Erin's Wedding

Erin and Matt

Carson enjoying the grass

Me and Janel

Me, Carson, Gina, Erin and Janel

Our happy eternal family

Carson and mom at the temple waiting for the bride and groom to make their entrance

Erin and Matt arriving at Ab's Drive-In

Carson reaching for some keys! He had a blast all day long and was such a good boy

Cindy and Carson

Beau and Gina at the reception

One of my best friends got married today in the Salt Lake Temple. It was nice to be able to go and witness the sealing. It's always nice to go because you think back to your own sealing and remember how much you love your husband or wife. It's always a nice reminder of how you're sealed to your companion and something that you might have argued about that morning doesn't matter anymore. You go away again with a renewed appreciation for each other.

The sealer that Matt and Erin had was wonderful. He focused on the covenants and he drilled Matt and Erin by asking questions and about all the covenants made in the temple. They were both so nervous and answered each question carefully in fear to say the wrong one. I am the same way. I may know the answer right away, but I hesitate to say the right one in fear of everyone staring at me. Everything went really well and the both look so happy.

Their wedding luncheon was at Ab's Drive-In. Totally different, yet totally cool! We got a medium drink with whatever we wanted. I got a hamburger (which I don't eat very often) and some fries with a Kit-Kat shake! Yum! Matt wanted it to be casual, so he got his wish. They closed the dining area down, but kept open the drive-thru. People would walk in and walk out very upset, but there were only about 3 people during those 2 hours that actually came in. What a fun time we had! Carson enjoyed it! He loved eating the bun, some fries and a little bit of everyone's shakes.

They had their reception at Millcreek Inn. It was so beautiful and quiet up there! I didn't want to go home. I love the mountains and the outdoors. They had a photo booth there and we got to take 6 pictures of the three of us. Erin and Matt got to keep 3 for their guestbook and we got to keep the other 3. Way fun!

I am so glad that Dave, Carson and I got to enjoy this special day with them. It's always nice for Dave to have an excuse to get out of work so he can spend some time with me and Carson.

Again, going to the temple and witnessing another sealing refreshes my testimony of why I want to be so obedient and why I love this gospel.

Bachelorette Party

Just to warn everyone about to read this blog, there is no parental guidance needed to read it. The title is very deceiving, but if I put LDS in the front of it, you all know it would've been safe to read in the first place. Planning an LDS bachelorette party is not very hard or doesn't take a lot of thought. You already know that the booze and the male strippers are out of the question.

One of my best friends is getting married on the 18th of this month, so all of my friends wanted to throw her a bachelorette party. I did as much planning as I could, considering dinner and a short activity afterwards was our only option.

So, I emailed Erin's mom and asked her what her favorite restaurant was and so we took her to Mimi's Cafe. What a hopping place for a wild party, I'll tell you what! Then we went back to my sister's house and made brownie sundaes and played "Pin the Bow on the Bachelor". Some of us had too much fun.

The next day, Erin went to the Salt Lake Temple to get her Endowments out. Of coarse, I invited myself because I thought it would be awesome to be there. It was also a great excuse to get Dave and me to the temple. I am so glad we went. It was nice to see familiar faces in the temple. It makes you realize that you have that special thing in common that make us all brothers and sisters. The temple really helps my testimony. I was thinking before we went how unworthy I felt, but I know that Satan puts a lot of discouragement into our hearts and makes us feel inadequate and so we don't feel worthy enough to pray or go to the temple. It's very discouraging. When you don't go to the temple for a while you feel that way. Take the Nike theory, "Just do it". It makes you feel so much better and it reenters the spirit into your life and our own spirits.

I don't know if Erin reads my blog, but I just want her to know how proud I am of her and the decision she made to get married in the temple.

Dave's First Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Dave! Carson and I are so lucky to have you as a daddy and a wonderful husband. As you all know, Dave is really good with kids. Carson loves him so much because they have so much fun together. Carson is always so happy to see his dad when he comes home from work or whenever he leaves for just a minute to go run an errand. Dave reads to Carson each night before we put him to bed. Whenever I read to him, he won't cooperate with me.

