Halloween

Carter has been begging me to go trick-or-treating since the beginning of October. So, I was really relieved when the day finally arrived.


Here is my little dragon. His costume had wings so he kept asking, "Mom, can I fly?" I was a little nervous that he would try to get those wings working, but he never did.

Below is the Great Pumpkin and his cousin Sonata. He wore the hideous pumpkin outfit that we got last year for Carter. It was the last costume left at the thrift store. I guess it will now be a tradition to wear the ugly pumpkin costume... a right of passage at our house.

Fall Leaves Fall

Before it turned cold, we went up the canyon and took some pictures of the boys. They turned out really cute. Here are a few of them:

Ahoy thar mateys!

Recently Carter and Nadia went to a pirate-themed birthday party. Since then there has been a lot of marauding in our house, and Peter Pan is our new favorite movie.

What a scary pirate!

Eli's First Birthday

Because of computer issues, I haven't posted in a while. The problem has now been fixed and I must choose between all of the pictures I have taken in the last two months to post.




I must at least post Eli's first birthday, which was a lot of fun. Grandma Monson was in town a few days before so we decided to celebrate it a little early. Carter was so excited for the toys Eli received. Eli was about as happy as Carter was at his first birthday... not really happy at all. Really tired and really cranky, but everyone else had fun.

He wasn't really interested in the gift opening, but Carter was.

Poor Eli. He was soooo tired. He didn't even taste his cake. He threw it on the floor.

Every one else seemed to have fun.

Music lessons

One of Carter's favorite shows is Little Einsteins. I like it better than a lot of the other kid shows. I thought that Carter probably enjoyed Rocket and Big Jet more than the music lessons they give. I keep forgetting that the brains on these little 3 year olds are sponges.

Carter was peeing standing up (like Dad). He was pushing out the pee as fast as he could, so the pee was ricocheting everywhere.
"Carter you need to slow down," I told him.
His reply: "But Mom, I need to go adagio."

How can I argue with that? I took piano lessons for several years, and my 3 year old knows more music terminology than I do. Splash away, Carter...Adagio!

Mesa Verde

On the way back from the cabin we thought we would stop really quick to see Mesa Verde. It wasn't a quick stop. It took about 3 hours to just see one of the sights, but it was really cool. Next time we will probably spend an entire day there.

More Reunion

On the 24th we went to the parade and carnival in a little town called Manassa. Carter doesn't look excited in the picture, but he loved riding the kids train. He rode it twice.I though he might be scared of the ferris wheel, but when we were at the top, it was me that was a little nervous.
Carter riding the kid roller coaster with his cousin Ali, Casey' s little girl.
On the ride back, Carter found some swimming goggles that Uncle Jordan helped him put on.
The bestpicture I could get of Jordan...

Family Reunion

We went to Southern Colorado over the 24th for my annual family reunion. It took us about 10 hours to get there, but once we were there it was really fun.

Festivities started off with a parade. Carter helped decorate some of the floats.

Here is Kelly and Eli taking some rest time in between activities.
Next we had a field day. Carter didn't really perform that well, but he enjoyed his fifth place ribbons in every event.
This is a pic of my little sister Jessica and my cousins Sarah and Becca.
Carter attempting to smash his first pinata. I think he has hit his brother harder than he hit that spongebob.

Fun with Dad

We have a crawler!

Being a 9 month old has been big for Eli. He finally started crawling...yay!!!!!!!!!!! It seemed like he was so close for a long time, but just this week he figured it out. Of course, his crawl is just like his personality, totally easy going. I have never seen a kid crawl so slow. He is in absolutely no hurry to get anywhere.

We also have teeth... and prunes up our nose!

Carter's 3rd Birthday

I'm a little late at posting this, but last month was Carter's birthday party. It was nice to be here in Utah for a change. Both of his last birthdays have been in Puerto Rico. For Carter's third birthday we went swimming. It was so much fun until Carter fell off the bleachers and scratched his back. The life of a three year old.

Trip to Sacramento

We were so excited to go on a vacation this summer. Not that Puerto Rico wasn't great, it just wasn't really a vacation. We decided that this year we would travel to California to see our new niece...and Yosemite...and San Francisco. We had so much fun!

The first place we visited was Yosemite. We didn't have time to stay long. But we camped for two nights...two long nights (most of the air mattresses deflated and it was really cold!)

Uncle Travis found a caterpillar for Carter to hold when we went to see bridal veil falls:

Carter had the most fun with his cousin Conrad. They hadn't seen each other in a while, and they were both really excited. There was a lot of running and squealing:

He's a Monson. Need I say more?

The Japanese Tea Gardens in San Francisco

Alcatraz: a lot of walking.

Finally...May

We are so excited that it is finally warming up. It felt like it took forever!!! We went on a little car ride to see some airsoft ruins. On the way back we stopped at the above train so Carter could look at it. He wanted to drive the train. He told us the track was broken, and it needs more tracks. I have to agree.

Eli is still all smiles. I was trying to remember when they change from all smiles to a toddler. All I remember is that the screaming is not quite as cute.

Big brother, can I play too???

Thanksgiving Point

We went to Thanksgiving Point last Saturday. It was moderately fun. The problem is Carter is scared to death of all animals. He will jump off any platform it doesn't matter how high, but a chicken or a bunny is truly frightening. At least they had some fake animals that he was willing to ride.


We look a little too happy for prison.

He did enjoy the wagon ride with Dad, so it wasn't a complete waste :)

Eli slept the entire time.

Sitting up like a Champ!

Eli is now 6 months old and sitting up. He loves it because he can finally be on Carter's level. He isn't a big fan of his stomach though, so I doubt he will crawl any time soon.



Carter wanted in on the photo shoot. It was fun for a while...

But eventually all photo shoots end in tears.

Eli looks a little confused. We all were.