Still more Family pics

Family Pictures

While in Utah, we had some family pictures taken by Mike. I thought they turned out pretty well, especially considering Karter was sick and SSSSOOOOO grumpy that morning, plus it was raining. But as it turned out, when we went outside, Karter perked up a bit and the rain paused for a few minutes! Yea!

Gma Bell's house

We had a great trip to Utah which started out at Grandma Bell's for Memorial Day weekend. We loved spending time with Gma and Max (her dog), and also loved that we got to see Kirk and Falycia (or as Karter would say "Aunt a-ee-sha"). The only down side to this trip was that Karter got pretty sick- doesn't that always seem to happen on vacation?

A t-ball kinda day

Yesterday was so beautiful which makes me think that maybe the warm weather will stick around- we can atleast hope. Karter loves his t-ball set which he got on his last birthday from Papa and Nam-nam, and Kollan loves playing any and all sports with him. What a perfect day!

Cute Kids

The weather was so beautiful today! I hadn't taken (or posted) any pictures for awhile so I took the camera with us to the playground. I love spring and summer so much! Anyway, I hope you are having good weather too, wherever you are reading this!

Where is SPRING?

So, we had the awesomest little family trip planned, and we were all looking forward to it. On Thursday we were going to drive down to Denver and watch the Braves play the Rockies (Kollan is a big Braves fan and we even all had our Braves gear to wear). We were going to stay in a hotel that night and then go to the zoo the next day. Then, the storms came. The game was cancelled and we were heartbroken. We stayed in Cheyenne Thursday and then thought we'd make the best of it by going to Ft Collins on Friday (about 40 minutes away). We decided to wear the Braves stuff anyway (hence picture #1). We just hung out and went to dinner, then we thought we'd surprise Karter by going to Chuck-E-Cheese. (The poor little guy wanted to go to the game and the zoo so much). Picture #2 is of his face when we drove up to CEC. The whole night he kept saying, "I didn't leeve you prised me!" (I didn't believe you surprised me). Picture #3 doesn't have anything to do with this story, I just think Ty is super cute. Anyway, although the weekend was still fun, I'm so tired of the cold, the snow, and especially the awful Cheyenne wind!! Oops- that sounds a lot like complaining. I'll just say, I'll be very grateful when the warm weather is here to stay.

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter! Karter is at such a fun age. Of course he loved coloring eggs and finding candy, but he also seems to be understanding more about the Resurrection. In church while the speaker was talking about the Savior and the Resurrection, I thought Karter was just playing, but when I looked over at him I was so impressed. He had pulled out a laminated picture from his bag- the one of the Resurection, where Jesus is in his white robe amidst the angels with their trumpets- and he was turned around on the bench showing it to all the people sitting behind us. He showed me too, and whispered, "See, the Wessurection!" He was excited to feel like he had such an important job, helping the speaker talk about the Resurrection.

I thought Karter and Ty looked especially cute in their Easter clothes. What a wonderful day!

Our Silly Side

Even though Kollan might not want me to post this picture, I think everyone ought to know his deep dark secret- he can be silly. Most people might think he is so reserved and mature, but he's actually so much funnier.
Lately his big thing is, whenever I ask him to do anything (even little things like, "Can you please get me a drink?"), he responds by snapping to attention, and saluting me with BOTH arms while saying, "YES MASTER!" We call it the double salute, and I can't stand it- it drives me CRAZY- which is, of course, the reason he does it. Well, last night I gave Karter (remember he's just 3 1/2) a snack in a bowl and when he was done he handed me the bowl. I said, "No, YOU ate the snack. Please take the bowl to the kitchen." He came over and got the bowl, looks at me and says, "Yes Master!"
Oh, they think they're so funny!
I love the cute things that little kids say though. This morning Karter was playing "waiter" at his pretend restaurant. I asked him what they had to drink and he told me they had apple juice or "mountain dude". Cute.

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Star Wars according to a 3 year old.

I saw this on my friend Lacey's blog and it is so cute that I wanted to share it.

