Facebook has changed our lives!

Since Megan and I have discovered Facebook I have been less than stellar at blogging. Since on Facebook you generally post what your doing, where you are and what's going on in your life, I haven't really seen the point in keeping up on the blog, but due to overwhelming pressure (Megan keeps asking)I will try to make a more diligent effort. This past summer we had many adventures, and went to a lot of places. Our adventures began in April when we went to Disneyland. This was Makenzie and Kaleb's first visit to the magic kingdom. We also visited the beach, Makenzie liked the beach more than Disneyland, but she had fun at both places. In May we went to Bryce canyon and stayed at the lodge. Bryce canyon has always been a favorite place of ours, we usually try and go a few times a year. While there Kaleb got pink eye, and by the time we left he could hardly open his eyes! We went on a big hike, it was about 6 miles, Makenzie did the whole thing by herself. I thought that I would end up carrying her up the canyon, but she made it all by herself the entire way! In June Megan and I had the opportunity to get away for the weekend by ourselves! Last fall Megan won and all expense paid trip to Durango Colorado. Durango is a fun place, we ate at places that we wouldn't normally eat at, and stayed at a nice hotel in town. The trip included going river rafting, and those of you that know me know I hate anything that has to do with water since I don't swim, but I agreed to go rafting with Megan since she has always wanted to go with me. I actually had a good time, and survived to tell about it! Later on in June we took the kids up to hike Timp. We hadn't been to timp in years and I had forgotten how strenuous it is, but once again Makenzie hiked all the way up and back down by herself, she has become our little hiker this past summer! July we decided to take a trip up to Yellowstone and do some camping. Out of all the trips we went on this past summer, Yellowstone was our favorite! Everyday while we were in Yellowstone we would spend the entire day out driving around from one end of the park to the other seeing all the wildlife and the sites, and wouldn't get back to our trailer until late at night. Yellowstone has so many neat things to see and the wildlife makes it that much more exciting. Also in July Megan and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary, we went to the Anniversary Inn. We love that place the themed rooms are fun and the breakfast is even better! August we had our Carpenter family reunion at Moon Lake in the Uintah's. We got the chance to relax and go to the wildlife museum in Vernal. We also went to Moab and did some hiking in August. Moab is another favorite place of ours, we love to go hike the red rock and go to Arches and hike to delicate arch. Later in August I had to go St. George to go "work". So we stayed at a nice hotel in a suite, and ate good food, and Jiffy Lube paid for all of it! While I was out working, Megan took the kids to the wildlife museum in St. George, and went shopping. Since summer was winding down we decided we'd make once more trip in September to our favorite place.....Bryce Canyon! We stayed in tropic in a log cabin, and then we drove to Escalante to go hike Calf Creek Falls. This is a pretty nice hike, not too strenuous and it has alot of good scenery. Well about 1/4 mile into the hike it started to rain. It continued to rain until we got to the falls and then it stopped. We stayed at the falls for a bit and then decided that we had better get going so we could make it back before the rain started again. That was a great idea, but as soon as we started hiking again it started to rain lightly. Soon the rain turned to a down pour and we were getting soaked and the ground was quickly turning to mud. Eventually it got so bad that it was hailing and we couldn't even see the canyon walls, there was several inches of standing water because the dessert floor had become saturated,and the lightning was getting closer and closer! Makenzie was scared and crying, Kaleb was on my back in a hiking pack and freezing to death. The canyon was filling with water and all the rocks had waterfalls coming off of them. Megan and I decided to keep going and press forward, to hopefully get to the car before it got worse. Just as we were coming overt the last hill before the car the rain stopped and we made it back to the car okay. I think that is probably one of the craziest experiences I have ever had. Back in the day when I used to go out hiking with the "boys" it didn't really matter what kind of trouble we got into, because it was just us boys, but it's a different kind of feeling when you have your family with you and you get caught in a flash flood. After getting back to the car we luckily had a change of clothes for Kaleb, but not the rest of us. I ended up finding a laundry mat in Tropic and washing all our clothes and shoes. The next day was better we headed over to Bryce Canyon, but after being there for a minute we made a split-second decision to go to the North rim of the Grand Canyon. Hey it's only a few hours away! So we headed for the Grand Canyon, and spent the day there. Well the weekend was over....or was it? On our way home I decided that since I didn't have to be back to work until that Wednesday, we should extend our last outing of the year and hit Las Vegas! To all those who think Vegas isn't family friendly, your wrong! There's plenty of stuff to do there for families and stuff that is free also. October was Megan's birthday and so thanks to Megan's niece, Jaelyn, we spent another weekend with no kids and went to Las Vegas again. In November I had a Real Estate convention in San Diego. I honestly think I could live in San Diego! What a beautiful place, and tons of fun things to do. While I was in meetings and classes all day, Megan took the kids to Sea World. We went on a fun cruise of the San Diego harbor, and enjoyed the great 70 degree weather. Since we were in California we had to hit the Magic Kingdom again for the 2nd time this year. We have never been there at this time of year so we didn't know what to expect. Disneyland was all decorated for Christmas and was very fun! They had converted the haunted mansion from it's usual ride into a scene from Nightmare Before Christmas. Main Street was all decked out for Christmas as well as Sleeping Beauties Castle. There was even snow on main street and a huge Christmas tree at the top of Main Street by the train station.
It has been a fun and eventful year. We are grateful for all our friends and family and look forward to spending the holiday season with you. Hopefully I will be better at keeping up on this blog and staying in touch with everyone through it.

