CARS

Carter can still play with his cars for hours. When daddy comes home he LOVES to play car games with him. It has gotten to the point (uh he is barely 3 and a half) where he asks if we can buy him that car as we are driving around town. He says "mommy I like that car, can I get that car" or "Mommy I like that Mustang, can I get that one". One time we were in the car and he says he wants a white Mustang and a black one. Then he says "Daddy you can drive the white one and I can drive the black one." He is 3 and  can point out the Mustangs. He can also point out our cars. He says "Look that's Mommy car, it looks the same." Sure enough it is the exact same car sometimes in a different color. I can't believe he cares enough about cars to already be able to point out the different cars.

Baby Items?

We are going to add another one to our family in about 8 weeks (plus or minus 1). Our first child is a boy and now this one is going to be a boy. We saved all of Carter's things for this very purpose so that we would not have to buy more baby stuff. It has been 3 years so I have forgotten all that we have and even what you NEED to have right away. Even if I wanted to go see what we have this is where our belongings are located. In the very corner. I am not about to ask or expect anyone to search for our baby item in this. Especially with it being over 100 degrees outside already.

                                 

 GAME: Find our stroller.

This one wont be too hard to get too. Can you see the infant car seat? I hope it will still be safe for him to ride in!

I so wanted to be in our own home before the baby comes but it looks like we wont, so we just have to make due with what we have: a cradle, 3 outfits, and burp clothes. That is all we NEED, right?

HAHAHAHAHA I really do find it comical and right now I really don't care. I am stress free and relaxed it will all work out in the end and what is life for, trials, right?

Gotta Love It

Oh the 3 year old stage! I am convince that whoever nicknamed the "terrible twos" hadn't experienced the wonderful 3's yet. Carter insists on dressing himself. On Sundays since we don't usually go anywhere I just let him wear whatever, so I can have one day without a battle. I even took him with me and let him pick out some of his clothes so he would wear them. 

This Sunday was so funny. Dave just had to take a picture, which I am really glad he did. Plaid green shirt, on most days it is a really cute shirt. Then we have sweat-cut-off shorts that are maroon. To top it off he chose his black cleats with no socks. I just love it!

Soccer

Star player, he is gearing up for the world cup. We started Carter in soccer, he LOVES it. I wanted to save money so I signed him up for the cheapest. It ended up being just a practice type soccer thing, which turned out to be a great idea. They teach drills and team work. I think it will help him a ton when he is on an actual team. I think we will sign him up in the fall (they have one in the summer but it is just too unbearable). 

Carter is really good at kicking, he has a power kick. So fun to watch!

The PHX Zoo

There are a short break in the hot weather so we decided to take advantage and take a trip to the zoo. It rained a tad for the first 5 or 10 minutes after that it was great. 

Take note on how Carter wears his sun glasses. When he was younger we bought these glasses and they were too big. So he learn that if he tipped them (which was great problem solving skills) so they would stay on. Now that he is older I think he is just used to tilting them. He is so funny.

 We got to ride on the Merry-go-round, Thanks to Heather's mom (I forgot her name). The kids loved it.

 So the best thing about free tickets is that you don't feel like you have to "get your money's worth". Which I love just going with the flow and not feeling like we have to see everything (we skipped half the zoo), especially when you go with 3 and 4 year olds they are just a content playing on the play ground. I think they enjoyed some of the animals but got bored quickly. Although, Carter really liked petting the goats (which I was super surprised cause he has been afraid of animals lately)

 We went with Heather and her twins, Beth and Ben, and their neighbor kid Maddox. And Heather's mom.

Luckily they brought a wagon, smart. Once Carter saw the other kids riding in it he was too good for the stroller that we brought. I guess that was good for me then it was easier to push :)
We had a good time, but probably will be the last time until fall. Since we are in the high 90's already.

Spring

My mom and Carter planted seeds and it has been fun to watch them grow.

This is Carter doing an Easter Egg hunt, he had a great time. He even wanted to do it multiple times. 

Another funny thing he would do was pick up an eggs and shake it. If the eggs didn't make noise he would put it back down. Lets just say he didn't get a lot of eggs. It was ok because we had another eggs hunt on Sunday. He just had tons of fun.

Lots of kids and tons of eggs.

We had a great Easter. The Sunday program was uplifting and I taught the 10 year olds about the Resurrection of Christ. Which I had to wing because my team teacher didn't show up or get a sub. I was not prepared but I think the Spirit helped me through it. Hopefully the kids were edified and learned something.
Then Derek, Demie, and Harlie came over for dinner. We had another egg hunt with Carter and Harlie. The kids had tons of candy thanks to Grandpa of course.

I am thankful for the Easter holiday and we can teach our children of the Savior and his Redeeming love for us.

Wrong Clothes?

I got these clothes a couple weeks ago. They sure don't fit Carter.That is because we are having a BABY BOY in July and the clothes are for him

PS I have had so many ultrasound and the little guy wont cooperate. We cannot get him to turn so we can get a good profile picture. He likes to lay face down.

"Train"

It is called the Light Rail here in Phoenix. Carter knows it as a train. Public transportation between cities and it looks like a train so a train it is.Carter got to ride on the Light Rail because he finally has been sleeping through the night and not waking us up. I know I promised him the city bus ride but the day we had planned to ride the city bus about 900 of the bus drivers were on strike. That meant that only a few buses were actually running. We went on the "train" instead. We parked the car, road the train to Tempe, and got off and ate lunch. We had an all day pass so we decided to head to downtown Phoenix. We got off there and walked around and came back. Carter had a good time. He got bored toward the end because it was crowded and we couldn't pick our seats so he couldn't really see out. Once everyone cleared out we switched seats so he could see out. That made him enjoy the ride more and he didn't want to get off. We had a good time.

