To Utah We Will Go...

Well, we somehow survived the car ride and made it to Orem, Utah. I'm not going to lie; it was very hard. We took these pictures early in the trip before Mom got ready to gag everyone. Emmett was pretty good, just didn't get enough sleep and doesn't like being stuck in the carseat that long. And Alden was about as good as he can be - which is probably like any 2 year old boy. My backpack of fun activities didn't last as long as I wanted - but thank goodness for portable DVD players! The 11 hour trip took us 13 1/2 - but we're here now and having fun!

Alden is in little boy heaven - we are staying with my friends, Lori & Blake, who have 3 boys. Toys and friends galore! And Emmett follows all 4 of them around. He has learned to go up the stairs by himself. We went to church with the Youngs - Alden enjoyed nursery as always. They even said he was good. Aaron's sister, Sally & her family had us over for dinner and the boys loved meeting their cousins, who are big and could take them to play. A thanks in advance for the babysitting these same cousins will do later this week.

More Downtown Mesa Fun

See everyone (Shannon), Mesa is a great place to live! Last week we had fun at the Mesa SW Museum, and today we enjoyed the statues downtown. Every year there are cool bronze statues/sculptures on display and my Mom likes to gather the girls together to view the art, check out the shops, and have lunch & treats. My sister, Tami, took Brooklyn & Rex and my cousin-in-law, Melanie, took Bradley & Carter. Of course Alden & Emmett rounded out the party, along with 3 strollers. We tried not to terrorize too many shops, although they have a lot of fun boutiques and girly kinds of stuff. And Mom treated everyone to lunch at Mangoes and cookies from Sweet Cakes - thanks Mom! (Not that she ever reads our blog, her dial-up internet is tooooo slow.) Below are pictures of the group and some of our favorite statues.

I Love to See the Temple

Saturday Aaron & I were priveledged to attend the sealing of my sister, Tami, to her husband and 4 children. We are so happy for them and admire them for all they have done to get to this point. It was wonderful to see the whole family there in white and you can't help but feel the Spirit so strongly in the temple. My parents hosted an open house for them that night and it was fun to meet all their friends from out in far east Mesa. I even made a "wedding" video for them that included all their kids too. I would post it but it's too big for youtube. But here is the happy family! Jared, Tami, Abby, Lance, Brooklyn & Rex

Jurassic Park Day

Today we had a very fun, very red day at the Mesa Southwest Museum and the park. Not sure how we all ended up in matching outfits. Aaron doesn't appear to be working lately so we're taking advantage of it before he goes back to 60 hour weeks. He's been wanting to take us to this museum for a while and it was so cool! Tons of dinosaur stuff, mixed in with AZ southwest Indian, mining, and various what-nots. And it was pretty big too. We topped it off with a trip to the park to play with our friends, the Rasmussens.

Hooray for New Stuff

We have several new items at the Carpenter home. Wish they were for me, but Alden is the very lucky boy this week. He is the proud user of a new "big boy bed." Very exciting. We had planned on getting bunkbeds as soon as Alden left his crib and I've been pushing to do it sooner, Aaron later. A common difference for us - I love to spend, Aaron likes to wait. But we both won - we ended up with a sweet friend who gave us 2 top mattresses, we scrounged a box spring from Aaron's grandma's house, and rummaged in my parent's attic for a headboard/footboard/rails. Yeah! A free big boy bed. Except for the bedding, although we took a few donations. And being the free-spending, think-ahead mom that I am - I had purchased an awesome twin bedding set, sans sheets, in St. Pete like 9 months ago. Of course, even with his awesome duvet cover, Alden insists on using his Pooh blanket still 'cause "it's so fuzzy, Mom!" We'll work on the bare walls next.

And our other new item is a swingset, which of course will be for both boys, but Alden doesn't think so, although he doesn't even know how to swing yet. He only goes on his stomach, usually with a running start, which of course has ended in several face plants when he overshoots. Emmett helped with the assembly, although we seem to be missing a dozen or so pieces of hardware. Hope he didn't think they tasted as good as this wrench. I put Emmett on the slide with Alden for some pictures, and they even went down together a few times. And Emmy even laughed! But he always laughs at his brother, even when Alden is pushing him away (constantly)! I bet Emmett gets bigger than him eventually and won't that be fun!

Wonderful Weekend!

We Carpenters have had a wonderful 3 day weekend! Aaron pretty much took Friday off and we took the boys shopping at the mall in the afternoon. We were a bit worried but couldn't find a babysitter so we took them and they were so good! Aaron found the new shoes he wanted, I had tons of fun browsing, we ate bagel dogs and visited the pet store. We capped it all off with 30 min. at the kid play place. They loved it - even Emmett. Probably the highlight of the whole experience was our visit to the Godiva chocolate store. They were all so nice and gave us free samples. We let Alden choose one piece since he was a good boy and told us he had to go potty. Aaron chose 'chocoiste pearls" to take to work, I chose a Dark Chocolate Decadence Chocolixir, a frozen drink that left me speechless - quite a feat! I wanted to put a picture of it here, but apparently its copyrighted and you can't get it off the site, so I'm adding the link. http://www.godiva.com/boutique/chocolixir.aspx

Saturday was a continuation of the fun as we spent a couple hours at the company picnic for my Dad, Steve Blasnek. They had bouncy houses, slides, food, etc. and I even remembered to put sunscreen on the boys. Alden loves playing with his cousins and liked watching Abby climb the rock wall. He can't wait 'til he's big enough. Church was not a disaster and we are having Aaron's family for dinner - so overall a decent Sunday too. I love weekends like this!

