Raking Leaves...Carson Style

I usually rake the leaves this time of year and I normally enjoy it. However, while pregnant, raking leaves is really uncomfortable and it plain ol' hurts...

Our lawn was in dire need of some raking attention so I had a little chat with Carson. I explained that it hurts mommy's tummy to rake leaves and it needs to be done so I would like him to be in charge of this project. I also told him that when there is work to be done we don't complain, we just do it. I may have also bribed him with a dollar somewhere in our little heart to heart chat!

Carson was a trooper! He had a blast, so in "Carrie" terms, that means it took FOREVER! That's okay, I was grateful for the help.

Here is a picture Carson took of me, watching him rake. Sam told me that everybody who drove by probably laughed at me but I don't care!


Here are a few shots of Carson in action. He seriously cracks me up!




Happy Halloween tomorrow! Make sure you remind your kids that when they get home from trick-or-treating, moms and dads get to pick 5 items out of their loot to keep for themselves!!!

BACA & Halloween Party

My nephew Aaron called me the other day and asked for the use of our van because he's doing a documentary on "Bikers Against Child Abuse" (BACA). So he jimmy rigged a camera in our van and Sam drove down the street with the side door and back door open of the van. I tell you, never a dull moment in our life! Here is Aaron and his friend getting everything set up:


Here is an action shot:


This is a pretty sweet skull one of the BACA guys had on his bike:


Fern even joined in and rode with all the bikers! Whoo-hoo Fern! You are one sexy BACA mama!!!


Saturday afternoon we went to the Gallivan center in Salt Lake City to attend a Halloween Festival. Parker wouldn't dress up but Carson was way into it. Carson put on his costume and then a few minutes later I couldn't find him. I went into my room and he was totally doing Spiderman poses on my bed. I was laughing my guts out! What a nut job!


Here are Sam and I at the festival. Sorry about Sam's eye. I guess my hair is a little too big!


Here are a few of my favorite costumes I saw that day:
This robot girl was hysterical. She could hardly walk! Her eyes were flashlights.


I'm not creative at all, but I think that I might be able to throw together a grocery sack like this sometime!


We watched a juggling show and at one point they needed some volunteers. Carson was chosen and he was pleased as punch! They were throwing the pins in front and behind the row of kids and I've never seen Carson stand so still before! Maybe I should threaten to throw juggling pins at him once in awhile to get him to settle down! j/k! OH yeah, check out the missionary costumes on the left! Only in Utah....


And finally, as many of you know, downtown Salt Lake City is in the middle of a huge ol' facelift. Here are the remnants of the old ZCMI Center Mall. Exciting in a way, but kind of sad too!

Rewards Of Being Potty Trained

We told Parker as soon as he was potty trained we would buy him the Mack Transporter toy from the "Cars" movie. Well, he's potty trained and we were having a hard time finding the toy. He kept saying "I'm potty trained, do I get Mack now?" Ummm..it's time for EBay! However, they were pretty pricey on EBay, minimum $35 with shipping! That is too much for a little plastic toy!!!

Last night I was at Walmart with the rest of the free world (Grrrrrr) and I found the Mack Transporter for under $20!! I wrapped it and gave it to Parker this morning. He is one happy guy!

I Think I Am So Funny

Too bad I don't have a picture to go with this story because it was hilarious!

Yesterday Parker and I took a walk up to the school to get Carson and his friend Lee at the end of the day. Lee has had a loose tooth for 2 months and I'm always harassing him to just pull the dang thing out! It's on top and in front and it's been jutting out at a weird angle for quite some time. Lee refuses to pull the tooth out because he just knows one day it will fall out. For some reason I made this tooth my mission on our 15 minute walk home. I piled on the peer pressure to the extreme (it's a good thing I never got into drugs!). Finally Lee got really mad and said "I will pull it just once and that is IT!!!" He pulled and the tooth came flying out, just before we got to his house! I could not stop laughing! Then I only had about 30 seconds before we reached his house to explain to Lee how awesome he was and how his mom was going to be so proud of him...Lee bravely swallowed the blood and put on a happy face when his mom opened the door. :) I really hope the tooth fairy was nice to him last night! So, I would be happy to hire out my peer pressure services to anyone who has a stubborn child and need something taken care of.

Examples of my services are as follows:
Ripping band-aids off
Pulling off a crusty scab
Yanking loose teeth
Holding the child down while they get stitches or shots
Scrubbing out a skinned knee so it doesn't get infected

I'm open to other suggestions...just think of things you hate doing due to your natural compassionate instincts!

Okay, change of subject...

