Turner Falls

When we first arrived we drove in the entrance then over the road covered by the river and walked to these steep stairs:

 The river flowed through the entire park, which was like 10 miles through:

 The stairs led to the ruins of a castle built in the 1920's right into the hill

 Up more steep stairs:

 To this view of a 77 foot waterfall:

 The kids loved to walk through the river:

 And play in the sand on the little beach:

 Especially Mackayla

 She would flap her arms madly and grab at the sand with her vice grip

 We went with lots of friends to celebrate the end of school. It was SO much fun, not crowded and the perfect hot weather to enjoy in cool (not cold!) water.

I didn't get pictures of our favorite area with water slides and a smooth shallow part of the river where it could gently pull Cody down like a slow water slide. I would seriously do that every year and will go back if we're within driving distance ever again!

We are packing up today and out tomorrow for a crazy, exciting, fun month of driving, driving and more driving. First to Utah, then Oregon, then Lake Powell, then Utah, then Oregon!!

Oklahoma Friends

You would think we never hung out with anyone just by reading my blog because I am so terrible at taking pictures. So I made an extra effort to take pictures of friends the last week.

This post is for Cody and Macey so they can remember their cute friends from Oklahoma.

Of course I missed a bunch of them!!

Here's Miss Ashely and Cody on his last day of school.

He will really miss her!

He was near tears the last day.

 This is their class. Dayspring had pretty small classes (they're just missing three kids), which was perfect for Cody. He loved his class!

 

 Macey loved Mrs. Dawn, who we saw every day we picked Cody up and Macey would chat with her while we got Cody.

 Saying goodbye!

 Once it warmed up Cody, Addicus, Macey and Sloan would often play outside of their school for a while.

 They loved to hold hands:)

 I taught Tre piano. He even got a new piano to practice on!

 While I taught, Cody, Macey, and Braden would run around like hooligans. Cody and Macey love these guys!

Big Braden is not to be confused with Little Braden, who refused to smile in these pictures! But I caught a picture of him, ha! They LOVED playing with Braden.

These are some of our next door neighbors Ashlyn and Jackson. Macey would always yell Ashlyn's name to see if she was around and she calls her Ash-a-wyn. Their favorite game is hide and seek in our house.

 Cody and Brody at the park

 There's all four of them on a toy

 Brigham Cody and Macey at Turner Falls, which I can't wait to post pictures of. It is beautiful!

 Macey and Reed. He was calling her "My Girl," and they spent hours searching for bugs at Turner Falls, something they both love doing.

Nine Months

Mackayla is 18 lbs. 8 oz., in the 45% for height and weight and 55% with her head. Chubby, patient, sweet, unmotivated to crawl, two teeth, and happy! Love this age when they smile and love everything you do.

I caught her crawling the other day and clapped and said yea and she flopped on her belly and started crying. She's a little too smart I'm afraid!

Head Down Arms In Knees Bent

This is the part in Tangled where Flynn is about to unknowingly be catapulted through the air.

This is how I feel 

as we're about to embark on another adventure into the unknown

in about a week and a half

Flynn had two things going for him: he was catapulted to freedom and a horse took him there.

Hopefully we fare as well:)

I'm excited

and a little nervous
This is our house at the moment:

Once again, we've never seen the place we're moving to

(Our friends in Oregon looked. They're just finishing vet school...yea! and boo for us!)

Let's hope it works out better than this last time around

Although if I'm being honest, I've kind of grown to like our house here

That being said, I'm even MORE excited to move out!

Toothpick Lunch

The kids had a toothpick lunch today -  a bunch of bite sized foods with toothpicks and dip. Super entertaining conversation began:
*First Cody got really upset because he just knew when he got bigger he wouldn't live with me anymore. I told him he could live right next door to me and that seemed to make him, and me, happy.
*He said he wanted to marry Macey. He has said that several times. I'm not sure if he would be happy about reading that later, but it's so sweet that they are such good friends.
*He expressed a deep desire to NOT have a beard. Several times.   ...?
*He very seriously told me that Braden, Brigham, (two good friends) and him had decided that if Macey went back to being a baby that they would be in charge again. HA HA! (although not true because I remember her as a baby:))
After that Macey tripped walking in my flip flops. She was not hurt but it was cute so I laughed. She shot her finger at me and said don't laugh at me. ("Don't waff at me!") I couldn't stop so I had to look away but she was an-ger-y.

