Happy Birthday to Carter!

Once he blew out his candles is was finally 5, at least that is what he believes.  All day long I kept telling him that he was five and he would get mad at me and say, "Not until I blow out my candles in the night!"  So, in his eyes, at around 8:30 pm he was 5!  This year Carter is really into Batman, where as last year it was all Spiderman.  He couldn't wait to rip open his gifts and I think he was happy with all the Batman stuff.  Aidan is having a hard time understanding that it is not his birthday and the presents are not his.  Carter is being a nice brother and lets Aidan play with some of the Batman toys.

Boating on your Birthday

Today was Carter's 5th Birthday and we decided to go out on papa's boat for the afternoon. Carter and Aidan loved driving the boat and laying on the ground wrapped in a bunch of towels. They went out on the tube with Joe and even went pretty fast... well, for them.  We have had our friends, Adam, Kristin and their baby boy Rocklyn visiting all week and they came too along with two of Kristin's brothers, Kevin and Aaron.  It was a lot of fun and the weather was great!  But, Carter could not wait to get home and open presents!  

Carter driving the boat with Dad.

Carter and Mom with pretzels.

Carter, Aidan, and Dad on the tube.

Carter and Adam B.

The boys heading out on the tube!

The truth hurts

We had this big dragon fly that got into our garage and then died and was laying next to the car.  I didn't really want to move it, so I figured I would let Joe take care of that.  So, it sat there for a few days and the boys liked seeing it when we would leave, Aidan especially.  One day when we were leaving last week  Aidan recognized that the dragon fly was gone (because Joe threw it in the trash).   Aidan said, "Where is the bug?"  I said, "Well he died."  Aidan said, "But I want to say hi to the bug."  I then, trying to teach a little lesson about death, said, "The bug is in bug heaven now with Heavenly Father."  Carter piped in with, "No he's not, he's in the trash can!"

Man, he such the realist, there is no hope with him!  He loves to crush his brothers sweet thoughts.  Needless to say Aidan was a bit sad, but I think he is over it now.

Cute Boys!

Some cute pics of the boys.

No Manners

We went out to eat while up in Rexburg and Carter was so excited for the chocolate chip cookie and ice-cream dessert.  He was just huffing it down.  I wonder where he learned that!!??  We finally had to pry it away from his chocolate covered grasp.

Rexburg or Bust!

This past weekend we decided to take a very quick trip to Rexburg, Idaho.  I know what you are all thinking; that Rexburg is such the vacation hot spot.  Well, we actually went there for Joe's cousin, Lisa's, open house.  She got married a few week ago in San Diego, but we were not able to make that trip, so we thought we would shoot for Rexburg.  We left Saturday and came back Sunday.  It was really nice to see them and to see Joe's brother Jake and his family.  Carter and Aidan are always excited to see the cousins.

Aidan thinks anyone who is in a pretty dress is a princess, so he loved staring a Lisa.

Us and the other Browns

Brown cousins

Aidan a Brooklynn were so cute playing together on the stairs.

Bird Update

Thought I would let all know how the little "rats" were doing.  These things are like little weeds are are growing so big and so fast!  The sooner, the better, is what I say!  Carter and Aidan have named them, Perch, Cutie, Peter Parker, and Mittens.  Take a guess who named the one Peter Parker???   

Animal enthusiast no more???

For the past few weeks we have had a mother sparrow building a nest in the eves of our front porch.  At first I thought it was kind of neat and the boys really loved looking out our window and seeing the birds.  After a few weeks the babies were born and now we have four little editions to our home.  Alright, I consider myself a lover of all creatures, an animal enthusiast if you will, but the birds are really testing my love. 

 

Here are the four babies waiting for some food or lets call it what it really is, vomit.

Here is the mother feeding them...vomit.

Another view of the babies.

O.K., here is why they are pushing their luck at survival.  Not only is the process of building a mud nest messy, so is the constant feeding.  While the mother feeds the babies she misses sometimes and those sometimes end up on the porch floor along with the mass of crap.  The birds also constantly fly into my windows and get pissed any time I open my front door, by flapping all around and out of control.  Yes, I know they may be cute and sweet, but I might as well have baby rats living here, they are just about as vial.  As soon as those little "rats" can fly away, down comes their nest!!!!

