Lake Powell

So, Matt and I decided to be totally insane and take the kids camping to Lake Powell last weekend with a couple friends. We were totally stressed for days before, worrying about everything we should have worried about before committing to going: how the heck are the kids gonna get good sleep/naps? are they going to be naughty and ruin everyone else's trip? etc. It didn't help that all who heard we were going proceeded to confirm to us how crazy we were. Then on top of it all, the weather forecast was showing possible thunderstorms half the time we were there. Anyways, the trip turned out to be so fun! The kids were both angels, and slept like champs. Carson had a blast playing in the dirt all day, filling up buckets of water, and "cleaning" lake powell with wipes. (the kid appreciates a good clean campsite) I think he also ate more junk food that weekend than the rest of his life combined. We had a killer campsite that was perfect for the kids and completely private in our own little cove. Such a fun trip!
On Saturday, the storm started rolling in so we did end up booking it out of there a day early and went to Phoenix to visit my brother and his wife on the way home. We got out just in the knick of time- we drove through one of the worst rain storms ever the whole way to phoenix. I almost even made matt pull over, and i am soooo not one to drag out a road trip unless absolutely necessary. I'm sure our campsite got worked! Anyhow, always fun to see the bro. and a good end to a vacation!

What a hottie!
Matt & Carson on wake skate!
The Browns & the Fullers
Brynlee & uncle Nathan at the park

The End of Summer

Now that we're officially in the month of September, and it's the day past Labor Day, I'm slowly coming to the realization that summer is coming to an end soon and also that it went by waaaay too fast- cue the tears. I know I can't complain living in So Cal, but I will anyways because I love my summers! It really doesn't feel like it's even close to being over with the Arizona like heat we've been getting (i'm sure all you arizonians want to shoot me for even comparing our heat too yours...but seriously it's been sooo hot) I love everything about summer and this year was no exception with the endless swimming, eating way to much ice cream, barbecuing and of course all the vacations. Now I know it's not over yet, but I'm posting some cute pics of Carson and Brynlee from the last month. They are the best little kiddies ever and we have sooo much fun with them.




Visting Grandpa's Ranch in Northern Cali.


The jury is still out on whether or not Carson likes tubing...loved playing with Uncle Nathan on land though.
Brynlee swimming with Uncle Shane

Cruisin' The Caribbean

A month ago Matt and I were able to go on a 7 day cruise with my Dad's extended family. There were about 54 people in our group and no kids under 8 were allowed. (Grandma & Grandpa rules) It was an unbelievable trip, especially having no responsibility and being completely carefree for a week. Oh the joy in being able to enjoy a meal in peace, and have complete freedom to do whatever we wanted. I am a HUGE cruise advocate!!! The best trip ever. We owe Matt's parents big time for watching our kids for the full week. I think the kids had just as much fun as we did being spoiled by Grandma & Grandpa! Anyhow, here's some pics from the vacation- Can't wait for the next one!!!



Married girls cousins

First formal night

Matt & Brooke with Nathan & Janelle

Chris Anderson Family

Room Service Party...17 plates of food ordered & eaten at 1 in the morning thanks to Nathan!!

Trunk Bay on St. Johns Island- Amazing!

Do you think he's ready for potty training???

I bought Carson a little toilet a few months ago hoping that it would somehow be so enticing that he couldn't resist the desire to become potty trained. Unfortunately that hasn't quite happened, instead, it's become a great stool for washing hands.
There's been few more signs that maybe he's getting closer to being ready, but the best was last week when Carson decided he would change Brynlee's diaper all by himself. He didn't even ask just ran to get a diaper and wipes and started the job as soon as I laid her on the floor after her feeding. It was the funniest thing ever. Notice Carson's frustration when Brynlee started turning over mid change... I had to laugh, but he didn't appreciate that either...and the final product speaks for itself:)

A week of unwinding

The kids are both down for a nap, so I'm singing Hallelujah and thought I'd send a quick little update on life. The last couple of days we've been playing catch up around the house because the 2 weeks before that Matt's sister Keri was in town with her 3 kids. We had soooo much fun with them, but I did have to take 2 naps, which is really really rare for me....i'm not a napper at all, but I was exhausted from all we did! Here are some highlights. First, Karen took the girls to see Wicked in L.A for our birthdays, and it was the BEST show ever. We had killer seats, and i've since downloaded the soundtrack and have been listening to it non-stop, and having dance parties with Carson. I'm already trying to figure out a way to go back with Matt. We also discovered the best open gymnastics gym at the YMCA for the kids to have free play on. It had all the real gymnastics equipment and then some. It fulfilled my ongoing dreams of being a gymnast- I played just as much as Carson. We also went swimming a couple times, barbequed, to the beach, the del mar fair, sea world, and Carson went to disneyland. We're always scheming on how we can get Keri to move back down here, cause it's always so fun when she's here and Carson LOVES his cousins. Matt's sister Alli also came down for the weekend and went to the beach with us. We don't see her enough, so it was tons of fun having her here too. Carson loved her, and has since been calling her on his "cell phone." Scary that a 2 year old is totally into his phone!

He's a few pictures from our adventures: (just kidding they posted at the top of the message) Still figuring out how things work in the world of blogging:)

Learning to Blog

Carson LOVES dad's socks!

I don't know what I'm doing, but apparently blogging is in, so I'm attempting to create one for our family. I feel both old and embarrassed to admit that I could probably hire a 2nd grader that would be much more efficient in posting a blog, so you'll have to bare with me.

We'll just keep it simple to start, because quite honestly I don't know who's going to read it anyway :) But it's a great way to document life since i've repeatedly failed at journal writing.

Here's some quick family updates:

Matt is starting work at a new company on Monday- exciting and a little scary.

Carson is almost 2 1/2 and the best big brother around. He has unlimited hugs and kisses for his sister and for anyone else that will play with him. He's a great helper and the latest favorite is cleaning dishes. Not sure filling up cups with water, scrubbing them, then dumping and repeating 100 times completely qualifies, but i've learned i can get quite a bit done if i turn the water on to a slight drip- he'd stand there for hours. It also works with brushing his teeth, you've never met a kid with cleaner teeth.

Brynlee is HUGE now. she's 4 1/2 months and just getting more and more fun. She's so smiley and laughs if you're lucky. One of the best sounds in the entire world. I love having my little girl!!! We actually went on a shopping outing all day today to the nordstroms sale- I'm training her early.

Hopefully I will be able to attach a couple recent photos of the kids....