Carson's birthday was a few weeks ago and he brought home a really cute book from school the other day. All the students in his class would write what they hoped Carson would get for his birthday and then they would draw a picture of this item.
Such as this:


Or this:


Carson loved reading and looking at everything people wrote. Then he came to this picture:

It's supposed to be a transformer. He just stared at it for a long time and said "It looks like a clown....swimming...." I couldn't not hold back the laughter, he said it soooo seriously! Then he continued to stare at the page for about 5 minutes, just TRYING to see it as a transformer.... I just love that swimming clown!

On a serious note;
Parker got so sick last night it scared the heebie jeebies out of me. We almost took him to the ER. He woke up at about 10:00pm with a horrible honking/wheezing cough and he could hardly breathe. His chest kept going all concave because he couldn't get a good breath. Then as I was holding him he broke out into a crazy fever. It was insane! Sam called our friend Davis over and they gave Parker a blessing. Parker was able to calm down and sleep through the night. This morning he still had a fever but he wasn't coughing as hard. I know these things are worse at night so tonight should be interesting.

Then Carson kept having coughing fits all night as well. He woke up today and I swear he had popped a blood vessel in his eye because his eye was blood red! So, he stayed home from school and needless to say, we're still in our pajamas today and that's just fine by me! Sometimes we need to tell life that we're having a personal day....

Why I Love Carson

Carson is unique and he is proud of it. He is such a fun child to have. Here's what he's been up to the past few days:

On Sunday morning he was determined to put a tie on Parker. I seriously love the look on Parker's face in each picture. He's like "Sure Carson, I'll humor you..."



However, same Sunday morning, he didn't take too much care in his own personal appearance. One pant leg was rolled caught in his sock and you should have seen how high his pants were pulled up, it HAD to be uncomfortable!


Later that day, he piled pillows up at the base of the stairs. Then he rode down the stairs in the laundry basket and crash landed at the bottom. Just before this picture he sliced his big toe open from the unsafe nature of this experience. Of course I told him to buck up and go again so I could get a photo (in fact I wouldn't give him a bandaid until he went one more time!).


Yesterday I was working at the computer and Carson casually walks up to me and hands me a (GAG) tooth. He didn't make a fuss at all, he just knew it was loose and he yanked it out. I thought it was so funny because the first 3 teeth he lost were kind of traumatic for him. I guess the novelty has worn off and he's just tired of the baby tooth game. I told him he looked like a Jack-O-Lantern. Here is his best impression of a pumpkin.


This isn't totally Carson related, but I thought I'd share anyway. Every year Fern paints pumpkins for my boys. We give her the pumpkins and a picture of a cartoon character and she paints the pumpkins. This year Carson wanted Scooby Doo and Parker wanted the caveman spongebob. I'm always so impressed by her craftiness! One year we had tons of pumpkins in our yard and the only ones that got stolen were the ones she painted. Now THAT'S a compliment! We got smart and we bring the painted pumpkins inside the house at night before we go to bed. :)

Saturday Without A Plan

We love Saturdays when nothing is planned because it's amazing what we can accomplish! Regardless of the freezing temperature, the boys and I raked the lawn early this morning and Sam mowed the grass really short for winter. Then Sam got a wild hair and cleaned out the garage, he even swept it!

Then we decided to continue tackling a big project...cleaning out the spare bedroom so we can move Carson and Parker downstairs. This is not an easy, one-day project. In the 5 years we have lived here that room has become storage for us..well, mostly Sam! The best way to explain how funny Sam is: I opened a drawer and it was full of old socks that Sam used to wear. Seriously, the ENTIRE drawer was completely full! I just shook my head, ever so slightly, and Sam sheepishly threw most of the socks away. So, yeah, it's been quite the project. :)

I came across a sweet find myself! My parents used to keep a "memory box" for us and mine includes things like a baby blanket, a stuffed animal I used to like, Young Women recognition necklaces, and all my old "treasures". Well, we found a shirt that I think I got in 1st or 2nd grade that said "I read 100 books". Sam promptly took off Parker's shirt and put this old shirt on him. THEN came the biggest treasure of all, my elementary school glasses!!! Talk about antique! They are huge and orange...so of course I put them on Parker and took a picture, old shirt and all!


Then Sam found an old Cure concert T-shirt. He's thinking he could make big bucks on Ebay for it! Ummm..... So we aren't even close to finishing this room project because every time we'd pull something out of the closet, we'd start reminiscing about it and then the progress comes to a screeching halt!


This afternoon is started snowing. Carson made his first "snow angel" of the season...well it's more of an imaginary snow angel because the grass was really wet and it just left a smear mark. He was thrilled regardless!


