The Carlson Family: July 2013

Summer comes to a screeching halt...

Carter decided he wanted to get out of chores for the rest of the summer and fractured his ankle jumping on the trampoline. Luckily we got some fun things in this summer, but the rest will have to be put on hold! He will have to stay off his ankle as much as possible while it heals. He gets his cast in a couple days when the swelling goes down. He already did swimming lessons and a couple of week long camps, but he won't be doing karate any time soon :(

He was getting after me for taking pictures of him on his crutches, but I think he looks so cute on them! I know, I'm a horrible mother!

The first day he was layed up I set him up on the trampoline to get some fresh air. He said the butterflies were flying overhead like crazy because they were mocking him, since they knew he couldn't catch them! He is already going stir crazy not being able to run around. I let him buy a new game called Minecraft for the ipad which he was excited about. I have a few more ideas for things to do, but I have a feeling it will be a long 6 weeks!

Week of July 4th

Me and my girl before church...

The week of the 4th was mostly spent with The Carlsons! Russ and Emily made their way from California to Utah and spent a few days with us! Here's all the kids eating their lunch, I actually got all of them looking at the camera!

Grammy has been asking for some new pictures of her grandkids reading a book to put in her library. Early one morning we took them up the street from my house and snapped some quick pics while they were still happy. I think we got some pretty cute ones!

The night before the 4th Uncle Russ bought a few fireworks. The kids were in heaven playing with sparklers...

We headed to the Lewiston Parade in the morning...

Cute lil' Vi

Jack, Carter and Hailey watching the parade and collecting Loot...

The rest of the day was spent just chillaxin' and BBQing, trying to stay cool!

Trip to Uncle Don & Aunt Paula's

Bryan has an Aunt and Uncle in Bishop California. We haven't been out to visit since Carter was a baby, so we thought we would head out there for a few days. Bryan has always talked very highly about his Uncle Don, and now that I've met him a few times I know why. Don and Paula have a beautiful backyard with a pond and it's a very relaxing place to hang out. This above sign is in the pond. The first morning we were there, Hailey came in the house quite distraught. I asked her what was wrong, and she told me that Carter had told her she had to take all her clothes off and jump in the pond. I went outside to reprimand Carter, and found out that he was telling her what the "No Skinny Dippin'" sign meant, and she was thinking he was telling her to do it!

This trip ended up being quite the family reunion. Bryan's Dad rode with us, Bryan's Mom met us out there, and then the day after we got there, his brother and family came to stay.

Carter and Hailey practicing their gambling skills :)

The arm that you had to pull on the slot machine was pretty hard to pull. I thought it was pretty funny to watch Hailey use those little muscles of hers to get it rollin'

Uncle Don took Bry and the kids looking for frogs and they brought them back to his little pond. The frogs unfortunately didn't want to stay in the pond and kept jumping out, but they had so much fun with them!

Hailey doing crafts with Papa...

Uncle Don has a few "pet" fish in his pond and it's always fun to feed them...

One day we went to check out the "Laws Museum" there. I was really glad we went. It was really cool! It was basically set up as a little town from the late 1800's. There was everything from a store, a working mine, a train, schoolhouse, homes, bar, mechanic shop, and several other buildings.

There were all sorts of critters running around. Bryan is trying to catch a lizard...those little suckers were too quick though!

Serving alcohol to minors, probably not the best idea boys...

The cute little schoolhouse...

Bryan and Russ' favorite room...

The kids enjoying an afternoon feeding fish...

Playing games with Grammy...

I loved all the beautiful flowers and plants in their yard...

Violet reminds me of Hailey when she was younger. She had to carry all her bags and toys at the same time, she couldn't leave any behind!

A pretty sunflower in their garden...

The grill masters cookin' up some yummy ribs, artichokes and squash...

Violet and Hailey playing in the stream...

The sweet neighbors offered to let us come over and swim in their pool! We took them up on it. Carter had finished swimming lessons the previous week and was excited to put his newly learned skills to use!