Coral Pink

It seemed like we had not used our trailer in years. So we decided to go to Coral Pink sand dunes. It worked out great because it was Uncle Dens birthday and it was finally starting to cool down. The trip started out great. Kenny was happy because he had a day off Carter was chillin in the back seat watching movies, and I was reading a book. We stoped in Kanab Utah for lunch and paid $16 for a Big Mac at McDonald's. OK, it wasn't 16 bucks but it was at least double the price. We finally made it to our camp site. It was a bit small but after we broke a few minor laws we manage to get everything set up. Check out the pictures and continue reading for the rest of the story. . . . . .

These are the beautiful Pink Dunes.

Here are some nice trails in the dunes.

This is our trailer fully loaded with all the quads.

Here is Carter enjoying his freedom outside of the car seat.

We are finally unloaded and set up. Life is GOOD. . . . . .

. . . .And then this happens! Carter fell out of the trailer AGAIN. I swear I got 50 grey hairs after this fall. He had been doing so good. He would take his time going down the steps, and he was asking for help. Then he leaned on the screen door and landed straight on his face. The stairs where folded up this time, it was almost a 3ft fall.

This is the screen door he fell out of.

We kept giving him "candy" all weekend. AKA chewable Tylenol.

We thought about shaving his head and getting him some "iceman" shorts so he could be Chuck Liddel for Halloween.

This is inappropriate shirt #1. Thanks Uncle Den.

The morning after mug shot.

Carter usually doesn't like to ride on the quads. He likes riding in the Ranger or the Razor best. As you can see he pretty much likes any thing with a motor now!

He will tell you which one he wants to ride. Red wheeler or Blue wheeler.

Birthday boy enjoying some Jungle Juice!

This is inappropriate shirts #2. Not sure if you can read it. . .

He was one big sand ball by the end of the weekend. We almost had enough sand to start our own sand box!

I had so much fun on our Coral Pink trip. I actually got to go on a ride, and it was such a fun ride! It was so relaxing (except for the falling out of the trailer part). Can't wait to do it again!

Here are a couple funny pictures of Carter in his big boy bed. He was so good with the switch. He stays in his room until I get him and he loves his new sheets.

This kid moves constantly. I'm so happy we have the bed rails. . . . .

. . . . . .What bed rails?????

Catch Up

Well here it is, for the two people who actually look at this blog, I hope you enjoy the update. We have tried to keep busy this summer. I find that if we keep Carter super busy he tends to take long naps. I REALLY like long naps:)

We spent a lot of time swimming. Taking swim lessons at the start of the summer was the best thing ever. Carter is a little fish and is already trying to swim on his own.

Check out my chunky lil man. I love that belly!

Super Carter showing off his guns!

We went to the Drive-Inn movies. Carter loved having his own bag of popcorn. We took Kenny's truck and put the bean bags in the bed. It worked as an awesome play-pen!

It was a little warm but it only cost us 12 bucks! In my book that is AWESOME!

This is how the night ended:)

We spent Labor Day at the cabin. This is the "before" picture.

And this is the "after". It's kinda hard to tell, but they are REALLY muddy and tired.

Ross was in charge of the fire so we could have SMORES.

What happens when you put two skinny girls and a few smores together in the same forest? (see picture above:)

Jordan is modeling her sweet boots before she takes Carter on a ride.

This is Bubba's favorite place to be!

He is getting so dang big.

We went to the Flamingo Hotel so that we could . . . . . . .

. . .see the flamingos. It was fun and FREE.

Carter got tattoos!

A lot of tattoos. Thanks you very much Teel Family.
We bought a 3 dollar kite.

Carter like watching it for all of 10 minutes. Kenny had a great time trying not to hit the other people at the park.

We had a BBQ for Nanas birthday.
We went to Logan to visit Shelby and attend a funeral.

We were able to see our long lost cousins and all their kids.

Carter is starting to pose for pictures now. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or not.

Seriously I was gone for 2minutes. I swear!

BUSTED!!!

Overall our summer was awesome. Hope you enjoyed ALL the pictures.

