gimme gimme!!!

First Five Gimme Gimme
From the lovely Lana Stewart, Sherrie Hanna and Michelle Cluff

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. for you. this offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2. What I create will be just for you.

3. It’ll be done this year. {translation: you may be waiting a little while}

4. You have no clue what it’s going to be … it may be cards, a poem, a bookmark, something yummy or a complete surprise to you (and me!) … who knows? not you, that’s for sure!

5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

6. Most importantly, you must offer the same deal on your blog - the first 5 people to comment on your blog (or if you do not have a blog, facebook) get something made by YOU! the first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me …

Carson's Favorite Food!

Carson is an okay eater, he doesn't try everything we put in front of him, but he does eat most things and I have a list of sure-fire foods that he will eat if he refuses everything else. He loves raisins, peaches, bananas, grapes, apples, pancakes, peeled cucumbers, green bell peppers (raw and sliced into "sticks" as Emma calls them), bread, and noodles - especially spaghetti. Spaghetti is his favorite food lately. It is so messy, but he loves it and I love to watch him eat it - sometime I will get a video, but for now I just have photos. I take a scoop of noodles, add a small scoop of sauce, mix it up really well and cut it all together, then I just put it in front of him on his highchair and the fun begins! He uses both hands to take hand fulls of spaghetti and one by one shove it into in mouth! He even makes a noise like he is attacking his hand when he take a bite. I will say a lot of it ends up on his bib, but we just scoop it up from his bib and place in his sight for another round! It is so funny! On spaghetti night he eats more then Emma even - it is impressive!

Learning something new everyday!

This is an older picture, I am sorry, but on my way to catch up on my blog, this is one that is so great I want to show it off. Emma has been learning how to write her letters and spell words, smaller words like mom, dad, Emma, Carson, stop, go, cat, dog... little things. She is just starting, but it is really fun to watch her learn new things everyday. She now writes her name on every paper she colors on and anything she can. This picture is of one of her other words - you can tell who her favorite person is!

We Have A Walker!!!

Carson has been walking along our furniture for the last couple months. In the last month he has used the furniture as his pathway through the house, walking with his hand on the walls, but never all by himself. Then in the last few weeks he has been building up his bravery for the first few steps. He would go from Jared to myself and back, but only when we were egging him on. Then last week he walked without being coaxed. I was on the floor a few feet away and he was standing next to his bike, he slowly edged closer and then took about 4 steps all on his own! This was all great, everyday a little more and more... but the last few nights he has really started going... he walked all the way from the playroom to Emma's room (all the way down the hall for those of you who don't know our house). Tonight we finally thought to get the video camera while we practiced with him. He is still really unsteady, but he is braver everyday and getting better with every step. He still crawls when he wants to get somewhere fast, but he is using his legs more and more! Here is some video for you to see our cute little buddy in motion!

The Russia Vladivostok Mission

Jared's parents have been called to serve as mission presidents in Russia!!! They leave for the MTC June 24th and will be in their mission by July 1st!!! I am so happy for them, but it is a little bitter sweet because our baby is due July 24th. Also because T has been my kids best friend from the day they were each born. I will miss them both so much, but am very proud of them and excited for their new adventure.

Here is some info about Vladivostok - this is from a letter my Father-in-law sent out this morning to the family...

Our call is for two years because we are so isolated. We may be able to extend to three years if we have not gone stark raving mad at the end of two years. We are closer to San Francisco than to Moscow. The Trans Siberian Railway runs from Moscow to Vladivostok. It is over 9000 miles long. (Russia is a BIG country.)

We don't know any specifics about the number of members or
missionaries but we do know the mission extends north to the Arctic Ocean, east to the Bering Sea, south to the Sea of Japan and west to a line roughly north of the eastern border of Mongolia. Geographically, it is a huge mission. Yes, we can wave to Steve, Cammie and Logan, oh yes, and to Sarah Palin. We are closer to the Korean Temple than the Tokyo Temple. We will be closer to China and North Korea than we now are to Salt Lake!


Congrats Mom and Dad - we will all miss you dearly!!!

This is a test....

I hope it works!

Pancake Party!

