Carter's Baptism

 Carter Bruce Dearden baptised by his father, Taylor Barrows Dearden.

 Monica Phair, our favorite babysitter, gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.

 Great Grandma Olsen, Grandma Hoppie and our family.

 Great Grandma Olsen, Grandma Hoppie, Dad, Carter, Mom and Spencer.

Back Row: Uncle Stuart, Grandpa Dearden, Great Grandma Dearden, Granny Dearden, Dad,Carter, Uncle Sam, Aunt Marian. Front Row: Aunt Staci, Cousin Alana, Cousin Charlotte, Aunt Crystal, Cousin Esther, Aleeya, Spencer and Mel Provost.

Grandpa Dearden, Great Grandma Dearden, Granny Dearden, Dad, Carter, Mom, Spencer.

After his baptism, Brother Christensen asked Carter how he felt and he said, "wet."  Typical, Carter response.  We had a nice program and the McBride's sang "I Feel My Savior's Love."  Taylor gave a nice blessing with the confirmation.  We asked those in attendance to share their testimonies on cards, so Carter has a nice remembrance. 

Riverdale Splash Pad

 We went to the Riverdale Splash Pad.  Great field trip, shade to sit in and free fun for the kids.  They played on the playground more than in the water.

Spencer wasn't loving it, so I lost interest and didn't take any other pictures!  Guess we will just have to go again!

June Birthday Celebration

Family Celebration for Carter and Serena with Hoppie's and Dearden's.

Spencer sleeping with Granny Dearden.

Modeling the cute new shirt from Grandma Hoppie.

This shirt was made for Carter!

Babies got drool!

 

Carter's Eighth Birthday

 Carter designed and decorated his own cake.

 Then Aleeya decided to help.

 Carter Montgomery

 River and Dylan Whitaker

 Chandler Christensen

Ian Vanhouten

Carter's Ute Room

 BEFORE

 AFTER

Lagoon

 Our once a year trip to Lagoon, on Stake Lagoon Day.  The area that my children like, with the small rides was not busy and we spent eight fun filled hours.  We saw both of the music shows and watched the evening performance twice.

 Jenni and Julie joined us for the fun in the evening.

 Bulgy, the whale, still a family favorite.  Aleeya went on some of the bigger rides with Jenni, but the others are like me and prefer low key rides.

Read-a-thon

 We hosted a summer read-a-thon.  First, the children each picked a book and we read it to the group, using different styles of reading based on the roll of a dice. 

 Carter read his book to the group.

 Megan and I divided the children and each did a craft.  Megan made puppets and I read them books that progressed daily (Hungry Caterpillar, Seven Blind Mice) and then they made their own progressive books.  The white board behind shows another activity: we wrote our own story after the format of the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."  They all would say the "If you ask a kid they will say.....Carter went first and he said "Go Utes!" (surprise).  So most of the phrases followed that format.

 These pictures are from Diane Kelsey.

Spencer napping

Most days, this is how Spencer naps.  I feed him a bottle and then just set him on the floor in the piano room.  It seems that if I take him up to the crib, when he wakes up, he cries and wants out.  If I leave him here, he wakes up, looks around and will lay back down and sleep again.  He certainly can sleep through lots of noise, we don't try and be quiet.

Hoppie Cars

 Dave got out the '57 to get it ready for a car show.  I think it is cool that he takes it up to the cemetery and leaves a few "black marks" for Dad.

  1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible and 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Hardtop

Dad's cars, Jessica's car, and Dave's three Camaro's

Aleeya's Art

Church History Museum

The Church History Museum in Salt Lake has a children's interactive area.  They have Book of Mormon scenes, but most of the activities are based on working and playing in the Latino culture.

 Tortilla Toss

 They have awesome dress-ups and a mirror and video screen that teaches you how to do dances.  Serena did a great job of following and I have a video of her dancing.

 Spencer loved the mirror, he had such a good looking boy to play with!

 They had a big ship with the story of Nephi.  We visited the museum with the Curtin and Kelsey families.  Aleeya was singing a great ship song, Yankee Doodle.

 What a cute delivery!

 Fishing for Dinner.

Planting in the garden.