it's great to be 8!!

As some of you know Carter just turned 8 the first of this month, and then today he got baptized. He had his bishops interview a couple of weeks ago and since then he has been so excited and has talked about it quite a bit! Rob and Carter got to the church early today so they could change into the white clothes and get things all ready. I got there a few minutes later and he was pretty much about to bounce right out of his skin he was so excited and happy. He asked two of his cousins to give talks and they did such a great job. Then it was his turn to do the actual baptism, which went beautifully of course I was crying seeing my son get baptized by his daddy who he absolutely idolizes. So Rob told me later on, after they had gone back into the bathroom to get dried off and dressed in their suits, he said Carter could hardly contain himself. He was jumping up and down and kept saying over and over, I just got baptized. So Rob was still getting ready when Carter announced he was ready to come back out, Rob got a good look at him and saw that he was only wearing his shirt, tie, socks and no pants. So while he was helping to "finish" getting dressed Rob asked him if he felt clean and new now that all his sins had been washed away and true to Carter form he replied "yeah I really do, but dad where did they all go?" Rob told him that they were washed away in the water when he was immersed. Carter then said "so where did they all go, are they still in the water? Is the next kid gonna get my sins when they get in?" Rob promised him that they do clean it out very well after each kid :)

Rob's brother and kids are in town from Texas, they always come up every year.We were all at my house and I had banished everyone outside since we had just cleaned up the playroom to get ready for today. So we decided it would be fun to get some cloth paint and make some t-shirts. Well Carter was having a hard time figuring out what to put on his. The girls where well on their way and he was still sitting with a bland tee. So I started giving him some ideas, after a few No's he got excited and went to work on his shirt. When it was finished his shirt read.... " I shot Voldemort and all I got was this lousy T-shirt!" I personally thought it was quite clever!

still on vacation :)

I'm pretty sure I've told everyone before that Carter does and says almost everything his father does. Like, we are walking down he road and Rob spits, two seconds later Carter spits. Rob takes his hat off and rubs his head, Carter takes his hat off and rubs his head. Ok so you get this picture, well last week while in Tahoe, I was upstairs getting ready to go out for dinner and Rob remarked something like, "it's only dinner not a dance club!"( I was taking a little to long I suppose) Then today we decided to go Kayaking this morning down at Morro Bay and I was putting some moisturizer on my face still in my p.j's when Carter walked in, looked me up and down and said "mom, seriously we're just going kayaking not to a dancing contest!" and walked out!

A few day's ago, we were having spaghetti for dinner. Carter was sitting at the table, begging for something to eat, so I handed him a slice of french bread and handed him the butter. I turned around and went back to making dinner. When I looked back at him to see if he needed any help I noticed he had the piece of bread between his toes and the knife with butter on it trying to spread it on the bread! I told him to please not try to butter his bread with his toes and of course I got the customary "but mom!!" I asked him why in the world he was using his toes and he told me "because I'm trying to have a new skill! It's always a good idea to have lots of skills that you can use!" I shook my head and Rob very calmly said,"Carter you already have lots of great skills already, why don't you work on one of them instead!"

exclamations from the road....

Before the season begins and we don't see Rob for the next 6 months we decided to take a 16 day family vacation up through Tahoe, down to San Fran. then down the Central Coast and finally ending in Lancaster! yes, Lancaster, in the middle of the desert! My little sis. is blessing her new bundle of Joy and so we decided to roll it all into one! So of course being with my kids day in and day out has provided me with plenty of comic relief! But because of the amount i'm going to narrow down to just some of my top favs. so in no particular order here they are.........
     In tahoe, Paige is jumping up and down looking out the window down below at the sites and exclaims,
"Ohhh mommeee, wook it's a fwimming poodle!"
Also in tahoe, Rob had told Carter that the water slide was 250 feet, after conquering it, he remarked "that was 250 feet? felt more like 40 feet to me!"

In San Fran, Rob was taking Carter to a magic show for a little boys nite out and Rob asked Carter if he wanted some Cologne so they could pick up some babes! Carter all excited "yeah dad, I want some! Hey mom smell me I got on dad's perfume so we could get some babes!" As they are walking out the door I hear Carter ask Rob, "dad what's a babe?"

In Shell beach, I had stuck Paige in the tubby to get all the sand off of her after she got blasted by a few waves down at the beach. I was getting her out when I asked her pull the stopper up from the bottom of the tub when she looked up at me and said "No mommie, it's too dangerous!"
Oh also while we were down at the beach Paige told Rob that a shark had bite her bucket!

you 'member him?

I have found that around the age of 2-3, that my kids all go through a who is Jesus faze. Let me give you an example, when Carter was about 3 we were holding up a couple of different denominations of money and asking if he knew who was on the bill. I held up a 5 dollar bill first with good ole' honest Abe on it and asked him who it was, Carter's reply was "Jesus"! I then held up a one dollar bill and asked him the same question, this time his reply was "it's Grandma Vicki!" To say she was less than happy about being in the same category as George Washington is certainly an understatement!
 So now Paige is 2 1/2 and has been doing the same thing. Rob bought the Lord of the Rings extended version pack and had it sitting on the kitchen counter, Paige and Arianne were in there when Paige remarked, "Ari, do you know who this is?" pointing to a picture of Aragorn on the cover of the movie case and then says "that's Jesus, you 'member him?" I love that anyone with long brownish hair and a full beard becomes Jesus.

where at least I know I'm free!!

Carter and Rob were sitting in the kitchen, and after a moment deep in thought Carter looked up and asked Rob, "Dad, why do parents make all the decisions for kids, cause God gave kids the freedom to make our own choices! So really why?" Sometimes after  I hear the things that he says I'm not sure if I should laugh, or stand up and sing Lee Greenwood's "I'm proud to be an American"! Maybe it's just all the red, white and blue and let freedom ring that has got him going, but then later this evening he repeated his famous words again! (I'm sorta paraphrasing here!) "Why, oh why must we be enslaved to the opinions of those evil dictators who rule over us! I say we have our freedom, let us make our own choices! Cereal for Dinner?? YESSS, Watch T.V. all day? YESS!!! Never take a shower again?? Absolutely! The choice is yours my fellow brethren!"