I think it all started with Dennison "taking" Carter's nose. The other day I walked in the house and Carter ran to show me that he had "taken" Daddy's face and it was now in his hands. Then he ran back over and put Daddy's face back on Daddy. He got more creative as the game progressed, switching Mommy's and Jude's face, or putting his face on his stuffed animals. He always remembers whose face is where and they must be put back in proper order before the game can end. Then, they started throwing faces back and forth. It's so fun to watch his little mind work.
The morning we left looked a lot like this. This kid always looks hilarious when he first wakes up. Maybe I'm the only one that thinks so....
The airplane ride went surprisingly well. We took Carter's carseat on the plane and that helped a lot. He thought everything about flying was awesome. Snacks, drinks, tiny toilet, what else is there, ya know?
But the real highlight of the flight was this
Is there anything better than holding a sleeping baby? (I don't think so, that's why I made Dennison hand over this little cutie the first chance I got) Especially when you know that if said baby was awake, he would not be a happy camper with the limited play space.
When we got to my parent's house, my sister and her family were waiting for us, ready to gloat about seeing Cache first. How rude. (Cache is my sweet little nephew who neither of us had met yet.) It's obvious from this picture that Jude and his cousin Ike need to spend more quality time together.
This picture is way too funny to not include, even though it's blurry. My two boys were not about to go down without a fight when it came to a group picture with my sister's kids.
We only had one day to play in the snow before it melted. Don't worry, we made a snowman.
I know, I know, blurry picture = not cool. Let me remind you that it's in NO WAY my fault because I obviously didn't take this picture. I need a new camera. But this is me with my masterpiece. Every time I go to my parent's house I make this dessert. And by "make" I mean put all the prepared (by my mom) ingredients into this pretty bowl. It's hard work, I tell ya. I don't know how this became a tradition, but it has, and I love it.
Jude really enjoyed a lot of things about our trip but this rocking chair might have topped the list. Jude hanging out with Grandpa. It took him a little while to warm up to everyone but by the end, he'd made several new best friends. And my mom somehow managed to dodge the camera the entire trip. She was the star of the show with all the babysitting she did for us.
My rad friend Sylvia with her little Macy. Betcha didn't even know I took this picture :)
I can put these next few picture up and not be scared because I know for a fact that my uncle Jim doesn't read my blog. See what you get when you ignore the daily goings-on of my life?? We took this picture and he said something about how his head looked so much bigger than mine. So....
I fixed it! Too bad the sun and blur ruined this amazing photo.
This kid always makes me laugh. In his defense, the hat is a little too big. I'm sure it fits better with a hood under it.
Really?? How could he be any cuter?
Amy, Kristina, and Naomi at a yummy Indian restaurant. Too bad my throat hurt so bad I could barely swallow my food. Oh yeah, did I mention that we were all sick for the first week we were there?? Awesome. The boys and I had ear infections and Dennison had a pretty crazy cold. I was in bed sick and slept clean through Cache's first birthday party :( I was so sad when I woke up and the party was half over already. So we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to. bummer
I'm tellin ya, this kid is funny. Speaking of funny, it's pretty funny how many pictures I took of these boys sleeping while on vacation. It's like that's all they did. But we all (especially my parents) know that's far from true.
The family with Grandma Alice. And yes, she's as sweet as she looks.
While in St. George, we went to Pioneer Park to see all the caves and cool stuff in the red rock. That's Brigham Young's signature in the rock. Pretty cool.
In a kid-sized cave
Cool picture with the temple behind us. That's Dennison's Mom and her husband and cousin Jenny with us.
We're both smiling.... next time we'll both look at the camera too!
Jude with Grandma Sue.
Life doesn't get much better than this.
The boys were not super cooperative for pictures. Oh well, they're still cute.
I don't think this one needs an explanation. Again, I took a picture of him being funny and sleeping.
We went to Wheeler Farms with Kristina, Jeremy, and Naomi. The boys loved seeing all the animals. See that yellow thing? That was a really loud gift for the boys from the aunt. We accidentally left it at our friends house.
