Carter Family Blog

Adventures in Tennessee

2010-07-06T10:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, on a whim, Bryce and I decided it would be fun to go to Chattanooga, TN and see some sites. Since it's less than 3 hours for us and less than 3 hours for Abby (who lives in White House) we called her up and she met us there. First we went to Raccoon Mountain Cave. I tried to convince Madison that we were entering the Chamber of Secrets and we had to hunt the Basilisk. (She's reading Half-Blood Prince right now) Anyway, here's some awesome pictures of the cave.

After our cave exploration, (we never did find the giant snake, turns out it's too cold for life inside the cave except the occasional salamandar or bat) we went to the state park for a quick dip in the lake.

Though it wasn't the funnest place to swim, it felt nice to cool off. The kids had a blast, that's what matters.

When swimming was done, we all had a blizzard at DQ and went our separate ways. It's always sad for me to say goodbye to Abby, even it's only going to be a week and a half until I see her again. So, thanks Babbadel for being flexible yesterday! We had a blast!

Happenings

2010-05-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

Wow has it really been 5 month since I last blogged. Well, we are good. The family is healthy and there is no big news to report. Life is just continuing to move along. Here is just a quick rundown of each person in the fam.

I guess I will start with me and the business. It seems like the business has kind of become part of the family. Anyways, it is going great. We have exceeded every expectation I had going into it. I looked the other day and we already have 460 patients. In less than 5 months! We recently had an open house and ribbon cutting. We had a total of about 150-200 people attend. Among them were the Loganville mayor and 3-4 councilmen, a couple people from the county commissioner’s office, the Walton County Chamber of Commerce, the Walton and Loganville newspapers, lots of family and friends, a lot of people from the community, and several patients. There was also a guy there from the local TV channel. He video recorded the whole thing and it aired on the local channel. I wasn’t able to watch it b/c it was only for people with Comcast and I have Dish. Overall it was very successful and we have had several patients schedule b/c of it.

Amy continues to teach piano. I think she has like 15 students or something like that. It is awesome b/c she trades lessons for babysitting with like 3 or 4 girls. Now we have a babysitter every weekend and we don’t have to pay them. WooHoo. She comes into the office on Wednesday mornings and helps around the office. She helps keep the books and helps up front.

Madison loves to read. She is half way through the 5^th Harry Potter book. She is in the Gifted and Talented at school and they recently had and invention night. There were only a few awards given out but, she received an award for the most creative invention in the second grade. It is called Gunny Box. It is a robot that eats toys that don't get picked up and it puts them away. She is also continuing to take piano lessons and she is a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Preston is starting to read. He is really good at sounding out words and he even has a few books that he can read. He has recently started taking piano lessons and is still in Tae Kwon Do. He is also a brown belt. He and Madison are both on the Demonstration team at TKD. That means one extra practice per week and they will eventually be demonstrations in the community.

Jackson is our mischief maker. He is into almost anything as long as it is in some way related to food. He seriously will steal any food and hork it down. He has stolen the sugar bowl like 4 times and eaten straight sugar until it was gone. I just hope that he does get type two diabetes by the time he is 12. Even though he is into mischief he is so adorable you can’t stay mad at him. He has the cutest little voice and the ways he talks is just so cute. One of my favorite things he says is “Dad I am not talking for you, I am talking for mommy.”

Garrett turned 1 in December and has been walking and running around since10 months. He is a handful to keep up with sometimes but, he is just a good kid.

We have really enjoyed living in Georgia. This time of year is beautiful. My favorite time is when he Magnolia trees bloom. They smell soooooo good. I can’t describe the smell but it is by far and away the best smelling flower I have ever smelled. Our Magnolia tree in our front yard only had 5 or 6 blooms but I picked one of them and brought it in the house so I could smell it all day.

Amy and I went on a temple trip with the youth to the South Carolina temple. This a picture of some of the youth that went. I am on the far end.

That was a long update, but that is what we have been up to.

Simply Dental

2010-01-02T19:29:00.000-08:00

Well here are the long awaited pictures of my practice. It has been a very long process of getting this thing up and running but, it has finally all come together. It is an incredible relief to have reached this milestone. I was able to see my first patients on the 23rd of December and then we saw patients on the 30th and 31st. I have been impressed how many calls we have had. We are in a Kroger shopping center that is the largest (sq. ft) in the southeast 8 states. It is the 4th largest for revenue in the southeast 8 states. And the gas station is the 2nd largest for total sales in the entire country. That includes all their stores like Smiths in Utah. It is an impressive shopping center and the traffic is unbelievable. It wasn't the cheapest space but, the extra premium that we paid for the space will come back to us in the amount of traffic in the shopping center. All in all we are totally excited and look forward to being business owners.

Well without further ado, the pictures.

The Store FrontThe Waiting RoomWith the tray ceiling.The Front DeskThe LabThe SterilizationThe Operatories (I built three ops but plumbed for 5. When we get busier I will finish the other 2)Central corridor and patient bathroom.Staff Break room and my office (not too big but not too bad)

Why We haven't blogged

2009-12-06T19:30:00.000-08:00

So I know that most of you are wondering why we haven't blogged. Well get off the edges of your seats because here comes the answer.

WE FINISHED OUR BASEMENT!!!!

What a burden that has been. Now you would think that we would have taken "before" pictures prior to embarking on this 4 month endeavour but alas we didn't. The following are the pictures of us painting and then the final product.

Just a quick run down. I had a guy in our ward do the framing and HVAC. I did all the electrical and insulation. I had a contractor do the drywall. Then Amy and I finished the doors, the trim, and the painting. We had the carpet installed. All in all we finished 1250 square feet of the 1500 in the basement. We have a partially finished storage room and a small work room but the rest is finished. It looks awesome but, it has been so time consuming. Add this to the time I have spent starting my business and you begin to understand why I haven't been blogging. Anyways, without further ado, the pictures.

I am getting a lot balder with all the stress I have had recently.The kids painted their little playhouse under the stairs.Garrett mostly hung out in his Pack and Play.This is the stairwell. It looked like junk until Gentry came over and helped get it looking good.Media room with wall sconces on a remote dimmer and the recessed lighting on a separate dimmer. Did I mention that I did the electrical?We availed ourselves of a black Friday deal at Sears and got the TV. Not before I sold the old tv to myself to use in my business though. After all was said and done we didn't have to pay much out of pocket for the new tv.Here is one of the small hallways.This a place the kids can destroy and play and I don't have to worry about it. You can see the kids playhouse under the stairs.Last but not least the bedroom. It has been by the far the largest project I have ever done. Actually the business is the biggest. It isn't done yet but, as soon as it is I will post some pictures of it.

Prestons Birthday

2009-09-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

For his Birthday Preston wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese. We have never really done a party for preston so we decided that we would do it this year. Here are a few pics from that. We got Preston his Tae Kwon Do sparing gear.
Garrett was just chillin out enjoying a nice slice of pizza.In other news Preston was selected as student of the month in his class. He happens to be the youngest kid in his class but he was the most behaved and attentive kid. If you can't tell we are really proud of him. Congratulations Preston.

Beginning of School

2009-09-19T19:57:00.001-07:00

So we have already past midterms but I did want to post a few pics of the kids on their first day.

This is how they spent their last night a freedom. Madison lost a tooth. Preston goofed off. Then here are some pics from Preston's first day of Kindergarten and Madison's first day of second grade. Preston decided to take his scooter for a little ride before school. Yeah he ate it on the grass and stained his new school pants. Oh well boys will be boys.

I forgot to post a Preston Comment

2009-08-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

Converstaion with Preston this morning as he was putting his socks on getting ready for school:

Preston: Dad I can't find the match to this sock and my other socks are too big.
Me: So those are the only socks you have that will fit you?
Preston: Well...I have my church socks.
Me: Well just wear those.
Preston: Daaaaad, those are only for church.
Me: Well you're wearing pants today so no one will know.
Preston: Heavenly Father will know.

Kids can say the funniest things

2009-08-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

Conversation with Madison

Me: Madison you are really pretty. Do any boys at school every tell you that you are pretty?
Madison: Yeah three boys do.
Me: Do they have a crush on you?
Madison: Yeah.
Me: Do you think they are handsome?
Madison: NO WAY!!!!
Me: Oh, why is that?
Madison: They all have really crooked teeth!!! And their teeth are yellow!!!

I couldn't have been more proud.

Now Jackson sings at the dinner table occasionally and the other day he was sing "Who let the dogs out." Don't ask me where he learned it but that is what he was singing. Probably learned it from Amy. J/K

Jackson word for word:

Who let the dogs out...woof, woof, woof.
Who let the dogs out...woof, woof, woof.

Long pause as he looked around the table contemplating whether or not he should sing the new lyrics that had just popped into his head. Apparently he decided that we would all love to hear them so he belted out

Who let the kittys out...meow, meow.

We Are Fam-i-ly

2009-08-25T07:29:00.000-07:00

I have to tell you, Madison has grown up so much this year. She's seven years old now and going to second grade! She's such a good helper and has a "mommy" personality. Not only that, but she's a great friend. I tell her pretty much everything and she's always willing to listen. I couldn't ask for a better Maddy Moo than the one that I have.

I claim all these oh-so-cute boys as my own. And if you think they're adorable here, you should really see them when they wrestle or do Tai Kwon Do! Bryce still has to help Garrett kick and punch, but Jackson and Preston know their stuff! All of these boys really love their Daddy so much and admire the work he does, both at the office and at home. They always want to help him or go visit him (Jackson think we need to eat lunch at the office everyday).

Now, Bryce is not a fan of what he calls "cheesy" photos, but I like to be reminded by pictures, like this one that there is still romance in our marriage. Really, ladies, when that man looks at me with his warm brown eyes and they sparkle with love and laughter, I feel every care in the world disappear. There's not a lot of things that I enjoy more than seeing that Bryce still loves me after being married 8 years and having 4 kids. Can't you see it too?