Ty's Baby Blessing

My Boys

I just love all three of my cute boys.

Karter is at such a great age. He says the funniest things, and he's so smart. (I know I'm a braggy mom).

Today, he was playing in the bathroom while I did my hair, and when I finished he said, "We're good to go." I asked him where he heard that and he said, "Rachel Ray."

Another cute one about him is quite embarrasing for me. We had some friends over for dinner, and for one reason or another I called the guy (Seth), "Sean." I didn't know why I called him the wrong name, but I felt terrible, and so embarrased. The next day, Karter and I were in the kitchen. Out of nowhere he looks at me and says, while laughing, "Seth isn't Sean. You called him Sean. That was funny." I didn't know Karter was even paying attention when I used the wrong name, and I was hoping everyone would soon forget. Karter doesn't forget anything.

I'm so proud of Karter's writing ability. Yesterday, we practiced writing the alphabet and he wrote every letter. Some of them he knows himself, and others I'll draw it for him to see, and then he'll do it. He does so well and I think it's great he can write his name too.

He's also observant. The other day I was struggling to get off one of his shirts. It just didn't want to pull off over his head. As I'm pulling, he asks, "Is it not 3T?" More impressive then knowing his size, he also knows which store each item of clothing came from. Good memory.

Ty's Smile

It's amazing how something as simple as a baby smile can melt your heart and make your day! I've had a hard time getting pictures of it, because it always seems like you never have your camera around when you really need it. But I love that Ty is smiling now, he's so happy and adorable!

Karter loves to sing

Karter is quite the little singer, which is a lot of fun. He has a great memory for lyrics, and loves the primary songs and also songs from the radio. I love when he sings, "Noooooooooo, no. No, no, no, no. I said no, no, you're not the one for me." He also likes the Timbaland song, Apologize, and I'll constantly hear, "It's too late to 'poligize. It's too late."

He's loving being in sunbeams and primary, and his teacher told me she's impressed by his participation in primary to sing along and answer questions. He loves the sunbeam song and also "I am a child of God", which is what this video clip is of.

One Month! Already?

Wow! Ty is already a month- I can't believe it. This is definitely going so fast. He just learned how to smile and it's so adorable. I'll try to capture it on a video clip, but he always seems to smile so cute when the camera's not around.

More Family!

On the day after Christmas, we were so happy to have more family come visit. Kollan's parents, and sister Kelsie and her husband Brian all came. It was so great to have company during the holidays, and we were sad to see them go on New Years.

Christmas

We had a terrific Christmas. It was our first Christmas together where we stayed home instead of traveling to our families houses. That was largely due to the arrival of our favorite Christmas gift- Ty! We were glad to have my mom come visit. She came on the 14th to help with Ty and Karter and stayed until Christmas evening. Karter had a lot of fun with Grandma, and especially loved making cookies on Christmas Eve.

Ty Maxwell Arritt!

He's here!! Ty was born on Tuesday, December 11th at 2:06 am. He measured at 7 lbs 5 oz and 20 inches long. He's so adorable and we're so grateful he is healthy and well. It still seems shocking that we have two kids, but of course, it's so exciting.

Kollan and I had just had it in our minds that I would probably have to be induced (like with Karter) because that's all we had known. So when I started into labor on Monday night, we were skeptical and wanted to make sure we didn't get sent back home. I didn't know what it felt like to go naturally. If I had known how fast I would go, I definitly would have gone to the hospital immedietly. We called our neighbor to come over with Karter at about 1 am, when my contractions had very quickly become only 4 minutes apart. Then we drove the 5 minutes to the hospital, and while checking in I realized the contractions were now 1-2 minutes apart. They got me into my hospital bed at 1:30 and Ty was born at 2:06. I became very nervous when they told me I didn't have time for an epidural, and more than ever before I am a BIG fan of the epidural. I won't pretend to be good with pain, and I'm just so glad that if I had to do it naturally, at least it went so quickly.

We feel so blessed to have two wonderful and healthy little boys. What a wonderful Christmas this is- we couldn't have asked for a greater gift!