Ten Days With the Montana Carsons

I posted previously about Alexa being born in May, but it was a pretty short post and there were lots more pictures from my visit that I wanted to share.

I arrived on a Thursday night, so on Friday morning the big excitement for the three Carson kids was watching for the garbage truck to come.

There's a nice big window in the play room overlooking the street, so the kids lined up some chairs to be able to see out the window.

It was sunny, so they had to wear their sun glasses.

Two-year-old Adam looked super cool in his glasses, which he put on all by himself.  (Notice Alexa's pre-birth photo bomb in the background,)

Sweet little Alexa made her appearance on Saturday evening, so it was perfect timing. On Sunday morning Garrett and I took the kids to church before going to the hospital to visit Krystal and Alexa.

I'd made Daniel and Adam BYU ties to wear to church.

I'm sad the picture below is fuzzy because it's the best picture I got of these two little fellas wearing their ties.

This picture of Garrett and Alexa was taken at the hospital. I already posted several pictures from our visit to the hospital, but here are a few more.

I LOVE this one because Makayla is just soooo happy and excited to have a little sister!

Garrett brought Krystal and Alexa home from the hospital on Monday evening. Here are the kids waiting for them to arrive home.

The older siblings all wanted a turn to hold Alexa.

Daniel is getting to be an expert at holding younger siblings!

One of the first pictures of all four kids together.

I love this picture, too, with the whole family all gazing lovingly at their new sister.

Over the years of having four children, Garrett has perfected his "napping with the newborn" technique.

Krystal did her best to spend as much time with the older kids as she could while Alexa was sleeping.

Here are some pictures I took of the older kids when we went to the playground.

Not sure why they're both on the space shuttle backwards....

I had to take this picture of Garrett with his amazing garden. Who would have thought that my child who hated vegetables would be the one with a green thumb who grows spinach, peppers, garlic and kale???

Garrett and I took the kids to the indoor pool on base a couple of times. They really loved it.

Another morning we took them to free play time at the community center gym.

The USO sponsored a Sesame Street show free for military families, so Garrett and I took the older three kids.

All the children received these whirly toys that lit up with multi-colored lights, and that was definitely the kids' favorite part of the experience.

I'm not sure they've ever watched Sesame Street, but they were familiar with the characters of Elmo and Grover.

Here's sweet little Alexa on the baby quilt that my mom and I made for her.

Here's the name wall quilt I made for Adam. I've already made ones for Daniel and Makayla. I make them for the grandchildren when they turn two.

We took this picture with all four of the kids right before I had to leave to return to Virginia.

Here they are waving good-bye as I got in the car to go to the airport. Adam said, "Adam will miss you" in his sweet little two-year-old voice. Makayla sobbed as I was leaving and didn't want me to go.

It's hard to leave because I get so attached to the grandchildren when I'm able to stay for a long time! I was glad that I knew I'd be back in July with Granddad for Alexa's blessing.