Christmas Week... a Picture Novel

Long time... no blog!

With all the excitement arriving in the mail, I've missed some very fun pictures on this delightful blog! Last weekend (the weekend before Christmas) we went to Salt Lake City for the weekend. We drove down on Saturday and came home Sunday night. Saturday we took the long route (I-15 was closed due to 31 accidents!) and headed straight to the Body Worlds exhibit. It was amazing! I'd seen it once in Las Vegas, so I was very excited for the rest of my family to see it, also! Nina got a little... uncomfortable, but everyone else loved it!

After Body Worlds and then a quick dinner,
we bundled up and went to see the lights on Temple Square.
It was so beautiful!

Sunday we had a family party, and then headed home after.


This brings me to the wonderful celebration of Christmas!

Christmas Eve we went up to Demarious and Paul's home where we celebrated with dinner, music, gifts, and lots and lots of laughter!
We were joined by Frank and Shandy and their kids, as well as a family from John's ward.

Nina and Chessie serenaded us on their violins...

Toph, Daniel, and I did our best to look like pop stars...

This was as close as it got...
(In case you can't tell, I'm a partridge in a pear tree formed by Daniel and Toph)

On our way home we passed Santa's reindeer! There were 9 of them!
(Rudolph is hiding behind the tree in the foreground).
We figured Santa probably had a hot date in the neighborhood,
so the reindeer were just chillin'...

We got home pretty late, but somehow managed to
continue the tradition of opening a present on Christmas Eve...

Pajamas!!!

The tree, after Santa visited:

Christmas was very good to us!
Here are a few shots from the day:








We had a wonderful Christmas!
We enjoyed celebrating with all our family,
and have enjoyed the spirit of the season!

Until New Years...

xo

Drum roll please...

Well, it's here! 

Toph got an early Christmas present today 

when the mailman arrived at the door looking for an Elder Carter! 

I was able to leave work for a few minutes so we could all find out where he was going! 

And the answer is...

Arizona Tucson, Spanish speaking!!!

He reports 

March 11! 

I can't even tell you how proud I am of my younger brother. He is older than me in so many ways! 

He is going to be an amazing missionary!

Love you, Toph! 

It's HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Call came today!!! Our mailman brought it to the door...



Just thought you'd like to know...

A note from Grama D...

Demarious sent the cutest email today, that I thought you may enjoy...

Here are some pictures of Kristina, Chessie and Parker. We had the biggest snowball escapade that lasted for a long time this morning. Abby had just as much fun as we did. It snowed the whole time. Parker got me right in the face with the snow. My hair was flat and my makeup was running from being hit, but we had fun. Before we came in I got a big bowl and a big spoon and we filled it with fresh snow (no yellow snow) ha! Came in took off all the wet clothes and they put on my bathrobes. On the couch they are eating the snow ice cream I made them. My mother use to make us snow ice cream. They loved it!!!! Then I fixed them hot chocolate and they had a tea party in front of the fire. Then downstairs where they watched Ralphie in The Christmas Story. I made their parents bring dry clothes as you could wring the water out of them. We had 4 hours of play and fun. Guess what? Before we went out for our snow play, standing in our front yard was a beautiful deer. The children were convinced it had a red nose, so you know who it was??? Rudolph! Then in the sun room while they were eating ice cream the little squirrel performed for them by jumping from the roof next door into our tree.
What a glorious time we had. Oh! We had waffles and bacon before we began to play!

Poll...

So, Toph OBVIOUSLY doesn't have his call yet. 

The other evening he and a few friends polled several people as to where they thought he was going. I've taken the top votes and created a poll... feel free to participate! We'll close the poll next week if the call comes... if not I'll extend it another week... 

This waiting is killing me. 

Until then...

ciao

The Mail-Stalker...

Just so you know, The Call is not here yet. However, Toph has been seen recently in the following position, watching the mailbox like the cougar at Hogle Zoo watches small children... 

We're all dripping with anticipation! Our poor mailman... he must think he's being attacked every time  he pulls up. Toph bolts out the door faster than you can blink the moment he sees that little white mail truck... Its bound to prove successful one of these days...

Stay tuned...

Sugar Cookies...

I'm in the middle of making sugar cookies... 

It's a three hour process, but worth every second. 

Maybe its a three hour process because I blog in the middle of it... 

I'm not really sure.

