It's beginning to look a lot like......

CHRISTMAS!
We are excited and getting ready for Christmas. Last night we had our ward Christmas party. The boys got to sit on Santa's lap. Tyler was happy and excited but Carter on the other hand wasn't too sure about him. This morning Tyler and I went on a date to the movies. He has been talking about the new Disney movie coming out so I promised him that we would go see it. Then this afternoon we went to the library and made a Gingerbread house as a family. We have been doing some fun things and can't wait until we go up to Gma and Gpa Mergenthaler's next weekend. Christmas is such a special time and we love being with family. Merry Christmas!

Tyler, Santa and Carter (He wasn't too sure about that guy :)

Tyler and Mommy at the movie theater. We went to see "The Princess and the Frog". It was really cute, we enjoyed it. Tyler and I had a wonderful time on our date. He loved eating popcorn and snacks that we brought from home.

Carter playing while we were making our Gingerbread house. Isn't he sooooo cute?!!!!!!! He was trying to get the candy. NO, NO, baby :)

Tyler and Daddy at the library making a Gingerbread house.

Tyler and the finished product.

Thankful for..........

My husband
My two cute boys
My family
My friends
The gospel
Jesus Christ
Pres. Monson
Temples
Matt's job
A roof over my head
Clothes
My car
Food/Water
Sleep (When I actually get some!)
Phones
Computers
Good Health
New Moon ( I loved the new movie :)
BYU Football Go Cougars!
Thanksgiving & Christmas

These are just a few things that I am thankful for. I could go on and on but that would take too long. My family all came to our house for Thanksgiving. It was my first time doing everything but it all turned out good and we had a great time. There were about 14 of us all here. We enjoyed our Turkey dinner and played games. All of us girls went out to see New Moon and loved it. Matt and I are going to go and see it again on a date.
I have just been thinking about the season and some of the things I am thankful for. So I wanted to share some of them with you. I hope that you all are enjoying the holidays. We are excited and counting down the days until we go up to Washington for Christmas. Matt and Tyler can't wait to see Gma and Gpa Mergenthaler. Tyler keeps telling me that Santa is not coming to our house, he is going to Gpa Mergenthaler's. So we are looking forward to Christmas.

Halloween

I love the holidays. They are so much fun! For FHE we carved our pumpkins and Carter thought that it was so cool. He started to crawl forward :) It was so fun to watch him go across the floor towards the pumpkin and all the seeds. Tyler got into Trick or Treating this year. We took him to Toys R Us, the mall, and the church for Trick or Treating. He loved it! Candy Candy Candy :)
Our ward had a chili dinner on Halloween and we did trick or treating in the building. I decorated a room and had fun seeing all the kids in their costumes. I think that our boys were the cutest! Now we have Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward too. We are so excited.

Tyler and Carter and their pumpkin

Wyatt, Emma, Tyler and Layney (Ty's friends from Play Group)

Carter our little Tigger

Ty as Spider-man

Daddy as a soccer player, Mommy as a lady bug. Our Spider-man and Tigger (For some reason every picture we took the boys had something more important to look at). At least we got a picture, right?!

BYU Games

For all of those who know Matt they know that he is a HUGE BYU fan. When we lived in Provo he had a season pass and would go to all the home games with my cousins. It was so much fun for them and they enjoyed it.
In our ward there are quite a few fans. So we get together every weekend and watch the game together. It is fun for the guys to watch, the kids to play, and us women to visit. This last weekend Matt flew up to Provo to meet his Dad and brother Rick. They went to the game (it wasn't a very good game, but that isn't what matters). Matt enjoyed being with his family who he doesn't get to see very often. So they plan on trying to do it every year. Hopefully next time BYU will win. Go Cougars!
Check out these good looking guys!


Dad, Rick and Matt

Our baby is already 6 months!

Where has the time gone? Carter is 6 months old now. He is our cranky baby and has been very hard lately. He was cutting his first two teeth and didn't sleep AT ALL for two weeks. It was bad. Mommy was a walking Zombie and is still trying to catch up on her sleep. He loves to scream and has a good set of lungs. Carter also got an ear infection too so that just made things even better.
He has two teeth on the bottom and loves to eat. He is enjoying eating baby food along with his milk. At the dinner table he will try to grab everything we are eating. He sits up all by himself and rolls over both ways. He has also starting to get around the house a little bit. He crawls BACKWARDS. It is so funny to watch him! I will put him down in the middle of the room and he will crawl backwards into the wall and get so mad because he is stuck. Carter is a cuddler and loves to be held all the time so mommy doesn't get a lot done during the day. If I put him down he will let me know that he is not happy by screaming. So I usually eat breakfast and lunch with him screaming on the floor. What we go through for our children!
Carter is 18 lbs. and 28 inchs. What a big baby! We love you Carter :)


His first pair of shoes. Too cute!




Dinner Time.... Trying to eat a banana by himself.

A day at the museum with...

