Finally a Happy Carly

So I realized that I have not taken hardly any pictures of Carly and feel kind of bad about it. I think that a lot of the reasoning is that she just hasn't been the happiest girl, and who wants to have a picture of a crying baby. She has come a long way in six months though and is turning into a very happy and fun little girl. She is now 15 pounds 13 ounces and is 26 1/2 inches tall. We love Carly and are so happy that she is in our family.

Carly posing and showing how happy and cute she is.

Harvest Time

We got to Utah the middle of June and it was a little late for a garden, but we decided to try and grow one anyway. We got things planted about the second week in July, and after a few months things actually started to grow. Here's what we planted: corn, tomatoes (3 types), eggplant, lettuce, carrots, beets, onion, chili peppers, green peppers, cucumbers and Maria tried a watermelon. Everything grew except our onions, and Maria's watermelon didn't ripen, but got to a good size. We also have a plum, a nectarine, and a peach tree in our back yard that produced quite a lot. We have a cherry tree and strawberry plants as well, but the birds ate all of the fruit before we could get them covered. We had a lot of fun gardening and it wasn't even too bad having to weed every other day. I think that it was the highlight of the day for Maria when CJ got home and they walked out to the garden to check on things. With all of this produce we had to do something with it. We bottled peaches and nectarines, froze corn, made plum jam and fruit leather, pickled beets, and made pickles from the cucumbers. We have had some great salads and salsa, and I hope that we will be having some roasted eggplant salad soon (my favorite Turkish salad, and the main reason why I planted an eggplant). We have had a great time with this garden and plan on making it bigger and better next year.

Maria posing by the garden, you can see her watermelon in front of her that she is so proud of.

Maria picking peaches. Carly spent a good deal of her summer under that peach tree. It was by the garden and she loved to lay on the grass in the shade of the tree while Maria and I weeded. Well while I weeded and Maria jumped on the trampoline.

Plum jelly, dill pickles, pickled beets, peaches, nectarines, and fresh cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and chili peppers.

Swimming Lessons and Dance

Maria has been taking dance (ballet and tap) for a month and a half and swimming lessons for two weeks. She had her last swimming lesson and a dance recital on the same day. Grandma Eyre and Mandy came to lend their support. She did well and enjoyed doing both. She is going to be in dance for another month and then I think we will be putting her in gymnastics. She did both in Turkey and she seems to like and did better at gymnastics than dance. Carly has been a good sport and has sat through many lessons and been pretty happy most of the time.

Maria with her class after her tap number. She loved the costume and has worn the shorts nearly everyday since getting them.

Maria during her ballet number. She watched the little girl next to her most of the time. I don't think she knew where her teacher was, but as you can see the little girl next to her is trying see past Maria to the teacher. Maria was a bit behind during the whole number.

Giving me a great smile at swimming lessons.

Kindergarten

Maria started Kindergarten on August 23rd. She is in Mrs. King's afternoon class. It was a child/parent day and Maria was not happy about it. She thought the whole idea of going to school meant not being with mom, I had to agree with her. She goes in on Wednesday for testing and then it officially starts next Monday. She is very excited and I hope that she can have a great year.

Classic first day of school photo.

Maria finding Mrs. King's classroom and the star with her name on it.

Maria sitting in her desk for the first time. She is so excited that she gets to sit at a individual desk and not at one large table.

The kids got to go outside and play while the parents received some information. I caught this as I came outside to get Maria.

Have a great day here at Lagoon

Maria and I got season passes to Lagoon. It's about ten minutes away from our house so we thought it would be a fun thing to have. We have been twice with family and then once by ourselves. Maria thinks it's much more fun with cousins than with her mom.

Maria on her favorite ride the Dragonfly with Kate.

Maria on the Ladybug Bop. She's smiling, but didn't want to go on it again EVER.

Trips to Lyman

We have made a few trips to Lyman the past month for one reason or another. We have enjoyed spending time with family and Maria has loved seeing and playing with her cousins. We went to the Anderson family reunion the weekend of July 24th and had a nice time. We stayed in a borrowed camper and although it was better than a tent I still only lasted one night in it and then retreated to the house. All of CJ's siblings were there and it was nice to spend time with all of them. A few weeks later we went to Lyman again, and me and the girls stayed at my parents house and CJ went on a little pack trip with Ben Buckner and some people from work. We had a good weekend and CJ had one good night in the Unitas, and then had some horse trouble the next night. He now knows that he can walk from Dollar Lake down to the trail head at midnight, but would prefer not to if given a choice.

Maria playing at Granny's with Ashton

Maria and Carly cuddling at Grandma Eyre's when they woke up one morning.

We sat outside one evening at my parents house and a moose came and just stood and looked at us. Maria thought is was the coolest thing ever.

Maria is 5!

We celebrated Maria's fifth birthday all weekend (July 30th to August 1st). Jared, Carla, Kate and Hannah came on Friday night for a sleep over and then spent Saturday with us. Maria got a trampoline for her birthday and Jared got to help CJ set it up while he was here. They started at about 10:00 at night and it took a little longer than they would have liked. All I will say is sometimes it's a good idea to read directions. They got it put together and Maria was very excited and has enjoyed having it to play on. On Saturday we went to the Air Force Museum, got lunch at the Burger Bar, played at the splash pad, and walked around Smith and Edwards before Jared and Carla left. Then on Sunday, August 1st we had cake and ice cream and sang to Maria. I think she had a pretty good weekend. We love her and have enjoyed the past five years with her.