The Carpenter Family Chronicles

Facebook has changed our lives!

2009-11-28T17:03:00.003-07:00

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!

2009-04-14T20:46:00.002-06:00

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!

2009-03-11T22:32:00.001-06:00

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The Catch Up!

2009-03-01T21:02:00.004-07:00

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!

2009-01-24T22:35:00.002-07:00

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!)

The Carpenter's Get Down And Boogy!

2008-12-11T22:11:00.002-07:00

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Christmas Fun at the Carpenter's!

2008-12-11T17:28:00.002-07:00

We can't believe that Christmas is almost here! Where did 2008 go? Well, this year we went to the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork instead of going to Thanksgiving Point to see the same lights we have seen for the last few years. So we decided to mix things up a bit and go to the lights in Spanish Fork. But first we had to stop at Maverik and get some Hot Cocoa! (You can't see the lights without hot cocoa!) :o)

The kids are keeping us busy. Makenzie loves to go to preschool. Her Christmas program is next week, and she has a speaking part. We are a little worried that she will get stage fright and not say anything at all. Wish us luck, and we will let you know how it goes. Makenzie's new thing is to make Kaleb laugh. She says the funniest stuff, and I even have to laugh at what is coming out of her mouth. She has some great sound effects! Also her newest thing is to have her cousin, McCoy go to school with her. (She is just pretending though, because McCoy is 14 years old and goes to high school.) Anyways, Coy is always breaking his "leg" while ice skating in the kitchen with Makenzie. Or he is off on some "adventure" like going to China, or work with her. If only she would really bring home a pay check to help pay the bills! I hope that McCoy reads this. She loves her cousin, the real one! Every time we are in Provo she thinks we need to go see Coy, and Marlo, and Kayla, and Mitch, and Jaelynn, and Jason. I think that is everyone!

Kaleb is getting so big. He is starting to scoot on his tummy, and trying to crawl. But he is not successful at that yet. I'm glad, because the Christmas tree is un-guarded by the gate. We thought that this year we won't need it since Makenzie is old enough to leave the ornaments alone, and Kaleb is not big enough yet to get to them. But next year we will need the gate.

Kevin is still trying to sell the condo that he has listed. He has been getting a lot of traffic through it, but still no offers. We are praying one will come along soon. Also work is keeping him very busy. We wish that he only worked 40 hours a week and not 55. One day......we hope.

I'm blogging for the first time, ever! This is pretty easy. As long as I have the computer whiz by my side to walk we through this! :o) I have been working out 5-6 days a week now for a couple of months. It is finally starting to pay off. I have only 3 pounds to go before I am at the weight before I got pregnant with Kaleb, and only 13 pounds before I'm at the weight I was at when I got pregnant with Makenzie. So I'm really excited! Plus I'm hoping to do a 5K in the spring, and not finish last. I've been running 3 miles everyday! I hate the first 5 minutes, but once I get going I can't stop until my legs want to turn into Jell-O. That's how I now it's time to stop.

Enjoy the slide show! Especially the pictures of Kaleb getting the Christmas tree are my favorite!

Another month?

2008-11-18T21:34:00.002-07:00

Well another month has come and is almost gone....AGAIN! Makenzie continues to say the funniest things. She tells Megan to "chill out" every morning and has some rather interesting phone conversations on her pretend cell phone. She still loves school and wants to go every day. Kaleb is now sitting up on his own and can scoot on his bum. He has recently decided that he doesn't need to sleep anymore. The other day Megan tried getting him to take a nap, she started at around 4:00 pm, and we finally got him to actually go to sleep at around 12:15 am!! He doesn't know what to think about solid food yet, he likes oatmeal best out of the things he has tried so far. Megan survived 5 days without me this month! She decided that being a single mom and having to deal with the 2 beasts 24 hours a day by herself was not fun! I went to Florida for a Real Estate convention, and discovered that being by myself was not much fun either. Eating and sitting in a hotel room alone....not much fun! The convention was good, and I learned some really great and motivating stuff. I particularly enjoyed a class given by the former Clinton administration speech writer, Daniel Pink. Lance Armstrong came and spoke, Lionel Richie came and sang and we had a night out at Universal Studios (cool and the gang sang there)and a bunch of people from Disney gave some really good classes as well. So all in all it was productive, but it was nice to get home to the family. I have a new Real Estate website, so check it out and let me know what you think, it is: www.KevinPCarpenter.com The best news of all is that I finally have a Real Estate Listing, and I also have another transaction on a house on Orem that I helped them get under contract. Now we just need to get their condo sold so that we can close on the new house in Orem! So anyone know anybody that wants a great condo in Springvile...let me know! Well that's the update for know, have a Happy thanksgiving!