For Dave's first Father's Day we gave him the first season of "The Office". I don't know any show that has made Dave laugh harder. We love watching it and enjoying that time together. We also got him Mario Kart and an extra wheel for the Wii. Dad loves playing video games and is very competitive. Another thing that we did for dad was get him a golfing certificate with golf balls and tees. Not only were the golf balls Titleist, but they were U of U golf balls!! Carson sure knows what to give his daddy!

We are very grateful to have Dad in our lives! He is such a wonderful person, who gives all of his time and effort to this family. He works hard every day to provide for us and support our little family. We love dad!

Getting Tagged

First of all, I would like to say thanks to Kirstin for tagging me. I never know what to fill out on these things!!

{3 joys}
1- Dave and Carson (My boys)
2- Chocolate
3- Sleeping in, which is now impossible

{3 fears}
1- Spiders
2- Walking in the dark. I can sleep in it, but every light goes on in the house one after the other until I safely reach my bedroom again
3- Driving in the snow/fog

{3 goals}
1- To run a marathon....hey I can dream
2- To lose more weight
3- To do more journaling and scrapbooking

{3 current obsessions}
1- Facebook. A lot of my friends are on there and it's so fun to keep in contact with everyone
2- Blogging
3- To have have more obsessions

{random fact about me...}
I am the princess and the pea. I cannot sleep unless I don't have any wrinkles in the sheets or in my clothes underneath me. I'm weird

{i tag}
Everyone who reads my blog that hasn't been tagged yet

Carson's First Bees Game

Tonight for FHE, we decided that it would be fun to take Carson to his very first Bees game. My Dad, my Uncle Norm, Gina and Beau came a long as well. Carson loved it. Even though he had no idea what was going on down on the field, he loved being outside around all the people. We love the nice weather too! It's been so nice to be able to get out of the house more and do fun things together as a family.

We had some people who sat behind us who had twins that were 2 years old. They were so adorable! Their names were Jackson and Carson. So, we were happy to make some friends. Carson loved watching them climb the stairs and swing on the railings. They weren't behind us very long, but it was fun to meet new people.

Carson was intrigued with the whole atmosphere and we had a very fun time hanging out at the ball game.

Please Do Not Feed The Ducks

Today we went to feed the ducks at Winchester Park along the Jordan River Parkway. It was a nice little activity that the family could do together to get out and enjoy the nice weather. Carson loves animals. He goes crazy over every dog he sees. He constantly crawls after Randy and Peggy's dog, Nikki. After I had taken the picture that is the 5th picture down from the top, we started to walk away to go see some other ducks and geese on the other side. Carson started to cry, so Dave took him back to the little baby geese and he was content again. We managed to get to the other side and Dave said, "do you see any signs that say not to feed the ducks". I couldn't see any, so we continued to feed all the animals. Carson had a blast feeding...himself. We would give him some bread to throw at the ducks and he would stick it in his mouth instead. I think I enjoyed feeding the ducks more than any of us did. When we were leaving, we spotted the sign, "Please do not feed the ducks". It's only the biggest thing ever! We laughed at ourselves and watched everyone else ignore the sign as well.

Bumps and Bruises

Carson is getting to that age where he is becoming more courageous everyday....and making mom and dad look like parents of the year. He has scrapes and bruises all over his head, and the moment you think they are all gone, within two days he's got a whole new set of them. Dave and I were walking through the grocery store yesterday and I told him,"people are probably wondering what the heck happened to his head." Poor Carson tries to do more than what he can actually achieve at his age. All these scrapes and bruises on his head were under the watchful care of mom and dad. All I know is that there could be worse things. My nephew Jackson just got stitches and I could only imagine how they feel. I feel that parents are really hard on themselves about their children and what happens to them. You always say to yourself, "

Carson is doing really well, despite all of this clumsy moments. He is teething and has been so fussy. I don't even remember him being this fussy ever! It has really tested my patience as a mom this past week.That's the wonderful thing about parenthood though. The Lord makes you forget all of the bad things that happen, because if he didn't, everyone would all be a single child. Anyway, his sleeping habits have almost gotten back to what he was before we started the whole "ferberizing thing". I am sure that it's because he's teething, but it's been a tiring week.

