First week of school

Wow! We survived the first week of school. Hopie never missed the bus but our elementary school kids missed the bus on Tues. We're not used to catching it so early in the morning. It arrives by 6:30 a.m., so they've got to be out and waiting by 6:20 a.m. Needless to say, mornings in our house are a rush in more ways than one. But the kids are being helpful, laying their outfits out at night and slowly realizing Mom's strict bedtime is the right bedtime.

So far, Hopie is really excited about the prospect of her Pre-AP classes paying off for her as she's been talking about the new high school being built that will offer an opportunity to 100 students in the district to graduate high school with an A.S. degree. She wants to work hard to get into the program and do just that! If she does, she'll catch up to her Mom's education and be well on her way to making her own education get on the fast track. I'm happy that she is so driven and has such amazing goals! She's a beautiful person!

Cowboy (Brig) is excited this year to be in 5th grade. He has two teachers this year and one is a male teacher - his first male teacher ever. The other day Cowboy told me he couldn't believe that he was in 5th grade already. He has had fun doing the 'get to know you' projects in school. He collected different things that told people about himself, i.e., a Roald Dahl book, a purple chip, a Spiderwick figure, a dinosaur figure etc... I thought what he had chosen was clever and I was impressed that he didn't seem to worry about what other kids might think. I'm glad he likes to be himself.

Nessa has enjoyed seeing all of her friends and making new ones. She has the same teacher that Cowboy had last year. She's been diligent in reading to her little brother, Zayah, all week. Her week has been tough and she's been brave to not miss any school when she a great excuse of having a horrible toothache. We were able to get her into the dentist on Fri. afternoon and she did indeed have and abscessed tooth. She was very brave when the dentist had to pull it out and she requested, on her own, that she didn't want laughing gas. I made sure this was her own decision and after it was said and done I gave her a big hug. I also explained to her that she saved her parents $54 because she didn't have the laughing gas. She said she didn't know that you had to pay for it. Nessa, you are so brave. I'm glad you'll be feeling better now.

Zayah has been unusually quiet about school since he's usually a chatterbox about everything. All I could get out of him was that he thinks his teacher is nice. You can tell he's growing up. He has been asking each morning if it was a school day. This morning when he asked, he seemed surprised and thankful, when I said "No, it's Saturday." Besides being a bit tired and cranky at times, overall, he's adjusting to the all day school schedule.

You can tell Gracie is missing all the school kids being around although it hasn't slowed her down one bit. She is the most curious little girl and very able to get into mischief. This week she died her beautiful golden hair pink using a box of sugar-free jello. I washed it but couldn't get it all out for a couple of days. At first, I hadn't realized what she had used to dye her hair until the next day I found the jello packet safely hidden away in the food pantry with one of my clothespins clipped to it, you know, to keep it fresh. I use the clothespins all the time as inexpensive bag clips. Her thought process never ceases to amaze me.
I'm planning on getting her together with some of her friends from around here for play dates and preschool. That should help, right?

Noah has amazed us all by learning to crawl up the stairs. He's still a bit off balance about it, likes to sit on the edge of a stair and climbs each step differently. So, it scares us to death! He's fallen twice, luckily no damage done, so now the gate has to be there when we're not helping him climb up the stairs. Not before, he climbed all the way up the stairs once unbeknownst to me of course. Gracie tried to help him and when she tried to tell me I was really worried so I immediately checked on him and he had already made it upstairs and into Hopie's room. Happy and go-lucky as can be!
One thing that is funny about his name is that he never thinks he's in trouble. When he was a baby, my kids like to say "No-No" - "Nonah" to him so now when we "NO" he thinks we're playing with him. He just smiles up at us with a big cheesy grin and thinks he's never in trouble. It's simply cute but What are we going to do..what to do..?

Pictures, I've included in this post are of the first day of school and
Noah crawling upstairs. Oh, and also the bus but that really isn't from this school year it's just for effect.

Zayah's First Haircut

Before the much needed haircut.

In the stylists' chair, the process starts.

I found these pictures and I couldn't help but post them. They are adorable in my eyes. It is of Zayah, our Tex boy's first haircut. I know it happened a while ago (I think about July '04) but I think you'll still like looking at them.

All done with a precious lock of hair in hand.

Those curious locks so aptly twin'd,

Whose every hair a soul doth bind.

~Thomas Carew

Going down Memory Lane

I was looking at some old photo's of our family and I thought I'd like to share some of them with you. Normally, I want to post this on Thursday's but I forgot yesterday so I will now instead. I'm sure it doesn't really matter.
It's fun to remember back a few years. I'm pretty sure these photo's were taken from Halloween to Christmas of '03. Isaiah was a baby at that time - Yes, it's definitely Isaiah with the teether. I think you'll like looking at them anyway.
Since I'm not very good at posting captions very well on blogger, I'm not going to worry about it today. Anyway, I think these pictures speak for themselves. I hope you enjoy seeing how much our family has grown and taking a glimpse of where we've been.







Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. ~From the television show The Wonder Years

Dessert for Breakfast?

"Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper."
~Adelle Davis

Yes, we actually had dessert for breakfast on Sunday. Jared and Hopie had been dying to make this dessert again. It's actually quite a simple recipe that I'll share with you here if you care to have it.
One milestone of this breakfast was that Noah had his first raspberry. He made the cutest face ever!

Here's a cool fact about raspberries:

"Red Raspberry. The species is indigenous to Asia Minor and North America, (see above) although the epithet denotes Mt. Ida, in the Caucasus mountains of Asia Minor. Fruits were gathered from the wild by the people of Troy and the foothills of Mt. Ida around the time of Christ. Records of domestication were found in 4th century writings of Palladius, a Roman agriculturist, and seeds have been discovered at Roman forts in Britain. Hence, the Romans probably spread cultivation throughout Europe. The British popularized and improved raspberries throughout the middle ages, and exported the plants to New York by 1771." ~quoted from Mark's fruit crops

Fish Lake

Another one of our favorite things that we did during the Carter family reunion was to go fishing at Fish Lake. We woke up at 4 a.m. and after the car was packed, we were on our way at about 5:30 a.m. Here's some pictures from one beautiful day we spent at the lake. They show us fishing and kayaking. Also, I was able to capture beautiful scenery as well. A couple of my favorite pictures include Jared fishing solo and of Hopie and her cousin, Lauren sleeping on the rocky beach. Only the young have the luxury of sleeping anywhere. I don't think I could sleep on those sharp, jaggedy rocks.

"This planet is covered with sordid men who demand that he who spends time fishing shall show returns in fish." ~Leonidas Hubbard, Jr.

Well, even though we didn't catch any fish, we had a great time.

The Grotto

This was one of our very favorite activities at the recent Carter Family Reunion. We hiked to a place in Payson Canyon called the Grotto. It was a cave like place where there was a waterfall . It was breathtakingly beautiful. See for yourself in the photos below:Arrival at the Grotto.
Magnificent Beauty
Julie holding Noah with Gracie and Zayah sitting on the big rock in the middle of the Grotto.
Taking a restful break from all the action of playing in the water.
Jared takes Nessa for a cool shower in the waterfall.
Wading pool.
Uncle Mike takes Brigham in the cool waterfall.
A pretty picture of Martha and Mollie.
Gracie loves the rocks just like her Daddy!

The Quilts of N.E.C.

A few times in my life, I have been very lucky and privileged to know someone who truly inspires me. My brother-in-law, Nathan, is one of those people. He is very talented, gifted really, in quilting. I always enjoy the different quilts he has worked on and I love the one he made me (I'll post that later). It was interesting to hear him talk about the quilt shop he works at as a hobby and the differences he realizes in quilt designs, fabrics and thread. He has an amazing eye for color and design. I also felt how giving he was when he mentioned that he had never sold any of his quilts or quilt tops. He has given them all away. These are heirloom quality quilts, I assure you, and this humbles me because it is very generous of him and his time. I am blown away each time I see one of his quilts for they are so beautiful.
As a young woman, I learned the process of quilting. I have made one quilt with my Grandma Rae (I'll post later) and perhaps a few pillows. It took a long time. I haven't been able to really quilt as much anymore with other demands on my time and my lack of knowledge as well. I understand this lengthy process and that's why Nathan's quilts that he gives as gifts truly inspire and humble me. Perhaps, I'll take up quilting again one day.
Thank you so much for sharing your quilts, Nathan. We love and appreciate you. Below are pictures of his quilts, unique and original made by him. (Please don't copy the photos without my express permission as I would need to get permission from the quilter as well.) Enjoy!










This first quilt (quilt block shown here) is made entirely of oriental fabrics. Nathan gave this to his sister, Martha, who served an LDS mission to Hong Kong. It was so fun because he wrapped it in Christmas wrapping paper with a note stating "Do not open until Christmas 2010." But he nicely let them open them early.










Martha and Nathan holding up the Oriental Quilt.










This next quilt is the one he gave to his sister, Katherine for Christmas 2011. It is made entirely of 1860's American Civil War reproduction fabrics since, I'm guessing here, Katherine likes to learn about culture and history and has home decor of historical items in her home.



"My inspiration is art... because without art we would just be stuck with reality."

Daniel Robert Lynch

Young American Artist

All in all, aren't they gorgeous quilts? Masterpieces, really in my eyes.

Wow, this baby can crawl!

During the family reunion (July 24-26) this year 2008, our little 9 month old baby learned to crawl. Here's a bit about this new and exciting time in his life:











This is our little boy, Noah, before he could crawl and before wearing a tye-dyed onesie.















This is his dad holding up the onesie before he made it tye-dyed for Noah.















He is now decked out in his tye-dyed shirt and starts trying to crawl. Attempt # 1 - getting all the way up in the air position.















Trying to crawl attempt # 2 - getting in the halfway up in the air position.















Trying to crawl attempt #3 - all fours on the ground firmly and final crawling position successful! I'm all smiles and ready to go! Watch out, here I come!