Our Flock Rocks

Christmas Family Photo & Year In Review 2010

2010-12-30T11:50:00.000-06:00

December 2010

I've tried to send out as many Christmas cards and letters as I could to the current addresses that I had this year. I had several of these returned to me. If you didn't get a Christmas card from me, let me know, so that next year I have your current information on record. Thanks!

Dear Family & Friends,

For our family, the most significant events of 2010 have happened nearing the end of this year. On Sept. 27th, Jared’s mother Clara was diagnosed with an advanced stage of Leukemia. Even though she was seventy-eight years old, it still seemed a difficult prognosis. Jared was part of several phone calls back and forth to help with talking with his brothers and sisters who were handling her hospice care. I believe he was helpful to them during this time. Clara passed away on Oct. 9th. Jared had been able to drive to Utah and spend three days with his mother before she had passed away. I was able to make arrangements for my six children to be cared for by four generous families in our ward so that I could fly out to her funeral which was on Oct. 12th. I felt very grateful that I was able to attend and it was nice to have my mom, Sylvia, come as well. I took pictures of the flowers that were sent to Clara’s funeral and I have posted them on Facebook. Jared and I were able to drive back to Texas together.

As a family, we felt very busy in the next month as the children continued to attend school and Jared working. On Nov. 9th Jared received a call from his sister Caroline to tell him that she had found his father, Melvin, had passed away as well. This news was unexpected for all us even though his father had lived eighty-two years. He seems to have died of natural causes most likely from complications with his heart since he has had heart surgery in his lifetime. So many of us had been impressed with how well his father had been doing since Clara’s death. This time Jared was able to fly to Utah for his father’s funeral and I stayed home to take care of our children. My mom, Sylvia and our sister, Mollie were able to attend his funeral as well. Jared really appreciated their support.
Even though these events have been a sad occasion for us, it is happy to think of Melvin and Clara together in heaven just in time for their 60th wedding anniversary which was on Dec. 15th. We have wonderful memories to cherish of his parents even though we have been living far away from them for some time now in Texas. It’s hard to believe we’ve been here about twelve years now. We have come to really enjoy living in Texas and our children are growing and thriving as I think you’ll see from how they are doing.
Hopie finished up middle school and she applied to Early College Academy this year. She was accepted and she has started her Freshman year as both a high school student and a college student. We have been so impressed and amazed with her determination to work hard and excel at this school. One of her favorite things that she was able to do this summer was to go and visit Bonnie, Levi and Clark. She really enjoyed the time that she was able to visit with them. Her Uncle Sam was able to come and visit to say “Hi” to her as well. Hope had worked really hard with babysitting jobs and had diligently saved her money to be able to go. Personally, I am so glad that she had this opportunity and I am so thankful for Bonnie for her hospitality while Hope was there.

Cowboy finished up 6th grade and started 7th grade this year. He is enjoying playing his Trombone. He also enjoys scouting and the Young Men’s program. One of his favorite memories is training and completing the Gatorbait Triathlon with his Dad. He swam 500m, biked 1300m and ran a 5k to be able to accomplish this task. Cowboy really loves to be outdoors and is very active as he continues to run, ride his bike and do the yard work for our house. He is very helpful to his brothers and sisters.

Nessa graduated from Elementary school and started 6th grade this year. She is learning to play the trumpet. Nessa loves to write stories and she started a blog this which can be found at http://nessapenandink.blogspot.com/ She also really loves to receive e-mail from people if any of you would love to e-mail her she would love to correspond with you.

Zayah is a budding artist and you can pretty much find him drawing all the time. He finished 1st grade and started 2nd grade. He really likes his teacher this year, Ms. Williams. He is always finding an excuse to make her a card to thank her for all that she teaches him. He is really doing well at school. His favorite subjects are Science and Art. One of his favorite memories is going to the Coast over the Thanksgiving Holiday with his Aunt Martha and her children which are his cousins, Molly and Mike.

Princess G graduated Preschool and started Kindergarten. Her favorite things to do are playing Barbie’s and computer games like Moshi Monster and Club Penguin. She also loves to help her dad in the kitchen and play house with her friends or her little brother, N. Her favorite book is the Pinkalicious series and the new one she was able to get at the book fair is Goldilicious.

N has turned 3 and his most wonderful, significant event is becoming potty-trained! His sister, Nessa, helped out quite a bit with him in being able to help him accomplish this task. N loves Scooby-Doo and getting into anything slimy like mud or toothpaste. He is very smart and uses his curiosity and stealth powers to his advantage. He has also maintained the art of the escape artist and has been secretly introducing himself to our neighbors. He also decided to try out the career of a barber on himself first. Needless to say, he’s sporting a short haircut now. Most of all, he makes all of us laugh and smile!

Jared is still working his job on the phones with Health Dialog and he’s still a Nurse in the Army Reserves. He’s also started a few side jobs to help out with the finances.

Julie has been busy in her calling in Nursery but has recently been called to be the Young Women’s Camp Director so she’ll be attending camp next year with both of her daughters too. She is also watching, Jakey, a boy N’s age during the day full time and continues to have a Scrapbooking group and a book club. She also recently entered three of her poems into a poetry contest. Wish her luck!

We want you to know that you are loved and in our hearts. May each of you continue to be blessed throughout your lives.
We love you, The TX Carter’s
In photo: L-R Back: Cowboy(13), Jared, Hopie(14) Front: Nessa(11), Julie holding N(3), Princess G(5), Zayah(7)

Candy, our dog

In Comparison

2010-09-10T07:34:00.004-05:00

I came accross these two pictures filed away on our computer and I couldn't help but notice how they compared together. I thought this was so cute that I had to share! "Like Father, Like Son" Don't you think?

You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes. ~Walter M. Schirra, Sr.

On a Sunday Walk Part 2

2010-09-05T15:11:00.003-05:00

Stopping to smell the flowers...

Our Beautiful, Beautiful Boy

Cowboy

All Three Brothers

On a Sunday Walk

2010-09-05T15:09:00.003-05:00

Big brother Cowboy and Little Brother Zayah - Buddies Forever

Training in the Kitchen

2010-08-31T16:35:00.000-05:00

Jared likes to train his kids in the kitchen at an early age. There's a job for everyone! Zayah is cutting green onions, Gracie uses the chopper to get the ginger minced, Noah is on garbage detail, Nessa peels garlic, Brig zests an orange. Fresh veggies, soy sauce, sesame seeds, won tons...can you tell it's homemade Chinese night? Yummy!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

First Day of Middle School

2010-08-29T17:49:00.000-05:00

Here's a photo of Brig & Nessa on the first day of Middle School. They look sharp! They are happy they survived their first week even. Reminds me of the opening lines of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." It amazes me how much growing up they do during these formidable years. I wish them success!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

First Year

2010-08-27T10:18:00.000-05:00

My Gracie girl is in her very first year of school - Kindergarten. Wow! She is growing up and she is such a happy girl! I miss her during the day just like she told me on her first day "Mom, I like school but I really miss being around you in the day." So heart-melting!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Back to School

2010-08-27T10:07:00.000-05:00

Here's Zayah - can you believe he's in 2nd grade now?! Such a cutie!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

2010 Summer Wrap-Up

2010-08-26T08:13:00.008-05:00

We enjoyed a full summer with many activities together like tubing, kayaking, and going to the park and the Zoo! Here's a few of our favorite summer memories in photos:

These are at the San Antonio Zoo. Vanessa is in the Aviary where the bird drank nector from her cup. Gracie loves to sit on this statue of the baby elephant. We were so thrilled to learn that our Zoo now has a new friend elephant for the elephant that has been so lonely for a while. The new elephant was rescued from a circus. It is 58 years old. Having a Zoo pass this year has helped us to go more often and learn so much more about the animals.

