2010 so far...

I cannot believe we are already mostly through January! Time just keeps flying by, which I am kind of grateful for because that means Bryant will graduate before we know it! So far 2010 has been good to us. So far this year:

• Bry is already 3 weeks into his second quarter of school
• Besides a very brief flu bug that Gracie got, we have all managed to remain healthy this winter
• Celeste came to visit!
• Bryant celebrated his 27th birthday
• Bryant and I have gone out on TWO dates without Gracie!
• Life is just good!

I also have to report on a few of my new years goals. This year I have decided to work on my "spiritual self" instead of the same old goals of losing weight (which I am working on!) or keeping my house clean (which I got over when Gracie got mobile, and really got over when she went to only one very short nap a day!) So, my main goals are to read my scriptures every day. I have gotten so bad about that! I have great intentions that seem to last a week if I'm lucky. Then a month will pass and I realize I haven't read them for weeks. I know I can't really strengthen my testimony and grow closer to Heavenly Father if that isn't a part of my life.

I am happy to report that since January 1 until today, January 25---I have read my scriptures EVERY DAY! I think it is finally a habit, and something I look forward to! I only read one chapter a day, be in long or short, and it has been wonderful!

Bryant and I also determined that this year, we are going to go to the Temple once a month. We are so blessed to have a temple in Spokane, and we need to take advantage of this and not just take it for granted. I remember when we lived in Kansas City Missouri, and my parents would have to travel 8-9 hours to the Dallas Temple. There really is no excuse for us not to make it once a month, especially since it's only 30 minutes away! So far, we are on track and we have everything set up (meaning a babysitter for Gracie) to go in February too!

And finally, I want to report that I am FINALLY enjoying my calling at church. I have been the Sunbeam teacher for quite a while now. Last year, my class through me for a loop! It's not that I didn't like the kids or anything, it's that I had between 10 and 12 kids every week (most of the time by myself) and most of these kids had something to their disadvantage. At least 3 of them were severely developmentally delayed (didn't talk, could sit for more than a few seconds, etc), a few of them had serious issues holding still at all, one of them would cry and cry when his parents left, etc, etc. To be honest it was a VERY difficult class. I would come home from church completely drained, not feeling uplifted at all. I felt like Sacrament meeting was spent trying to entertain Gracie and keep her quite and then the next 2 hours were spent fighting with a bunch of 4 year olds to sit in their seat, stop touching each other, to be quite, to stop picking their nose, etc.

Well, I have a new class now. They are very young--just out of nursery, and I still have quite a few. Today at church I had 8 and there were a few missing, but they are the sweetest little kids ever. They love coming to class, they love singing the songs, listening to stories, saying the prayer, etc. It is evident that he gospel is taught in their home and they have an excitement for learning and growing. One little boy told me today that he "loved me!"

I have wondered the past week if part of this is because I am working on my own spirituality, and because of that the Lord is helping me in this calling. That may be part of it, but these are wonderful kids and I am so excited to teach them this year and watch their little testimonies grow!

Happy Birthday Bryant!

Today my favorite guy turns 27 years old! I have been thinking a lot about how blessed I am to have such a wonderful man in my life. He has truly changed my life for the better. My life is so full and happy and complete because of him.

I hope as Gracie grows up, she realizes how lucky she is to have a Daddy like Bryant.

I am so grateful to his parents for bringing him into this world and raising him to be such a righteous, sweet, caring, hardworking man. I LOVE YOU Bry! I hope you have a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Family Pictures

Okay, as promised, here just a few of the pictures we had done in Vegas. I have to put a HUGE plug in for the photographer. He was FANTASTIC! His name is Derek Caldwell and this is his website: http://www.dereksphotography.com/ If you are in Vegas, around Vegas, passing through, whatever and are thinking of having pictures done, call him! He is one of the best priced photographers you can find and...as you can see, he gets some excellent shots. These pictures were all done at the Bellagio (a very ritzy hotel/casino in Vegas) and there were a million people there, and he still got these great shots! Let me know what you think, and which ones are your favorites!

