Tapestry

Sadie had her FIRST DANCE PERFORMANCE at the end of last month!  She was so nervous, it was so cute.  Her part was very small since she only started dance at the beginning of the year and still needs more training and confidence but I was so proud of her going up on stage and completing it all without any problem.  I was worried, knowing that she has been too shy to sing or speak with the primary in the front of the congregation whenever they have done that in the past.  I think they practiced enough that she was comfortable enough to do it though.

She was excited to have Daddy, Nana and Papa there to watch her too.  Nana brought a rose for her and she did not want to put it down.  That seriously made her day!

This is Sadie and her friend Macy before the performance:

All the dancers from the dance company gather together before the performance:

Here they are in performance.  Can you spot Sadie?  This picture is taken from inside the curtains on the side stage.

So proud of my little girl!  :)

Afterward we enjoyed a nice big... ok, huge... ice cream at Fentons!  Yum!

Smith Family Farm Field Trip

Mackenzie and I were able to go on a field trip with Braden's Preschool.  All three of Miss Shannon's classes combined for this field trip along with Miss Rhonda and Miss Cathy, her teacher's aids.

We sang songs in the barn

Played homemade musical instruments

Learned about the animals got to feed them

Learned about plants, bugs and insects.  (AND got to dig for worms!)

Went on a tractor ride...

And Braden even planted his own tomato plant!

Mackenzie loved all the animals, especially the baby goats that got out of the fence.  She kept chasing them around saying "doggy! doggy!"  Oops, guess we need to work on our animals!  :)

The cutest picture though, was this one that another parent took and sent to me.  Doesn't this make your heart melt!  SO sweet!

Sadie is 6!

My oldest baby turned 6!  Sadie is such a blessing to our family and we are so glad to be able to share this time with her from baby to toddler and preschooler to kindergartner and next elementary!  We love her and her happy, bubbly personality so much.   I have so much more to record about Sadie's birthday but for now... Happy Birthday, Sadie!

 
Sadie Anne Carter

Age: 6

Birthday: May 8, 2004

Favorite foods: Macaroni and cheese, meatloaf, pizza, salad, artichoke, avocado, Mandarin oranges, chicken nuggets, peanut butter

Favorite toys: Barbies, my Little Pony, Littlest Pet Shop (although these toys are a distant second to anything that has to do with arts and crafts!)

What I like to do: piano, dance, swimming, boating, camping, writing, coloring and cutting, cooking, singing, crafts, make-up and nails, take pictures, play dates, mothering smaller children

Infected

On Easter Day we noticed that Mackenzie had some slivers in her foot and one area that was blistering up.  We tried to prick it and squeeze what we thought must be a splinter out (since there were other splinters around it) but only puss came out and a red streak started showing up across and up her foot.  Jason's mom told us it could be blood poisoning so we immediately took her to the minor injury clinic.  The Dr. said that it was very good that we took her in right away because it can be so serious if it spreads, the poison would go to her heart and it could be fatal.  Scary!  She was given some strong antibiotics and we were to watch it carefully that it didn't spread or get worse. 

A couple days later we were still concerned because it looked the same and because we never actually saw anything come out of the area so we worried that maybe what ever was causing the infection could still be in her foot.

After examination the Dr. said that although he didn't feel it was an urgent matter yet, it may be smart to do an incision now and remove some of the infection and check for the foreign object because waiting longer could result in hospitalization. 

Mackenzie was such a good girl in the pre-opp room.  She thought it was pretty cool that she got some new clothes to wear and a crib with a flat screen tv so close she could touch it!

But then the nurse and Dr came in and started getting vitals and giving her medicine to make her drowsy before they took her away to give her the anesthesia.  She didn't even fight or cry when they took her down the hallway from me, it was kind of unnerving.

Afterward the Dr said he didn't find anything but was able to remove some of the infection.  She had a wrap on her foot for a few days and we were not even able to see how it looked.  When we were finally allowed to take it off, we felt so bad for Mackenzie and surprised that she had been walking on it as if there were nothing wrong.  It looked pretty mangled to me!

I guess I got what I had coming to me, with my own habits of going barefoot getting picked up by my kids (I never can keep their shoes on!  They are constantly taking them off and leaving them in random places, always a struggle to locate and keep them on!)  This was one expensive sliver and I have definitely been more adamant about keeping shoes on since!  Its almost been a month now and Mackenzie's foot is looking much better, although still a little red and tender, but no streak.  I'm hoping that means there isn't still something in there because if so we will have to go to Walnut Creek to get advanced imaging of her foot because it could only be something very tiny that didn't show in regular x-ray.

North Star at Tahoe!

Our friends Martin and Andria Tall had some free tickets and invited us to come with them to North Star Ski and Resort with them recently!  It was so much fun!  The weather was PERFECT, a big storm had just passed (we were so lucky the mountain got new snow so late in the year!) and a new one was supposed to be coming in, but there was one day that was supposed to be sunny in the middle of it all and luckily we had picked that day 2 weeks prior!

Sadie and Braden had their first experience on skis/snowboard.  The rental place we went to didn't have snowboards Braden's size so he was on skis, Sadie on snowboard.  I also rented skis so I could help out Braden, Jason was on a snowboard helping Sadie. 

The kids were so excited to be at the snow and try it out!  Here we are on the bus shuttle from the parking lot to the resort.

I love how Sadie looks like she she is a pro that has been doing this for years or something!

I think the kids favorite part was the enclosed tram that took us up to the bunny hill!