These next few photo's are from the Boerne City Lake. Be sure to read a real neat story below about Brigham and Vanessa from one of their trips to the Lake with their dad. He texted me about it and I thought I would include his texts here:

Brigham and Vanessa performed a real life open water rescue moments ago. A homeade boat with two occupants sank. Brig and Nessa were running a bait out in the kayak when they heard cries for help. Both had lifejackets but they had become completely exhausted swimming against a stiff breeze. Using a tow rope, Brig and Nessa dragged the boat and occupants to shore. Everyone is okay. Brig says his shoulders will be sore tomorrow dragging a swamped boat and a large 50-something year old and his companion was no joke. Good memories. When I asked Nessa, if she was scared she said "A little but we could tell that they really needed help."

This is a great view of the Lake. One reason we went to this lake so much is that it was the lake that Jared and Brigham swam in for the GatorBait Triathlon that in August they participated in it together this year. It was a 500m swim which is about the length of 5 football fields. They biked 14 miles and then ran 4 miles. Jared felt like he really came to appreciate and know more about his son. Brigham loved getting to spend time with his dad. It was very enjoyable for both of them and woth the hard work. They trained hard for only about 3 weeks beforehand because they didn't hear about it earlier. It is quite an accomplishment for both of them. It is amazing to note that Brigham used to be quite afraid of swimming and water when he was a toddler but he has really overcome it! They are looking forward to training together for next year and improving their times. This first photo is one of their ranger training times at the lake and the next photo is the one where they slowly but steadily finished the race together. Would anyone like to come and join them next year in the Triathlon? I'm sure Jared would love to talk to you about that. (hint, hint:)

Way to go #245 and 246!

Noah's accomplishment this summer is becoming potty-trained! Vanessa took the time, care and patience to help train him. It worked and it really is super cool. He's been doing great!

Another neat thing that happened for Hope is that she was able to visit my sister, Bonnie in Arlington, VA for 2 1/2 weeks and see a lot of Washington D.C. Most amazingly, Hope earned all of her own money for the trip! She took over 300 pictures but she hasn't uploaded them yet so we'll have to put some up later. Needless to say, she had a blast!

Overall, it has been an amazing summer for us! I apologize that I'm forgetting a lot that I could mention. Although we are back to school now, it still feels like summer and it will until the end of October. So, we're still planning fun activities on weekends when Jared isn't working! :D

*What was your favorite summer memory this year?

The Cowboy Grills

2010-08-16T00:07:00.002-05:00

What Brig grilled & made for us for dinner one night all by himself. He's growing up!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

icbday.jpg

2010-08-15T23:28:00.001-05:00

Zayah is on top of world spending the day with his big brother & his dad for his birthday. So fun!
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

California Jared

2010-07-29T21:46:00.004-05:00

This will be a double post for the Carter's (I apologize - you can stop reading now;) but I thought my family & friends might enjoy hearing about what I wrote up about Jared's latest 'vacay' to California. ;D
No, seriously Jared spent the whole month of June at Ft. Hunter Liget for Army Reserve Training. It was educational and he enjoyed the little break from his normal routine. These are the pics that I have from his trip. Enjoy!

Jared shaves his head for the occasion - Whoa!

He finds a super duper large pinecone - very cool! I love this pic of him too.

Of course, a picture of one of his meals he really liked - Chinese. He explained to me that it was special because it was the first real meal (cooked by an actual cook) that he had eaten after only MRE's and soldier chow type food in the field for the month. It looks good to me too!

I hope to add more pics from him later.

Wildflower Season

2010-04-02T16:22:00.007-05:00

*3 beautiful people

*sisters forever

*bluebonnets forever

*old church

*hot pinks and brilliant blues

*interesting, gray cow

*Ebenezer cemetary
*wildflowers that look like roses

Wildflower season is in full swing here in Texas! It is absolutely breathtaking and gorgeous this year since we have had so much long awaited rain during the winter months. Jared has been exploring the TX wildflowers both on his own and with his family taking photos along the way. He took the photos I've posted here. It doesn't last long so you have to pay attention to when the flowers are blooming and then make time to go and look at the beautiful flowers while they're out. In the last weekend in March, our family took a drive out into the countryside to Cheapside, TX. A town that has about two families that live there. It has a quaint church, a graveyard called Ebenezer and a few old homesteads with an old schoolhouse/banquet hall. It was a pretty place and we enjoyed driving out there to see it. Jared even talked to one of the residents who came to check on the church building so that's how we know a little more about it than what's online. On the internet, it is listed as one of the 120 ghost towns of TX. We may consider driving out to a few more ghost towns during wildflower season again in the future. It was a very peaceful experience and free for the most part except for the gas, of course.

Best photos of '09 Part:2

2010-02-04T21:01:00.003-06:00

Best photos of '09!

2010-02-04T20:36:00.006-06:00

Reports from Around the World

2010-02-04T14:32:00.002-06:00

Thursday January 28th was a multicultural event at our Elementry school. Nessa did her project on Denmark.(I'll get to Zayah later.) She wore a red dress, her food sample was cheese bread. Denmark's colors are white and red. Nessa did a contributer on Hans Christian Andersen.

Zayah did a project on Sweden. He decided to not wear a costume. His food sample was Kladdkaka. (Swedish chocolate cake) His contributer was John Bauer. The Swedish colors are blue and yellow.

Christmas Family Photo 2009

2010-01-25T09:51:00.006-06:00

In early December of 2009, we went to the San Jose Mission as a family and had a photo shoot. Our photographer and friend, Cary Covington, did a really wonderful job! It was overcast, only a bit chilly, and overall a beautiful day for taking photo's. I love the architecture of San Jose. It was a nice day.
Jared chose one of the photo's and put together this Christmas card using Costco Photo . I made a little insert for each envelope because I like to personalize things. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get out all of my Christmas cards this year so I apologize if you didn't get one. Although, I started earlier this year thinking about Christmas cards and helping others to make them, I failed to update my address list and address each card earlier. This seems to get the best of me, the addressing part and getting them actually sent. I'll see if I can do better next year.

As you can plainly see, our children are growing up fast. In this photo from L-R: Cowboy-12, Gracie-4, Julie, Nessa-10, Jared, Noah-2, Hopie-13 and Zayah-6.

Family Flashback

2009-07-29T09:12:00.004-05:00

Here is an e-mail from Jared that shows a bit of what our family was up to in August of 2005. It was printed in the Carter Chronicle of that same month. I thought it would be fun to type some of these up in order to keep this blog moving along and then to archive these simple moments of our life.

Hello Family - 2nd Lieutenant Carter here reporting from Iraq. It saddens me to say it but it seems that my good roommate 1st Lieutenant Nall will be going home for back surgery. He has tried to stick it out and come home with the rest of us but he really got to the point where there was no choice. It will be a change not having him here all the time but He really needs to get this done and get on the road to recovery.
Things in the ER are fine. As the Iraqi army becomes more proficient and independent they are seen more here – and US GI’s are seen less and less. We are careful to provide the Iraqi soldiers with the same care as our soldiers get. They understand this and appreciate it. A few days ago one of the Iraqi generals visited our ER and presented the ER staff with a plaque of appreciation. It is encouraging to see the progress the Iraqi army is making in becoming autonomous. They are brave men – our soldiers run patrols relatively secure inside a 22 ton Stryker with a mounted automatic 50 caliber – They run the same patrols with only hand held weapons, sitting in the open beds of Toyota pick-up trucks.
Julie and the children are managing without me. Julie is adjusting to the change of being a semi-single mother of 5. She is doing an outstanding job. Here is a clip from an e-mail I receives from her on July 24th – I apologize to those who have already received it.

I know the kids really miss you and enjoy being with you. The kids little chicken, Darlin, died today. Apparently, the chicken was attacked by a neighbor's cat in the backyard while Mollie (Julie’s Sister) was cleaning their cages. It appeared somewhat hurt but not severely yet must have sustained internal injuries because it died. Sam (Julie’s Brother) arranged a little funeral for it and had our children come. We buried it in my dad's garden in the backyard. We sang Old’ McDonald had a Farm, Vanessa and Brigham said the opening and closing prayers and we had thoughts about the short life of the chicken. Vanessa had taken it the hardest and it’s been an emotional day for her. She was so sad that you were only able to see the chicken one time. But later she asked if we could eat the chicken but we can't because it was way too small. I helped Brigham and Vanessa make rice crispy treats and we had them at the funeral luncheon they were saying - it's rice crispy casserole.