Great Grandpa Prater

I will never forget the first time I met Kenny's grandparents. I remember walking into the house that they raised their children in. There was comfy furniture, tons of pictures of family, grand kids and great-grand kids, and the all important BIG screen TV. Kenny lead me into the house with that, "are you sure your ready for this" look on his face. The first person we ran into was his grandpa. I was immediately wrapped in this huge hug. I made my way down the line, grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, and at the end of the line there was Grandpa again. He took another hug and asked how I like my margarita. That's when I knew that being a Prater was NOT going to suck!!!!

One of G-pa's most favorite things to do is go fishing. I have heard so many stories of the family fishing/camping trips. Once the boys started getting older the trips started to slow down. G-pa is going to be 89 in November. He has been telling us for a while now that he wanted to go fishing one last time before he dies. I don't want you guys to get the wrong picture in your head. G-pa is not an "old man". He is not in a wheelchair, he drives a really nice Caddy around town, and last time I checked he still hangs his own Christmas lights. Lets just say that he is AMAZING and if we can accomplish half the stuff that he has then we are doing DAMN good.

We decided to help G-pa check a few items of his "bucket list" so we took him fishing! My parents were nice enough to lend us the cabin for the weekend. G-pa got to go fishing on Navajo Lake, spend time with his grandsons and great-grandson, eat good food, and watch the deer from the deck. He was one happy camper!

This is G-pa and his catch! I LOVE this picture!

The boys and their catch! Way to go guys!





We spent a lot of time on the deck.

A baby deer that came to visit.

Beer can chicken. Boy was it tasty!

Carter's Grandma and Pops lovin life.

Nana left this baby rifle at the cabin for Carter. He kept shooting the deer and saying "bang, bang, bang!"

We went on a super dusty ride. Good Times!

The fishing trip was a success, G-pa was happy, and that was all that mattered.

We love you G-pa!

Happy 4th of July

I love the 4th of July. I mean seriously LOVE it. I love the smell of fireworks, I love the BBQs, I love the hot weather, I love it ALL. My birthday is the 6th of July so when I was a kid I would always wait for the first firework stand to set up. Thats when I knew my birthday was right around the corner. I remember being so excited. What other week in the year do you get to play with fire AND open presents? It is awesome!

This year Grandpa Prater bought us all tickets to the 51's baseball game. It was Carters first game. We had such a great time. Thanks POPS!

They put on a a great fireworks show. Carter did so good, we thought he might get scared but he just loved sitting with Kenny watching the show.
Firday we went to my parents cabin. We always have such a great time there.

Carter loves to go on "rides". We take him on trash runs and to the corner gas station.

He also loves to go on hikes (or as Carter says "ikes"). This is him picking flowers for me and Nana. Such a sweet boy. . . . . .sometimes.

We bought a few boxes of sparklers. That kid is very dangerous with fire.

We decided to try something new this year and drive up to Brianhead for the firework show. It was one of the best shows I have EVER seen! They set them off right in the middle of the canyon. You can FEEL the fireworks and the echo seems to go on forever.

This is Carter eating some carmel popcorn waiting for it to get dark.

We had such a great weekend! When we left the mountain it was 73 degrees. Once we got home it was 107 degrees. So I decided it was time to buzz Carters head again. This is before . . .

. . . . and after.

Hope you all had a great holiday. Thanks again to my mom and dad. They bought me a new camera for my birthday. I was so lost with out a camera.

The Month of June

June sure seemed like a crazy month. I don't have many pictures to prove it, but here is an update on the Prater Family.

We have been trying to do things that are inexpensive (just like everyone else). One of our most favorite "cheep" thing to do is swimming. Carter took swim lessons earlier this year. We didn't have a great start but I'm soooo happy we went. I wasn't expecting him to learn how to swim this year, but I really wanted him to be comfortable in the water. Sometimes I think he may be too comfortable. He absolutely loves the water and has no fear what-so-ever. He holds his breath for at least 7 seconds and will jump off the side. We are working on his kicking and floating on his back. Overall his is doing better than I ever expected. He is one amazing kid! Check out this picture of him flying.
Kenny will throw him so high that as he is coming down he ends up under water. As soon as he pops up he yells "one more!", it is so cute. The only down side is that my mom freaks out a little and Kenny's arms are always sore the next day:)

