The Carter Family

Halloween

2010-11-17T19:54:00.004-07:00

These are the only pictures we managed to get, but it was really fun to dress up the girls this year. The girls were both pretty set on what they wanted to be!

Surprise

2010-11-17T19:46:00.003-07:00

I threw Ed a surprise birthday party at Nickel-Mania the Monday night after his birthday. He had no idea. Ed really has the greatest friends.

Ed's Birthday in Las Vegas

2010-11-17T19:32:00.003-07:00

Ed turned the big 3-0 this year and we went to Las Vegas to see Garth Brooks in concert the night of his birthday. It more then exceeded our expectations! It was just something else. Garth Brooks is quiet the comedian.

I now know what to do in Las Vegas! I know where to go shopping and all of the eating possibilities. I have always felt overwhelmed there and didn't know where anything was and now I do. So I have to say I do like Vegas just a bit more then before.

Newport Beach

2010-10-11T00:52:00.002-06:00

We had a great summer vacation in Newport. Our girls had a blast.

Claire's Preschool program

2009-06-06T23:03:00.003-06:00

It has been over 3 months since my last post. A lot has happened like the last day of preschool for the year, Easter, my trip to Texas and lots of other little things. Please enjoy the late posts.

It sure was fun going to Claire's little preschool program. She is a sweet girl and is excited to go back next year. The video might be a little bit lame for some, but I love it. It cracks me up when she takes the lead while dancing with her friend Liam.

Texas

2009-06-06T22:27:00.004-06:00

So of course I didn't take many pictures, but I did get some in the bluebonnets before my camera died. I was gone from a Thursday to a Tuesday in March thanks to my wonderful husband who stayed home and watched the girls. Also a big thanks to my friend Kristy for watching the girls for a whole day while Ed worked. It was fun to see my brother Jason who recently got back from serving a mission in Argentina. It was a busy weekend, but fun to be with family.

This is my older brother Duane.

This is my sister-in-law, Jillana. She is expecting a baby girl in September!

This is Jason. We were all pretty tired and it was freezing because of the wind. I think he was out for a good 30 minutes.

This is my sister Sara. She just graduated from high school and is going to Texas A&M in the fall.

This is my brother Randall. He is hilarious and will be an 11th grader in the fall.

This was at my uncle's wedding. From left to right: Jason, my Aunt Heather, Jillana, Randall, Duane, my mom, and my grandpa Mark.

These are all the older girl cousins on my mom's side. We haven't been all together in 8 years.

Easter and others

2009-06-06T22:05:00.003-06:00

Here are a few pictures of Easter.

Here is Ed and his 3 other brothers. Handsome family!

Kelsie enjoying her jellybeans.

Claire finding her Easter basket.

We went out to 5 guys burgers and fries.

This is the museum of natural history.

I love this shot of Kels eating a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit with jelly.

Here we are at one of the last BYU basketball games of the season. Kelsie didn't like how loud it would get.

Ed took this cute picture of Kelsie in front of the cougar.

Church Bags

2009-03-06T17:19:00.005-07:00

A really good friend of mine and her neighbor, have started up a company making "church bags". They are really adorable and she sews them up herself. I just love all of the detailing she puts into each bag. Here is the one she made for me and I love taking it to church! She now has a website: http://web.me.com/lkparker/Site_2/Home.html

Fashion Style

2009-02-23T16:57:00.006-07:00

I was calling for Kelsie and she came out of her room looking so darn cute. I had to get a picture. I sure love this girl.

Claire needed to get dressed for preschool so I gave her some choices and she picked this outfit. I told her to go put it on and she came out of her bedroom with an added accessory, a skirt. I pretended like it was cute and let her wear it to school. She sure is funny and of course I sure love this girl.

I put some tape on the floor because my girls love to hopscotch. Claire is really quite good. So here is a video.

My brown hair

2009-02-23T16:35:00.003-07:00

So I decided to go brown. I really like it, and I think it goes slightly better with my skin then blond. I am interested to see what the upkeep on this is though, but I love it!

Catch up - Christmas and Kelsie's Birthday

2009-01-21T09:38:00.006-07:00

For Kelsie's birthday we started out the day with cinnamon rolls! We opened a couple of small presents. She took a nap before lunch where we went to a fun fast food place called Shivers. They love sitting and eating in the train.

We then came home and did the birthday cupcakes and finished opening up her presents. It was a fun day and Kelsie couldn't say Happy Birthday any cuter.