I have shared this little story with a few of my friends here – it has been universally appreciated. I love you all very much - Jared

*Image from here. The "Chicken Whisperer" who keeps a regular column about living in Milton, Georgia.

June and First Half of July

2009-07-25T20:24:00.008-05:00

In Memory of our Van -
Here are some of the cutest and best pictures I could dig up that had our family's van in it, except for Zayah and the cat, I think that is my brother's car, but it was to cute to delete:

Just as I had caught up this blog, my computer crashed again so I had to wait to see when I could get it to come back up thanks to great friends with computer knowledge. It is doing alright for now. I don't have many new photo's on my computer yet because that is still down but I'll catch you up on our lives as best as I can anyway. For the most part, family life is still eventful and we're living life to the fullest!

First half of June '09

Julie's P.O.V:
School's out! It's amazing that we've made it through again. Our summer is filling up with church activities and summer learning, church camps and volunteer work as well. It's going to be fun!
Jared has worked very hard and has done extremely well getting a 4.0 with his semester of prerequisites for dental school. He's planning on doing some condensed classes this summer and then he'll finish up in the fall then next year - just in time to enter dental school in Jan. 2011. He's enjoying his classes although he's very busy and working full time to support all of us. We appreciate this very much!
I (Julie) took a trip to Utah for my brother, Mike's wedding on June 25th. I took Noah with me. The wedding was absolutely beautiful! I loved it! They seem so happy and the SLC temple is so gorgeous! I'm so blessed to have gone to their wedding!
Hopie has done so well in school and really deserves a summer break. She also received straight A's like her dad this year. She is doing excellent!
Brig has really improved in school and received a commendable report on his big 5th grade Science exam. It was his first time ever doing so well. I treated him out for ice cream with his sister Vanessa! He's also achieved his Tenderfoot in scouting.
Nessa has also received straight A's and two commendable's on her big 4th grade exam. It made her day to go out for ice cream with her buddy, Brigham. She also ran for treasurer for 5th grade student council. Even though she didn't win, her poster looked amazing as it was decorated in a beach scene complete with real sand glued on, a painted blue ocean and her bilboards said "Vanessa Carter for Treasurer" and "I would do an awesome job. Vote for me because I'm the money honey!" It has been a source of excitement for her.
Zayah is simply glad to be getting done with Kindergarten. He did a very good job overall this year. And according to his dad who went to the dance festival at school dancing to "Twist and Shout!" He was so cute all decked out in '60's attire.
Gracie finished up Joy School with an activity day at the park. We did crafts, an obstacle course, danced the chicken dance and had lunch together. Those kids in her class are just so cute and such nice friends for her. She really loves them. The other day after we ate lunch, Gracie said the cutest thing to me; "Mommy, I just love food!" I'm so grateful for her sweet attitude.
Noah is growing curiouser and curiouser. He loves to get into all sorts of things and has discovered a foolproof way to get out in to our backyard at any time he likes, yes, right through the doggie door. He has that really light blonde hair now and he smiles so wide all the time. He looks so much like his Carter cousins! So cute!
Jared's P.O.V:
Just a few quick notes about our sub-clan. Julie spent a week in Utah for her brother’s wedding - took Noah and at a hair cut, donated 10 inches of her hair to locks-of-love.
Jared spent two days deep-sea fishing and was promoted to captain in the US Army.
Hopie had a wonderous time at girls camp and has established herself as the premiere
babysitter in the High Country Ward. Brig attended 11 year-old Scout Camp -
earned Tenderfoot and is well into 1st Class. Nessa spent most of her mother’s week long absence at friends houses - a chain of sleep-overs - she is a friend magnet. Zayah and Gracie have been dinosaur crazy lately - lots of dinomagination play. Noah was a great traveler on the plane ride to and from Utah - He was considerate enough to wait until he returned to San Antonio and passengers were deboarding before he projectile vomited - such a thoughtful child.

Second Half of June

Around the second week of June, I was driving four of my children, Nessa, Gracie, Noah, and Zayah to go swimming and then CRASH! I totalled our van. It's been difficult but I'm so grateful that we are okay plus the other driver, as far as I'm aware, was alright as well. Both of our cars were towed from the scene and it was scary but we survived. We've been looking for another van but that's not going to happen as fast as I'd like either. Patience....
It feels at times that this has stressed out our summer but we are hanging in there due to nice friends inviting my kids out to go play and giving my two older girls rides to dance. I have really appreciated it! Plus a BIG thanks to my dear cousin, Jen letting my borrow their van when they came back from their family trip to Ut. So overall, we've been salvaging our summer quite nicely I think although my children might feel differently depending upon the day but school will start again in about 5 weeks and then summer will be a memory.
I found some pictures of our van during camping and different outings that we had to post in memory of it as seen above.

First Half of July

We had a really great time celebrating the 4th of July and Jared had it off for once. We had a BBQ of sausage and chicken legs. Always a yummy choice! We had anticipated trying to go & see some fireworks somewhere but as the day ended we were too tired and stayed home instead.

We were able to celebrate Gracie's 4th and Zayah's 6th birthday together. It was fun and Jared made them a GiGaNto cake! It was way too much for all of us to ever eat so we invited some friends, of course. Plus, who could turn down the happiness recieved by a kite and some candy. It was appreciated in their smiles!

Other than that we've just been busy as families are. I'll do what I can to post more news and photo's as I can. Love ya!

Last Half of May

2009-05-31T20:28:00.006-05:00

May 13th

Art Show

Our school district had an Art Show and both Hopie and Nessa's Art was chosen to be displayed in it. We left right as they arrived home from school since Wednesday's are such a busy night for us. We had a great time looking for their school's display and their art projects. Hopie had two on display this year and Nessa had one. They did so well on them and I think they are very interesting. For Nessa, it was her first Art show and she has continuously tried each year. She was very excited! Hopie said she was glad to be in the Art show again this year. She only wanted me to post the picture for her favorite entry.
I was happy for them and I know they both worked so hard.

Hopie with her 3-D pencil art drawing and a close-up.

Vanessa with her art project which was an ancient mask using glue, mesh paper and paint.

May 16th
Share Art

We had a very unique and special experience with Hopie as she was invited to a reception for a city-wide Art show. Unfortunately, we had a technical difficulties with our camera so we lost the photo's we took that day. We're planning another trip to take some more pictures of it. I'll post when we get them. In the city-wide art contest, where only 100 students' art was chosen, Hopie's drawing is permanently displayed in the Family Justice Center downtown. So, I felt this was noteworthy and had mention it. She did a Sharpie and tempera paint abstract. It looked amazing! It is a really cool program called S.h.a.r.e - Students help art reach everyone. You can see some amazing art here and you may find Hopie's too. She's in the 2009 gallery. It has been an incredible experience for her.

May 23rd
In Remembrance

Brig went with his scout troop and put flags on all of the graves of the soldiers in the cemetary. He did a good job and felt good about being involved in this service project.

May 25th
Memorial Day

Jared was actually off for Memorial Day this year. So, he planned a very fun day with the children. First, he took our oldest four children tubing in the river. I stayed home with the littlest ones. They woke up at 6 a.m. to arrive early at the river and avoid the crowds. The plan worked and they avoided the crowds. It was super fun for them! This is what happened to the camera, incidentally, it fell in the river. Jared is already planning to buy another one for his birthday coming up.
Later, we had a barbeque and Jared set up a super water slide in our backyard. Good food and getting super wet - what more could you ask for out of Memorial Day? The kids loved it!

May 26th
Healthy Boy!

Noah had his eighteen month well-child check up today. He is growing so much! He weighed 22 1/2 lbs. and is 31 inches tall now. He has really light blonde hair now and he smiles so wide all the time. He did a really great job getting his shots and was very brave.