Halloween Fun

2008-10-28T21:40:00.003-06:00

Earlier this month Makenzie went to the Red Barn in Santaquin and picked out a pumpkin and took a hay ride! Last Friday we decided to go on the Heber creeper's "Heebie Creepy", there wasn't much to see outside of the train, but at the end all the "characters" came inside the train and some of them sat down by Megan. Well that totally freaked out Makenzie and she started crying saying that trains are scary, and calling them monsters! Well by the time the train pulled back in to Vivian park, she was crying hysterically! She got over it, and then we went to the Olive Garden (her favorite place?) For family night we went to the Harward farm pumpkin patch and got pumpkins, and then came home and decorated them. Megan found some kits at Walmart that had different eyes,noses,ears and mouths in them. Kind of like Mr. Potato Head, just poke a hole in the pumpkin and push 'em in! Kaleb's is the cutest, his is the puppy dog pumpkin (after all he is my baby dawg!)
Well on another topic, I finally got my first Real Estate listing, and I am also going to help them find a new place too. So I have been showing them houses, and going over all the listing contracts with hem. We hope to have it listed by Monday! Now to get their Condo sold so we can get them on to a house! WAHOO!!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

The Remodel!

2008-10-28T21:29:00.001-06:00

Well we decide to do some remodeling! We did tile in the entry way,the kitchen, and both bathrooms. But we of course could not stop there, I also replaced the vanity and vanity tops (granite) and all the fixtures in the bathrooms. It took about a week and a half, but we got it done finally. It was not any fun living in the mess for what seemed like forever! We had the oven,fridge, and dishwasher in the living room, I kind of enjoyed having the fridge in the living room by the couch! It looks really nice now that it's done, except tile on bare feet is COLD!

CascadeSprings

2008-10-04T22:18:00.001-06:00

We took our annual trip up to Cascade Springs to view the fall colors. We usually go in late September, but this year the colors didn't seem to be very vivid. Makenzie loved walking around the boardwalk throwing leaves in to the water. We even saw some fish. We got a few good family pictures, and enjoyed spending the afternoon with each other.

Five Reasons Not to Vote for Obama : Conservative Blog: Urban Conservative 2.0 - Conservative News

2008-10-04T21:48:00.001-06:00

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The update!

2008-10-02T21:43:00.000-06:00

Makenzie is now going to preschool.She goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 am until 11:00 am. She loves school and if she could she would go every day (Megan would love it also) She loves to play with all the other kids and enjoys learning new things each day that she goes. It's great for Megan as well because it gives her some time to go work out, or run errands. Kaleb is getting big and his cute personality is really starting to come out. He likes to smile and laugh, and talk. He is a extremely good baby (compared to Makenzie at his age). He has figured out now when he is in his car seat that now he can turn his head side to side and talk to Megan and Makenzie when he's in the car instead of crying. Megan is enjoying her new found freedom when Makenzie is in school. She has also found more time to do some of her scrapbook projects. As for Kevin.......well he just works all day, every day! Real Estate is slow, to non-existent. I am going to a convention is Orlando in November so that will be fun, but lonely. I am going by myself for 4 days. Makenzie has now decided that she wants to call me "Kevin" instead of "dad" except for when I am actually home and around her then she calls me "dad", but when it's just her and Megan, I am "Kevin"! She is funny and says new crazy things each day.

HHHMMMMM!!!

2008-07-28T20:19:00.000-06:00

Well once again I am short on time (and desire) to get this blog done regularly....so I apologize! Well things here are pretty much the same! Megan is doing good, her and Makenzie had swimming lessons for 2 weeks! I think that after 3 days Megan was ready for it to be over! But Makenzie loved it and learned a few new things, like holding her breath and jumping off in to the pool. Kaleb is getting huge! He had a mysterious rash on his neck for about a month, the doctor said it was a heat rash! Well about a month later it got worse! Megan took him back to the doctor and the tested it and found it to be a staph infection. So he got a antibiotic cream for it and is now doing better! I am staying busy. I am still at Jiffy Lube doing that thing, but I also got on a Town Home project out in Eagle Mountain. So we have like 36 town houses to sell right now. I go out there 1 or 2 days a week, but no luck selling one yet! So if anyone needs a good REALTOR or has a friend that needs one, let me know!

