The Carters

2011-11-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

Brad is gone camping with the 11 year old scouts tonight. I hope they don't freeze to death! It is supposed to snow tonight. I am glad I am home in my warm house and not in a cold sleeping bag. So I figured now would be a good time to give a little update of what we've been doing this fall...

Jackson has become a much better eater. One of his new favorite foods is spaghetti. This was his second helping:)
We've been learning to make our own pizza. Brad made this beauty all by himself, even made the crust from scratch! It was so delicious we made it two nights in a row:)

We've been enjoying our last warm days of the year. Jackson loves going to the park by our house. He always snuggles with me like this on the swing. I love it!
We also love going on walks. We have a beautiful trail by our house that runs along the Logan River.
Jackson has been getting his first set of molars. See the lovely drool on his shirt?;) And he learned to copy Brad's "o" face!
We've carved some nice pumpkins. Here is one of Brad's pumpkins this year.
And we had fun with this cute little monkey!
Well that's it for my random post of pictures. We have had a wonderful fall and are getting so excited for the holidays!

Jackson is 1! What?!

2011-08-17T12:35:00.001-07:00

My sweet little Jackson turned 1 on August 8th. This last year has been the best year of our lives. Brad and I can't imagine our family without Jackson and are so grateful everyday to be his parents. I still can't believe a whole year has gone by; it went way too fast!

We celebrated Jackson's birthday with a family party. Jackson was totally spoiled by everyone. Being the only grandbaby on both sides will do that I guess:) I even made Jackson a dairy free cupcake, since he has a milk allergy, which he wanted nothing to do with. Oh well! We had so much fun being with our family and enjoying the beautiful day.

Jackson is at such a fun age. He is walking, starting to talk, gives the sweetest kisses, points at everything, and loves exploring every little detail that surrounds him. His favorite things right now are music, his special blankie, and any kind of ball. He loves anything he can feed himself (food doesn't taste as good if I try and feed it to him I guess) and loves drinking from a straw. He is definitely a momma's boy; I'm enjoying that while it lasts:) I love his big cheesy grin, showing off his cute little baby teeth. He still isn't the greatest sleeper, but at least we get to spend lots of time snuggling in the rocking chair. We just love our little man so very much!

Our friend Sami Jo is an awesome photographer, and she took some pictures of our family and Jackson at 1 year. Here a few of our favorites:)

1st Haircut

2011-07-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

My friend Brijin, who cuts my hair, was so sweet to give Jackson his first haircut. Jackson did so good. He was very serious the whole time, but didn't cry. He was a little squirmy, especially when the razor tickled the back of his neck:) I was a little sad because he looks so much older to me now. I know there is still plenty of soft, adorable baby hair on his little head, but I feel like he is growing up too fast!

Before:

During:

After:

4th of July

2011-07-15T09:10:00.001-07:00

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love the good food, fireworks, nice weather, time off work...it's fabulous! I was feeling bummed that we were not going to see the fireworks this year, since Jackson would have been so tired. But then Ben came to stay with us and was so nice to watch Jackson while Brad and I watched the fireworks. We rode our cruiser bikes and found a spot we could see the show. It was so much fun. Thanks Ben!

The next morning, we all headed up to Star Valley to spend the weekend with Brad's dad. Allen put so much thought into the wonderful food. Brad always teases me about how food is my hobby. I love yummy food so much! We had awesome tinfoil dinners and a big breakfast on the morning of the 4th. We had fun riding the four wheelers and taking a little hike behind the house. Brad got lots of target practice with his bow; he's getting ready for his archery elk tag this fall. Brad also had fun picking up his elk from the taxidermist. I thought it was very entertaining to see how much attention that elk mount got from Brad, Allen, and Ben. Crazy hunters! I don't think I'll ever understand why they love hunting so much:)

Lovin Summer

2011-06-20T18:59:00.000-07:00

We have been having a wonderful summer. Here is a little update on some of what we have been up to the past few weeks:

Brad has been able to go fishing a couple of times. Jackson thought all the fishing gear was pretty fun:)
We had a blast going to Bear Lake with our friends, the de la Houssaye's. I feel bad I didn't get a picture of everyone, but I promise they were there! Bart grilled the best steak I've ever eaten. We played at the beach....Oh wait, there is no beach at Bear Lake. Just lots of rocks! We were kinda bummed about the lack of sand, but we made up for it by playing in the pool, eating lots of yummy food, and playing games. It was so good to get away for a couple days.

