Can she make it for 18 months?

Dear Courtney,

How will Megan survive for 18 months without you? We all know you will do a wonderful job serving our Heavenly Father on your mission! We will write lots! And send lots of pictures! Megan will miss you so much!

Love,
The Carter's

You're 4 now... so stop crying like a baby!

Mitchell turned 4 on the 1st of December. He had a cooking party! His cousins and a few friends came over to share in the cookie decorating, fruit kabobing good time! Santa even made a visit. Mitchell is the funniest, little kid... except for when he doesn't get exactly his way... then he is the most miserable kid! So, since he turned 4, every day I have to remind him that being 4 means that you can't cry when you don't get your way... you HAVE to use your words. Although... I can't say that I blame him. Some days, I feel like crying because I can't have my way!

Mitchell with his cousin Rynn and Meg

Mitchell and his bud Luke

Mitchell's friends David and Anna

Mitchell and his friend Chiara

Thanksgiving at Mam's and Pompy's

Thanksgiving 2009. Dinner was great! Food... amazing! Mom & Dad made such a delicious turkey! Lots of sides... thank you everyone! I am so grateful for my family... my wonderful parents, and siblings, my in-laws and my kids and hubby!

Dad carving the bird

Mitch and cousin Josh

Mitch and Great Grandma

Mike and Noah

J w/ Uncle Marc and Pompy

My siblings and parents

I am Thankful

.... that sometimes I get to glimpse this sweet, love that these two have for one another. Usually they are screaming at one another, however, once in a while I am allowed to see the love... and it makes me happy!

What will he do with his free time?

He has one more game as a Freshman Football player for Franklin High. He said to me the other day, "Mom... I only have 3 more seasons of football!" And then for good measure, he repeated himself... to make sure the weight of what he said was heard. I acknowledged what he said, and then told him he could maybe play in college... like his Uncle Marc. He reminded me that he was only 5'8''. I reminded him that he was only 14... and just a year ago was a good 4 inches shorter than he is now. With only one more game looming next Thursday he said... "What will I do with my free time? I don't like the sound of that!" I am so proud of him. He has had a GREAT season... he played 1st string Offensive Tackle and 1st string Defensive End... he even played Nose guard for a couple games... and did an awesome job! He had quite a few amazing tackles and sacks! I still am amazed that this 14 year old boy is my son!

Heading off the field at half time talking plays over with Coach Fong.

Celebrating a great victory against Elk Grove!

Protecting the Quarterback #15 against the Sheldon Huskies.

Bringing down an Elk Grove offensive player!

He has his "Angry eyes" in!

Just a little bit of scary...

We had a fun Halloween. We carved pumpkins earlier in the day... and went to my Mom and Dad's for trick-or-treating and soup and bread. Megan had so much fun handing out candy.... I think more than she had collecting candy. She didn't want to give the candy to anyone who was scary. She would ask her Mams to give the candy away. Then she would tell me, "he was just a little bit of scary"

My Dad with the Nacho Libre mask and Mike as a biker.

Maddy the tiger

All five smile big!

Meg and her cute cousin Ryn!

Super tough power ranger!

Meg wanted her picture taken with my Grandma!

Scooping out the ooey gooey guts... as Mitchell likes to call it!

Yep... a little relaxation is good!

5 Nights and 6 days of relaxation aboard the beautiful Radiance of the Seas... just what the Dr ordered! Or maybe not the Dr... but the stress of life, can't really be any more stressful than they are, and we just decided we needed to get away. So, we took a few days out! Thank you Mom and Dad and our friend Kayla, for watching the kids for us. It was such a nice break to relax!

Our 1 formal night

We spent the day in Cabo San Lucas on Lovers Beach, snorkeling and relaxing in the sand. It was so warm!

My husband LOVES wild animals... especially cats like tigers, lions and jaguars... we got to cuddle with a cute little 2 mos old baby lion and a 5 week old jaguar cub! A dream come true!

After spending the day in Cabo.... back on the ship looking back on the beach we had been on earlier that day. This is also known as "lands end" where the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean meet.

The waiters sang "Happy Birthday" to me and put a candle in my brownie! Yum! I definately did WAY too much eating. It was a great way to spend my Bday!!