May 29th
Dance Festival

Isaiah did a very good job, according to his dad who went, in the dance festival at school today dancing to "Twist and Shout!" He was so cute all decked out in '60's attire.
Nessa's class did their dance to the song called "The Eye of the Tiger" and she wore an orange shirt and black capri's. They had made tiger eyes in class that they wore too.
Brig's class danced to "Beat it" by Michael Jackson. His class wore royal blue colors.

May 31st
Our Favorite Meal

Jared made us a really great Sunday dinner today. He made pasta with fresh tomato, basil, and Parmesan cheese mixed in. The flavor was fresh and appealing. Jared's garden is growing very well. It looks good and has sprouted up.
For dessert, Jared made chocolate lava cakes. He decked them out to look really pretty with fresh strawberries, blackberries and cherries.
The other day after we ate lunch, Gracie said the cutest thing to me; "Mommy, I just love food!" Funny thing is I think we all do and it is showing itself through this blog.

Overall

May has been wonderfully busy and the school children are anxious for summer break. They've worked so hard this year and deserve it! I can't wait to start summer activities with them and summer reading too! So much to look forward to!

First half of May

2009-05-12T08:49:00.011-05:00

May 1st

I was able to find a babysitter for Noah and Gracie so that I could go on the Kindergarten field trip with Zayah. It turned out to be a very warm sunny day. The field trip had been rescheduled because the first time it was scheduled in April it had been rained out. I had a group of three boys with one being Zayah. I had a really good time as I took the boys around the Zoo. I made sure to go to all of the exhibits that I thought boys would love like the jaguar, leopards, monkeys, lions, etc.. One of the boys didn't like the snakes and so we bypassed that one. We actually heard the lion roar, saw the elephant do a little show, and Zayah noticed a new family of baby ducks.:) This was the first time I've heard the lion or see the elephant actually working with his trainer picking up tires, a tree trunk, laying down etc... I learned the elephant at our Zoo is Asian so he has a one lobe that is like fingertip at the end of his trunk. African elephants have more than one lobe that acts as fingers. Elephants don't drink through their trunk instead they use it to draw the liquid into their mouths. They eat and drink a lot during one day like about 300 pounds of forage a day, and up to 50 gallons of water. Learning this, as the Zookeepers were telling us, was fascinating to me but we had to move on because the boys are only five and their attention span was weakening. Cool, anyway. We ate lunch together in front of the Africa Live exhibit and it was fun! Seeing Zayah's bright smile all day was worth the trip!

Mother's Day, May 10th

My day started out fabulously because my children woke up early and made a yummy breakfast of my favorites: waffles, sausage, scrambled eggs, yogurt, chocolate milk and a smoothie! Jared had to work and so I know that he wasn't able to help them actually cook it. He did help then by getting what they needed at the store the day before. I was quite surprised and it tasted so good.
They each presented me with cute homemade cards and coupons for me to redeem to do little chores and things around the house. I loved them and I'm posting a picture of a group of all the cards. They wrote wonderful stories and poems on them for me! I've definitely been filled with love and I'm super grateful for having such tenderhearted, wonderfully talented children!
Later that evening, Jared came through in a big way to surprise me for Mother's Day. He made homemade hamburgers, fries and grilled corn on the cob. It was the most mouth-watering meal and delicious! There was no way I could finish eating all of it. We had so much fun having a family dinner that I couldn't have dreamt of a nicer gift than that! Very enjoyable!

Jared also gave me a big beautiful bunch of flowers. So pretty!

Nessa and Hopie helped a lot with Noah today as well so that I could have a little break. It didn't go over as well for Noah because he just wanted his Mommy which made for a cute photo! Thanks to all of my children and my dear husband for all the wonderful things you did for me today. I felt loved. It was a Happy Mother's Day for me!

I hope it was a special day for all women everywhere!

April '09 Finally catching Up!

2009-04-29T23:02:00.005-05:00

Jared is finishing up his Spring semester in school and enjoying it tremendously. He actually helped me write this post as well.
Julie is busy writing poetry and scrapbooking fun pages and layouts lately. She was successful teaching the activity day girls in her ward about scrapbooking. They made a layout for their mom's for Mother's Day. It turned out fun and memorable for each of the girls.
Hopie continues to do brilliant things in the 7th grade. She recently completed a fabulous report on Cyclopes. Her parents are pleased to report that she is of such a character, that their fears about raising teenagers remain unrealized. She is a sweetheart and a pleasure to have in our home. She's also discovered that she has a flair for art and photography. She is one of the one hundred featured artists in the upcoming middle school art show known as SHARE. We'll post more about it in May when we attend the reception and the unveiling of her art project she entered!
Brig is eager to get started in 6th grade next year. He met with the band director who spent several minutes with him fitting him for different instruments. The director felt, and Cowboy agrees, that the trombone will be an excellent fit! He is pictured here with his Science Project on planets. He used glow-in-the-dark paint and now enjoys it hanging in his room. As an 11 year old scout he is excited to be attending Merit Badge University at a local university in the coming week.
Nessa recently performed in the ward talent show doing a dance routine with several of the girls that she attends activity days with. It was a delightful experience for both the dancers and observers. Nessa did a great job - Really cute! She has completed several projects in school, one being a replica of the Alamo complete with cleverly made toothpick people, and has been noticed for her hard work. Her Alamo project stayed on display at the school library for an entire month. Zayah made a comment to her about how his class saw it. It really turned out great!
Zayah is doing a fabulous job in Kindergarten. He clearly favors the use of his left hand and is the first of our children to have legible handwriting at the age of 5. Lefties Unite !!!!!!!!
Gracie adores her trips to the library with her mother. Each evening she haggles with Daddy about how many books they will read before bed. She usually starts with three books. When he is lucky, he can talk her down to two.
Noah, in contrast to his older brothers (at the same age), is quite fearless where climbing is concerned. Top of the piano - fall - counter top - fall - table top - fall - he remains undaunted and unharmed. He's little Mr. Boogie pants and begins bobbing up and down any time he encounters a catchy tune - If there is a beat, he'll dance. His three sisters think he's the cheese.

March '09 - Highlights of Spring Break

2009-04-29T22:23:00.006-05:00

We have been busy, as usual! Our children enjoyed Spring Break, March 9-13, which was earlier this year. We had so much fun and Jared was able to have a couple of days off to spend time with all of us.
First, he built our boys a triple bunk bed and it really it quite ingenious as it can store cans of food at the bottom as well. Cowboy & Hopie helped make it. Our boys are loving it!
Second, We enjoyed a family hike at Enchanted Rock!
It was a gorgeous day and not too hot at all. It was rainy the next few days of the week but we still enjoyed a day at the Zoo! The butterfly exhibit here is so amazing - the butterfly's will land on you if you hold real still. You can barely feel them at all! We just love going to the Zoo! Last but not least, we enjoyed a picnic at the park of hot dogs, grapes and chips. We had the best Spring Break ever!

Other March highlights include:
Hopie planned a birthday party for her dog, Candy, who is three years old. I'm amazed that she's lasted so long in our crazy life. Hopie feels Candy is a Princess and is still taking pretty good care of her which was always part of the deal in getting a dog anyway. The party turned out really fun and I think the dog was spoiled with bones and doggie treats. I bet she loved it!
Cowboy just received his Scout award and is doing his best in school.
Nessa is very clever at writing and her teachers have noticed. She has been working very hard on a report about Rome and has taught me things that I didn't know about that civilization which turned out very well. I think she is a hard working student at school and it shows in her grades!
Zayah continues to make me laugh every day and he is learning to write sentences in school. His favorite subject to write about is me, as his mom - Imagine that...it sure helps me remember about what I most likely thought about my mom in Kindergarten as well.
Gracie loves to have books read to her and will listen to anyone who will read to her. She loves Joy school and her friends. She misses her Daddy when he is away and often stays up until he comes home from work each night. It's so cute to see her give him the biggest hug she can when he gets home.
Noah is walking!! I am absolutely thrilled with all that he can do now! It is a "Watch out world - Here I come" time for him right now! I found an old picture of his cousin, Winsor when he was about the same age as Noah is right now and I was amazed at the resemblance which I pointed out to Jared and he thought so too. It was really incredible to see! If I can figure out how to work the scanner, I'll scan the picture in along with one of Noah and you can see for yourself. I'll most likely put in a current post. I'll let you know when I do.