(Jackson was so snugly after swimming. I was in heaven!)

This last Saturday we went up Green Canyon with my family for a dutch oven breakfast and hike. Brad got me a backpack to carry Jackson in for my birthday. He let me have it early so I could use it on our hike:) Jackson and I both loved it!
And yesterday we celebrated Father's Day. Brad is the most amazing dad and husband, and I feel so lucky to have him! He adores his little man, and I love how much fun they have together. Thanks for all you do for us Brad; we love you so much!

I was happy to spend part of the day with my own dad. He is a great example to me, and I always know my dad is there for me. I love you dad! And he is such a great grandpa to Jackson:) My dad gets so excited to spend time with Jackson, and seeing the two of them together is adorable.

We've had fun going on walks, bike rides, breaking out the grill, and just being together. Jackson is cruising all over the place. He army crawls, walks along furniture, and took his first steps just last week. He babbles all day long, and is still such a happy baby. He keeps growing so fast! Jackson is loving summer. He would be perfectly happy to be outside all day long.

Recently....

2011-04-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to Star Valley to visit Brad's dad and help him hang his gigantic moose on the wall, above the stairs. Talk about a good arm workout; I thought I was going to die helping to lift that thing. It was so heavy! Jackson found a new friend while we were there:)
We had the annual Fairbourn family easter egg hunt. It was a blast, even though I only found three eggs. I was going for quality, not quantity I guess. Brad has finally mastered the egg hunt strategy and found the most money eggs (he hasn't had a lot of luck in past years).I'm lucky he decided to share his treasures with me since I did so poorly;) Even though we are all getting older now, we love the egg hunt my parents put on. It gets really competitive and everyone has so much fun!

We had a wonderful Easter. We were able to spend the day together as a family, enjoy the beautiful sunshine, and had a delicious dinner at my parents house. I am so grateful for my Savior and the knowledge I have of the gospel. I really love Easter Sunday, and my heart has been so full as I think about our Savior's sacrifice for each one of us and that He lives.

We took a few pictures after church on Easter. Here a few of my favorites:

Lastly, we have been having lots of laughs at our house lately. Jackson is getting so much personality and loves to laugh. He laughs all the time, which makes us laugh, which makes him laugh....You get the idea:) Brad was playing peek-a-boo the other night during dinner and Jackson was loving it. I feel so blessed!

8 Months

2011-04-12T08:30:00.001-07:00

My little Jackson Man is 8 months old! Where did the time go? It amazes me how fast babies learn and grow. Sometimes I feel sad because I can't ever seem to get enough of my precious baby; I am trying hard to just enjoy every minute I get with him. He is such a sweet baby, and we feel so blessed to have him in our family. I can't imagine life without him.

Some of my favorite things about Jackson at 8 months:

Jackson gives kisses(extremely wet ones) and will even try and kiss himself when looking in the mirror.He has a fascination with jewelry, especially necklaces. Give him a necklace and he is entertained forever!

He has two bottom teeth that are about half way grown, and is just starting to get two on the top.
His favorite activities: going on walks, taking all the toys out of his toy box, playing with his music table, walking back and forth between Brad and I (we have to hold his hands), and taking baths.

He is so content no matter what! For example he gets so excited to get in the tub, but thinks it is so fun to get out too! Maybe this is because he knows Brad will tickle his feet when he is wrapped up in his towel. He starts laughing in anticipation, I love his laugh. But seriously, he is so happy all of the time. He often goes all day with out ever crying, I feel so spoiled.

I love his crazy hair!

He is finally getting more interested in solid food. Yeah! Now that he is eating more solid food, he seems to be sleeping better through the night. He goes to bed at 7:30pm and wakes up at 7:30am. He still wakes up to eat once or twice most nights, but he is big boy and is just really hungry!

Oh, I almost forgot! I love his chub! I don't see his neck very often due to his adorable chubby cheeks! They are so fun to kiss!

