The Carlson Family: August 2011

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

This little cutie...

Started dance classes today! When I imagined having a little girl, many many years ago, I pictured taking her to dance classes and watching her at dance recitals. I can't wait! I just hope she is as excited as I am!

Is she not the cutest little dancer there is?

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Our Trip to Idaho

We went to Idaho to visit my sweet friend Christy and her family last week.
We met when she came to my house a couple years ago to buy some furniture I had listed online. She had just moved to the area, and we had an instant connection. We have kids that are the same age so we had a lot of fun hanging out. We had fun getting up in the wee hours of the morning to go to the gym before our husbands went to work.
Soon after she moved here, she had to move to Alaska because of her husbands job, and I was so sad to see her go. After about a year in Alaska, they ended up moving much closer.......to Idaho. I knew I needed to make the drive to see her since Idaho is much closer than Alaska!

I caught Hailey in Becca's room combing her hair and calmly singing her a song.........so cute!

The first day we got there in the afternoon, so we let the kids play at her house for awhile. Then we headed to Sonic to get some burgers and then to my hotel to swim in the pool.
Carter and Hailey had fun that evening buying treats from the candy machine and watching a movie in our hotel room.

The next day we headed to a lake by their house. This lake was super nice. It had grass planted just above the water and sand which was nice, so you can lay your towels out without them getting covered in sand. It also had restrooms, tables, toys, and a floating dock with a slide!

Carter standing on the dock

Carter swam out to the dock, but he didn't dare to go down the slide. Joe and Hyrum were brave enough to go down though! The water was FREEZING, so they were all Chattering.

Hyrum and Carter making Joe push the dock closer to the slide. They are slave drivers I tell you!

After this shot she freaked out a bit because her hands were dirty. I can't blame her, I don't like to be dirty either! We're not play on the beach kind of girls :)

My beautiful friend Christy. I'm sure she will be thrilled that I posted her as she is eating! This will teach her to run from the camera :) Love ya Christy!

The girls thought Joe's back(Christy's husband) would be a fun little ride, and literally played on it for like 30 minutes! Jumping on then falling off like he was some sort of roller coaster. Good thing he is a good sport!

The girls sharing a can of Pringles

My Sweet Girl

Beautiful Becca

The last day Christy met us at Snake River Falls. We fed the ducks and walked around for a bit.

I have realized that this is the only way to get Hailey to eat! Everytime I take her to feed the ducks she probably eats more bread than she gives to the ducks. Seriously, I can't get her to eat bread at home! I also discovered the other day when we went to feed some horses by our house, the same thing. We packed some carrots and apples, and on the way there she munched on both quite vigorously. I guess we need to feed animals more often so I know that she getting the foods she needs :)

Who other than Idaho has a Potato Bench? Pretty exciting stuff!

Hyrum and Carter

The beautiful Snake River Falls

After the Falls we headed to Christy's for lunch and then headed back home. Thanks Christy and Joe for letting us crash in on you for a few days, we had tons of fun!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Carter after his Stokes Critter Camp

Carter had a full and busy summer this year. Through June and July he participated in Fun in the Sun again. This year it was three days a week for 3 hours a day. Fun in the Sun is a program that the city does. They get to go on Field Trips, play games, and do fun activities. This is the third summer that Carter has done it. I thought by now he would be sick of it, but he really enjoyed it again this year.

The last week of July Carter went to a Critter Camp up at the Stokes Nature Center. He LOVES animals and bugs so I knew this would be right up his ally. He had so much fun! The camp went all day Tuesday through Thursday, then on Thursday they slept over and stayed until Friday afternoon. They got to do a lot of hiking, learned about different critters, fed hummingbirds, and wrote in their camp journals. I was a little nervous to have him sleep over, but he insisted that he wanted to and that he would be fine. He was right, he did just great! When I came to pick him up on Friday he was still in his pajamas and I asked why he hadn't gotten dressed. His leader said that he didn't want to, and kinda chuckled. I think she learned pretty early on that Carter has a mind of his own and won't do anything that he doesn't want to do! Sometimes it's not worth the battle!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Cache County Fair 2011

We headed to the Fair on Friday night just long enough for Hailey to get in a Pony Ride, and quickly decided we would come back when they opened on Saturday morning to try and avoid the big crowds. It was a great idea because it wasn't nearly as busy when we came back. Carter did not want to ride the pony this year which SHOCKED me! It made me realize how quickly he is growing up and that he's ready to move on to bigger and better things! Sometimes I wish I could SLOW him down a bit!

Hailey looked SO CUTE bouncing around on the pony.

At the end I got this crusty look from her........she was a little nervous and ready to get off! After she got off she said "That was SOOOO fun mommy!" I was glad to hear that because she sure didn't LOOK like she was having fun!

I love these pictures with Carter's arm around Hailey. They do enough fighting that it's really nice to see them getting along and Carter being protective over his little sister. I'm thinking that by this time next year, Carter isn't going to want to go on the little rides anymore, he was definitely into the bigger ones, so I savored watching them together on the smaller rides.

Enjoying a Churro and taking a break

The slide and the swings were Carter's favorite rides and he wanted to go on them over and over again! The first time he went down the slide he had a look of horror on his face and said he didn't want to do it again.......then about 2 seconds later he decided to do it again and was hooked!

I'm sure that my children love it when I take pictures of them stuffing their faces! I just thought it was funny because they were both so zoned out while eating! You can't go to a fair without eating cotton candy!

And after Hailey got done stuffing her face, she held the bag as if to say.........if anyone touches my cotton candy.......there will be trouble!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Larsen Family Reunion

We spent the weekend up in Eden at a condo that my parents rented. It was really nice with lots of room so everyone could have their own space when needed. We watched movies, played games, did crafts, ate, hiked, swam, played ping pong, and ate some more! There was a pond at the condo that the boys called "The Lake", and Carter had a blast looking for leaches and bugs in the water. Thanks Mom and Dad for a fun weekend!

The kids watching a movie
I thought it was funny how the girls were in one spot and the boys were all on the bean bag!

Grandpa with the girls

One of the boys found a snake toward the beginning of our hike and they all had to have a turn holding it. Poor Meili, after that she didn't want to walk on the trail anymore. I don't blame her, I was scanning for snakes and ready to scream at any moment!