Carter's blessing

Carter was blessed the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. It was so special to have so many family members there. We really missed Brian, Aaron, and Cindy, though!

We have Levi to thank for the adorable blessing suit. The Bronson's have kindly lent it to us for both Mason and Carter.

Now it is a tradition and hopefully all future grandsons will be able to wear this suit on their blessing day. :)

I guess our boys don't enjoy the cute blessing hat...including David. He never lets me keep it on them while they are getting blessed because he doesn't want them to wear a bonnet. :)

One of these crying boys is Mason and one is Carter, can you guess which one is which?

There is also another picture of Mason mixed in the next few pictures. If anyone wants, I'll tell you which ones are Mason later.

I tried to get the sideways pictures turned, but I couldn't do it...sorry!

Here is Carter waiting for the meeting to start:

David gave Carter a beautiful blessing that said that Carter would be an example and help others and that he would serve a mission and marry in the temple, among other things.

It is so wonderful to know that David is worthy to give our family priesthood blessings when we need them!

About 10 minutes before Sacrament meeting was over, we looked over at Mason, who was unusually quiet and noticed that his head was nodding. Then...he fell over! Our sweet Mason had fallen asleep! That's what happens when church falls at the exact same time that nap time does!

Even though I was happy that Mason was getting the rest that he needed, my visions of a good family picture were gone. Not that this picture isn't good..the photographer (Brandon) was excellent...I just wish that the boys were smiling instead of sleeping. :)

This is our family a little less than 2 years ago at Mason's blessing. Time sure flies!

Memorial Day Weekend

For those of you who read my sisters' blogs, this will be the fourth time that you will have read about this...so I don't blame you if you skip it...but I wanted it for our blog book at the end of the year, so here it is (I'm always a little behind on blogging):

We had a great Memorial Day Weekend! We were so lucky that both Grandpa and Grandma Park and Cindy and AJ were able to visit. We spent lots of time together and my parents graciously hosted the activities. The main reason that everyone was in town was that my youngest sister, Katie graduated from high school!

Congratulations Katie!

We are so proud of her! I am excited that she will be staying at Helaman Halls at BYU this fall. I'm not only excited because that is where I stayed, but also because they tore down DT this year and they are making some freshman stay in Wymount...I am glad that she didn't have to do that!

All things considered, Mason was pretty good during the ceremony. I had to spend a lot of time standing behind everyone with Carter, so David got to entertain him. Understandably...the little ones got a little bored, so we were glad that they were able to read books for a while (a nice, quiet activity!)

Here is Carter in his carrier after I had been holding him with a blanket covering his head for most of the ceremony. David said that he looked like a nun...

Diana has the shot from the other side of this picture on her blog. When there are lots of people around, whoever is holding one of the nephews, usually ends up holding both! If you notice, AJ is in the background with Tori on his shoulders...he is always willing to jump in and help the kids get the attention they all want!

Here is a group shot of the table at Marie Callendar's after graduation. Thanks again, Dad and Mom, that is such a fun tradition! If you'll notice, almost everyone in the picture is either eating or getting ready to. haha.

Here is Mason entertaining himself. We are thrilled that he has taken such an interest in unwrapping crayons...it can keep him occupied (and quiet) for up to 1/2 an hour! Here he has finished unwrapping them and decided to stuff them down his straw.

Grandpa Park made a treasure hunt for the kids where he hid coins in the sandbox in the back. Each child also had a 5 dollar bill buried for them somewhere. It was so fun to watch them get so excited about finding their treasure! Mason doesn't quite understand what money is yet, so as soon as his bag was full, he would promptly dump it out and start to refill it again.

Carter sure thought Grandpa and Grandma Park were neat! :)

Carter and Aunt Cindy really bonded during this weekend! He loved being held by her and was always happy. I was so glad that she got to be here and that she held Carter so much, and still managed to shower the other nephews and neices with attention and make them feel special!

Our little morning person

Carter is definitely a morning person! He is always all smiles and coos, especially when

I lay him in Mason's bed.

He is so happy to just look at the skylight. You just have to say one sentence to him and he'll reward you with the hugest smile, the kind where he moves his head all of the way back like he wants to laugh.

Sometimes it takes Mason awhile to get used to being awake so I call them "our little morning person" and "our little morning grump"...we love them both! :) In all fairness to Mason, I took this picture of him when he was sick...but I couldn't find another picture when he looked grumpy. :)

Two random pictures

Carter says hi and wishes that he could meet all of you!!! Maybe one of these days he will get to. :)

Mason never gets tired of laying down next to Carter, wherever he happens to be! I love their expressions as they look at each other in this picture. :)

Don't Mess With Us!

Brothers with an attitude

Twenty Nine Reasons

Today David turned 29! I can't believe that this is his last year of his twenties...he is so old! :) Just kidding. But I couldn't let the day pass without posting 29 reasons why I love him. It did not take me long at all to make this list, and I could have made the list a lot longer.