Tonight we had the Saturday night session of Stake Conference and it was amazing! I always get so much more out of the Saturday session than the Sunday session...probably because I always get a soft bench to sit on AND there are no children there! :) Our Stake President made a comment that I love. He was talking about going through difficult trials in life and not knowing how to forgive others. He said "reserve a place in your heart for forgiveness, so when forgiveness comes, it has a home" I thought that was simple and profound! Okay, I'm tired so g'night!

I Am Impressed!

I have something to brag about and it doesn't involve my kids, amazing, I know!

When we bought our house we worked with Chris Hughes for our mortgage. He is a childhood friend so it was an easy choice. A few weeks ago I emailed Chris because Sam and I decided to change to a different type of Mortgage and I wanted Chris to help us with that. Chris was great, it wasn't even 2 weeks later and we closed on the loan and everything has been taken care of. I was already impressed by his speed and care in his services to us...but THEN....

He gave us tickets to the pre-season opener of the Jazz game, which was incredibly nice! Then yesterday Sam received a package at work...this is what it was:


It's a "thank you" basket from Chris. I love Great Harvest Bread and as you can tell, we have already devoured quite a bit of the honey wheat loaf!

So now I'm "knock your socks off" impressed by the level of service we received from Chris and his company, Coventry Mortgage. If ANYBODY is looking at refinancing your home or any type of debt consolidation, call me and I'll give you Chris' phone number. He is easy to work with, he knows his 'stuff', he's lots of fun, and you won't be sorry!!

Rough Day For Parker...

Parker had a rough day on Monday...I think blogging about it is a good way to honor his rotten day!

Sometimes I get a wild hair and make dinner. Then I remember why I don't like making dinner, the kids aren't exactly appreciative! Here is Parker and he is TICKED because he doesn't want to eat his stroganoff and sam made him sit at the table for a good 30 minutes. He didn't whine or cry, he just sat there until the time was up and then he went about his evening, empty stomach and all.


Then we had Family Home Evening at our friends' house and Parker fell down a few stairs and smacked his head on the corner of their wall. He got an awesome goose egg on his forehead. I was kind of laughing about it because I can't believe how many times he has gotten a similar "owie". No concussion so life is good!

I Had My Ultrasound Today....

Let's just say that my baby will have lots of cousins to play with when we all get together because for some reason, my brother Mike is the only one who has figured out how to produce girls! That's right, I'm having another BOY.

Even the ultrasound tech laughed at me. Seriously! He chuckled and said "You just do "boy" really well!" Oh I'm sorry, was that a compliment or were you mocking me?

To be fair, I am excited, I promise! I already have boy stuff so economically it's quite nice. I'm also comfortable around boy babies so I hope I don't have any surprises there. I think my boys are cute so chances are I'll think the new addition is cute too!

It could always be worse, the ultrasound could have discovered TWINS! I will count my blessings and name them ONE by ONE!!

Sam is on a scout campout tonight so I decided to take the boys to the same pumpkin patch that we went to last year. It was fun until BOTH kids started dancing because they had to go to the bathroom. UG! Times like this I wish Parker still wore a diaper!! Carson finally found a port-a-potty that had a line as long as I've had gray hair and Parker kept wandering around saying "I don't see the potty at the pumpkin patch..." I'm happy to say he made it home and kept his pants dry! SUPER STAR!

Here are a few shots:


This picture makes me laugh because Parker was seriously having an inner struggle with self control vs. his bladder! Of course I HAD to get his picture for the blog! :)


Okay, Sam and I need your help big time. What are some good boy names that go with "Carson" and "Parker"? I got nothin'...

Utah Jazz!

First of all a big "THANK YOU" to Chris Hughes for hooking us up with awesome tickets for tonight's pre-season opener for the Utah Jazz. The tickets were located on the 12th row behind the Jazz bench. Because my nights are sketchy at best with how I'm feeling, Sam took Carson on a Father/Son outing.

I was a little nervous about Carson's ability to focus for an entire NBA game, but Sam said he was great! From this picture I'm pretty sure he had a good time:


You know how when your kids are one or two years old and all they want to play with on Christmas morning is the paper and boxes that their presents were in? Well, Carson is 7 and check out the pure joy on his face when he got to have this piece of confetti!!??!! I love this guy!


To make the night even better, he got to ride Trax. Dreams do come true...


Sam did get a serious picture out of him, very GQ! For some reason he looks soooo much like Sam in this photo, well at least to me he does. Fern, Rose, Natalie Peton, Eden...what do you think? Sam junior??


I guess I should include a picture of some Jazz players...Here is that Russian who doesn't want to play for the Jazz anymore and that guy from another faraway country who has some bizarre teeth... :)


By the way, the Jazz lost...

Happy Birthday Carson!

Today is Carson's 7th birthday! I am basically tripping out that he is already 7.