Ed went in to check on the girls one night and found Claire sleeping like this with her leg up on the wall. We are always taking pictures of our girls sleeping because they are so darn cute.

Here are a couple of Christmas pictures. We had a fun princess Christmas. They each got a princess movie, some princess barbies, and princess dress-ups. It was a fun day. All Claire wanted was a Cinderella dress that went "down down" meaning all the way to the floor.

I am saving this picture for when they are teenagers fighting! It will be sure to make them laugh or at least I think it will.

Kelsie's adventures

2008-12-08T15:03:00.004-07:00

The evening was going great: supper was done, girls bathed and ready for bed and Claire actually already asleep in bed, I was doing the dishes and Eddie was reading a suspenseful book in bed. Kelsie was doing great as well, just keeping herself occupied until I was ready to put her to bed. Then all of a sudden I heard a horrible cry and I drop the dish I was washing back into the sink. I start looking for the cry and opened the bathroom door to find this.

Now you may think I am mean for making her sit in there while I took a picture, but the camera was literally 4 feet away. I would love to know what was going through that cute little head of hers when she decided to sit on the toilet.

Christmas Tree

2008-12-08T14:52:00.003-07:00

Eddie went and picked out an amazing Christmas tree on Saturday. It is definitely the largest we have ever had. I love Christmas trees in our house because once a year our not very practical window in the living room is extremely practical. It is a big large corner window so it sits right in the corner where we leave the curtains open all day and night for everyone to see our tree. I love Christmas trees and the amazing smell they give off.

Family Pictures

2008-11-10T10:44:00.005-07:00

Alison took some amazing pictures for us. I am so lucky to have married into such a talented family! Thank you so much Alison. You are wonderful.

Kelsie was upset and cranky pretty much the whole time. You would never know it with some of the great shots Ali took. Maybe I should google some ideas on getting kids to love taking pictures.

Halloween and Snow

2008-11-10T10:05:00.005-07:00

I wanted to add some of my favorites of Halloween too. We had a lot of fun in Idaho for Halloween weekend. We did a lot of fun things including this picture at a corn maze. Ed's sister, Alison, also took some family pictures for us and we all went trick or treating. We also had Abbie babysit so the parents could go out for dinner. Such a great weekend and we can't wait to do it again!

Here are my girls about ready to trick or treat. I am told that Claire was quite the trick or treater. She was able to keep up with all of her older cousins. I took Kelsie to a few houses and that was fun. She just wanted to eat the candy immediately.

Here is Claire with her cousin Grace.

This is the Halloween party in Ed's parents ward. This was my second year to go and take the girls. I really want to make it a tradition. It was a lot of fun, but I only got good pictures of Claire doing the games.

It snowed recently, so the girls tried out their new scarves and hats made by my grandma.

Halloween Fun

2008-11-04T09:27:00.007-07:00

We just got back from a fun weekend with the Brashers up in Boise. The girls loved being with their cousins, and everyone had a great time.

Happy Birthday Ed!

2008-10-23T09:55:00.000-06:00

It is the big 28 for Ed today! I have known him for 6 years and I am so grateful that I was the lucky one to share them with him. As time passes it seems that I don't have the romantic language skills that I once had, so I found a couple of previous birthday cards that I wrote when we first where together. I still mean every word that I wrote back then and love him even more now! It is pretty sappy so I won't mind at all if you don't finish reading! So here goes:
October 23rd 2002, (before we were married)
Hey Gorgeous - I'm sorry about this card, but I just had to get it. It makes me laugh so hard (I am not sure why this card was so funny anymore). I love you soo much. I wish that I could express to you how happy you make me. I have truly been blessed by having you in my life, and soon it will be for eternity. I really hope that you have the best day ever because you deserve the best. I love you and Happy Birthday!
October 23rd 2003,
Happy Birthday! I love you with all of my heart. We are often told that as our marriage continues on we will love each other more and more. I believe it, but I can't even imagine loving you more then I do right now. My eyes swell up with tears often with the wonderful emotion of love. You have brought me a world of happiness and I don't thank you enough. You mean everything and you have taught me so much. I hope that you never change. I am so blessed, along with our future kids. You truly will be the best dad ever. I hope that your day is full of love and joy and happiness. You deserve every present in the world that you have ever wanted (including that truck). I hope that your surprises will be enough for this year. Please never forget how much I love you and think that you are just perfect. I am so grateful for the wonderful spirit that you have and your sense of humor. My favorite thing to do is just talk about nothing with you. I have a feeling that we will be doing that for quite awhile!! Have a great day sweetie! I love you.

