Carson's Birthday

Carson turned eight! So, it was four months ago and he's a third of the way to nine, but better late than never right?  His actual birthday was the Friday before Memorial Day weekend and since we were going on vacation, the lucky birthday boy got to skip school on his birthday.  The day before his big day, Abby, Mason, Elliot and I brought in Subway sandwiches and ate lunch with him in his classroom.

     Here he is with the wonderful Mrs. M, our favorite.  Look at Carson's smile.  He turned eight and suddenly things like being sung to on his birthday and wearing cute birthday crowns are embarrassing to our big boy!
     On his actual birthday, he woke up, opened presents, and then we went as a family to get donuts before packing up the car and heading to a family reunion.

He got his own set of scriptures with his name inscribed on the front from Mike and I.  

Abby picked out this Lego set to be from her and the little boys.  

A shot of the birthday boy and Mason hiking a trail we stopped at on our way to the reunion.

 The next weekend we celebrated with the R. family.  I got this ice cream cake recipe from a friend and it has become a new family favorite.  Both big kids requested it for their birthdays.

 I'm not exactly sure what he's doing in this picture, but he sure looks excited!

     We gave Carson the option of having a big party at home or just inviting a few people to go and do an activity.  He choose to invite a few boys to go mini golfing.  It was kind of sad to not do the big, themed birthday party at home like he's chose in the past, but it was sure easier!  We got a babysitter for the baby boys and Mike and I took Carson, his friends, and Abby mini golfing and to the batting cages. I am so glad we got a babysitter for the little boys.  We debated bringing them, but keeping track of five eight year old boys on the mini golf course kept us busy enough.  They were all over the place!  Some of the boys had never played before and multiple times Mike was climbing through bushes retrieving lost balls.  Everyone had fun and the birthday boy had a huge smile the whole night so it was all worth it.
       We ended at our house with ice cream sundaes and they ran around like crazy in the back yard shooting each other with Nerf guns Carson got from Grandma D. and climbing all over our big toy (like on the top where you are not supposed to climb...I considered it a success that nobody was sent home injured) until their parents picked them up.

I had to put this shot in because I loved how cute Abby looked.  She jumped right in with the big boys and actually scored lower than a couple of them in mini golf.  She also jumped in and took a turn in the batting cages.  And she did it all dressed in tights, ballet flats and her cute little dress that she chose to wear to the party.

It was a fun birthday and obviously a special one being that Carson turned eight and was baptized shortly after.  We love our Carson man and I can not believe how fast he is growing up!