The Swing

This evening Carson, Daddy and I took a walk to Beargrass Park inside the neighborhood. It's a little park with a couple of swings, a slide and a bench. Oh, and a gazebo with no roof on it and nothing underneath it. It was perfect though! It was nice to be able to go on a little adventure and try something new. Carson went on the swings all by himself today for the first time! He was so excited. He kept kicking his legs with excitement and Dave and I both thought he was going to go flying out of there.

I didn't get very many pictures because my camera went dead on me, but I think I got at least three, so that's probably plenty to some people. Not for me though. I love taking pictures of my cute boy when he does something for the first time.

The Nest

The wonderful thing about being a parent, is that you want your kids to see and learn as much as possible, even if they are too young to take it all in. There is a Starling couple who have built their nest inside of Gina and Beau's grill on their deck in the backyard. I think it is so cool because all you have to do is open the lid and the momma bird flies out and there are 5 adorable little blue eggs sitting there. They have rebuilt that nest 5 or 6 times. Beau has gone out there to clean one day and the next, there's a whole new nest in there again. Before he got around to cleaning it again, there were eggs. All of us don't have the heart to destroy it again. I think it's cool that there is something growing inside of those eggs and it's not even attached to it's mom. How do they live and survive? It just baffles me.

Carson and I love going out and looking at the eggs. He seems so intrigued by it, so I guess it's always fun to explore nature at any age.

My First Mother's Day

I just want to say Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's I know who actually read this blog. We had a really fun day. Carson and Dad made me breakfast in bed. Barbie Princess Eggo waffles with some eggs. As all of you know, Dave and I have been dieting (eating better) so he also cut me up a cheese stick as well to get all of my protein in for the day! Dave has lost 7 lbs and I've lost around 9 or 10. It doesn't look like it for me, but Dave is starting to look awesome...he always has. Anyway, we went to church and I got a rose for Mother's Day. Then we came home and got ready to watch the Jazz game. It was a really good game, so I didn't mind watching it at all. Carson and Dave got me each a card and Carson even signed his! It's so cute! That is why he had pen on his face the whole day! I got a mug that you freeze in the freezer so your drink stays nice and cold. The movie Secondhand Lions. I loved that movie. Dave and I saw it on TV the other day and I asked him why we didn't own it. He takes good notes, doesn't he? Then Carson got me a certificate to go get my hair done and to go tanning. I am albino white. I need some color! I don't tan much, but I thought I'd go and get started on it while the weather is still fluctuating. But, my most favorite gift that I got were magnetic frames for my locker at work. Everyone has pictures of thier kids on or in their locker and I wanted some so I can show my little boy off. Now I get to hang his pictures on the front of my locker at work for everyone to see!

I am so lucky to be a mom and have the two best boys in my life! They help me get through everything! Carson is so awesome! He's so smart and he's so happy all of the time, which is still an example to me. I need to be happier. Dave helps me out so much and is always so willing to get up with Carson in the middle of the night. I am so grateful to have them in my life.

*Freerice.com*

I just wanted to share this wonderful website to all of you. It's called Freerice.com and it quizzes you on your vocabulary and each word you get right, they donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program.

I guess some guy set it up for his son so that he could get some practice for his ACT's. It's an awesome website. You can freshen up on your vocabulary and help feed the hungry at the same time. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do.

Wet Curly Hair

Cute Boy!

Carson's Walker

This has got to be the funnest thing that we have purchased for Carson. It is so fun to see him walk around with this thing. He is so cute and little and I love how it will help him with learning how to walk and keep his balance. We got it for him for Easter and I am happy to see it gets used for more than just the toys now. He really enjoys it. Thanks Kirstin for recommending this toy.

Congratulations Dave

We are so excited that this day finally came. Today Dave graduated from David Eccles School of Business with his Bachelor's Degree in Marketing. He also got his Minor in Spanish. We couldn't be more happy or more excited for him. I think that we are happy that we'll have a dad and a husband home a little more. He is planning on working for a while and he's considering about going back to get his Master's Degree, which would be good for him to do if that is what he wants to do. Carson and I will support him in any decision he makes!

I threw Dave a graduation BBQ even though there was no BBQing involved. Carson and I have been sick the last two weeks, so we made it easier on ourselves. We did croissant sandwiches and had everyone help bring the side dishes. It was in the park down the street from my parent's house. It was a lot of fun. Dave had no clue! Thank you all for keeping it a secret. He was so surprised when we arrived to the park. The Mangum's van is what gave it away when we were coming closer to the park. He goes, "Hey, that looks like the Mangum's van"! And is was. Then he said, "Wait a minute, what did you do"? It was really funny.

I just want to thank everyone for coming to support Dave. It was so nice to have the turn out that we did considering I was a procrastinator and didn't give everyone a lot of notice. I want to thank all of Dave's family and my family for your help in setting things up and providing food. The get together wouldn't have been as big as a success if it weren't for all of you. Everyone offered to bring something, but luckily I didn't need everyone's help. I want to thank Dave's friends for being so awesome! It means a lot to us for you to come and support our family events. We love all of you!

Crawling

Today Carson knee crawled for the first time. He has been army crawling for a while, but has now learned how to get up on his knees and crawl. It's funny because he gets frustrated with it really easily since he can army crawl a lot faster. I will chase him around and tell him "I'm going to get you" and he'll get down off of his knees and army crawl a lot faster. He's so funny because while I am chasing him, he'll stop and turn over onto his side to see where I'm at with a big smile on his face. He is so cute! It makes me laugh every time because they don't quite get the concept that if they do that, someone will catch them for sure. I am so proud that he is crawling on him knees now. It's funny how babies will do things in all different patterns.

