Benjamin's 4th Birthday

 Emmalee and Brienna helping Benjamin make his cake.

 Brienna did an awesome job decorating the rainbow chip cake--Shaggy and Scooby :D

 Ben with his new Buzz Lightyear car.

 Talking to Grandma Carter on the phone--at first he didn't want to talk because he was opening presents.  But then he loved it because Grandma & Grandpa sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

 Ben has already watched his "new" movie, "Toy Story" (the first one).  Our DVD finally stopped working (probably after being watched a million times)

 Showing off the minion shirt Brienna gave him (from the movie, "Despicable Me")

 Trying out his new Elmo slippers--they should come in quite handy this weekend when the high is only going to be 25 degrees (brrrr).

 Getting ready to blow out the candles.

And one last picture of the awesome decorating skills of Brienna.

Harvest Dance 2012

 The day before Halloween the stake had a Harvest Dance for those 14-18.  I put this picture in because you can see Zane in the middle back (by the wall).  This is during the "showcase" dance.

 Mariah, Brienna, Julie & Lindsay

 What beautiful girls!

 How fun!

(Zane in the background again)

"Lost Pictures" of Easter 2012

 The Easter care package I put together for Ethan and his companion.

 Our Easter decorations.

 I had a stake baptism to attend, so Rusty (and Brienna) took the kids to the Easter egg hunt.  

 Emmalee gathering the eggs.

 Some of Ben's candy from inside the eggs

 Emmalee didn't get a lot of candy, but she found eggs with stickers which she turned in for money.

 Callum at the Easter egg hunt.

 Brienna, Ben & Zane.

 Brienna and Ben coloring Easter eggs.

 the family dying Easter eggs.

 An egg in each color.

 Ben looking to see what the Easter bunny left for him.

 looking for all the Easter eggs.

 Easter morning--Ben & Callum

 Emmalee

 Zane

 Zane reaching all the eggs hidden high.

Old Pictures--Spring 2012

 I found these pictures in a folder I thought I had already blogged from this past spring.  So I thought I'd do some catch-up on these "missing" photos.

Ben watching PBS kids under my piano teaching stool.

 Ben decided he didn't want to "find the paper" so he drew some pictures on the table--if they weren't so good, I would have been a bit more upset.  But thankfully it was in crayon & I was able to scrub it off.

 He was pretty proud of them, and had to tell me what they were.

 Zane and Ben

 Ben by his potty chart

 Ben with Emmalee

 Callum playing the piano

 Ben boxing on the Wii Fit.

 He was better than me (almost)

 Pow-pow!

 Callum playing basketball in February.

Nice lay-up, Callum!

Moon & Mountains

 Just before Halloween, the moon was full and beautiful.

 I tried to take some pictures of it, but of course the photos didn't do it justice.

 This was just as it was rising.

 Here it looks like the sun.

 for the past months it has either been smokey or cloudy most days.  But this is the view

from the school--you can see I took this picture through the swings.  We live in beautiful country!