Dave and I are getting more and more excited each day to move into our new apartment...well, new to us. It doesn't have any air conditioning so if any of you know anyone who is trying to get rid of an air conditioner, let us know!

Dirt-y Boy

I love the things that Carson will get into. He gets into everything now. I am a nominee of the Mother of The Year award because he is even opening up cabinets where the cleaning products are. The other day though, Dave and I were in the living room watching TV and Carson crawls around the corner, into the kitchen and out of our sight. This lasted about 15 seconds. Before we knew it he was into my sister and brother-in-laws plant! I have officially decided that we won't be buying any plants for our apartment or when we get a house anytime soon. It's so funny how fast he is now at crawling. He loves going into the bathroom and when he sees that the door is open, he bolts for it. He's so funny.

Hip Hip Hooray!

I am so happy to announce that Carson is sleeping on his own! Last night he woke up twice, but he put himself back to sleep and that was all before midnight. Well, he'll fall asleep sitting up, so I have to go check on him and if he is sitting up, I have to go lie him down, which makes him upset. We put him to bed at 8:30 now and he sleeps until 8:30 in the morning. It's wonderful! I think I am more tired now that I am actually getting some sleep. Here is a little bit about the whole adventure. This whole thing was tiring, but worth it!

Friday, May 23 (night one): It wasn't so bad. We let him cry, which he did a lot of. He would cry and then 5 minutes we would go in there and talk to him and give him a hug and lye him back down. Then we would do it after 10 minutes, but he usually fell asleep before we went in for the second time. He cried often though. I bet we were up at least 6 or 7 times and went in after 5 minutes and then he'd be asleep before one of us would get in there a second time.

Saturday, May 24 (night two): Was little better sleeping wise, but he scared the crap out of us. He was crying so hard that he threw up on his back. I was so afraid that he would aspirate it. He actually started choking on it, so we had to get him out of bed and slap his back until he cried, but I don't know if he actually choked on the throw up or if he was crying so hard he was still choking, but it scared us. We had to change his pj's and then his bed sheets. He even fell asleep standing up while lying he head on edge of his crib.

Sunday, May 25 (night three): Was a nightmare!! He would NOT stop! He cried and cried from midnight until 6am. Finally we brought him into our room and put him in our bed and all three of us slept until 9:30 that morning. He threw up again this night as well. I think he knows exactly what gets mom and dad to come and pick him up, so he attempted his crying pyrotechnics again. I've been reading a lot about this from "What To Expect For The First Year" and it says that if you attempt these "crying it out" techniques on them that they are wise enough to know what gets mom and dad back into the room. The hard thing about this was, was he would get more angry if you came into the room and then went back out, which would make him cry harder and longer, but we were so scared because of the whole throwing up thing.

Monday, May 26 (night four): Was nice. He put up quite a fuss before we put him down, but he only woke up 4 times. I cheated. I hugged him and then lied him back down while still hugging him. I was practically throwing my leg over the crib to keep my cheek pressed against his. I was the only one who could calm him down last night.

Tuesday, May 27 (night five): Went really well! I am excited to tell you that. We put him into bed about 8:30. He had his blanket and a new stuffed animal that we bought him that we have taken every where with us during the day, so it was always with him. We fed him at 6, put him in the bath, let him play a little, drank a bottle, Dave read him some stories, and we put him down at 8:30. He cried for about 15 minutes and then went to sleep. He woke up twice before 9:30 but he cried himself back to sleep really fast. Then he woke up at midnight. I had to go get him and hug him and then lie him down and he cried, but he went back to sleep. Then he woke up 5 in the morning and cried. We had to go in twice, but then he slept until 9:30! He did really well!

Wednesday, May 28 (night six):Night 6 went great! He only woke up twice. He cried for 10 minutes the first time and put himself back to sleep. The second time, he wouldn't settle down, so I went in there and hugged him and tucked him back in and he cried for about 2 minutes after I left the room and he went right to sleep. We have been putting him to bed at 8:30 and he sleeps until 9am. It's great. I just hope within the next few nights he'll just put himself back to sleep both times. The three nights we have also followed a very strict schedule, so that's my advice to anyone.

9am- Wake up and play
10am- Eat breakfast
12- Nap
2- Lunch
6- Dinner, then bath, then play, then read books
8:30- Bed

Thrusday, May 29 (night 7): Was already discussed in the first paragraph of the blog.

