Carter's favorite part--stuffing his mouth with sugar. He loves suckers.

Mommy and Daddy are so weird. But it's fun to be weird sometimes!

Dig that fro daddy!

Carter's not so sure he wants any part in all this...

"Umpkin!"

Ever wonder what Gini would look like as a blonde? Well, I think I'm a brunette for a reason... I don't know how I get talked into these things, but I dressed up as a princess for Livi's daughter's third birthday. Ixchel LOVES princesses and had a little tea party and all her little friends dressed up like princesses to come. I think I'll have to ask for compensation if I ever do this again..! Carter was totally WEIRDED OUT by the whole thing and officially thinks girls are SILLY.

This was the coolest part of the hike...the BEAR!

Reunion cont'd

the grandkids at the petting zoo where we rode horses
that bear is about twice as big as the one we saw
yeehaw!
Elijah, me and the cowboy

the results of the previous evening's pedicure session

Reunion

This beauty is Ammon, slumbering peacefully into the afternoon...
Part of one of the skits at the variety show--that's Sarah with the notebook, Heidi in the green, Gini in the red, Ammon and Jason to the left
Amy and Chad in their aged costume for their skit

sisters just do each other's hair when they get together. That's Amy doing Sarah's with Rachael sitting by. The Tim Guffey grandkids as still as they could be for a photo shoot. From the left: Sean, Carter, Alex, Elijah, Annabelle, Kaylee, McKayla, and Kacie.

reunion in Gatlinburg

hiking up to Grotto Falls--not such a good idea to go on a 45 minute hike with a heavy wiggly boy on your back! He hated the trip up...
Finally free of the backpack!
Carter had a blast playing in the icy water and was soon soaked.
Not much of a waterfall, but it was August.

Cool, llamas waiting for us at the trail end!

some of summer

Carter found his nose...and was pretty excited that his fingers fit right in those holes!

Aww, how appropriate! While at the Columbus temple on their 64th anniversary, we happened upon this car that said just married! Sweet family
Daddy's boy
Jason looking studly as best man for David.

To be a kid again

I love playing. It's great that now I have a child so I can play and look legitimate, like I'm just playing because he needs a playmate. Truth be told, I can't wait until he's old enough to ask to go to the park everyday and go on picnics and play in the sprinkler. I almost feel like I'm making him do those things now, just cuz I want to! But come on, who ever gets tired of playgrounds? I was just telling Kerrie, they should really make adult-size playgrounds-- you know they'd get plenty of use.

Mommy kind of forced Daddy to ride the dinosaur with Carter so I could get this picture. I think he's a little more self-conscious.
Carter is very curious about the water and the ducks, shoulder ride became mandatory to ensure dry baby.
So fun, Kerrie's little boy Caiden is 2 months and a day younger than Carter. I think he's a little taller than our boy, though!

Ice cream cones

Mmm, I think I like this thing mommy! How come I've never had it before?!
Like mother, like son...oh now we've done it, he'll never want anything good for him again!
Yummy yummy! It's great, he likes the cone so much it'll entertain him for 20 minutes in the stroller while we go jogging!
Out to eat at Montgomery Inn with the fam.
Hey no fair dada, you stole my binky!

Lemonade

Thought it was lemons, but it turned out to be lemonade...

Rules:Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.* Link back to person who tagged you.* Write about an incident in your life you first thought was really bad, but ended up being a blessing.* Tag people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.* Let each person you tagged know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

When Jason and I got married, I was going to school at BYU in Provo, UT and he was in Idaho. We decided to live in Cincinnati, although it would be a pain to transfer credits and we ended up doing more time in school than we could've gotten away with had we stayed out west. But it just felt right to live at home in Cinci. So after we realized how frustrating the whole school -credits-getting into new programs process was, we really wondered, why didn't we stay at BYU?! We didn't have to wonder too long, though. We found out Jason's dad (Mike) had lung cancer about a year and a half later. It would have been really awful to be living in Utah while he was here in Ohio and not knowing how much time he had left and not being able to be with him. So we got to spend a lot of time with him that we otherwise would have missed because we stayed in Ohio. That time and those memories are obviously irreplaceable and trump any inconvenience in transferring and making up credit hours. We're thankful that Heavenly Father led us to make the right decision in moving back home. Mike hung in there until Carter was born and died on Easter Sunday last year. We really miss him and are sad that Carter will not get to play with his Grandpa and learn his handyman ways. But we know we will see him again and are grateful for the comfort that gives.

Alicia tagged me www.homestate.blogspot.com and I tag

Katie www.penderclan.blogspot.com

Kerrie www.quillinfam.blogspot.com

Mom www.timguffeyfamily.blogspot.com

and anyone else who wants to share!

bedtime ritual

playtime

Carter checking out his new toy Daddy so cutely set up with his stuffed animal friends. Carter LOVES his animals, he carrys them around and lays on them and hugs them, so sweet!
He thinks it's pretty great!
He is a pro at the slide already!

Carter looks like he's scheming on some devious plan for mommy...
No, not my sweet little boy!

Heeeey hillbilly! Carter's first ridin' mower experience. He was scared of the noise until he got to ride on dada's lap. Yes, the hood is missing...but it gets the job done a whole lot faster! yep, I think we're done dada.

Just love the weather here in Ohio...not!

Our big snowstorm of the year--check out the 5 foot drifts on the deck!
Very pretty, just really glad I didn't have to be at work! Although, I had to work the night it started and Dad waited up for me to get off work at 11:45pm and picked me up in GM's 4wheel drive Tahoe--my hero!
Thought it would be fun to take Carter to an Easter egg hunt...bad idea. It was packed and most kids walked away with an empty basket (Carter didn't stand a chance!), it was FREEZING and windy and muddy...I hate it when the weather doesn't cooperate.
Da-da kept Carter warm.
Grandma came over on Easter Sunday.