Carson's 1 Year Visit

Today Carson went to the doctor for his 1 year check up and to get some shots. He broke in the office very first thing by peeing all over the carpet. I had to change his diaper so we could get him weighed and he went everywhere. My sister Gina went with me and we were laughing so hard. I was laughing because I was so embarrassed, but the nurse said it happens all of the time. He also went around pulling the paper off of the bed with an, "uh-oh" sound to follow it. He hasn't said uh-oh in a while, so when he ripped the paper off of the bed, he was shocked and wondered where it all came from. I guess our visits are going to be a little more interesting from now on.

His shots went fine. They didn't phase him at all. I just feel bad because I separated them. Instead of all 5 I only did 3. Dave wanted to get them all done at once, but Carson was sick so I thought separating them would be okay.

Carson is actually doing very well. His nose stopped running and his yeast and rash is getting better. He is a handful for sure!

Carson's First Time at The Hogle Zoo

Today Carson and I got invited to go with Aunt Kirstin, Jackson, Noah and Baden to Hogle Zoo. It was way fun. We went early in the morning when it wasn't so hot yet so the animals were very active. We also stayed the right amount of time (9:45-12:30) because it was starting to get way hot and crowded.

We got to see the white alligator scratch his face and swim around a bit. Carson loved to look at him move. We also got to see the elephant, who is pregnant and is due next summer. Carson really liked the monkeys because of how fast they were moving around. We saw a black bear, zebras, rhinos really up close, and the tiger was in the water playing and splashing around.

It was so fun to be able to see Carson's face as he smiled with each new thing. He is so curious and we had lots of fun looking at all of the animals!

Carson's First Haircut

Today Aunt Gina and I took Carson to get his very first haircut. I was really contimplating whether or not I wanted to get it trimmed or actually cut. I decided to cut it way short. It grows so fast and I feel like I am contantly chasing him with the scissors. I just like the hair around his ears to stay short.

So, we took him to Cookie Cutters and it was a really fun place. It's too expensive to go every time, but once in a while will be fine, as long as we only have the one child. He got to sit in a car, they popped in a Baby Einstein movie for him, which is watched really well, they gave him his one of his favorite things...a ballon that came with a cookie cutter and a sucker. They also had toys for them to play with and they even gave us some bubbles to blow to keep him entertained. The girl who cut his hair was so nice and really good with him. They even gave me a lock of his curls and put it in a bag for me. We had a really good experience there and I can see why it's 13.95 for a haircut.

I have to say that my son looks adorable!! I love his new haircut, but my heart aches now because he doesn't look like my little baby boy anymore.

What Carson Has Been Up To

This blog is an update of all the fun and cute things Carson has been doing lately. Carson has learned how to say "ball". He is so funny. He walks around the house saying "ball, ball, ball" even if there isn't even a ball around. The other morning around 5:30, some sirens woke him up and I went to calm him down. I had to get up for work in a few minutes anyway, so I brought him back in the bed with mom and dad. It was pitch black, and he sat up and started saying, "ball, ball, ball". It was really cute.

Carson is also learning how to clap. He takes his hand and hits the back of his other hand, which is so cute. For the past two weeks, Carson has known how to stand himself up without using a wall or any piece of furniture. When he stood up the other day, I said "Yay" and started clapping for him. He made his little yay sound and started clapping the back of his hand because he was so proud of himself...okay, maybe he's just learned how to mimic.

Carson has unfortunately learned how to say "No". Our little neighbor kid was picking things off of the floor at church and sticking it in his mouth, so I offered him an animal cracker. Carson saw this and while I was handing the little boy the cracker, Carson went "no, no, no, no, no." Apparently, the next thing we need to teach him is how to share. :)

Carson is also starting to learn where things are and who everyone is. Carson has been sick the past few days with an ear infection and he came up to me and held out his arms and said, "momma, momma, momma" and I picked him up and he was so tired that he fell right asleep. If you ask him where his shirt, pants, toes, and hair are, he'll show you. Sometimes he gets them mixed up, so he's getting there.

He is also becoming a little pain when it comes to his high chair. He hates it! We can't him to eat anything in it...well, he's not eating well either. He is very picky. So far we've been able to find out that he likes bananas cut up, grapes, a toasted English muffin with a little bit of raspberry jam on it, yogurt, animal crackers and bread. I can't get him to eat mac and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, peas, carrots, peaches, plain noodles or spaghetti with either marinara or Alfredo sauce, chicken, ham or turkey etc. I need to figure some more things out. He will eat the things he likes, but only out of his high chair.

