I have a 12 year old!

Wow I can't believe this day is here. It freaks me out when I think of what little time I have with Carter left in my home. He is such a source of calmness and growth. He is a good kid and makes good choices easily without worrying what others think of him. He is super kind and always (mostly) happy. Some of those pre teen emotions are starting to kick in!!

He requested this raspberry brownie dessert and we had the Eash family over for dinner and dessert. 

On Tuesday, his birthday, he woke up to a stack of presents and a new Fortnite nerf gun. And Donuts!

We made him wait til after school to open gifts. This shirt was from me! :)

He is getting really excited for snowboarding this winter and asked for a lot of snow gear. 

Of course we had to get in some spakens! He requested Alfredo for his birthday dinner.

On the weekend we invited family to be with us but Mom got sick and she and Tony's family didn't end up coming. But his neighborhood friends showed up for a nerf gun fight in the back yard. 

And they played and played and stunk really good. 

Carter and Brody were in charge of setting up a course and they did a  pretty good job with what the could find. 

I'm so glad he's found this group of guys to call his buddies. Even if they cause some hat shenanigans in pictures (see pic). These boys are all pretty great. 

And instead of cake he wanted frosted brownies! Yum. Good choice kid. 

 Happy 12th birthday bud. Your mom and dad are so proud of the person you are becoming. We are grateful for your desire to do good and we hope you hang on to your goals of serving a mission and succeeding in life. We love you C-man!

Lagooooooon!

With this weird year, we are keeping our eyes open for any extra opportunities to make memories and have fun. Since we missed vacationing with the Eash's this year, we planned a whole play day with them at Lagoon! We had them over for dinner the night before we went, then Sam made breakfast at their house the next morning before we went! He went all out with all the breakfast food! 

Nan and I wore our Besties shirts and we were off to have some fun! And the weather was PERFECT!!

The girls could have stayed all day on the kiddie rides but I'm glad they ventured out for a few bigger ones. This was a favorite and they may have ridden it 20 times. I don't do spinning rides so I watched from a safe distance. 

Nan and I both went on this one and it almost did me in!

Mollie and Carter braved Samurai ride. I didn't even go on that one! Mollie was quite scared and I could hear her screaming from where I was waiting.  

Carter was excited to try Cannibal with Chad and I. Mollie got brave later and tried it a few times. Its a pretty great ride! I really liked it and it was Chad's favorite ride. 

We love having fun with this family! They were super patient with us and even helped with the littles so we could go on some rides. Such a fun and happy day!

Ry loved the kiddie rides alot! 

Bombora is always a favorite. Here's 2 cute girls infront of the same VW van I had my pic in front of at her age. 

We debated on bringing the wagon but was glad we did. And Rylee was really glad we did!

Nan and I took the girls on the merry go round! What a good friend I have to ride the kiddie rides with me even when she doesn't have to!

Me and the girls did one spinning ride while the others did Colossus. It was enough for me! 

I remember when I mastered Colossus as a kid and I felt so cool. It still is my favorite rollercoaster i think. Carter and Mollie rode it over and over. I also really loved Wicked! I think it was my first time on it. It goes straight up and over then straight down! YIKES! 

All in all it was a great day! We hit up DQ for ice cream on the way home. We all left with smiles on our faces!

 

Sorenson Day!

We kept trying to make connections with Sorensons for a family day and things kept coming up but finally when Carter had a game in Eagle Mountain, we made a day of football and fun. They came to Carter's game and then we grabbed lunch and then went to Jace's game that was later that day. We got to see Lilly cheer at Jace's game too and that was so fun! 

These boys haven't lost touch after 12 years and I'm so very grateful. 

Look at these tiny boys at Carter's 4th birthday! And then again almost at their 12th! What cute boys!

They enjoyed pushing each other all over the house in their pads. 

After a pizza dinner we were off to the pool! 

The kids played and played until dark. 

We sure love this family and we all had a great day together! Love my friend Jenna and her strength and faith! She told us while we were visiting they will get to be sealed to their little baby they had planned to adopt when temples open a little more. Oh that made my heart so happy! And I know it has helped fill a small part of the hole in her heart knowing that he will be theirs in the resurrection. What great news this is!!!
 

I got a J.O.B.

A few months ago, my friend Jennie mentioned an idea of having me take over her tumbling class. I jumped at the idea but it took a few months to get things all in place. She asked me a day or 2 before I would actually start, but I was so excited, i didn't care! I've always wanted to teach a gym class so it's like a dream of mine coming true! And it is with the perfect aged girls who are just learning back handsprings! 

An added perk is that Mollie can come with me for free! So far I've really enjoyed it but it does take a little organization every week and a lot of PATIENCE with giggling chatty girls. But that ok. I love seeing them improve and grow in their confidence! Some of them are super spectacular and are catching on so fast! Wish me luck! 

Oh also it has the perfect hours....Tues at 7pm for just 1 hour! And its $20/class!

 

A FILLING outing

It's not often we find our selves without somewhere to go or kids to run, so when we realized we had a free afternoon, we splurged to go get some ice cream at LEATHERBYS! It's always so yummy it is worth blogging about! Well you can't go clear over there and not get fries and fry sauce so we got that too. Rylee cracked me up with her Chocolate chocolate sundae. She loves chocolate! I went for the Almond Joy! 

Carter had Peanut butter cookie dough...he said he didn't want peanut butter again for a while! And Bri went for superman.

Mollie had bubble gum and Chad had the apple pie sundae. We sure love this place but don't love the cost, so its an every once and a while thing! Our belly's were FILLED!

Afterwards we wanted to go walk around a temple. With temples being closed we have REALLY missed being able to go. We tried to go to the Jordan river temple but they were just closing their gates. So we went to the Oquirrh Mtn Temple and we were able to walk around the grounds and see all the flowers. 

The moment we stepped on the grounds I saw Chads demeanor change. I could tell he was feeling what I was feeling. Its always amazing to me that the second you step on temple grounds you can feel the spirit. I had forgotten that and I'm so glad it was so powerful for both of us. It was a good reminder of the peace we can still find, even if we can't go IN the temple, we can still prepare our homes and our "grounds" to invite the spirit into our lives. 

 All of our hearts were filled with the beauty of this earth and the spirit that dwells at the temple. We went home with full bellies and full hearts. I love to see the temple and I can't WAIT to go back some day.