Fishing in September

Travis loves to go fishing and in the last year or so he's gotten into it a lot more. We go with friends and family a lot. This was one of our last fishing trips of the year, well for me and the kids anyway. Travis likes to go to new places to fish but one of our favorites is American Fork Canyon. We went up in the afternoon and Travis got the boys' poles set up and in the water. He is great at making sure they are ready first. After the boys are set he gets his own stuff ready. On this particular fishing trip Austin wasn't too into fishing. He found a little peninsula full of mud and decided he need to go there. He didn't think the water was too deep but I made him roll his pants up to his thighs anyway. He made it over there fine. He had fun making mud pies and squishing his toes around. When it was time to leave he started coming back over. He was cold and wanted to get out of the water so he tried to run the rest of the way.
He didn't make it. He was a little more than half way across when he fell and got soaked. I took him to the car and made him take off all his wet muddy clothes and he had to wear Trav's sweatshirt on the way home. I guess that's what you get when you have little boys. I usually have clothes in the back of my car. I've found you never know when someone will need something, and they've come in handy several times.

Labor Day Weekend

This year was a little different for us. Usually over Labor Day we are in Wyoming having a grand ol' time at the Carpenter Family Reunion. This year we had too much going on to go up. Krissi and Brady were blessing their little girl and Travis couldn't get enough time off of work. We started a new tradition last year, with the Gray's, to spend Labor Day at Lagoon. This has been a hit both years so I think we'll be doing this for a long time. My kids love it even when we are coming straight down from the mountain. This year, we were well rested and ready to have some fun. The kids ran from one ride to another as fast as we would let them. The first thing they wanted to do though was the bumper cars.
Why is that so fun for kids? We had lunch in the park and then went on some more rides. We took Keira on her first roller coaster ride. It was the little dragon one. She was not very fond of it. The picture isn't the greatest but she was shaking, crying, and well not very happy. Before we left we had to go on the tubes and the boys wanted to ride the log ride. It was not very warm this year so we skipped Lagoona Beach all together. These, of course, the kids couldn't miss. After a long but fun day at the park we went to Firehouse Pizza. I think this has become a tradition as well. We got there and had to wait forever to be seated and then our food took forever. They didn't have enough people their to help everyone. Last year they were a little slow too. I know people love this place, but so far I haven't been impressed. Maybe I should try it some time other than Labor day. The kids were so exhausted they fell asleep on the way home. Mom and Dad enjoyed some much needed quiet after a long day.

Austin's First Day of 2nd Grade

Austin was so excited for 2nd grade. He couldn't wait to find out who his teacher was. I had to work on Back to School night so Travis took the kids over to the school so Austin could meet his teacher. I can't believe next year we have Austin and Alex in school! He came home and told me all about it. He already loved his teacher. We did some school shopping and he got to choose the first day of school clothes. No surprise he went with his bikes and motorcycle shirt. It's still one of his favorites. His classroom is right down the hall from his 1st grade teacher and he can't pass her without giving her a hug. Austin is excited to learn more about science and math. He wants to be a scientist when he grows up.

Tim McGraw

I think of myself as pretty lucky. Not just because of my amazing hubby and kids but really lucky. Somehow I've won a trip to Hawaii, a car, camera, several concert tickets, movie tickets, ect. Well, this time Travis was the lucky one. He won tickets to Tim McGraw! We got a sitter for the night and went on a date. We were rushing to get their but when we did we found a pretty good spot on the grass and settled in. We thought we were in a pretty good spot when he finally came out we couldn't even see him. Travis decided he was going to see if he could get any closer. He came back a little while later and said we could stand right behind the chairs and take pictures as long as we didn't stay too long. So, we left our blanket and went down a little farther. They wouldn't let us bring in our large lens so this was the best we could get. We had such a great night out and Travis definitely enjoyed dressing up all cowboy.

Our Second try at Grandkid pictures

Our second try went much better than our first. All the kids were really happy and had fun playing at the park. They were great even when we kept saying, "we just need a few more". These are just some of the group pics and of my family. My sisters have their kids photos and for some reason I didn't save them. After going all over the park and taking tons of pictures the kids were rewarded with capri suns and then lunch at arctic circle. The perfect way to end a busy morning, at least that's what they thought.