Now this is more of a Bryce pose. Matter of fact and straight to the point. It seems to say, "yes, we're married; yes, I'm happy; and let it be documented that I still have plenty of hair for a guy that's over 30, is a doctor, and has four kids!"

Our kids are our world, really! They take such good care of each other and get along so well. I don't know that I've met a better quad of kids than my own. Not that I'm biased, right? Anyway, these are the kiddos that light up our lives! Madison (7), Preston(5), Jackson (2), and Garrett (8 months).

This picture is not as good as the one on our thumbnail (that's my fault), but I love the personality in it! I'm so glad that we were able to freeze these moments in time because, though they may be with me forever, they won't always be the little Maddy, Preston, Jackson J., and Gar Bear that they are right now. So thanks, Walmart photographer, for taking these pictures! (Yes, I used Walmart and got an excellent deal! It's been years since I've gone there and who knows if we'll do it again, but after meeting the photographer and hearing the deals going on right now, I decided not to pass it up.)

Stone Mountain

2009-08-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

So I was called to be the YM president. With that calling comes many hiking adventures, some of which the family can accompany me. About a month ago we had a hiking trip palnned to the top of stone mountain. It is about a mile hike up. It is fairly steep and Amy decided to stay at the bottom with Jackson and Garrett. Maddy and Preston were feeling adventurous and wanted to go up to the top. I didn't think they would make but they did awesome. Notice ATL in the backgraound.In fact, some of the leaders didn't even make it to the top. Here are a few pics. After we got back down to the bottom we stayed around and watched the laser show. It was a pretty good afternoon/evening.

Landscaping

2009-08-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

So I know it has been a while since I last posted but, that is definitely not for lack of excitement in our life. We have been super busy this summer and so this is the first in a series of post to catch y'all up on our lives.

When we moved into our new house the landscaping was atrocious. The previous owner didn't do a whole lot to maintain it. That was one of the first projects in the new house. Second only to putting up blinds.
We had a major drainage problem around our flower beds. Anytime it would rain we would have a lake of standing water right up around our foundation. Not a good situation for the stability of the foundation. I had some landscapers look at it and they said I would have to trench my lawn out. I wasn't too keen on that idea but a guy in my ward who was helping me (thanks Gentry and John), convinced me that we should forget the trenching and install a drainage basin and a sump pump. The drainage basin is a fenestrated garbage can and all the downspouts around the house tie into it via buried drainage piping. When it starts raining the basin fills up, triggers the sump pump, and it pumps the water to a safer place.

In order to get all the water in the beds to flow toward the drain we had to haul in a truck load of dirt. 14 TONS!!!! I didn't think it would be a big deal to move around with 3 wheel barrows and 3 dudes. Lets just say next time I am renting a Bobcat.
Anywho, we got it all done and when you add 2 tons of drain stone and 10 cubic yards of mulch, you get a pretty nice result.

Charleston SC and Fort Sumter

2009-06-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

So last weekend I was supposed to work on Saturday but, on Thursday I realized I would not have to go in on Saturday. You know what that means...DAYCATION!!!! We knew we wanted to go to the beach but where. All the beaches here are about 4-6 hours away. We thought about Savannah but, Miley Cyrus is shooting a movie down there. Florida was like 6 hours away. Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head were about 5 1/2 hours. Charleston was only 4 and some change so we decided to go there. In addition to being one of the closest Amy conjured up some Rhett Butler, Gone With the Wind, lovey dovey excuse why we needed to go to Charleston. We left on Friday and stayed overnight. The next morning we decided our kids probably wouldn't last the whole day at the beach so we decided to do Fort Sumter in the morning. Now call me dumb but I guess I never realized that Sumter was in the Charleston harbor. You think I'd have known that.

While in Charleston my mom stayed with the kids at the park and Amy and I walked through historic Charleston trying to find some lunch for everyone before we had to get on the ferry out to the fort. We got lost and saw some amazing old southern home that far predated the Civil War. It was incredible. Unfortunately we didn't have our camera so I pulled a few pics from the Internet. These are not the exact homes we saw but very similar. We actually did take the picture of this tree. The branch was amazing. How old to you think that is? This town really reminds me of Savannah. The huge oak trees with the Spanish moss.

After we got back from Sumter we went to the beach for 3 hours or so. It was awesome. We had to get these pics from my mom b/c we didn't have a camera. Jackson just played in the sand the whole time. He stayed away from the water. Every one had a blast.

The other big news of the week was that Madison had her 7th birthday. She is getting so dang big. We got her sparring gear for Tae Kwon Do. We love her.

Super B.O. !!!!

2009-06-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

For anyone who knows me, knows that I love Jib Jab cartoons. If you go to www.jibjab.com and then go to originals you will find some pretty funny ones. The following cartoon about Super Barack Obama is hilarious. I hope you enjoy it.

2009-06-22T12:25:00.001-07:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

The Parents Visit

2009-05-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

So my parents came and visited. It was so nice to see them and the kids had a blast with them. Unfortunately they only stayed for 5 days. It was great b/c this was the first time that anyone has ever come to visit us when I have felt like we had plenty of room for the sleeping arrangements. It is all thanks to our new place. The parents and Dan stayed over there at night. I think it was nice for them to not have to wake up every time the kids did. While they were here we went downtown one day and saw some of the sights.

The Aquarium: The Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the world!!This is us in front of the Jelly fish. They were a really bright orange. They had this underwater tunnel that you walk through and the fish swim over your head.

They have little domes under the main tank that you can look up at the fish.After the Aquarium we walked over to Olympic Centennial park. This is a big park where a lot of the Olympic ceremonies were. They have a fountain and the kids couldn't help themselves they just had to get wet. All in all it was very fun having the parents here. After they left Jackson kept asking when they were coming over. Fortunately we will be visiting them in July so that isn't too far away.

Happenings

2009-05-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

I am actually going to break this post up into two posts. We have been rather busy as of late closing on our house and starting our 3rd move of the year. But amid the chaos we have to take time out and document some of the fun things that have happened.

Madison and Preston are moving along very well in Tae Kwon Do. They got their green belts in April and will test for high green in about two weeks.

Madison was selected as student of the month for March and was given a certificate. We were all able to go to the school and watch her get it. Congratulations Madison!!!!!

It is always a pleasure to pic up the camera to take a picture only to find out that your battery is almost dead and that the kids have taken over 100 pictures without your knowing. It is always fun to go back and look at the pictures they take. It gives you insight into how they view their world. Well this picture was a self portrait of Madison but, the funny thing in the picture is Preston. He is digging for gold for those who can't tell.

Well, we got the house

2009-05-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

So today we finally closed on our house. There was a little scare there for a while that we weren't going to be able to get it b/c the appraisal came back low. It was 10K less than the contract we signed. So basically either we could pay 10K extra out of pocket or the sellers would have to come down. In this market P-A-LEASE!! The seller came down an extra 10K. So we got an even better deal on the house.

Well without further ado, here are a few pics.

So you have already seen the front of the house. This is the dining room.Amy's favorite part...the kitchen.The kids bathroom.This is the master bedroom and we actually worked out a deal with the owners after the closing to buy some of their furniture which includes the bedroom set.The entrance to the master bath.The vanity in the master bath.We are very excited about moving in. Not so excited about paying for it. I don't really consider it to be "our" house. I want to pay it off as soon as I can so that I can call it ours. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Where Have We Been???

2009-04-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

Well I have been meaning to blog for the past little while but I have been so busy it seems like I can always find something that seems more important than blogging. I apologize to all of our fans out there but, hey, that's life.

So about 2 months ago "Hotlanta" was nailed by a huge snowstorm. Now I say that fully expecting the condescending corrections that surely will follow from all the "Snow Authorities" out west. But give us a little slack here. Six inches was a pretty big deal for Georgia. After throwing together an eclectic mix of ill-fitting snow attire we were able to build a snowman.

The storm left us powerless for about 16 hours. It was awesome. Luckily we have a gas stove and a gas fireplace. We busted out some of the camping gear and had ourselves a camporee. The kids all slept in the living room and Amy and I nestled down under our goose-down comforter.

For Easter we had a little egg hunt for the kids. It was pretty fun but unfortunately these were the only real pictures that we got of Easter. Other than that it has been life as usual.

We actually have decided to stay in the area for at least another 5 years. Long term we haven't decided exactly which career path we want to take. I figure we'll figure it out sooner or later. In the meantime we have decided to buy a mortgage!!! This is the house the mortgage will be on. I was somewhat reluctant to post pictures until we closed on it in case our loan didn't go through but everything seems to be in line. We close on Cinco de Mayo.

This is our view out the front. It is right across from the community access to a 220 acre lake/reservoir. There are a lot of shallows which means it is a bass fishers paradise. I don't bass fish but, I may have to pick it up. After it is a done deal I will post some more pictures of the house. I would hate to post them and then find out our loan didn't go through or something.

Haunting or Happenstance???

2009-03-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

So this story starts last Saturday when I laid down in bed and I heard this strange sound. It sounded like footsteps on our roof. Or maybe someone walking in our attic. Well I just kind of brushed it off and assumed it was probably mice or something. I had seen a couple mice in our garage over the past few month.

So if that wasn't strange enough, 2 days later my treadmill stops working. I just bought the thing a couple weeks ago and then on Monday I went to turn it on and it wouldn't work. Weird.

So this morning at 4:45am we were in bed and we heard a loud pop. It woke both of us up and we wondered what the heck it was. Right after that we heard something that sounded like a "tic tic tic." It sounded like water dripping so we assumed a pipe had broken or something. Well I got up to investigate and when I walked into the bathroom, the glass door on the shower was shattered into a thousand pieces. There was a hole in the middle and it looked like it radiated out from that. It looked like it had been shot. The "tic tic tic" that we heard was the glass as it continued to shatter in different directions. OK now I know we have a ghost. I don't really believe in hauntings and stuff but, it makes you wonder. AnywaysI put on some gloves and removed the rest of the glass. It was very strange. I had never heard of anything like that happening until I got to work this morning and started googling "spontaneously shattering glass."Come to find out that it is actually a fairly common thing with tempered glass. It is usually caused by temperature change. We left our windows open that night but it didn't get that cold.

