two!!

Sweet Summertime

As sad as I am to admit it, Summer is coming to an end. Jason starts school in about a week and they are already putting out the fall and winter stuff in the stores. The kids and I are going to try and savor as much warm sunshine as we can while it lasts! Here are a few of the things we have done this summer:

Sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and science experiments

  Reading lots and lots of books (and taking a few pictures while we do it)

 Carson had his first experience with the ice cream truck

Playing at the parks, the mall, eating cookies, and Brooklyn hanging out in her chair

 Taking my monkeys to the zoo to see the other monkeys. :)

  Canning, canning, canning, and more canning of every flavor of jam imaginable. Also freezing 25 dozen ears of corn....

 Carson started potty training and he is doing really well! Fingers crossed it continues! We got him a "Potty Watch" that goes off every 30 minutes with lights and music and Carson loves it. He screams "Potty Time!!" and comes and finds me so I can take him potty. Buzz also has to potty train according to Carson.

Sweet Brooklyn is getting her own little personality and she brightens my day. Her hair is out of control!! Everyone told me she was going to loose it, but she has actually gotten more! No bald spot yet!! She is such a sweetie and we love her so much! She has started to babble and talk and I can't get enough of it!

 We said goodbye to our dear friend, the Drapers, as they are headed to China for a few years. We are really going to miss them! They were our neighbors in Shelley and have been such great friends. When they moved back to Idaho, Lois was pregnant with Jasmine and Carson was just a baby. Man, time flies!! Good luck, Drapers! We will miss you! 

Carson and I went swimming with Krysta and Maddie and Carson actually liked the water this time. He got to wear his new superman swimming suit (Thanks, April!) which he thought was pretty cool. Brooklyn just hung out next to the pool in the carseat and watched all the action! 

Brooklyn is growing up! I put her in the Bumbo and she can sit up in it. I still feel like she should be too little to do that. She still likes to be held a lot and you can tell the days when she doesn't feel good because all she wants to do is cuddle with Mommy. I don't mind. :) 

Trip to New Mexico

My sister, Ashley, and I loaded up our 5 kids and headed down to New Mexico to see my parents the first week of August. While we were there we got to go to the fair, see all 3 of my grandmas, hang out with my parents, and visit some good friends.

The car ride down was....not so fun. 12 hours being crammed in a car is a really long time for kids. They did great, all things considering, but we were ready to be done once we got there. 
While we were there, my Grandma Bloomfield came up for my Uncle Omer's funeral. It was so good to get to see her and wasn't planned! We got to visit with her for the afternoon before she headed out to go back to Mesa. We also got to see my Aunt Doylene (who spoiled our kids), my Grandma Sue, and my Great Grandma Wilson. While we were all together we decided to take a 5 generation picture with the kids. 

Carson's 5 Generation Picture

Brooklyn's 5 Generation Picture

Brooklyn and her Great-Great-Grandma Wilson

Brook requested that Papa take the kids to Big Bounce so they could play on the blowup slides and bounce houses. They had a ton of fun! This time Carson actually knew what to do and he was able to climb up all of the slides by himself! He thought the blow up dog was so funny and he kept tackling it. 

Ashley and I took the kids and ate lunch at Dairy Queen with Jamie, Brydon, Kyce, Brody, and Emrey. The kids had so much fun playing together. We tried to take a picture of them all, but its hard to get 8 little kids to all look at the same camera at the same time. 
We went to the fair and got to see all of the animals and ride on Papa's golf cart! Ashley and I got to eat a Navajo Taco (people in Idaho just don't know how to make them right) and some funnel cake. Carson had some roasted corn and he LOVED it!! He ate the whole thing by himself! They also had a kids discovery station set up and the kids played with the big hula hoop bubbles. Carson loves to play with bubbles so he was pretty excited when he got to play with GIANT bubbles. Brooklyn was getting really fussy, so I took her home and Carson went with Papa and Aunt Ashley to ride the rides. He had a great time!

The week went way too fast and before we knew it we were back in the car heading home. We got stopped in the Spanish Fork canyon due to a really bad accident so we let the kids out to stretch. We were only a few cars back from the accident and by the time we could go again the line of cars was so long we couldn't see the end. 