Anyways, back to today, I really want you to have the best day. Claire, Kelsie, and I love you so much!

We got a new camera!!

2008-10-23T09:16:00.000-06:00

Our camera stopped working in August when we went to California for our vacation. That is why we have been only posting videos. I am glad we got it in time to take these pictures with the pumpkins. I sure love my little family.

Great Big Sea

2008-10-11T22:01:00.001-06:00

Valerie and I went to a concert of one of our favorite bands (Great Big Sea) Friday night. They will be performing on our cruise in February, so it was fun to use this concert to get us hyped up for our big trip!

They sang one of my favorite songs during their encore. The video doesn't do it justice....

It was a fun night with my sweetie and I loved to see her rock and roll to the music all night!

Go Dodgers!

2008-10-08T12:42:00.000-06:00

Its been a fun Postseason so far. Time for the Dodgers to take it to the Phillies...

After his first Dodger home run. Valerie, Dave and I were there to see this one.

Taco night!

2008-09-20T22:06:00.000-06:00

We had taco salad for supper and Kelsie got pretty messy. Ed thought she wasn't quiet messy enough so he smeared refried beans all over her face. It was really funny. What would we do with out bathtubs?

Metallica

2008-09-13T20:05:00.000-06:00

I think Claire and Kelsie were more excited for the new Metallica CD then Ed. Here they are dancing away to the hard music. It was really funny at the time.

Carpenteria Vacation

2008-08-26T11:23:00.000-06:00

We got back from Carpenteria a few weeks ago. It was so much fun as usual. This is where Ed's dad has vacationed ever since he was a kid. There is nothing like bonding with your family on the beach! I love this little town.

You can't tell but Kelsie is holding 3 cinnamon rolls in her hands that she got off the table. She takes after me with how much she loves food.

Lagoon Day

2008-07-19T11:12:00.000-06:00

We spent a fun 8 hours at Lagoon on Friday all at the expense of loosing Kelsie's blankie. It is like loosing a binky but never being able to replace it. We still had a wonderful time and Kelsie only woke up once wanting it last night but quickly fell back to sleep. I don't have any pictures of the water part, but the girls didn't love that too much anyways. It was hard to tell what Kelsie thought about everything. For the most part she didn't cry, but she also wasn't really laughing or even smiling. So who knows, but it was a fun day and I hope we go back next year, but I will skip on the Ferris Wheel next time.

I love those cute little heads!

Kelsie wasn't loving the airplane ride.

This was the second ride Claire did. I was nervous she wouldn't want to do anything after this. It swings up pretty high. She was right at the 36 inch mark to ride it.
She really booked it off the ride, but it didn't stop her from going on more. What a fun girl we have.

Our Weekend

2008-07-14T20:18:00.000-06:00

On Friday night we cooked our first pizza in the dutch oven. We even used homemade dough. It was really good. It is our favorite so far. Then on Saturday we went and watched Ed umpire the 16-18 year old State Championship games for babe ruth. Ed did an amazing job and a mom even came over from the other team to brag about Ed to another mom like she knew him. It was funny to hear her talking about my husband like that. He called a great game.

2008-07-12T23:14:00.000-06:00

Here is Kelsie crying because she doesn't want to go to bed. Actually it is more like whining. She is acting a little silly because she knows I am recording her. Kids are funny!

Dutch Oven Cooking

2008-07-01T11:12:00.000-06:00

Ed said he wanted to get into dutch oven cooking. And of course I was all over it because it meant we would be spending time together and even better cooking together. We are definitely amateurs but we are getting better. We bought it last week and we have cooked peach cobbler and enchilada casserole. Last night we attempted 2 things: macaroni and cheese and brownies. There are a few things we will change to the mac and cheese recipe but it was still really good and Ed loved the brownies. It was a fun family home evening and it is really fun to hear Ed tell me what we should try making for dinner. Can't wait to do more!

Claire's Birthday

2008-06-26T14:01:00.000-06:00

Claire's birthday was June 12th. We had a fun birthday party in our backyard! I am so grateful for all the friends and family that we have!

My Texas Trip

2008-06-06T09:58:00.000-06:00

I headed off to visit my grandparents on Saturday May 31st. They live in Wichita Falls, which is about two hours NW of Fort Worth. My dad, step-mom (aka Smom), my 2 sisters and brother were all visiting that week as well. Eddie stayed at home with the girls and took a few days off of work. He had a fun time taking the girls to the zoo, park, McDonalds, and Artic Circle. Thank you Ed for all you do. I am so lucky to have you!