BOB THE BUILDER
Today I took the boys to the museum. We got to play with all of the dump trucks, backhoes, tools, etc. Tyler had so much fun running around with his hard hat and tool belt on. We went with some friends and had a great time. Later on we even got to meet BOB the Builder. It was so fun to watch the kids eyes light up when they saw him.
The best part for mom was that we got in for FREE. The first 25 people got in for free so we made sure that we were there early. I love it when I can get fun stuff for free! Both the boys enjoyed themselves. It was fun spending our day with Bob the Builder.

Bob the builder and Tyler

Carter and Mommy. Carter wanted to help build the rock wall too!

Tyler and his friend Wyatt playing and building with the toys.

Tiggerific Birthday

Where has the time gone? I can't believe that our Tyler is now 3 years old. Tyler's birthday was the end of August. He had a great day. In the morning he played with some friends. Then when Daddy got off of work we met him at Toys 'R' Us. They gave him a birthday crown and balloon. He also got a FREE Thomas the train ($12.99 for free). Mommy liked that idea.
That night we went out to Hot Dog on a Stick for dinner. Tyler loves corn dogs so we got him a cheese dog. He loves all of his presents. Mommy & Daddy got him a barn with animals from the Little People. Carter got him Buzz Lightyear pj's. Gma & Gpa Mergenthaler got him Toy Story the movie(He watches it almost everyday!) and a book. Gma & Gpa Carr got him a keyboard with a microphone (Ty loves music!) Aunt Katie got him a game called Lucky Ducks.
Tyler likes to watch Winnie the Pooh and is into Tigger. So that is what he asked for this year for his cake. Past years we have done the #1 and a Fire Truck cake. I was proud of myself that it turned out pretty good. Aunt Katie helped with the chocolate sprinkles though, Thanks! Tyler also went bowling for the first time. He had fun the first part then he was ready to go home. He had a fun Tiggerific birthday and we are excited for many more.

We love you Tyler! :)



Mommy and Tyler at the bowling alley.

Tyler and some of his presents

Trying out his new toy. (Cousin Maelyn in the background. She wants a turn too!)

Blow out the candles.

Tigger/Tiger Cake

5 years Ago....

August 27,2004
We were married in the Fresno, CA Temple
(Who knew we would live here 5 years later?!)

For our anniversary we decided to go to ......

We went down to LA and spent 3 days at Disneyland/California Adventure. It was so much fun to just be together without the kids. We acted and felt like kids while we were there. We loved going on the rides, seeing the characters, watching parades, fireworks, etc. It was fun staying up all night and just spending time together! We had a blast :)

We had to get a picture with Mater and McQueen they are one of Tyler's favorite movie.

Gma & Gpa Carr watched the boys for us. Thanks Mom & Dad! We love you.

We had a wonderful Anniversary.

Growing Up TOO Fast

Carter

Carter is having fun playing in his exersaucer. He loves being up and looking around. He is getting more of a personality and is so cute to watch. Carter is 4 months old now and weighs 14lbs. He has started on rice cereal and loves to eat. Where has my little baby gone?

Tyler

Tyler is still my wild child. When he gets around others he gets really shy though. It is like he becomes a different child. He loves to run around the house singing and dancing. We are usually playing cars or with Spider-man. He has been in the water a lot this summer and has enjoyed it. He has even been teaching himself how to swim. It is so fun to watch him! Tyler will be 3 this month. So we have a big boy on our hands!

Tyler and Carter are my two boys and they are growing up too fast. Sometimes I wish that I could just freeze time and keep them this way. I keep telling myself to enjoy every minute I have with them because they won't always be little.

Home Sweet Home

It is so nice to finally settle down and have something to call HOME. I was born and raised in the same town and house all my life. So I wasn't big into moving :) Then when I went away to college I move tons of times. Since Matt and I have been married I think that we have moved about 7 times. It has been really hard on me because I am not a mover. I was tired of living in apartments and hearing people through the walls. I was ready to have my own place.

The beginning of this year we moved to California and bought our first home. It is so fun to have our own place and to not hear the neighbors through the walls! We have been in our beautiful home for 4 1/2 months now and love it. We have a wonderful ward and neighborhood. People are so welcoming and friendly that they feel like family. I feel so thankful for all that we have. The Lord has truly blessed us. With our new house, awesome ward and neighbors. We are loving it here in California.

Our house has 4 bedrooms 3 full bathrooms and a loft. The boys each have their own room and then we have the guest room downstairs. The loft is the computer/toy room. I have a big kitchen that I love! Plus we have a living room and family room. So it is a pretty big house. If you guys ever want to come an visit we have plenty of room and would love some visitors.

When we first bought our home the yard was pretty bad. So here are some before and after pictures. We have been working hard on the front yard. Now that it is done we are going to start on the backyard.

Before

After

Water Days

It is summer time and boy does it get hot here in California, from the high 90's to the 100's. So to keep cool we spend most of our time in the water. Our ward has pool day twice a week at someone's house and then there is also water park day. We got season passes so we could go as much as we wanted. The boys love being in the water and would stay all day if I let them. Carter was a little scared at first but he now enjoys the water. ( I think it was a little too cold for him.)

