One

It was one year ago on May 2nd that Carson had entered into our family. Carson from the start has been a go getter to say the least. He has to be involved in everything that you are doing. Carson was kind of a fussy baby but only because he had to be up and seeing what you were doing. There had been many times when Larry would come home from work and I would have Carson in the front pack just so that I could make dinner because he had been fussy and wanted me to hold him. Once he saw what I was doing he was fine and happy. As he got older and became more mobile he became happier. Carson LOVES his dad. He loves me to but when Larry gets home it is all about dad. Carson will be eating and when Larry gets home Carson will not want to eat and start to whine until Larry picks him up and then he wants to just sit with larry and eat with him. Anyway Carson's one year dr. appointment went really well he is still on the 100 percentile in height and he went from the 25th percentile to the 50th in weight. He is a very long child. He comes up to Zach's armpit so that can give you clue. Carson is 32 inches long and Zach is 42 and a half inches. I have a feeling that Carson is going to be taller then his older brother. Carson loves to play with the kids and be involved in what they are doing. He loves to play with balls and throw them. We had a great first birthday party for him. We just had a couple of friends over and then just family. Nothing to fancy.

Here is the cake. Carson also likes cars and trucks.

Some of the older children that were there.

Me and the birthday boy before all the chaos.

Madison and Zach helping blow out the candles.

And so he starts eating the cake.

He isn't quite to sure what to think or what to do with it. Go figure that we had to show him that he needed to use his hands to eat this. Sometimes he doesn't like to get to messy when eating.

He got the hang of it and he began eating his cake and ice cream.

He is saying "give me five". I am saying"I don't think so not like that".

This is the end result. He got it all over the place. In his hair everywhere.

This is him before I took him to go have a bath before presents.

Opening presents. He did pretty good actually, he had a little help with the ripping but he got the hang of it eventually.

This is what happens when we are all done and he wants to play with his toys.

Finally

So it has been a while since I have blogged. Part of it has been that we have just been really busy and the othe part is just pure laziness, and then the other one is that I can not find the cord to plug into the camera to plug into the computer so I can download pictures. So today I was just about to go to Best Buy and buy a cord for the camera until I talked to Larry and suggested that I just put the camera card into the computer, I would have never thought of that, I am sure glad that Larry thinks of those things. Anyway so I am sorry that it has been so long since I have blogged. So here is the begining of a bunch of blogs.

These pictures were probably taken at the end of April probably. So to start if off Carson loves to be outside, if only he would walk that would make things much easier. He loves to ride on the kids scooters and for the big one, Madison has finally learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. Well she will ride in a straight line and then get off her bike and turn it around just so she can go in another straight line and then get off and well you see where I am going with this one. The reason she does that is because she was doing really well riding without training wheels and the one day she had a nice spill on her bike and skinned her leg and hand and well she did it while she was making a turn, I told her that she needed to make sure that she turned wide and not to sharp well guess what she did, she turned really sharp and fell. You would have thought that she was dying or something by the way that she was crying. She just had a nice scrape on her knee and then on her hand. Anyway so she knows how to ride her bike without training wheels but she chooses to rider her scooter more then her bike.

Carson having a ride on the scooter.

Madison riding without her training wheels.

I think she needs a bigger bike and maybe not so little girlish.

Carson going for a quad ride.

Carson loves balls.

My New Favorite Thing

Well we finally did it, we got our selves a new car. Well it wasn't brand new but still new. On Larry's birthday we went to Northbend and looked at this suburban. We saw it drove it and loved it. We have been looking now for a couple of months because we felt like we were kind of growing out of the Durango. Don't get me wrong the durango fit us just fine but we did feel a little bit cramped and I was tired of having to put the seat down for the kids to get into the back. So we had been looking and we came across this one on Craigslist at a dealer ship. We had seen it on there a couple of times and we were going to go and look at it sooner but we just never got the time so on larry's birthday I called to see if it was still there and it was so we drove all the way to northbend and looked at it. It is a 2008 suburban and it was the owners vehicle so it has alot of good things on the inside. It has exactly what I wanted in there as far as seating goes. I wanted the bucket seats for the secon row and then the back seat with the three and then a dvd player. That was really the main thing that I wanted in a new car so all the other stuff was just a bonus. So now we have a suburban and i never wanted one but I actually love it. The gas isn't very different from the durango so I am o.k with that. Now we have a car payment, and hopefully we will be able to pay this one off sooner like we did the durango, but I love my suburban.