"Ferberizing"

The past 2 nights Dave and I have been teaching Carson how to fall asleep on his own. It's been a hard thing to do, but we aren't getting any sleep at night, so we are attempting the "Ferberizing" technique. Carson learned how to fall asleep on his own at 8 weeks old. As the flu season went on, Carson was sick numerous times, needing mom and dad to come and save him in the middle of the night. Well, it became a routine and so he wakes up and cries until mom and dad comes to get him. The first night was hard. He would cry and I would get up with him after 5 minutes and go and comfort him but not pick him up. Then after 10 minutes I would go in and comfort him and leave again. Usually he would fall asleep again before the 10 minute mark. He would wake up a lot though and cry for a bit then go back to sleep. Last night was worse. He knew what he was in for. He got so upset that he would stand up and cry in his crib. He started to gag and so I gave him a hug, which settled him down and layed him down on his back. He then threw up from crying so hard and started to choke on his own throw up. It went everywhere. We had to change his sheets and his pj's...not to mention my pj's. I picked him up and started hitting his back because he was choking so hard. He started to cry again and I knew that he was okay. It was scary. So we changed his bed sheets and his pj's and then attempted to start over again. I didn't want to. I wanted to quit and go get his carseat and forget the whole ferberizing thing.Yet, I knew we had to keep pressing forward. We calmed him down and put him back into his crib. This video tells you the rest of the story. It's hilarious! He fell asleep standing up. It was so cute. Keep wishing us luck. Sorry that the video is so dark. It's not that way on our camera or computer, but when we uploaded it onto youtube it went really dark. He keeps dozing off! It's so precious. We were laughing so hard. He would fall asleep and start slipping off the edge of the crib. We put him on his back after and he slept the rest of the night because he was so tired!

Getting Braver

Carson is everywhere! He used to stay in one room, play on certain piece of furniture and now he's going all over the place. I now understand the phrase, "Don't hope they grow up too fast". Even though we are tired of all the running around, we can't be upset at Carson for being braver than he used to be. On Thursday, Dave and I sat across from eachother about 4 feet apart on the floor, walking Carson back and forth to see if he would walk a little. After a few tries, Dave and I got Carson to let go and take 3 steps on his own! We were so excited. Yet, when he realized that no one was holding onto him anymore, he immediately sat down. We tried to get him to do it again, but he would lean backwards. Well today I had him going really fast while he was holding onto my pointer fingers on both hands and I slipped my fingers out and he kept going!!! He took at least 7 or 8 steps, stood there for a minute trying to balance as if he was on a surf board and fell down on his bum. It's so funny when he realizes that no one is holding him anymore because he starts to fuss a little and then falls down on his butt. You can never get him to do it again after you attempted to let go, or he'll just sit down. He's a smart little boy. I guess we'll just have to do little by little. On Thrusday night after Carson took those 3 stesp Dave said, "I am going to count that as his initial first steps". He was so excited. He is taking steps, but he's not walking on his own yet for sure. We are so proud! Way to go Carson!

Visiting Grandpa

Today, my sister and I took Carson to visit his Grandpa at work. My dad is an English teacher out at Cyprus High School. That is where my brother in law Doug M. went to school. He didn't know my dad though. My dad was so excited to see his daughters....yeah right, he was excited to see his grandson. He is getting summer fever and is so excited for his summer break so he can help my mom watch Carson on the days I work. So, for something different, we went and got Subway and ate in the teacher's lounge and showed Carson off to all of my dad's co-workers. It was a really fun adventure for all three of us.

And The Fun Begins

On Monday (May 19th) I sat there and told a nurse that I work with that I have never seen Carson throw a tantrum. I should've knocked on wood. Today was Carson's first little tantrum. I was at Ikea with my sister and some friends and he was playing with a water bottle. I had to pry it away from him to go and change his diaper and he threw a fit! He started kicking his legs and he scream and screeched a little, until I got him and the diaper bag on the move. Then, later on today I took him away from my sister's dinner table and she has a table runner he tugs on. I am so afraid he'll pull it off with the table decor with it, hitting him in the head. He was on his feet and I was holding his hands and he started jumping and screaming because he was so upset that I took him away from all of his fun. Now all he has to do is learn how to say no and we'll all be in trouble.