We celebrated his birthday this past Sunday at Curtis and Shandy's house. It was convenient because we were already getting together for a Mexican themed cousins dinner, so I brought a pinata! Carson picked out a Pirates of the Caribbean pinata, do you think he's a little excited?


Of course we let him go first...


And then my dad gets to go second because he loves pinata's! Right after we blindfolded him Cody tried yanking down his jeans...saw that one coming!


The mad scramble!!


The cutie birthday boy! He loves the cartoon "Ben 10" so he got lots of Ben 10 stuff plus Grandma and Grandpa gave him a keyboard, which he LOVES! I hear him in his room playing it constantly!


Check out this cool thing Curtis and Shandy gave him! He will be able to store lots of treasures in it!


And here is his GHETTO cake. I can say that because I made it. The green frosting I bought was really to frost cookies so it's meant to spread out and fill in the gaps. I was trying to use it to write "happy birthday" on his cake. That big blob on the right side? That USED to be a star! Times like this I am reminded of why I don't try being domestic too often...


Today for Carson's actual birthday I told him I'd take him anywhere he wanted for lunch. Gee, guess where he wanted to go? That's right, ga-nasty McDonalds to the ga-nasty playland! Oh well, he was happy and after all, it IS his birthday!

An update on Parker: He is offically potty-trained! He really impresses me because he has never had an accident at night! I thought for sure he would last night because he hadn't gone potty since about 5pm and he woke up dry this morning at 7:45am. This might sound gross, but I wish I would have timed how long it took him to relieve himself this morning! While he was "going" I put both contacts in! :) I think my kids are going to hate me when they grow up and read this blog.....

Sweet Parker!

Parker rocks! He did not have an accident yesterday and he kept his undies dry all night!! What a super star!

He's so funny though because now he thinks he is too old to take a nap, well I beg to differ! Here is what he's doing right now:


Hey, did anyone catch the season premier of "30 Rock" last night? It was GREAT!

Object Lessons RULE!

Carson is off track this week so it's been pretty nice because I don't have to wake up until my eyes pop open. Okay, that is my dream, not reality. My kids always wake me up before my eyes have a chance to 'pop'. But sometimes other things occur that wake me up....for instance....

On Monday morning I was awakened by a loud "THUD" sound. I thought for sure something happened with the kids, like maybe Carson threw Parker off his bed, or maybe Carson was trying to get a glass of milk and dropped the entire gallon onto the floor, or perhaps the dresser fell onto Parker as he was trying to climb it...etc.

I jumped out of bed and ran to the kids room. To my surprise, and I'm not making this up, each child was sitting on his bed and Carson was teaching Parker the words and actions to "book of mormon stories". Precious!

I put in my contacts, took my anti-nausea medicine, and made toast. Then I walked to the living room and opened the blinds. To my surprise, my neighbors across the street were hovered around a boy, who looked to be Carson's age. That's when I noticed the bent-up bike next to him. Oh yeah, there was also a car parked in front of my house with a smashed up windshield.

Scary as I must have looked, I ran over to the neighbor's house to see what happened at the same time 2 fire trucks show up with their sirens blaring! The little boy was riding his bike out of his cul de sac, didn't look both ways before pulling onto my street, and was hit by a car heading down the road. The boy didn't have a helmet on either! He ended up being fine: stitches on his head and he had a concussion.

I figured this was a great lesson to teach my boys. I went back into my house, hauled my boys to the window and said "THIS is why we always wear our helmet and why we always look both ways before crossing the road...any questions?" My boys couldn't believe what had happened and they kept referring to it for the rest of the day. So, while I feel terrible for this little boy and the woman who hit him, I'm grateful for the object lesson it provided for my children that day!



On a lighter note: Parker is 95% potty trained! He goes to the bathroom on the toilet all day, but I've been nervous about nighttime so I was still putting him in a diaper. The last 2 nights his diaper has stayed dry and he wakes up and runs to the bathroom! So, tonight we are letting him sleep in his undies so wish me luck! Sadly, I'll probably get out the extra sheets before I go to bed just in case...

I did have an embarassing "Mom" moment at Walmart today. Carson had to go to the bathroom so I'm waiting outside the mens bathroom for him. He's taking FOREVER and that's when it occurs to me he must be going "number 2". I hate that so bad!!! Well, before I know what happened, Parker ran into the mens room, takes off his shoes, pants, and underwear and screams "I have to go potty!" Well, what am I supposed to do? He's in the mens bathroom for crying out loud!! I walk in, grab him and his clothes, march around to the women's bathroom (flashing everyone close by) and hoist him up to the toilet. SHEESH! It was mass mortification for me! After my trauma was over Carson was STILL sitting on the toilet in the mens room swinging his legs!! Only 2 more weeks of off-track.................