What's one more?!

We are having a baby! I'm due July 5th and we are excited! The end of 2015 was a pretty rough year for us. I was downright sick from about 6 weeks up until 16 weeks. The helicopter ride with Bishop really was the funnest our year got. Even for Thanksgiving and Christmas- we were pretty low key. I feel bad for that- but you do what you can.

For Thanksgiving we had the cutest little pilgrim come home from preschool! I love all the cute little things the kids make and do there, we are so lucky to be able to these programs here in Holbrook. 

Thanksgiving was spent in Buckeye. We hadn't announced to anyone that I was pregnant yet, but they all guessed it when I went to bed a 8 o'clock. Luckily I had a pretty good weekend with the sickness and was able to eat! The next day we did some shopping and found Bentley's twin!


We stayed down in the valley until Saturday to catch my nephew Nathan's baptism. I was excited to be able to go, we haven't been able to make the other boys and was excited to finally get to be there. That morning I started getting a headache and was starting to see floaties in my eyes. The floaties turned into pretty blurry vision, and because of the pregnancy I wasn't really sure what I could take. I decided to just get on the road to the baptism and just take some tylenol. Driving down the road my tongue and left arm started going numb and it really started freaking me out- I never get headaches left alone numb arms! We stopped by urgent care where my parents took the kids to drive them to the baptism and then were told to go to the ER. The called us right back, did a few tests, and said I had a migraine. Probably hormone induced. I was pretty miserable. They gave me some Benadryl and fluids that helped a lot. That along with an hour nap and my vision and limbs were normal again. My head still ached, but not nearly as bad. We had totally missed the baptism by this point, so my parents met us to swap kids and we headed back to Holbrook.

The rest of November/December was pretty much spent with me on the couch. Kyle picked up some paper and plastic utensils that were a life savor. Even if the house was a mess, at least we didn't have tons of dishes every day. He jumped in the minute he got home from work to help with the kids until they went to bed. I felt like this pregnancy knocked me out a lot more than the other kids, but being sick without a baby still is a lot easier! Bentley could get his own drink and no diapers to change. There are definitely benefits to waiting till the youngest is a little older before getting pregnant again!

Flying in a Helicopter

Soo... we got to ride in a helicopter! A friend of ours Kamron (also our Bishop) went to helicopter school and just passed his test to be able to fly helicopters. He invited us over to get a ride and take some pictures of the schools around town. I was super nervous and excited! He has a small helicopter that seats two- and they sent me up first. I thought it would be a lot scarier, but it didn't really feel "real" if that makes sense. The scariest part was because I was taking pictures, he took the door off on my side. The only thing holding me in was a seat belt- like a seatbelt to a car. Pretty cool stuff! I got to go first and Kyle followed after. Thanks for the ride Bishop!

 Here is Walts Hardware and the Jr. High School.

 The crew seeing up off! Kyle and Tracy (Kamron's wife) in the back and Diesel, London, Bentley, Macy, Hesston, and Baler in the front.

 Holbrook! In the far distance you can see the Joseph City Power Plant.

 Our House!

Happy Halloween!

At the beginning of October I usually start asking the kids what they want to be for Halloween so I can get their costumes started. I should just buy them, but I think it's so fun to make them personalized and their own. When I asked Macy she gave me the sweetest response "This year I just want to be a cowgirl. Then I'll just have to wear a shirt and you won't have to make me a costume." As sweet as it was, I wanted to at least spruce up "cowgirl" a bit and we decided on a Rodeo Queen. Macy's school always does a Halloween parade so that was our first run through with her putting the costume on all by herself- and she did a great job. Easy peasy!

I figured London would want to be something sparkley and pink- and I was right. Pink Fairy all the way.

Bentley wanted to be none other then Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Cute kids!

Our first stop for Halloween was a big community Halloween Bash at the fair grounds. The kids got some face painting done, played lots of games and got lots of candy. The best part- everything was free!

Next up was a little trick or treating. Every year I get the kids these big ol' candy sacks and then keep going to houses until it's filled up and then I hate on all the candy that we eat for the next month. This year we used some small bags and only had to go to 8-10 houses before they were all full! The kids felt like they got TONS of candy and we didn't have to be out all night. Win-Win!

Happy Halloween!

Marathon and Pumpkin Patch

What a Saturday we had! Kyle's sister was in charge of the annual Petrified Forest Marathon and in full Gardner fashion, got us all into it. Kyle's choir groups were in charge of the water stations and we were in charge of getting everyone where they needed to go. We woke up bright and early (around 4:30) to get the kids to Grandma's house, the suburbans all packed with kids, and out to the Petrified Forest. Here's Savana, Levi, and Kallee all set up at the first water station all ready to go!

After we dropped up our suburban full of kids, we went back and forth picking up kids and moving them down the 26 mile course. After all the water stations were full and the runners had past them, we made our way to the finish line where we started keeping track of times and winners.

 After a looonngg morning/afternoon at the Marathon and quite possibly the shortest shower I've ever taken, we met up with the Larson's and then Nilsson's to go to pumpkin patch for our annual trip. The kids were so excited to be there, but we couldn't really capture that on camera. London is always our little smiler, but Bentley and Macy were giving the camera the cold shoulder.

 Macy started off pretty good, but after about 3 shots of this it was back to glaring looks- kind of like the one London is giving in the background.

 We always try and get a family photo at the patch- but this year it just wasn't working. Either Macy's hands in her crotch, my eyes are closed, or non of the kids are smiling.

 Here's the best we got. Not bad- but we've just gotten better before. That's okay. I love us anyway.

 Of course we get an awesome smile from Bentley when we got on the train- figures!

We finished the evening off with a trip to Trappers for dinner and pie. Yum! See you next year Pumpkin Patch!

Fall Break

We had one adventurous Fall Break! We decided to go down to the valley to spend a few days at my parents house and started it off right with some donuts. 

We made a stop at Grandma Benichs house (my Dad's Mom) to pick up some information for a program for my Grandpa Benichs Memorial Service that was held that weekend. I helped her a bit with her computer, looked at some old photos, had a really some really yummy pizza for lunch, and then headed off to Buckeye.

 On the way out to Buckeye we decided to take a pit stop at the mall, get my ring checked, change out a charger, and do a little shopping for the kids. The kids felt right at home at the Apple store- each with their own iPad.

The next day Kyle took the kids to the store for some good quality Dad and Kid time. They read lots of books at Barnes and Noble and each one got to pick out their own book. Then they went off to the free zoo, Petsmart!

 Kyle had to get back to Holbrook to ref a game, so I stayed with London and Bentley at my parents to get ready for the Memorial (and do the program) while he took Macy back with him. He took my parents car while we kept the van- Macy didn't get much sleep with such a quick trip and fell asleep on the way to the Memorial Service Saturday morning.

 We had a beautiful Memorial Service for my Grandpa Benich in Sedona at a church with quite possibly the prettiest view it could have. It was completely surrounded by Red Rock.
All of my parents kids were able to be there, and almost all of the entire Carbonneau extended family crew.
Bentley was too cute trying to make little Brooks laugh. He's giving peek-a-boo a try here.

We were making fun of how all the old people couldn't get the cameras to work and got this beauty.

Here is my Grandma Benich with all her kids and their spouses. Check out that view behind them!

Grandma and most of her great-grandkids. There were a couple kids in there that were smiling :)

 Kyle and the kiddos. London's dress got forgotten at home- oops!

 At the way home we stopped in Flag for some Panda Express- yum!

What a weekend we had! It was a super fun Fall Break and we were sure not ready for it to end.