I will let you guys be the judge. Are we haunted or is it just a coincidence? The world may never know.

Disney World

2009-03-06T07:21:00.000-08:00

Check out Preston's pose. I think he was trying to be a pirate.

So this is a few weeks old but it happened to be one of the best vacations that we have ever taken. We were invited to go to Disney World. Two families were going down during intercession(it is a week that the kids are out of school. They do this so that all the stupid kids can stay in school and catch up) One of the families, the Browns, own a vacation home in Orlando that is about 30 minutes from Disney. It was a really nice house with a pool, a 62 inch plasma, and a game room with Wii and PS3. It was nice to go on vacation and not have to pay for lodging (Thanks the Browns).

So we were down there for 5 days and three of those days we just hung out at the house and went to church. On Monday we went to Animal Kingdom. That was really fun. We went to several of the shows. Lion King was our favorite. The kids really liked the park but I think they all liked Magic Kingdom better. The next day we went to Magic Kingdom. They kids loved it. We watched the show that they do in front of the castle. We went on as many of the rides as we could. Madison and Preston loved Splash Mountain. I was a little surprised b/c I thought the drop at the end would freak them out but they did really well. Jackson was a trooper. He is potty training and for some reason we didn't put him in a pull up either day and he stayed dry until the end of the both days. Around 7 o'clock each day it was like Old Faithful. I guess we can handle one accident per day considering the situation. Anyways it was a wonderful vacation and we had a great time.

Madison rode Everest with me. On all the big drops she kept saying, "I'm going to puke, I'm going to puke, I'm going to puke!!" She didn't and at the end she had a really fun time.All the kids loved Small World.Garrett even approved and smiled for the camera. Here are the kids sporting their new hats.

A Quick Update

2009-02-24T17:48:00.000-08:00

So, Bryce has been super busy lately and has fallen behind on his duties of updating our blog. Now, ya'll get to see why he writes about our family life and not me, but I agreed to bail him out this time because there are some pretty significant things going on at our house!

First of all, Jackson became a bigger boy a few weeks ago. We finally ran out of excuses (and money for diapers) and decided to potty train the kid. He's so cute in his little underwears and is extremely proud of himself. In fact, a funny story: One day, I was in the shower and he comes running in with his little bowl to his potty shouting, "I did it, I did it!" Sure enough in the the bowl is little poops. Before I can stop him he dumps the poops into the bathtub (I wonder if that's what he really thinks that was the same as dumping in the toilet, or if he just wanted to get a reaction out of me) and runs from the bathroom, still super excited. Of course, I hurry to get out of the shower so that I can wipe his bum before he sits on anything. (You mothers can already see what's coming, right?) When I get out into my bedroom the first thing I see is a piece of poop in the middle of the floor . . . great. I walk out the door into the kitchen . . . another poop. I follow this trail all the way to the living room where Jackson is trying to put his potty back together. Aahhh, what a typical two-year-old. He tries so hard to help out and ends up making a bigger mess for Mommy to clean up.

The next thing going on at the Carter household is that Garrett (that's our baby that you may have read about. Yeah, he still alive and well) is growing fast. The kids have really loved having him around and want to include him in many of their activities. Games, reading, singing, dancing . . . you name it. Anyway, here's just a couple of cute shots of the kids getting their own "Garrett time."

You may be interested to know that Preston thought up the nickname "Garribou" for our baby while watching the part on Baby Noah where they talk about "Caribou".

Jackson calls Garrett anything from "Gawett" to "Gary" or "Garo".

Me, I prefer "Gar Bear." And guess what I found out awhile ago? A lot of people that name their kids Garrett end up calling them "Rhett" for a nickname! That awesome, huh?! I may get a Southern Scallywag after all!

Christmas Bells

2008-12-30T19:33:00.001-08:00

So another wonderful Christmas has come and gone. It is funny to think of where we were last year and the uncertainty that we faced with graduating school. Despite the new location and the change in circumstance one thing is still the same, the Christmas Spirit. Even in warm weather we still felt the holiday cheer in our home. Since we live all the way out here I know a lot of family members want to see what the kids got for Christmas. Well here goes. Madison got an American Girl Doll. For those of you that don't know...trust me, if you have little girls, you will find out all too soon.Preston got an oldie but a goodie. Simple hoop.Jackson got a slide. Now hopefully we can prevent him him from snapping his neck.Garrett didn't get much. We just gave him a bath.Amy got a 16 Gb I-pod touch.I got the Mac-Daddy AR15. Saaaweet. I actually got it before Christmas but Amy made me swear not to tell until after Christmas. She also got me tickets to Sean Hannity's Freedom Concert this summer. Uncle Curt must love us a lot of dollars worth because he got us Guitar Hero-World Tour with all the equipment.
Here a few more pictures of the hardware...for your viewing pleasure.

Garrett Mont Carter

2008-12-21T19:15:00.000-08:00

Well we are now a family of 6. We have officially outgrown your typical 4 door sedan. Garrett Mont Carter was born this last Thursday @ 12:30 PM. Amy was induced @ 8:30 am and four hour later it was all over. He weighed in at 7 lbs 12 oz. He was the smallest of our babies. Maddy was 8.0, Preston was 8.8, and Jackson was 9.9. So little Garrett is the runt so far. He was 20 1/2 inches and so he was long and skinny. You can see from the pics that he has little chicken legs. Anyways, Amy came home on Saturday and everyone seems to be recovering normally. It is such a blessing to these little miracles in our home.

The past couple of weeks

2008-12-14T18:34:00.000-08:00

Amy and I have been horrible about taking pictures this year and Thanksgiving was certainly no exception. We we able to snap a few over the past few weeks so here they are.

The week after Thanksgiving we had a family reunion with my mom's bros and sister. All we there except for two of my cousins. Lance and Caetie came out from Missouri and Drew flew in from CA. This was the first time in 2 years that we had all been together. It was a good time.

Here are some pics of Madison and Preston getting their yellow belts. We are proud of them and they really seem to love it.

Here are a few pics of the cousins.

Preston and Andersin were the best of buds.

Tae Kwon Do

2008-11-30T14:07:00.000-08:00

So after being inspired by such box office titans as Kung Fu Panda and the original Karate Kid,the kids decided that they really wanted to learn how to kick some booty. Check this video out for a little trip down memory lane. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bs5CfDPsw0

We have decided to put the kids into a Tae Kwon Do. We looked at a few schools in the area and settled on the Major Tae Kwon Do Academy (http://www.majortkd.com/). This school was more expensive than the others but, we paid the year up front and it ended up being a lot cheaper than the other schools. There are only like 2 other schools in Atlanta that are accredited by the World Tae Kwon Do Federation. They teach Olympic style Tae Kwon Do so, if Madison or Preston ever wanted to go that far in it they would be accredited. We have been really impressed with it but, there is a slight language barrier b/c their instructor is Korean and his English isn't always clear. The kids love it though. On their first day they were taught how to break a board. They will be testing for their yellow belts this next Saturday so we are excited.

So I really think that if if Preston keeps with Tae Kwon Do he will look like Bruce Lee. He just has that skinny physique.

The OBAMAnation of desolation?...

2008-11-16T16:30:00.000-08:00

“And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the [OBAMA]nation that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.” (Daniel 12:11)

I have heard it all. I have heard so many people say that Obama is going to usher in Armageddon, that we will have a communistic state, and that his rule will be akin to that of Adolph Hitler. I admit that I was severely disappointed at the election results (though not all that surprised) I am not, however, ready to admit that Obama is the anti-Christ. I know that many people reading this will violently disagree with me, but listen to my rationale.
While I think it is funny to read the scripture from Daniel in light of recent political developments (especially when you say Obamanation instead of abomination and when you consider that 1290 days is only 170 days short of 4 years), I don’t think this is the event to which Daniel was referring. I agree that on a large scale we will see the extinction of “daily sacrifice.” Under his administration, the expansion of welfare programs will further erode the will of people to make the “daily sacrifices” that are necessary for their own self sustenance. You will see more and more people becoming dependent on the government. Taxing the rich to give to the poor is not a new concept though. As you look back into the recent history of the United States you realized that it was only 27 years ago that the top earners paid a federal tax of 70%. Reagan dramatically slashed this rate as it was near and dear to his heart. During his career as an actor he only made four movies per year. This was his cut-off because any more would have catapulted him into a higher tax bracket. Is his refusal to work, not an erosion of desire for work? Where is the motivation for work when the fruits of your labors will be taken from you at the point of a gun or the threat of imprisonment? On the other side of the coin why would people get out and work (ie “daily sacrifice”), when doing so would cause them to lose their “government cheese?” Regardless of the side a person finds themselves on, Obama’s tax plan will take away the motivation for daily sacrifice.

Regarding Armageddon: Let’s look back in history a mere 35 years ago. The event I refer to is the Cuban missile crisis. At this time there was widespread fear and anxiety that the end was IMMINENT. Not that the end was near, but that the end was literally going to happen within the next month. It is easy for younger generations to forget what it was like because we weren’t born yet. I think that we need to keep things in perspective of history. We have been down similar roads before. The challenge is not to panic and think that our lot in life is greater than those who have gone before us. The strongest arguments that the end is not yet imminent are the words of the Brethren. We have been assured that the end is not yet. I trust that.

