Josh, Jenn, Ashton, Emmy and Ethan...

Labor Day Party @ Rich’s

Jenn Carr — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 23:44:55 +0000

Rich and Dallas invited everyone over yesterday for a Labor Day party. It was fabulous! We all hung out in their awesome backyard having a BBQ. The kids had non-stop fun for hours and hours and hours. I tried a few of my old diving board tricks that I haven’t busted out in…oh…YEARS. My back is sore today. I AM OLD!!!! Josh was swimming back and forth under the water and got a major cramp in his calf that still hurts today. WE ARE OLD!!!! Kris and Spencer with their young, single-life, kidless energy, threw those crazy little boys into the pool over and over again. If Ethan wasn’t sleeping, he was being cuddled by Lindsey, Jess or Dallas. It was such a great day!!!

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Dinosaur Museum

Jenn Carr — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:59:34 +0000

Today we went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point with Lindsey and Westin. It was totally crowded (since every mom in the valley came for $2 Tuesday) but the kids still had fun and were super good the whole time.

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Saturday Fun

Jenn Carr — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:54:20 +0000

Last Saturday, we went to the Grand Opening of North Park in Spanish Fork. Josh was fine with the idea until he heard there would be FREE hot dogs, then he knew the WHOLE town would be there. Oh well, we still went. We didn’t get in the mile long line for hot dogs, we mostly chased after our kids while they played on the playground. I’m so excited about this park, though. It’s way nice and close and the Splash Pad will be lots of fun….next summer.

There wasn’t a line for Smokey the Bear, can you believe it?

Ashton has been waiting all summer to be Spiderman on this web (he was dressed as Indiana Jones, though) …

After the park, we decided to head off on another adventure. We went to the Bingham Copper Mine.

Josh has always wanted to go there ever since he took a trip to Belgium where his cab driver went on and on telling him how amazing Utah is and how he really needed to go to Kennecott. SO WEIRD. He couldn’t believe that you could live an hour away from one of the most amazing places in the world and never go see it. So now we have and it was amazing, for sure!

It is UNBELIEVABLE that HUMANS have created this GIGANTIC hole!!!! HUMANS!!! This hole used to be a MOUNTAIN!!!!

It was EXTREEEEEMELY windy that day…

We decided to drive around Daybreak on our way out of the area. We happened upon this AWESOME zip line and played on it for a looong time.

Nine Mile Canyon

Jenn Carr — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 06:10:18 +0000

Last Saturday, we decided to go on an adventure. Josh mowed the lawn then we packed up the kids and took off for a STAY-CATION. We drove through Spanish Fork Canyon down to Price where Nine Mile Canyon begins. We could not believe that we have both lived in Utah for most of our lives and neither of us had ever been to (or heard of – me) Nine Mile Canyon.

It was such a great adventure! I COMPLETELY recommend this outing if you have a whole day to spend. It really did take all day and we had to choose just a handful of stops to make. We printed out a list of GPS coordinates to enter into Josh’s iPhone (I also recommend doing that). We saw tons of wildlife (a deer, rabbits, squirrels, lizards), petroglyphs, a ghost town, old grave stones, had a picnic, hiked and explored. It was very kid-friendly, also. Most of the petroglyphs are close to the road and we just left the car running while we checked stuff out. It was such a fun day!

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I’ll post more pictures on Facebook because we have a TON.

Ashton’s 5th Birthday

Jenn Carr — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:15:34 +0000

Have you noticed the CRAZY summer of birthdays we have in our family????

Emmy – July 13th

Ethan – July 20th

Josh – July 25th

Ashton – August 10th

IT’S WIIIIILD!!!!!

Anyhoo, HOW IS MY BABY BOY FIVE-YEARS-OLD?!?!?!? I cannot express the love I have for Ashton. I truly cannot begin to tell you how amazing this little guy is. I’ve started typing several sentences but they sound so lame compared to my feelings for this boy that I just delete them.

Ashton requested a “REAL” birthday party this year with FRIENDS. He made several other requests, mostly things he had experienced at other friends’ parties. (Thanks a lot all you amazing moms who are completely creative and have way more energy than I do). Ashton told his friend’s mom all about the LEGO BATMAN cake he was going to have for his birthday. Luckily, she mentioned it to me a couple days before the party so I could actually make it. Blame it on all those cake shows that make it look sooooo easy to make incredible cakes…The night before, I was up trying to figure out how to do fondant. I ended up with a big glob of gray that I was going to just throw away. At 11 PM, I told Josh to go laugh at my lame attempt at a real cake before I threw it in the trash. He was sooooo tired but he could see some potential and helped me finish it. Can you believe what a sweet husband I have???

