What's New With The Carter Family

That's right folks.  You heard right.  We FINALLY made it to LEGOLAND, California, for a secret, hush hush, family   >>mostly for Jem<<    vacation!  It was AWESOME in so many ways....but let me start at the beginning :)  So first of all you should probably know that Jem had NO IDEA.  None whatsoever.  Not that we were going anywhere, much less that we were going to LEGOLAND.  In fact, we woke up that morning and "pretended" to drive him to school.  Only we didn't take the exit.  And when he kept asking us what we were doing, and where we were going....we simply told him that we were going to spend the day together as a family.  And then we drove to the parking garage at the airport.  And then he realized something was UP because we were all getting out of the car and we had luggage.  SO FUN!  We ended up telling him that we were going to spend a few days in San Diego, since he had the ...

This year's 4th of July was a family affair.....dad drove down from Idaho to spend a week with us all, and even Justin's mom came up for the day.  We spent the day at the Skinner's house, hanging out and eating.  In the evening we went to our house for some amazing fireworks!  I love this American holiday :)  

April Fools!  No, not really.  It's my anniversary, for reals :)  This year marked year number 14....and we decided to spend the day with the whole family (seeing as it was spring break and everyone was  home together anyway!).  We ended up going to the zoo in Seattle, and it was a really nice time.  Here are some pictures from our day...

It was a week ago today that my family and I hopped into my black, 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe....my first new car and a trusty and reliable ride for the last 9 years.  It was a short ride to Everett Hyundai, where we dropped it off for good - as the night before we had gone and purchased a new car!   I just LOVE LOVE LOVE my new car.  It's longer than my old Santa Fe, as it has a third row.  The seats are leather, theres heated seats, navigation, lots of fancy buttons everywhere haha!  Even the sunroof is panoramic, going almost the entire lenght of the car!  It has that new car smell and I heart driving it :)    Hellooooooooooooo Princess!!!  Come to mama :)

  My 39th birthday came around awfully fast.  When Brandon asked me what I wanted to do this year, my answer was fast and sure - I wanted to drive down to Seattle and have lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, and then head over to the waterfront to ride the new Giant Ferris Wheel.  So with my BFF and her family joining us, that's what we did!   For the first time in what seemed like weeks, the sun actually came out :)  It was going to be a perfect day to ride the big wheel....though we were all smart enough to realize that it was still going to be COLD as heck.  It is the Pacific Northwest afterall!  Hence the big, bulky winter gear :) Love that I got to do something fun on my birthday, but even more than that, I love that I got to spend the day with the people I love most.   I had such a good time....and was so grateful to my good friends The Bakula Family (Burke, April, Matthew, Ryan and Adam) for joining our fun and...

Yikes.  Time is passing by so quickly!  I am now the proud mother of....a....PRETEEN!  I can't believe my little guy is eleven years old.  Crazy!  Love my minecraft.obsessed-video.game.playing-always.eating-loves.to.cuddle-awesome.big.brother-violin.and.piano.playing-almost.middle.schooler-handsomest.boy.ever  SON.  Happy 11th birthday!

  It was with disbelief and overwhelming sadness that I heard the news of my Nannu’s passing – for though he was 93 years old and in declining health, I had convinced myself that he was always going to be with us.   God, however, had a different plan.     While my heart aches for the loss of my Nannu, I am grateful for the time we got to spend together and the many wonderful memories I have of him.   It is my honor to share some of these with you all today. Let’s face it:   you always knew when Nannu was around.   Mostly because he would announce it himself, at the top of his lungs, every chance he got.   “Nann-u!” he would yell.   Just randomly throughout the day.   And it wasn’t just his name.   He used to have lots of little sayings that he liked to call out.     “Et Boti?”   It makes me smile just to remember it J   It’s these little quirks that made him unique.   Our Nannu was not your av...

Every year we head to a local pumpkin patch.  We are so lucky to live in a part of the country that is so beautiful, and has so many great farms!  The past few years we've travelled all of a mile or so LOL, to a great farm closeby...Carleton Farms.  We started off with some photos of us all...     ...then  headed to the patch to pick our pumpkins!  There were so many great pumpkins to choose from.  We all had a really tough time choosing....   ...all of us except Brandon of course :)  Within 3 minutes Brandon found "the one" and proceeded to add it to our wheelbarrow.      Next was Finley.  Mommy spotted HER pumpkin and Fin gave it the pat of approval.     Mommy had a much tougher time choosing.  There were so many there, and she wanted to get JUST the right one.  Which to choose, which to choose..... A hint:  mommy ended up going with th...