Saving for a Special Occasion

Sometimes I don't appreciate how great my life is. I don't have a lot of complaints, I just get too caught up in all the little things I need to do (laundry, dishes, vacuuming, dusting, etc.). I love playdates not only because I get to hang out with another Mom, but because I actually play with my kids more. I don't worry about all my chores, I just have fun with the boys and it feels like a special occasion. Somehow that seems a little backwards - I shouldn't be saving my sons for a special occasion, every day is special with them! Or it can be, if I make it that way.

I was thinking about this today as I searched for a way to get Alden out of his post-nap grumps. A few days ago I opened up a box of toys that were put away long ago in Florida and both boys have been having loads of fun with them. Among these there was a pack of those glow-in-the-dark flexible sticks, the kind you break the glass in them and they light up. Shannon gave these to all the kids at Callie's 1st birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese in Florida, Oct 2005. That's right, 2005! And I happen to know she got them at the dollar store. And for the next 6 months Alden tried to get me to open them for him, but I always told him we were waiting. You know, for a special occasion. (Like sometime when he doesn't got to bed before dark.) And all this week it's been the same story. I told him they were a special treat and we were saving them. Then I thought - what is wrong with me! They are not a special treat, my son is a special treat and I opened them right up. Of course, except for the 2 min. we spent in a dark room, the glowing feature was lost on Alden, but he loved them anyway.

So, the moral for me is, clean less, enjoy the boys more. And this week has been great because we have had like 4 playdates and have had tons of fun! I love my family and need to show them by the time I spend with them, not the cleaning I do.

The Joy of Being a Kid!

Alden is discovering how fun it is to water the lawn. He pulled off his shorts so he could run around in his cute Elmo underpants. Spring is here, although in Arizona it all kind of blends together into one long, hot summer. You can tell its spring by the sprouting of the weeds in our backyard . (55 sec. video of Alden running through the sprinklers.)

Happy Easter!

What a beautiful Easter weekend here in Sunny Arizona! I love Easter - the pagan & the religious. We colored Easter eggs, went on an Easter egg hunt with my parents, and got bright, fun, new Easter outfits for church. But of course, I love the story of the Resurrection even more. I am the secretary in the primary presidency and today we put on a very elaborate portrayal of the last days of Christ. I was very touched by the Spirit and the feelings of Easter and the gift of the Resurrection, which the Lord gives to all men. I hope all our friends had a nice Easter also and spent the day with family.

As part of our wonderful Easter weekend, Aaron & I attended the temple yesterday. My sister, Tami, and her husband, Jared, went to the temple for the first time to receive their own endowment. The whole family felt blessed to share in this wonderful experience with them and everything went so well! We are looking forward to the 21st of this month when they will be sealed together with their 4 children. Pictures to follow!

Alden's New Pastimes

Now, instead of just watching PBS, Alden has discovered pbskids.org. Who knew introducing him to the computer would be so easy, or that he would love it so much! This is a wonderful website and I now justify the time he spends on the computer as "better than watching tv because its more interactive" (more educational, right?). Alden also loves Playhouse Disney and Thomas and Friends. I just have to keep the printer empty of paper, or he will print endless coloring pages. I also have to watch my own work - if I leave the computer sitting with the web browser on something important, when I come back it will probably be on Curious George or Little Einsteins. He seems to be a whiz with navigating web sites, and has his own mini-mouse, although he can use the touch pad on the laptop too. Aaron says we should rent him out to teach grandparents how to use the computer - Alden could sure teach both his grandmothers a thing or two. As a side note, Aaron is always saying we could rent our kids out as a way to make money because they are so cute, or so smart, or so this or that. I agree with him that our boys are the cutest, smartest, sweetest (Emmett), and the best everything, but I guess I just feel guilty about bragging so much!


Alden's other favorite thing to do is help Mom in the kitchen. And I'm sure you can imagine how that goes and just how helpful he is. He loves to mix things, and usually Brittney will take care of whatever he spills. Alden is a boy after my own heart, rather than his father's - he loves chocolate! And of course I keep him in constant supply with my baking. Let's just hope he inherits his father's body type too!

Brittney the Dog!

Welcome to the first installment of the Carpenter’s guest blogger, Brittney the Dog! Brittney (that’s what my people call me) is part Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and part Britney Spaniel and about 10 years old. I joined the family in June 2000 when Aaron’s mom stopped at Safeway, where they had Safeway Select puppies going for a special price! (Actually it was the local Pinetop-Lakeside animal shelter offering dogs for adoption outside of Safeway but isn’t a Safeway Select puppy better?) I am definitely a people dog and don’t really enjoy the company of my own species; they bug me too much. Although most people think I am a puppy when they first meet me (because of my energetic greetings), I am actually a dog who lives in perpetual holiday, enjoying my bed, the rugs, Aaron’s Lazy-Boy, and under Emmett’s crib as places to rest my weary legs, while I wait for the exciting times like breakfast, dinner, or when visitors drop by. I hope you too drop by to visit my people so I can have some reason to get out of bed.

Sooo Big!

Watch this 40 second video of Emmett learning to walk and of Alden showing off his version of Pilates. Proof positive that I do pilates sometimes, where else would he learn these moves?