Maceyisms

Macey held a stick out like Harry Potter would hold a wand and said "I'm going to weapon you!" Then a minute after she had impressed me with her sword she instructed me: "If I be mean, you take the stick away."

Every time she gets a Star Wars Gogurt she asks who the picture is. When I tell her - Obi Wan kenobi, R2D2, etc - she will look at it and thoughtfully say, "I would like to call him... boof." Every time. I have no idea why.

Just A Day. But Mother's Day!

Mother's Day started earlier than usual with Mackayla waking up. As I went to feed her Ben kissed me goodbye to go do treatments. Later that morning as I was getting ready Cody asked me if I had put Mackayla to sleep and I ran in the living room to see her snoozing away after she had tipped onto her belly. That is only unusual because being on her belly is not unlike torture in her world.
Ben got back and just as we were loading up to go to church was called in again and we haven't seen him since...and it's night! They were able to give me their cards they made me while their dad was home. Ben even made me one! He told them to draw something I would love. Priceless:
Cody commissioned Ben to draw the horse and he made me a rainbow.

 I'm not sure what the top inside is, but the bottom is a robot with some sort of electricity or fire or lightning coming out of all the arms. Upside down. And a heart.

 For some reason I couldn't get the front of Macey's card to show up but she had written {heart} Mom Carrie.
Then inside drew this: two people inside our house with a heart and a chair. Plus a rainbow on the other page.

Cody and Macey were in a rather obnoxious mood during church if I'm allowed to say that. I was playing the piano for the primary to sing for moms and they both came up clinging to me, kind of crying (unusual at least for Cody). After several clunks on the piano keys by Macey I had a really hard time even sitting at the piano, so I gave them a stern lecture, then realized the bishopric heard the entire thing. Perfect - and happy mother's day:) Mackayla miraculously let the bishop's sweet wife take her while I played in primary then 3rd hour we were treated to delicious cheesecake that Mackayla helped me eat. Or rather, she insisted that I feed her.

We came home to a half boxed house and had an elegant dinner of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese because I decided for mother's day I would treat myself to easy cooking!

I just wanted to document my day because even though some was a little crazy, it was perfect, normal, every day life with a little built into the day reminder that I signed up for this and it's a blessing. Sometimes even a blessing in disguise;)
 This is a quote that I love:

"The greatest job that any mother will ever do will be in nurturing, teaching, lifting, encouraging, and rearing her children in righteousness and truth. None other can adequately take her place....[A]s the years pass, you will become increasingly grateful for that which you did in molding the lives of your children in the direction of righteousness and goodness, integrity and faith. That is most likely to happen if you can spend adequate time with them."

--President Gordon B. Hinckley

Having kids has done wonders for the level of appreciation I have for my own mom. and my mother in law for my sweet husband. Thank you for dedicating your lives to us kids. We love you!

Here's to New Year's Parties. And Marriage!!

The first time I ever met Ben was at gym class at Davis High School.

We also had food's together. 

look sideways

We were in the same cooking group. 

Neither of us remembered that, except our food's teacher is a family friend and she gave Ben's younger brother this picture. 

It is not a mystery to me why we did not date in high school.

He also signed my yearbook "We should hang out sometime."

Ha. Let's get married.

Seven years and many events later, I met up with Ben at Gold's Gym in Provo.

The first time we hung out was at a fake new year's party sometime in January.

Who doesn't love a reason to "party" in Provo?:)

I gave him a random party favor

and he gave me one.

We didn't know it, but we each kept them.

I decided we are going to take pictures each year on new year's together. 

(It's almost the only pictures we have together!)

Christmas 2003

 early 2004 - engagement pics

Christmas 2004

 2005

2006&07??

jan 2008

end of 08 or jan 09

 2010

2011?

 jan 1 2012

16 years since I first met Ben.

9 1/2 since we started dating.

8 years ago {today} that we were married.

It really does get better with time, and we still have a lot longer together.

Forever actually:)

Love you!