February '09

2009-04-16T23:22:00.007-05:00

Kindergarten Fairy Tale Ball
02/13/09
Isaiah's class dressed up as their favorite fairy tale characters and had a Fairy Tale Ball. Isaiah wanted to be Prince Charming and I think he accomplished just that. Jared was able to attend and he said that Isaiah was a perfect gentleman at the ball and was so cute! Too bad, I wasn't able to talk him into being Mr. Darcy.

Oh, but Mom, I don't know who Mr. Darcy is?

I'll admit I'm completely biased, but isn't he charming, though?

Our Butterfly Girl's Birthday

Nessa turned 10! She's in double digits now! She was very excited about that, I think.
Jared made her favorite dinner and cake. I made her birthday card and made sure to buy her presents. Incidentally, she loved her book and 3-D puzzle! Her birthday party was a wonderful time for all! She shares so much happiness with us! I love to see her smile! :)

Valentine's Day

Jared made the morning something special with his gourmet breakfast. He made crepes filled with raspberries, cream and chocolate, of course! It was amazingly yummy! Not only did he make breakfast in bed for me but for all three of our girls as well! They were so surprised and never saw that coming! Each girl received a valentine card, (which had been signed by all the boys in the family), flower arrangement and a stuffed animal as well. So darling!
Brigham and Isaiah helped with the preparations too. What a loving memory for all of us!

The Diary of a Teenage Birthday

Wow, Can you believe that? Hopie is 13! A teen! It's Amazing! We are so happy to have her in our family and we love her! She is so helpful and kind to her brothers and sisters.
I think it's the cutest when Gracie and Noah give her hugs! My heart melts a million times over!
Hopie is becoming a beautiful young lady, a talented artist and photographer as well! I'm putting up a photo that she took of Brigham that I think you'll see that she has an incredible eye for taking photo's!

A Family Project: Laying Tile

2009-04-16T22:20:00.005-05:00

I've been feeling a loss of what to put up on this blog since Jan. I'm sorry if you've given up on following it and I understand. It's meant to share a little bit about our family. So, I'll see if I can continue to do just that. How about some stories, projects, pictures, facts, etc... Hopefully, it will be enjoyable for all.

Laying Tile:

I have meant to post about Jared's idea for laying tile in our main living area for some time now. We did get this finished in time for Nathan's arrival at Thanksgiving time but I never posted the photo's about the process it took for all of us to pitch and help getting this tiling project done.
In actuality, it was a challenging ordeal to tile our floor but we lived through it! I've been getting used to the tile again and it is looking nice still. In the end, I can say now I think I'm enjoying the result.
But tiling is no joke! It is hard work. I kept telling my children when they became tired of helping: "This is why you need to stay in school, go to college and graduate, so that you don't have to do this type of a job all the time." (Unless you want to, I suppose.) Overall, my children were all amazing helpers and even better than me. Do I want to admit that? ;)
Now, I do realize that some people may really love this type of job. I have nothing against them at all - more power and brute strength to you. For me, I really struggled sticking with it and I found myself frustrated. The not-so-nice truth about myself is that I was giving in to periods of laziness. I found out with tiling, you can't do that. You have to stick with it until it's over or it just becomes a lot harder. Digging and scraping up a mistake was not so great.
Jared also had an amazing idea to create a mosaic. It's a true north, celestial theme. He came up with the design and all of us in one way or another contributed in finishing it. It's funny because I found it interesting to figure out how the pieces would fit together to create the mosaic. Quite like doing a puzzle.
Each year for New Year's Eve my mom would put a puzzle together & if we wanted to stay up and watch the big crystal ball drop in NYC, which I always wanted to, then we could help her with the puzzle. We put together some big and interesting ones over the years as I grew up.
The amazing thing about this project is that we worked together as a family and we finished it in time for Nathan! Now, that's a great feeling. Accomplishment!

Hope you like the photo's of the final mosaic from three different angles and one close-up:

Best Photos of '08

2009-01-06T22:52:00.006-06:00

Here are a few of my favorite photos of our family in 2008. I hope you like them.

Holidays

2009-01-02T11:02:00.004-06:00

Jared put Christmas lights on our house which was spectacular! It was not an easy task, though, as the day he put them up it was windy. He was on the very top of the roof and the ladder blew down, luckily, it didn't hurt anyone. It landed with a thud and I ran out to investigate. He was trapped up there for about a half hour until Brigham came home from school to help me lift the heavy ladder back up to Jared. I can't believe we managed to save Jared off the roof. I already miss having the lights on the house because Jared's already taken them down. I'm so thankful for that though because I would hate to have them still up late into the year. Already, I'm looking forward to seeing them again next year. Great job, Jared!
Our holidays have truly been wonderful. Most of all, we've enjoyed our health and happiness. For our Christmas Eve program, we talked about the true meaning behind giving gifts. We watched "Mr. Krueger's Christmas" and "The Nativity."
The funniest thing about our Christmas Eve program was when Jared asked Gracie:
"Who told the shepherds that Baby Jesus was born?"
Gracie enthusiastically replied: "THE GIANTS!"
Also, we did something new this year as we attended a Midnight Mass at a nearby Catholic Church. We left the littlest ones at home with Hopie and four of us, Jared, Julie, Brig, & Nessa, went to Mass. We hadn't ever been and it was a unique experience for us. The music was so lovely and it turned out very nice.
We hosted a New Year's Eve party at our house this year. We had so much fun! Jared BBQ'd chicken and ribs. We had rosemary mashed potatoes, "not-your-mothers" green beans, and quesadillas. Our drink was a cranberry creation by Jared and he also served a decadent chocolate dessert.
The highlight of our evening was Jared's industrial strength homemade pinata. We all had fun taking turns hitting the pinata. I'm very grateful that the broken stick that came about from this process didn't hit anyone in the eye. I think that was because we were all being safety conscious as Jared had some strict guidelines for everyone to take turns and stand back. Thanks for that, Jared. We had so much fun even though our candy was smashed into little powdery bits because we just couldn't break that pinata open. We ended up using the tear it apart method in the end.
New Year's Day was fun as we played games like LIFE and LIFE on the FARM (thanks to Aaron and Cami sending it to us!). In LIFE, we learned that earning money would get you ahead in that game while in LIFE on the FARM, owning cattle was the most important in order to have a chance to earn any money. When we play it again, we won't be afraid to use all our money at the beginning of the game to buy cattle so we then will have better chances. We're looking forward to another family game night!

Hamburgers - an All-American tradition

2008-12-27T11:51:00.004-06:00

Hopie shared this link with me from the Discovery Channel. I thought it was pretty interesting to watch so I thought I'd share it with you. Now, granted it is basically a commercial for Burger King but at the same time it is so unique because BK sent people to travel all around the world to find people who had never tasted a hamburger before. It's really fun, I liked the personalities of the people and my children have liked watching it. Homemade hamburgers will always remain my favorite to eat though!

You may have to copy and paste to get this link to work:

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/from-our-sponsor-taste-test.html

Thanksgiving

2008-12-14T23:07:00.005-06:00

Christmas is nearly here and so I better tell you a little of how our Happy Thanksgiving went. It was so great to have Nathan join us this year! We really had a great time.

Our food was wonderful and untraditional. No turkey here, instead we had meat that was made on the BBQ like steak and sausages. We also had homemade cranberry sauce, stuffed celery, green beans and Nathan made his wonderful butternut squash and potatoes.

