Visit to the Kansas Carsons

I hadn't been to see the Kansas Carsons since August, so I flew out to visit them for five days at the end of January. While I was there Garrett and Krystal took the opportunity to go to the temple and I babysat the kids.

Fortunately the weather cooperated and I didn't have any trouble getting there or back.

 Lissa gave this indoor roller coaster to all of her siblings' kids, and it's been a hit with every family I've gone to visit. Garret and Krystal's house has a nice big play room, and the roller coaster fit in very well.

 Alexa with Indie. I hadn't met their puppy yet, but she was a good girl and great with the kids.

I brought some foam face stickers for the kids to make pictures, and these are the ones Makayla made.

 An adorable photo of Alexa playing the keyboard.

 Adam got in on the act. too. They were having a good time together.

 Makayla and Daniel climbing a tree after we picked them up from school.

 Adam tries to keep up with his big brother and sister, so he climbed the tree, too.

 The Carsons don't have church until 1:30pm, so we played some games together in the morning before church.

Daniel used his goldfish to make a church building.

 The night I was there the Primary was having a Baptism Preview for the children turning eight this year. It's hard to believe he's old enough already, but Daniel will be turning eight on December 30th! I stayed home with the younger kids so that Daniel could have his parents all to himself to go to the Baptism Preview.

 Adam chilling with Indie.

 Alexa is still very much a mamma's girl.

 Adam helped me mix up some cookies while the big kids were in school.

I flew home on Monday evening after Daniel and Makayla got home from school. I took this picture as I was loading up to have Garrett drive me to the airport. Everyone stood in the door and waved goodbye,which I thought was very sweet.

Starting the New Year with a Visit to Our Parents

Kent and I flew to Oregon to spend a long weekend with our parents.

 Adri flew up from Texas to join us, but mostly came to see her grandparents.

 Mom Carson had been in a rehab center over Christmas and Kent brought her home for the day.

The Christmas presents had been saved for her and she opened them while Kent was there.

Meanwhile, over in Oregon, my sister, Jill, also came from Boston to visit. Mom and Dad were happy to have so much company.

 Mom got it into her head that she wanted to make some teddy bears for the great grandchildren. 

She was the brains of the operation and Adri, Jill and I were her work crew.

Mom had part of the teddy bears cut out, so we worked together to get three finished.

I did the sewing and everyone else did the cutting, ironing, pinning, and stuffing.

 Mom was so pleased with our efforts that she took a teddy bear down to the dining room to show off our project.

Here we are with the mostly completed teddy bears. (they still needed some hand sewing.) There was a pink one for Sylvia Carson, another pink one for Alexa Carson, and the blue one was for Carson Lee.

 We had Sunday dinner over at Reed and Myra's house, and took a picture of the original Christensen family, minus Brett and Gates.

As we were driving through Portland on our way to Kent's mom's house, we had a spectacular view of Mount St. Helen's off in the distance.

Further down the road we had this awesome view of Mount Hood. I sure do love those mountains out in the West!! It was a quick visit, but we were glad to spend time with our parents, siblings, and Adrianne.