Ostrich Festival

My dad won tickets from work to the Ostrich Festival, so Saturday we went. The tickets included unlimited rides so Carter took advantage. Carter even went on the big Ferris Wheel and loved it. The festival had some yummy food. We of course had to eat the Indian Fry Bread, the Dole Whip, and the Kettle Korn, all of which are a must. We had the privilege of watching ostriches race, such a hoot. People actually rode on the backs of them like in the horse races. The MC chose little kids from the audience to chase and try to catch emus, hilarious!!!!!! He also chose some kids to dance or walk like an ostrich, some kids did a fantastic job!

This little fun house with a slide he went on a dozen times.

Carter's cousin, Harlie, came with us. Harlie was a trooper and went on a ton of rides too.

This is Carter coming out of the slide.

City Bus

Carter has been waking up in the middle of the night EVERY NIGHT! For the past week and a half 2 or 3 times at night. I just don't know what to do. He gets up having to go to the bathroom, or because he is hungry, or he can't put his blanket on (which we have taught him and he can do it himself he just wants an excuse to wake up). We are so frustrated. I get up in the morning so exhausted and Dave already can't sleep. Do you wonder yet why I titled this post "city bus". Because Carter likes buses. Every time we see a bus, "that's a city bus" or "that's a school bus".

A friend of mine told me that to get her little boy to go #2 on the toilet she told him that she would take him for a ride on a city bus. That is where I got my idea to take Carter for a ride on a bus AS SOON AS he can sleep the whole night 4 nights in a row.

Thursday was the first night = success

Friday night= success

Saturday night= tonight so I don't know yet

Sunday= tomorrow 2 nights left hopefully he doesn't blow it

So far so good. It is working like a charm. If tonight goes well then we will be going on a city bus on Monday. I am actually excited too I have not been on a city bus either.

Goals

This is the first year that I have actually thought about goal, written them out and am conscious about them most everyday. It feels good. To actually have something to work towards.

All of my goals are focused all year long. So when October comes I am still working towards them.

I am still struggling at one of them, journal writing. My goal is to write once a week. Um, this is the first time I have done any sort of journaling (I do count blogging as writing in a journal). I need some time in my week where I can stop watching Grey's Anatomy or Revenge or Bachelor to write in my journal. Any suggestions on a good time to remember each week. I tried Sundays, but since I have to wake up at 6am when Carter is taking his nap on Sundays I do the same.

Happy 3rd Birthday Carter!

I can't believe that Carter is 3. He is growing up so fast.

We had an eventful day today. We had 2 Cars parties. The first one was with some of his friends. I chose to do an all boy party partly because the theme was boyish. Carter had 6 friends over: Thomas, Stetson, Howie, Tate, Tanner, and Dallin.
Here is Carter with Thomas opening presents. We had a blast. The boys made license plates, played on the mini bounce house, thank you to Dallin for letting us borrow it,
they played pin the lightening bolt to McQueen. The boys loved it, Howie liked it so much he did 3 more lightening bolts after his one.

Here is Carter smiling (this is the only picture I could get him to smile in). Howie is in the background. Everything went so fast and I don't think that I was all there. I forgot so many things (as you can tell I forgot to comb his hair), I even forgot to get a group picture, I remembered after everyone left. SAD

In the evening we had a family party. I love this picture, it captured his excitement. Carter was pretty worn out, hopefully he will take a long nap tomorrow.
This is the Lightening McQueen cake, it turned out better than I imagined. The frosting was hard to work with, it was so runny after adding the food coloring. I even learned my lesson when adding food coloring, add a little at a time, not a whole bunch first. The frosting tasted horrible because I added too much food coloring. We had a fun day.

Dave and I love Carter so much and are grateful he is part of our family. Carter is such a joy!

Faith

Faith is knowing the sun will rise, lighting each new day.

Faith is knowing the Lord will hear my prayers each time I pray.

Faith is like a little seed, if planted it will grow.

Faith is a swelling within my heart, when I do right I know.

Scripture Power

Because I want to be like the Savior and I can

I am reading His instructions, I'm following His plan

Because I want the power His word will give to me,

I am changing how I live, I am changing what I'll be

Scripture Power keeps me safe from sin

Scripture Power is the power to win

Scripture Power! Everyday I need

The power that I get each time I read.

~We just had our Primary Program in church today, the kids did awesome!

Every time we sang the songs I was so touched. The words to the songs are so simple yet so powerful. I am so grateful for a knowledge of the Gospel. The Primary is such a great program for the young children, I love my calling.

~I am so excited to see Carter in Primary. Those little sunbeams are so cute (I just may be partial to them since we taught them in nursery last year).

~One of the kids in my class is SO funny, he makes me laugh on more than one occasion. Today in class we were talking about honesty. He raises his hand and relays a story of when he was younger his older brother (background he comes from a family of 5 boys) did something bad and he got blamed for it. One of the other kids asked him which brother it was. He replies "the blonde one". Hahaha, I try not to laugh at the things they say, but that was so funny.

GQ

Carter is following in his dad's footsteps.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

My sister had the day off today and she wanted to make these. Something that will take practice to make it prefect looking. This recipe we got off Pinterest. It was SOOOO yummy.Cinnamon Roll Pancakes. A fantastic combination.
We also had another Haboob. This one was not as bad.