We also spent a day at the beach in Corpus Christi. One day just isn't long enough. We'll need to spend more than just one day next time, for sure. It was my first time going to the Gulf Coast and I didn't know what to expect but we had a really nice time. Noah and Gracie did just fine also.

I hope you enjoy the photos!

The Quilts of N.E.C. Part 2

2008-09-23T22:21:00.003-05:00

I wanted to showcase one of my most prized possessions today. It is the quilt that my brother-in-law, Nathan, made for me. I am still amazed every time I look at it. How bright and colorful it is which contrasts nicely with the black fabrics. Also, it has flamingo's in it which is my favorite!
I just love this quilt and I am so thrilled that Nathan took so much of his time to make it for me. I was also impressed with how he did his research and came to really know what I would love. It is simply fantastic how well the quilt turned out. I am in awe of how well he actually knew that I would love bright tropical colors and flamingo's. At the time he presented me with the quilt, I don't think many people really paid attention to that detail about myself but somehow Nathan did.
Thanks, Nathan, for my amazing, fantastic, wonderful, I can't say enough to express how much I really love it, quilt!
Just a cute notation from my day, Gracie was so cute because she was trying to say "flamingo" and it came out in her sweet, precious voice: "Mommy likes fing-go-goes!"

When Jared's not workin', he's cookin'!

2008-09-19T18:40:00.004-05:00

“Good painting is like good cooking: it can be tasted, but not explained”

Jared loves to cook! He has made some amazing dinners over the years. Here's one of his specialties - Spaghetti! He loves to eat it and make it. He likes to tell the story of how he could eat spaghetti every day and never grow tired of it because its one of his favorite meals.
Here he's making his special, yummy sauce and I love this tomato-based sauce. He cooks up some hamburger and then adds a can of Barilla or Classico plus another can of tomato sauce - a few more spices especially black pepper and wa-la ~ it's spaghetti sauce. He also made some beautiful herb with light garlic crescent rolls that were awesome!

Here's the link to the Crescent rolls recipe.

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Now playing: John Denver - Annie's Song
via FoxyTunes

Creme Brulee

2008-09-04T06:43:00.005-05:00

Creme Brulee is a very rich, dainty custard type dessert that you'll want to have only for special occasions.
Jared had us wake up before 7 a.m. on Tues. Sept. 2 and make creme brulee with him before he had to go to work. Jared, I, and Gracie helped make it. I think it turned out well for our first time. I still like cheesecake, or my all time favorite - a great cookie, better, I think. We did different variations like plain, orange and nutmeg, raspberries and dark chocolate, orange and dark chocolate. My favorite was the orange peel with dark chocolate while Jared liked the orange and nutmeg better. Overall, it turned out well and it was fun for something quite different to eat. It is definately a once in a while type dish.
Here is the link to the recipe we used: Creme Brulee at allrecipes.com

First week of school

2008-08-30T09:15:00.005-05:00

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

2008-08-23T16:16:00.006-05:00

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

2008-08-22T16:56:00.004-05:00

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?

2008-08-11T22:37:00.003-05:00

"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

2008-08-11T22:12:00.005-05:00

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

2008-08-09T12:50:00.004-05:00

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.

2008-08-07T12:24:00.006-05:00

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!

2008-08-05T20:13:00.004-05:00

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!

How Nessa made a tie-dyed shirt

2008-08-05T19:38:00.004-05:00

We made tie-dyed shirts at our family reunion.
Here's how Nessa did it with her cousin, Alesia.

First, you take a white shirt, pre-washed and dipped in a solution of Clorox bleach water. You swirl it, twirl and fold it a special way then wrapping rubber bands all around it to hold it together.

Second, you choose your favorite dye colors and squirt them within the rubber band realms to add color and design.

After you are done squirting, you package your t-shirt into a Wal-Mart sack and tie it up. Let it sit for 6 hours and then take it out. Rinse it in cold water and set it out to air dry. We did this outside in a kiddie swimming pool.

Here is a picture of the final result. They turned out really cool and with all the Carter cousins wearing them around the country you can blame us for bringing tie-dyed T-shirts back into style. Well, even if that doesn't quite happen, we really had a lot of fun making the shirts.

Ooooh Sooooo Good - Lemon Tarts

2008-08-03T21:42:00.005-05:00

We took a lot of photos during this process of making these mini lemon meringue pies that we've decided to call lemon tarts. Mainly because it's fun to say: "The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts."
I love to cook and my mother, Clara, taught me. It is something I really want to teach my children as well. So, we do these kind of cooking activities a lot. It's fun! My way of relaxing is to cook and I love to share my food with those I really care about. It's how I show my love to others. I enjoy it!
This first picture is of the lemons before we squeezed all the juice out of them.

Here's little Gracie ("peep, peep") helping me squeeze the lemons with the citrus juicer that mommy bought from Pampered Chef that I actually like.

Here's Cowboy helping to stir and stir then stir again the lemon sauce made from scratch.

Zayah and Gracie helping to cut out all of the pie crusts - also made from scratch.
Finally, its a picture of Zayah, holding the finished product with the meringue and everything.
By the way, these tarts were fabulously yummy!

Oh, the good ol' days...

2008-07-14T13:33:00.004-05:00

If you'd like, let's play a blog version of Remember When...

I think this will be fun! Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together or with my family. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

It was neat to see this on my friend, Becky's blog and I decided to play along. It was neat to get to know her a little better.

Summer Fun - Amusement Parks

2008-07-12T22:50:00.003-05:00

My children seem to forgetting a lot of fun things that we've done this summer already so I thought I would post some of the photos I've taken throughout the summer here.
In June, a friend of mine invited my children and I to go with her to a Six Flags amusement park. We've never been mostly because of how expensive it is and also because I'm more of a nature person along with my husband. She had a bunch of coupons and so we only had to pay for food and parking.
It was a really long day but a fun experience for my children but they stayed with me well and were very well-behaved. They have never really been on any rides and they were terrified to even ride most of them. They each did dare to ride one roller coaster, a few of the water rides, and a lot of the kiddie rides if they were allowed. Hopie and Brigi were already too big for a lot of those - growing up can be a bummer. They all decided that the wave pool was there favorite thing only it was a bit too crowded. We kind of turned into lobsters with sunburn and we tried to drink a lot of Powerade to keep cool.
Also, the whole day we only saw these characters of Wonder Women and Robin. We were able to get a quick picture of at least 3 of my kids with the characters. They had been on the lookout all day for more exciting characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and we just missed Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and Daphne.
Overall, we had a great experience, did alright amongst the crowds and we were extremely tired at the end of the day. Finally, we all agreed that overall we have had just as much fun at the Zoo or swimming together. As a mother, I'm happy about that.

More Zoo Fun

2008-07-11T09:31:00.006-05:00

Gracie as a butterfly.

Nessa as a butterfly.

Cowboy as a butterfly.

Tex as a butterfly.

Hopie as a butterfly feeding on a flower.

One of our favorite monkey's swinging around.

A butterfly landed on Cowboy for a really neat minute.

A large gorgeous butterfly spreads its wings.

My children were disappointed that I hadn't posted some other pictures that we've taken at the Zoo this summer so now I am. My parents came for a visit in June and we went into the Butterfly Exhibit with them so most of the photos were taken then. One is of a monkey which is one that we love to sit and watch when we're there. But they'll be fun for everyone to look at anyway.

Early Birds at the Zoo

2008-07-10T22:20:00.004-05:00

We decided to buy a Zoo pass this year but it has been so hot that we hadn't been going. Jared had an idea to get up really early in the morning and be at the Zoo at 7:30 a.m. when you can enter if you have a Zoo membership. With a little planning, we actually arrived at 7:33 a.m. and had the place pretty much to ourselves. The only thing we had to watch out for was the Zookeepers' trucks.
It was so fun! We had a blast and it was cooler and more enjoyable. We were able to see animals being fed and some were out that we hadn't seen before. By 9:00 - 10:00 a.m., we were ready to go home and we had a special treat of yogurt and doughnuts for breakfast.