This is my sister Sara. She is 17 years old. We are swimming at my aunt and uncle's house.

My trip was filled with yummy food, real quality bonding time, swimming, shopping, and lots of games! Here we are playing a traditional game of around the world. My Dad whooped us.

On Tuesday morning we took a walk to the Falls. It has been over 6 years since I have done this with my grandma.

This is my brother Randall. He is 15 years old.

This is my sister Caitlin. She is 12 years old.

This is the Baptist Church my grandma goes to. I really enjoyed my grandma's Sunday School lesson. Proverbs 3:5

2008-05-27T09:26:00.000-06:00

It has been long enough, but here are some new pictures from this past month.

Eddie and I found Claire this way after watching a late movie. She usually gets caught out of bed because we see her peeking into the living room. This time she didn't make it that far.

Warning! Warning! You do not want to enlarge this picture! This picture is embarrassing to me, because I obviously don't know how to teach my girls how to eat like human beings. I can definitely understand Kelsie getting this messy, but not Claire. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Here are some pictures of the girls playing in the sprinkler. It took Kelsie awhile to get in there but once she did she loved it. They are so fun. I love my girls.

Elmo came to the Children's museum, and Claire's friend Grant came with us. They look like they are at prom together and her admission bracelet is her corsage. It makes me laugh.

Hot Umpire

2008-04-17T20:53:00.000-06:00

I wish there was a competition for "The Hottest Umpire" because I know Eddie would win that for sure. I love him so much. He is such a fun husband, and it really makes me happy to see him doing something he loves. The girls and I had a fun night watching him and playing at the playground. Nothing could have made it more perfect, but maybe the weather. Does it ever warm up?

My shopping buddy!

2008-04-15T22:10:00.000-06:00

About a week ago, I went shopping with my girls at Old Navy. While I was looking around for a baby shower gift, Claire was busy doing her own shopping. She picked out all of these items and put them on. She has great taste!

2008-04-15T22:04:00.001-06:00

You Are A Green Girl

You feel most at home in a world of ideas.

You're curious and logical - and enjoy a good intellectual challenge.

You're super cool, calm, and collected. Very little tries your patience.

Your only fear? People not realizing how smart and able you are!

What Color Girl Are You?

Easter dresses

2008-03-31T17:53:00.001-06:00

Eddie's sister, Alison, did a wonderful job taking pictures of our girls. I had a really hard time picking some of my favorites, but here are a few. Thanks Ali!

Cinderella missing her slipper.

Blogging!

2008-03-26T12:34:00.001-06:00

People often tell us that we need to Blog more often and we always agree. I would like to just give an example of why it is hard to get on the computer for longer then 5 minutes at a time. Here is the mirror Claire broke while I was trying to Blog about our Arizona trip. She did not like how long it was taking me, and wanted my full attention. Well needless to say she got it.

2008-03-26T12:21:00.000-06:00

Eddie's mom has suggested a couple of times that I get a play pin. Well I have finally listened to her advice. I don't have a play pin, but this pack N play is working pretty well. Here are the girls watching Barney. I was finally able to finish my post!