Regarding the communistic state: One of the pillars of communism is the complete control of industry by the state. I have no real arguments against this happening especially considering the government seizure of large shares of financial giants AIG, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and Lehman Brothers; I just don’t see it happening. Call me naïve but this economy is too large for a complete government take over. I just don’t see it. A stronger argument against the supposed communistic state emerging in this country is religion. In a communistic state religion is banned. There are too many people of religion in this country to allow this to happen. I understand that we see this happening on a small scale with “In God we Trust” and “One Nation Under God.” Let’s remember that these were only added to our currency and Pledge of Allegiance respectively in the 1950s. Before these articles were added our country still survived. This is a far cry from the imprisonment faced by pastors and ministers in the failed Soviet Union. Another thing to consider are the immigrants, most of which are Mexican and most of which are Catholic. As the population of this country increases so does the number of Christians. They may not be the most stalwart but they are the reason, in my opinion, that Prop 8 passed in California. The Catholic Church adamantly supported Prop 8 and I think the Latino vote helped sway it. I don’t see religion going away in this country in the next 4-8 years. I think we will take a large step toward socialism though.

Regarding Obama ruling like Hitler: Please. The extermination of 6 million individuals based on a religious and cultural difference. The only real argument for this happening is Obama’s alleged call for a national police force. I have found no evidence that he actually said this. No one in cyberspace can supply the source of this rumor. For anyone out there under the assumption that this is a new concept, open your eyes. We have had a national police force for 73 years. Hello the FBI. They are a police force that is not bound by the jurisdictional restrains of a city, county, or state.

After reading all this you probably think I voted for Obama. False. I oppose him on almost every level. I think this country is heading for a major financial downturn that will only be exacerbated by the policies of Barack Obama. My argument today is one of hope. Now is the time for people to prepare for an uncertain future not a time to panic. We have certainly seen our fair share of poor presidents in this country, but despite the odds America perseveres. I firmly believe that America is still a beacon of freedom to the world. I think we will survive the reign of Obama. I hope that people don’t over react to Obama and begin to despair. Obama is not likely one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. There is too much good left in this country to focus solely on the bad. Anyways, I am interested in hearing what people think of all this.

Halloween

2008-11-09T14:40:00.001-08:00

Halloween was fun this year. Unfortunately I was in Atlanta at a continuing education course all day but I was able to make it home in time for trick or treating. I was learning about Invisalign braces. They are the clear braces. In the last week since the course I have sold two case and have five consults set up for this week. It is pretty exciting.

While I was sitting in a class the kids were getting ready for Halloween. They were absolutely adorable. Madison dressed up as a bride. Preston was an Army dude. He wanted to be Superman but we couldn't find an adequate costume for him, so I convinced him to be a real hero. An army guy. Jackson was a little doggy. It was awesome. They went trick-or-treating with Cailee and Kendall. They had a really good time. I thought this picture was funny. It is Granny Robin giving a poison apple to the fair maidens.

Cotton Fields and Fall Fest

2008-11-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

Wow!!! It has been a while since my last post so here goes. I am actually just going to post a few pics of our recent adventures.
Amy took the kids to Washington Farms for their fall festival a couple weeks ago. I unfortunately had to work b/c they went during the week. All the kids were out of school for their fall break. Uncle Curt and Braelyn and Amie and her kids were there. Among the festivities was a lively pig race. Not exactly sure which one won but all the kids loved it. They were able to pick out pumpkins and as you can see Preston went for the biggest one. The only rule was they had to carry it out themselves (Amy being pregnant and all). It think Preston settled on a slightly smaller more manageable pumpkin.Jackson also ended up with a much smaller pumpkin. He is cute though. All the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Despite Madison's reaction to the smell in this picture she had a blast. Later on that day, Amy was driving past a cotton field and decided to take a couple pics. For those of you that have never seen a cotton field in full bloom it is quite impressive. This cotton field is odd b/c they usually harvest it in late September or early October. As of late October it still hadn't been harvested so the kids picked a little souvenir. Now I can tell the kids to keep their "cotton-picking" hands to themselves and mean it. Is that racist? Stay tuned for a couple blogs concerning racism and politics.

What We've Been Up To

2008-10-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

Well I know that it has been a while since I last blogged. Amy had a couple in there but it has been a while for me. As I was scrolling back through our blog I realized that I haven’t blogged about very much of the cool stuff we have done since moving to Dixieland. I think part of it is b/c we are terrible about bringing our camera. If we don’t take pics we tend to forget about. I have decided to pull a few pics off the internet and update everyone on some of our happenings.

Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theatre Amy and I went on a date to see Les Miserables at the Fox in Atlanta. It was awesome b/c I have always been a fan of the music and ever since I read the unabridged novel (1120 Pages) I have wanted to see the Musical. It did not disappoint.

Turner Field I have started doing a thing that I call daddy-time with the kids. I take the kids out and spend special one-on-one time with them. With Preston I took him to a Braves game. We took advantage of a buy one get one sale and we got 2 tickets for $22. The seats were amazing. We were like 5 rows off the field in left field. We lost to the Phillies though ( big shocker).

SEC Football
Yesterday Amy and I went to our first SEC football game. My boss has season tix and they are on the front row of the upper deck at the 35 yardline right under the press box. They we actually freakin sweet seats. The Dawgs shellacked Tennessee. GO DAWGS!!! Now we are officially Dawg fans.

Oconee National Forest (couldn't find a decent picture of this one)

Last weekend we went camping with our friends the Vess family. Spencer Wade may recall going on a date with Shauna when they were in High School. Small world. Any ways, it was awesome and we topped it off with a 2-3 mile nature hike that the kids insisted we do. It was pretty awesome.

So that is just to update you on some of the things we have been doing. Now you know that we don’t really just sit around.

Did you have fun on your trip? Good, see you next fall!

2008-09-29T07:04:00.000-07:00

This was a really fun idea from the Kato's blog. I've been on a memory lane trip lately and thought it would be fun to remember some of the best times (or worst) times I've had with all of you. So, here's how the game works:

1.As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Tag of 3's

2008-09-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

So I was tagged twice for this same tag! Both my sister Abby and my sister-in-law, Caetie, thought I should fill this out so I guess it's a sign. Really, I think they did it because they know I never post blogs, I let Bryce do all that. I just read and enjoy. Anyway, I hope you don't mind, Caetie that I cut your tag down to just 3's, I'll have to think about 8's some more. So here goes:

3 Joys

1. Watching Bryce wrestle with the kids
2. Hearing "family sounds" (for example, imagination phone conversations, made up songs, laughter and squeals--I love it!)
3. Music, especially classical, specifically piano. It always lightens my soul and makes everything better!

3 Fears

1. I agree with Abby, it's gotta be those stupid spiders! They make me so nervous!
2. Kidnappers/robbers/rapists-especially when it comes to my kids. I spend hours thinking of what I would do should something happen.
3. This might make you laugh, but I still am afraid of the Cowardly Lion part of the Wizard of Oz. I just hate when he jumps out of the woods and acts all mean. His face haunts all of my bad dreams.

3 Obsessions/Collections

1. Good girly smells. I love them and have been know to spend a lot of money on a product simply because it smells good. Hopefully I'm not the only dumb woman that falls for stuff like that. However, I think it's worth it.
2. Buffy/Angel . . . I guess vampires in general. Call me and adventerous romantic, I guess. I love the sex appeal of Dracula and the thrill of the hunt! Anybody that hasn't watched them, don't you worry, I have them all! Of course Twilight also falls into this category since it is much the same.
3. Babies. Caring for and cuddling babies is one of my favorite pasttimes and I frequently steal Baby Lea (that's my niece) from her Mommy. She gives me my "baby fix". I'm pretty obsessed with observing and communicating with those little infants.

3 surprising facts

1. I can't whistle worth beans
2. I actually like to clean the bathroom (even more than the dishes, that's right I pick the toilet)
3. I can be a little racist (maybe I shouldn't admit that online since Jackson with be president one day and it will come back to haunt him . . . but I do tend to generalize groups of people and jump to conclusions sometimes. That's not to say I don't know and love a good amount of differently raced people than myself though.)

That's it! It's getting late and I could have been reading, scrapbooking, or sleeping this entire time . . . I'll have to weigh that a little better next time because sleep sure sounds good! Anyway, I tag Holly, because I know it'll be entertaining to read, Joelle, because I've been thinking about you lately, and my new found friend Shauna so that I can get to know you better.

A Post About Preston

2008-08-31T16:34:00.000-07:00

So we LOVE our little gangly boy, Preston. He is a super cute boy. He is like 3.5 feet tall and like 34 pounds, yeah, tall and skinny. He just turned 4 and so I thought I would post a few pics. He wanted to have a baseball party but we were getting drilled by the remnants of Tropical storm Fay so we were rained out. Instead we watched a baseball movie at our office theater. He had a huge haul with the gifts. This is the cute cake and cupcakes that Amy made. She has a cupcake recipe book. So Preston started Pre-K also. Listen how ridiculous this is. Elementary school starts before all the other schools. Since Madison and Preston ride the bus they have to catch the bus at 6:30 am. Can you freakin beleive how early that is. We have to get them up at 5:45. That is insane for a new 4 year old. This wasn't even the half day Pre-K it was all day. We were debating whether or not to even start Preston this year but we figured we would try it. After about a week he came home in tears saying that he didn't want to go back. I think it was just too much. We pulled him out and are going to look for a Pre-K that is like 3 half-days per week. Bless his heart though, he gave it a try.
All ready for school.

Madison's First day of First Grade...and other summer stuff

2008-08-10T17:32:00.000-07:00

So this is going to be a picturey blog. Madison started first grade this week. She said that she had fun but I think she is having a hard time making friends. She said that most of her class are brown kids and they don't want to play with her. Poor kid, we are excited for her though. We actually just found our camera which come to find out had a bunch of pictures from our other adventures this summer. I will post some of those also.

This is Maddy getting ready to head to the bus-stop

This is all the cousins piling on top of uncle Curt. Everybody loves uncle Curt.

Preston met some new friends at church and was invited to a pirate party. This is the kids getting ready for church. Poor Jackson always gets the bunny ears. He can't defend himself yet.Once again with the bunny ears.Grandpa Bennett was in town for business so he came and stayed with us for one night.This is the kids with my sister, Amie's new baby, Leah.Occassionally the kids steal the camera and take pictures. Of course it is always funny to look at the pictures later and see what goes on in their room when we aren't around. Apparently, they ganged up on Preston and tried to get a picture of Kendall kissing him. Funny kids.

