Dedicated to Aunt Alice

Sadly, my Aunt Alice passed away today at 96. She was an amazing woman. When my mom was a teenager she took her into her loving home and made my mom feel like she was finally part of a family. In college we would visit her in Cottonwood, where she patiently taught me how to quilt and I thank her for getting me started in that hobby. She was always easy to talk to and was pretty funny. Last month we were able to go visit her and knowing her condition we were afraid she would only be able to handle 5 minutes. Luck was on our side and we were able to visit for more than an hour and a half! She was such a sweet woman and I'm glad that she was in our life. She will be missed. Thank you Aunt Alice for being such a great, strong woman!

Christmas 2006

Grandma Donna, Little Freeman, and Aunt Alice

Nadia, Freeman, Tiff and Aunt Alice

Tiff, Nate, Freeman, Alice


Freeman and Alice
Freeman was such a good boy sitting on her lap. I think this meant a lot to my Aunt and loved cuddling with him.

My mom, Free, and Aunt Alice

The Lion King

This past weekend Grandma Stillman took us all to see, "The Lion King" broadway musical at ASU Gammage. It was a great experience and we enjoyed the costumes and the music. It was a nice family outing and the kids enjoyed it.

Little Freeman's comments on it: "It got really, really dark. Keizer shared his fruit snacks with me. There were drums! "( acts out the drummer and shows how the drummer put down his head phones)

Nate's comments: "Growlll...."

Nate, Free, Tiff, Nadia, Freeman, Keizer, Grandma Stillman

Aunt Nadia and her boys!

A Day In Flagstaff... A month ago...

About a month ago our friends Ronnie and Richard and us decided to be spontaneous and go to Flagstaff for the day. We had a very adventurous trip up. We hit traffic on the I-10 and I-17, stopped for the kids to eat, then got off on an exit where we went down this one lane plowed road, where someone's car broke down, so to get out we had to go in reverse for 1/2 mile until we can turn around. But we went to the county fairgrounds and everyone was leaving so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. The boys came up with a great idea which was to tie the sled to the quad and be dragged around. (first I thought, "I don't think so... but then it was totally fun) So here is pictures from our fun day in the snow!

Here is Freeman who tried to fight his way through the snow.

The snow won.
Free and Freeman enjoying the quad. Little Freeman always has so much fun with Dad.

Freeman, Free, Tiff and Nate.

I was trying to get a picture of Freeman next to this snowman, but the snow was deep and Freeman sunk down into the snow. At first he thought it was funny, but then when he tried to get out and his hands got sooooo cold. This was the start of his first tantrum. I think after this he doesn't like touching snow.

And of course there is Nate. The first time I put him down he fell (think Christmas Story movie) so after that he just wanted to be held. So for this picture he was pretty upset that I had put him down.

Happily Married!

About 5 1/2 years ago, Freeman took me to my favorite spot at the Temple and proposed. Every time we go to the temple, I just love to stand in front of the reflection pool. Anyways, here is Freeman and I 5 1/2 years later of where he proposed to me and we have our two beautiful sons with us. (Hopefully more to come!) I am so happy being married and that Freeman is my best friend. Growing up I never imagined how much fun marriage can be. I am grateful to have the knowledge of the gospel and to know that families can be together forever. I truly believe that living the gospel strengthens our marriage and our family. I am so proud of how far I have come and that when Free and I were married that we were blessed to be sealed to each other in a temple.

November Days

Spagetti Factory in Phoenix

Left to Right

Freeman V, Free, John, Jolene, Nick and Nate

Nate trying to get the camera...



Happy Nate

Peter Piper Pizza

Nate's first ride

John's first ride

The battle of Air Hockey

John vs. Freeman

He shoots, he scores!

Freeman giving some tips to Freeman Jr.

Grandpa John and Nate hanging out

Stress of Robot or just sleepy?

We have this big Remote Control Robot that was scaring the beejeebees out of Nate. He laid down on my lap and we weren't sure if he was tired or if he was stressed over the walking/talking robot.

Here we are, all in the hallway.

I decided to lay next to Nate, and then Tohbi came by and put his head on mine, and then Freeman came and laid down to. So here are all of my kids and I.

