Happy 6th Birthday Carter!

Carter is such a fun kid -- he's been making us laugh since day one (the nurses in the hospital brought him back to our room after his first bath laughing because in an unguarded moment he'd showered the newborn nursery). Not only does he give us grins and giggles but he is a thoughtful, kind, smart and courageous boy. We're so grateful he's part of our family! July 10th, the big day, was lots of fun. We opened presents before Dad had to run off to work. Then in the morning Carter, Bradley, Lydia & Mom went to see a movie at the theatre. We saw Kit Kittredge. It was a good movie -- a little more serious than I was expecting but well done and the kids liked it. Carter's favorite scene was the last one when the pet monkey takes a picture of the kids. We had cake in the afternoon and then Bradley, Carter, Alex, Grandpa Matheson and Uncle Monte headed off to a Diamond Backs baseball game. A good time was had by all and, to make it even better, the D-backs won! Lydia, Carter & Brad decorated a great cake for the festivities. At first, Carter was going for the sea-life look with killer whale, shark, etc. but then decided to add in the pirates he got for his birthday, complete with an oreo cookie island.

Bubbles Fishie Gil Matheson joined the family. As Carter says, "Some people have four names and some have three." Either way our new betta fish goes by Bubbles. Bradley has been planning this present for a few months and worked hard to earn money to help pay for it.

I found a great deal on playmobil (craigslist) so Carter got a pirate ship, pirate island and a motley crew to go with them. Brad is reading the first clue of the treasure hunt that led to the rest of the pirate loot.

Lydia, Brad & Carter with the 'treasure'. Happy Birthday Carter! We love you!!!

In keeping with the boat theme, Bradley has been reading scriptures on his own and made his own replica of Nephi's boat. The lego basketball pieces make for a good deck and I'm sure came in handy on the long voyage. On a side note, Brad has been super diligent with patching his eye this summer. The eye doctor told him that if he wore it every day this summer there was a good chance that he'd be done patching in August. That was a very motivating statement!