Oh, and this will make Kirstin laugh. He has officially learned how to take his diaper off! Friday, Aug. 15, he took off a poopy diaper! He got poop on the carpet. Sunday night we let him walk around naked because of his yeast infection from the antibiotics he's on and he pooped on the bathroom floor, which was actually the best case scenario.

The Tour of Utah

Dave's brother Doug invited us to go and watch the Tour of Utah with him and our awesome nephew Jackson. We had a lot of fun. Carson loved it because of the motion and how fast the bikes were going. He also loved it when they rushed by and he could feel the wind. I didn't know how awesome it was until we went. I was thinking it would be kind of boring, but it's almost an adrenaline rush seeing them and how fast they were going. We couldn't find parking for a while, so we only got to see the last 9 laps. We had an awesome time!

Wheeler Farm

Carson watching the pigs look for water

Carson and Mom petting the horse

Carson checking out the Rooster

Carson on the saddle

Carson ready to go with snacks and a smile on his face, as always!

Today I decided to take Carson to Wheeler Farm by ourselves, which I'm glad we did because we sit at home a lot, and my dad called and said he wanted to come and see Carson, we invited him to go along with us. It was way fun, but way too hot. We got to see lots of animals and Carson loved them. He even to got to pet a horse! Which he was very unsure about. We saw cows, sheep, billy goats, horses, chickens, roosters, pigs, geese and ducks! Carson and I had watched a Baby Einstein video earlier that day about animals, so it was fun to have an all day lesson about animals.

Later on Dave and I went to See The Dark Knight! We loved it. Heath Ledger was a psycho!! I was seriously afraid of the dark last night after watching him play that role. He did really good. It was so sad to watch him through the whole thing knowing that he was dead and would never make sure a great performance again. I guess you could say he went out with a bang. When we came home Carson was still awake and having fun with Grandpa and Grandma.

Thanksgiving Point

The cool ship where eveyone was swimming

All the adorable kids

Mom and Carson by the waterfall

Carson watching all the other kids play

Carson with Nana on the grass

Today Carson and I went with all of his cousins, Aunt Kirstin, Aunt Angela and Nana to Thanksgiving Point to the Children's Gardens. It was so neat! It was two dollar Tuesday, which worked perfect for me, considering I only had to pay for myself. There is a huge ship as you go in and it has water around it for the kids to swim in and they have fountains that shoot water from the ground. There was also a maze that all the older cousins went through. We had a lot of fun seeing all of the beautiful flowers. Carson had so much fun that we weren't in the car for 5 minutes after we left and he was already asleep.

Carson's Birthday

The family at the aquarium

Carson in front of Bruce (scariest thing ever). Mom has a phobia of sharks

Carson admiring the octopus

Carson's nifty cake

Carson on the dock

Ey, Ey Captain Carson!

Today Carson is turning one! Well, it's official at 10:06 pm. We can't believe how fast the year has flown by. Well, I can't say that because he became apart of our lives that it seems we've had him forever! That's a good thing though. He is so fun! We've really enjoyed his sweet, happy personality. Dave and I are always entertained with all the things he does.

We started off the day by running errands and making sure we had everything for his party. Dave got off at one so we went to The Living Planet Aquarium. Carson loved it! He loved seeing all of the fish, frogs, the octopus, sting rays and sharks swim around. I have to agree with Kirstin and say it is a little expensive for what it is, but in 5-10 years they'll be opening their big exhibit, so I guess they need to make money somehow. I think I'm spoiled because Dave and I went to the Aquarium of the Pacific when we went to California, so I can't compare it to that.

Carson's birthday party was a success. Thank you all of the gifts and for coming! I am so glad that we only were left with 5 pieces of cake which is still sitting on my counter. You are all very generous and we love and appreciate all of you!

St. George

Here is our family before going to see The Sound of Music at Tuacahn Theater

My mom's birthday is on the 31st of July, so we celebrated her birthday down in St. George. Happy #36 mom! (She'll love me for that)

Carson was teething before we went on our trip, so Friday night in Mesquite he was not a happy camper. Here is what sunscreen does to his hair!

Daddy and Carson enjoying the pool

Mom and Carson at the pool

One of the greatest burger joints ever, in my opinion

July 29 through Aug. 2, our family went down to St. George. I couldn't leave Carson behind and my parents were going to go down to St. George anyway, so we all went together. It was nice because we all went to see The Sound of Music at Tuacahn on Wednesday night and then Dave and I got to go to Les Miserables on Thursday night by ourselves. My parents went Tuesday night by themselves to Les Mis. It was amazing. I liked it so much better than The Sound of Music, but with Les Mis you see more talent with the solos and duets they have. I highly recommend either play.