Sugar cookies hold a very special place in my heart.

They make me think of my Grampa. And my Grama. And my Dad.

But mostly my Grampa.

I love the way they smell so delicious as they bake.

I love the little balls of dough that "accidentally" fall into my mouth.

And I love the flour on my nose.

I love listening to Christmas music while I cook.

I love making frosting in at least six different colors.

I love the snow outside.

Sugar cookies are more than just a treat.

They are a connection to ancestors, a link to extended family.

They are a tradition.

Sugar cookies will forever mean more than dirty dishes.

I don't even mind cleaning up, because of the glorious product.

Sugar cookies are worth it.

I love looking at the tree after the cookies are done.

It is a satisfying adventure, making sugar cookies.

And I can't wait to share them.

With you!

5th Ward Christmas

For any 5th Ward-ers... scroll down about halfway on the left of the page to check out pictures from the FABULOUS party that took place last Thursday! What a delight! If you want copies of any of these just let us know!

*If you click on the slide show you can view it bigger in a new window... I'm still working on this whole slide show idea...

Oh Christmas Tree

This post is a little bit late...

The day after Thanksgiving we woke up bright and early to head to Idaho on a quest. 

Our goal: the perfect tree. 

As kids, we had a few scanty ideas...


Mom and Dad found the perfect tree!

We were excited!

Us with our tree (which Dad sawed down BY HAND! ha ha)
Loading the tree onto the car was an adventure:


Tie it down tight so it doesn't blow away!!!

Upon arriving home, we were excited to prepare for another year of tradition! Every year we make, frost, and hang hundreds of cookies on the tree! Any time anyone comes over, they get to eat a cookie off the tree! We wind up making cookies about twice a week... so come and get one!

The finished product!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

Part 2...

Ben is going to kill me...

Here's a little background on what you're about to see...

We had to do a group project in my retairing class. I have a friend named Ben that was in my group. One of the other group members was responsible for analyzing our target market. She named one of our "targets" Ben, not realizing that there was a Ben in our group. Well, we stuck with it and decided to make "Ben" Asian (for brownie points, really...)

And this is what happened...




(Ben, please don't kill me for posting this... I couldn't resist!)

Why I Ruv Correge...

So, I'm in college. In the United States. I really love it, despite my GPA. ;) Back to the whole US part, though... I am NOT racist at all. Please don't interpret this post in that way... But I have a professor who is Asian and has a very thick accent. The class is retail management, but I refer to it as Retairing (said with my newly learned accent.)  Case in point: It took us two weeks to figure out that when she said "Calloggs" she was actually saying Catalogs, not talking about corn flakes.  It took us the same amount of time to figure out that when she said "Infintree"she was talking about Inventory, not war. 

***Please refer to the bottom of the post for more retair-isms***

ANYWAY, it is important to understand the accent to understand the story. Tuesday, November 25 was the last day of class before the Thanksgiving holiday. My dear professor wished us a happy weekend in the following matter: 

*NOTE: please read misspelled words  phonetically to get the full effect*

I hope you arr hab a belry happee sexgiving. Sexgiving is such a wondelfoh horriday. I hope you arr hab a wondelfoh sexgiving horriday. Sexgiving is... sexgiving... hav a wondelfoh sexgiving horriday!

So, as you can imagine, we're a bunch of college students DYING of laughter in the middle of class. Throughout the entire break, actually. To add to the humor of the weekend, I had a friend share a funny quote: "Drive carefully. 90% of people are caused by accidents." :) (This comes into play later, I promise)

We get back to class a week later, following the sexgiving holiday, not expecting to hear our new favorite holiday name ever again. However, last Tuesday's beginning lecture went as follows:

I hope you arr had a belry happy sexgiving horriday. How was your sexgiving? Did you get rots? Did you eat rots of food? I hope your sexgiving was wondelfoh. 

HA HA HA. As if once wasn't enough... I was DYING!!! To keep myself from laughing OUT LOUD, I texted my friend who shared the quote with me earlier in the break. I told him we were just wished a happy sexgiving again about 4 times in a row... to which he responded: "Did you tell her yes, but you drove safely so its ok?"

Needless to say, I laughed out loud in the middle of class. Oh dear...

Happy Sexgiving Back.

Additional Retair-isms:

Mohmahn: Nordsrtom (ie: I hate mohmans. They not ohrganyzed belry good.)