Can You Feel The Magic!

We took a well deserved break from reality and went to Disneyland the first week of April! We also went to the beach, Makenzie says she liked the beach more than Disneyland, but that Dizzysland is fun too. Kaleb didn't like the beach very much, he thought the sand was good to eat, but didn't think the water was very fun. We ate some of the best fillet Mignon steaks that we have ever had, they were so good we ate at the Blue Bayou 3 nights! Makenzie loved the Minnie Mouse and friends character breakfast. She was able to meet some her of favorite Disney characters, and eat some waffles (her favorite breakfast food), so also loved going to meet the Princesses. The ride home from California was not so much fun. Kaleb decided he was done being in the car and screamed most of the way home. Easter came and went. Makenzie enjoyed her Easter morning plastic candy-filled egg hunt. Kaleb even got in on the action and found a few eggs for his basket. We are looking forward to summer time so we can go do some camping and Megan and I are hopefully going to Durango,CO next month to use her weekend trip package that she won last fall from KSL.

The Carpenter's Irish Jig!

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The Catch Up!

Well to catch everyone up too what's been going on, here's the latest excitement in the Carpenter's lives!
Megan is running each day. She goes a little more than 3 miles. She wants to do 2 5k races this summer. I finally talked her into getting an IPOD. I got tired of burning CD's for her, and after all CD's are soooo last year! The kids keep her busy, and after a full day at home with them, I don't know how she doesn't harm them!
Makenzie is getting excited for her birthday, even though it isn't for 3 1/2 months! Everyday she tells me about how she wants balloons, and a cake and all her friends will be there. Even though we don't know if we are going to have a birthday party for her with her friends. She still enjoys school, and always talks about it. She especially likes her boyfriend Davey. They even had a play date with each other, and Megan said they had a lot of fun playing together. I'm worried when she is a teenager, because if she has a boyfriend now when she is 3, I can only imagine what she'll be like at 13!!! The weather has been so nice lately that she has been able to go play on the playground, and loves being outside again!
Kaleb is getting big and his little personality is coming out! He thinks he is so big, he tries to stand up and grab things. He loves music and always dances and claps his hands when he hears any sort of music. He laughs all of the time, and for some odd reason he thinks his sister is the funniest person alive! Megan remains his favorite person, and he still doesn't know what to think of dad!
Kevin is just working! I've started doing all the maintenance for the condo's now. So now I clean all the breezeways, change all the lights, pick up the trash, and all the other random tasks that need to be done around here. It's extra money and nice to have! Real Estate is still there and I'm still working on a couple of transactions. I am also starting up an online business selling 72 hours kits, they are reasonably priced and a really great quality! If you are interested let me know and I can get you all the details for ordering until I get my website up and going!
We had the opportunity to go tour the new Draper Temple on Wednesday. It is a beautiful Temple. Makenzie loved it and she actually was very well behaved. She always says that we are going to the Temple today, I think should would like to go again!

The Hair Cut!

Megan decided that it was time to give Makenzie a change in her hair style. Now for those that know me well, know what I think of girls with OVERLY short hair cuts.....yup not a fan! So I told Megan make sure your sister doesn't cut it too short! As you can see from the pictures nobody listened to me! After we washed it the back was waaay to short.Thankfully it's just hair and has already started growing back out. Makenzie is still a hand full. She says the funniest things, the other day we went to the church so I could make the sacrament meeting programs, and she said we were going to the church to make "coffees" instead of copies! Christmas came and went (thankfully), Makenzie still insists that we should put out cookies every night for Santa so he will bring her big presents! Kaleb is growing fast. He has started to crawl.....sort of. He does this one-armed drag and pull routine. (The army crawl) It looks like he was wounded in battle and he's trying to make it to the medic by pulling himself across the floor. He still is refusing to eat anything real. He went to the doctor and is only in the 4% category for his weight. He now weighs 16 lbs. 12 oz., instead of 18 or 19 lbs. So the doctor said feed him whatever he'll eat, so Megan found he likes her cinnamon roll Quaker oatmeal. Kaleb finally got his first tooth today! So now we start the whole teething process for the next year or so. Not fun! Kaleb still likes to spend a lot of time in the Johnny Jumper, which Megan thinks is where he is burning all of the calories that he eats! Megan continues to do her scrapbooking and tries to work out every morning, running 3 miles every day, and of course those 2 kids keep her very, very, very busy! As for myself, it's the same thing as always, 12-13 hours a day at Jiffy Lube, and then when I'm not there I'm doing Real Estate or Home Owners Association stuff! Starting in February I am taking over the maintenance/cleaning position for the HOA also. The highlight of the month is that I bought a new assault riffle and have been stocking up on ammo like crazy! That way when uncle Obama adds his outrageous tax on ammo, I'll have plenty (or for when world war 3 happens!)