Mud Pie

I had to include this beautiful mud creation for everyone to see on my blog. The neighbor kids in Foxflower Court (my sister's nice culdesac) are very friendly...and very cute. Today they left this shoe box full of mud and beautifully arranged weeds on the front porch while Gina, Carson and I ran some errands. I thought it would be funny to make them that treat that you use chocolate pudding and blend up some oreo cookies without the cream and make it look like mud and dirt and put it in a flower pot. Then put some gummy worms and bugs in it and top it off with some fake flowers.

The top of the box says: For our neighbors across the street, Just to be nice, Sorry we haven't introduced ourselves, Sincerely your neighbors across the street, the kids at (something)

The papers say: Hello, Sorry if you're allergic, We are glad someone moved in

Picking Up

Today Carson learned how to pick things up off of the floor if he drops them. I may be a nerd for keeping track of these things, but it's going to be fun for him to know when he did what.

All The Way Around

Today Carson learned how to go all the way around the coffee table. I thought that I would start adding some of these shorter blogs so I can look back and see what he did on which dates! Way to go, buddy!

Considering...

Considering that Dave and I don't have the Internet, it has been an extreme challenge to blog. I am seriously having blogging with drawls! I just thought that I would do a quick update on the family with this post.

Dave is almost done with school! Woo hoo Dave! We are so excited for him. He graduates in a couple of weeks. May 2. He decided that he isn't going to walk, which makes me a little sad because he has worked so long and hard for this moment, but it will be nice not have to sit and listen to all the other names, I guess. He is still at Usana. He is kind of browsing right now for a marketing job so he can start getting some more experience in the field, but he has not turned in any applications. He really enjoys Usana, so I know that it will be hard for him to switch after he has worked there so long.

I am still working at the Utah Surgical Center and Jordan Valley. I have not gotten up the guts to quit the Surgery Center yet, but I hope I do it soon. It's been hard because I have some really good days there and some really bad days. At the hospital though, every day is a good day...or slightly bad, but never too bad. I got called off today (HOORRAYY) I mean, yeah I got called off and now I get to catch up on my wonderful blogging while Carson is asleep.

Carson is doing really well. He got a hold of my sister's plant yesterday and chewed up a leaf pretty good and ended up getting little spots all over his face. He is doing fine though. He hasn't gotten sick (knock on wood) since his croup and I hope and pray it stays that way. He is cruising! He lifts himself up onto furniture and walks around. His army crawling is getting faster and he's starting to pick up his knees, so he's getting there. He just got his 7th tooth, but who's counting, right? He's still saying "Uh-oh" to everything he drops. I'll be holding him and we'll walk down the hallway and if he sees one of his toys on the floor as we pass, he looks at it and says "Uh-oh". He is so interested in other people. I guess it runs in the family. Dave and I are huge people watchers. It's fun. He will watch someone some and pass and lean his whole body and head over to the side to keep on looking. Definitely not incognito. All babies do it, so I'm not worried.

We are still waiting for that apartment to open. We need to call a couple of people. Ann Whitney told us that a girl is getting married and should be moving out soon, so we're excited. I can't wait to have my own place again...even though it's been nice having some help around. Well, that's pretty much it. Nothing really new, but just thought I'd make an update for all of you who actually will read this novel. We are so lucky to have you guys as friends and family.

Dave's 30th Birthday

Dave just turned 30 years old today! It was a nice, relaxing day. We started off the day by making him breakfast. He really likes the cinnamon burst bread from Great Harvest, so we made french toast out of that. It was yummy! Then we watched conference. Before we went to my parent's house, we opened his gift from Carson. It was a Nunchuk. We sang happy birthday to him and we got to eat his favorite cake. German chocolate. Dave thought the nunchuk was for my parents Wii, but I (unfortunatley) bought him a Wii for his birthday/graduation because it was so expensive! No, it's really fun and we've really enjoyed it and it will be a lot of fun for Carson when he gets older...a lot older. By then they'll have something new and more exciting out probably. Then we went to family night and got to sing him and Randy happy birthday. I felt bad because his Wii doesn't come until this coming Friday, on the 11. I ordered it a couple of days before his birthday because I really debated on getting it for him or not. Dave is an awesome husband! He works so hard and we love him so much. We hope he had a great birthday!

Uh-oh, Pull up, and Army Crawl

It's definitely AMAZING how fast babies learn how to do things. These past 2 weeks have been so awesome for Carson. He has officially learned how to say "uh-oh" when things are dropped of the high chair, or when he gets into a situation that he can't get himself out of. He has learned how to pull himself all the way up, instead of pulling himself onto his knees and needing help the rest of the way. Then, yesterday was the first time he army crawled. It is so cute how hard he pushes off on those back legs of his and only scoots 2 inches!! He is getting there. We are already proud of him for all of his accomplishments this past week.
I would have to say the day before we went to Goblin Valley was the first he said uh-oh, but now he has conquered the task very well. Yesterday was the first time he army crawled and pulled himself up all of the way, so it's coming along very well for him. We are so proud of our baby boy!

Good Job Carson

Today Carson army crawled and pulled himself up all of the way without mommy or daddy's help! Way to go Carson!