Ah-Ee-Aye: R.E.I. (ie: Does anyone oldeh a callogg from ah-ee-aye?)

Caberas: Cabelas (ie: Caberas is a destination store. You shop derr often?)

Sex 5th Avenue: Saks 5th Ave. (this one needs no explanation...)

Frip Frop: Flip Flop (ie: What they sell at stores like mohmahn...)

Timing...

These past few months have been a test of faith in the Lord's timing. Allow me to explain...

The typical process for submitting mission papers goes a little bit like this:

• Decide to go on a mission

• Talk to your bishop

• Fill out paperwork online

• Go to the dentist/doctor and walk away with complete forms

• Submit complete online forms to bishop

• Interview with bishop

• Papers submitted to stake president

• Interview with stake president

• Papers submitted to church HQ

• Wait impatiently for a big white envelope to come in the mail

Christopher has had a slightly different experience:

• Decide to go on a mission

• Get told papers can't be started until 3 months before 19th birthday

• Start paperwork online the day they become available

• Visit doctor, passing exam with no problem

• Visit dentist...

• Listen as dentist explains procedure that must take place before papers can be submitted

• Listen some more as dentist suggests recovery time of 2-3 months

• Visit oral surgeon

• Learn recovery time is closer to 5-6 months

• Register for a semester of school, as there is no way availability date will be before finals week

• Surgery step 1 of 3... including 40+ Novocain shots...

• Slowly work on remaining paperwork, feeling no rush due to surgery

• Surgery step 2 of 3...

• Begin school

• Finally get a date of availability from dentist/oral surgeon

• Finish paperwork online

• Realize the only thing missing from papers is a picture

• Get haircut and shave, ask sister to take picture

• Get distracted on scheduled photo shoot day

• Several weeks later, get another hair cut

• Shave on day of second scheduled photo shoot

• Wait for another day because sister purchased a cooler camera

• A few weeks later, get another haircut

• Shave, corner sister and force a photo shoot

• Submit papers to bishop

• Share a special Sunday with family and bishopric

• Realize that membership has switched wards mid-process, and papers did not make the ward switch...

• Pray really hard that the papers can be found from their lost location in cyberspace

• Call home bishop, current bishop, home bishop again in mad search for papers

• Have home bishop and current bishop individually call church HQ to find papers

• Find papers!!!

• Interview with bishop

• Papers sent to stake president

• Call stake executive secretary to schedule soonest possible appointment with stake president

• Learn stake president is out of town; eta: unknown

• Groan

• Pray some more

• Receive call from exec sec, schedule appointment with stake president the day he arrives in Logan

• Submit papers to church HQ

• Watch the mail like a puppy dog, waiting for that big white envelope!!!

Crazy, huh?

Stay tuned...

A picture is worth 1,000 words...

Thanksgiving, Part 2

After our grand Zoo adventure, we headed back up to Logan for the feast!
Dinner this year was at Grama D's. She cooked us up an unbelievable assortment of all things Thanksgiving: potatoes, turkey, stuffing, rolls, yams... the list goes on and on!!!

Dad had the honor of carving the turkey.
(I like the word carving in relationship to turkey: it adds a sense of culinary art!
And believe you me, there was definitely art involved!!!)

Here are a few shots from the glorious afternoon.
Keith and Barbara joined us for dinner, bringing the guest list to a total of 10.

A few shots from the table...

Thanksgiving has got to be one of my favorite holidays.
It was so nice to just spend the day with the people I love the most,
pondering on my countless blessings!

Lots of love,
Roxy

Thanksgiving Zoo

We have a Thanksgiving tradition that began a few years ago... Thanksgiving morning we head down south to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. Every year they hold their "Feast With the Beasts" where the animals get a delicious treat for Thanksgiving.
This year we were joined by Grandpa Keith and Grandma Barbara:

It is always a grand adventure, as can be made apparent by the smiles caught on camera!

Nina LOVES the crocodiles...

Toph's favorite is always the tiger.
(I made the mistake of letting him play photog during this feeding...)

I think our overall favorite went to the elephants, though.
This year the elephants received a 1054.5 lb pumpkin to smash! It was awesome!!!

We had a difficult time getting all 4 kids to pay attention enough to smile at the same time...
This was the best we could do...

