What's New With The Carter Family

Whatever happened to my little boy, you know the one....the kid who hated having his hands dirty? Even if he had a SMIDGE of anything dirty, sticky or foreign on him he would instantly want it off! Well I guess THOSE days are over (and have been for quite some time *LOL*). Here he is playing down the hill while daddy worked on the concrete stairs on the last day of June. It's fun being a boy, don't you think?

Jem came home on the last day of school with a big bunch of ugly, broken, mismatched crayons! Instead of throwing them away, I decided that we would 'recycle' them - into beautiful round multicolored crayons! I'd seen this done at work and had always wanted to try it myself. So this morning, that's what we did! We took the paper off of the crayons, snapped them into little pieces, arranged them into a muffin tray, baked them for 12 minutes at 250 degrees, cooled them in the freezer for 15 minutes and wa-la! We made 12 crayon rounds in all - and I think they came out pretty nice! Jem had fun doing this with me...I think I'm going to have to make this an end of school year tradition!

The day of Brandon's Graduation arrived...finally we were going to see him receive his Masters after so many years of studying (while working)! We were all so proud to share that moment with him! Sarah, Justin, River joined us....as we sat in the heat at Husky Stadium....trying to pinpoint Brandon's location.... Is that him? Hmmmm.....I dunno.....he is wearing an orange sash thingy on his back......uh oh, we are on the WRONG SIDE OF THE STADIUM! The engineering people are so far away we can't even see who is who! Oh well. At least we saw him in his attire at home, even though we couldn't spot him receiving his diploma or even figure out where he was *LOL*. Congrats Brandon! We're proud of you and happy to have been there to support you (wherever you may have been) on this special day!

Can you believe that it is already the end of the school year??? Where has the time gone? I know I say this a lot *LOL* but time just FLEW BY this year. It seems like he just started.... and here he is, about to graduate! He was so adorable up on that stage today :) He (along with the whole 4 Kindergarten classes) recited Psalm 1, sang 3 songs....and then when it was his turn, he walked up onto the stage and over to the microphone; said "When I grow up, I wanna be a Chef!"; then walked over to the Principal Mrs Leach and received his diploma! It was so sweet! I got a little teary I must admit! My boy is no longer a Kindergartener...oh my goodness, he's a first grader!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here is a little video compilation of the highlights of the day! It's just under 4 minutes long, and the ending is just the cutest! Enjoy!

Jem was down the hill with daddy today, helping him move dirt around on the most recent terrace level. I couldn't resist grabbing my camera and snapping a few photos! I love seeing the two of them down there together :) Sure, we may not have a beautiful grassy yard for Jem to play in...yet...but there is plenty of mud and dirt down there to keep any boy happy!

This weekend, Brandon and I took a drive down to the Oregon Coast. We took the scenic route - and got to go over some great bridges and drive along some gorgegous coastline! We stayed at the centrally located Seaside (at the Inn of the Four Winds) which was just lovely - it was right on the boardwalk, steps away from the sandy beach. We drove up to Cannon Beach (10 mins away) and saw the giant rock formations in the ocean....we visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory....we got to eat out a lot (some good - "Pig N Pancake" and some not so good - "Guidos")... and best of all we got to just sit and relax on that beautiful sandy beach. It was definitely too short of a trip...next time (and I would LOVE to go back) we have to stay longer!

Oh my! It was a most BEAUTIFUL day recently, when cute cousins Jem and River got to spend some time together at the park. It felt so nice to be out in the warm sun....almost as if we were knocking on summer's door. Of course the next day it went back to being yucky *LOL*, but we did have ONE day of pure fun in the sun (and of course I have pictures to prove it!).