IT'S A _____!!!

2008-08-08T18:59:00.000-07:00

So I appologize that it has taken me a while to post this. Apparently Amy didn't tell people that we were pregnant. I assumed she told everyone. Actually I think she told people, she just didn't make a huge announcement via email. Anyways, Amy went to the the OB on Monday and I told her to post this. She didn't post it...I don't know, something about being busy raising the kids and making my bed. So I will post our good news.So this is a nice profile of the baby.
Well that is the stem on the apple. That's right boy number three is on the way!!!!!!!

What a...two...weeks...it has been

2008-08-04T04:19:00.000-07:00

Ok so it has been a couple weeks since I last posted. But a lot has changed. I will start off by telling a story about Madison and my mom, Granny Robin. So she was over here the other day and she and Madison were playing Memory. Madison was totally schooling her. Granny Robin was trying as hard as she could but Madison is really really good at Memory. Madison ended up doubling Granny Robins score. This was truly a legitimate butt kicking. So right after that the kids were headed to bed and Granny Robin was in the room. Right before Madison laid down she said, "Granny, next time I won't use my brain when I play you." Oh, why not Madison? "Well I want you to have a chance at winning."

So that is the funny story for the week. In other news I got transfered to the Duluth office.

Crappy part: Really long commute (1 hour 10 minutes), Equipment is older, Assistant is not as well trained.

Good part: I am own my own pretty much calling all the shots (except major expenditures), Ability treatment plan and treat all the patients that come in, My production (and consequently my income) is totally in my hands.

All in all I like it but the one thing that out weighs everything else is the commute. My boss is opening a new practice in Monroe, GA which will be opening in October. Once that is open I will be transferring down there. That will only be a 10 minute drive. So for the time being I am getting a taste of solo practice, and I like it.

The other big news is that we are moving to a house. There is some uncertainty as to whether or not we will be in GA long term so we didn't feel the time was right to buy. So we will be renting. Good Part: Much closer to work, Much bigger house (by like 900 square feet), huge fenced in back yard (actually a dirt patch with sporadic vegetation, but who's counting), pool in the neighborhood, 4 bed 3 bath, 3 car garage, way better schools, only $75 more than we are paying now, makes it so we don't have to move in December when the baby is due.

Bad Part: We have to move again, we are starting to make friends in this ward.

The Good definitely outweigh the bad.

This kitchen ought to keep Amy happy.And we have a screened porch. Who doesn't like one of those. Notice our huge fenced in dirt patch.

Other big news: Amy is getting an ultrasound today so hopefully we will know the sex of the baby. More details to follow.

New Family pics

2008-07-16T18:12:00.000-07:00

So I didn't work on Tuesday so we went and got our family pics taken. We always go to Kiddie Kandids and they do an awesome job. They are a little spendy but I think it is worth the money because they are great with kids. These are the unedited pics. We actually got them cropped down a bit. They didn't email the individuals for Madison and Preston, so I just but in the group kid picture.
Anyways, We thought they turned out pretty good.

Welcome to ATLANTA

2008-07-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

So we are starting to settle down here in Athens. I started work this week. I work in Winder which is about a 20 minute drive for me. This picture shows you where I work (B) and where we live (A) realtive to Atlanta.Let me tell all my dental amigos out there that have yet to start working that, working with an assistant rocks. I did RCT on #19 in about 45 minutes. That included the core buildup. Having someone set up and break down for you and handle all the lame stuff makes dentistry 100 times cooler. My boss is awesome too. He just had me assist and observe this week to learn the procedures around the office. He had me see about 4-5 patients a day. The best part about all this is that I am actually making money for doing it. I love the fact that I am getting paid to do something that I love to do. Anywho, enough about the job.

On the 3rd of July we went to Stone mountain GA. They put on a huge laser show and firework display. It was awesome. Stone Mountain is argued by many experts to be the largest exposed piece of solid granite in the world. El Capitan in Yosemite is taller but Stone mountain is larger. It also has the worlds largest bas-relief carving.

In typical southern style the carving depicts Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis mounted on horseback. This project was largely funded by the KKK and the Daughters of the Confederacy.

Other than that not much is going on. Amy and the kids spends a few hours everyday down at the pool. They have met some really cool people. Here is a picture of our pool.

Moving and Mehico

2008-06-29T12:59:00.000-07:00

So this is going to be like three blogs in one. I hope you have a little time to read. It has been a whirlwind three weeks. We moved on June 13. Here is an interesting story about the move.

So as most of you know we bought a double wide trailer three years ago and that is where we lived for most of dental school. Well back in March we put it up for sale. It sold in 6 days. Total blessing, right? Well the lady gave us $1000 down and we agreed that we would settle the balance and sign the paperwork on June 13. So about a week before we were supposed to sign I called her to make sure everything was still on. No problem, she told me how excited she was and that she couldn't wait to move in. Then on June 11th the lady called to ask about getting the eletrical switched over. She reiterated her excitement about moving in. Well the next day, on June 12 at about 8 pm I called her to see what time she was coming over the next day. As soon as I started takling to her she freaked out on the phone. "I am not coming tommorrow, I have been at the hospital with my husband for two weeks now an I am NOT coming tommorrow, blah, blah, blah." I asked her if tommorrow was a bad day or if she wanted to reschedule or what the deal was. She was like "No I don't want to reschedule, I am not coming and I just want to forget the whole deal...CLICK." She freakin hung up on me. So here we were, moving in 24 hours and now the house we assumed was sold is now back on the market. We didn't sleep that much that night. We prayed that something would work out. The next day we decided to try and hire someone in our ward to sell it for us. Well, right before I was going to call someone to sell it we heard a knock at the door. I thought it was our landlady but it was actually this lady that was going to buy it. She was like "Is this a good time to settle things?" My jaw about hit the floor, but I kept my cool and told her that now was a perfect time and we were expecting her. I guess my prayer was answered. She paid us and we signed the papers and that was that. She never mentioned the phone call from the night before so I never brought it up. Now a couple weeks later the checks have cleared and all is good. We are going to miss this old trailer. So we got moved to Georgia. I won't bore you with all the details as it was rather uneventful. Abby and Amy's folks came to help with the move and to help us unpack. (Thank you guys so much by the way!!) On Wednesday Abby and Shelda took the kids up to Tennessee for a week and Amy and I left on a Cruise. We sailed to the western carribean on a 5 night cruise. It was awesome. I really think that cruises are by far the best bang for your buck. our first port was Progresso, Mehico. We went out to see the ruins of Chitzen Itza. It was awesome.

OK I am totally ticked off. I just freakin deleted most of the pictures from our cruise. I can't beleive it. The only consolation is that we were pretty lazy about taking pictures and I only lost about 20 pics. The aggrevating thing was that they were of the ruins at Chitzen-Itza. Argh!!! Oh well I downloaded a few pics so you could see what we saw. Just imagine us in front of them.

This is the main temple. It is probably the most recognizable temple of all the Mayan ruins.

This was the hoop at the ball court. The ball court was just a little smaller than a football field.

Our next stop was Cozumel, Mehico. Here we rented a scooter and rode around the island. It was nice b/c we were able to get away from the crowd and kind of go at our own pace. We stopped at this little place and ate some mexi-food and did some snorkeling. A huge storm rolled in so we had to cut it a little short but, it was fun anyways. Then we board the ship and headed for home. It was so nice to have a break from the kids and everything. I had no cell phone coverage for the whole trip so we were truly cut off from the rest of the world.

It was nice to get home and see our kids. That was the longest that Amy had ever been away from them and the only time that both of us had been away together more than one night. They were so cute when we got back. Now that we are home it is time to settle in and get to work. I start work tommorrow. I am pretty excited but, I am a little nervous about the learning curve. It is always hard to go into a new situation and learn the ropes. Oh well.

By the way we made our first purchase this week. Washer and dryer baby. I got a subscription to consumer reports b/c I figured we were going to be making several purchases in the coming months. These were the highest rated W/D on consumer reports. Nice.

Beretta 92 FS

2008-06-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

So happy graduation to me indeed. After years of pleading with Amy to allow me to purchase a handgun, the time has arrived. For graduation my folks gave me some money that I convinced them should go towards a gun. With the money in hand I told Amy that since the money was intended for a gun I had no choice but to go and get one. She grudgingly agreed and after an 8 day waiting period I am now a proud owner of my first handgun.

I have always like the look and feel of the Beretta but it didn't come in the caliber I wanted. I was looking to get a .45 caliber but ended up with a 9mm. I chose the gun I wanted over the caliber I wanted. I will eventually get a .45 but at least for the time being I have the gun that I want.

This particular gun has the distinction of being the officially issued sidearm of the US military. The military always used the M1911 (.45 cal) from WWI up through 1987 at which time they switch to this mamma-jamma. Anywho, I went and shot it yesterday for the first time and all I can say is..."sweet chicken."

Graduation

2008-05-18T16:44:00.001-07:00

So it is officially official. I am a doctor. Weird to think of but it actually feels about the same. I still can't treat people on my own or write scripts but as soon as I get my license then I will have the real power. I just wanted to post a few pics of my graduation. It was really nice. My Dad and mom and brother Dan came out to visit. So now it is a waiting game until we move. I reserved the moving truck today for June 12. I am pretty dang excited to get on with things and get started making money. Well, I hope that you guys enjoy the pictures.

Me and my lab partner.
Reading the oath.

Me and a some of the Mormon posse.The Folks.

Remember Me

2008-04-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

So I know that most of you have probably forgotten about me and my family, but alas, we are still alive and well here in Maryland. I know that it has been a long time since I blogged but I figured it was time for an update. The past few weeks have been great. I finished all my requirements at school. It is now officially a waiting game. I am completely done with school and tests and everything. Can you say good feeling? So that is the big news. Also Jackson had his birthday this last week. We had the missionaries, Calderwoods, and Wades over. It was pretty fun. I thought I would post a few pics from the past month or so.