We had a party for Ashton at Jumpin’ Jacks. We told his friends to dress up like their favorite super hero. It was THE BEST! We had tons of little super heroes literally bouncing off the walls and it wasn’t IN MY HOUSE! So perfect.

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Ethan James Carr

Jenn Carr — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:38:52 +0000

It has been 5 weeks and I FINALLY have a chance to blog about our new, sweet baby boy.

My due date was July 26th but I was scheduled to be induced on July 20th (no reason, my doctor just ROCKS and gives the option to be induced if it isn’t your first baby). I was praying that I would make it to the induction for two reasons:

1) I wanted to be all hooked up to an epidural before any of the contractions started…YES! I am a HUGE wimp and I am not ashamed to admit it! I felt contractions with Ashton and have NO INTEREST in experiencing NATURAL child birth…EVER!!!

2) I found out a couple weeks before that I was Group B Strep positive. This is no big deal for the mom but can cause serious problems with the baby if antibiotics aren’t administered for a certain amount of time before delivery (4 hours preferably). We live 30 minutes from the hospital and if my water broke (as it did with my other two) then we’d have to wait for someone to come over to stay with the kids and then get to the hospital and all that time could really add up. With Ashton and Emmy I was in labor for 4 hours from water breaking to delivery.

I was STRESSING OUT the week before, I tell you! I could NOT sleep at night. I would eventually fall asleep as I prayed and prayed that I would make it to the induction. I don’t know why I ever freak out about anything. Heavenly Father is ALWAYS so good to me and hears and answers all of my prayers. Everything went just perfectly. Here is how it went…

7:00 AM – Arrived at the hospital

8:00 AM – Started the antibiotics and petocin

10:00 AM – GOT MY EPIDURAL!!!! WOOOO-HOOOOO!!!! That’s right, before I felt even one contraction! I was only at 4cm at the time.

12:00 PM – The doctor came and broke my water. I was still only at 4cm. They told Josh that it would be a while probably and he had time to go eat some lunch.

12:45 PM – Josh decided to go eat

12:57 PM – I couldn’t hear the baby’s heartbeat on the monitor, so I started to move around and wiggle the monitor, trying to find it.

12:58 PM – I was getting REALLY nervous about the lack of heartbeat so I rang for the nurses at the exact time that 5 nurses came rushing into my room. They were also wondering where that heartbeat went. This REALLY freaked me out. They were saying “Where is Josh? He needs to be here. Call him!”, “Call the doctor! Tell him ’911′!”

12:59 PM – I called Josh, he was already on his way up. The baby was on its way out and “911″ meant the doctor should stop whatever he was doing and be there.

1:00 PM – Josh was in the room and saw the doctor RUNNING across the parking lot from his office next door.

1:06 PM – I pushed a few times and the baby was out. The doctor let Josh announce that we had A BOY! It was so much fun to have a surprise baby. We were SURE the whole pregnancy that we were having another girl. I was sooo happy and shocked that it was a boy.

Our new baby boy with his incredible dad

See? Do you see how spoiled I am??? The day could not have been more perfect and our baby boy arrived perfectly healthy. We are so blessed and I cannot even express my gratitude and love for my Heavenly Father. Later that day, my mom brought Ashton and Emmy to meet their new brother (who still didn’t have a name). They were so sweet with him from the very beginning, as you can see, and continue to be the best big brother and sister ever…

That afternoon was filled with many visitors who were ready to love this new little guy…

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Emmy’s 3rd Birthday

Jenn Carr — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:26:24 +0000

I cannot believe my little Emmy is THREE YEARS OLD!!!! She is such a goofball and is happiest when she’s making people laugh, especially Ashton. She is such a cuddly, loving girl MOST of the time. Her most favorite things in the world are: DOGS, her dad, and dressing up like a princess. Oh my goodness, I love this girl so much!!!

I decorated for her birthday the night before. Here is a little video of Emmy coming to get me the morning of her birthday.

That night we had a family birthday party for her. She was sooooo excited all day about opening presents. Not nice to make a 3 year-old wait for so long.

It ended up being a very “P” birthday PARTY. PINK and PURPLE decorations, PIZZA, PRINCESSES, and a PINATA. Emmy wanted a pinata so badly and she kept calling it her “hot lava”. LOL! She knew it wasn’t a “hot lava” but just forgot the real word. In her prayer that night, she said, “Thank you for my hot…lava……” then just waited for me to whisper ‘pinata’. ANYHOO, the one she chose had ribbons that you pull out of the bottom and eventually the bottom breaks out. I was kind of bummed about that but it ended up raining during the party so it was PERFECT. It would have been out of control to have 15 kids swinging at a pinata in my tiny living room.

