LOVE 4 LAURIE CARNIVAL

Some of you may know Laurie Moss Johnson. She is my sister Colette's age, and is the little sister of one of my best friends, Jenny Moss Larsen. She is fighting cancer right now. She is so strong and a great example of staying in good spirits when the world seems to be crashing down on you.

Lauries family is throwing a fundraiser to help her out. Laurie's husband is going to school full time right now so their funds are limited. If you can go to the carnival and play a game or two to help out it would be MUCH appreciated.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the LOVE of my life. I am SO very blessed to be your wife. I love you more than anything in the world. I look forward to growing old together with you. Thanks for being a GREAT Dad and Hubby. Thanks for all that you do for Carlee and I. You're amazing! I LOVE YOU!!!

Trip to DC

Carson has the whole week after Christmas off. We didn't want to just sit around and do nothing so we took a short trip to DC and realized we need to go back when we have more time. The main reason we went was to go and see the lights on and temple grounds of the Washington DC Temple. I dare say they beat SLC Temple Square lights. They are amazing! Here are a few pics:

We also went to the "Mall" and saw a few landmarks, but can't wait to go back and have the time to really see it all. I can't believe it is only 3 hrs from our home. (Less soon!) It's amazing!

Carlee saw people doing photos like this one (except I am sure their hand were a little more lined up to make it look like they were holding the monument. LOL!) This girl doesn't miss a beat...

Monster Trucks - Go MAX D!

Our good friend, and previous neighbor, Kreg Christensen drives Maximum Destruction the BEST Monster Truck out there! You can read more about Kreg here. We LOVE the Christensen family!

Anyhow, we heard he was flying into Norfolk, VA to head to Elizabeth, NC to pick up his truck to start the Monster Truck series. We jumped on the chance to drive him to NC. It was awesome to catch up, although it did make me a little homesick for my good friends in Willard. We got to the Grave Digger garages and realized quickly that ALL of the Monster Trucks were parked and ready to go. We visited with a couple other drivers and some of the mechanics. Carlee was climbing up in the trucks, posing for tons of photos, playing with parts sitting ready to assemble, etc. I kept thinking to myself, "WOW what some little boys (and girls and men and women) would give to be where we are at doing what we were doing!" It was AWESOME!!!

Carlee pretending like she works with her Daddy. Like I said she was playing with and touching anything she could get her hands on.

The local favorite, Grave Digger. BOO! Go Max D!!!

Carlee had to get a picture in front of this truck. It's her boyfriends favorite. LOL!

This is Max D's guts. This is what it looks like before they put the shell/cover on it.

Nice and shiny and new.

Kreg giving Max D some love. Really he is looking/fixing/adjusting something, but it sounded cooler to say he was lovin' on Max D. HAHA!

Carlee up in one of the trucks. She is in the drivers seat. Lucky little fart!

So happy and so proud.

More trucks!

Thanks Kreg for the fun night (and for dinner). We miss you and your family, but think of you all often. Keep kicking behind in the Max D!!!

We're buying a home!

If all goes well we will be closing on our home on March 22nd. So far, so good...

Here is the beauty (I can't wait to live in one home and not in a townhouse AND a storage unit. I will be doing some SERIOUS decluttering and donating to Goodwill though).

The home has PLENTY of room for company (HINT, HINT). It has TWO master bedrooms, 4 rooms total and 3 full bathrooms. The yard needs a little work and we would like to convert the single car garage that has been back converted into a family room back into a garage and put a shed in the backyard, but the inside is totally redone. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Front of house (notice the HUGE shrubs. That will be the first thing to go)

Back of the house

Dining Room

Front Entrance

Hallway


Main Bath

Living Room

Kitchen

More Kitchen

Bathroom Shower

2nd Master Bathroom

Master Bedroom

Master Bathroom

Main Bath

Does it snow in VA?

YES! Virginia does get a little bit of snow AND... they shut down the whole city when it does occasionally. The first couple of times it blew my mind and then I started to see how fast the snow turned to ice and the city's lack of snowplows. Not to mention the locals DO NOT know how to drive in the snow.

This is a few photos the week after Christmas. We couldn't believe how much and how fast we got the snow. CRAZY!

P.S. I am aware this is outdated, but we use this blog as a family journal/scrapbook so I wanted to include the white we did see this winter.

James River Ferry

We have a ferry close that is FREE to ride (so right in our price range). We decided to go and give it a try. It was much cooler than I thought it was going to be. I couldn't believe you just drove your car/truck right on it along with lots of others. You could then get out of your vehicle and walk around and go up to the top of the ferry and get an even better view from inside. We'll have to do this again soon. We all enjoyed it.

Loading onto the ferry.

Parking.

Setting sail.

A view of beautiful historic Jamestown.

Looking down on our truck.


Carlee is AWE!

So excited!

Daddy's girl!

Norfolk Zoo on President's Day

Carlee didn't have school on Presidents Day so we decided to go and do something fun. We went to the Zoo in Norfolk. It was a little chilly when we got there, but warmed up once we started to walk around. It's not a huge zoo, but was just right for wanting to go and do something fun that didn't take all day (because Carson did have to work that night). Here's a few photos:

A self requested photo in front of the Tortoise photo.

Checking out the Prairie Dogs from their level. They had just come out of hibernation and were VERY active.

STINKY Red River Hogs!

See the Elephants in the background? Try and get past the pose and it might be a little easier.

The SCARIEST animal in the park. Read the sign if you can...

just one of MANY family events to post about. . .

Carlee's going to be a BIG sister!!!

It's NO April Fools joke this time. Although it was a HUGE surprise to Carson and I. No fertility, no insurance (we have it now, no worries), no idea... However, WE ARE THRILLED!

It's going to be an even hotter summer than I was already imagining, but OH SO WORTH IT! Oh and guess what our due date is: 9-10-11. Isn't that awesome?!? It's kind of cool because I have an older brother who was born 9-8-76. Too funny.

So stay tuned for the updates of the baby's sex. Hopefully we'll find out in a couple of weeks when we go back to the Dr. (shhh... we are hoping for a boy).

Oh and no the baby is NOT a unicorn. I don't know what that is coming off of it's head, but the Dr did say it wasn't a horn. :)