Wedding Bells for Kim and Patrick!

Another Oregon trip with alot of fun! My sister Kim got married yesterday at St. Mary's church in Mt. Angel, WOW!!! What a beautiful ceremony and reception that followed at Abiqua. There are a TON of pictures, and a whole lot more that didn't make the cut...so here they are....

Carter in a rare moment of hapiness playing peekaboo with Papa!

Cousin Abrianna helping Carter walk up the big grassy hill...Carter was bound and determined to play with the big kids, I got tired of following her up the hill, so my favorite rule of "If you can't do it by yourself than you don't need to be doing it" came into play...well, where there's a will there's a way, she tumbled head over heel a few times and rolled a few times too, but she figured out how to be a big kid too!!!
My niece Kayla, My sister Crystal and I enjoying the mix DJ Ron was playing

Little girl cousins, Carter, Abrianna, and Kayla

After one of Carter's many tumbles down the big hill....being coached by Abrianna

On the dance floor, getting her groove on! We were all waiting for dinner to be served, the kids couldn't sit still, so where did they all naturally end up? On the dance floor of course, having a grand 'ole time twirling in their pretty dresses!

My nephew Parker was definitely the star of the evening...all of the sudden we heard laughing and clapping...looking up we beheld this little man boogy-in like there was no tomorrow... let's just say I won't be surprised if he shows up on you-tube soon! My sister had 3 different guests who happened to be dance instructors, invite her to bring him to their studio for lessons....in all honesty he really does have great rhythm and dance moves! He danced so hard ALL night, that he had to have advil and his feet rubbed before he could go to bed!!!

My Dad and Sister Kim

My sisters Kim and Crystal

Me and my sister Brook (How we went 7 1/2 hrs without getting an all sister picture except for the one the photographer took, i'll never know!)

Me and John, forced into a photo opp by Brook...yea, we were trying to get a VERY cranky out of control toddler to sleep by pushing her in the stroller around and around and around (no it didn't work!) Hence the somewhat forced smiles!

The beautiful center pieces...LOVE the Dahlia's and the handy dadndy twig vases constructed by my very crafty mother!

Ned and Ted AKA Dick and Ted, my dad and his younger brother!

Leaving the church for Abiqua...what and absolutely PERFECT day!!!

The hooligans let loose after the ceremony....Thankfully we practice sitting revrent every Sunday for and hour in sacrament meeting, so the hour Mass/Wedding ceremony was actually quite pleasant...made possible by fruit snacks, quiet books, and husbands who took the babies out!!! (Hey, at least there was a big glass wall/door in the back that goes into the lobby, so they still could hear and see everything!)

Ah, Mr. Handsom...I can't believe he turned down every woman and little girl who asked him to dance at the reception....he was a one man show I guess! He wouldn't even dance with his favorite Aunt...AKA ME! (J/K!)

My cousin Rochelle and her husband Devon, they came down to celebrate their 1 year anniversary...bad weather at the coast left them stuck with us....AND we're GLAD!!! I miss you guys already!

The whole bunch of us!

Waiting for it all to begin!

Randall, Brook, Parker, Abrianna and Autumn

Kayla, Crystal and Brenna

St. Mary's on the outside....

St. Mary's on the inside (of course this isn't a picture from the wedding, we somehow overlooked getting a great shot as such, but thankfully the church's website provides a few for viewing delight!) It was AMAZING!!!

Oregon Trip

Well, Carter and I were lucky girls again, thanks to the generosity of family...we again were able to travel to Oregon for a little family visit! There was alot going on, and all were tired and wore out before we even got their, but we still had a good time...Carter LOVED playing with all of her cousins, and her Nana and Papa especially...oh yes, and her aunties too!

Carter's Happy PB&J Face!

Playing in Nana's backyard...she has so many cool toys to play on!
Thank you Nana for being a photographaholic!

Each time we visit as Carter gets older- it's fun to watch her beging to develop actual relationships with family who live far away...early in the morning we'd get up and while my Dad was making his lunch and breakfast, Carter would follow him around, and mooch bites of breakfast, she'd jibber jabber to him, and he'd jibber jabber back...she's mastered the art of flirting with Papa, to wrap him a little tighter around her finger!

Having quiet time with Papa

Quiet time with Nana!

Playing at Nana's with Cousin Brenna (these two play the best together, Brenna's learned that "Baby Carter" is no longer a needy little baby, but an independent toddler!) Although all of the cousins still call her "Baby Carter"!

Oopsie Poopsie! (No she didn't get run over, she just slipped off of the seat!)

Vroom vroom, i'm a big girl!!!

Carter's favorite past time at Nana's house...playing house...convenient for me, this is the room we sleep in, so if I want a few extra snoozes, I just get her out of the crib, shut the door, turn her loose to play, and I roll over and go back to sleep!!!

Time to Create!