School Awards

2008-06-08T18:12:00.005-05:00

Hope made it through her first year of Middle School. She did super great getting A's throughout the school year in her Pre-AP classes. She is one hard worker! We're so happy that she also enjoyed History Club and Art. Her talents are really developing. Great job!

Zayah finished up his Pre-K year with lots of fun at Splish Splash Day, having a PJ day & yummy treats for the End of the school year. He'll now move on to Kindergarten in the Fall. Wow, that's great!

I attended school awards programs for Nessa & Brigham. Luckily for me, they were scheduled on the same day right after each other. It was really neat and I managed to get one great picture of each child getting their award even though I was holding Noah. Amazing!

Here is Nessa, pictured with her 3rd grade teacher Ms. Oakes, receiving her awards. She received 4th/9 wks. A+B Honor Roll, A+B Honor Roll All Year, Citizenship Award (E) in conduct All Year and promotion to 4th grade. Magnificent job, Vanessa!

Here is Brigham, pictured with his 4th grade teacher Ms. Resendez, receiving his awards. He received 4th/9 wks. A+B Honor Roll, 4th/9 wks. Perfect Attendance, Citizenship Award (E) in conduct All Year and promotion to 5th grade. We're super excited for Brigham!

Kayaking the River

2008-06-08T17:54:00.004-05:00

Here are a few pictures of the latest kayaking trip that Jared took with Cowboy (Brigie) and Tex (Zayah). They get up early & travel to the San Marcos River. They love to go with their Dad & something they look forward to. I know they'll always remember it!

Cowboy said he handled a kayak all by himself for the first time. His dad said he did a really good job. Jared said he only tipped Cowboy once on purpose.

Our Little Sacajawea

2008-06-02T13:53:00.004-05:00

Nessa worked very hard on a report for school about Sacajawea. Her school had a Wax Museum theme to present the reports to parents and the students on Thurs. May 29th. Nessa had to dress up like her famous person. She memorized a bit about her and when someone would press her button than she gave the speech. She also worked on a report on a tri-fold poster board. It turned out very well and she did a great job!
Jared and I were able to attend with Gracie & Noah. Gracie liked the treats some of the 'famous people' gave out. There were a lot of Sacajawea's, Neil Armstrong's, Ruth Wakefield's, Dr. James Naismith's, Marion Donvan's and Jacques-Yves Cousteau's to name a few. It was a lot of fun!

A few more Zoo photos

2008-06-02T09:17:00.005-05:00

I wanted to add these photos as well to the blog. They are also from our trip to the Zoo. Time is flying by and Noah is 7 months old. Look at how much he's grown.

Gracie playing in the sand

Monkey in the cage

Tired Cheetah resting in the sun

Did You Know?

The name cheetah comes from an Indian word meaning "spotted one."
The young cub has a long gray-blue coat and a black underbelly that rapidly lightens and becomes spotted.
Early peoples trained cheetahs for hunting, and many civilizations depicted them in their art and in written records.
Cheetahs were so popular that Akbar the Great of India was said to have kept a stable of about 1,000.

~Quoted from www.awf.org American Wildlife Foundation.

At the Zoo

2008-06-02T07:11:00.009-05:00

We were able to go to the Zoo on the Fri. May 24th. It was a lot of fun! I enjoy learning about the different animals and observing what they do. I do feel bad to see them in cages and such though. I would never be able to travel the world to see all these animals in their natural habitats. For some of the animals the zoo is all they know. Here are some fun photos of us there. We had so much fun in the water and beach type set up they had there. Lots of fun in the sand. You can see why the Zoo is one of our favorite places!

Flamingo's Rock!

Beautiful Gracie

Gracie loves turtles even pretend ones.

An All-American Zayah boy!

Art Show

2008-05-25T20:08:00.002-05:00

Hope has done such a magnificent job in Art this year. I am really proud to report that she was a Featured Artist at her school's Art Show on May 14th. I was able to meet her Art teacher, Ms. Gabbard, when we attended and she praised Hope for working hard and vastly improving her talents. Hope drew the flamingo just for me as a Mother's Day present. I love it! I also love her self-portrait . It amazed me! Her landscapes are fun and have a folk feel to them. This really reminds me of my Grandma Rae, who is an artist and paints very similar to the way Hope did in the bottom left corner. You are such a creative artist, Hope!

Old photos

2008-04-24T12:45:00.005-05:00

Since I'm at a loss most days on what to write about, I thought that I would post some old photos once a week that I thought you'd enjoy of my children.

Memorial Day Race 2005

Hopie, Brigi, and Nessa entered the kids race for Memorial Day. They ran in honor of the Dad who was serving in Iraq that year. At the beginning of the race, I think they thought it would be fun. At the end, they were tired, wet & cold since it rained on them pretty good throughout the race. My dad, Roger and my brother, Mike also ran in the adult portion of the race. They are pictured in the group picture with two friends from Mike's work.
All of the children were given medals for finishing the race. Nessa didn't like that because she was tripped up at the beginning of the race and fell hard. I ended up walking her to the end of the race and she did finish with a little coaxing. They even gave a medal to little Zayah who was in the stroller. That was really cute! I can't believe I finished myself as I was 8 mo.'s pregnant with Gracie at the time. I had to pat myself on the back as well.
Great job, everyone!

I'm so tagged...

2008-04-23T15:18:00.003-05:00

Marcia and Amanda tagged me to tell you 7 things about myself. I posted it here if you'd care to read it. I also tagged a few of you as well. I hope you have fun reading it!

Just for a random thought, I liked it when Brooke White sang "You're so vain" in American Idol. So, here's a new version for you:

You're so tagged, I betcha think this tag is about you, don't you, don't you.

I'm so tagging you 'cause I want to know more about you, about you.

Have fun and let us know that you're so tagged, you're so tagged.

I want to know all about you, about you!

Ah well, I'll keep my day job. This is in honor of Brooke because I like her and I felt bad for her yesterday. One of her happier moments on idol when Simon says, "I absolutely loved it!"

Sunday Braids

2008-04-14T18:21:00.002-05:00

My girls have not always cooperated when I wanted to do their hair. They'd rather just have me leave their hair alone. So, when Gracie actually let me do her hair for church on Sunday I had to take advantage of the opportunity. Now, I'm not really a hairdresser or very practiced at doing hair but from a mom's point of view it's not too shabby. I think it turned out very cute!

Our little guy

2008-04-14T18:07:00.003-05:00

I took our little guy, Noah, to his well child check up today. He is 5 and a half months & he's really doing great! He's still a bit on the skinny side but nothing to worry about. He weighed in at 13 lbs. 2 oz. today. His length was 25.5 inches. He reminds me of when Hopie was a baby by how he looks. Lengthy and skinny but oh so cute. He's been a bit cranky because of his immunizations but I'm sure he'll feel better in few days. He's also started to eat rice cereal and he's pretty messy after eating it as you can plainly see. Look for yourself how much our little Nohna, as Gracie likes to call him, has grown up.

The best chocolate chip cookies ever!

2008-04-14T17:58:00.003-05:00

Around here, we love cookies. Zayah wanted to help me make some the other day. He did a good job and even stuck with it until we finished. He had an idea to make the best chocolate chip cookies ever! He thought that if they looked like snakes they would taste better. So, we rolled our chocolate chip cookie dough into snakes. To all of us, they tasted better because we had so much fun making them! Take a look for yourself - wouldn't you just love to eat a chocolate chip cookie snake?!

Piano, Anyone?