The kids on St. Pattys Day
A close up of Jacksons shirt

Jacksons Bday cake. They are cupcake balloons floating in the sky.

Jackson getting his cupcake on. Me pile-driving Codys head into the dirt (Dang!!, I didn't realize how skimpy I was getting on top). In all fairness though he pinned me. My move probably wasn't legal wrestling.
Jackson goofing around.

Back when I was in Nam

2008-04-02T19:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I appologize it has been so long since I blogged but a lot has happened. I probably could have blogged about allthese things individually but lucky for you I will just give you the readers digest version. So I passed my boards. We bought a new car. We decided that throwing 2 grand into a car that has 195000 miles, leaks anti-freeze, burns oil, and occasionally won't start was probably not a great idea. We got a 2009 Toyota corolla. It was actually cheaper than the 2008 and 2007 models. Weird but true. I think it helped that I was able to swing a sweet deal thanks to my friends at carbuyingtips.com. I went to Vietnam on my externship and Amy went to Abby's house in Tennessee for Easter. I will let Amy blog about Easter b/c I wasn't really there.

So Vietnam. I went with Operation Smile. They are normally only a surgical based organization that corrects cleft-lips and palates. They are running a pilot program for the last few years that is basically a dental mission. The dental mission provides emergency and preventative care to underserved people in Vietnam. It is the only dental mission that Op Smile has in the world. They are using Vietnam to see if they want to take it worldwide. Op Smile is a fantastic organization and they subsidized much of the trip. I payed $460 and they covered the rest: roundtrip air, 10 nights lodging, three meals/day, and cabs to and from the hospital. It was awesome. There were two teams that went. One went to Hue, Vietnam, and the other was in Hanoi. I stayed in Hanoi. I was bummed at first b/c Hue is much more rural but I ended up loving Hanoi.

This is John McCain's flight suit and parachute from when he was shot down and captured over Hanoi. Notice the blood on the parachute.

This is a picture from inside the "Hanoi Hilton" where the North Vietnamese imprisoned US pilots during the war. This is where McCain was.

This is a picture of a US plane that was shot down. It is on display at one of their war museums.

Team Hanoi and some of the volunteers

Check out this random volunteer's shirt. Go Ags!!!

Me on a motorbike. Everyone rides motorbikes over there. I took this little number for a spin.

Treating one of the kids.

This restraunt cooked the meat on a super-heated slab of granite at your table. No external heat source. It was pretty cool.

We went to Ha Long bay which is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

A picture of the bay from the entrance to a cave that we toured.

Drinking a coconut on a floating house boat.

Ha Long bay at dusk.

Sea kayaking in the bay.

Getting my karaoke on. The vietnamese love their karaoke.

I bought some oil on canvas replicas. Two Van goughs and a Monet. $40 each. Pretty good deal I think. I have the guys website if anyone is interested. He can replicate pretty much anything.

W-MONK

2008-03-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

So I meant to blog last Sunday but we have been super busy. I have my licensing exam this Thursday and our car died. Actually the brakes died and it was going to cost like $1800 to fix. We are looking to buy a new car. We have been busy with that. Anywho I thought I would post about Madison and her most recent accomplishment.

At her school they encouraged all the kids to bring a collection of 100 things to school to celebrate the 100th day of the school year. At first Maddy wanted to bring like 100 rocks but, then she decided to bring her piano books to show that she had learned 100 songs. She showed it to her class and everyone at her school was so impressed that Madison was selected to be on W-MONK. It is the school news channel. It is only broadcast to the school but basically Madison showed the whole school her music books and told about her song collection.

Now, being modest as Madison is, she didn't think it was important enough to tell us. One of Amy's piano students (a second grader) mentioned that she saw Madison on TV at school. So we asked Madison about and she simply said, "All I did was talk in front of a camera." She is so cool about things sometimes.

Jackson Walking

2008-03-06T06:55:00.000-08:00

So I finally found a minute to update this blog. I have wanted to post this for a couple weeks now, but I am lame so whatever. Any way Jackson started walking about two weeks ago when he was 10 months to the day. Feb 24 2008. I took some additional video to show how he has improved. anyways, enjoy the video.

By the way, Jackson also cut his first tooth about a month ago. Trying to get a picture of this was practically impossible so unfortunately no pictures.

My Cutie, Pa-tootie Husband and Me

2008-02-24T17:37:00.000-08:00

What's her name? That's right, her. Jeffrey Bryce Carter, goes by Bryce
How long have you been married? Just under seven years and no itch.
How long did you date? 5 months and engaged 2 but you might count the break up in the middle which only last for about 3 weeks (over Thanksgiving break)
How old is he? 29 will be the big 3 0 in July!
Who eats more? I think I snack more (maybe), but Bryce can totally eat more than me at a sit down meal.
Who is taller? Technically him, but I think I "stand taller"(meaning better posture), so give me a few points.
Who said 'I love you' first? I'm pretty sure I realized I was in love first, though I don't remember saying it at the time. I guess maybe I did.
Who does the laundry? All the time, me! Bryce doesn't check for stains in the kids clothes and he'll dry my undryable shirts. He forgets to put softener in the washer sometimes . . . it's just easier if I do it myself.
Who does the dishes? I do the little dishes during the day and leave the big stuff (pots, pans, mixing bowls) and annoying things (bottles mostly) for him! Almost always though, whether I wash them or not, I end up taking care of them. This is one area though I'm so glad Bryce helps with. We don't have a dish washer right now and he will wash til he drops. (I also take advantage of that after we have a lot of company over.)
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Bryce may like sleeping by the door, it's true, but right now I claim that spot, just in case kids wake up. However, that doesn't happen very much anymore, so I think I might lose my place pretty soon!
Who pays the bills? I do hate money! I give it away right and left so that I don't have to worry about it! The only bills I pay are the automatic things, like Blockbuster, but we just cancelled that so . . . I guess I don't pay any bills!
Who mows the lawn? That would be my man of muscle. Not that I can't, and ask my Dad I used to mow lawns all the time, but if I had my druthers . . I'd druther not.
Who cooks dinner? I do. But Bryce is right. He's a big help and has given a lot of good Filipino recipes from his mission.
Who sings better? Bryce has a really good voice, I think he sounds wonderful, but I've had more training than him, so I'd better sound better! Just kidding.
Who drives when you are together? Bryce.
Who is more stubborn? Probably me. Just about certain things though. I more than willing to let Bryce wear the pants in our family except when it comes to kids, laundry, and cleaning the bathroom. However, we work together really well.
Who is smarter? Well, if Donald Trump had to decide he'd definently fire me. Bryce has got brains and a memory to boot. I know stuff and consider myself intelligent, but I'm a scatter brain and can't remember where I heard or learned what a lot of times, so . . . there you go.
Who kissed who first? Bryce thrives on this story. So, yeah, it's pretty much how he said. He tried to kiss me first while studying "chemistry" but I wasn't ready. So, I got ready and made a move a few days later. He didn't want it . . . until two minutes later when he realized I'd actually just tried to kiss him. What a nerd.
Who asked who out first? Bryce asked me. And he was pretty lucky, but even after I got his note, I had to ask my roommates who the heck he was. After they explained I was like "Oh, the Digger boy!" (We were high school rivels for those that didn't know and I still beg the question . . . What's a Digger anyway? What kind of a mascot is that? ; ) )
Who proposed? Again, he told the story true. I just wish it would have been a little warmer outside!
Who is more sensitive? Bryce . . . sensitive??? He's about as sensitive as Michael Scott on "The Office." No, for real, he can be so cute and cuddely, so soft and say the mushiest things. And sometimes he even batts his eyes and will cry with me when I've had a hard day . . . in my dreams.
Who has more friends? Bryce tells it like it is. We have mutual friends.
Who has more siblings? Again, Bryce is the wiener, I'm mean winner.
Who wears the pants in the family? I'm more than happy to let the pant's wearer be Bryce. He's an excellent leader and wonderful husband and father. I trust him completely and would follow his instruction no matter what . . . except like I said with kids, and laundry, and cleaning the bathroom (and maybe right not what should be packed and moved to the storage shed to show our house).

That's my view on everything! So, now I tag . . . Christine, Stacey, Katie, and Cody, who all replied or asked me when I was going to post this!

Pet Peeve

2008-02-23T12:26:00.000-08:00

Ok so I know I told myself that I would never write about politics on my blog, but I am going to write about one of my pet peeves which happens to deal with politics.
On Wednesday I was working on a patient that was going to be receiving IV sedation. In passing I asked the dental anesthesiologist who was running the sedation whether he had heard the outcome of the democratic primaries the night before. He informed me that Obama had swept it. I made the comment that I even though I was not an Obama fan, I felt that he was going to be the next president. The doctor was like, “wait a minute, why don’t you like Obama?” I really think I offended him by saying I didn’t like Obama. It was almost like he expected that I would like Obama.
Anyways, my response was that he didn’t have enough experience and that his foreign policy of sitting down with our enemies would be a disaster. So the doc started talking about how nobody needs experience being president b/c nobody has experience until elected. I responded that I would like to see someone that has experience being an executive whether in the private sector, the public sector, or the military. Then I asked him what Obama was doing before he was elected to the Senate 2 years ago. The doc kind of bumbled out some stupid answer about being a community activist. Bottom-line was he really didn’t know what Obama did before being a senator. So much for experience.
Next he took issue with my statement that Obama’s foreign policy was a load of crap. Instead of focusing on the deficiencies in Obama’s foreign policy he started talking about Bush’s foreign policy (typical liberal). “Bush is the reason that we are in the mess we are in right now. He is the worst president this country has ever had!” Then he went on to say how Bush lied to the country and made decisions based on a hunch. I defended my position and there was more to this conversation but I just want to focus in on this part of it b/c this is my pet peeve.
I can’t stand it when people make a comment like “Bush is the worst president.” I didn’t say this to the doc but I wanted to say, “Ok if you are going to say that Bush is worse than all other presidents, then I want you to name all the other 42 presidents this country has had. Not only do I want you to name them but, I want you to tell me their respective political policies and what they did and did not do in the White House. If you can do that then you are qualified to say that ‘in your opinion’ Bush is the worst president.” Of course, no one I know would be able to answer that challenge. So until someone can answer those questions I wish they would keep their uneducated and unqualified opinions to themselves. At least Bush isn’t bad enough to get impeached. Truman’s approval rating was the all time lowest at 23 percent. Polk took us to war on trumped up charges that Mexico had killed a handful of our troops. “Bush is the worst…” please!
When I hear someone say this it tells me 2 things about that person:
1. That person is certainly no student of history
2. That person is a hypocrite b/c they are making decisions, in this case about President Bush, based on their incomplete and media-defined knowledge, which if we remember, is the same thing they are accusing Bush of doing.
Some people just get me going.