Green Thumb... Sort of

This past summer the leaders in our Stake for church encouraged us to start a garden. I was so excited about this new project and the idea of growing our own food. So I did my research and even recieved some advice from some pretty good gardeners. Well, the first try I made two rows of soil hills to put the seeds in. (I remember my grandmothers garden looking like that) Well, after watering it, the hills eroded and I decided to replant the seeds with out hills. Still no luck. I gave up and decided to try again around Spring. Well, we had a good rain and after a week, Freeman told me to go look at my garden. I thought he was teasing me so I never did. Another week went by and while we were outside Freeman said, have you looked at your garden, some stuff is growing! So I went to go look and my plants are growing. So all it needed was some neglect, a good rainfall and some more neglect and it worked. So now I've been watching it grow and I am so excited. Hopefully I'll know when it's time to pick them too. Here are some pictures of my little garden!

The Carney Garden

small but growing!

I know hard to see, here are some shots that are zoomed in

The start of some brocolli growing!

The little bunches are going to be Romaine Lettuce and then above them are some onion.

Nathan makes his debut!

We go to our public library on a weekly basis for the children's program, and today the Librarian took pictures of the kids. Well, I went on their website to look up a book, and lo and behold Nate made it on the website! There is also a picture of a group of Mom's and kid's so Nate, Freeman, and I made it too (Bad pic. of me though, please ignore)

http://www.buckeyeaz.gov/index.asp?NID=77

So click on the link above and see Nate's super cute picture (He is the one holding out the purple ball) It's a little slideshow of pictures...

Happy 28th Birthday Freeman!

I wanted to wish my hubby a Happy Birthday! So I love this idea I've seen on my friend's blogs about listing things about the other person, so here we go.

28 things about Freeman

1. He is the funniest person I know
2. He has the talent to turn anything into a game
3. He is sneaky and always has something up his sleeve
4. He is Claustrophobic
5. He is a germ-a-phobe
6. His favorite color is blue
7. His favorite number is 4
8. He was a fraternal twin
9. His favorite kind of food is Mexican food
10. He is very, very, very frugal :)
11. He has been skydiving
12. He has been arrested... prank gone bad.. ha ha
13. He is known in his highschool days as being a mooner
14. He has car surfed
15. He picks up on skills really easily
16. He is a Phoenix Suns fan
17. He has met Tom Chambers
18. Freeman served his mission in Washington D.C.
19. Freeman played football on scholarship in college
20. Freeman ran track on scholarship in college
21. When we met, Freeman gave me a pick up line (Hey, it worked!)
22. He is very charismatic
23. Freeman is self conscious about his left ear.. tee hee
24. Freeman has sprayed me with mace thinking he was shining a flashlight at me..
25. He doesn't like cats... something with their claws
26. After his mission, Freeman wanted to travel to Africa
27. He can dance if he tries... Latin and Swing
28. He is the best Husband and Dad!

Happy Birthday Freeman. You're the best.

Weekend at Gilbert

My sister invited the kids to stay over Friday Night so, Freeman and I could have a date night, so we decided to invite ourselves over too! We went out to Gilbert and while Nadia watched the kids we were able to catch up with some our friends, The Gould's, who lived down the street. The next day we slept in and then went to the Mesa Temple, did some Christmas shopping, and even went out to eat! I don't think we've ever been on a date that long with kids! So thank you Nadia for that special treat!

So while we were enjoying a kids free day... My sister took her Godson Keizer, and our kids to the park down the street from her house. Unfortunately, the sprinklers came on so what do you think happens with a 2 and 4 year old?

Later that day (after muddy wet clothes were washed and dried), my sister took all 3 kids to the Phoenix Zoo! Above are some pictures from their day at the Zoo. Little Freeman just loved spending time with his Aunt Nadia and his new friend Keizer.

Monday Night Football

Note to Megan: I stole this from your blog!

Happy Birthday to Kelly and Freeman! Freeman's good friend and Bike Partner, Kelly, had his birthday this week and Freeman's is coming up next month, so they celebrated by going to the Arizona Cardinals Monday Night Football Game. They arrived early to tailgate with some buddies from work and enjoyed watching the Cardinals win the game! Go CARDINALS!!!

Camera Man Litte Freeman

Little Freeman grabbed a hold of our camera and started to take pictures of everything. Most of them were of his hand covering the lenses, but he did get some good ones in! My favorite is of Daddy Freeman!

Happy 1st Birthday Nathan!!!

Freeman and Nate pushing around their trucks

Katelyn, Nate and Jackson checking out Nate's new books and toys.

Tiff filming Nate's first present opening

Freeman showing off his new shirt from Grandma Homenick

Nate and Freeman dancing to dad's singing of "Happy Birthday!"

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Nate loves his presents!

Carson and Freeman eating cake and icecream.

Ashton and Brooklyn enjoying some too!

Nate's Birthday Cake! Yum Yum!

Freeman never eats anything, but he was licking his plate clean!