Our little family!

Gracie...what a cutie!

I love this picture! This is my sister Kristin with the babies, Gracie, Hinckley and Chandler!

Just a candid shot he got! Feelin' the love!

This is all of us outside the Bellagio. We were missing Travis and Jenny in this picture, but I still think it turned out cute!

Is this not the most precious thing you have ever seen? Baby Chandler sleeping on Grandpa Carter's shoulder!

This is my brother Troy and his beautiful family! I think this is such a great picture of all of them! (Bethany, Chandler, Troy, Hinckley)

Grandma/Bubby, Gracie and April....3 generations

Cousins

Sisters

The Boys (Troy, Dad, Chandler,

Hinckley, Bryant and Travis)

The Girls (Bethany, Jenny, Mom,

Kristin, April and Gracie)

Our Vegas Christmas

This year for Christmas, we went to Las Vegas! We had a little Carter Family Reunion this year. We got to spend some time together at Thanksgiving but we were missing Travis and Jenny. We haven't all been together since Bryant and I were married almost 5 years ago (and we didn't have Bethany, Hinckley, Chandler or Gracie in the family yet!) It was so fun being together, and it was especially fun to see Hinckley on Christmas morning! He is such a BELIEVER!

The boys went to the Vegas Bowl to watch BYU stop Oregon State! Unfortunately it was really windy and freezing cold so they came home a little early with some fun stories of a drunk Oregon State lady who was all over them!

The next day, the girls got to enjoy a day at the Spa! My parents really went to a lot of trouble and expense for this, but man was it fun!

Kristin, Jenny, Mom, Bethany, April

When we got back, we all went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. We wanted to to something that included the kids, and both Gracie and Hinckley LOVED it!

Hinckley and Kristin, right before going into the Shark Reef

On Christmas Eve, we had family pictures taken, which I will post separately since there are so many of them. The guy that did them was AMAZING! We also had Christmas Eve Dinner at Travis and Jenny's house with Jen's family. It was so fun and there was more food than I had ever seen!

Christmas Eve Dinner! Travis was taking the picture, and Jenny was in the kitchen taking care of things while we stuffed our faces!

Here is a sneak peak of a family picture: (there are more to come!)

Christmas Day we opened presents and hung out for a while. We had to wait for Travis and Jenny to join us so they could open their presents.

Grandma/Bubby helping Gracie with one of her new presents!

Is that not the CUTEST boy you have ever seen?!

We then went to the Secret Garden's which is a little zoo type place they keep all of Sigfreid and Roy's animals. They also have a dolphin habitat.

One of Sigfreid and Roy's white tigers

Gracie and I watching the dolphins

Later that night, after the kids went to bed, Troy, Bethany, Kristin, Bryant and I went down to the strip to the Bellagio water show. It was so cool, but the strip is not the place to be at night. All in all, we had a great time!

We flew back home on the 26th, and have enjoyed the last week of being together before another quarter of school beings for Bry on Monday!

Update!

Well, I have been so bad about updating this lately! I hope I can be a little more consistent now that life is going to get back to normal! Here is a little update:

We went to Rexburg for Thanksgiving this year. I am so glad we made it. And we had great weather. My parents were there as well since my sweet little nephew Chandler was blessed over Thanksgiving break. My brother Troy made the BEST turkey I have ever tasted. It was moist even 3 days later! It was fun to be back in Rexburg for a few days. We also got to spend some time with Bryant's family which was really fun! Here are a few pics of our trip (sorry they are so small!)

The Carter Clan after Chandler's blessing (we were just missing Travis and Jenny)

My Mom and Bethany took Gracie and Hinckley to see Santa. Hinckley loved it...Gracie not so much! My mom had to sit with her!

Bryant had some pretty intense projects and finals to work on/study for so it wasn't much of a vacation for him. But he officially finished his first quarter of his second year of grad school December 10th, and I have to say I am so proud of him. This is a tough program and can be very stressful. He has done a wonderful job keeping on top of everything and he did great on his finals!