ZOOBA

2008-02-17T17:11:00.000-08:00

Ok, I have been waiting to blog to see if Amy would respond to my challenge and answer the spouse brag tag. I guess I will continue to wait. In the meantime, the last two weeks have been good. I have been over at the Hospital doing a rotation with the oral surgeons. I have watched several cancer surgeries, facial reconstructions, motor vehical facial fractures, and a gunshot wound to the face. It was pretty cool to see all the stuff but it will be nice to get back to the simple drillings and fillings.

Jackon took his first steps this week. I know that should be the big blog news this week, but we haven't video-taped it yet, so we are going to wait until we get video of it. Maybe next week.

Ok, so I never used to like reading but I have recently become a bookworm. I joined an online book club. It is awesome and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes to read and wants to build up their personal library. The way it works is you pay $10 per month. Then you create a queue of books that you want. Then every month they send you a hardcover book from you queue. So basically you get a hardcover book every month for $10. They have a ton of books. There is no shipping charge either. I really like it. You all should check out the website at http://www.zooba.com/

I am a huge fan of the historical non-fiction genre. I never used to read a lot until I started reading this particular genre. I started off with the Personal Memiors of Ulysses S. Grant. It is awesome. So for all of those out there that claim they don't like to read, give historical non-fiction a try.

Here are a couple books that you may want to read to get started. The first two books are written by pulitzer prize winning authors. Great books. Start with 1776.

So anyways, I hope you all look at the website and sign up. I always want to give a shout out for the websites that I like in hopes that they stay in business. I think it is a really good deal. And just if you were wondering I am not part of any other book clubs. Some of my friends have suggested that I am probably part of the Oprah book club. This is nonsense. How can I support a book club that supports "Yo Mama Obama." Oops, I talked politics on my blog. I broke my vow not to mention politics. Oh well.

Spouse Brag Tag

2008-02-03T14:11:00.000-08:00

So Abby tagged me to fill this out so here goes.

What's her name? Amy…I occasionally refer to her as sweet cheeks.

How long have you been married? Just under seven years and no itch.

How long did you date? 5 months and engaged 2

How old is she? 25

Who eats more? Definitely me. She is a good cook. I don’t think she could out eat me in anything. She eats like a bird.

Who is taller? Me by a head

Who said 'I love you' first? Her. Actually I think it was just mutually agreed upon.

Who does the laundry? She won’t even let me touch it. I wish I could help out sometimes. I ruined one of her shirts one time and now I am forbidden to touch the laundry. Now the question is, did I do it on purpose. Maybe I should ruin a few dishes.

Who does the dishes? Split, but if the ruining thing goes well it will be her.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Depends on which way you are facing. I like to sleep closest to the door…closer to my gun in case we have an intruder.

Who pays the bills? Absolutely me. Amy claims she hates money.

Who mows the lawn? Me. I think she would look cute if she mowed it though.

Who cooks dinner? Mostly Amy but I have been known to dabble every now and then.

Who sings better? I sing better in the shower. But as judged by other people I would have to say Amy. She is actually taking singing lessons right now.

Who drives when you are together? I do. I think Amy drives too fast and she thinks I drive like a grandpa.

Who is more stubborn? Once again depends on who you ask. I often tell Amy that all our problems would be solved if she would simply think exactly the same way as me.

Who is smarter? Amy knows way more about the kids and how to raise them. I know more about teeth. I will let the reader decide which skill is more valuable.

Who kissed who first? She absolutely shut me down the first time. I think she felt bad so a few days later she tried to kiss me…denied.

Who asked who out first? I asked her. Little did I know that she had already been asked 4 times to this particular dance. Surprisingly enough though she ended up going with me. Fate?????

Who proposed? As my family watched on from the house with binoculars, and in apparent disbelief, I asked and she said yes.

Who is more sensitive? Amy, but I must admit that tears were shed when Rocky Balboa defeated Ivan Drago in the ultimate battle between good and evil.

Who has more friends? Split. My friends are married and Amy is friends with the spouse.

Who has more siblings? Me. Eight altogether to her 5.

Who wears the pants in the family? Me. Although Amy can serve a wicked glass of “shut the heck up!!!”…when needed.

I tag Amy.

Now everyone knows what our blog will be next week.

Polar Bear Plunge

2008-01-30T17:06:00.000-08:00

This last weekend I paticipated in the annual Polar Bear Plunge. Yes, it was cold...just if you were wondering. I joined Team Ngata of which half were members from our ward. Haloti Ngata plays for the Baltimore Ravens and he is in our ward. He plunged 24 times in the previous 24 hours so he didn't actually plunge with us but we all raised money for his team. We raised over $8000 for the special olympics. It was pretty awesome. We even had another ex-Baltimore Raven come down and support us. Ed Mulitalo came down from Detroit to plunge with us. He used to be in our ward but he got traded to the Detroit Lions last year. It was pretty dang awesome. After the plunge Ed and Haloti took the ward members from the plunge team out to eat. It was a pretty sweet Saturday morning.

27 Degrees of Separation

2008-01-22T20:48:00.000-08:00

So I had an extra 45 minutes and I decided to go blog surfing. I got onto the blog of some USU friends and I decided to see if I could link back to our blog. I just started clicking links on peoples blogs to see if I recognized anyone. Well 27 links later I made it back to ours. All I can say is there are a lot of BYU fans out in the blogosphere (lame). I actually linked back through Nate and Staceys blog. Anyways, I just wanted to put to rest any rumors that I'm not a nerd.

Belly-Woppers

2008-01-20T17:23:00.000-08:00

If you have ever watched the cartoon "Frosty the Snowman" then you will probably recall a line from it of how Frosty was the "...best belly-wopper in the world." I really hate to ruin the classics for everyone, but I must say they had it all wrong. "Why?", you might ask. Well the best belly-woppers in the world are found in Maryland and they happen to be my kids. I have conclusive video-taped evidence to support my claim. Please see the following:

As you can see they are pretty amazing. I hope you like the close up of my hinder. Amy thinks those shots are pretty funny. Anywho, this week we obviously got some snow. We got about 5 inches. It was pretty fun to play in. Here are a few more pics of us in the snow.

This week Preston accomplished his goal of learning to make pancakes. He set a goal in Joy School to learn how to make pancakes. We thought it was kind of funny that of all things to have as a goal he chose making pancakes. He does love to eat them though, so maybe it isn't that big of a stretch.

First Haircut

2008-01-13T16:10:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that we already had to cut Jackson's hair. He is almost 9 months old now!!! It blows me away to think of how fast time flies. At times I wish school would go a little faster but if that happened then my kids would grow up faster and that would be a tradgedy. I hate to see these little kids grow up. Anyways...boo hoo...you probably don't want to hear me get all fatherly and reflective. So back to the haircut. I actually missed it b/c I had to go to a scout training at the stake center. The folloing is the only evidence we have that the haircut actually happened.

I actually had to crop the picture b/c Amy was in her PJs and would probably kill me if I post a picture of her in her jammies. Anyways, Jackson looks very handsome in his new haircut.

In other news, I passed all of my written boards. I found out about that this week. Amy got called to the nursery. Madison passed off all of her piano songs this week and Preston is learning to write the letters in his name. Here are a couple of other pictures of the kids for you.

This is Preston "fixing" our door frame. One of the panels fell off. He thoughtfully took it upon himself to fix it.

This is Madison crawling out from under our bed. She is our little cave rat when we need a food item from under the bed. We keep food storage under there.

PS--I hope you all like the addition of music to the blog. I tried to pick music that wasn't too annoying. Tell me if you like it or not.

The Man Jewlery Box

2008-01-06T19:03:00.000-08:00

So I had a lot of requests to explain myself and my Man Jewlery box. Here it is.

BEHOLD,

THE ONE,

THE ONLY,

MAN JEWLERY BOX!!!

So as you can see it is actually pretty cool. It is an organizer for my cell phone and PDA and my GPS runner. It is built so I can put my charger cords up through the back and charge my stuff. I suppose you could call it an organizer but I prefer Man Jewlery Box. So I hope this puts to rest any questions about orientation.

Other things that happened this week. 2008 started. We went to the Benners for a New Years Eve party. It was really fun. Other than that it has been a pretty slow get-back-into-the-flow kind of weeks.

Preston said the funniest thing tonight. We were taking about repentance during our family scripture study and how it "cleans" our spirit. Then we asked the obvious question of what makes our spirits dirty in the first place. Madison came through with "Sins, being mean to others, and being disobedient." Preston thought about it for a minute then looked up and said, "Dust."

Christmas Day

2007-12-26T09:38:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas was awesome. The kids let us sleep until 7:00. After that they were up and so excited. Actually I think Amy was up before them and kept checking to see if they were up. She was more excited than they were and definitely more giddy. Madison got a cash register and a jewlery box and some necklaces. Preston got 2 transformers and 2 light sabers. Boys kind of have to get things in pairs so they can fight with them. Jackson just got a few little baby toys.