Tadaa, my favorite way to spend an afternoon...sitting in front of the fan at the computer while the baby naps!!! Well, here's the best of the best of what I came up with...I just LOVE creating fun stuff.........PS: NO i'm not pregnant....YES these are all pictures of Carter (even the "boy" ones) All of the names and stats are fake...but the names I do so enjoy at least!...Maybe some day we'll get to use these names up!

Sweating out Summer

I don't know whatever posessed me to bake in 100 degree weather...especially considering we have no air conditioning, and our house doesn't start to cool off until after 9 pm, but my tastebuds got the better of me...an insatiable craving for fresh dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls and elephant ears had me digging for an apron....Just call me Betty Crocker! Well, I have a wonderful versatile dough recipe that I almost have memorized! The trouble I always have is finding the right "warm" place for the dough to rise...my favorite method is putting the bowl in the clothes dryer on a shoe rack...but having no shoe rack at this house...my next best option was....tada...my front porch (well actually it started on top of the car!) I found that when it's 103 degrees outside, a metal bowl and hot car top or hot cement does the trick in half the time as any other "warm" place! Give it a try in the summer....and the dryer in the winter...I promise you'll never find a better spot!

Last weekend we went swimming to the Rupert Pool, it was SOOO hot outside ...Oh...and inside! So we decided to go for a swim rather than sweat it out! Carter really loves baths, so logically I thought she'd also enjoy the kiddy pool...however I forgtot to take into calculation that my one year old is EXTREMELY independent and thinks she can do everything on her own...therefor she swallowed rather unhealthy doses of pool water as she kept trying to "run away" as she'd side step down the side of the pool swatting at our outstretched hands trying to steady her or catch her if need be. After going under several times rather than act frightened over nearly drowning, she just yelled and screamed at us, and tried to shove us further away as if we had actually dunked her rather than save her life....oh what a little miss attitude we have!
We also spent those 100 degree days last week chilling at John's aunt and uncles house...why? Because they have AC/TV and the internet...and they're out of town camping, so we feed animals, collect mail, and water flowers in exchange for a few hours a day of sweat free entertainment and relaxation!!!
One evening we watched our 3 nieces at John's Aunt and Unlce's, it was blazin hot so we turned the sprinkler on under the trampoline, ate pizza and watched the "Aristocats" Gotta love it! This is our cute niece Brynlie taking a little snooze on Uncle John!

Cousin McKenzie and Carter taking a moment to bond!

Mmmmm, thank you Daddy for the sour gummy worms!

As for this picture, take a good look at Cruella's face...now scroll down to the next picture...

Anyone see the resemblance between the rage-aholic puppy thief and my rage-aholic 15 month old? Ok, so maybe rage-aholic takes it a little too far, but if you'd spent the last two weeks with my child, you'd know it's not that far of a stretch!

Miss Grumpy Grump...she couldn't decide if she liked being on the trampoline or if it was too scary, but the big girls were jumping on it and she wasn't...good enough reason to pitch a royal fit right? (So typical I know!)

Liking being bounced for a split second!

Cousin McKenzie and Cousin Riley haning out!

A Slice of Summer

Carter loves spending time outside, unfortunately it's usually either WAY too hot, or too windy , but lucky us, we had a perfect day for popsicles in the front yard!

Cherry is most definitely her favorite flavor...just like her mommy!

Carter is ALL GIRL! She's a melodramatic queen of attitude, and LOVES to wear her pretties! She sashays around the room so her dresses swish around her, loves to put on her necklaces, and mommy's bracelets....and she loves to look at her self in the mirror!

I know, it looks like she's strangling her self, but no...she's just showing us her bling!

We often get the itch to go adventuring, a few weeks ago we had a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and decided to take a drive through the south hills. We started in Elba, and took a gravel road that connects into Oakley. We found quite a few old homesteads that we wanted to explore, but thought better of it... (ok, mainly it's because i'm SERIOUSLY afraid of snakes, and have a deep/slightly irrational fear of coming accross a rattler as I go tromping about!)

Trying to get a quick family photo...some of us just weren't too willing to pose!

We picniced at the park in Elba, and then relaxed by a stream...Carter loves, water and was quite content to sit and watch the stream go by....of course she was very diligent at pointing out every little thing that also went floating by!!! She's VERY observant and loves to just watch everything around her, she often has the most serious and contemplative look on her face.

Of course Daddy and Carter found a nice big tree to climb together!

We had the chance to take a quick day trip to Craters of the Moon. It was actually sunny, the wind wasn't blowing...two rare happenings around here lately! We took our time getting there, John stopped to fish a little while Carter napped in the car and I soaked up some sun with a book two of my favorite things! We hiked up and down a lot of trails (ps: that are not stroller friendly no matter what the ranger says!) It was beautiful and exhausting day! The biggest highlight was getting to climb through one of the caves...I was surprised how well the three of us faired considering we had to pack Carter through the whole thing!

No, that disgruntled look on Carter's face is not from having to "Stay on the Trail"...she had an allergic reaction to something, her face swelled and got red patches all over... she looked pretty sad, but was still a little champ!

Mommy and Carter....I still don't see any of me in her!