Grandma, Grandpa, Buddies, and Puddles...

...These are a few of Carter's favorite things. (This is our April Wrap-Up):

We went to the Children's museum at the beginning of the month. They had a new tree house exhibit where you could try on a whole bunch of different bird costumes. Below Carter is an owl (one of his favorite animals he pretends to be thanks to Little Bear, see the last video at the bottom of the post). Speaking of Little Bear, it may not be the most educational show as far as letters and numbers but it has been fantastic for his imagination. He loves to pretend he is his little animal friends from the show, not to mention his trips to the moon.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was a big one for us because Matt turned 30, Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen came into town, I taught the Easter Relief Society lesson and it was Easter.

We had to take Grandma and Grandpa to the zoo.




I love this picture of Grandpa and Carter checking out Carter's most fascinating animal at the zoo, the snake. It is quite a love/ hate relationship. It terrifies him but he can't look away.

You can't tell in this picture, but Carter's hands looked like a sea monster's (after insisting on dunking and pulling out the eggs with his fingers), which Carter thought was awesome since a monster is probably his favorite imaginary thing he likes to be, especially when it involves scaring girls.





Carter and Oliver did a great job in helping this older gentleman blow out his candles. :)




Skippy Jon Jones is a favorite story at our house, especially when Matt reads it with his great Antonio Banderas accent. Below is some video of it, though it is hard to hear his voice in some places. Thanks Lexi and Emi for giving it to us!

Paling Around

Carter has really enjoyed the bike trailer this year. Last year between the wearing of the helmet and having the helmet always fall in his face he wasn't a huge fan. But since none of that is a problem this year, he loves speeding down the road behind his daddy.

This is Siddharth, the boy I watch, and Carter swinging on the tire swing at their house. The boys love doing this and the two of them fit nicely. Siddharth and his sister Tanvi always try to make things work so that Carter can be included in most activities.




I have talked a lot to family and some friends about their dog Caesar so I thought I would post a picture here. He is a Golden Doodle (Golden Retriever and Poodle mix). He is a big dog but is sweet as a teddy bear. He and Carter are great buddies and love to watch for the garbage man together on Thursday mornings.

Carter is definitely hitting that independent and wants to help with everything stage. In fact, the other day Carter was complaining about it being his turn to clean the toilet bowl as I was scrubbing it. But two Saturdays ago, we had some yard work to do and Carter was right there with Matt helping every step of the way.

He loves the watering part!!

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

Last week we had a ton of rain, but Carter and I were very itchy to get out of the house. So we did and we had a ball. By the way, this is the back alley way from our house.

I only wish I had a better camera and more skill because some of these pictures could have been awesome!
We found this umbrella at the Goodwill for a $1.50, SCORE!!

There's nothing better than the joy of a child!

In the second video below, it isn't too obvious but Carter loves to label puddles: "Baby Puddles" and "Daddy Puddles."

Temple Day

I had the honor of escorting a sister from our ward through the DC temple this last Saturday. It was a remarkable day. Matt and Carter came down with us, Matt dropped Carter off at my cousin Adrienne's house and joined us at the temple. I am so excited for this wonderful sister who had so much faith and dedication to make it to this day. And of course the DC temple and it's grounds were looking as beautiful as ever.

Spring Time!!

Last fall, Matt planted a bunch of bulbs and it has been so exciting to watch them come up and look so beautiful. Matt goes out there every day and looks at them. He loves to garden. But with that said, we have really struggled with our flower beds and vegetable garden in the past. Some areas are successes and other areas we really fail. But this is the first time, where each plant looks beautiful and survived. I guess we are making progress, lets just hope it lasts.

The picture above was from our side flower bed and this is the bed right in front of our drive strip.

An owl, a duck, a dog, a snake oh my....

And that was our month of April, phew!

Finally, Carter's 2 yr-old Pictures!!

So, a few weeks ago we decided that maybe we should finally get Carter in for his 2 yr-old pictures since he has been 2 since Dec. 18th.

We were so happy when he did so well during the photo shoot. We told him if he smiled big then we would send the pictures to Grandma (so Grandmas here they come). He seemed pretty happy about that. But what really got him was this wooden train that they had at their studio. All they had to do was tell him there was a train involved and he was putty in their hands.
We got a kick out of some of these "grown-up" poses that he did.

The picture above shows his "Oops I just got caught doing something naughty" face.

Man, sometimes you have those moments as a parent where you stop and think, "Wow, is he really mine?" I get that feeling everytime I look at these pictures. In my mind he is not as grown up as he looks. My heart just bursts with love and pride for this kid. I know, I know, pride is a bad thing, but I just can't help it!! If I was like Matt's beloved church authority Gene R. Cook I would say that I am so humbly grateful for that boy!!!

Matt's 30th Birthday

Today is my Sweetheart's 30th Birthday!! It is amazing that we are now hitting milestones like this together. He is such a loving, gentle, crazy, and good man. As my Grandmother reminds me often, I am so lucky to have him in my life. I thought I would just post some of the pictures I have of him in his 30 years thus far.

When Matt was a baby he had the nickname of being the Michellin Man.

This is Matt with his Dad and older brother Cory.

These crazy boys: Matt loves his memories of being at his Grandparent's house in Hyrum, Utah playing with his brothers and cousin Jake. They always had something up their sleeves.

And these are the two (Jay & Bonnie) that made it all possible. (This picture explains a lot don't you think?)

Sadly, on our computer we don't have any pictures of Matt in highschool, college, and mission. Matt loved highschool and was heavily involved in wrestling and the school musicals. All the girls swooned over him when he was Conrad Birdie. Then after his freshman year at his beloved BYU where he met his best friends (see below) he went on his mission to Paris, France.After the mission he came back home, roomed with the boys above and had a blast living the single life.

But sure enough in January 2002 I came into his life and 6 months later we were married.

We both had a year left at BYU and then had the awesome experience of graduating together.

After graduation we were off to Des Moines University where Matt attended Podiatry School.

But true to Matt (and sometimes with a little nudge from me), during all of this we were still able to get out and have a good time.

Matt being his crazy self and jumping in the goose poo infested lake behind his parent's house.

Halloween with our friend's the Whoolley's in Des Moines.

At the top of Mount Timpanogous

Colorado

Visitng the Palmers and Lowrys in Gainesville, FL

For our year anniversary we went to Paris, France (that is the Eiffel Tower in the background) and London, England.

And then the coolest thing to happen to either one of us:

Matt has always been a phenomenal father. You can just see it in his face.

And finally the craziness of Podiatry School ended and Matt graduated from DMU. Little did we know that we were going into something even crazier called Residency.

Matt is now a resident in Pittsburgh and life continues to be interesting, but I know I can always rely on my fantastic husband to be the rock of our family. We have such a great time as a family and when we are all together we find ourselves laughing quite a bit of the time. (Carter is a big help in that area.) Thanks Matt for your unending dedication to our family! We love you more than we can say.