Photos

All I wanted was a cute picture of the two boys together for the wall...

And this is what I got... :)

Oh well :) At least we had fun!

A Perfect Christmas Present

Surprise!

Gracing us with his presence two weeks early...

We welcomed our little Andrew on December 24. Just in time for Christmas.

Andrew Michael Carter

Born December 24, 2013 at 3:48pm

6lbs 13oz

19.25 inches

And some pictures of our little cutie....

And now we are a family of four :)

 My boys

 And just because he's cute even when he's grumpy ;)

Music

Sorry. This is not an update on our lives. I know I have been absent for months. But I wanted to post this.

More music. I love music. Music has always touched me in ways that nothing else could. At the end of the lesson in Young Women's yesterday, the teacher played this song for the girls to ponder on. I have heard it before, but the words were very strong to me yesterday.

Live Like you Believe - Jenny Philips

Enjoy :)

O Holy Night

I love the Christmas season. And I love Christmas music. I am one of those that has no problem listening to it any time of year. It never fails to put a smile on my face and a feeling of peace in my heart. one of my favorite songs of the seasons is O Holy Night.

And I wanted to share it with you.

two versions to enjoy. The first by Josh Groban, my long time favorite. The second is a new gem I found, sung by David Archuletta.

Merry Christmas everyone :)

Quick Video Update for the Grandparents

Just a few recent videos and pictures before I continue my catching up of the blog...

He was dancing for himself in the mirror for a long time before this. By the time I got the camera he was almost done. But he's still cute to watch.

We went walking the other day and he found sprinklers on in someones yard. So of course he had to play. After I turned the camera off he got soaked. And loved it :)

Austin and Rika chase each other around all day taking balls from the other and running. And then he  usually tackles her. I don't think you get the joy of watching the tackle in this video though. I'll post one of those later. 

Sorry about the mess of toys in this one, but he has a cute laugh anyway.

I'll get some more pictures up soon of our adventures. Enjoy :)

Fun in the Sun...July

For the first week in July we were house sitting for some friends. They just happen to live right on the beach.

 

We spent July 4 at the beach. Went surfing, played in the sand, and just relaxed.

Austin began getting into things more and more. He loves to figure everything out. What things are, what they do, how they work. He can't quite get in as deep as his daddy does, but he checks things out until he understands them. Well, as much as he can at least.

He tries to get himself behind, next to, in between, anything and everything.

He LOVES fruit. He devoured this peach. There was nothing but the pit left when he was done.

Practicing his standing

Austin figured stairs out while we were in New Hampshire, and started going up and down by himself without me helping to turn him around. He would still much rather go down head first though.

He loves bikes. There is one that someone leaves in the park by the playground right near our house, and whenever we go to the playground all he does is wander over to the bike to play with it. No matter how far across the park I take him, he turns around and wanders right back to the bike.

And the dog bowl. Even if I fill up other buckets for him to play with. If there is water in the dog bowl he leaves his buckets and goes to dump Rika's upside down. I'm not sure the pull to that one. But he loves her. He wrestles with her all day.

Sorry this picture is sideways. But I didn't want to reload it. For a while Austin would walk around like this. One hand out in front of him, talking away. I caught him in this picture right after he sat down, but it was always so cute to watch. He doesn't do it as much anymore, so I'm glad I got the picture.

We helped out at an event for a couple of days, and most of the time I was just chasing this little guy around. And sometimes we just let the kids go for it. He found the food.

Austin also began getting more adventurous in the pool. He would just let go of the stairs or the side and just walk right towards us, or walk right off the edge to us.

We went to watch our friends in a dragon boat race one weekend, and when we got there they said that they needed another person to fill the boat. And they asked Brett to do it. No, he hadn't ever done it before. But whatever. They had a good time. It was fun to watch.

Afterwards we found some other friends about to go surfing, and all Austin wanted to do was get their boards. He's almost ready for his own :) Anytime I took him off he would kick his legs trying to get himself back to it.

We got to get all dressed up and attend a ball. And yes, I wore the same dress that I wore many times at BYU.

Austin loves the beach. Good thing. He runs straight down the beach and into the water. Then he'll just go in and out for a while. He's gotten waves to the face a few times. But he does fine :)

I have to keep Rika away from him while he's eating because he started sharing his food with her on purpose. And he just giggles the whole time.

This is also when Austin started letting go of things on his own and walking across the room. He just let go of the couch one day and walked to his toy. I'm glad I was there to see it :)

You make me smile :)

Sometimes he gets in these moods...and I love it :)