The Juggling Jester

The 6th Grade at Lakeside Elementary had a "Midevil Feast" recently. They learned about what happened in Midevil times and then were each assigned a part or character they would portray at a feast they had at the school. Coop was lucky enough to get assigned the Jester which he was totally pumped about! As soon as he found this out, he decided that he wanted to learn how to juggle. So, in about 3 days time, Cooper had taught himself the art of juggling. I was so impressed with him taking this on and learning so quickly. He actually got quite skilled at it. Cooper takes after his dad in the area of learning anything that involves coordination....good job Coop! Jesters Rule!

Sweet homemade costume, eh?

My Beautiful Children

We are lucky enough to have my good friend Abbey Sharp take pictures of the kids on Easter Sunday after they got all dressed up. They turned out super great! There's so many it was hard to choose which ones to post but here's a few of my favorites. Thanks Abbey!!!! These are a treasure for us!

These pictures of the girls melted my heart! They were just so sweet!

Cute Conlie

Beautiful Cambrie

My Handsome Boys. I just love you guys and I love the bond you share.

Cooper the Studmuffin

My sweet little Cannon

He wasn't particularly thrilled about the photo shoot but we got a couple of cute pics

Las Vegas Trip

Chon and I were lucky enough to be able to take a nice weekend getaway to Las Vegas with our good friends, Ruben and Patricia Parra. We were celebrating our 14th Anniversary and they were celebrating their 8th. We did a ton of walking, sightseeing, took in 3 shows, and ate a lot of great food!

Thanks SO MUCH to my parents who so willingly took the kids for the weekend. Also, Derrick and Hollie and our friends Abbey and Michael helped watch them as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you! That's a lot to take on! Anyway, we had a FABULOUS time! We figured out that it has been 11 years since we have taken an actual vacation without the kids! It was long over-due!! It was just so great to be together and to focus on each other and have a little fun (well, a lot of fun).

We stayed at the Polo Towers. It was a nice hotel but we didn't actually know what the word "studio" meant until we saw our rooms...guess that's code word for TINY room with a bed in the WALL...oh well, it fit us just fine! We understood why we got such a good deal after we got there.

We saw some great shows...the best of them was KA', a Cirque du Soleil show. It was AMAZING!! I would recommend it to anyone! We also saw a really funny and interesting variety show and a Comedy Improv show.

Inside the Cosmopolitan

Caesars Palace has a really cool aquarium with some neat fish. This stingray was just swimming around. It was really big and way cool! I also found a love for the Cheesecake Factory at Caesars Palace. I've never been there before but I will for sure be back!!!

Mr. Fishy Face himself!

This woman was floating around in the aquarium taking care of the fish and cleaning the windows. She stopped for a quick snapshot for me.

We had a nice lunch outside at a place called Cabo Wabo. It was such a fun atmosphere and really good food. The weather was perfect...warm and a little breezy.

Patricia and Ruben..arent' they so cute??

The next few pictures are in the Bellagio. We've never seen it before. It has the most beautiful fresh flowers all over inside the lobby area.

This is a "painting" made out of real flowers. It was so cool!

Bellagio Fountains

Paris (maybe for our next anniversary we can REALLY go there)

Hanging out at the pool which was on the roof of our hotel. It was so nice and relaxing (although I have decided that I am not capable of actually relaxing...I still sat there and worried about the kids and thinking about everything going on)

Man Alive You're 45!!

Happy Birthday Chon!!!

We hope you have a great day! We love you very much and appreciate all you do for our family! You are an awesome person and a great husband and dad! We each wanted to write a little letter to you to wish you a happy day.

Chon, I love you so much! I admire so many qualities about you and wish I had them for myself. I love that you are incredibly dedicated to whatever you do. If you decide to do something, I know it will be done more than 100% and you will put your heart and soul into it. I also love your sense of humor and your fun personality. I LOVE to hear you laugh and see you smile! I love to see you playing with the kids. You are so cute and fun and I enjoy watching you just relax and play with them. I love that you take care of me and listen to me and deal with my many stresses and "projects" and things I get myself into. I appreciate everything you do to help me with the house and the kids. You are so involved and I love that! You are the best, and I'm so blessed to be your wife!! Here's to another 45 great years!!! I Love You!
Love, Carrie

Dad, I love you so much! You are the best dad ever! I know you will do anything for me and the family. You are so funny. I love when you teach me so many things. I love going to movies with you and I love that you come to all my soccer games. You are the best dad I could ever ask for!
Love, Cooper

Happy birthday! I love you soooo much! you are the BEST dad EVER! You are good at the javelin on the Kinect. (You are good at many more games too.) I think you are funny. Whenever you say you'll do something for me you always do it all the way through. You are such a great dad! A great dad deserves a great birthday!
Love, Cambrie

Daddy, I love you because I love when you play Kinect with me. I love when you do things for me like help me clean my room. I like when you play games with me on the computer and matching card games. I love you!
Love, Conlie

And of course Cannon loves you! If he were to express anything he would say thanks for playing with him and letting him crawl all over you and for just loving him! He is always walking around asking for you. He loves snuggling with you in the morning when you get him out of bed.

Preschool Field Trip to the Treehouse

For Conlie's preschool, we got to go to the Treehouse in Ogden for a little field trip. The kids had a ton of fun! Conlie really enjoyed learning and doing new things! Even Cannon got in on the action and ran around like a little crazy man.

What's a trip to the Treehouse without milking the cow?

This was the funny little excited face Cannon kept doing. Everything was just so exciting for him. It was so cute!

Lovin' the fishies!

Pretty Girl

Happy Mother's Day

I am very lucky to be sandwiched between an AWESOME mom and 4 AMAZING kiddos! I am a blessed mother! I am so grateful to my mom for always being there for me, for listening to me, for giving me good advice, and for being a fantastic grandma to my kids. I am thankful for her teaching me to be respectful, hard working, and responsible and also how to have a little fun. I Love You! To my kids, I am so lucky to have been trusted with such super kids. I really don't deserve them but I will certainly keep them! I love each of them so much for the special qualities they possess and for the unconditional love they show to me. I am certainly the not best mom ever and I, just like any other mom, have frustrating moments but it truly is so rewarding to be a mom!

Cooper was asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting and it was a nice surprise to hear him speak so kindly of me. As always, he was very candid and honest about things and told the audience that he "needs to respect me more so I don't get mad, because NOBODY likes a mad mom." It was funny!

We had a nice brunch at Derrick and Hollie's house to celebrate moms and May Birthdays. Thanks for putting that on!

Me and Mom

Carrie, Mom, Derrick, Mindi

I'm Such a Lucky Girl

I have felt the blessings of amazing family and friends today, my 37th Birthday! I have been spoiled rotten with gifts, treats, well wishes, cards, phone calls, lunch and dinner dates, love and even a fun surprise party by my neighbors! I have been overwhelmed with the love my family and friends have been outpoured to me today. I can't even count the phone calls and texts and cards I have received. I feel so lucky to have the honor of being loved by so many!
I love my sweet hubby and awesome kids for making me feel so special today. You have a lot to deal with, with me in the house. And to the worlds best extended family and friends, Thank you all!!

My Birthday "Peep" Show

So my two crazy friends, Jen and Abbey, decided to go all out and decorate my yard and car for my B-Day. It was so cute and funny and creative. I woke up to the sun shining so immediately went to open my living room blinds only to find a pink flamingo peering in my window wearing nothing but a coconut bra! That was just the beginning. They had signs and "peeps" and pinwheels in the yard and a poem about the flamingo peeping in to see what was spinning. So cute!!

Thanks to my "peeps" for making my day fun! You're the best!