More grandkid pictures

Here are a few more pictures from our second try at getting all the grandkids

24th of July

Trav's family went to Bryson's cabin for the 24th. We've been there a few times and I really like it. It's nice to just kick back and not have to do anything. Travis went fishing a lot over the weekend and only caught a little tiny fish. It was so little I didn't even see it in his hand. One day we went down to Provo River falls and let the kids play in the water. The water was not that warm so the kids would go in and out. Austin decided he was going to try and get to the other side like his older cousins and about half way across he lost one of his flip flops. Travis tried to grab it before it went over the waterfall, he just wasn't fast enough. Austin was so upset that we even looked for it on the other side, we never found it though. I'm really glad I packed more than one pair of shoes for him or he would have been shoeless for the rest of the time. On the way home Travis informed me he wanted to live in Kamas. I told him that was fine but I wouldn't work and I wouldn't drive at all during the winter. I think that made him reconsider a little.

First try at Grandkid pictures

My mom had taken all the grandkids to photogenix in Orem to get their pictures taken. She has taken them at least 3 times and has never been satisfied. She took them in all their summer clothes and only had one good picture and they of course wanted to charge a fortune for their packages. She bought one picture for everyone and then decided we would try and take our own of the kids. We went to Discovery park in Lindon and had all the kids dressed up again. Keira cried the entire way to the park and was just being fussy. This is not like her at all! Any of you that know her know she is a pretty happy little girl. We got to the park and my mom took my camera and started taking individuals of the kids while I calmed down Keira. We didn't get very far though because Keira turned white as a sheet and started throwing up. That put an end to the picture taking pretty fast. We took her home and decided we would try another day. . . .

In July we went down to Jami's and she took our family pictures. I absolutely LOVE her. She is able to capture my kids in a way that shows off their personality. She asked us what we liked to do and then planned the shoot around that. We told her we loved fishing, hiking, camping, and pretty much anything we can do outdoors. I love how we look like we are on top of the world. It was overcast and rained on us a little but they pictures turned out great. If anyone needs a photographer look her up at www.jbroadbentphoto.com. She really is amazing! Here are just a few of the ones that I love

More family pictures July 2010

More Pictures of our family photo shoot in July

Keira's 1 year pictures

This is my very favorite picture. Her eyes just grab you. I love all the little fat rolls you can see too. Since she started walking, she's lost some of that.


We did family pictures with Jami Broadbent (jbroadbentphoto.com) and she took Keira's 1 year pictures at the same time. She is great at capturing my children just perfectly! These were just a few of my favorites of the princess. Enjoy!
I loved this picture because she looks like she's turning her nose up at us. I love this vintage coke stand and the picture turned out great

This was the second to last shot that Jami took. Keira had had enough smiling and pictures for the day and I pulled her in for a kiss and hug. I love that she caught this moment between us.

The Princess turns ONE!

I had so much fun planning my little girls birthday party. I went with a butterflies and dragonflies theme. Her invitations were my favorite ones so far. I took mason jars and mod podged yellow paper around it and had dragonfly and butterfly cutouts around it. I placed tea lights in the bottom and then attached the info on a card with a ribbon. My mom saved me and had enough jars that I didn't have to buy any. Then Travis scratched off all the paper and glue that didn't come off when we soaked them. What a great hubby I have, even though he thinks I make way too big a deal of parties he always helps me out when I'm in a bind. Boys are all about Trucks, video games, and transformers. With Keira I get to let my girly side shine :). We had a BBQ at my in-laws and the kids got to play outside. I didn't plan a lot of activities because Keira wasn't old enough to really do anything. She had a lot of fun opening presents. Baby dolls, tea sets, fancy Nancy books, and cute little girl clothes and accessories. After all the fun of trying to get Keira to rip paper we watched her make a mess of her cupcake. After Alex's 1st birthday I decided that they would never get a whole cake again. . . way to big of a mess. Here is to many more girly birthdays to come.

Waterfalls and Birthdays

We had Memorial Day weekend off and so for my birthday we hiked to Stewart falls. We had so much fun and the boys did so well. They hiked the entire way and most of the time they wanted to be right in front. We did have to take a few little rests just so the boys could eat their treats and have a drink. I think that was the best part for them. I carried Keira the whole way up to the falls and then part of the way back. The falls were beautiful even with the monkey in the pic. The best part of the day for me were the pictures I got of Travis carrying Keira. PRICELESS!!