Thanks, Nana and Papa, for the awesome week at home! You should move to Idaho so we don't have to travel so far to see you! wink, wink!

California Trip

In July, Jason and I took the kids and flew to California to visit his family. Jason's brother, Daniel, was hoping to come home from Korea, but he couldn't make it. We got to spend time with Amanda and the boys, Emily, and Jay and Leslie. 

First of all, flying with 2 kids isn't fun. Brooklyn and Carson still require a lot of stuff, so we had a stroller, diaper bag, 2 car seats, plus our carryon bags. Brooklyn still wanted to nurse a lot and Carson didn't get a nap..... I'm sure you can imagine how stressful the trip there was. Once we got there, however, we had a ton of fun!

Day 1: San Francisco!!
The first day we were there we went to San Francisco. Amanda took us to Pier 39 and our first stop was the Aquarium at the Bay. It was awesome. Carson loved the fish! He thought the jellyfish were really cool and when he found the clown fish he kept telling Jason, "Look, Dad! Nemo!!!" They had a pool with Stingrays in it and Carson and I got to touch one. His favorite part was touching the starfish with Grandpa Jay. I didn't realize it, but starfish are actually hard. You expect to touch something a little soft, but nope - they are hard!

After the aquarium we walked around Pier 39, ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, and got to see the Sea Lions! I thought that was really cool. 

Jason and Carson at the Rainforest Cafe

Carson and his cousins hit it off instantly! It's kinda sad that this was the first time they have ever met! An awesome street vendor made the boys balloon swords and told us that if one of them popped that day while we were there he would make us another one. With 3 boys I'm sure you can imagine how many balloon swords the poor guy ended up making. He was so fun about it and the boys loved him. 
After we saw the Sea Lions, Jason's parents took us on a boat ride that went around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge. I think I was the most excited to see the Golden Gate Bridge. It reminds me of the days I watched Full House growing up. :) The boat ride was really windy and cold, but it was really fun.  

After our boat ride we went to Fisherman's Wharf and got some yummy fresh crab and shrimp. It was so good!  By then the kids were tired and ready to go home, and so were the adults!

Day 2: The Beach

One of the things I was super excited about was going to a beach while we were in California. I didn't ever live close to one growing up and I hadn't ever spent time just going to the beach on any vacation I've ever been on. After a late start in the morning (spent sleeping in and shopping) we went to a beach just north of San Francisco. The drive to get to the beach takes you along Hwy 1, which was incredibly beautiful and incredibly curvy. I think all of us were about to get carsick! I have never been on a road with as many curves as that one before in my life! Carson started complaining of a hurting tummy so we had to stop and let him walk around for a bit. When we finally made it to the beach it was worth it. It was amazing. It was foggy and a little cold, and the water was FREEZING, but we had a great time! Even Carson loved the water! He would have us run up to the water as it came up to us and then we would try and beat it back to the sand. He kept calling the ocean the "motion". It was so much fun and we ended up getting a little bit more wet than we had planned. 

Jason decided to get all the way wet (he is insane, by the way) and walked way out in the water and then fell backwards into a wave. Carson thought that was the coolest thing ever and kept telling his daddy to go back and do it again. He was kinda bossy about it! haha! Jason, like any good daddy, did just what Carson said. He probably ended up doing it about 5 times before he told Carson he was done. 

We had such a blast at the beach. I wish we could have spent another full day there having fun. Maybe next trip. :) Once we were done at the beach we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge *amazing* and went back to San Francisco and ate at Joe's Crab Shack. Yummy.

Day 3: Six Flags

The last day we were there we went to Six Flags. It was a lot of fun! We felt like we didn't get to do everything we wanted to because there was so much! Carson got to ride a train with Grandma Leslie and Jason and he LOVED it!! He kept asking for the train over and over and over and over while we were there. Brooklyn and I hung out in the shade and she got to wear her cute little hat that was way too big for her! We all went on a few water rides and got soaked and Carson got to watch the penguins swim. He thought that was pretty cool. 

Afterwards we all went to Olive Garden to eat and I think about half of us fell asleep at the table.

These two crashed after a week of being worn out!!

 The next day we headed out for the airport and flew home. We were all so tired and ready to get home. We spent the next 3 days recovering!! We had a blast and enjoyed spending time with the Messano side of the family.