Birthday Boy!

Well, October 19th came again and now my boy is another year older!  It's crazy to me that he is already SIX years old.  How did that happen?!

We had a great time celebrating his special day.  We started the day by letting him open one present (the one he was really wanting).  He was so excited to get his "Captain America that talks."  :)  Then we got in touch with Grammy and Papa in Africa so they could wish him a Happy Birthday.  They sang to him (in English and French) and then he opened a card from them with "birthday dollars" in it.  After that, it was time for school!  This is the first time I haven't spent his birthday with him and it was a little sad for me.
I even tried to convince him to stay home with me, but he was too excited to go to school to celebrate with his teacher and friends.

So happy!

Birthday wishes from Africa

And then it was off to school!

Dad, Mom, Trevor and Carter all went to school for his afternoon recess to bring in a treat for his class.  It was so fun to see him at school and to see how excited he was that we were there.

After I picked him up from school, I took him to Target to use his money from Grammy and Papa.  In true Isaac-style, he picked a superhero toy and a stuffed animal.  Then we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Allen at Texas Roadhouse (his choice) for his birthday dinner.  He loved being the center of attention at the restaurant and was so adorable all night.

Here he is with his new Batman toy and turtle.

He LOVES the Texas Roadhouse rolls!

On the birthday saddle.  Yee-haw!

Mom with her sweet little 6-year-old!  Love my boy.

The next day, we let Isaac choose a few friends to go with us to Jumpstreet.  He picked a couple friends from church, a couple friends from school, and a couple cousins.  It was a great group of little boys!  They had so much fun jumping and running around together.  After Jumpstreet, we went back to our house for cake, ice cream and presents.

Fun at Jumpstreet

The birthday crew
(plus a sister that came along for cake and ice cream) 

Isaac and his Batman cake

He has some really great friends.

 

This boy LOVES new toys! :)

 

Happy Birthday to my smart, caring,
sensitive, funny, and totally wonderful little boy.

We are grateful every single day
that you were sent to our family.
We love you, Isaac.

Exploring at the Mountain

On one of our days at Grandma and Grandpa's house, they wanted to take us on a drive to find some fall leaves (or "fault" leaves, as Trevor calls them).  We drove up the highway a little ways and stopped by the Sunrise ski resort to have a picnic.

My boys having lunch

My boys with Grandma and Grandpa

And here's the "silly" shot!  :) 

Daddy took a few minutes to teach the boys how to skip rocks.
Yet another hidden talent of his.  :)

Then we decided to keep driving and take in some more of the beautiful scenery.  We ended up near the town of Greer.  Derek and I have never been there before, so we went to check it out.  And we LOVED it!  It's such a charming little town and we're already making plans to stay there sometime (sans children, of course!). 

Trevor with his two favorite guys.

Daddy and the boys doing a little rock-hopping
(and NO ONE fell in!)

I love to watch these 2 boys together.
They have so much fun exploring!

Isaac found some initials carved on this log and was really excited .
He was sure that it was a "secret message."

Isaac also found a wild raspberry.

Trevor loved all of the "fault leaves"

On the way back to "Grandma's Mountain," we took one more detour to this spot with beautiful aspen trees.  They were so colorful!  The boys loved grabbing armfuls of leaves and throwing them up in the air.  It's so fun to watch them explore!

Our first family photo with little Carter.  :)

It was a day filled with lots of driving,
but it was totally worth it!  :)

It's ZOO Time Again!

The weather has finally cooled off enough for us to start our zoo trips again!  It's one of our favorite places to go.  This time was especially fun because it was Carter's first trip!  :)  It was also Isaac's last day of Fall Break and we convinced our best buddy, Sara, to skip work and come along.

Trevor at the petting zoo

We found some baby goats and they really loved Sara!
Now I call her "The Goat Whisperer."  :) 

We've been to the zoo MANY times before
and we've never seen this big, brown cow.
I'm not sure how that happened,
but the boys were really excited about it!

Isaac and Trevor were really excited to have Carter with us.
I love this picture of my cute little boys.

Mama and her boys  :) 

Climbing up the giraffe lookout with Sara 

Carter loved being carried around in the wrap all day.

Here's to another great zoo season!  :)

Fall Break Fun

We spent another great weekend at "Grandma's mountain" for Fall Break.  It was so much fun to be together and to have Grandma and Grandpa to ourselves for a few days.

The boys got to pick a pumpkin from Aunt Trish's garden on our way to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Grandma had cookie dough all ready to go when we arrived.
She sure knows the way to their hearts!  :)

We happened to be there for General Conference weekend, so we spent lots of time watching that.  We did our "Conference Bowls" and "Conference Store" to encourage the boys to listen as much as they could.  They LOVE doing it!  It pretty much turns Conference into a sugar frenzy, but they get really excited about it and enjoy trying to listen, so it's worth it.  :)

Isaac was probably the most attentive listener.
It may have had something to do with those bowls of candy/pennies.  :)

Carter just loved snuggling and being held during General Conference.

After so many hours of trying to listen, they had to unwind with a little bit of brotherly rough-housing.  :)

Isaac with all of his treasures from the "Conference Store."

Daddy convinced the boys to try riding the quad.  They were both really nervous at first, but by the time we left,
Isaac was able to drive it by himself.

I LOVE Isaac's face in this picture!

Trevor was trying to wait patiently for his turn.  :)

So excited to try it out.

When Trevor and Daddy were riding,
Isaac and Storm thought it was fun to chase after them. 

The boys spent HOURS creating a "Rock Shop."

Here's a close-up of the merchandise and price tags.  :)

Trevor...just doing a little shopping.

Carter was enjoying the outdoors.

Carter's very first "bumy ride!"
(Just to clarify...he didn't ride in Derek's arm like that.
I got in and held him tightly in the back seat.)

We made the boys wear these helmets when they rode the quad.
They thought they were super cool,
so they pretty much wore them all day.  :)

 We were so lucky to have the chance to go on this little vacation.
We love "Grandma's Mountain" and all of the memories we make there.

Special Visit

We were able to spend a few days of our Fall Break up north at Grandma and Grandpa Allen's house.  On our way into town, we stopped by to visit Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Adams (Derek's grandparents).  Isaac and Trevor always love to visit them and it was Carter's very first time to meet them.  Here are a few pictures...that are pretty meaningful.  :)

Our 3 boys with their great-grandparents

Meeting Grandpa Adams

Grandma just lit up when she saw Baby Carter.
She has Alzheimers and is often unsure of what's going on around her.  It seemed like she had a little moment of clarity when she saw and held our sweet baby.  It was a very neat moment for all of us.

 

She kept rubbing his little feet and saying,
"Ooo...look at these little toes!" :)

 Grandma and Grandpa Adams are such great people.  They have always made me feel accepted and loved as one of their own grandchildren.  I'm so grateful that we could visit them and create these special memories for our family.