Major vomit and crap, how nasty!

"Mini Golf" with the boys

All day long on Saturday, Carter had been bugging us to go "mini golfing", what he calls it, and later that evening we broke down, and by we I mean Joe, and decided to take the boys to the course just across the street from us.  I had some running around to do, and by running around I mean shopping, so Joe went with the boys.  I had a feeling that things would be interesting to say the least.  Joe said all they did was lose balls, not let Dad help them and cry.  Sounds fun!  Carter keeps asking to go back, but I'm not sure we want to attempt that again any time soon.

golf balls, tears, and trouble!

What started as a fun day of "Mini Golf" soon took a nasty turn.  Men always say that golfing is frustrating and addicting, but in this case I would say mostly frustrating.

It all started off O.K., with Aidan at the tee.

Then the ball went in the water.

Which made this happen.

And, finally this took place.

Poor babies, they look exhausted and hot!

I.R. Iran vs. D-League Ambassadors

I have to say that I have experienced things in my life that I never expected to experience.
Yesterday we had the unique opportunity to go and watch the Olympic basketball team from Iran play a D-League team at The Factory, a sports facility in Lehi. For those who don't know by now, Joe is a co-owner and President of the Utah Flash, a developmental basketball team which is part of the NBA. And because of the team we have been exposed to some really cool things. Having this Iranian team come here and play is a really big deal for obvious reasons. The main reason for their visit is to play in the Rocky Mountain Review, a summer league here in Utah.
They had this little basketball clinic before the game for local kids and Carter and Aidan were part of it. I was really hesitant to put Aidan in the mix because he was the youngest and smallest kid there. But, the funniest part of it all was how much the Iranian players loved Aidan. They wanted to take pictures of him and were pinching his cheeks and just smiling and laughing at him. They were so sweet to him; they were lifting him up and helping him shoot the ball. The reporters and photographers were loving him too. Aidan even made it into the Salt Lake Tribune news paper today, with a big picture of him and a 7-foot 5-inch Iranian player, it is so cute. It looks like the guy could eat him! ABC news even interviewed me because they thought Aidan was so cute and funny. They kept calling him "Little Flash". I will hopefully get some better pictures and I will post them. You can see some other cool photos if you go to NBA.com.

Aidan with player on the Iranian team.

Aidan and Carter with injured player & coach of the Iranian team.

Final score of the game. We won!!!!

Camping

Over the 4th of July weekend we went camping with the Browns. I have not been camping since before I was married, and some may say that I am not the camping type, but I have to say that I can camp with the best of them! It was a lot of work, but was fun. The boys loved it, and they especially getting dirty. Man, were the kids dirty; they started to look like they were a different nationality. We went to Deer Creek and went out on the boat and jet skies.

On Papa's boat.

Me and Aidan on the boat.

The boys!

Me and Carter on the boat.

Carter taking his first jump off a cliff.... o.k, it was more like a step.

4th of July!

We had the 4th at our house and the boys just loved it. We celebrated with all of the Browns and it was a lot of fun. Joe and his brother and sister went to Evanston, WY. and bought illegal fireworks and they were like kids in a candy store. They were more excited about it then any of the kids.

We all look so messed-up because we had been camping and just came back to our house to do fireworks.

Carter with the Brown cousins.

Carter and Andrew loving the fireworks.

Aidan thought they were all too loud!

But, they did love the rockets!

Jedi Training

Everyday at Disneyland they are having this Jedi Training program and Carter really wanted to be a part of it. So, on the last day that we were there we waited in the hot sun for a chance that Carter might get chosen to participate. Well, the first performance came and Carter jumped up and down and was hoping that he would get picked and to his dismay he was not picked. He had a major break down and was crying and so sad. So, we decided to wait around for the next show in hope that this time Carter would get picked. And this time he did!!! He was so excited and took it very seriously and was super intense.

Look how small he is, how funny!

Can you find Carter? Look for someone very small and to the right.

Carter with his Light Saber.

Getting some help on his form before his big battle.

The final test was for the kids to fight either Darth Vadar or Darth Maul ( I'm not sure if that is how it is spelled???). He did it and was so proud of himself. It really made his day. He even got a certificated saying that he is now an official Jedi. It was really cute to watch. Thanks to Grammie and Papa for sitting there and saving seats for hours!