The Grand Canyon!

2008-06-13T22:13:00.001-06:00

It was that time of the year again....The Carpenter Family reunion! This year we went to the Grand Canyon! We bought a pop up trailer so we wouldn't have to do the tent thing anymore! The journey took about 12 1/2 hours, because we had to stop and feed Kaleb, and change diapers every couple of hours. We finally arrived just before 10:00 pm on Thursday night. You think as big of a tourist attraction that the Grand Canyon is there would be better signs...NOPE! After a few wrong turns we finally found our campground! The tent trailer was great to stay in, we had a nice heater so it stayed warm all night long. We had the opportunity to go on a few of the shuttle bus tours, I have decided that I am not a fan of the shuttle bus thing. I like to get out and go at my own pace and get back into my car and go. It reminds me a lot of UTA, takes you near the place that you want to be, but you still have to walk waaaayyy further than it's worth! We typically go to Bryce Canyon a few times a year, so I was expecting the Grand Canyon to have a bit more color than it did. As you can see from some of the pictures, it lacked in the really vibrant colors that some of the other places in Utah have, but all in all, it was a nice visit! Makenzie got dirtier than she has ever gotten, she had free roam of the dirt! She had a great time and still says she wants to go camping everyday! After everyone else left we decided that we would take a few more days and go see something else cool! We decided to go to Zions on the way home, but this time we would get a hotel (we all needed a shower!) Mom and Dad also decided that they could take a few more days and come with us. So we drove up through Zions on Hwy. 9 and through the Zions tunnels and on into Hurricane and got a hotel! The following day we went to Zions and did a few small hikes and then went back to the hotel. We had a great time and enjoyed being away from everyone and everything, I even managed to leave my cell phone off for just about a week (that was nice!) Kaleb was glad to get home and be out of his blue prison (car seat)and stretch out and be at home!

Long Time!

2008-05-22T22:10:00.000-06:00

Well this updating the blog thing isn't going so great! Kaleb is now a month old! It has gone by fast. He is starting to be more alert now....which means he's awake more! He thinks that from 5:00-10:00 pm is a great time to cry and scream and be awake. He has gained a lot of weight since he came home a month ago. When Megan took him for his 2 week appointment he had gained 1lb and grew 1/2 inch. Makenzie is starting to act up more now, most days I want to give her away! She has gone from a shy timid little girl on the playground to the "bully". She shoves other kids down and pushes them down the slides! She is also going through the "what's that?" phase, I get so tired of it I have started telling her random crazy things! Megan is doing good, but going crazy taking care of beast 1 and beast 2. I would gladly rather go to work and deal with all my employees drama, rather than stay home and deal with Makenzie and her 2 year old insanity! I finally got all my Real Estate license stuff done, and got all my association dues paid (OUCH!!) so now I am a official Realtor! So get the word out, if you know anyone looking to sale or buy, recommend me! Well that's about it for now, I'll try to get some more pictures on this weekend when I actually have some time off!

This week in review!

2008-05-04T20:56:00.000-06:00

Just as soon as I teach Megan how to work this blogger site, hopefully it will be updated more frequently! This week I had to finally go back to work, and Megan was left with the 2 beasts by her self! So needless to say she was more than glad when Sunday came and I was home. Makenzie is being helpful with the baby, and she often wants to "pet" him. She decided to give herself a hair cut this week, luckily she didn't trim off too much hair in any noticeable places! Kaleb has been doing good, and is only waking up about 2 times a night, and is a good sleeper. He likes his mommy (she has the food) and I don't really think he cares too much about dad...yet. Megan is feeling okay, a few back and headaches (of course I'm worried) but other than that this has been a better go around. I finally got my Real Estate license, after waiting 5 weeks and 2 phone calls. So now comes the hard part, I actually have to start trying to work at getting some clients and get going with it! Well I guess that sums up this week, and like I said hopefully I can learn Megan on this and she can keep it updated better than me!

Kaleb Is Here!

2008-04-30T16:08:00.001-06:00

Kaleb was born on April 23, 2008 at 5:58 pm. He was 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 20 inches long! He has brown hair (not as much as when Makenzie was born, but he does look like her)and he loves to eat and sleep!