Preschool

On March 27th I had the chance to go to preschool with Zach for the morning. It was so much fun and Zach was really excited to for me to go. His preschool teacher has all the parents come in during the year and participate in what their child does at school. Well I went and had such a good time and loved seeing all the things that he does at school. Mrs. Snyder does such a great job with the kids and teaches them so much I am sure hope that I will be able to find Carson a preschool as good as that when it is his turn to go. So at school we start out reading books until everyone gets there, then we do show and tell and then we do excercises and then we take a rest and we do the days of the week the calander and then we go over some of the artists that they have learned about and we do our work. When I was there we were talking about Penguins and the different kinds of penguins that there is and so we did a work sheet on that. Zach can now point out what some of the different penguins are. After we are all done with our work sheet and Mrs. Snyder goes overs it with us and makes sure we have done it correctly we get to have some play time and then we do drama. The whole month of March they were doing Thumbelina. Zach was Grundle which is a frog and I was one of the jitter bugs, a lady bug jitter bug to be exact. After Drama we go home. Oh I forgot one thing before we have our play time we have snack time and who ever has their parent come in that day they get to bring the treats so we brought Scooby Doo fruit roll ups. So here are some pictures from my time at school. I don't usually post pictures of myself and I didn't like any of the ones of me and so I only posted the two of me. I wore a really bulky sweater that day and when i looked at the pictures I didn't like them to much but anyway we had other then that and here are the picture.

Here we are doing some of our excercises and I posted this one for a reason. Look very closely at this picture and tell me what do you see wrong about my outfit that day. Jen knows so don't say anything Jen. I felt like such a dork when I realized what I had done.

I don't know what happened to this picture because I turned it so that it wasn't going to be like this but it posted this way anyway. This is Zach doing the calander and counting how many rainy days there were in march. The lambs are the sunny and the lions are the rainy. Look at all those lions.

Days of the week.

Here we are playing with the girls. Zach did play with the boys at first but then he chose to play with the girls. I think that playing with Madison has been good for him because he plays good with the girls as well as the boys.

Grundle the Frog.

Grundle and the Lady bug jitter bug.

Fun Times

So I know that it has been a while and I am going to have alot more post but I thought that I would start out with this one because this was the first thing that has really happened that was exciting. Well I finally did it, I went and signed the kids up for soccer. Madison has been asking me for the longest time to sign her up for soccer and I finally did. Zach didn't want to play at first but I made him do it anyway because I thought that he would have a lot of fun. Zach wanted to play basketball but it wasn't basketball time so I kind of convinced him to play soccer. Soccer was his third choice, he wanted to play basketball then he chose baseball. Well he wasn't old enough yet to play tee-ball so we are going to wait until next year and sign him up for that then because then he will be five. Anyway the kids have been having alot of fund doing this and I am glad that they are playing. I am officially a soccer mom. Anyway here are some pictures of the kids playing soccer. I couldn't get very many good ones of Zach because he was hard to take pictures of while he is playing. He is number six.

Zach waiting for his turn to play in the game.

He gets so excited when he gets the ball.

Madison getting a chance at the ball. She is a little shy when it come around so this is a good picture.

Madison is number 9.

She is going after the ball.

My little Missionary

As you can tell Zach is holding the Book of Mormon in his lap. Well ever since he has changed classes at church and is now in CTR5 he has been so excited. The first sunday he got a CTR ring and he had to wear it everywhere and tell people that he didn't even know that he a CTR ring and that it helps him choose the right. It is just the cutest thing ever how he has no problem telling people that. So when we were getting the house painted he had to tell the painter about how he is now in a new class and it is call CTR5 and that he got a CTR ring and it helps him choose the right. The painter just listened to him as he talked and said that his ring was pretty cool. I love how he just tells people all about choosing the right. We are now having the basement worked on, we are putting a bedroom down there, and yesterday he even told the workers down there about his CTR ring. Well this last Sunday his teachers gave all the kids a Book of Mormon and ever since he got home on Sunday he has not let it out of his sight. He carries it around with everywhere and I mean everywhere. He carries it around the house and he takes it in the car with us when we go somewhere and he just thinks that it is the greates thing ever. Last night Larry had inventory and so the kids didn't get to see him but for some reason Zach couldn't go to sleep last night and so long about quarter to ten I went up and just had Zach watch some t.v with me until Larry got home. So Larry got home about ten fifteen and Zach had his book of mormon with him and he got into bed with Larry while I was checking on the other kids and when I came back into our room Zach had asked Larry to read him a story out of the book of mormon, I thought that was the most precious thing ever. So Larry found one and started reading it to him but you know it doesn't have pictures in it so it was a little hard for him to pay attention and so then I went and got our kids version of the book of mormon and Larry read one out of there as well. Anyway I just has to share this posting with you because I just think that it is the greates thing that Zach loves to carry his book of mormon around and tell people about what CTR is. He has such a great spirit about it, I love it. I know that when the time comes that he will make a great missionary.

