Cute Carter

He got this outfit for Christmas, and I just thought he looked so cute and grown up.

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas. Carter woke around 8:00am and was kind of surprised with all the present, and did not know what to do. He started to open his first present and we knew it would be a long process. He took each little piece of paper and wanted to throw it away. Eventually he just wanted us to open the present so he could play with what was inside.

Nate got a lot of new fishing stuff and Carter was excited to try daddy's new vest on.

The new earrings Nate got me for Christmas. He also made a incredible book of all our vacations and adventures of 2008. It was so nice,

Nate tying is fist fly with all his new stuff.

Thanks Grandma Jo for this great present!!

Christmas Eve

This was the first year that we stayed home and did Christmas by ourselves. We had a nice Christmas eve dinner and got to open our Christmas eve packages, our new PJ's. Carter knew something was going on becasue he did not want to go to bed.

Sedona Day Trip

Monday we headed up to Sedona/Cottonwood area to enjoy the beauty as well and get some fishing in. It is about 2 hours north of us. We headed to Dead Horse Ranch with is a National Park just outside of Cottonwood. It has 2 Lagoons, a ton of hiking trails and places that you can camp. The Verde River also runs through the park. We stopped at the second Lagoon and Nate took his pontoon boat out to see if he could catch anything. The area around the lagoon was big enough to cast off of shore, but he wanted to see what it was like out in the middle. Carter and I ate lunch in the car and then bundled up to go hike around. We got a Ketly Kids backpack for Christmas and I wanted to try it out, but he did not want to have anything to do with it. It was a two person job to get him in and he wanted to walk on his own. It was chilly ( mid 40's) but that didn't stop us.


We made it half way down the path and Carter found some rocks to throw. Then we got up to Daddy and watched him for a bit. He caught 3 just while we were standing there. Then Carter ventured back to his favorite look out point and back to the car. So we did not get much of a hike in.




However Carter had so much fun playing in the car and pretending he was driving.




I knew that Nate would be on the Lake until dark, so we brought our lap top so we could watch a movie and hopefully Carter would fall asleep. After we played and danced in the car for awhile I put in Finding Nemo and Put carter in he seat. He fell asleep after about 10 minutes and sleep through the whole movie. When we were headed out we stopped by the river to check it out and Nate saw some fish rising which made him NEED to fish it. So he rigged up again and spent 30 minutes fishing until it was really dark. Last time we were in Sedona we discovered this great pizza place, Picazzo's. They have a few in the valley, but we knew that is were we wanted to go to eat. It was about 20 mile to Sedona, but well worth it. We had a great day and will probably make a Christmas tradition out of it.

Lee's Ferry

On our way to Utah over Thanksgiving, we spent the night at the Cliff Dwells Lodge in Marble Canyon which is about 40 minutes from page in AZ. The next morning we got up early and met up with OUR fishing guide, Rocky, whom we would be spending the day with fishing Lee's Ferry. Lee's Ferry is a famous fishing spot just below the dam of Lake Powell. It goes about 16-20 miles. It use to be a place to go and catch huge trout, but Rocky was telling us that they don't have trout over 18 inch any more because they wash out the river and it kills off their food source. It was so beautiful. The morning was cool, but once the sun came in the canyon it was nice. I was worried about Carter, but he did awesome. The boat was big enough that he had room to run around and check things out. Rocky was really nice and cool with both Carter and I being there.

Rocky gave Nate a lot of great pointers to help him cast better and learn the tricks of the Colorado River.

In the morning that water was like glass and so fresh looking. It made me want to go water skiing and want to jump in. I am sure it was pretty cold.

Around 10am Carter was calming down and getting a little fussy. I knew he was getting tired. He does really well with sleeping, but has never fallen asleep in our arms. I also knew that the boat noise and rocking would probably help put him to sleep. It was so cute. He looked up at me and signed "Sleep". He knew he was ready. I picked him up and rocked him a bit and he fell asleep. He slept for about 1 hour and then woke ready to play again.

We ventured all the way up to the dam. It was so cool to see. Every time we drive over the dam, I look down at the river and see how beautiful it is and want to go down there. It was fun to be down there and see what it was all about.

On the side of the walls there are a bunch of wholes or cut outs about 50 feet between each other. We asked Rocky what it was and he said that there is a tunnel in the rock wall from the dam down about 2 miles. They used to use it for building the dam and transporting things, but now they have a tour that goes through it and then ends by floating down the river. It was pretty cool.

The fishing was the best in the morning. He caught a fish about every cast, but once we stopped for lunch the fish died down. Even though he did not catch anything in the afternoon. It was still a great day and so nice to be out and be together as a family.

Another Hair Cut

Ok I know that it has been a while since I have posted anything. I find that when I do have a second to blog something always comes up. I wanted to share a little bit of what we have been up to, which isn't a lot.

Nate gave carter another hair cut and he had a harder time sitting still this time. We cut it a little shorter than we have. He looks like a little boy instead of a surfer boy. So cute!

This is the first year since we have been married that we will be home for Christmas and with No guest. We are kind of excited to just do what ever we want and not have to run from family to family. However at the same time we will miss everyone, but it just takes a bit of stress off. SO I have been able to decorate a little. We dont have a lot of decorations, but I had fun putting it all up. Nate even put lights on the house. We are all festive.

Carter has been getting a kick out of wearing mine or Nate's shoes. He loves to walk around in them. One day I caught him trying to walk around with the dog bowls as shoes.

He usually hats to wear a hat, but the other day I was wearing one and he wanted his, so I put it on and he kept his on for a while with no complaints.

Well that is us for the month. I am gearing up for the new year in Primary and Nate is dreaming about fishing, so we are busy. We are excited for a nice Christmas week to enjoy time together.