Sunday Drive In Big Cottonwood Canyon

Today after conference our family went for a drive to look at the fall colors. We were a little late because there wasn't much red, but it was still beautiful! I hardly ever take shots of just nature. We think they are pointless when you don't have someone in them, but I couldn't help myself. I love this beautiful earth that was created especially for us.

Three Day Pet

Today our family had a nice lazy day. We watched conference and after we went for a ride to visit some friends. We came home, and I was on the stairs going down to the apartment and I saw what I thought was a mouse. I freaked out started running back up while Dave and Carson were opening the apartment to rush inside. Of coarse Dave had no idea why I was freaking out. Finally I calmed down enough to say the word mouse. If all of you know Dave well enough, he gave me the famous "Park Look" as if he didn't believe me and he said, "whatever". He never believes anything I say anyways. I got the guts to run outside with the camera and zoom in on the little rodent in the back corner under the stairs. I snapped some shots and ran inside. When I showed Dave, he said, "that's not a mouse, it's a hamster." I immediately felt better about our little friend and suddenly became really worried for it. I kept taking Carson out to look at him and he was fascinated by it. He begged all day long to go outside in the cold and wet weather to see our friend. We even named it Albert for Albert Brenaman off of the movie Hitch.

The next day I decided to fed it some cheese. (can you tell I've never had a hamster?) Jer and Ann told me to feed it cheerios, lettuce and carrots. I made him a little bowl of food and he downed it! I then felt bad that he was out in the cold, so I trapped him in a cardboard box and let him come inside. I wish I would've video taped my attempt to catch the thing! I was freaking out the whole time, but my worry for it overcame my fear and I finally got it into the box. I got it some water and food and he dug at the box the whole night. Monday morning Dave and I knew that if I didn't set the box outside, it would go through it and get into the apartment. We were right. I came home from work and Carson and I saw he had chewed a hole through the back of the box. That thing would've been roaming around the apartment if we didn't out it outside.

Finally, Tuesday after work Carson and I came home to find the back corner and the box totally empty. The hamster had moved on. Carson still goes out and looks for it every time we leave the house. He's so cute. I knows what a hamster is and hopefully he'll understand when he is older that we will never have a pet hamster!

HELP

Somehow when I changed my template. my friends and family list erased! The blogger dashboard has changed and I don't know how to get to the layout to fix things. If anyone knows how to help me, I'd really appreciate it. It's sad how I don't know how to work things!

Freaking Excited

Carson with his upset tummy

YAY!!!! I just wanted to tell EVERYONE on the planet earth that my computer is now working! I am getting all of my pictures downloaded and copied on discs. When we sent our computer in, we were afraid that we had lost a lot of pictures and videos that we had of Carson. Luckly it was just the mother board of something and not the hard drive. So, we have all of our pictures!! I haven't checked our internet from home because I am at my parents using it. I am so happy that I can blog and look at everyone's blogs are well! I have really missed staying in contact with everyone.

Carson has had some sort of stomach problem lately! What else?? He was throwing up and now he won't eat anything. I think is on the mend though. Dave is my hero. I do not deal well with throw up. I can have my hand in someone's stomach, do vein strippings, etc...but when someone throws up, I'm done. I cry.

Things are going great. I will be adding pictures to past blogs and I'm going to start blogging about past things as well, so feel free to look at them!

One After The Other

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who offered their help with our computer. We contacted HP and they are sending us a package to put our computer in and we'll send it in and they are going to fix it for free, even though our warranty is up.

I just wanted to vent. I think being a mom is the hardest thing ever sometimes. I hope I am not the only one who feels that way. Just when you think something is over and your kid is going to be happy again, something else hits them. His rash isn't all the way healed, but now he has an ear infection in his right ear, and the antibiotics are for sure going to give him more diaper rash. I feel so bad for him. We won't have to change our diaper changes because everytime we change him we use 3 layers of creams anyway.

This is his 4th ear infection. We talked to the doctor about getting tubes, but he wants us to wait during the winter. If he gets one, goes on the antibiotic, and then a week or two later, he gets another one, then they will consider tubes. I talked to an ENT doctore that I work with and he suggested the same thing. I hope it's not a hard winter.

Rash Disaster

Fanning Carson's Fanny

I am seriously getting blogging with drawls! I miss blogging and leaving comments on every one's blog as well. We need to take Jim's advice and have Dave take our computer into his work to have the IT guys look at it. I haven't been able to read any of my comments for a while, so yeah.