Guess where we got to eat? That's right, In and Out Burger. I don't know if a lot of you have been there, but they have on in Vegas and a couple in California and this one just opened in St. George a couple of months ago. We knew it was coming way before then because my brother-in-law Beau fixes trash compactors and he had to go fix or install it before they opened.

We stayed at the Marriot and we loved it. Carson loved swimming!! It was his first time in a public pool. He loved sitting up on the rocks and watching the waterfall. We had an awesome time!

Friday night, we stayed in Mesquite. I used to go down to Mesquite all of the time when I was younger and it was just too hot to enjoy.

Carson's Birthday Invite

Just to let all of you know, who ever reads my blog is invited to Carson's birthday party on Aug. 11 at 7:00 pm. We will just be outside of our apartment eating cake and ice cream, so please feel free to come and get some! We would love all of you just to come celebrate his birthday. A gift is not required.

Teething Again

Carson wouldn't let go of mommy

I set Carson down to fix a bottle and he got into the cookies. At least he ate a little something that day.

What a sad face.

Poor, poor little Carson. We feel so bad for him. I can't believe that it's already that time again when all is slobbery and wet. We went to church on Sunday and he was doing great! He was happy and all over the place and going to people that he has never met before and getting into their stuff. Around 3:30, he came down with a fever. He was 102-103 all day long. He would not let us put him down the entire day. We tried getting him to eat some popsicles, which helped for a while, but that was all he would even eat. So, I decided that if I had a long night with him, I would probably have to be the one to call in sick for the day. Boy was I right. Carson stayed up until 5 in the morning with occasional 10 minutes here and 5 minutes there. He would wake up screaming. The Motrin or Tylenol didn't touch his fever, which made it worse. We let him sleep in our bed with the fan blowing cool air over him, hoping that would cool him down for a while. It was so cute because he wouldn't lye down unless he kept his arms around my neck.

Then yesterday he was feeling a little better. During the day he was okay. My parents watched him for about 2 hours while I ran some errands before our trip to St. George. I was even beginning to wonder if we should even go. Then, last night we had to get him out of his crib around 3:30 and I was up with him until almost 5. He would try to suck on a bottle, but he would cry even harder. After the Motrin set in, he took a while getting comfortable again and he went back to sleep.

Dave was supposed to be up by six this morning, but I set his alarm for PM because I took a nap yesterday, due to exhaustion, so he didn't get to work until 8:30. We left today around noon and I have been catching up on my blogs in the car. How cool is that??!! I have done my past 4 blogs all in the car. The pictures aren't loading, so I'll have to wait until we get to the hotel to get my pictures posted.

Carson is doing great! He fell asleep in American Fork and has stayed asleep and we are arriving in Cedar City right now. He has dealt with the car very well on our last few excursions. That was my worst fear of the trip. When we went to Goblin Valley in April, he did horrible. He cried half of the way to and from there, so it's been nice to have a quiet car. Carson has only had about 4 and a half ounces of his bottle and we gave him some bread and chicken. I had a kids meal from Wendy's and he loved the frosty.

I want to say thank you to the Gatorade company for inventing Propel. That is the only thing he will drink when he's sick. I know it's sugar water, but at least it keeps him hydrated. He won't drink anything else.

What I loved most about it, was that he wanted me most of the time. He would cry every time he lost sight of me. It makes me feel so good to be his mommy.

The Property

Carson on the swing

Dave and Carson in front of the picnic table and fire pit

Our family in front of "Big George"

Dave and Carson in front of the out house

Mom and Carson in front of the tree house

The random blue barrels

I have to admit, Dave and I both didn't want to go to "the property". It was the last thing we wanted to do since we didn't know how Carson would deal with the long car ride and the fact we were leaving to go to St. George this coming Tuesday. Dave's Grandpa and Grandma Petty own about 15 acres of land up Spanish Fork Canyon in Duchesne County. Dave and I didn't decide to go until after our fishing trip around 11:00 pm. Dave knew that he would regret not going up with his family from Missouri that he never gets to see. It's also walking down Memory Lane for Dave and his family, so we went. I have to say that we actually had a really fun time up there. Carson did awesome. He didn't cry once on the way or coming home from the property. He stayed awake until we got to Spanish Fork and then slept until we got to the property. Then he slept all the way home from the property, so we were all happy campers.

We got to see Big George (the camper), the treehouse, huts made from sticks by Dave and his brothers and sisters, and his cousins, the outhouse with the moon on the door, and the random trailor top and some blue barrels.

Carson's First Time Fishing

Carson fishing! Wow, he's holding his own pole!

