Team Carlson: 2009

Halloween

Happy Halloween

Carving pumpkins. Kai said he wanted a "scary pumpkin".

Kai was supposed to be a policeman for Halloween. We already had the costume and were set to go, but whenever people would ask him what he was going to be for Halloween he would say "a scary monster." So we ditched the policeman outfit for this scary monster costume instead. He loved it...especially the 4 arms!

At the church Halloween party. Soren was living his fantasy as Drew Brees.

Getting ready to go into the haunted house.

My step dad David won 1st prize for his awesome split pea soup...It was to die for! (Halloween pun intended). Way to go David!!!

Trunk or Treating

Actual trick or treating. Blakely's ladybug outfit was so super cute I could hardly stand it. She had such a fun 1st Halloween.

Back at the house.

Me, Hailey, and the kids. (nice pumpkins!)

Of course Halloween night also happened to be the Oregon USC football game. So in between trick or treating and passing out candy we watched our Ducks kick some serious Trojan booty. Here Kai is celebrating an Oregon touchdown and eating some Halloween candy.

(You would never know from these pictures that Kai had been super sick earlier this week and was diagnosed with H1N1. We thought Halloween would be out of the question for sure this year, but his fever was down enough for us to get to participate in a few of the holiday's activities. We are so happy you are better Kai. Thank you everyone for your prayers. )

Diehard Duck Fans

GO DUCKS!!!

We love being Oregonians and we sure love our Oregon Ducks. We are holding out for a Rose Bowl appearance this year. Here we all are at fan day. Kai had such a blast and just loved meeting the Duck. What a fun day. GO DUCKS!!!

We love our Ducks!

Hug a Duck.

Sitting on the "O".

Lagoon

Lagoon

I love summer time. I especially love summer vacations! This August we took the fam to Utah and Idaho to see many of our friends and family. Some might call us crazy for taking a 2 and 1/2 year old and a two and a half month old on that long of a road trip, but Kai and Blakely are troopers and we all had a blast!

We met up with the some of our best buddies from college, Nate and Melissa Plowman, and all went to Lagoon. It was so fun because Soren and Nate had taken Melissa and I to Disneyworld when we graduated from USU. Now here we are 4 years later taking our kids to an amusement park! It's crazy that we had more fun watching Kai and Claire ride all the rides for the first time than going on the rides ourselves. I do have to note however that we did ditch the kiddos in the evening (another of our best college friends Aaron volunteered to babysit) so we could go on the big kid rides that night.

Soren and his college roomate Nate with Kai and Claire looking cool in their sunglasses!

Daddy and Kai on the Jumping Dragon.

Kai loved it so much. Everytime the ride stopped he would say "Do it again!" and run to get on another ride.

Mommy and Kai on Odysea. We got totally soaked so this is the last good hair picture.

Summer Lovin! Kai and Claire on the baby whale ride.

Kai Kai and Claire sitting in the swing K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!!

They were so cute we couldn't stand it. It is hard to see, but their arms are around each other.

Just chillin on the helicopter ride.

Even Blakely rode some rides! She told me she loved Lagoon

7 Peaks

7 Peaks

You can't go on vacation without some serious swimming. We went to 7 Peaks water park in Provo and made a real splash! My sister Hailey and her darling baby Micah just happened to be in Provo at the same time so it was cool getting to meet up with them at the water park. It was also super fun because my best friend Lillith Bear who is 5 months pregnant came with us. The craziest part of the whole day was when Soren took my newborn Blakely on one of the huge tube slides. I was freaking out. Apparently she loved every minute of it and didn't even mind getting completely dunked at the end. What a brave girl!

Raise your hand if you're a dork...oh I mean having fun.

Soren pushing Kai and some kids on the tire swing.
Kai on the kiddy water slide. Don't let this fool you though. He also rode on all the big slides with Mommy and Daddy too!
Hailey and Micah just working on their tans!
Blakely was all tuckered out after a day of fun in the water.

College Roomies

College Roomies

We had fun catching up with some of Soren's crazy college roommates. Here is a pic of the guys (Soren, Brett, Matt, and Cam) and their boys.

Me and my girls (Heather and Melissa). Yikes! Who is that scary guy in the background?

Idaho Falls

Idaho Falls

The highlight of our little trip would have to be heading up to Soren's hometown and hanging with the fam. Kai had a ball seeing all of his cute girl cousins. We love and miss you guys already!

Here we are at the zoo.

Visiting cute Grandma Carlson.

Sadie, Hannah, and Kai tag teaming on poor Uncle Soren.

How sweet! Kai and Hannah were best buddies and had fun sharing a swing at the park.

Hannah took my camera for awhile and shot this awesome pic of Grandpa Doug.

Hopper Family Picnic

Hopper Family Picnic

It just wouldn't be summer without the Hopper family picnic! Some of my best childhood memories are holidays and family get togethers out at Grandma and Grandpa's.

What a cute group. Grandpa just looks so happy here!

Kai and his 2nd cousin Landon taking a break during a game of rung-ho.

Kai and Uncle Adam playing our favorite rung-ho game that Grandpa built.

Independence Day

Independence Day

We had so much fun celebrating the 4th of July this year. It was Blakely's first holiday and what a fun one it turned out to be. We started the day off with all of our best friends coming out for the Creswell parade. That night we took the kids to the Rodeo where we had front row seats to the show. Kai especially loved his view of the fireworks from the gigantic monster truck he was riding! Happy Birthday USA!

It was a scorcher out there during the parade so we used umbrellas to block the sun.

Linds, Hay, and the babies at the Rodeo.

Kai had the best view of all.

All decked out in red, white, and blue.

There is nothing sweeter than sharing a moment like this with my babies.

Mckayli's Birthday

McKayli's Birthday

Our family really enjoyed cousin McKayli's 1 year birthday party. It was Blakely's first swim and we all had so much fun. Kai couldn't get enough of the water slide.

Look...Blakely is smiling. She loved being in the water.

I love this pic of Kai. He is so happy! We were all happy!

Sweet Dreams

Sweet Dreams

Kai jumped up in Blakely's crib. I love that he has his arm around her.

Big brother-little sister...this just warms a mother's heart.

Story time!

Kai always asks for a million stories each night. Blakely is really getting into story time too!

Klamath Falls

Klamath Falls Trip

2 weeks after Blakely was born we went to Klamath Falls for a mini vacation. It was absolutely gorgeous and super relaxing. Soren's mom came too and we really enjoyed spending time in such beautiful surroundings. It was fun because we stayed in the exact same Chalet where we first found out we were pregnant with Blakely in.

our new little family of 4!