The day had finally arrived and no ash cloud was going to save us now. I was alittle frightened that the kids were so good on the way they would pay me back going home. Carter was in tears at the thought of having to go home and didn't want to leave anyone. He struggled leaving, but expects people to come here so that he can see them. :)Thanks to everyone for all the great times and great memories!
Blake and Amanda already had plans the night before we were leaving and so they ran by on the way to their stuff so that we could say good-bye. They are both fabulous and I appreciated them dropping by. We had to snap one last photo of cutie Gracie with Taylor. Gracie, convince your parents that you need to be a world traveller before the age of 4. :)
Chloe was a fabulous entertainer of Brennan. Spinning around and around she didn't stop for quite awhile.
We always get a picture with the grandparents before we head out. One day they should have quite the collection of pictures on this couch. :)
Chelsi is the photo lover and doesn't miss a chance to hop in! Love it.
In between packing and last minute errands to run we just goofed off with whoever came by.
Brennan had to hold Sahara one more time, he just loves babies.
Aunt Kellie somehow got roped into helping Carter with his Star Wars Lego ship. It was quite the project and I am grateful for Kellie's patience in seeing this from start to finish.
Aunt Heather and Grandma
Brennan getting a hand from Grandpa. 
This is what happens when other people take your camera and go snap some shots for you. Love this picture of Carter and Uncle Ryan. Carter thinks that Ryan has the coolest jobs in the world, first it was just a Ranger, but then to find out what he does on the mountain made Carter even more amazed.
The kids with Uncle Ryan and the Cherry Tree. I wish we had a tree like that for climbing.
Taylor and Skye
The kids with their awesome cousins, Skye and Wynter. These two girls are fabulous and every time I go home I am amazed with how much they have grown. Seems like not to long ago we were saying good-bye to a 3 year old Skye bug who thought she was a dog and were anxious for Wynter to even be born. Time flies when you are having fun!
Taylor, sweet Taylor turned 4 years old on the 27th of April. I also had the priviledge of taking Taylor out for a little mommy and daughter time. She just wanted to go to a resaurant. She wanted spaghetti and breadsticks at the restaurant. So I had to take her to the Olive Garden, it was painful, but someone had to do it.
She also wanted to go to the store and go shopping for a new toy. She chose a box of Lego's for herself and wanted to get Carter a new thing of Lego's. So sweet of her to think of Carter. She also chose a cake mix to take home and make. Daddy would be proud because she picked out the Angel Food with Confetti!
Taylor is a sensitive ball of fire! She can be so sweet, so sensitive, and so loving, and then she can turn around and be this little spit fire! I love that Taylor loves school, she wants to read all the time and wants to learn. She tries to help out with all those mommy things around the house. She is obedient and yet wants to have her own way most of the time. She is just a joy to have around and I absolutely love her to pieces.
What a birthday season!! It really all started with Carter getting a ticket to go and visit Utah and the birthday festivities didn't stop! On Carter's actual birthday I thought it would be fun to spend it with just Carter. He chose everything we did and was a super guy to spend the day with. We went to the zoo, then to dinner, and finished off the day picking up doughnuts to take home and celebrate with everyone.
This is the coolest snake. Carter loved it because it was green!
Carter's favorite animal, the giraffe. He was thrilled to see these guys and was trying to get them to come over to him so that he could pet them. They just decided to stare at him instead.
Carter is a super kid and does so much for our family. He is sensitive, spirited, independent, fragile at times, aggressive, and just and all around awesome kid. It was my pleasure to be with him and get to know him even more. He helps me out so much, and especially with Mike being gone. He helps support our family to be the best we can! Love him!!
Carter learned a lot about elephants at the zoo. We were there when they were cleaning the habitat and Carter talked for awhile with the zoo keepers about why they did certain things. We saw the baby roll around in its mom's poo and Carter thought that was so disgusting! Then he learned they actually eat the poo sometimes to prepare their tummy's to eat hay. You can only imagine the gross factor for this fabulous 7 year old. He enjoyed every second of the day, and so did I!
We unfortunately had to stay 9 extra days in the USA because of the Icelandic Volcano that caused half the world to shut down. :) We were grateful for the extra time and the fact that we didn't have to pay for it was even better! Aunt Kellie and Uncle Richard had Wednesday's off of work and so we generally did something with them on that day. Mason would not leave Uncle Richard alone on most days and all we could here was laughing from Mason. Richard would put on the hood and Mason would take it off. It was quite hilarous to watch and I'm sure that Richard had to be exhausted from a whole day of it. 
We got to stick around for Aunt Mindy's birthday party with our extra week. The very traditional pudding, cream cheese, shortbread, yummy goodness that is a Mindy favorite.
Taylor with Uncle Richard and Aunt Kellie
Dancing Queen!
Wrestling with Grandpa!
Me and the kids with Grandma and Grandpa Great. 