Zach watching some t.v with his favorite book.

Now he is being shy.

Finally Finished

Larry and I decided at the begining of December that we would have the house painted (well the living room and kitchen done) and that we would get the laminate wood looking floors in. So all of it wasn't supposed to start until after Christmas but the painter said he could come before Christmas and that it wouldn't take him that long to do it. Well then the snow hit and and he couldn't make it out which is understandable and so he didn't finish it until after Christmas well actually after the new year then shortly after that we had or floors put in. I love the colors and I love the floors. It make the house feel alot more clean actually. It was hard to go from having such a light color in the living room and kitchen to having darker but I love it. I got new curtains as well. Anyway here is the finishing of the everything. Next is the basement and i will take pictures of that as well.

Our entry way.

This is looking in from the kitchen where the table is and that used to be all carpet, a light colored carpet.

This is looking in from the living room and the wall is actually supposed to be brown but it looks like a purple brown but I still love it. The other walls area light Kacky color with a tint of green it it.

This is taken from the kitchen if anyone has every seen our house those walls used to be red. It wasn't a bad red though. All of the kitchen was red except for the purple brown wall.

This is from where the table is at. I know I need to clean my fridge off.

So we love our new floors and paint and eventually we want to change out the appliances and put granite couters on and I would like to put can lighting in as well in the living room and kitchen to make it a little more brighter because our lights really are not that good, but not this year I think that I am done doing some remodeling for a little while, we will see though, Larry has the remodeling fever he wants to do alot more and I actually would as well, but all in do time.

Christmas

So here are my pictures from Christmas. The kids and I went up to my mom's the day before Christmas Eve and then Larry came up Christmas Eve Day and spent the next couple of days with us until we had to go back home. Anyway we had a great time and we had a great Christmas. On Christmas Eve we have a big get together with my family, meaning my cousins aunts and uncles(even the ones not on the compound there) and we always have a ton of food more then we ever need. We first eat then we have our program where we have musical numbers from people and whoever else wants to do what ever they want, then either my dad or mom tell the birth of Jesus. Usually my dad reads it out of the Scriptures but mom did it this year different. She just used pictures for little kids so they would listen. Then we play our white elephant gift exchange and that is always fun to play because someone always brings pickled pigs feet, don't ask me how they get them but I think that it is my uncle doug who usually brings them. Then after that we usually just visit some more and people usually start to leave a little after. Now that I am thinking about it, we usually do the birth of Jesus at the end. Anyway here are some pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas.

Me and my little sister Haley, you are lucky I try not to post pictures of me because I don't ever like them but I decided I would do this one. This is Christmas Eve before everyone got there.

Carson trying to get out of Haley's arms to get to me.

Madison wanted to read a story for the program so she read the story of the nutcracker, I thought that is was going to be along book but it was actually quite short. She wanted my mom to sit by her not me.

Zach helping my mom by holding the pictures for her while she tells the birth of Jesus.

This was everyone while we were playing our white elephant game. There was even more people behind the camera. You can see my grandpa picked his present and he is holding it up he got a game(connect four).

Christmas morning the kids helping hand out presents.

This is a quilt my mom had made for me by my aunt. My sisters and I all got one. They are all personalized for the person. Mine was peonies and my mom called it "Mother Earth".

These are pita pizza's my mom makes them every Christmas morning. They are the best they have a sauce and then artichoke hearts, ham and olives and then you bake them.

Madison got books for Christmas and she loves to read and so she started reading one that morning.

We left on the 26th and came home and then had Christmas with Larry's dad and step mom and his brother and his family and his sister and her family. Larry got these boxers from his brother and sister-in-law it has xbox360 all over them and then on the front it says "game"then on the back it says "On" for "game on". Larry plays xbox with his brother on line quite a bit so it is a great present for him.

I had other pictures from when Larry's family came but they weren't that good, the kids did not want to cooperate when I wanted a picture. I wish that I could have posted some of those but I will tell you that Madison got High School Musical boots which she loves and whears them all the time. Zach got a Star Wars light saber which he loves as well.