" I Want To Be A Baker"

So - Blaze comes up with crazy ideas at all times of the day but today - he decided to be a baker. Below is a picture of his creations. They include donuts, cookies, cakes, tootsie rolls, starburts, and ice cream.

Ghosts!

So - a couple months ago we went camping, somewhat, and my sister took pictures of the boys. We were sitting around the campfire and the boys were playing with her flashlight. We competely made fun of her and her tiny flashlight until she took these photos. Then it was a COOL flashlight. Anyway - the boys are so excited about them, we are blowing them up for Halloween and decorating our windows with them.

I Don't Want to Leave!

I just picked Casen up from his first day of pre-school. I walked in and saw him laying on a cot, snuggled under a blanket and watching a movie. First thing he said to me - "What are you doing here, I don't want to leave yet probably. Just come back later probably". I then asked him if he had any friends - he first said yes but not her, pointing to the sweetest little one in the room. Then decided to count them and then confirmed that he probably had 5 friends. Overall - he loved his first day.

A Day at the Zoo!

We recently went to the zoo to check out the "Ghost of the Bayou". It's a white alligator with blue eyes. There are only 10 in the world - EVER! It was pretty cool.











Canon took a hold of the camera and these are some of his best shots. Wish I could post more but can't figure out how to do more than 5. Any ideas? Enjoy!

Nothing Better Than A Fishin' Pond!

This is the DeGracie's new-found leisure activity. There is a new fishing pond in our area and it's beautiful. We have been several times and think it is great. Just the boys are fishing right now with their character poles until we get our licenses. We have only caught one fish. Blaze caught it Sunday evening. He was excited except that is was only about 5 inches big and he didn't understand why we couldn't take it home. It was fun though. We hope to show pictures of BIG fish one day.



The following pictures were taken by our 3 year old.

First Day of School!

Today is Casen's first day of school - preschool that is. You have to realize what this poor child will go through to get to school. He is going to school with his Dad so he has to get up at 6:00 in the morning. Thankfully for Mom, this is only twice a week. Anyway, I start putting his clothes on while he is half asleep, whispering to him that it's time to wake up for school. He sits up with a disgusted look and says, "in the dark?". It was quite dark this morning at 6:00 am, I will give him that. After getting up, getting dressed, etc., he leaves with Dad for a 35 minute commute to school. I am grateful that he has such enthusiasm to endure this type of morning. I will let you know how it went and if he will be up to it again on Thursday. Here is a picture of the cutie - ready for school.

Things Kids Say!

Just wanted to pass on something Canon had said to us, innocently.
He comes home from a sleep over with his very best friend J.T. We ask him how his night was and how he slept. He says that they got to bed late and woke up early. I asked him why they woke up so early and he said: "because the rooster turned on, and then the horses turned on". He realized the mistake he had made after Darren and I started laughing but it was cute for the moment to think that animals actually "turn on" in the mornings.

Monster Truck Rally - Here We Come!

Fun Pictures at the Beach!

Family Pictures from our Taylor Reunion!

My little family. Casen is not so happy to be taking pictures, hopefully obvious!



Very cute pictures of the Carlson daughters.



The Carlson Children.



Me and my Babe! We celebrated our 12th year anniversary on the first day of our reunion. In fact, we didn't even remember it was our anniversary. We were setting up tents, camp, etc and my sister called to wish us a Happy Anniversary. I looked at Darren, and while screaming, said It's Our Anniversary! Not that you can celebrate it quite like it should be - at the beach, sharing a tent with two children, next to three siblings with spouses, AND parents AND 18 other family members tents. 12 YEARS!!!

Mom's Company Party!

This year for my company party, we decided to rent ATV's and horses, if you can "rent" a horse, along with lunch up in the mountains of Snowbird. We had a blast. So much so that Blaze fell asleep in my arms. I had to drive the ATV one-handed while holding a completely "deadweight" sleeping child, WITH his goggles and helmet, UP a huge mountain. It was tough but isn't he cute?

Swimming in Park City!

We spent our timeshare at Park City this summer (rather than Hawaii, boo) and we had a blast. We spent everyday together, which is unusual, even on vacation. We hiked, swam, played sports at the park, you name it, we did it. This was one of our most fun family vacations! It was just the four of us!

Fun activities we did this summer!

Dad and Blaze riding the Alpine Slide in Park City at the Olympic Park


Canon on his own Alpine Slide sled!


Canon and Blaze riding the roller coaster in Park City!


A view from the bottom of the roller coaster!


Canon and Blaze on a hike in Park City!

Two little love bugs, playing at the beach!

This is Blaze and Ellie (his cousin from California) enjoying each others company at the beach. The were inseparable. They played the entire time and she is all Blaze could talk about when we left the beach. Hopefully they will be this attached as they grow older.

What I do while Mommy works!

Since I moved my office downstairs - Blaze feels like he has to be right there with me. We have some old desks that Darren is supposed to sand and paint for them so that they have something to sit in while I work. For now - they use this desk that Canon got from their cousins, Jake and Jaden. Since I am on the phone a lot during the day - I asked Blaze what he does while he works and this is what he did:

How cute is this!

Okay - I have to tell you about this little endearing moment I had with Blaze the other day. I had uploaded a bunch of pictures to my computer so that i could create a CD of them so that I could get them printed for Mom D. As I was saving the pictures - Blaze asked if he could watch the "Movie". I decided to set up a slideshow of the pictures (a total of 170), which were only of him and Canon, and set it to music. I just randomly chose a song from my iTunes and it happened to be "Remember When" by Alan Jackson. If you have heard it - you will understand why this picture is priceless. So - I start the slideshow and stepped out of the room for a second. When I returned, I found Blaze just staring at the screen, sobbing. I asked him what was wrong and with all the tears in his eyes - he said - "this is the best movie I have ever seen". He watched it three times before finally resting on the couch to catch his breath and calm the tears. I didn't think that THIS son was going to be so sentimental about stuff like this. We all know what a tenderheart Canon is. I will never forget what Blaze said about how he felt about the movie and the music.