I love you Jackson!

Snow Fun

2011-04-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

I have been sad to have such bad weather lately. Jackson and I have definitely missed our afternoon walks. But today, I was thrilled to enjoy all of this fresh snow. My family went snowmobiling at Beaver Creek Lodge in Logan Canyon. We had a blast! I have not been snowmobiling since Brad and I first started dating. Hugging him on the back of the snowmobile made me remember our dating days, and it was fun to get out and do something so fun together. Jackson hung out with Nana in the Lodge while we went. I'm not sure which one of them had more fun.

Brad and I found some sweet basins to play in, and we only got stuck once! The fresh powder on all the trees was absolutely beautiful. I loved every minute of it, but now I am ready for Spring to come back:)

Brad's New Job!

2011-03-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

Brad has been looking for GIS work since he graduated in May 2010. After dozens of applications and lots of prayers, someone finally gave Brad the chance to interview. It must have gone well since he got the job and started working at USU on Monday! To be honest, I don't completely understand everything Brad will be doing at work, but I know he is excited for the combination of lab and field work. Most days Brad will manage a lab on campus. However, other days he will be up in the air collecting data with fancy lasers. They then take that data to create maps and such. Next month they are traveling to Africa for three weeks. Crazy! Brad will probably laugh when he reads my description of his job, but that is the best I can do:)

This new job is a great blessing for our family, but change isn't always easy. Brad has been installing flooring this past year, which has allowed him to be home a lot with a fairly flexible schedule. Jackson and I have been spoiled having Brad home most of the time. It was fun to have so much time to spend together. This new job will take Brad away from home more often, but it will hopefully be a job Brad loves and will take him in the direction he wants to go with his career. We have really missed him this week, but we are so grateful for the opportunity Brad has been given, and feel lucky to be able to stay in our home we love. Brad works so hard for our little family, and I am forever grateful for the sweet husband and wonderful daddy that he is. He even let me take a quick picture of him heading out the door for his first day of work.

I couldn't post without mentioning our sweet Jackson:) He is such a delightful little boy, even when he is teething! Yesterday his bottom two teeth finally broke through. He has been making this face a lot; I think it must feel good on his little gums.

Here is a pic of him today in his green. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Sunshine

2011-03-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we decided to escape the cold for a few days and take a mini vacation to St. George. It was so nice to get away for a few days and enjoy the beautiful weather. While in St. George we toured Brigham Young's house. At the house there is a giant pecan tree. You can just gather the pecans that have fallen and eat as many as you want. I learned that I love fresh pecans! They were so delicious!

We visited with friends, relaxed, went on walks, and ate ice cream at Krave (we love their ice cream). It was a fun get away, and now I am really anxious for Spring to come to Logan.

My little man always brightens my day. This video makes me so happy. Enjoy!

Yummy Yams!

2011-01-15T21:24:00.000-08:00

I have been introducing Jackson to solid foods this last month. He liked rice cereal for about 2 days and then wanted nothing to do with it. Carrots were ok. But then we tried yams....

I think we have finally found a solid food Jackson LOVES! He can't get enough of them. He especially loves to try and help me put the spoon in his mouth, it gets a little messy:)

Fall Update

2010-11-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

We went up Logan Canyon for some family pictures. It was such a beautiful day, and we loved all the colorful leaves. Jackson wasn't looking at the camera very often because he loved staring up at the trees.

With fall comes hunting season. Jackson and I sure missed Brad when he left for his hunt, but we were so excited he got a huge buck on opening day and was able to come home early. Brad has been making lots of yummy jerky for our freezer.
We also had Jackson's baby blessing. Brad gave Jackson a beautiful blessing, and we enjoyed spending the day with our family and friends.
I can't believe Jackson is almost three months old already! We have been trying to help him learn to push himself up when he is on his tummy. He hasn't quite got it yet because he loves to put his arms back and lock his elbows. He does this with his arms a lot. It looks like he is ski jumping. These next couple pictures are of Jackson "ski jumping".
We also had a great Halloween dinner at my mom's house, but I forgot my camera, I'll have to get pictures from her. The dinner was so much fun, and my mom did such a cute job, as always. We have loved the fall season and feel sad to see the weather get cold, but we are looking forward to the Holidays that come along with it. This next picture is what happens when Brad is changing Jackson. I love my boys so much!

