1, 2, 3!!!!

This post is long over-due, but better late than never! Carson turned Three on the 27th and it was fun to be in Vegas to celebrate. 3 has always been my favorite age and it has already started to ring true around here. Ever since about 2 months ago Carson has been SO CUTE. Of course it's ok if I think that because I'm his mom, it's my right :) But really... we are finally outgrowing the terrible two's which were filled with biting, hitting, getting into EVERYTHING etc. etc. But we are on the uphill for sure!!!

We love, love, love that he is talking so much now because like every kid this age he says the funniest things!

**Just a couple days ago when I was putting up some snowflake decorations around the house he stopped and said--- "mom, dats beautiful!"
**Or when he's sad and has time in his room, he just starts saying "mom, i relly happy now!" so he can get out.
**Oh and his trademark is O-tay. That is all him, we've never watched little rascals or anything but whenever you ask him something he never says YES, if he wants it he just says- "O-tay."
** His greetings to Blake are so cute too, "hi sweetheart, hi!"

3 will be full of fun new adventures like Sunbeams, Preschool, mastering the potty (yesterday we learned the HARD way that potty training and quiet time are a deadly combination), lots more memories and fun!

A few more tid-bits about C-man
- He LOVES computer games. His interest really got perked being around his older cousins but our whole time in Vegas if we couldn't find him he was at the computer just clicking away. He is so good at it though. He can move the mouse completely on his own, even click the red "x" to close windows and he teaches himself new games without help. He can even work our laptop now, scrolls his little finger over and clicks the buttons. It's a lot easier to set limits now at home but I have to admit it was pretty funny when we were having his little birthday party, getting ready to open presents we look around and Carson isn't even there!! He ditched his OWN party and snuck off to the computer.... hmmmm, at least he's up with technology!

-He is getting really great at the ABC's and not only knows the letters but the sounds too! Thanks to Jared and Michelle for the Letter Factory DVD and for Daddy being so dilligent with reading those letter books to him.

-He's started helping around the house and even helped me scrub the toilets today. No worries, I had all the control in that situation. He gets me wipes or diapers for Blake when I need them, gives him his binky, helps (or tries) with the dishes. Etc. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things he DOESN'T help with- but you gotta start somewhere right?

-This is totally selfish but I love how much he loves me. When he gets up in the morning he just says over and over- "I wanna see mommy" It cracks me up when he immitates things I do like fixing my hair in the mirror or talking to Blake.

-He is still an awesome snuggler and I cannot resist when he gets out of bed and he wants me to rock with him or sing songs. There are only so many years when I can do that!

-He loves books and once he finds one he really likes he wants to read it at every naptime and bedtime. The current hit is Are You My Mother?- and even if you skip one page he KNOWS.

Phew, I guess thats enough for now. Sorry it's long and gloaty but this is about all the journaling I do. These 3 years have been so far from easy. I've learned more about myself, made more mistakes, laughed more, cried more, but never been more grateful than I am for this little guy. Love you Bubs!

Random fall fun

I love it when it seems like fall lasts forever. It's fun to have a yard full of leaves but it's also a TON of work. I think I raked leaves 4 times and Saturday we still need to do another full sweep. At least the kids have fun. I cringe at thoughts of not being outdoors for months- I guess we'll trade in our leaves for some great snow gear and get busy building snow men. Leaves sure do make for cute pics too!

Is this considered child abuse? Carson loved doing it and Blake didn't seem to mind, soooo its ok right? :)

Hmm... half smile, half panic

Playing with the leftover treats from Halloween- this bowl entertained him many afternoons, ahh the simple things

We'll never be too old for Disneyland!

The summer after we got married we planned a big trip to Vegas and California and we spent a couple days at Disneyland. Ever since that trip, there hasn't really been a vacation we've had that we loved more-- so we made it a goal to go back again! So a couple of weeks ago we headed down to Vegas, spent the weekend with Paul's parents and then left the boys Sunday night and just the two of us drove off to Disneyland. We were gone Sunday night til Wednesday afternoon. Thanks a MILLION again to Mark and Jan for taking the boys for a few days!!! I was a pretty terrified mom because Blake was refusing bottles, but just leave it to Grammy and Granddad to make it work. They claim that the boys were "angels" the whole time. We did miss them and kept tons of things in mind for when we go back in a couple of years with both boys, but for now- it was fun to be selfish and have a trip to ourselves. It was sooo fun!

