The Carruths

Carruth Family Reunion August 18, 2008

We just spent the last week in Breckinridge, Colorado. I will have to say that white water rafting is my new favorite sport. It was a blast. We had a great time with all of James’s family. We took family pictures and went rafting twice, once with just grownups and once with kids. Ice skating is something that Aimee is awesome at too bad we live in Texas. We went in a gold mine and hung out and went shopping on main street. To finish off the week we were part of his youngest brother’s wedding in Denver. The girls were so excited to be princesses and David was a STUD in his suit. Enjoy the pictures because we had fun taking them!!

Aimee is 7!! August 2, 2008

Aimee had her birthday on Friday.  She wanted to spend the day at the beach. Her cousins have been in town all week but went home Friday morning so we did cake and ice cream on Thursday night. She drew a picture of her cake and gave me very strict instructions on decorating. Maybe we will have a bakery together one day. It was a lot of fun at the beach we were supposed to have both Bekah’s girls but Jade got sick and we were supposed to have a couple other extra kids so we hired a babysitter to go but ended up not needing her but she was so excited we took her anyway. The kids were in love with the water and want to spend a week at the beach but if we do that then I want white sands and clear waters. Enjoy all the pictures

Beach Weekend in Florida July 29, 2008

Last weekend James and I headed to Ft Walton Beach, Florida for the weekend. We have some friends that we have started doing a weekend swap with so that both couples get a chance to get away. We watched their 4 girls in June and it was their turn to watch ours. We ate some yummy seafood and laid on the beach and just relaxed. We went parasailing for the first time. Really fun I recommend it to anyone who gets a chance.It was great.

Happy 30th to Me July 27, 2008

This week I turned 30!!! I am so excited to be starting a new decade. Although Caitlyn told me that now that I am 30 I am all crumbly and stuff. Not sure what exactly that means but she was glad I was driving when she said it. LOL  The kids and James gave me lots of great presents and pampered me including a pedicure with my sister-in-law. I was in the shower on my birthday when I heard banging on my bathroom window and I thought I knew who was out there so I threw on a towel and answered the door. Only to find 8  women from church who came by to wish me a happy birthday with a cake and ballons and everything. Oh well now people have seen me in my birthday suit.  Too bad I am all “crumbly”

Just a little Family time July 20, 2008

So on Wednesday I called James at work and told him I wanted to get away for some relaxing family time. I wanted to pack up and drive to Florida to some nice clear water and white sandy beaches but neither James nor I really wanted a 8/9 hour drive in the car. Instead I did some looking and found a resort only 45 minutes away in the Woodlands that didn’t have the sandy beaches but they did have clear waters. So I booked a room and loaded the car. It was probably one of the best times we have had as a family in a while. We played at the pool for hours. They had treasure hunts and water slides and games and all sorts of fun stuff for the kids. The pool was probably one of the best ones we have ever been to with kids. It had a beach entry which means it slowly gets deeper but Lainey was able to swim in most of it and even touch the bottom. David was so excited to be able to walk around most of the pool. There were parts of the pool that were 4-5 ft deep but most of it was shallow enough for us to relax and have a great time. One of the girls favorite features at the pool was that they had music playing under the water. It was a great time. We just might make this an annual trip so anyone who wants to join us is more than welcome to come along.

Interfaith Quilting Bee

Today was our annual Interfaith Quilting Bee. It is one of my favorite things around here that I get to be a part of each year. I made three little tag quilts to donate. All the quilts that are made get donated to local shelters and groups that help out families in crisis. It is such a neat opportunity to give a little bit of something to those in the community.  

Caitlyn is 8!!! July 10, 2008

Ok so the last two weeks have been crazy busy. Let’s start with the fact that my little girl turned 8. I am getting so old!! I can’t believe that she is that old already. Caitlyn is such a blessing in our lives and I would be very ungrateful if I didn’t take a minute to share my love for her. She is such a beautiful little girl which will really start to scare me in a few years. She LOVES to read and always has a book with her. She absolutely loves swim team and is getting really good at all of the strokes.  She is very sweet and is like a second mommy with her younger sisters and david.  Havana adores her and has to do everything that Caitlyn does. Since her birthday is the 4th of July we did the usual Kingwood Parade and then hung out at Mamasita’s house and then did small fireworks in the backyard.