5 Weeks!

2010-09-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Jackson is already 5 weeks old, the time is going by so fast. I just love my little boy so much. Here are a few of our favorite pics of our sweet little guy.

Our Little Turtle

2010-08-24T16:11:00.000-07:00

We recently welcomed a new member to our family. Jackson Bradley Carter was born on August 8th. 9 lbs. 9 oz! I woke up to my water breaking at 12:45 am, 8 hours later our little boy was born. We knew our baby was probably going to be big, and I was so nervous about having a hard labor. But thanks to a short labor and an amazing epidural, it was so much better than I expected.

We love Jackson so much already. We were blessed with such a sweet baby! He is so content most of the time. He already has such a strong little head. We call him our "little turtle" because he is always stretching out his neck to turn his head and look around. These first two weeks with him have been so wonderful and we look forward to all the great times ahead.

I love his chubby cheeks!

Pumpkins

2009-10-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

Last night we carved pumpkins with Jennelle, Tim, and Evan. A couple of our pumpkins acquired some injuries along the way, but toothpicks work wonders. Jennelle made some amazing root beer cookies and we tried our first attempt at baking pumpkin seeds.

Here are a few pictures from our pumpkin photo shoot:

Tim's Happy Pumpkin

Jennelle's Pac-Man Ghost

Evan's Magical Harry Potter

Nicki's Cat

Brad's Spooky Spider

Happy Halloween!

Oregon Coast

2009-08-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

We recently returned from a vacation to the Oregon Coast. We went up for a family get together on Brad's mom's side of the family. We all stayed in a beach house on Rockaway Beach. It was really fun to have a beach house with a great ocean view, we even saw a whale one day. We had lots of fun hanging out on the beach, riding our sweet cruiser bikes, flying kites, eating the famous Tillamook icecream, and sleeping in.

Twin Rocks.

Ryan really wanted to see a starfish. We went to the tidepools and found lots of them!
Brad and Doug sporting the helmets they found in one of the local shops.

Brad went on a charter fishing trip one day. He caught some pretty cool stuff I hear, I was worried about getting sea sick so I didn't go. This was probably a good idea, a few of our family members returned from the trip having been a little green in the gills. While Brad was fishing I made blackberry jam with Brad's mom, Dianne, and Grandma Johnson. It is so delicious!

We spent a day in Newport and one in Cannon Beach. We visited the Newport Aquarium and I saw my first light house.

This was one of my favorite fishies.

This is the view from the lighthouse.

Us at Multnomah Falls, or as Brad calls it Melanoma Falls.

We had a wonderful trip, the Oregon Coast was beautiful and hope to go back soon.

Summer update

2009-08-01T13:16:00.001-07:00

Nicki told me that I would have to post on here. Clearly, I have out-done myself by posting twice already, so after this post I will retire from this blog forever...or until I either get some really cool pictures, or Nicki tells me I should post again, or I post again. So this is similar to a Micheal Jordan or Lance Armstrong type of retirement. (I think that's pretty much the only way I can compare myself to them, aside from my physical conditioning)

Okay, I realize now that this blog is several months late in coming for some of you...(at least one of you). So, we finally had a lazy Saturday to hang out and get some things done around the house, so I will post an update of the goings and comings of summer 2009. I know I will forget a lot, but here it goes:

May - School ends. Everyone cheers and runs off doing random things and a lot of people get married. Starting the 7th of May and continuing into sometime the week or several weeks later, marriages continue and Brad and Nicki are off to see them all. Nicki's brother Curtis married his lovely wife Gentri (spelling) on the [can't remember] day of May. (I think it was the 7th...yes) It was nice.

Here we are chillin' and waiting for the reception to start.After the wedding it was off to California for another one. Nicki's Uncle Rick got married. We got to hang out for a few days on the beach. It was nice. But that is not all we did, we went to a Spanish Mission, a nature reserve and saw a duck in a pool, we went to a wedding, and to the beach, and rode bikes on the beach, and we went to the hotel, and we stood in front of the hotel, and we went to some yummy places to eat, and did other things that are not coming to mind right now, but I'm sure we did them.