1. He is easy and fun to talk to.

2. He fixed the washing machine.

3. He is really smart.

4. He plays peek-a-boo with Mason...over and over and over again.

5. He gives thoughtful presents and cards.

6. He makes time to attend the temple.

7. He likes to go camping.

8. He wants to have as many kids as I do.

9. He fixed the plumbing.

10. He reads to Mason A LOT.

11. He is my best friend.

12. He likes to make yummy food and share it. (just the other night he made really fluffy brownies)

13. He has a wonderful memory.

14. He loves his family.

15. He loves my family.

16. He never complains if the house is messy.

17. He is fixing our tub (it sprung a leak) and surrounding tile.

18. He calls me during the day.

19. He thinks it's important that I be a stay-at-home mom.

20. He secretly enjoys the fact that I have a blog.

21. He is continuing his education.

22. He has a testiomy of the gospel.

23. He helps out our friends and family willingly.

24. When I don't feel like cooking, or have had a hard day, he doesn't mind letting us pick something up.

25. He fixed our t.v. just today by taking it apart and sodering a new resistor in...don't ask me where he learned all of this handiness!.

26. He loves it when Mason and Carter fall asleep on his lap.

27. He is HOT!

28. He makes sure that we have family prayer every morning and night.

29. He is the man of my dreams.

Happy Birthday Honey!

Advice???

Do any of you have any advice about how to teach this energetic, mischievious toddler the meaning of the word "whisper"? This advice would especially come in handy during church, specifically sacrament meeting. This last week Mason decided that he needed to scream like he was on the roller coaster during an otherwise silent moment. Any other time that he speaks to us during the meeting, he does so in his regular voice. We've tried to teach him to whisper, because it is not feasible that he will not say even one word for that whole meeting. Any suggestions would be appreciated. :)

Playing with Carter

Mason is always finding new ways to play with Carter. This is what I walked in and saw one day. Instead of the stuffed toys that are supposed to dangle over Carter's bouncer, I found diapers. I was pretty impressed with Mason's ingenuity.

A few minutes later, the play had evolved to this:

Don't worry, I checked to make sure my sleeping Carter had plenty of breathing room and sternly told Mason that we don't put things on Carter's face before I got the camera.
















This is taken from above, looking straight down onto Carter's head. Can you see it hiding there in all of the diapers?

Three Wonderful Years

This past Tuesday, David and I celebrated three years of being happily married. Randomly, it happened to be David's day off, so we were able to spend some extra time together. We decided to take the boys to do something fun out side. I always love going on hikes and had been wanting to do at least a nature walk for a long time. I was going to bring my newly purchased sling to carry Carter in, but I think that it is too big and that I'm going to have to return it.

Next, I thought that we could use the stroller. Once we got there, but before we really saw what the walk was like, David said that he didn't think that the stroller would handle very well, so I got to carry Carter the whole time. Luckily it wasn't too hard of a walk. :) I kept him all bundled up to protect him against the sun. Of course, once we had gone on the trail, we realized that it would have been perfect for a stroller-I guess we'll know for next time!







Mason had a great time. His legs are so tiny compared to ours, but he worked so hard and kept up with us. He walked a long ways, then Daddy offered to give him a ride.


All of that walking must have worn him out because on the way back, he fell fast asleep sitting up on his perch.














That evening, David and I took advantage of a couple gift cards that we had been holding onto for awhile to a fondue restaraunt called The Melting Pot. It's a really fun place to eat-you get to cook your fondue at the table. When we decided to bring Carter along, David was so cute, 'cuz he was concerned that it wasn't fair to Mason not to come.

He quickly realized that it would be funner for Mason to play at Grandma and Grandpa's house. :)




Doesn't it look like Carter enjoyed his night out with his parents? :)











Here he is starting to wake up...the whole Melting Pot experience is 2.5 to 3 hours. Considering that I fed Carter before we got there, he was not able to last the whole time without getting hungry.












Here is the pacifier doing its work.












And here is Carter being spoiled by getting to come out to the restaraunt with us. :)


It may seem wrong that there are more pictures of Carter than of us on our anniversary post, but we didn't want to keep asking the waiter to take pictures, and we are still trying to teach Carter to use the camera.

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband! These past three years have been full of happiness and I can't wait to see what the next year holds for us!

Brothers and Friends

Mason is adjusting so well to being a big brother! Of course he has had the expected troubles that come with suddenly having to share mommy and daddy's attention. But, for the most part, he loves to lay next to Carter and just play with him...this play has to be closely supervised, but Mason is beginning to get the idea that we have to be extra gentle around Carter.

I like to think that they are getting to know each other again after a short 22 month separation.

These are some of my favorite pictures of the two of them for the first three weeks or so of Carter's life. By now, there are a lot more, but this is a start! :)

I think it is especially cute that Mason loves to read to Carter. Even though Mason's face is kind of obscure in this picture, I couldn't leave it out 'cuz I think that it's so cute that Carter looks so interested!

Grandma and Grandpa Barker got the three nephews matching jammies for Christmas-of course I had to get some pictures as soon as Carter fit into his.