We went to Texas Roadhouse the next night for dinner and we had them sing to her. Well we thought that the waiters sing but no they roll over a big saddle and make you climb up on top and then they yell at the whole place and make you say YE HAW!! once everybody is looking. It was awesome I was so proud of Caitlyn who is by far still my shyest child. She shocked all of us by actually getting up on the saddle to participate.

My little sister Sarah decided to serve a mission so we have been busy helping her to get ready to leave. I just got back from Utah last night after my mom and I dropped her off at the Missionary Training Center. She will be there for 3 weeks then she will head to the Washington Kennawick Mission.

Take a minute to check out all the new pictures and videos of all that we have been doing the past few weeks. I promise you will be entertained. And as always don’t forget to leave your comments on the pictures.

Lainey is 5!!! June 25, 2008

Last Friday was Lainey’s 5th birthday. Thanks to all the aunts and uncles that called to wish her a happy day she was so excited to talk to y’all. She had the best day. Not only was it her day but we had agreed to watch some friends kids for the weekend so they could getaway kid free for a few days. Don’t worry we get our turn next month and they get our kids.  Anyway we had a great time with the Taggarts four little girls swimming and playing and using the new slip-n-slide. I learned that 9 kids under the age of 8 is not that bad and a lot of fun. Too bad for David that he was still the only boy.

Lainey is so excited that she is 5 and gets to head off to school in August. The kindergarten teachers give prospective kindergarten kids sunflower seeds to plant in May and tell them that when the flowers are taller than them school will start. It’s has been so fun to watch her water and keep track of how her “school flowers”  are doing every week.  She has such a fun personality. Right now she wants everything to be sassy and stylish. Those are her exact words, from her clothes to anything she does it needs to be sassy and stylish. She loves to sing and dance and do gymnastics. We love our little Lainey Bug and can’t believe she is getting so big. Hope you enjoy all the pictures!!

Schools out Scream and Shout!!! June 8, 2008

The girls are so excited that school is out for the summer. Of course that means lots of swimming and relaxing and craft time and whatever else I can come up with for them to keep busy. The pictures that go with this post are great some are from their gymnastic class show week and some are from other fun things we have been doing this first week out of school. I think that my favorite picture is of Havana asleep on my bed with a book on her face. She swore that she wasn’t tired and she just needed quiet time to read so literally 30 seconds into her book she was passed out. So cute! Anyway there are some great pictures and movies from Show weekat the Little Gym. The girls can’t wait for the Olympics in August so they can watch the gymnastics and swimming events. Enjoy and feel free to post comments.

Our weekend in Austin May 25, 2008

Thursday morning dawned bright and early and for some weird reason I woke up with the urge to get away. Maybe it was because it had been our anniversary on Wednesday or maybe because I just wanted a vacation either way I told James that I wanted us to go away as a family. By 3:30 we had picked up the girls from school and we were headed to Austin. I love relaxing family get-aways. I found a Embassy Suites that gave us one room–which is tricky these days with our family size to find one big enough that we don’t need to get two rooms. I highly recommend the Embassy Suites Austin-Arboretum to anyone headed that way. They had swans and Koi fish in a pond in the middle of the lobby. The kids especially David were fascinated with Butch and Sundance. We had a great time swimming in the hotel pool several times over the few days we were there. Friday we took the kids to the Inner Space Caverns. Caitlyn and Aimee were interested the whole time and the others lost interest about 45 minutes into the hour 25 minute tour. They lasted longer than I thought they would. David started out in the backpack but about 10 minutes into the tour he was done with that nonsense because he was on James back and didn’t like skimming his head along the rock formations.

Saturday we went to the Capital building and walked around with the kids. David was only interested in the cannons outside. Lainey was really into counting how many women have been the governor of Texas. Their pictures lined all the walls of the Capital. Everytime we would pass a new woman she would get SOOO excited. Caitlyn and Aimee liked the Chambers for the Senate and the House. All in all it was a good weekend with the kids learning a little about Texas and geology. On the way home we went through College Station to see my sister and her family. Her little girl who is almost 3 had her first ballet recital last niight. It was really cute to watch and the girls were very excited to see their cousins.