Color Me Rad Race

I am so grateful for these awesome friends of mine! 

Meagan & Heather- they are the kind of ladies who get up early on a Saturday morning, run a 5K while being pelted in the face with color, and have a blast while doing it!

It was a really fun run- lots of music, people dressed up, families, activities, dancing, and color. I would totally recommend it and I'd really like to do it next year with the kiddos I think they'd love it!

Past 5K's : 2009 & 2011

Homecoming Parade 2013

I don't know why we've missed the last few years of this most fantastic BYU Homecoming Parade. It's less crowded, much shorter, they throw lots of candy, & the fall weather is always perfect!

We had so much fun at our same spot with much the same group! Love these people!

The kids had fun & I made some matching t-shirts for them when I realized that we didn't have any BYU gear (I'm an alumni fail). The kiddos had fun trading candy and enjoying the last drops of sunshine.

P.S. Past BYU Parade posts here: 2010, 2009, 2008, & 2007!

Family Reunion- Aspen Grove

Aspen Grove is a "Family Camp" owned by my and Scott's alma mater- Brigham Young University. It's just up the mountain from us by Sundance Ski Resort and we had our Carter Family reunion up there.

What a fantastic place! You are up in the gorgeous mountains surrounded by woods and staying in these cute cabins and kind of roughing it but everything is taken care of. Activities, all the food, bedding in your cabins. Everything.

The kids had their own groups with their own activities during part of the day so the adults could do stuff. And let me tell you, we did stuff- a crazy scary ropes course up in the sky (I both cried because I was terrified and so proud of myself), paint balling (a bucket-list item I've had for a while and can now cross off), rafting, ceramic-ing, hiking, family-vs-family softball, and the list goes on and on.

The kids had a blast with their cousins and got to meet a bunch of fun kids up there too. It was all centered around family fun. There was a "Frontier Night" where they had a little train, and face painting, and tomahock throwing, and snow cones, and again, I could go on and on.

We played games in our down time and mostly re-bonded as a family. We did miss one family that couldn't make it because they just had a lovely baby, my niece, and the 8th grand-kid Kate. Next time guys, we'll be a complete family!

Our Grand Adventure- The Redwoods

So, I have decided that I'm making a new goal- Each year I want to go somewhere I've never been before. Right now that probably means close by places because honestly, I am in the season of life where I can only do so much with these cute kids in tow.

But what I am saying though is, that even in this complicated/busy/sticky/sippy cup season of life I can still have adventures.

I am lucky, because my lovely friend Meagan feels the same way and so when I told her I needed to take my kids to "Grandma Camp" and would she and her awesome kiddos like to come too she said, "YES!" And somehow we decided to add the Redwoods- a place we both wanted to visit and had both never been.

And so there we went 2 adults, 6 children, all packed in one car for an estimated 14 hours- which turned into more like 16 hours. (My cute Carter children who were at each others throats most of the time managed to also take pretty good care of each other too).

There was an awful lot of barf- a combination of motion sickness, getting up at 4 am, and eating a lot of crap but we survived. But we were greeted with this & it was all worth it:

is were we stayed and it was a gorgeous tiny town that I fell in love with. Seriously, so fantastic! Tiny, foggy, interesting people watching, & a lovely beach too.

On our first day we visited the famous Trinidad Beach. Despite my warnings that it was a "cold beach" (59 degrees) and that they needed to wear jeans and sweaters, these kids were a tiny bit confused/disappointed. I sure wasn't it. It was gorgeous!

Then we trekked out on our wild adventure to the Redwoods &, you guys, it was just gorgeous. More beautiful than I anticipated and somehow I felt both smaller and taller having been there.

The kids actually seemed impressed and had so much fun climbing around the trees and exploring the forest. I would recommend everyone visit this mystical place at least once. I'd love to come back again.

We then made another long drive to the Grandparent Carters & enjoyed getting taken care of for a bit. It was incredibly hot there (as apposed to the cold coast) so we went swimming A LOT-  at their house, at the local park, & we had an afternoon at the lake too.

Seriously, like unto the Redwoods everyone should visit Ma & Pa Carter once in their life. They are spectacular people who will make sure you have a relaxing time of your life. All in all it was a blast!

We ended up back to reality/Utah after a week- 8 incidence of barf, 2 tired mamas, 1,862 miles traveled, and 1 fantastic adventure!

