Happy Birthday Carter!

Today Carter is 3 years old! It's kind of funny because the three older kids's birthdays are all about one month apart and all were on Mondays. We decided we needed to do something fun today so we went to the zoo with my sister and Carter's best buddy and cousin Griffy. We fed the horses, goats, and ducks. Then we finished off with a picnic and playing on the playground. Tonight we will have an ice cream Spider Man Cake and open presents.

Carter is such a sweet little guy, but can be mischeivious at the same time. Here are some of the top reason why I love my little guy:

1. He is my first baby boy. We were so excited to be getting a boy after 2 girls. We almost didn't believe the doctor when he told us he was a boy.
2. When I tell him I love him he always says, "Thanks Mom."
3. He always asks me to come play toys with him. I need to do it more often because my opportunities are slipping away.
4. He is fearless. My girls are scared of anything that moves, but not Carter. He is always in the middle of things. My dad has pigs and while the girls won't go near them, Carter will go stand in the pen and just watch them.
5. He is a wonderful little helper. He loves to help with dinner and stir things for me. When it is time to clean up, he is notorious for disappearing.
6. He has a little serious side to him. It is hard to get him to crack a smile when he doesn't want to, he will just ignore you. We were planting potatoes with my dad a few weeks ago and he was all business.
7. He is a sweet big brother to Dylan (most of the time). Dylan has gotten a few toys to the head lately.
8. When we go to the auction to visit Nels he raids everyone's desk for candy (especially Grandma's).
9. Every night when Nels comes home from work, he hears the garage door open up and runs to hide in the pantry or under the desk. When Nels comes in, he jumps out, hits him on the leg and then takes off.
10. He always has to give the girls a hug and kiss on the cheek before they go to school. If he doesn't get a chance to, he throws a big fit.

I love my little guy and am so grateful for his fun personality in our home. He is my little buddy and helper, until dad comes home.

Flyin Kites

We were bored over Easter Vacation so we went and got some kites. The wind was perfect and the kids kept their kites up really good, even Carter kept his up all by his self.

"Ballin' Mothas"

Today I had the chance to play in a 3 on 3 basketball tourney up at MSU-Billings. Cressida Carrol (an old friend that I played with for a couple years in high school who is also a member of the church, she is just a few years older than me), and Libbie Oram (a girl from my ward who also played college ball in Colorado and in Great Falls) got together and decided to play in this tourney. We called ourselves the ballin' mothas because we have 8 kids between the 3 of us, me having half of them. I must say I was pretty nervous becuase it has been FOREVER since I have played in a tourney. We ended up taking second place to 4 former college players (2 who played for the Griz, one played for MSU-B and overseas, and the other played for Rocky). And they only beat us by 6 points. I must say I was pretty impressed with how we did. Nels was a good sport to bring all the kids to watch and cheer us on. It was super fun and we hope to do it again next year.

Us waiting for the next game (me, Libbie's husband and daughter, Libbie, and Cressida).

Chatting with the other team, yea we beat them! lol

Amazing!

What an amazing experience we had on Sunday. Elder Oaks (one of the twelve apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) and Elder Renland came for our Stake Conference and stayed with my parents. We got to listen to him of Saturday night for the adult session and then again on Sunday. Sunday we had the opportunity to have a family dinner with him for about an hour and a half before he had to leave. It was such a privilege to meet an apostle of the Lord. Such amazing men that lead our church. We prepped the kids before we went over to be on their best behavior and they did great. Annie asked "Can we give him a hug?" and we told her she could, I'm not sure if she snuck it in but Macee told me she did give Elder Renland a high five. Today we asked the girls how they felt when they met Elder Oaks and Rendland and they replied,"Happy". We are truely blest to have the gospel in our lives and the ability to know the truth for ourselves.

All the grandkids with Elder Renland and Oaks.

While I Was Feeding Dylan...

The Culprit...sooo innocent

Annie's Baptism

We baptized Annie on March 14, 2009.

It was such a special day for her and for us. She was so excited and sweet. Her Baptism couldn't have gone any better. Grandma Pearson said the opening prayer, Grandpa Pearson spoke on Baptism, Grandpa Griffin spoke on the Holy Ghost, Nels baptized and confirmed her and Grandma Griffin gave the closing prayer. We also made a slide show of her that went along to the song "Three White Dresses." Nels worked super hard on it and Annie had no idea we had it until we showed it during her program. We have tried to download it from power point onto blogger and you tube but have had no luck (if anyone knows how to do that let me know). We had a lot of family and friends there and are so grateful for all the love and support of our friends and family. Thank you to all of those who came and helped out!

Annie and Nels

Nels, Andrea, Dylan, Macee, Carter, and Annie

Grandma and Granpa Pearson with the kids.

Annie and Grandma and Grandpa Pearson

Annie and Grandpa Griffin

Annie and Grandma Griffin

Annie's testimony (we put this on the inside of her program).

All the kids eating refreshments in the hall.

I just had to throw this one in too!

My Big Six Year Old!

Isn't it crazy how time flies and how old you begin to feel as your kids start getting older and growing up.

Macee turned 6 on April 6th. She was such a wonderful easy, content baby and now she is our
little ball of fire and always keeps us on our toes! She is spunky and very witty with a little (ok maybe a lot) of drama mixed in. She is very enthusiastic with everything she decides to do and when her mind is made up good luck changing it. She is wonderful at arguing and we are waiting for her career as a lawyer. She is also very forgiving and a great friend to all of those around her.
She does have a very sweet side and is always good for a hug and kiss on the way out the door for school and when it's off to bed. She will often come snuggle up by me when I am feeding Dylan and when she gets up to leave she makes me promise I won't let anyone else take her spot.

Macee is doing great in school and is really taking off on her reading. She got 100% on all of her little midterm testing for Kindergarten. Her teacher told me at parent teacher conference that she is such a little angel. I was glad to hear that! Her teacher also told us a story when they were talking about Thanksgiving and being thankful for our blessings. She went around the room and asked each student what they were thankful for. Macee was the first to go and she said she was thankful for her Temple. Nels and I were both holding our breath a little worried about what the teacher was going to say, but we were pleasantly surprised and proud of her.
She did tell me yesterday that if was my fault she did bad on her math. I asked her why and she said, "because you forgot to say it in your prayer this morning!"

Even though both her and Annie have their own room, they have been sleeping together in Annie's bed every night for the past 6 weeks. It is sweet to hear them in there laughing and giggling with each other when they are supposed to be going to sleep (until I ruin their fun and tell them to be quiet :)).

She started her second season of soccer and has her first game tonight. She is aggressive and a go getter. I am excited to watch her play.

I have also noticed that she has one high level of pain tolerance. She did not complain once about her leg before or after her bone graft surgery. She has a spacer in the roof of her mouth to fix her cross bite where the wires have worked their way into the roof of her mouth and she did not complain once about it hurting. All she said yesterday when the dentist fixed it was "ohh, that feels better!"

Macee has been such a blessing to our home and lives. We love her spunky little style and her resilient strong personality! There isn't one thing I would change about my baby girl! She has all the qualities that a girl needs to survive!

Notice her very fancy cake! :)