Good News

I just wanted to let everyone know that Dave and I have an apartment waiting for us at the Windwood Apartments! We are so excited. Our move in date is July 1, so we are very happy about it. As you all know, we have been living with my sister Gina and her husband Beau until one of the apartments opened up. They are so convenient and right in between both of our jobs. Not to mention, they are cheaper than anywhere we could find here in Salt Lake. It will be nice to live in an apartment for a little while longer until we save enough for a house. I also have some good news. I got a raise at the hospital, so I have quit the surgery center. I only make 20 cents less instead of 2.50 less and I will make up the extra with the call I take. My last day is May 23, then it's off to the hospital. I enjoy the hospital so much more. I complained about it all of the time before and after I had Carson, but after going to another place, I realized how much I missed it and all of the people there, so going to that surgery center was an eye opener for me. It made me realize I had it good at Jordan Valley. I am so sad that I can't quite stay at home with Carson full time yet, but I will only work Monday and Tuesday and I'm on call from 11p-7a on Tuesday night then I'm done the rest of the week. I will only have to take one Saturday every 2 months, so it won't be so bad. Things are definitely looking up for us!

My Favorite Things Carson Does

I thought that I would share a few of my favorite things that Carson does. I want to do this because I have heard mom's say that they forget some of the funny things that their kids do while they're little. Yet I have so many pictures of everything, that I may not forget. I am a pictureholic!

1. Carson loves to peek at you if you are calling him from under a table. He is always so happy to find you too.

2. He is so happy when he gets to go for a ride in his stroller. He sits up straight and on the edge of his seat and tries to take everything in. He's so curious and loves to look at everything.

3. He walks around the coffee table or furniture and spits and razzes and blows in and out with the shhhh essshh sound. It's so funny. We always have to wipe off everything. The noises he makes are so cute. Recently he has started making really cute squeaking noises.

4. Ever since Dave's graduation, we've had his balloons hanging around the house. He seriously knows what they are. He will be holding it and when he let's it go, he throws himself back against me or dad and watches it float up to the ceiling. Then, he will reach up for it and go, "ba." It's so cute! These balloons in this picture are from when Aunt Gina won Employee of the Month. Carson joined in the celebration.

5. I love how he plays with his hair. One minute it's all crazy and the next he looks like a missionary! He plays with it all of the time. He'll play with his hair while he's eating either a bottle or at his high chair. He also plays with my hair when he's drinking his bottle. I like my hair being played with so I'll take what I can get.

6. He is so smart. He knows how to open the drawer of the end table at my sister's house. He knows it's open and he opens it as if he hopes to find something new he can play with inside.

7. If he is at the coffee table and he can't get to the couch, he will reach down and try to pick up your leg because he knows it's used as a bridge to get where he wants to go. Here he is reaching for my leg! He's so funny!

8. This shouldn't be one of my favorite things but whenever we tell him no, he starts to laugh. Just the start of a mischievous future. He'll run towards something he knows he'll get told no to and he stops to look at you so he can see your expression on your face or see what you're going to say. Then if you disapprove, he runs even faster towards it and then you say, "Carson, no no" he starts to laugh. Silly boy! This picture he is laughing because I told him no no for biting.

9. Carson is a crasher! He just plays and plays and plays and then he crashes. It's like he holds out for his naps so long. He'll crash anywhere, yet he is a very light sleeper at night.

10. It's incredible how much he shows his love for mom and dad. Dave and I went to game 4 for the Jazz vs. the Rockets and Carson had fallen asleep at my parent's house. We put him in his carseat and buckled him in and he didn't budge. When we got him home and in bed, a couple minutes later he started to cry. Dave went to get him and when Dave picked him up, he shreaked with excitement and gave him a tight squeeze around his neck. He fell back asleep, yet he still kept on waking up and crying, so I went in there and he did the same thing to me, and fell asleep. He slept the rest of the night. I know how much he loves us and we love him too! I know that his picture of Carson and I is on my mother's day blog, but this is really one of the only pictures I have with him. I need to get more.