Lake Tahoe Relay 2013

We're back from Tahoe & had another great year at the Lake Tahoe Relay. The drive went pretty well- I think the kids are used to these long drives by now. Plus we have a system that makes it SO MUCH easier- certain places we stop, treats we always have, & activities they always do in the car too.

 We had a blast hanging out with our fantastic family and getting ready for the race- putting together the goodie bags & t-shirts!

 Here we are at the start/finish line. Yup, we have the coolest family ever!

 It's a lot of work and it was HOT the day of the race but it is SO MUCH FUN! I helped direct traffic on one of the legs (my first time ever) and it was a blast. Each leg decorates their area and the timers dress up. Our leg was zombies & it ended up being a lot of fun! I  did the zombie make-up for the timers on my leg.The kids were in charge of handing out the awards and Scott is a timer at the finish line as well as a IT guy. Like I said, lots of work but SO worth it!

My mom in law also bought the kids matching outfit for cousin pictures- just look at these kids!

Woo-hoo for another year down & next year is the 50th anniversary so if there was a year to do it this next year would be the one!

P.S. Past years: 2008. 2009, 2010, 2011, & 2012

2 adults, 6 children, 4 hours to a GRAND GETAWAY

Spring Break popped up without me really realizing it was coming. I had a bunch of friends that were going on vacation for it but I didn't really process that it was coming until it was too late to do anything. I resigned myself to some sort of "staycation".

Unfortunately DAY 1 of "staycation" was horrible- rainy, bad moods all around- a boring bust. So, I was chatting/commiserating with my lovely friend Meagan and I said, "We should just go somewhere." and she said, "Yeah, we should". So, you know what we did? We just went.

This is no small feat, my friends. We have three kids each of us- two in diapers and 3 that look like triplets between the ages of 5 and 7. But we did, we decided on Saint George a 3 1/2 - 4 hour drive away to Southern Utah & vastly different landscape, and we reserved a ghetto room (we were going on the cheap). We made a plan at 5 at night and left at 7 the next morning.

We did everything a couple o' mamas with small children would want to do. We stopped off to an easy hike in a fantastic red rocks area right by the town- there are narrows to squeeze through, caves to explore, and a gorgeous view of the whole city.

We then went swimming at the local Rec Center- this was the highlight for the children- nevermind that we could drive 20 minutes to visit almost the exact same pool in our area. But they had a blast.

We spent multiple times at a local  park and had a BBQ with Meagan's in-laws one night too.

Not to mention that our stay at the Economy Lodge was an adventure in and of itself. All of us crammed in a tiny room- 4 kids on the floor, and two beds for mamas and babies. It was a sore-fest (mostly thanks to Linc) and everyone got very little sleep but we had a blast!

We found  a carousal with a small splash park next to it. The kids had so much fun despite changing into and out of swimsuits in a car.

 And, of course, we ate copious amounts of really terrible, artery clogging, super tasty food and ice cream. 

And when I left sunny Saint George behind me, I can't help but feel that I left a little piece of me back there. It's strange, given that I'm an East Coast girl- all greenery, and trees, and humidity, and city. But I feel like there is something about that land that I connect to. Specifically those redrocks of the first day that I thought, "This place kind of feels like home". 

The only thing missing was the Mister and I was glad to get home to him. But the little jaunt away from home was just enough to satisfy my restless soul and got the kids out of town and out of their routines and made for a fun spring break.

So, next time you feel the hankering to go, forget that you have responsiblities, and dishes, and children you have to drag along with you and just go.

Conan-Stinkin-O'Brien

That's right folks! All thanks to my lovely mother-in-law who signed us up the adults-children where able to go to Conan O'Brien. It was A LOT of fun. Mostly because I love Conan and I love my family so put the two together and wham-o double awesome!

And of course I made shirts. As we all know, I am a STRONG believer in wearing shirts to all sorts of occasions (author signings, movie premieres, family reunions, birthday parties, book launch parties, cousin outings). It makes everything more festive &, I'll be honest, I'm an only child; I like to be the center of attention.

Every. Single. Person we saw commented on how cool our shirts were. The people who sign you in, the security guards, the bus driver that drove us over to the studio, the people seating us at the studio, the camera guys. Everyone. They even had their "professional" photo girl take a picture- it's not on the site yet but keep your eyes out, maybe someday our fame will spread far and wide.

It's hard to tell, I know... but right there in that circle is Scott & I. In hindsight, It probably would have been better to make our shirts "electric lemon" colored, but next time...
And there we are, people- CONAN! If you ever get a chance to do it- GO! I was fun!