Beauty of the Valley!

Okay, everyone! I have a really great friend who moved to Hawaii a couple of years ago. Since then she has posted GORGEOUS pictures of the island's flora, fauna(turtles) and beaches!

See http://www.thesummerillsurf.blogspot.com/. Well, it turns out now that she's moving back to Utah and I'm actually sad for her having to leave such a beautiful place, because I wouldn't want to. But, I'm simultaneously happy for me since she'll only be a few blocks away! :-)

The following trio of pictures was taken over the last couple of weeks...our last weeks of summer. Erin, my friend, has an eye for seeing beauty all around her, so I'm posting these pictures in her honor. We can find beauty everywhere when we look!

From the Walmart parking lot after grocery shopping...

From our back door...Logan discovered this one.

From a fun walk up the canyon with Grandma Patty...

CABBAGES AND THINGS!!!

"The time has come," Cecilia said,
"To talk of many things:
Of R.A.D. for Women--shorter hair--
Of cabbages--and kings--"

Julian got a little cabbage plant during an assembly at school in the spring. She kept it alive with vigilance and love until we could plant it. It grew into a beautiful plant in our flower bed. People would comment on how pretty it was! This week it looked ready, so we harvested it. After peeling back many holey layers to get past the slugs, we discovered a gorgeous, KING-SIZED, head of cabbage! It weighed 6.2 lbs and was equal to about 4 store-bought cabbages. I made the yummiest salad with a recipe from my good friend, Shanelle.

This past Saturday I "graduated" for the second time from a class called R.A.D. for Women. The first time, I took the course with my sister, Melissa. This time I took it with Mom!! She did great! I did much better this 2nd time around. Practice makes perfect. And with the Free Return and Practice policy, I expect to attend again with some of you!! Come on...you know you want to. It's so liberating and empowering! It's taught by the same guy who was in the red suit at my r.a.d.KIDS classes, and his wife. They are fantastic!

Last, but not least, and thanks to my good friend Stacee who is a fabulous stylist, I went short. Julian did, too. Here we are without the long locks! (Yes. I took that picture of myself.) Logan went for the platinum curls!! Will he ever forgive me???

Our cake is on the web!!

We may not be famous, but it's still cool to see something of ours on someone else's website!!Check out this website to see the cake the kids and I made for Jarid's birthday party in the spring!! http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/guitar_cake.html You'll need to scroll down a little ways. Ours is the Guitar Hero Cake #19. Looks just like the real deal, huh?

IMPORTANT: For anyone who is interested, scroll down to the July 20th post where you can now read interesting facts about some of my friends and also read my Birthday Comic Book!! :-) (Illustrated by Peggy and written cooperatively by the rest of the ladies described in the post.)

P.S.If you have any questions about the "inside jokes" feel free to ask! You might just be in for a roll on the floor in stitches. Hahaha!

July started with a BANG!...and ended with a Fizzle.

Movies, movies, movies!! We celebrated the 4th of July with a trip to the movie theater to see Fantastic Four:Rise of the Silver Surfer. Logan came out of the theater shouting, "I LOVE that movie. It was full of ACTION!" Later that week, Julian and I went with my friend and her daughter to see Nancy Drew. How could I pass it up?? I read over 100 of the books when I was a youth and I still own them all!! The next week Jarid took Logan to see Transformers and now, of course, he wants to earn money to buy the all character toys he doesn't own yet.

The night of the 4th we also went to Grandma and Grandpa Carter's house with the rest of the Carter Clan. The adults had fun eating and visiting while the kids were entertained by the Slip-n-Slide and firecrackers! Then we came home to watch the city fireworks show from our backyard. We are so close to the field we can actually hear the music!

Logan had a mysterious playdate with his friends at our house...or was it the potion that was mysterious? Playing laboratory is something all the kids could agree on and Logan is a pro since it's been one of his favorite things to do in his hospital room this last year!


The kids and I slept over at "The Farmhouse" with Gma Patty and Gpa Burk, who took care of the kids for two days while I attended my blog and podcast class.

Some of my closest friends surprised me for my birthday with a Hawaiian window display (pictured), gift certificates to a Hawaiian restaurant, and an amazing comic book they wrote and illustrated about my "super hero family!" The comic book is hilarious and FULL of inside jokes. It may possibly be featured in an upcoming post. :-)

I've already posted about Logan's recent stay in the hospital. We were home a couple of days and then he became sick again. The doctor allowed me to keep him at home where I monitored his IV fluids and gave him IV meds to keep him comfortable. No culprit was found. He's been feeling better, though, but his blood counts are very low from whatever he's been fighting.