Arizona

2008-03-26T10:55:00.000-06:00

We spent last weekend with some wonderful friends down in Phoenix, Arizona. We are so thankful for their friendship. They were so brave to let us stay 3 full nights and 4 days with them. Thanks you guys! The traveling went well on the way down. The girls were impressively well behaved, which isn't something I can say too often. The drive was so pretty. I really could live anywhere along the way, including Phoenix. We stopped in at Tim and Dusty's house and Dusty made us some lunch. We then headed to the Dodger game which was about 30 minutes away. The girls were a lot to handle at the game. I think it was a little bit too much for them that day. So we ended up leaving a little bit early. We went back to Tim and Dusty's for the night. The girls loved playing with Ava and Jaiden and all of their fun toys. I really wish I had gotten some pictures of them playing together. They really loved the swings in the back yard.
The next morning, Eddie went with Tim to watch the Dodgers and Diamondbacks play, while the girls and I went with Dusty and her girls to an Easter Egg hunt. It took Claire a few minutes to figure it out, but she got the hang of it. We then went shopping at the outlets. Between 2 mommies we had 5 girls all 5 and under. You might be imagining that all heck broke loose in GAP, but the girls were actually pretty good and let us enjoy some shopping. We then went back to Dusty's for naps and more playing. The guys had a good time at the game. We had a wonderful evening full of good grilled food (thanks Dusty), Blue Bell ice cream, and playing golf on the wii.
Then Saturday morning, the guys watched the girls while Dusty and I got a little break and went to Last Chance (it is like a TJ Max, but only with item from Nordstroms). I love shopping with Dusty! (I am not writing love in past tense because I hope it is something we get to do again soon.) We got home in time for the guys to go play 18 holes of golf and we headed to the pool. The girls had a great time in the kiddie pool. The weather was so nice the entire trip. Warm, but not quite hot. We quickly got home in time to get ready for our evening out without our girls. We had sushi, which was amazing, and then went to an arcade. The only pictures I got for the entire trip were of us at the arcade.
The next day was Easter, where we relaxed and went for dinner at Tim's parents house. We left for home at about 8:00 p.m. that night. The plan was to have the girls sleep all night in the car. It worked pretty well for Claire, but not for Kelsie. She was not very happy, but eventually figured it out. We got some good rest all day on Monday though. That was our trip! It was a lot of fun and definitely the break that I needed. Thanks again Tim and Dusty. We love you guys.

2008-02-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

Here is Claire and Molly! Thanks Dave for coming over and helping us with our curtain rod. We couldn't have done it with out you.

2008-02-18T11:31:00.001-07:00

Kelsie loves her milk!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

The girls and I had a fun day putting a scavenger hunt together for our Valentine, Eddie! We had him running all over town picking up fun surprises along the way! I think he had a good time. It was definitely fun for us. Eddie wrote the sweetest Valentine note and I will treasure it forever. Here are some pictures of the balloons we got him. Valentine's was several days ago but the balloons are still floating strong. Kelsie will still hold one in her hand for at least 15 minutes at a time. It is really cute.

Happy Birthday Kelsie!

2008-01-21T09:47:00.000-07:00

Kelsie turned 1 on the 17th. We had cake at her grammy's house. We had a bit of an incident, but everything turned out just fine. As you can see she did well with the cake! She took her first good steps (meaning more then 2) on the 19th. She is growing up too fast. We love you so much Kels.

2008-01-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Christmas!

5 Year Anniversary

2007-12-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

It is our 5 year anniversary today! I can't believe that it has been that long. The years have flown by. We have many accomplishments during those 5 years. We have two beautiful daughters, a cute little house, Eddie has graduated from college and has a great job so that I can stay home with the girls. I am so blessed to be married to Eddie. I love him and he makes me so happy. He is my best friend and prince charming. One of my favorite things to do with him is talk. He is so fun to talk to. He listens to whatever crazy thing I might be talking about and I love to listen to what he is talking about. A lot of my favorite memories looking back is when we would lay in bed and just chat away. I am so lucky to have him and I can't wait to spend forever with him. I love you sweetie. You are the best!

Claire in the snow

2007-11-30T10:50:00.000-07:00

Well Claire wanted to go play out in the snow and I finally said sure, but when we went to get her coat it was no where to be found. I think it is at the her grammy's house. So I used the next best thing, her really warm Halloween duck costume. She had a fun time. She is a fun girl.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

We just got home from a very eventful Thanksgiving weekend in Boise, and we are all grateful for the fun weekend we had up at the Brashers. They were the perfect hosts and it was so fun to see their new house and how they've made it into such a nice home. Doug and Ali made the perfect meal, and every bite was savory as there were multiple comments of frustration when people became full sooner than they wanted.

Perhaps the best entertainment was the treadmill, where many tried to display their talents of speed in front of the entire family. I won't get into all the details of all who tried at speeds of up to 12 MPH, but we do have a few pictures of Claire at about 4.5 MPH.

Needless to say, it was an excellent weekend with lots of quality family time. Hope everyone enjoyed their thanksgiving as much as our family did. Here are a few more fun pictures:

Cleopatra thinking she's pretty cute

Kelsie on Mama's shoulders

Cute cousins

2007-11-13T21:08:00.001-07:00

It's about time!

2007-11-13T20:57:00.000-07:00

We have decided to now join the fun world of blogging! We thought this might be the best way to share with everyone else our fun family and the stuff we're up to. So here are a few Halloween pics of all the fun, and we'll do our best to keep it updated...

Here is Claire as a little duck, and Kelsie and her favorite cousin Jack the ninja.