Next on our list of "cheep" things was a visit to Great Aunt Linda and Uncle Jimbo. Carter loves horses (at least he thought he did). He can make the best "neigh" sound I have ever heard. He sounds just like a horse! Aunt Linda has four horses and five dogs at her house. Carter loved the horses from far away. If the horse would "neigh" he would "neigh" right back. Then we took him for a close-up. He pet the horse, and showed us it's eyes and ears. As soon as he got a glimpse of the teeth he freaked out. He refused to sit on the horse or give her a treat. He still had a great time and we love Aunt Linda so much for letting us visit.

Carter is CRAZY about airplanes! If we are in the house and he hears an airplane he will run to the sliding glass door and look at the sky to try and find it. If he hears a plane while we are walking in the parking lot he will freeze and try to find it. He can be in the middle of a melt down and hear a plane and will immediately stop crying. He has informed me that airplanes and jets do not make the same sound, and if he happens to hear a jet he stops everything and says "WHOA!". He is one smart kid. We decided to take him to the North Las Vegas airport and watch the planes. He was in heaven. We went to the cafe and had breakfast at a window seat. Needless to say he didn't do much eating. He made airplane noises the whole way home.

We also made several trips to the splash park, watched a free movie at the theater, and took a tour of Peter Piper Pizza, thanks to my friend Jamie and the mommy group. We took our trailer up to Mt Charleston for a weekend and really enjoyed the cooler weather. (my Camera broke before this trip, sorry no pics). Kenny and I also celebrated six GLORIOUS years of marriage. All in all I would say June was an amazing month.

Summer Fun Begins!

As soon as we got home from the cabin on Moday we went over to Great Grandpa Praters house. We had a great day full of swimming and RIBS. Hope you all like the pictures.

Carter is showing everyone how you REALLY eat ribs!



Carter is seeing how high Dada can throw him. Nana is gonna freak when she sees this picture!

Carter hangin out with his Grandpa.

Hey grandpa! Catch!!

This is what happens when we take him OUT of the pool. It use to be that he would cry when we put him IN the pool.

Testing out the underwater capabilities of my camera. Thanks for the supermodel pose Uncle Den.

This is my new favorite picture!

GO, GO, GO!

We have been making the rounds lately. Our first trip was to Armagosa Sand Dunes. We love that it doesn't take us very long to get there and that it usually not very busy. The weekend we went we were the ONLY people there! Everyone else seemed to have half a brain and decided it would be a lot smarter to stay home. The fact that it was easily 90 degrees and that we were in the middle of a dessert, did not stop us from going! We used a ton of sunscreen and began to think it was normal to be dripping with sweat. Good times were had by all!

This is our "HOT" group! (my eyes are closed, AGAIN)

My crazy brother in law Dennis came up with the idea to pull snow sleds behind is Banshee. This is Matt getting ready to go.

This is Matt getting ready to fall off the sled.

Whenever we go camping you can always find Carter on one of the quads. He loves going on rides!

Our next stop was to drop Shelby off in Logan. I was a slacker and didn't take very many pictures. I managed to get these pictures of Jordan and Carter in there matching Adidas outfits. They are so cute!

We had so much fun taking Shelby but we miss her already. Logan is such a pretty town and her house is so cute. We know she will accomplish so much and make us proud. Love you Aunt Shelby.

The next stop was to the cabin for Memorial Day. We had a BLAST! Every year there is a party put on by all the people that live on the mountain. It started out with a progressive dinner. My mom was in charge of appetizers for 70 people. She made these new shrimp stuffed mushrooms that were to die for. Amazing as always! Next was the quad decorating competition. We won thanks to Shelby, Kenny, and Ross. There was also a poker tournament. Jordan won 150 bucks! They started a new tradition with a sandbelt race. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen. We plan on winning next year.

It rained most of Saturday so that meant we got to go for a muddy ride on Sunday. I talked Jordan into driving the Razor. I got to sit next to her and be her co-pilot. We laughed so hard that our abs hurt the next day. Check out the before and after pictures of the Razor!