Carter Turns ONE!

My little baby boy is ONE! Carter's birthday was on Saturday, December 27th. We had a nice little party for him with family on Saturday night. He opened his presents and then we ate cake and ice cream. You can see a picture of the cake on the collage below. It was a snowman cake and turned out really cute if I do say so myself!

I can't get over the feeling like I need to remember every moment while Carter is a baby....even though I know I won't be able to remember everything. I just don't want to forget what he is like at this age! Sometimes I'll just sit and hold him and try and savor every minute... his soft skin, his baby smell, his perfect features, and his tiny fingers and toes. Or I'll hold him and think,"Please don't grow up, please don't grow up." I wish he could stay a baby forever! I can't even explain how much we love this little guy!

A few things Car Car (his nickname) is doing right now:
- He has this little "spunk" to him and seems so smart for his age.
-He is starting to walk pretty well. He gets up and down by himself and can take about 5-10 steps at a time.
- He babbles A LOT! From the moment he wakes up, he babbles all day long. We even think he has said a few words (at least it sounds similar to them): Hi, Boo, Rex, Car Car, & Jesus.
- He loves to play peek a boo and wrestle.
- He knows when he's in trouble. He'll smile and then crawl as fast as he can to get away.
- I think the #1 thing we'll remember the most about Carter at this age is his squealing and screaming for food! Carter is obsessed with eating! If the food on his plate is gone... he squeals. If he sees someone else eating, he'll stand by them and squeal. If he see any food at all.... he squeals and screams until we give in and feed him. You can see in one of the photos in the collage that he is screaming in his high chair because his cake and ice cream are gone!

Merry Christmas to ALL!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hopefully your day was as great as ours. I'm so grateful to spend time with family and just relax! My greatest present was finally getting to see TOM! We have been apart for two whole weeks. The bad weather prevented Tom from driving up here (we're back in MT again) the past few weekends. And then he originally had to work the day after Christmas and was going to driving up for Christmas, then back for work, then up again for Carter's birthday on Saturday.... but at the last minute he got it off! I was so happy. At least it's a little less driving back and forth.

For Christmas morning we had our family, my mom and dad, and my brother Todd. My sister and her family will come this weekend and stay until New Years Day. I was excited to try out my awesome new digital SLR camera. If you don't know what it is... it's a fancy camera that takes awesome pictures! It was Tom and I's gift to each other. Let's just say I took over 300 pictures in less than 24 hours. Think I like my gift? The kids LOVED all their gifts and have been playing non-stop... especially Evan and his new train. So thank you everyone for all the great gifts and Christmas cards we've received! And I have to say that I'm feeling rather terrible from eating SOOO much candy and treats. But I love them and can't stop!

Click below to see a few more photos from our Christmas Day:

Christmas 2008

WALKING!

Carter took his first steps less than two weeks ago. This is the video we got tonight... he's learning fast!

I had to get on and blog about Evan. He is changing so much lately that I wanted to record some of the things he's been doing.
We took him to see Santa a week or so ago. He was pretty reluctant until he saw that you got candy. Then he was fine with sitting on Santa's lap! (Pretty good for a free Walmart picture don't you think?) He also sat on Santa's lap at my parent's ward Christmas party too.... once again for the candy. Now he loves talking about Santy Claus, as he calls him. I'm also proud of Evan for learning to say and talking a lot about "Baby Jesus". But now he thinks every picture of a baby is baby Jesus!

I think I know what people mean about the "terrible two" stage. We're there. Evan is really testing my patience, but then he counteracts it with wanting hugs and kisses all the time! I'm glad for those times we snuggle, hug, give loves, and just spend quiet time together. Otherwise I'd go insane!

I think Evan is testing everyone else's patience lately too. He likes to follow you around and say,"What are you doing now?" over and over. You tell him what you're doing, but he just keeps asking anyways. Or you tell him what you're doing and he asks,"Why?" about a million times.

He also likes to ask where everyone is... for example,"Where's Jordyn?... Where's Rex?... Where's mom?... Where's Carter?" Even if Carter is sitting right next to him.. he'll ask,"Where's Carter?" and I'll say,"He's right there!"and Evan says,"OH!"

Evan is loving that fact that he can play with our digital camera now. We're getting a new one for Christmas so we let Evan have free reign over the old one. He is getting really good at taking pictures! Here's a little sample of his photography:

For the Husbands

Here's a little video clip to help the husbands out with Christmas shopping this year!

Thanksgiving...something to blog about!

Wow, I don't think I've gone a month without blogging in a long time! Well, I'm back and since we recently had a holiday, I have something to blog about now! We went to Tom's parents for Thanksgiving and it was great. Since they live on a ranch, we're lucky enough to use the "lodge" when we have lots of family there. Have I explained what his parents do? In case you forgot....they work on a ranch owned by a wealthy oil guy (previously owned by a wealthy CocaCola guy).Tom's dad keeps up the ranch and his mom cooks when the boss and his guests come. His parents have their own home on the ranch and then there is a lodge that the boss and guests stay at when they come. It's strictly by invitation of the boss...not like a dude ranch or anything. I guess it's mostly for recreation of the boss and whomever he invites! Anywho....we had GREAT food and lots of fun.

Kiddie table! I'm getting really bad about not taking pictures of the adults! I'll get some of the grown ups next time.

The suit and camera add 50 pounds! Tom and I went out on the ranches Polaris Ranger after dark. It was really cold so we threw these suits on to stay warm. We called it our "Redneck Date". We drove out into the middle of no where, turned the headlights off, and just sat there in the quiet. It's probably my favorite thing about the ranch. It's SO quiet, you can't hear ANYTHING! And you can see the stars SO well at night. I love it.

Our new Christmas tradition...hot chocolate floats. If you haven't ever had this you have to try it. You just make hot chocolate and add a few scoops of vanilla ice cream. YuM! When you're done eating the ice cream, your cocoa is extra creamy and cool enough to drink really fast. Another version is to take a bite of vanilla ice cream and then a swig of cocoa and swallow. (Not recommended for those with sensitive teeth.) (Tom made me write that "funny" part) Delicious. I also read that mint chocolate chip ice cream is really good in the cocoa...I'm definitely going to try that next! We made this with the kids and their cousins the other night. They thought it was so fun that we were actually putting ice cream in our cocoa. So, I raised my arms in the air and said in a loud voice,"I declare this our new Christmas tradition!!!"