See that tiny white chicken? He was funny. Look how small he is!!
This is my friend Littia. We were in the same ward before we moved away from Utah. We were pregnant at the same time, had babies close to the same age and now we both teach childbirth classes. I love how her little Ellie is trying so hard to force Carter to hold her hand. We've arranged their marriage already, whether he likes it or not.
We spent some time at the park behind my parents house.
And this cute little thing...
Has NO fear. He seriously didn't even slow down when he got to the slide. Just kept on walking. I can't decide if it's better or worse than the first time when he dove down head first mid-run.
We got to see Amy and Jon. They will be moving soon, can you guess where?
We played a game with my cousin Bob and his darling wifey. Contrary to popular belief, the game was not "keep away from the babies". Although you could've convinced us all otherwise.
Aren't they such a cute little family??
(Like Kristi, I like this photo because it makes my butt look big.) I got to see Mrs. Antonia and her two little boys. Once upon a time, the two of us would sit around, drink diet coke and talk about boys.
Then this happened. Have no fear, we still sit around, drink diet coke and talk about boys. But only the above pictured boys.
How cute are these two little cousins?! Sorry about the blurry face, Jude. But I'm pretty sure you were trying to steal Cache's food, so I don't feel that bad about it.
Here we are on our anniversary. My parents were so kind/brave to let the boys stay with them for the night while we stayed in Salt Lake. It was really fun to walk around temple square 4 years after our wedding day. We have a picture from that incredible day in front of this very tree. The bench we sat on then is gone :( But we're still in love, so it's ok.
And now we're back home. You might not believe me but I didn't take as many pictures as I should have. I got to see Erin, my BFF from high school and beyond and also Annie, who moved away from here to Utah a few months ago. No photos to document it, but it happened and I loved it. And I still don't know how I don't have a single picture of my Mom from the trip. So many people we didn't get to see or spend enough time with while we were there. I blame the sickness of the first week. Nontheless, it was a great trip. But it's good to be home.
And Carter has been talking about Grandpa's house and Grandpa's truck all day.
I've been making my own bread instead of buying it for a while now. It makes me feel like a good homemaker :) Also, I can't find any whole wheat bread at the stores that tastes good. But my whole wheat bread..... yum. Seriously, it's really good. Not that I'm bragging, but WOW! Anyways, whenever I make bread, Carter always comes and sneaks little finger-fulls while I'm kneading. So last time, I just put the mixing bowl on the floor after I poured the dough onto the counter. Worked like a charm. If Jude tried to leave the dough bowl, Carter would direct him back to his spot and say, "Jude, bread dough is sooooo yummy!" And I was able to knead away in peace.
It's the little things.
P.S. I don't know why all my pictures have been turning out blurry lately. I must need a new camera. There's no way it's my fault.
I don't know where he gets his dancing skills from since Dennison and I are pretty terrible dancers. But this boy has got moves! We were watching the pre-game show for the All-Star game and Usher was performing. The stage was made to look like a big star so Carter needed a "big star" to dance on. Dennison, being the talented man that he is, hand-crafted this big star out of 3 blankets. Carter was ecstatic. He danced his little heart out. He would demand that we rewind it whenever the song ended. So we did. And if Jude even came close to his big star...attack! I love his spin jump at the end - that's talent!
Carter's kinda going between needing a nap and not needing one. So lately, while Jude takes his nap, Carter and I have "couch time" and watch a movie together. He thinks it's the coolest thing. This video is from one such couch time. As you can see, his doggies are usually invited, too.
We found these super sweet books at the Library a few weeks ago. As you can see, there's eye holes so Carter and Jude can "be" the animals. The best part is, we checked out TWO of these beauties. Don't worry though, they still fight over one (not the same one each time, just the first one that either of them picks up. duh.). His favorites are the doggy and the bear. Just ask my mom, he got a huge kick out of scaring her with the bear face while we were skyping. See below for how funny he thinks he is:And if I ever leave my boots out, he WILL put them on. That's just the way it is in this house.