(Aren’t you all wondering what Mike just said? I sure am, but I don’t REALLY want to know. )

In the past, buying presents for Emmy has been difficult. She has been such a tom-boy, playing with all of Ashton’s toys all the time, even when girl toys were around. Well, this year she got all kinds of princess dolls and barbies and she loves them all!

And one last video of Emmy blowing out her candles, while eating a Laffy Taffy…

“A Pink Princess Dress”

Jenn Carr — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:01:15 +0000

Emmy has been borrowing her cousin’s Snow White dress for the past…oh wow, two months (where does the time go???). She wears it everyday and LOVES looking like a princess. Well, on Saturday she asked me if I would make her a pink princess dress. Uuuuuuh, I WANTED to say ‘yes’ but couldn’t see a time in the near future that I would be able to do it, what with this baby coming n’all. But you have no idea how cute it is when Emmy looks at you and asks things like “Mom, do you want to cuddle with me?” or “Mom, do you want to play with me in my playhouse?” or “Mom, will you make me a pink princess dress, please?” It is IMPOSSIBLE to say ‘no’. So I told her I would but and I had NO IDEA how I was going to do it.

Well, later THAT night, Logan called and asked if she and Lauren could bring over Emmy’s birthday present. Lauren was soooo excited about it and wanted to bring it over before bed. They pulled into the driveway, opened the car door, and GUESS WHAT THE PRESENT WAS!!!!!!!

LOGAN MADE A PINK PRINCESS DRESS FOR EMMY!!!!!

I almost started crying! How completely inspired and amazing Logan is! Logan, thank you, thank you, thank you! You are incredible and we love you sooooo much!!!

Big hugs for Lauren

Then they had a late-night tea party in the playhouse

Children’s Parade

Jenn Carr — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:56:56 +0000

Ashton and Emmy were in the Fiesta Days Children’s Parade for the Primary Activity on Saturday. Ashton didn’t even want to go and Emmy wasn’t really old enough to be there, but they ended up having such a fabulous time. I was PLANNING on riding in the trailer with Emmy and Ashton, taking it easy, but Ashton decided he wanted to ride his bike since his pal, Mac, was riding his. So I walked along with the adults to make sure Ashton was staying with our group.

Emmy had a blast waving at everyone and throwing candy with Druw

Emmy taking her float-riding responsibilities seriously…

After the parade, there was a big party at the library park for the kids. Here is Steph keeping the kids busy with Duck Duck Goose until all the parents came. She and the Primary Presidency did such a great job with this activity. It was a scary undertaking, if you ask me.

Ashton in line with some of his cousins for the bounce slide thing

Ashton’s Soundtrack

Jenn Carr — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:40:29 +0000

No matter what Ashton is doing, he is humming a song. If he is playing with his toys, his humming is mingled with sound effects. If he’s dressed up and running around as a superhero, there is DEFINITELY a song being hummed. On his bike…humming. Walking around the house bored..humming. It’s so cute, I love it.

Ashton LOVES to color and draw. If he isn’t playing the Wii or with his friends, he’s up in the kitchen drawing. And I STILL don’t know if he’s right-handed or left-handed. He usually has a different color in each hand and will alternate hands depending on which color he wants to use. It’s WILD. Anyhoo, I can ALWAYS tell what he is drawing by the song he is humming. For instance, he’s sitting right here next to me drawing as I blog and he is humming the very intense Danny Elfman “Batman” Movie theme song as he draws Batman.

Joker: He’ll hum the circus song from “Batman”

Superman: John Williams’ Superman Theme

Star Wars: There are MANY Star Wars songs depending on the character or the scene he’s drawing

Darth Vadar: Imperial March

Princess Leia: Normal Star Wars song

Ewoks: Yes, the Ewoks have their own little theme song and he knows it

Spiderman: Spiderman theme

Most of the songs are by John Williams. Of course, I love John Williams, but have you ever tried to hum Star Wars without it turning into Superman or Jurassic Park or Indiana Jones??? It’s really hard. Well, Ashton can distinguish between all of the songs within the first couple notes. It’s amazing.

PS: I was wondering last summer if only little boys love to pick flowers for their moms. Well, that little glass is full of flowers Emmy picked for me. They BOTH love to bring me flowers accompanied by kisses and hugs. Am I lucky or what?!?!? I LOOOOVE IT!