The sun was bright at the mission. You might be able to tell from our squinty eyes and bright surroundings.

For some reason the hotel thought it was fathers day. Pretty sure it was May though. (This is Jason with the confused look) Edit: I don't think hotels can think.
The hotel, we were trying to spell Mission with our upper extremities, maybe with 3 arms the letter "N" would be a little easier. (Only one of the many advantages of having 3 arms).

Oh, duh. I remember what else we did and can't believe that I forgot...We went to Knotts Berry farms and rode on some sweet roller coasters and did other fun things there. The lines were short and I got dizzy several times from staying on rides consecutively too many times. I think they have long lines for a reason.

Then we drove home from el California to Bountiful, Utah, for one more wedding (Jennelle and Tim), and returned home, exhausted from the smorgasbord of wedding festivities.

So after resting up, the rest of the summer has been filled with...you guessed it - work and fishing. Nicki works, and Brad fishes. Well, that's not completely true, because Brad has done some work too - all seemingly random things, but work nonetheless.

Nicki is working as a legal secretary and does a great job, everyone is jealous of her notary status, at least Brad is. Brad, on the other hand has not done any secretary work - but he has done some lawn aeration - thanks to the Van-O's, Website design (Check out www.huntaddicts.com, the sweetest hunting website ever, (it will be if it isn't already) www.dougadamssculpture.com - Doug Adams makes sweet sculptured bells and Brad made a website for him, and last but not least - www.dianneadamsart.com. Brad's talented mother paints pretty things and now they are also online.) and Brad is also meddling with some hay hauling and window washing. In fact, 2 Guys and a Squeegee is the newest and coolest new window cleaning company in Logan. Completely licensed and registered to knock on your door to see if you want your windows washed. It has been a fun learning experience getting the business licenses and accounts and solicitor registration and all other things related to starting a business. So if you need a window washing, or a website, or your hay hauled, or flooring installed, or your lawn aerated...I may or may not know someone who can hook you up. Speaking of which, www.2guyssqueegee.com may, or may not, be under construction.

Now to the culmination of photos in this blog so far. Feel free to comment below on how big these fish are, or how jealous you are of Brad's "mad skills." Seriously though, the fishing has been fun. Brad has added 2 new species to his all time fish list, and perhaps not coincidentally, they both are named after the same large striped predatory cat: (they are also both sterile and hybrid fish, but they look really cool) New fish # 1: The Elusive Tiger Musky (cross between a northern pike and a true musky, and new fish # 2: The Tiger Trout (cross between a brown and brook trout).

Tiger Musky

Tiger Trout
Delicious Bass (This year I found out that Bass tastes a lot like mud-so I released this one)
Another Tiger Trout (Biggest so far - 18.5 inches and fat)
Funky Salamander in the Uintas (I didn't catch it)And a few brookies and rainbows from the Uintas

The end,for now. There are a few trips not mentioned, like the 4th of July at Grandpa C's and the rainy camp trip, and the fishing with Leigh Perkins. I have tried my best to switch tenses over the course of this post and confuse you as much as I can with run-on sentences and bad grammer, as well as "man-ify" this blog as much as possible by posting pictures of fish. More fish and dead things to come I'm sure. This blog is way too girly.

Welcome to the blogging world!

2009-07-31T23:15:00.000-07:00

I just welcomed myself, because there wasn't anyone else to welcome me. Brad here, Nicki has been talking about setting up a blog for a while, but never knows what to write. So I reviewed many blogs, updated by many of you fellow bloggers, and came to the conclusion that nothing very exciting has to happen in order to blog about it. For example, Nicki and I just put together this blog. We sat around this evening, started talking about blogs, looked at some...looked some more, then signed up...looked at some more stuff, and found a background that [we] liked. (don't tell Nicki, but I think it is a little girly) Then we put it all together and I made this banner and came up with this really creative name for our blog..."The Carters." So it isn't so exciting, but proves my point that even though this blog creation was not a life-changing event, or even all that fun...I can still blog about it, and you read it. So welcome to our blog, I'm not sure how often I will write on this because of the girly background, but enjoy yourselves while your here!