Carson has been better. A week ago, we both got sick, yet he has had this lingering sickness that has caused him horrible diaper rash! It got so bad that he has burns on his bottom. I think I tried too many things all in the same day and it made it worse. It is so sad. It's getting better though. I have some pictures of it on my phone from Wednesday and it looks so much better when you compare the two. Diaper changes have been more frequent and more of a battle than ever! It was so nice to have Dave home at the end of the day so he could help me hold him down. Luckily he is on the mend and he is starting to become his happy self again. (Thank goodness!)

As for me, I am all better. It didn't take long for me to recover, but I missed my two days of work (ouch) and I am back to running again. Kelli and I have been running almost everyday. The past two days I've gone alone, but I feel so much better when I go. I think it releases a lot of stress, especially diaper rash stress.

Dave is doing well. He is actually making an effort to go in the mornings and get some exercise. I am proud of him. He has the immune system of a super hero. He never gets sick. I am jealous. I guess I need more Usana vitamins!

Still Not Working

Hey everyone! I feel so lost without my computer! Our computer screen is not coming on when we turn on our computer. We bought a new AC adaptor, but it's not that. The HP website said it may be our memory module, but Dave and I don't know computers well enough. If any of you know anyone who could fix our computer at a good rate or just tell us where our memory module is, that would be awesome!

I miss being able to blog. I feel like there hasn't been a lot going on anyway, but our family is still doing well and things are still the same. We love the apartments and the ward. Everyone has been so nice to us! Carson is such a busy body. I think it's so funny how weird or dumb I feel sitting out in the foyer all of the time, but whenever I am in Sunday school or Relief Society I feel he's the loudest thing ever! I think all moms feel the same.

Well, Carson is still saying "ball". Everything round is a ball though. I was eating a peach for breakfast and he got this big smile on his face and pointed at it and said, "ball". He says "no" waaaaayyyy to much!

I hope that you are all doing well and I hope to get my computer up and running soon!

Swiss Days

Today I got to go to Swiss Days with Ann and her sister Carrie and her daughter, Miranda and her sister Kindra (if I spell names wrong, let me know) and mom, Kelli and Jen. It was way fun! I haven't had that much fun in a while. I loved the atmosphere and the breakfast we had was delicious! We all bought the same table and shelves! I totally didn't go to spend a lot of money, but I did anyway. It was nice to be baby free for the day because it had been such a long and lonely week without Dave because of Usana's Convention. We were lucky enough to go there yesterday and visit Dad and see all of the awesome people he works with.

A lady that has dealt with Dave over the phone a couple of times came to the booth looking for him and brought him some See's Chocolates. She had never met him before and was anxious to meet him. Dave was helping someone else and she saw me. She asked me if I was his wife and I told her yes and she raved over him and how much she appreciated his customer service. It was so nice to meet her and have her say those kind things about him. I think we all go to work and wonder why we don't get recognized for certain things, but Dave always does. The people he works with do and the people he works for do as well.

Anyway, Swiss Days was the bomb and I am already saving up for next year. I have to get things to buy for my shelf now.

Computer Problems

Hey everyone! I have wanted to post pictures, but I have been using my parent's computer because our computer needs a new A/C adaptor. Our screen won't turn on and so I can't get to my pictures. I don't even know where the cord is to our camera so I can upload my pictures onto my parent's computer, so I will just keep updating as much as I can until things are running again! I have to post pictures with my blogs, so I will do that soon!

Obsession

Okay, I have no idea where Carson has gotten this from, but he is obsessed with eyelashes. If he doesn't have something in his hands constantly, he plays with his eyelashes or mine and Dave's. In the morning, we'll get Carson out of his crib and one of us will just bring him back into the room and put him in the middle. I think we do this hoping he'll go back to sleep so we can get more sleep. Well, it never happens. Once he's awake, he's ready to go. Anyway, this morning, Dave brought him in and I was still asleep and Carson started pulling on my eyelashes. It seriously hurts! He is so funny. I think he gets it from me because I can't hold still. My hands have to be constantly doing something. That is probably why I am a Surgical Tech. You have to keep your hands busy the whole time. He could get it from his dad though. Dave is a very productive person who loves to get things done. Who knows? I just haven't seen any baby love their eyelashes as much as Carson does.

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!