Okay people . . . I need help!! James and I have the opportunity to take a week long vacation BY OURSELVES and I can't figure out where to go! There are so many options!!! We can pay for our airfare with frequent flyer miles so the options are wide open! Please let me know what you think. We are up for anything. It is in the first week in October so keep weather in mind. Thank you for your help!

My Mom sent me this picture from Christmas last year. I really like it. We have so few pictures together! Of course I am holding one of the kids stuffed animals!

The Carter family finally took a vacation! We had the best time ever and I didn't want to come home! The kids were so good the whole time! They were great travelers! It was a last minute trip but it was great fun! Here are all of our great memories!

We left Houston and headed off to Balmorhea Texas where we met James' mom. We don't get to see her very often so it was great to see her! Thanks for making the effort to meet us Nana! The state park was really pretty with a natural spring where we went swimming and snorkeling. We didn't get any pictures with Nana because I ended up in the car with the two little kids and never made it back before they left.

Audrey loved snorkeling!! She is such a fish thanks to swim team!



I'm still getting used to Adam's smile with his mouth full of teeth! He is such a cheeser!

All of my cute kiddos drying off on the ledge.

Rachel was freezin'! She is a creature of habit and doesn't do well with a lot of change. She did extremely well on our trip considering her sensitive personality.

The nerds about to go snorkeling

I love how Adam is looking at his big sister in this picture!

Me and my kiddies!

One million dollars! Adam had a lot of time to scheme in the car.

After we went to Balmorhea we headed to Farmington New Mexico where both of my parents grew up. We stayed with my Dad's mom "Granny." It was great to see her and my Aunt Diane. We had a great time over at my Aunt Peggy with my cousins Rachel and Leah and their kids. I wish we had more pictures!!

This is Adam and my cousin Rachel's little boy Jack. They are the same age and about the exact same size. They were so funny when they met because they just stood in front of each other and stared like, "someone my size!!!" then off they went to cause trouble!

This is the view from my Aunt Peggy's. They have such beautiful sunsets!


From there we were off to the Colorado mountains! It was pouring rain Texas style the whole way up the mountain. We had planned to meet all of my Mom's brothers at their campsite to have smoked Ham and Turkey and dutch oven apple cobbler etc. etc. We were getting really worried because of all of the rain. No one had cell service so we went ahead and met them at their camp site. We got lucky and the rain stopped just long enough for us to celebrate my Grandma and Granpas golden anniversary. They had decorated everything and set up "easy ups" and chairs all over the place. We had a large crew! My uncles had to take us up on the four wheelers because of the mud. We all got covered in mud but we had a great time. The food was great and the atmosphere was gorgeous. I had to fight Adam to wear a jacket the whole time because he is not used to coats in Texas. He refused and drug his blanket in the mud instead! Whatever makes them happy!! My mom and her 9 brothers and sisters planned a slide show and a bunch of trivia for my grandparents. It was a great night! You should have seen the stars!!

This is Rachel, Audrey and their cousin Mia. (Uncle Curtis' daughter)



Rachel enjoying her chocolate cake. James calls her the chocolate princess!

Cheech and Chong (Chelsea and Tyler for those of you who don't recognize them)

This is my Mom's family. They are dressed up like their parents. The boys are in their Dad's clothes and the girls are in my Grandmas old clothes. They are so cute! They sang a song to the tune of the brady bunch about my grandparents life. It was great!

This is my Aunt Julie! She is like a sister to me! She lived with us growing up and she really is the older sister I never had. It was so fun to see her! It has been forever! They live in Tennessee.

This is me being unhappy about all of the mud and Adam finally conceding to sit on my lap! What a mess!

Audrey looks a little crazy in this picture but she was just really excited about the blankets that my mom made for them. She is the best Grammy ever!!!

Adam looking at the river. That was his favorite thing to do.



Bright Eyed Rachel. She was so happy the whole time we were in the mountains. Aparently they have the same affect on her as they do on me!

Audrey and Madison - her best cousin!! I hardly saw Audrey for three days!


Rachel and her cousin Mary (Aunt Polly's). They became fast friends!

So cute!! We wish we lived closer!




Brittany and Jessica. These girls are the best! Thanks Lauren and Jess for being so great to my kids!


From the Family reunion we took an extra few hours and drove through Colorado. It was some of the most beautiful sceanery in the world! I have been away from the mountains for too long. We made it by dusk to the Great Sand Dunes national park. I was not prepared for how huge the sand dunes were! It was so much fun! We arrived at the perfect time of night. It had been raining so things were really cooled off and the sun was mostly behind the clouds. We played in the stream that flows at the bottom of the dunes and then we climbed up the dunes and ended up playing for more than two and a half hours! It would not have been so much fun if it was hot but the temperature was perfect and we got to watch the sunset over the dunes. This was my favorite memory from the trip! Everything was perfect!!!








Always a struggle to get everyone in a picture!



The girls just took off up the dunes! I couldn't even come close to keeping up with them.




Me and Britt! I am enjoying my sister so much! She was such a great help on the trip. She is living with me right now and I am loving it! I will miss her when she leaves me!

These two have become best buds! Audrey hangs out in Brittany's room for hours. It reminds me of me and Julie!

My girl!




The sky was so gorgeous! My camera is terrible so these pictures don't do justice to how amazing it was!

We were lucky enough to catch this view right before we left.


I will really never forget those few hours!!

On the way home we went through Oklahoma and stopped at y Grandma's sister's house (Aunt JoAnne). We were going to stay in a little town and then found out that she only lived 15 minutes from where we were. Her house is so neat! They have 100 acres or so and a beautiful house! They were so nice to let us stay last minute!


This is Aunt JoAnne making banana bread muffins. She was so great! She baked us muffins, had all kinds of fresh fruit and even made french toast for the kids.

Adam is lovin' his French Toast!

Here we are ready to go to the waterfalls! Thanks Aunt Jo and Uncle Bill!


Our last stop was turner Falls in Oaklahoma. I have no pictures of us because this was not a kid friendly activity. It was very pretty and we were glad that we stopped but it was so slippery and hard to play in with the kids. I slipped and fell while holding Adam and he hit his head on a rock under the water. My back was sore for the next few days. We all had to be very careful and I was a little stressed! It would be a fun place to go with your spouse and no kids.



After the falls we stopped in Dallas and had dinner with Jeremy and Chauntel and family. They are such great friends and we were glad to get to see them. We arrived home at about 2:00 a.m. I have been depressed ever since! I realized that it is a lot easier to have your kids strapped in their car seats 24/7! Thanks James for taking time off and letting us have so much fun!!