Vegas Vacation Day 1

This year we found an amazing deal on a condo in Vegas. (Thanks Grandpa) We ran into a little dilema since the boys basketball team decided to be AMAZING and go to the state tournament. Monica was cheering on Friday night and then on Saturday (if they won on Friday)..... so, the master plan was to wait for her to get home on Saturday, if they lost, and go without her, if they won. Sounds not very family 'oriented' when you put it that way. Lucky for her, we were going to leave Jared at home to bring her down when she finally did get home.

The basketball team was amazing and won their game on Friday night. The state championship game would then be at 8:45 pm on Saturday night. No way she was going to get home - so the boys and I took off Saturday early afternoon. Of course it was a REALLY long trip with Ryker asking every five minutes, "When are we going to be there?"

When we got to Vegas we found our condo was amazing. The first not so amazing thing was having to lug everything upstairs without my hunky husband. At least I had Jaxon to help be my luggage carrier! I think we brought everything except the kitchen sink. Luckily it was already here! We are also conveniently located next to every fast food place possible! We spent the evening plotting out all the amazing food places that we were going to eat.

The kids thought the place was amazing and at 9:30 (Vegas time), we had a nice visit from the security officer, telling us that we were being too loud (walking/running around too much). The sad part of all of this, they were actually being good. I think the extra noise came from us getting in and out of the kitchen chairs which made a nice rubbing sound on the tile floor. Apparently, 9:30 is late. Everyone was pretty tired so they went to be without too much complaining! :) Darn bottom neighbors.....

Monica's Birthday Party Idea

It won't be long and I'll have a 16 year old! WOW! Idea for her birthday party invites...... After all, it should be a BIG party! :)

Princess Tiger Lilly

Our cat who thinks she's a dog. She meow's at the door when the kids are outside because she wants to be out. She lays in the middle of the floor and love to play with the kids.

No More Diapers!

Take a look at this adorable kid! Yes, he has my heart and can manipulate all of us. We pulled a fast one and told him that we run out of diapers. Oops - forgot to buy them at the store. We had to hide the ones around the house (darn kid kept finding them). But, we have finally crossed the threshold of NO MORE DIAPERS. Okay, well, maybe diapers at night - since he likes to crawl in my bed and no one likes to change sheets more than necessary. :)

And, there is the one minor thing of refusing to wear underwear - but hey, he's at least wearing pants. The first two days he refused to wear even those. Yes, we let him run around in his shirt and nothing else - but it worked! It was a big adjustment going from having no babies in nursery at church and now, no more diapers (at least during the day)!

Yum! Licking the frosting bowl. His favorite!
He's sharing his candy with his lamb. Although they both need to learn to pick up their wrappers.
Yes, this is a goose. It's actually a decoy that grandpa used long ago. Now they are part of the decor. Cannon thought maybe it was worth taking a ride. The best was one it tipped over and he looked at everyone like 'how could you let this happen.'

Carter Family Christmas Party

This year our Christmas party was in Wendover. Clayton and Brenda were in charge and did a fabulous job! We helped with the food. Here's the breakdown of our activities:
Dodgeball and street hockey
Made gingerbread sleighs
Dinner
Family quiz - who knew, well, maybe it's better you didn't!
Counting games
White elephant gift exchange with the "Carter Family Story"
Pinata
Frosty the Snowman

Some of the highlights:

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Our annual pictures once we have decorated the Christmas tree. We are excited for the Christmas season! We will be hosting the Carter family Christmas party this year so we're trying to get everything ready. We are also paiting the upstairs. Crazy - yes!

Ryker's 7th Birthday

We celebrated Ryker's birthday twice this year. The first time was in Logan at Grandma's house. Ryker's birthday fell the day after Thanksgiving, so we celebrated Thanksgiving, shopped the black Friday sales and then celebrated his birthday. It was a whirlwind! He was able to have almost all his aunts and uncles there and we had a great time! Jared was even able to come with us this year. Most years he has to work, but because he was still scheduled to be Elk hunting, and his Elk hunt went quick, he came with us!

Ultimately for his birthday he really wanted to go to California but then decided it would be okay if he had a party instead. We decided that he had never had an actual birthday party so we figured it would be good - then he then started to invite everyone. We were sitting at a basketball game and he started inviting everyone around us. It was quite cute. We managed to keep it to just kids. We ate pizza, played a few games, wished the weather was warmer outside, tried to control the crowd, ate cake and opened presents and then, breathed a sigh of relief when all the friends went home.




Ryker loves to play video games and play with his friends. He was super excited to get an electric scooter like Gunnar! And he loved having a party. Some pictures from his baby days!