Thus the fizzle, the isolation that ends the fancy freedom of summer fun. I am SO glad that we made the most of every moment earlier in the summer while we had the chance. It never seems to last and I would have hated to miss all those good times.

I have put the hours of sitting next to Logan to good use, though. :-) I read the 7th and final HP book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Here is my take on it with NO SPOILERS, of course..."Rowling REALLY knows how to unfold a story!!! All the answers fit perfectly into place, yet still they were mostly unpredictable. One can tell she had the story very well planned from early on. This book is fairly fast paced (unlike #5), but the last 100 pages made it VERY hard to put down...even for me, a non-member but supporter of the Harry Potter religion.

:-) Hehehe!"

So, less than 3 weeks left of my glorious and much appreciated summer break! I think that now I ought to do something about the house I've neglected while we've been having so much fun!

View from "THE BRIDGE"

Logan and I were able to go an a few adventures around the hospital this week. He was admitted for fever, dehydration and a red blood cell transfusion. So I got to spend 4 days with him!! I love it when I can hang out with him without the interruptions of cooking, dishes, laundry and other household distractions. He felt pretty good most of the time we were there and we had some really good conversations. Here we are on "the bridge." It's a beautiful pedestrian walkway that leads from Primary's to the Moran Eye Center, where Logan loves to go. This time a tar monster had joined forces with Sasquatch and we had to run him out of town!

The 3rd night we were there, there was a rainstorm. I took these photos from "the bridge." If you look closely at the second one, you can see the Capitol Building! We enjoyed the cooler weather it brought! SO nice to be outside after being in isolation for a couple of days!

While Logan and I were gone, Julian spent time with daddy, her friends and spent one night at "The Farmhouse" with Grandma Patty and Grandpa Burk. She always loves being there with the Burk cousins. Never wants to come home! But we missed her and were glad to see her.

Igniting the Carterista Podcast!

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The first Carterista Podcast in which the host reveals
her thoughts and feelings about recents events in her life.

Firsts of the Summer!

For every family and every person there are "firsts." And then there are the firsts of the season. Here's a look at some of each for the kids and I so far this summer.

Although Julian was initially sad that school letting out for the summer (maybe due to the nature of the 3 previous summers,) she now laments that summer won't last long enough. I agree with her completely, but try not to think about it as often as she mentions it.

Since Logan's blood counts were high at the end of his radiation, it was the perfect time to dive into summer activity, so we hit the ground running!

Here are the highlights of the month of June...


Logan finished his radiation doses. He loved his black spiderman mask, the first of it's kind according to the nurse artist who painted it. They said he was the first kid to look for his mask in anticipation at every appointment. What a great attitude he has!

Shortly after, he graduated from Superhero Training Camp at his friend's birthday party. All the kids came dressed as made-up superheroes. Logan was Universe Man!





Julian had her 9th birthday party at the local pool. A dozen of her friends and cousins came to swim and eat pizza, cake and ice cream. She's had some really fun birthday parties in the past, but she said this one was the best so far! Since the pool did all the work, I'd have to agree.

At Julian's birthday party, Logan swam in the pool for the first time! He loved the waterslides. It was scary getting to the top, but he loved pretending that he was being 'flushed away!'




Cecilia taught 3 r.a.d.KIDS classes, which Julian and Logan attended. The classes focus on all types of safety, plus realistic defense against abduction. This was Simulation Night.




For the first time in his recollection Logan went OUT to eat.


Cecilia and Julian started a neighborhood KIDSWALK. We walk 2 miles, then stop at a park to have a healthy snack and play tag, etc.

Julian and Logan took swimming lessons (first time for Logan!)

We went to the Strawberry Days Carnival. I rode the StarShip 5000 with Julian. The ride uses centrifugal force to 'defy gravity.' Next time she gets to ride by herself! My stomach just can't take that anymore.




Julian, Logan and I represented the Stake (a group of church congregations) in the Strawberry Days Mammoth Parade. Our Stake won first prize earlier in the week during the Children's Parade. I'll tell you though, I'd rather ride in a parade than watch one any day! We got to see all the floats beforehand and it only took 10 minutes!

Julian's friends held a lemonade stand and invited her to help! Their mom was super and stayed out with them the whole day! Cute stand, huh?

Julian and Logan began attending a weekly library class. Julian had some uni-fun with her detective mustache!