Sadie did awesome on the board!  She did fall of course being a beginner, but she never complained or gave up!  She was so proud of herself on the last run when she didn't need any help.

Here Sadie is just ahead of Jason.  (Notice Jason had taken off his hat and coat because it was so hot!)

Braden did really well too!  He got so upset and threw a tantrum and went limp noodle on me the first time down the hill because his skis got all tangled up and he couldn't get straitened out.  I started regretting the decision to take him, but about halfway down he started getting it and did much better.  I used a hula hoop they had available there to help him from getting out of control as he was learning to control his skis and not go to fast.  It worked very well!  About half way through the day he decided that he was too good for that and could "do it all by himself!"  One time down the hill and he was asking for the hula hoop back!

Here is Andria with Maddie using the hula hoop

As the kids got better and better they were so excited to go up the lift and try again.  They kept going all day and still didn't want to stop when the lifts closed!

After the lift closed, the "magic carpet" was still open on the mini hill.  This hill was not as steep as the one we had been on all day and Braden could easily do this one by himself.  He really liked that.

I also had to take some pictures of a California Ski Resort since I had never seen anything like this in Idaho or Utah!

Hanging out in a T-shirt around a fire.  There isn't even any snow on the ground! 

Woman texting while the guys behind her are roasting marshmallows around a fire pit!

I skied to the bottom while Jason took the kids back down on the tram.  I thought it was crazy that the hill ended right in the center of a little village of restaurants, stores, spas and hotel suites!  This place could keep you entertained for a long time! 

Oh, and since we are on the topic of snow, I have to add some pictures the Talls sent me of our sledding trip earlier in the year.  Another great day in the snow!

The kids loved building a snow man together!

Mackenzie wasn't as sure about it...

Here is Jason and I on the sled!  Ha, ha... I guess we were too heavy and ended up all the way at the end of the hill in the mud!

I love that we are able to "visit" the snow, it is so much more fun when you don't have to see it everyday!

EASTER

BREAKFAST AT THE CHURCH

We had a breakfast at the Church a week before Easter.  It was really good, but of course the kids could hardly manage to get it down because they were so excited to do the other activities!  They had paper bags for the kids to decorate for eggs they collected on an egg hunt outside the church. 

I thought Mackenzie might be too little to get into it, but she loved it!  After the first egg, we didn't have to prompt her to find another she spotted and ran for them faster than we could point them out to her. 

Sadie and Braden were especially excited about the eggs with the prizes inside, while Jason and I were eyeing the candybars that they were putting aside!

Mackenzie knew what the good stuff was though!

CHARTER ACADEMY SPRING PARTY

The next week Sadie had a Spring Party to start off her spring break.  I was on the commitee again so I didn't many pictures of Sadie, but had some down time after setting up for my booth to take Braden and Mackenzie to some of the booths before all the bigger kids came in. 

They made baskets for the egg hunt, bunny face masks, rain sticks, went bowling, made sugar cookies, and played lots of other fun games to win fun prizes.

Here is Sadie with Alexis,one of her best friends from school, and Braden.  We had a snack bar for the kids to get a few healthy snacks to eat along with some of the candy they got from their Easter Eggs.

Afterward, home from the big party, they all fell asleep for a nap.  I think the last time that happened was after the school Halloween party!  Although, I was worn out too and fell asleep along with them!

EASTER SUNDAY

Sadie woke up so excited to find her Easter Basket.  Of course the Bunny stepped it up a notch and hid them a little harder than years past.  Sadie immediately looked where it was found last year and didn't see anything then came back upstairs to tell me that the Easter Bunny didn't come this year.  She was pretty sad.  She thought I forgot to call him or something.  I admitted that I didn't call him so she assumed that there was nothing for them this year.  She was definately sad about it, but actually took it very well and didn't get too upset.  So we just went about our morning as usual until Sadie randomly found one of the baskets!  I can't tell you how excited she was that he really did come and she quickly found all 3 baskets pretty fast.  I thought they were hid pretty good, but once she knew they were there to find she figured it out pretty fast.

We tried to watch conference but had a pretty hard time getting much out of it this year, I'm sad to say.  We were busy with the kids and making cakes and dealing with Easter basket excitement.  I heard there was some really great talks too, so I'm going to have to review it later.

Jason did a great job assembling a cake for his dad.  I made the cakes, chocolate mousse filling, and ganache and he did the decorating.  And it was soooo yummy too!   This is my new favorite cake recipe.  I wanted to make it a Bunny Cake in honor of Easter and my father-in-law's childhood cake past, but wanted something different.  So I found a bear cake mould that I used for the top cake and made it look like a bunny by addding long ears and a fluffy tail.  It was our first time using ganache so it didn't come out perfect when we poured the chocolate over the top of the bunny, but I think it was still somewhat recognizable as a bunny... :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We had a yummy lunch at my in-laws and surpised my father-in-law with a special gift pitched in from all 5 of his kids. 

He really means so much to all of us.  He has been through a lot this last year with medical problems and we are so lucky to be able to continue to spend time with him.  It is always fun to hear all of his crazy stories, the best person to go to for info on most any topic (I swear he has the best memory and can give you a million facts on just about anything you can think of), and he is just fun to be around.  And of course a major grand-kid magnant!  What would we ever do with out him??!

Speaking of grand-kids, doesn't he have some cute ones?  These are the Carter cousins, minus Chris and Traci's kids and Tim and Ann's.   What a cute bunch of kids.  :)