Hogle Zoo has a new carousel. It is simply stunning! We all rode on our favorite animals. Mama's favorite was the eagle, Toph's the tiger, Daniel's the leopard, Nina's the sea otter, and mine the polar bear. It was so fun!

Here are a few more shots from the zoo... It was so much fun!


Stay tuned for the rest of Thanksgiving...

This is why we love the weekends...

We are family-loving people. :) Last weekend, our Boise cousins were able to sneak down to Logan and boy-oh-boy did we PLAY!!! We were SO excited to have all 4 of them down. Some of you know our cousin Sarah was diagnosed about 11 months ago with leukemia. After a relapse scare, she was cleared to come and play too! We were all ecstatic! This was an amazing answer to many, many prayers, and we certainly enjoyed Sarah's adventure out of Idaho! :)

We took my camera for a trip to explore the timing capabilities. It passed!

When we weren't playing games or taking pictures, we spent a lot of time in the studio. Christopher and Bridgette recorded I Have Seen Him from the Easter Cantata. My dad conducted while I pushed all the buttons... I quickly grew fond of that chair! ;)

Sunday night recording with Mama at the piano:

Saturday afternoon, practicing around the piano:

The rest of the crew practicing around the piano:

Here's the lineup. The Barefoot Band. From left to right:
Christopher, James, Bridgette, Sarah, Kristina, Heather, Roxy, and Daniel

We LOVED having you guys down for the weekend! As always, it wasn't long enough, but it will hold us through until the next time...

lots of love...

Must be living right...

A few of our devoted followers will remember earlier this year a sad post in which I was asked to play the national anthem at the ESPN bracket buster USU basketball game. I was SO disappointed I couldn't do it, but I was in Belgium... you win some, you lose some, right?

Well, I just got off the phone with USU marketing... 

I GET ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY!

Mark that date: February 21, 2009, ESPN Bracket Buster, Dee Glenn Smith Spectrum!

w00t w00t!

I Was Here

I found a song by Lady Antebellum the other day called "I Was Here" that has been 100% inspiring to me. 

This is me, my whole life. I couldn't have said it better. I hope you enjoy the lyrics...

You will notice me 

I'll believe in my mark, like initials carved in an old oak tree 

you wait and see 

maybe I'll write like Twain wrote 

maybe I'll paint like Van Gough, 

cure the common cold 

I don't know but I'm ready to start cuz I know in my heart 

I wanna do something that matters 

say something different 

something that sets the whole world on it's ear 

I wanna do something better, with the time I've been given 

and I wanna try to touch a few hearts in this life 

and leave nothin less that something that says I was here 

I will prove you wrong 

if you think I'm all talk, your in for a shock 

cuz this dream's too strong, and before too long 

maybe I'll compose symphonies 

maybe I'll fight for world peace 

cuz I know it's my destiny 

to leave more that a trace of myself in this place 

I wanna do something that matters 

say something different 

something that sets the whole world on it's ear 

I wanna do something better, with the time I've been given 

and I wanna try to touch a few hearts in this life 

and leave nothin less that something that says I was here 

and I know that I, I will do more than just pass through this life 

I'll leave nothing less that something that says 

I was here, I was here, I was here, I was here 

wanna do something that matters 

something that says I was here 

wanna do something that matters 

something that says I was here, I was here

In honor of Veterans Day...

In honor of Veteran's Day, we would like to pay tribute to Charles William Carter Jr., our Dad and Grandpa. He was a Master Gunnery Sgt. in the United States Marine Corps, serving our great nation in World War II.



We miss Grampa terribly, but tonight have been enjoying stories of his days in the Marines. We would like to share one of those stories in honor of him.

Grampa, as mentioned above, was a Master Gunnery Sgt. He shared this rank with one of his dear friends. When it came time to lead their troops into battle, he and his friend drew straws to see who would take command. His friend won, and so Grampa gave him his compass. Sadly, Grampa's friend was killed by the enemy. He had lost a dear friend, and in the process, lost his compass.
When the time came for the next battle, Grampa was the one to lead in the troops. They came upon several dead enemies. Grampa rolled over one of the Japanese and saw on the dead soldier's body his compass that had been lost in the previous battle. To this day, we still have the compass in our family's possession!

We love you Grampa, and savor ever memory we have of you! Thank you for your service to our country, and even more to our family! We love you and miss you!

Love, your family