Tyler is getting braver and going on some slides that he didn't want to at first. He is also going under water and swimming across the pool with his floaties. It is so fun to watch him play in the water. Next year we will have to get him in swim class. We are enjoying cooling off in the water this summer and hope that you guys are stay cool too!

Carter in his cute little swim outfit. Isn't he so adorable!

Tyler having too much fun!

Mommy and Carter

Happy Boys :)

Tyler and Carter love to be with each other. Tyler is a little too rough sometimes but loves Carter so much. He especially likes to hold him and he says "Your my best friend, I am Tyler the BIG brother and Carter is a baby brother."

Tyler is also known for picking up Carter and carrying him. It scares mommy. I was upstairs one day getting the laundry done when Tyler comes walking in the door. He had picked up Carter off the couch and walked up all the stairs. I threw all my clothes everywhere. I am just glad that he was holding him the right way and not upside down. That would have been scary.

They make each other laugh and smile. It is fun to watch them together!We tried to catch both of them when they were happy so we hope you enjoy the little movies we made.

To Grandmother's house we go

Tyler, Colton, Gma Carr, Carter, Maelyn & Cameron
(Gma and all of her grandkids)
I sure have enjoyed being close to home. I have seen my family a lot more lately and Ty loves it too! Matt had to go back East for two weeks straight. He is busy learning new stuff about his job. So I decided to go to my parents for the two weeks. It is one thing to be at home all day by yourself but all day and all night is just a little too much. Especially with a newborn :)
Tyler has been playing with his cousins and Gma. It is so fun to spend time with family and be so close. This picture is of Gma Carr and her grandchildren. We had a picnic dinner outside and played some croquet. We are having fun at Gma's.
We only have one more week left. We miss Matt and can't wait until he comes home.

My Two Tyler's

I always loved to babysit when I was little. My friend Lindsey and I use to do it together all the time. We both loved babies and would even ask if they needed to go somewhere just so that we could watch their kids. We babysat for lots of families in our ward growing up but there was a special one that we both liked!
A new family moved into the ward and they had a little 1 year old boy named Tyler. He was so cute and we loved to play with him at church or even at home. We became very close to the family and Tyler was like a little brother to me. They weren't in the ward very long and ended up moving to Utah. I was so upset that they were taking my Tyler away. When they left almost 15 years ago I told myself that when I have my first baby boy I am going to name him Tyler. We have kept in touch through the years with letters, emails, christmas cards and visits whenever we are in Utah. That little Tyler is now 16 years old and going to be a Junior in High School and still cute as ever!
When I found out that I was going to have a little boy 3 years ago I started to cry. I was so happy that I was going to get my little Tyler that I always wanted. Matt's middle name is Tyler too. I told him even if it wasn't I would still name my little boy Tyler. So I just lucked out.
This last weekend we went up to my parents house for the 3 day weekend. When I walked into church I saw Tyler and his family. It was such a wonderful surprise. They were visiting another family in the ward. I ran across the chapel and gave Tyler's mom a hug and we talked for a while. The next day the ward had a Bar BQ for Memorial Day. Tyler and his family were there so I got a picture of my two Tyler's. Tyler's family is very special to me and I will always be thankful for their friendship and letting me also have the name Tyler for my little boy. I love my two Tyler's!

Debbie, Lindsey & Tyler (15 years ago, so please excuse how the girls look :)


Tyler & Tyler

Baby Blessing

I can't believe that Carter is a month old now. They grow up too fast. Last weekend we got the special opportunity to bless another one of our boys. Grandpa & Grandma Mergenthaler flew in for the weekend. Grandpa & Grandma Carr, Aunt Katie and cousin Maelyn also came down for the event. Just a little background info on how we named Carter. My maiden name was Carr. So when we found out that we were having another baby we played around with Carr and that is how we decided on the name Carter.
Here are just a few pictures of our day. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed being with family. Here is a little info on how we are doing. Carter is in newborn clothes and they are still to big for him. He loves to eat all the time and sleep during the day. Night time he is doing better at letting mommy sleep. Tyler loves to hold him and be with him all the time. They are going to be good buddies.


Carter in his blessing outfit. Grandma Mergenthaler made it (we have a talented Grandma). Tyler wore it when he was blessed too. Isn't he so handsome?!


My two boys.




The Mergenthaler Family


The Carr Family


The Mergenthaler Family

It's Birthday Time!

April is the month for birthdays in our family. Matt and I are only a day apart and now our little Carter is an April baby. The month of April was crazy with Carter joining our family. But we did go out to dinner for my birthday and then ordered pizza for Matt's B-day (if you know Matt what else would he want to eat!). Tyler helped me make a cake and we all enjoyed it.

Happy Birthday Carter, Debbie, and Matt :)



April 30th



April 29th


April 11th