Carson enjoying his Oreo cookie

Mom catching a fish

Grandpa catching a fish

Around 3 o'clock today, Dave, Carson and I got an invite to go with my parents and Gina and Beau to East Canyon to go fishing. It was short notice, but we made the best of it by grabbing our poles and tackle box and headed on up. Of coarse Little Miss Dummy forgot we'd left the fishing licences at home when we were about to go on the freeway, so we had to hurry and turn around. We got up there and we had a fun time. Our poles were cast out into the water for about 45 minutes. I am proud to say that my dad and I each caught one! Gina and Beau got to take them home for dinner. Dave hates cleaning them and preparing them and I don't really know how to, so we let them keep them. At least they became a meal for someone. It was fun because my Uncle Norm, Aunt Linda and her daughter, son-in-law and kids came as well. We weren't planning on meeting them there. They just told us the lucky spot and they were there when we got there.

When I caught my fish, it wouldn't reel in because my line was wrapped around one of the eyelets on the fishing pole, so I grabbed my line and pulled it in myself. I want to thank Dave for being the one to grab it and try to get the hook out of it's stomach or throat. The fish had the hook in there good and we couldn't get it out. It's so sad when fish start gagging and fighting for air. It's so weird how excited you become when you catch one. You're sad to make it die, but you're so happy that you catch it. I guess we're never happy.

Carson had a blast. He got to hold on to the pole for a bit, with our help. He also got to eat some yummy Oreo cookies, so that made his day. We all had a very fun time!

Happy Birthday Utah

Carson with his mommy

Carson hugging his cousin Maile

Carson and Maile intrigued with the fireworks

Carson on the trampoline

Carson swinging with his cousins Noah and Baden

Carson with his cousin Maddie

The 24th of July is one of my favorite days of the year. I guess if I lived in another state, it wouldn't be. I remember when I was little, on the 24th of July, we would always go to my Uncle Norm's house because it was my cousin Alyssa's birthday. We would go swimming in their pool, eat lots of hamburgers and hot dogs until we made ourselves sick, and then count down the hours until it was time to light fireworks. Now that I've grown up, things are a lot different. It's funny how things aren't as fun as they were when you were a kid. I think the funnest thing now is watching all of my nieces and nephews "ooohhh and aaawww" over each firework. The food is still good too!

This year Aunt Pam, Uncle Bruce and Sam and Mandy with their 4 girls came to Utah to celebrate this wonderful state-wide holiday. They live in Liberty, Missouri. It was so fun to get to know them better. They are so nice. We also got the pleasure of hanging out with Leisa and Scott Allen and their kids. They live in Santaquin so we don't' get to see them very often. Before I met Dave, Leisa lived in my ward. Every time she would walk in with those adorable redheads and the blonde one, everyone would smile and lean over to each other how cute they all are. Then she moved. It was so weird because I never thought that I would see them ever again, but Leisa is Pam's daughter, which makes her Dave's cousin. So, it's nice to see all the cute redheads and now 2 blonde ones.

We had a fun BBQ at Doug and Angela's house and Carson even got to go swimming. This swimming experience was a little nicer since the water had been sitting out in the sun for a few hours. I didn't have my camera until after I Carson was done swimming, so I didn't get any pictures. I bet everyone is shocked about that! I am a picture taking freak! Carson got to swim, swing, Jump on the trampoline, eat yummy food and had a lot of fun with all of his cousins. He got pretty hungry when we all started gathering for fireworks, so the first few scared him. Hey, screamers still make my ears hurt. Then after his bottle, we came outside and he loved the fireworks. He loves his cousin Maile! He got to sit on the chair with her and enjoy some fireworks. He even gave her a few hugs. We had an awesome time with the family!

Carson's Accomplishments

Over the past month Carson has learned to do some really fun things.

1. He has learned how to drink from a straw.
2. Dance to music (mom playing Guitar Hero).
3. Smack his lips after he tastes something yummy or sees something he thinks is going to be yummy.
4. He is starting to recognize things. We'll say, "where's the fan?" and he'll look up and point at it. We'll also say, "where's the dog" and he'll look around for Duncan and point at him when he finds him. The other night Dave had a bouncy ball and a golf ball and Dave would tell him which one to get and he'd grab the right one every time.
5. When he puts something into his mouth from off of the floor we'll say, "give it to mom/dad." and he'll pull it out of his mouth and put it into your hand.
6. He has learned what hugs are. We'll tell him to give us hugs and for the most part he'll give you one.
7. He has learned how to walk. THAT'S RIGHT!! Dave and I are so excited to tell all of you that he is starting to walk. He doesn't go far. He mostly does it after Dave gets home from work because he is so excited to see his daddy. He just needs to learn how to get up and walk now. He will pull himself off of things and walk to something a little ways from him and grab onto that, but he can't get himself up and walk.

I had to do that one last to surprise everyone. Within the last few days that walking started at non-existent to semi-pro!