Little Moments

One of the very best things I've experienced as a mom is to see my kids enjoying each other.

 

 

 

 

 

Love these three boys!

Carter's Blessing Day

Our sweet Carter was given a name and blessing from his dad on Sunday, October 14th.
It was such a neat experience to watch my baby in the arms of the worthy priesthood holders that I love most.  Derek gave him a wonderful blessing and then we celebrated our little man at a brunch afterward with our friends and family.

Here are a few pictures I took of my boy on his big day:
 

 

 

 

Isaac wanted to get in on the picture taking!  :)

 

Love these sweet brothers.

Our little family

We were grateful to have Grandma and Grandpa Allen with us.

 

Proud mama  :)

All tuckered out after his big day

I am grateful for this special moment in the life of our sweet boy.

We are grateful everyday that he is part of our family.

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!  :)