just another carter family dinner

why yes, those are Peruvian hats on all the kids. and yes those are all annoying little ceramic bird whistles they have in their mouths. my mom went to Peru a few weeks ago and she brought home these hats and whistles for all the grandkids.

last night we had our monthly Carter family dinner at Shane and Roni's house. after all the kids got their hats we sent them across the street to play at the park. a short time later, a sketchy looking young man came walking towards the house, saying "i think one of your kids is running down the street, he's got a beanie on." we knew by the beanie comment it had to be one of ours. soon Shar and Kevin had retrieved their youngest, Rhett (picture in the bottom left corner next to Amelia) at the very end of the street.

all things school-related

jared started first grade earlier this week. so far he seems to love it and i am glad to have him back to school. his favorite things are lunch in the lunchroom and that he gets 2 recesses.

isaac starts this next monday, but we met with his teacher this past monday and i think he will do well. he has the same teacher as jared did.

the last couple of weeks he and isaac have gotten themselves into a lot of trouble.

1. spraying WD-40 all over the basement, including beds, clothes, walls, etc
2. coloring with markers on the hallway carpet

so needless to say, i think they were a little bored and having them in school should occupy them a little bit.

nathan starts back to school next week also. if you couldn't tell by now, we are really big on education at our house. nathan has been going to school for 8 1/2 years now. he earned his bachelor of science: aviation professional pilot in 2006. we joke that he is an eternal student, but he seems to enjoy what he is studying now (engineering).

i am planning to go back to school again, sometime. i completed a year back to school in 2006 to make my associates a bachelor's degree, but i found it difficult at the time to juggle all the pressures in my life. so, i decided to let it go for a little while. plus i am not sure what i want to be when i grow up and so it seemed like a waste of money.

yellowstone 2008

for our family vacation this year, we went to yellowstone with shane and roni and their kids. we had a lot of fun looking at all the animals and the crazy caldera stuff.

this is one of only like 3 pictures i am in. why is it always that way. people are going to look at family pictures after i am dead and wonder why i never did any of the fun stuff with my family. hello!!!! i'm the one behind the camera!


a beaver (the only one i have ever seen in the wild):


us on the shore of lake yellowstone:
a raven:


the harwoods at lower falls outlook:


shane and roni and the kids at mammoth:
the harwoods with kiley and ethan at the grand prismatic spring geyser place:


shane and roni and kids at the lower falls outlook:
pronghorn - the first time i have ever seen one at yellowstone:
the kids watching a movie in the trailer after a long day in the park:

the black thing in the shrubbery is a cow moose:

isaac and jared:

of course, buffalo:


all of the kids watching old faithful:

nate and the kids....

ethan and jared...


the first bear we saw (we saw a total of 11 or 12. the last one is under debate):

the kids..

a momma and a cub on our way out of the park:


an elk:

another bear: