New Jammies

I am a huge sucker for new cute jammies, so when Old Navy had their 40% off sale, I went a little nuts! How cute are these boys in their adorable "Chicks Dig Me" jammies?! Also you may notice Preston in motion walking toward me in this picture. Yes everyone, Preston is finally somewhat walking! Not completely, he still crawls, but for the most part is trying to walk without being forced which is HUGE for him.
Here is Presto trying to sit on James' head. Whenever James is on the ground the boys think that he is a jungle gym and climb all over him. I can use this picture in a few years to bribe him with!

New Frames

For all of you sick of reading about Carter, I got these frames that I ordered on Friday from my cousin Jamie. She started her own business (she's a newlywed going to school) called Hanging Memories which she makes frames, paints them and puts a cute scrapbook page inside and you just have to add the picture! I got 4 for my house. One for each of my boys' rooms, my family room, and my bedroom. Her website is www.hangingmemories.net for any that are interested, or she has a booth at the Provo Quilted Bear. Thanks Jamie!! I love them!! Now I just need to get the pictures developed that I want to put in them...

for my family room
bedroom
carter's room
preston's room

Happy Birthday

Stick 'em up!
Aunt Mellie came over to give Carter some fun cowboy stuff for his birthday. He loved it and was carrying the gun around with him all day! I couldn't stop laughing at these pictures. The mask looks so funny!
We told Carter he could go wherever he wanted for dinner that night, so he wanted to go to Cabela's. James is always the one that takes the boys up there so it was my first experience there. It is pretty cool actually! The animals are really neat and kept my kids entertained even though they have been there several times. This is James and Carter feeding the fish.

They have this button to push to make the guy in the scene talk. Carter pushed it about ten times so we learned alot about the white tailed deer and such! We ended the night with going to Grammy's house to play since she missed his party and wanted to wish him a happy birthday. What a fun filled week we have had. I am so grateful for such a wonderful little boy who makes me laugh constantly and will throughout the day just randomly say, "Mommy, I love you so much." Does it get any better than that?

Birthday Cake

How cute is this cake? Carter mentioned he wanted a frog cake (although he mentioned about 12 other things he wanted after that, but we stuck with this) so we found this design online and loved it. It only took one cake mix which I was pretty surprised about. Carter also picked the strawberry cake mix out because he wanted it to be pink, his favorite color! haha It turned out pretty good I thought. James did most of it, but I did help pipe the frosting on!

Birthday Bash

Since Carter's birthday is on Friday this year, we thought that a party on a Friday night might be a little busy so we did it last night. James found this new place called the Kid Barn which has all sorts of blow up slides and obstacle courses to play on. It was a hit! He had all of his cousins come over to our house first to sing and eat cake and ice cream. Eating dessert first?! Who wouldn't love that? We carpooled up there and the kids got to play for a couple of hours followed up by Uncle Kevin's 5 Buck Pizza for dinner. Carter was having so much fun he didn't know what to do with himself! If you look at the picture in the middle of him, his eyes are huge! We took this right as he got there and he was so overwhelmed! Hilarious! Thanks for all who came, he loved it.

Army dudes

Our friend Dan will be deploying to Iraq soon and came over the other day to give James a TON of army gear. Of course James loved it, and decided to dress the boys up too. Carter thought he was the coolest kid around with his army guy hat. Thanks Dan! Good luck!

Carter Week

In honor of Carter turning three this Friday, this week will be posts all about him and his fun and crazy life! I took these pictures this morning because I felt like he woke up and looked older overnight! Does that happen to any of you? He is holding a homemade valentine that he got from his cousin Austin last night. He loved it! He had it all last night and then first thing this morning that is what he asked for. I love my Carter, he makes me laugh all the time. Three years old?! Wow, time is flying by!

Sleepy Head

I just had to post some good news for the morning. Well let me give you some background first...Carter is and always has been an early riser. It doesn't matter what time you put him to bed, his internal clock in his brain always says to get up between 6:30-7:30 (7:30 is a RARE occasion). The last couple of days his schedule has been a little thrown off because he stayed up until almost 11 on Monday night waiting for us to get back from James' work party, and then woke up at 6:30 the next morning. His nap for the day was later then usual, etc. etc. So I knew that he was really tired so I put him to bed at 7:30 last night. Here comes the good news...He slept in until 10:10 this morning!!!! This has never happened in the history of his existence! I seriously went to check on him about 3 times just to make sure he was still breathing. Needless to say, I got to watch all the shows that I had DVR'd from the night before, got a little one on one time with Preston, and had a happy boy that was hungry and ready to go potty when he finally woke up. It is a good start to the day...

Snow, Sickness, & Birthdays

I know that I just posted and complained about the snow, so I won't do that again, but had to post these pictures for my inlaws to be "jealous" of all the snow we got! These were actually taken last Sunday when we got dumped on before church. James ended up helping shovel about 4 or 5 neighbors driveways and getting a really great workout before the Superbowl. The snow is up to his knees! It hasn't snowed this much in Utah in a long time!

Carter had to take advantage too and make some snow angels.
Since the snow has been so bad we have been in the house alot. Well just as the snow starts to let up a little, Preston gets majorly sick on Wednesday morning. I fed him his bottle and instantly it all came back up and then some. I spent the rest of the day cleaning up throw up or trying to get him to the sink in time. I was hoping it was a 24 hour thing but it has continued on until I hope today. 5 days!! I have never seen a stomach flu this bad before. He has just been wanting me to hold him 24/7 and has also been waking up every night at 1-2 am. Today he has kept everything down so far and is acting like his normal self. He was just sick a few weeks ago! Winter is not fun! On a lighter note, February is my family's month of birthdays. We have 8 birthdays this month alone! Shauna my oldest sister turned 36 on the 5th. I kept teasing her about how old she was and how I still had a good 9 years on her, which she didn't appreciate too much! It really is weird that she is that old though, because I remember my mom being that age. So weird. We took her out to Chili's with the girls and had a great time. I love my sisters! Happy Birthday Shauna!
Shauna, me, Bethany, Melanie, mom

Random Happenings at Our house

I am definitely starting to get cabin fever. It has been snowing in Utah almost every day it seems, so therefore we haven't been outside much. Carter is cranky, I'm cranky, and I want the snow to stop!! I have shoveled the driveway twice this week and that is a big deal since James loves to shovel. I had to so he could get in the driveway! Mainly I just hate driving in it. I have to go to Orem tonight and am not looking forward to driving on the freeway. Here is what I have been seeing out my window every day for atleast 2 weeks:

This was this morning
SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!!
I forgot about this picture but had to post it for the Brits. James for Christmas got a deep fat fryer from my parents and finally tested it out last Friday by making traditional English fish and chips. They were so tasty and the boys loved it too!(notice Preston in the picture ready to take a huge bite) It smelled like fish in our house for 2 days after and killed my diet plan,but it was so worth it! I love that James loves to cook!

Finally I just had to include Carter's pictures he took. I found the camera this morning with honestly atleast 30 pictures like the ones above. Probably 25 were of the keyboard alone. So funny. Sneaky little boy! Too bad he left evidence of who it was that took the pictures! Carter has also let me know that I am 4th on the list of people that he loves the most. In first place is Daddy, 2nd place is Aunt Mellie, 3rd place is Grammy, and then I take 4th. He was so matter of fact about it too. You gotta love the honesty! He has also recently started saying What? after EVERYTHING I say, even before I have finished my sentence. I finally have stopped repeating myself because I know he hears me. My nephew Blake used to do the same thing when he was younger and it drove my sister crazy! Now it's my turn I guess.

1910-2008

The prophet of our church, President Gordon B. Hinckley at 97, passed away last night at around 7pm. I have been very emotional all day seeing news clips of his life and his work while here on earth. He was an amazing man. I loved this picture of him because I thought it captured who he truly was. I think I loved him so much because he seemed so down to earth and real. I loved his humor and little one liners during his conference talks and in interviews with the media. I think the thing that I loved most about him was the way he loved his wife. I am sure it was a sweet reunion with her since they have been apart almost three years. He also had such great respect for women and was always praising us for all the things that we do. I appreciated that! I am so grateful that he was the prophet for 13 years and for all of his wonderful service around the world. It's amazing how much one person can make a difference in so many others lives. He will be greatly missed.

Fun Quiz

I have always wanted to go to Paris since I was in junior high and now this quiz has reaffirmed it! I can't wait to try that great wine...haha

You Belong in Paris

Stylish and expressive, you were meant for Paris. The art, the fashion, the wine! Whether you're enjoying the cafe life or a beautiful park... You'll love living in the most chic place on earth.

What City Do You Belong In?

Training Sessions

James and I went on a trip to Denver/Steamboat Springs, Colorado last weekend but my camera died before I got a chance to take any pictures of the trip. I am so bummed, but the trip was so much fun!! I got to hang with my best friend Kate for her birthday and James got to ski. All in all, a great time all around. I have been meaning to blog about this for awhile so since I have no weekend pictures of Denver, my personal trainer is the second best news. For my birthday James got me three personal training sessions with Trevor (see picture below which I stole from his myspace page) I know, once again, I really do have the best husband ever who thinks of awesome gifts for me! We know Trevor since he is my brother-in-law Carl's brother, so he gave us a killer deal. Thanks Trev!
I have had 2 of the three sessions, and loved it. If you ever have the chance to get a trainer, do it! I did a session last night and my arms are dying today! He showed me a bunch of new techniques and different ways of working out. Our first session was all legs which was so hard since I had done a step class the day before which was all legs too! Yesterday we worked on chest and triceps. One hour of chest and triceps, kill me! My arms felt like jello by the end. Next session we work on biceps and abs. So excited. I know, I'm weird.
I also have to give a shout out to my new running shoes. I got the Nike + shoe, which has a little red circle thing you put in the bottom of the shoe and it hooks up to your ipod and tells you how far you have run, your pace, calories burned, etc. It is amazing!! It also ranks you on all previous workouts as to how well you did compared to this workout. Very cool. You'd think I was totally in shape wouldn't you with all these new workouts and trainer? Think again! I'm getting there slowly but surely...

Goodbye Kami

My neighborhood is notorious for people moving in and out often(I'm still hoping this will change with the housing market dropping). Sometimes it makes me not want to get to know the new people or if they know they are only going to be there "temporarily" I don't make a lot of effort. I went to go visit Kami when she first moved in and found out that she was only staying for a year, but I just thought she was one of the coolest girls I had met in a long time and really wanted to get to know her better. Thankfully we got put together in the Relief Society presidency at church and got to become great friends. I could chat with her for hours about whatever and we did! Tonight we had a going away party for her because she moves next week. I just wanted to thank her for being the great person that she is and for always being so upbeat and positive. I think people come in and out of our lives for a reason, and I am so grateful to have gotten to know this awesome girl. I'll miss you Kami! Don't be a stranger!

Christmas Kitchen

I know you are wondering why I am showing a picture of Christmas when it is the middle of January. Well folks, this picture was taken yesterday right after finally getting our kids their kitchen from Walmart. We had one on Christmas day that of course didn't work so we went to take it back and they said they had none left in stock and weren't sure if they were getting more in ever! They gave us our money back and we were clueless as to what we should do. We just kept checking back every week and finally James found one and it was on clearance for about 30 bucks cheaper! The boys are so thrilled with it. It teaches them about the food and makes sizzling and boiling noises. My cousin April informed me that it wasn't that cool because it didn't have a phone on it, but we will have to make it work! :) You know it is a good toy when they are still playing with it the next day! Preston wants to pretend he's big and can cook food like his brother. How cute are these boys?! Thanks Grandad and Grandma English!

CHEESE!! (Carter's favorite thing to do for a picture lately)
It knows what food you are using and will tell you what to cut etc. Pretty cool!
Two boys hard at work

Blogger's Block

I know it has been nearly a century since I last blogged, but really I haven't had anything all that exciting to say. Okay, so I know none of my blogs are that "exciting" anyway, but I haven't had a lot going on along with not any desire to upload pictures or type, so therefore, no blogging. We have all been sick this past week. Preston has a double ear infection which we only found out because he started to get pink eye. Poor little dude. He has been so good and was still sleeping really well and was happy. He is such a good baby.
I have had a really bad cold and sore throat which has made me just want to sleep 24/7. I finally think I am over it today and will be back at the gym tomorrow. I definitely need it after eating about 10 cookies and a brownie tonight. Yikes. I had been in the house for 2 days doing nothing and had started to feel better last night so I told James we had to get out of the house and do something. We went out to Chilis with my fam and then went and saw the movie Juno. Hilarious. I loved it. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone over the age of 35, but I thought it was very well written and had a good message. I haven't laughed that much in a long time!

As for other highlights of the past two weeks, I got the most bunkos at my bunko group on Tuesday and won a gift certificate for a free massage! Yay! James helped my brother Kevin clean up all the construction mess at his new house yesterday, so they will be moving in next weekend. We are so excited to have them closer to us! I had Preston sitting on my lap the other day and I was feeding him some of my bran flakes. Carter decided that he wanted to share his cereal and proceeded to start feeding Presto. It was the cutest. I had to capture it on film.

Other than that, just been doing the usual. Cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, making bottles, just being a mom. Pretty exciting I know! See you're even bored reading this post! That has been my life for 2 weeks! I am looking forward to my upcoming vacation...

Resolutions

Looking back at my post from last January, I accomplished my goals of finishing the Salt Lake half marathon (wahoo!) and becoming a better blogger (high speed internet also helped out with that!) I think by making too many resolutions and not making them specific enough, we tend to fail at them. So, I am going to keep this short and sweet. This year I want to lose 15-20 pounds like I said in a previous post, I know it is so cliche but it is a fact of life, Finish the Provo half marathon, and paint my downstairs living area before we go on our cruise in March. Am I shooting to high? I hope not. What are some of your resolutions, big or small?

Ski Day

I was going to pair this up with my resolutions list but decided Carter needed his own little post. How adorable is he on these tiny skis? James has been dying to get him on the slopes since he was born so I finally let him take him up to Alta yesterday. He loved it! I guess they have a little tow rope that takes you up a hill that you can ski down for free. James held him all the way down and he loved going "super fast".
At one point he told James to come on and decided to ski off by himself (they were at the bottom of the hill). He ran into the barrier on the side, but James was so proud!
I am sure his favorite part of the day was getting hot chocolate at the lodge after a long 2 hours of skiing. I know that is my favorite part! When they were walking to the car to go home he begged James to go skiing again. It made James' day just to hear that Carter had enjoyed it so much. He said they would come again soon, so Carter climbed in the car and was asleep in about 2 minutes. Cute boys.

Party Time

Like I said in a previous post, we have had something going on every night over the holidays! Here are a few pictures from all the fun parties we have been too.

My cousin Cathy and her husband Mike have a great New Years Party every year (almost) that we love to attend! This year she gave us one strand of beads to wear and if you caught someone else saying the word "okay" you could take their beads from them. Whoever ended up with the most beads by the end of the night won a prize (which was me of course). We also played the newlywed game and were all cracking up at some of the answers the guys thought up. Good times. This picture reminds me of the 15-20 pounds I want to lose this year, but my resolutions go on a different post...
My aunt Mary turned 50 years old on the 29th! We had a fun family birthday bash for her on Sunday. Rick also had a birthday so we sang to both of them. It was fun. Happy Birthday aunt Mary! I can't believe you are 50!!
the party goers
my mom and cousins

Temple Square

We hadn't been up to Temple Square to see the lights yet, so Saturday night we took the boys up there. I haven't been in downtown Salt Lake for awhile obviously because I had no idea how much construction was going on! They have torn down the whole crossroads mall! It was really weird to see. To make matters worse, there was NO parking anywhere. We finally decided to park in the conference center. Once we got down to the gate it said "10 dollars in cash only". Of course me being the cheapskate I am about choked, but of course someone was pulling up behind us so there was no turning back. 10 dollars?! Ridiculous. I finally had to shrug it off and enjoy the lights.

view from the conference center
the nativity in the background
Carter was obsessed with the horses outside of temple square that give the carriage rides. He was so excited when he was allowed to pet one. The driver doesn't look too thrilled though! In case you were wondering the horse's name was Jerry(Carter has told me this about 1000 times). The lights were beautiful as always and the boys actually did really well. We had to run to an ATM to get some money out to have ten dollars in cash. We get up to the gate and they say you have to have EXACT change. Are you serious? Who has exact change anymore? Luckily the people in front of us couldn't get their 10 dollar bill to work so they just gave it to the man in the booth. (what his job was if he wasn't taking the money, I don't know) Irritated, we exchanged our 20 for his 10 and were on our way. I hate paying for parking!!