Halloween 2010

It seems like this holiday just went on and on and on! On Thursday, Emery and Madi had their costume parade at preschool.

Minnie and the Purple Princess. I would love to show you the adorable pictures of them with their classes- but alas, I can not put them online- school rules. I completely understand and yet...

Saturday was the Chili Cook-Off and Trunk or Treat at the Church. The kids went all out with their costumes (and Kailey did some great work in the hair and makeup division!)


Shelby was the witchy devil woman. (I left the red eyes because she looks even more EVILE.)


Jake was a Cop attempting to go undercover.


Emery the Cheerleader


Madi as Minnie


Claire the Pirate (notice her sword and gold coins)


Kailey the cute Teenage Witch

We celebrated AGAIN on Sunday with pumpkin pancakes (orange colored batter, chocolate chip faces and orange buttermilk syrup) and jello brains (skull cups with jello). A healthy dinner? Some of us felt that trick or treating was fine to do on the Sabbath. Others didn't- so, the party poopers stayed home and handed out candy while the rest of the family were out and about. (Okay, so it was just me at home. I had a lovely time.)

Here are the tricksters as they were ready to head out the door!

Kailey's friend Emily was totally 80's. Kailey, Jake, Shelby and Claire were the same as yesterday. Emery was a pink princess and Madi was Cinderella.

Happy Halloween from the Carrells! Hope you got lots of treats and no tricks!

Thanks Janice Kapp Perry

Most evenings, before and after the little girls (Claire, Emery and Madison) pray- Danny and I sing them Primary songs (Primary is the Children's program in our church). Their usual repertoire is "Scripture Power" followed by their prayers, then "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" and we hope to be finished. However, sometimes there are extra requests. Madi is having a hard time going to sleep in her own bed- so if she is in her bed we will sing whatever she wants. A few months ago, we sang "The Wheels on the Bus" almost every night. Now we alternate between "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" and "Horsey, Horsey."

Tonight, Madi was already in bed with Kailey. (She will walk into Kailey and Shelby's room and with her saddest face she will say to Kailey, "Didi- can I sleep in your bed?" Kailey is a pushover and will let her hop in - as long as we come and move Madi to her own bed after she falls asleep.) So- we sang the regular songs and Danny left the room. As I was leaving, Claire requested "A Child's Prayer." This is one of my favorite primary songs. When I used to lead the music in Primary- I would love to hear the little children asking if Heavenly Father hears and answers their prayers. The first verse says:

Heavenly Father, are you really there?
And do you hear and answer ev'ry child's prayer?
Some say that heaven is far away,
But I feel it close around me as I pray.
Heavenly Father, I remember now
Something that Jesus told disciples long ago:
"Suffer the children to come to me."
Father, in prayer I'm coming now to thee.

So, tonight I sang the song. As I sang the second verse and was looking at my sweet little 7 year old's face- the words touched my heart.

Pray, he is there;
Speak, he is list'ning.
You are his child;
His love now surrounds you.
He hears your prayer;
He loves the children.
Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of heav'n.

Then, I kissed two sweet little girls goodnight and thought about how their room felt like it was a little piece of heaven. So- thank you Janice Kapp Perry for writing such a beautiful song and helping me remember how great it is to be a mom.

Kailey's 14th Birthday!

Miss Kailey is officially 14 years old. She celebrated with friends overnight and then spent time with us after they left.

We were thrilled to shower her with presents. Kailey is a great gal and she is such an important part of our family.

Kailey loves her littlest sister and they often refer to each other as "best friend."


Miss Emery adores Kailey and often mimics her very actions. (Some good and some that we have had to discuss.)


These three all attend the same gymnastics class. I love to see the interactions among all three of them.


Kailey and Shelby are learning what communication, tolerance and love can do for a couple of roommates!


Claire is the first to remember the funny stories about all of her siblings- especially Kailey!


I love watching these two walk to the bus stop together. They are becoming good friends.
Kailey is Jake's "fashionista." (But he's wearing his soccer jersey.)


Kailey's smile makes us all happy.


Here is the birthday gal with her 2 biggest fans.

Kailey even went to her first Church Three Stake Dance (which means there were a LOT of 14-18 year olds!) on her birthday. She was an angel (it was a costume affair) and danced several times!!! Woohoo. We think she had fun. Kailey was born after 11:00 p.m. so she was home by her actual birthdate. Danny and I took the opportunity to give her a group hug at that exact moment!

So, the celebration continued the next day when we finally ate her cake.

The very happy birthday cake!


Will she be able to blow them all out in one breath?

We love you Kailey. We are so thankful that you are part of our family.

A very Happy Birthday

Today is my birthday. It has been a great day. We decided that we would start taking a family photo annually on this day. Here is our first installment.

The timer on our camera did good things to some of us- not great things to others.


Take number two was a bit better for some... (welcome to the corner of our backyard!)

Then it was time to open presents-

Stella leaves me presents too frequently- but I love her anyway.

These are my favorite presents-














I love them all. They love me too! You will feel the love as you scroll through these pictures.













Finally- someone who is happy when kissed by me!!!

Truly, my children and husband are the best gifts I could ever ask for. I. Am. So. Blessed.

Jamestown- the 1st Settlement

We still had a bit of time before we headed back home so we decided to stop by the Jamestown Settlement- established 1607.

A cool sculpture in front of the visitors center.

After a quick movie- we headed to the native american village.

The girls are learning to make rope- they loved it! (Since then- we had to invest in some raffia and many bracelets have been made.)


Fun village. The kids all pounded a bit of corn to grind it into flour


and we here we are scraping all the hair off this hide with seashells.

Then we headed to the English Fort

As you can see, we are ready for an attack! (I love how Em has her helmet on.)


You can see where Emery gets her fashion sense. (That would be her dad...)


The water gatherers


Jake and two water buckets (no yoke!- okay - bad pun- he's got a way cool yoke)


Trying to be pious in the church.


A re-creation of the Susan Constant- the biggest of the three original ships (the others were the Discovery and Godspeed). This baby held 71 people- amazing.


Ahoy land lubbers!

Jamestown Settlement was really fun! We would highly recommend it.

Soccer and Saturdays go together like

Pie and Ice Cream!

Jake has been enjoying his Saturday soccer games. He has had a great time with his teammates, too.

Go EXPLOSION!


And here is the cheering section. (When grandpa and grandma visited they actually watched the entire game even.)

Busch Gardens Howl-o-Scream

Williamsburg- Day 2

We had a great time at Busch Gardens. The Theme Park is divided into different European countries. This was in Britain.

Emery and Shelby- they should switch spots...


Everyone looks pretty happy now (except Kailey who is the biggest chicken)

And then...

I felt like the worst mom. (Poor Madi.- But she was only sad for a minute.)


Grandpa, Grandma, Jake and Danny on one of the scary rides. They were the brave ones who rode the real roller coasters!


Madi is on a hot air balloon type ride. She loved it.


This is a giant coffin. We're dead.


Now we're alive!



Grandma, Shelby, Jake and Em on the log ride. Emery LOVED this ride and went on it 3 or 4 times. (The funny part was that they took a picture as you go down a really long slide. In every picture she had this horrified look on her face. She enjoys a good scare.)


It's starting to look scary. The mist is rising from the ground.

This was in France.

Kailey kissing a rat. It was funny until we looked up and saw this-


They had real rats running across this rope. (Ewwwwwwwwwwww.)


Em and the fake ratzies.


I was scared.

We're in Ireland- in Killarney

The guy in the Pumpkin is Jack. We enjoyed his little dance party.


One of the dancers came off the stage and danced with Emery. It was so cute!


As we were leaving, we saw this owl. It was beautiful. (Eurasian Owl- 5 foot wingspan- we saw it turn it's head completely around a couple of times. Very cool.)