I got Amy a new set of scriptures and a new coat. She got me a man jewelry box. Now I know that sounds a little gay but it is actually pretty cool. It takes a while to explain it but trust me, any guy out there would like it. The kids also got new coats and church outfits.
We also used the money that was given us to buy a bike trailer extension. I uploaded a video of it b/c it is easier to watch it than it is for me to explain it. It is really fun and the kids had a really good time when we took it out for a spin yesterday.
Yesterday we went around and delivered some cookies and cards to our neighbors. It was fun b/c I think sometimes we forget that Christmas is a time to give instead of receive. We wanted our kids to give something to our neighbors. It was fun. Well I hope that everyone had as fun a Christms as we did. Till next week, Adieu.

CHRISTMAS IN NYC

2007-12-26T06:53:00.001-08:00

Well Merry Christmas everyone. I hope everyone had as fun a Christmas as we did. Fortunately for us the kids let us sleep in until 7:00. Actually before I tell you about Christmas I am going to tell you about our trip to NYC.

We went up on Friday to see the Christmas lights and the toy stores. I got a cheap price on a really nice hotel in Manhattan which was only like 3 blocks from Rockefeller Plaza. So Friday night we went around and saw a the ice skaters and lights at Rockefeller. It was nice but it was really really crowded.

The next day we went and saw the Macy's window displays and stopped in a few toy stores. The kids had a good time but it was really windy and super cold not to mention crowded. We walked around until abot 1:00 and then we headed back to the car. We are really glad that we went but we probably won't go again. It didn't seem as Christmasy as we were expecting. You always see in the movies how Christmasy NY is but in real life it is crowded, cold, noisy, and everyone is just out to make a buck. Take this Santa for example. We took a picture of the kids with him. We didn't notice the fat wad of cash in his left hand. After the picture he asked us for a "tip." He wanted $2 per kid. I gave him $1 per kid and we headed for home.

Pictures Say 1,000 Words and Videos Say 10,000

2007-12-16T18:29:00.000-08:00

Well I don't have a whole lot of time this week but I thought I would just post a few videos from this week. Enjoy.

Madison's receital on 12/16/07.

Jackson started doing this this week.

An Eclectic Week

2007-12-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

Well this week found the Carter household doing a variety of things in a variety of places. The week started off by me taking my National board exam on Monday and Tuesday. Then on Wednesday I took my regional licensing exam. They all went pretty well and I feel like I passed. Hopefully I will get the results back this week. Other happenings included my hunting experience on Saturday. After being shut out twice last week I finally shot a deer on Saturday, which also happened to be the last day of the season. It was only a doe but at least we will be able to put some meat in the freezer.Now dad, you're not allowed to laugh. This is whitetail country. Not everyone can be so lucky to find huge mule deer laying on the sides of mountains.

After the big hunt I cleaned up and then we went to our ward Christmas party. It was pretty fun and the kids were able to see Santa.

In other news...our kids never cease to entertain us with their logic. Madison told me yesterday that the reason I used to wear glasses is because I didn't eat enough carrots when I was a kid. "Only people that don't eat their carrots have to where glasses, dad. Mr. V in my school doesn't even like carrots and he has glasses." On another occasion I was wearing a shirt and tie to school instead of my usual blue scrubs. Preston made the comment,

"Dad everyone is going to make fun of you today."

"Oh yeah, Preston, why is that?"

"Because you are wearing the wrong clothes to school."

Preston apparently only associates shirt and tie with church. When I got home he asked me, "So dad, did everyone make fun of you?" We kind of laughed about it but then when we thought about it more we tried to think of how he would even know about people making fun of others. It is amazing what these little kids pick up on. Well that is our week.

Thanksgiving

2007-12-02T13:34:00.000-08:00

So it has been 3 weeks since I last updated the old bloggerino, so I appologize for all the time you guys spent anxiously checking back every five minutes for updates from the Carter household. Well all your efforts have paid off.

So we went to Tennesee for Thanksgiving. We went and visited Amy's sister Abby and her husband, Justin. All of Amy's family was able to fly out and so we had a big old shin-dig (spelling???help me out here!!!). It was the first time in quite a while since everyone on that side of the fam has been able to get together in one place. While we were there we had a murder mystery dinner, built huge paper airplanes out of posterboard (my idea), made some delicious dinners, ate an unquantifiable amount of turkey, played some back yard football, and watched an unholy amount of college football. We also went and visited some old roomates from college. I was roomies with the husband and Amy was roomies with the wifeski.

This is the Hamblin family, Blaine, Angie, and Jace. So that was fun visiting them. We also had a little Christmas party where we had a gift exchange. It was pretty fun especially for Preston and as you can see he has a strange way of showing his enthusiasm.

We were able to take a big family picture with everyone in it. If you can't tell it was freezing, but I think the picture turned out well. It was a pretty good time. It was really nice to see everyone, but we were tired when we got home. I took that Monday off of school so I could recuperate from the long drive.

Now that we are back we are in the final push until Christmas. I am taking boards Mon, Tue, and Wed of this next week. Amy is trying to get Madison and the rest of her piano students ready for their big piano receital on the 16th. And amidst everything else I am trying to find a job. It seems like the fun never ends. Oh well, Tis the season. Well take care and I will try to update again next week. Here are a couple more pics for your veiwing pleasure.

Jackson obviously didn't eat enough for Thanksgiving dinner.

Madison being herself. Amy wanted me to make it expressly clear that Madison was dressed up for "mis-match day" at school. Amy wouldn't noramlly dress Madison in clothes that clash. I guess this just goes to show how much I know, I think she looks pretty good.

The Carter Family Conquers

2007-11-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

So as you can tell from the title this week we have been getting things accomplished. Probably the biggest accomplishment is that Jackson finally started to move around. On Monday Amy called me while I was on my way to school. She was in tears and naturally I inquired as to the cause of her tears. "Jackson started crawling!!!" I don't know if these were tears of joy or despair. Regardless, we are going to have to Jackson-proof our house. The other big thing this week was when Amy decided to go dark. She decided to go back to her natural hair color. It is decidedly darker than anything she has ever had. I guess pregnancy can change things.

Madison gave the scripture in primary this week. We forgot that she had to do it until this morning on the way to church but she was able to memorize the scripture and reference in the time it took us to get to church. She did awesome when she had to recite it for the primary. This week Preston got a new Spiderman hat. We are proud of him and even though getting a new hat may not seem like a major accomplishment (to the untrained eye), it really is. You must be trained to see it though. As for me I got a lot of requirements done at school this week. I basically finished my crown and bridge requirements and I did finish my denture requirements. Those requirements tend to hold people up when graduation rolls around but fortunately I was able to get them out of the way.

Anywho, we have accomplished quite a bit this week. These weeks don't seem to happen as frequently as we would like but we get excited when they do. Welp, see ya later.

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-04T15:59:00.001-08:00

So thanks everyone for looking at our blog. I think that Amy has been inspired to start blogging with me knowing that people actually read them. In fact she wrote like half of this post! So this last week has been a little crazy. Halloween was definitely the highlight. Amy and I kind of pooped out this year and didn't dress up. The kids however were freakin cute. As you can tell from the pictures the kids hada blast dressing up. Madison was Geniveve from one of the Barbie princess movies.

Preston was originally going to be superman, then he wanted to be a cowboy. We drove to like every store in town and couldn't find any good cowboy accessories (what happened to the classics!). He ended up being a Knight in shining armor. In fact, at the ward trunk-or-treat all the little princesses wanted him to protect them from the dragons while they huddled in the corner. He was so brave!

Preston had a cute Halloween Joy school party this year. He got to make a ghost out of a milk jug, a ghost footprint, and a monster pinata. He had a blast with all the activities and songs that they sang for their little program.

Jackson went as a cute little lion. He actually kept his hat on all night! Some little side notes . . . Our "little" Jackson has turned into quite the "jumping Jack" (ha, ha). He's got some strong legs and loves to bounce and boing all day long. He gets himself pretty worked up about it too, making him very overtired at naptime and bedtime. However, he's got the cutest little giggle and uses it often, so we still love the little chunk.

After the trick or treating, we all came back here and enjoyed some hot tang to warm us up. I think everyone pretty much had a good time though. Here are a couple more really cute pictures for your enjoyment.

The First Post--Our Adventures Over the Summer

2007-10-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

Well just to bring people up to date I thought I would start by posting a few pictures of the things we had recently done. This last summer we traveled by minivan across the US and back again. First we traveled to Kansas City to visit my brother Lance and his family. They just moved there and so we wanted to check it out as a possible place to move after school. We were able to go to Liberty Jail and see some of the sights in and around KC. After spending around 6 days there we set off for Utah to visit Amy's folks. We stayed there for a week and went to a few water parks while we were there. Then we went up to Idaho. We had a big reunion with all my brothers and their families. It was awesome b/c it was the first time in probably 5 years that we had all been together. It was awesome. We were able to ride the horses , shoot guns off the back porch and otherwise enjoy the simple pleasures of country living.

After we left Idaho we traveled to Tennesee via KC where we stopped overnight. We visited Abby and Justin there for a few days. They were experiencing record heat in Nashville while we were there so we didn't get out to see too many sights while we were there. After our four days there we came back home and started school the next day. All said we put 5250 miles on our van. The kids did great great but surprisingly enough Jackson was the best behaved of all the kids.

After we got home we were wasted from our "vacation." We did go camping one time to help us relax. We went to this place in PA called Pine Grove Furnace State Park. It was an old open-pit iron mine that fell into disuse in the late 1800's and since then has filled with water and is now a beautiful lake. The PA parks dept. has hauled in a bunch of sand and now there is a big sandy beach at the lake. It is awesome. I don't have any pics from the lake, here are some from our camp site.

Well, Madison took that last picture. I hope you like the show. Well that is what we have been up to. If you are reading this last paragraph I guess the blog didn't suck too bad. Tell us what you think. We were inspired to start blogging by a few our friends that have blogs. Hopefully now we can just keep up with it. Peace out until next time.