2008-04-14T17:09:00.002-05:00

I went to a garage sale on Sat. and bought some books, overpriced video's, & a house decoration. Little did I realize that the real prize awaited around the corner and it wouldn't cost me a thing.
I finished at the garage sale and started driving down the road when I spotted a piano out of the corner of my eye just sitting out on the curb amongst the brush collection. I couldn't believe it so I had to turn around. I parked right in front of piano and got out of the car to look at it. I played it a bit and it seemed out of tune, one key was nicked a bit but other than that it seemed alright. I knew had to rescue this piano from the depths of the brush collection. Nessa took a look at it & also and agreed that I had to talk to the owners of the house to see if I could have the piano.
I went right up and rang the doorbell of the house the piano was sitting in front of and I asked the lady who answered if I could have the piano. She told me that I could certainly have it for free! I was ecstatic and made a few phone calls to see if I could track down a truck and a few men to help me move to my house. Since the lady was in a hurry, she had me set a time to pick it up and had her husband move it back into their garage. This was very nice of her since I had seen four trucks drive by in the process of me talking to her. I knew it would disappear fast.
I made all of the necessary arrangements and went back at 5 p.m. to pick up the piano. The owner's were very nice and helpful throughout the whole process. She made sure her husband didn't forget to give the piano bench and then she threw a little desk that Nessa loves for homework. All for free! I couldn't believe it because it was like the piano just fell on my lap from the sky. Figuratively speaking, of course.
Hopie and Jared thought I was crazy all that day until now that they've seen the piano. Well, what do you think?

Flamingo Dance

2008-04-14T16:09:00.003-05:00

I found this today while I was looking around online. This is really fun and cute! Plus, you know how I love flamingo's. See what you think:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUb0evFZbNM&feature=related

Fact of the Day

2008-04-05T10:15:00.003-05:00

"The brain interprets the combination of receptors to recognize any one of about 10,000 different smells."
~http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/nose.html

Don't try this at home

2008-04-05T09:53:00.004-05:00

Our darling Gracie gave us a bit of a scare yesterday. She decided to play with some of her sister's beads and stuck one clear up her nose. Luckily, I noticed right away since she was close by me and I checked to see if I could help her out. I tried to remove the bead but to no avail. She was crying, calling out for Daddy and telling me it hurt. I knew that I would need to call Daddy for help. I called and he was able to take a break and come home to investigate.
Mustering all of his medical training, and with me blotting his sweat beaded forehead, he managed a successful extraction. Whew! Check out these pictures I took of the event:

Gone Fishing

2008-03-27T22:42:00.000-05:00

I just took three of my children and my dog fishing. We roasted coconut marshmallows. We had a hard time catching any fish this time. We went to a new beach named Packery Channel. Pretty cool! As always, it was the BEST time ever!

Intrigued by N.G. article

2008-03-21T14:38:00.000-05:00

On Weds., I took my children to the local library for a story time. We had such a fun time learning and reading about bunnies. They even had an Easter Egg hunt for the little ones. While we were there I noticed the National Geographic magazine on the shelf and I was intrigued with this article. If you have time to read it - go for it.
When I was young, my dad really enjoyed learning about the world around us and he had a subscription to National Geographic. I still remember reading about some of my favorite birds and science facts. I've never traveled outside of the U.S. except in the pages of this exceptional magazine. I'm always fascinated by what I may learn next and now they're online! It will be one of my favorite sites from now on.
This time I learned, in reading this article, that there is a reason to give animals our respect because they are exciting creatures. We are complex beings and so are they. I think you'll find that most amazing as well.

Dog fact of the day

2008-03-17T22:02:00.001-05:00

In honor of Candy - Here's a dog fact:

"Domestic dogs use a complex set of communication modes to navigate

their social environment.

Chemical cues, such as pheromones, communicate information on

reproductive status, social status, and mood.

Body language is heavily used and various vocalizations are used as well.

Social bonding and communication also occurs through touch."

~http://www.dogfacts.org/communication-and-perception.htm

Dog Park and Candy's B-day

2008-03-17T21:22:00.000-05:00

Two years ago, our family adopted a puppy on St. Patty's Day. So, now it is known as Candy's b-day. Our kids always want to celebrate it and have a b-day party for our dog and so today that is exactly what we did. It's our new tradition.
First, we took our family to the new dog park. It turned out to be a fairly pleasant experience and wore out the kids and the dog. Candy loved it, I'm sure as it was evident in her actions with the other dogs at the dog park. We also found out that the dog park is a great place to meet people. They want to talk to you about their dog so it's easy conversation.After that we went home and had a BBQ with some of our friends.For her Birthday present she got a gigantic bone and she loved it.

Instant Messaging

2008-03-16T22:46:00.000-05:00

Our little Zayah guy can be a handful of energy most of the time but he has one of neatest personalities that makes life fun. Here's a picture of him doing one of his most favorite things in the world and that is fishing. He also loved this shirt and when Mom would sing him "Fire Chief Dog." A silly song she made up.
Today, at dinner he made us all laugh really hard - one of the spit your drink out kind of laughs. Earlier, Nessa and Brigi were having fun instant messaging Uncle Sam. They were laughing and having a great time. When they came to the table for dinner, they were talking about how great it was to IM Uncle Sam. Zayah spoke right up and said: "You know I would really like to instant message a rabbit!" Of course, we couldn't contain our laughter and when that happens Zayah really starts to go to town and went on to talk about how great life would be if he could only IM a tiger or even an apple. It was one of those moments that you may not "get it" but we sure enjoyed it!
Another thing about Zayah that I was thinking about was one day Brigi announced that Zayah knew everything there was to know about penguins. We were wondering about that, after all he is only a little guy in Pre-K. One of Nessa's friends was here and didn't believe it either so she decided she would question him about penguins. She started asking questions about where penguins live, which one is the biggest, what do they eat and if they had feathers. The amazing thing is he knew the answers! We couldn't believe our ears and Zayah sure had fun making sure we knew all he knew about penguins.
In honor of this our fun fact today will be about penguins:
"Penguins don't live near freshwater -- at least none that isn't frozen. Instead they drink salt water. They have a special gland in their bodies that takes the salt out of the water they drink and pushes it out of grooves in their bill. A handy in-house filtration system!"

~from http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/penguins/facts4.htm

Penguins Rock!

2008-03-12T23:51:00.000-05:00

Educational Fun Fact of the Day:

"The total weight of all the termites in the world is greater than the weight of all humans in the world."

"A flea can jump up to eight inches high or 150 times its own height, if humans could do this they would jump over skyscrapers."
~Home Team Pest Defense letter sent to us.

Candy's B-day is soon

2008-03-12T23:38:00.001-05:00

Bad news and Good news.Will start with bad news we were going to have Candy's birthday at the beach during Spring Break but dad did some research and figured out that every school district in Texas had the same spring break which means everybody else is going to the beach.The good news is that we still will have her B-day party we just don't know what were going do.Any suggestions ?
Hopie
P.S.-Her b-day is Saint Pattys Day.

Hopie's Trip to NASA

2008-03-10T16:47:00.000-05:00

NASA NASA NASA
It's so awesome.The long trip was so worth it.The first thing we did was the tour"TRAM is what they call it".It was cool. I saw the control room and the place where they train the astronauts.I also saw a model of a space ship"Big".Then we got lunch. We went to a couple movies and saw some exhibits .Then our trip was over with.
Hopie
P.S.-I went with the History Club. Finally, I got the photos to work.

Our Wednesday

2008-03-05T22:11:00.000-06:00

We're going to start blogging. Julie and Hopie will be writing different ideas and events that happen in our family. We'll see how it goes.
Jared hung a big Texas star on our house today. It was a beautiful day and we went to the park - even our dog Candy came too. Jared BBQ'd drumsticks and they were delicious.
We watched American Idol and we love Brooke White! Our guy favorites from last night include, David Archuletta, David Cook and Jason.

Educational Fact of the day:

"Home is where the mud is ~

A flamingo nest is not fancy, just a mound of mud, maybe 12 inches (30 centimeters) high. The nest needs to be high enough to protect the egg from flooding and from the occasional intense heat at ground level. Both the male and female build the nest by drawing mud toward their feet with their bills. Flamingos lay a single large egg, which is incubated by both parents. At hatching, a flamingo chick has gray down feathers. It also has a straight, pink bill and swollen pink legs, both of which turn black within a week." -San Diego Zoo, Animal Bytes on the Flamingo