Ah here we are at the beginning of our first day. Paul was so excited he woke up and he said he felt totally refreshed and ready to get going, then looked at the clock and it was 3:30 in the morning. Pretty cute how anxious he was. We did some speed walking to the park to get there right when it opened. It really felt like Christmas morning.
Since we went the week before Halloween it was all decked out in Halloween decor and we were just ecstatic as we walked down Main Street and caught the Disney spirit. From that moment on... Paul planned out every single minute of the 2 days we were there. Not even kidding. He whipped out the maps and started planning where to go first, which fast pass to grab, then how much time we'd have before our next one etc. etc. He made sure we got the most out of the trip as possible and wow, he ran me ragged. At the end of the first day I thought I was going to die. We never took a single break, not for lunch or anything. We ate snacks in lines and ran from place to place. It was exhausting but that's what makes it so fun and memorable too so I wouldn't change it. The haunted mansion is a big deal around Halloween. They convert everything into the Nightmare before Christmas. The line here was long but thankfully we got a fast pass the 2nd time around. It was fun to see everything so festive.A random photo of Paul and this spooky lady :)We actually went in the castle this time around. We have both been to Disneyland several times and neither of us could ever remember actually walking through the castle, all the little Sleeping Beauty storybooks were fun to see but we were on a schedule people... 5 minutes tops. We opted for the whole park hopper pass and I am really glad! We got to go on a lot more there that we'd never been on before. Here I am at the entrance with the lovely "N"
and here's Paul, trying to cover up the right part of the "R" so it would look like a "P"On the second day we went straight over to California adventure as soon as it opened and RAN to California Screamin' and the new Toy Story ride. We even got in trouble from a worker there, that told us to slow down. I LOVED California Screamin'. We went on it 8 times, 5 on the second day. It was the best roller coaster I've ever been on. I even had a dream I was on it last night. Ahhh. It's behind us and to the left here.The other really fun ride here was this fairly new toy story one. It's in 4-D and you play all these carnival games and compete against each other. It was really fun, too bad everyone else thought so too- we only went twice before the line got too bad.I think we'd both agree that one of the best memories we'll have was our escapades on Splash Mountain. We realized that first night that after about 7 at night NO ONE goes on Splash Mountain because they don't want to get cold and wet at night. What we learned is since no one else wants to ride, they will give you your own log, and if you sit in the middle 2 seats you don't get wet. They let us stay on as many times as we wanted til the ride closed and we didn't have to get off. We rode the ride 9 times in the 2 days and it was SO fun. I will admit I was scared the first time or two but after that we just had so much fun trying to make funny faces for the photos and singing along with all the songs. We were the very last ride of the night on Tuesday and when we came out of the ride the park was pretty much empty, pretty cool. This is us just chillin in the log :)

Here's Paul getting ready for the big drop

And here's the official Splash Mtn photo. One of 9 I guess. Whoever thought of taking pictures of these pictures with your phone or camera was a genius!

Overall, Our trip was a blast. In my dreams we'll take the boys for their first time in 2 years but who knows where we'll be or what life will hold two years from now. Some other memories of the trip...

-65 total rides
-trying to scope out the LDS people everywhere we went, it's like where's waldo, and isn't it funny that EVERYONE wears a BYU t-shirt to Disneyland? I even debated wearing mine :)
-the halloween themed fireworks display
-walking to and from the park
-riding in the front car multiple times at California Screamin and Space Mtn, it really does make all the difference!
-getting back to the hotel to find emails loaded with pictures of our cute boys having fun with Grammy and Granddad
-getting stuck on Indiana Jones for a second time
-re-living every ride as we recounted the entire trip on our drive back to vegas
-realizing I never want girls (we got stuck behind so many teenage girls in line, and the things they talk about- oh my goodness!!)
-looking over at Paul in Space Tours and seeing him grinning from ear to ear like a little kid
-putting my seat belt through the loop in California Soarin thats only supposed to be for kids under like 4 feet
-laughing hysterically when Paul tried to hi-five the worker on the bumper cars, (he thought he was supposed to b/c everyone else was doing it) only to get rejected
-trying to balance two bowls, two cups, utencils, and donuts up to our room from the continental breakfast
-and the list goes on....

Halloween

We had a really fun Halloween! Our ward and neighborhood go all out which makes it so fun! The ward party was great and Carson had a lot of fun with the games and trunk or treat. Too bad he is obsessed with suckers right now and that is alll he wants. Paul kept telling him which color of candy to pick out so we could get some good stuff too :)

We always have fun trying to come up with costumes with little to no money. Paul had this bee-keeper outfit from his crazy college days and I made a pair of wings and a headband from stuff I had around the house. Add a sign and voila, totally cheesy- but it works!

Carson was so darn cute! I made a little Chef Linguini from Ratatouille costume for him from stuff around the house (check out here if you want to see what) I was shocked he actually kept the hat on through the whole ward party and all night trick-or-treating, way to make mommy proud!

He was sooo cute trick-or-treating on Saturday. We didn't really take him last year because he couldn't say trick-or-treat on his own but this year he would knock on the door and say "twick o tweet!" as loud as he could. Soo cute. He just stared at everyone's Halloween decorations and had to be carried home at the end of the night but we all had a lot of fun!

Blake was the cutest little Zebra (carson's first costume too) and I'm sad I didn't get more photos of him but half way through the ward party he totally crashed. Poor kid, too much fun.

Here's the annual photo with my two great friends in the ward Kendra and Mikenze, only this year instead of holding our two-year-olds we all have babies within a month or two apart.

Here are the older siblings- Carson, Hadley, Evelyn

Another Halloween Success!

Hoping for a Better Week

We've been battling the flu at our house and let's just say it has NOT been fun. After tons of gatorade, laundry, lysol wipes, cartoons, one trip to the ER, and lots of prayers we are all better. Thank goodness things are looking up for this week though! Friday we leave for Vegas and then off to Disneyland- yahoo!

It's bananas B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Blake is 6 months!...And still the sweetest little baby ever! He's chubby and adorable and we just love him to pieces. We started giving him rice cereal and oatmeal and of course he's not a big fan but if you mix bananas with it he LOVES it. Just in the last week or two we have started lots of baby food- he's officially a big boy! Awww, don't grow up!

He totally sits up without help now and if there aren't toys around he just leans all the way over and tries to play with his toes.

I am such a mom, but I was so excited when I went to costco today and saw PJ's that come in sizes that fit both boys! So far they don't have any outfits that are the same but it was so fun getting them ready for bed in matching jammies. Too cute!