Every other Friday my neighbor and I switch off taking each others kids. I have her kids on one Friday and she has mine on the next. Just for 2 hours, so not too long for the one who has the kids, but long enough for the one without kids to catch her breath after a long week. The last couple of times I have had my turn I have invite a few extras... I usually have Andy and Tony, they live across the street and are the cutest twins ever... I worry that when 16 rolls around we may have drama with who to choose, right now she loves them both! Sarah is a new addition to the rotation and so even though she was an extra for this pancake party, starting in February, she is part of the Friday Gang - but her Mom just had a baby, so I figured, she NEEDED a break! Then Emma and I also invited Jackson and Broder - they are Sherrie's kids, who watches Emma and Carson 1 day a week - they love to play together. Also in the mix is Libby Ann, she is new in our neighborhood and I though this would be a great way to have her get to know the other Sunbeams! So that is them - 8 kids (including mine) for A Pancake Play Date!

All the kids came over from 8-10 in their PJ's (it's just easier) and have breakfast, then play until their Moms or Dads come to get them. They have tons of fun picking what kind of pancake they want - "snowman" is the most popular, but last week Emma started requesting different shapes and so that also became fairly popular. Then they destroy the playroom for a hour or so with puzzles, tea parties, dress up and more, it usually spills into the living room and family room as well, but I try not to worry to much, because as long as they are all getting along, I don't care where they play. Around 9:30 Carson has to go down for his nap, so I have them clean up the extra room (just put all the toys into the play room - it's too much to clean that too), then they color quietly for a few minutes or play down stairs while I put Carson down. It works out great because by that time the Moms and Dads start arriving and we say good-bye.

I know it sounds silly, but I love when Emma gets to play with her friends. The winter time is so hard for that and so any opportunity we have to get a little friend time, I am all for. The kids are all pretty good and the "freak outs" and minimal. More then anything, I love to see them interacting with each other, listening to their little conversations and watching them pretend... this is such a fun age!

PS: anyone have any pancake ideas to keep them interested... I was thinking next time doing them in the shapes of letters... what else?

Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam!

January 4th was Emma's first day in Primary! The Saturday morning before her teachers came over to introduce themselves and to get Emma excited about Sunbeams with a yummy treat. Her teachers are Sis. Osborn (who was one of her Nursery leaders) and Sis. Noble (who is Eli's Grandma, which means Emma has been going over to her house since she was a little baby). She was so excited for her teachers to visit her and I was relieved to know who they were, I was a little nervous she wouldn't know them and it take a little warming up, but she knew both well and loves both of her teachers and so this made my nervousness fade quickly. The following Sunday she was assigned to give the scripture. Psalms 82:6 All of you are children of the Most High. She had it memorized like a champ, I went up with her to help, but was not needed. She sat so cute folding her arms in the front until her turn, when she march up the steps to the podium, grabbed the microphone and loudly gave her scripture... no shyness with this one! During class that day she even got a CTR ring, which she proudly wore until I could get it away from her... just until we don't have brothers that put everything in their mouths!

Since then it has been so much fun to hear about what she has learned in Primary. She loves to show us any pictures she has colored and tell us all about the lessons she learned. It is so fun watching her grow and learn in the gospel!

The Flash!

This is my first step to "catching up."

Recently Jared, Emma, Carson and I went to the Orem Flash game. They are a local D League team. It was really fun! We went with the Wattleworth family (minus Rebecca, because she just had Cali that day), so Emma was so excited to play with her buddy Sarah. While we were there we got to visit with the Flash Fox and also saw Austin Ainge! For those of you who don't know Austin Ainge was a past-star BYU player and is now recruiting for the Celtics, where his Dad Danny Ainge is a coach. We had a great time, it was a really fun family outing and Jared was especially happy to be able to mix some guys time (with Dan) and family time. It was a lot of fun! GO Flash! Thanks for the invite Wattleworth Family!

Need to catch up!

Does anyone else ever feel like they are behind in blogging? I feel like this is following the same trend as scrapbooking or journal writing. I have a lot of cute pictures and experiences, but I am getting backed up and put it off to "catch up" later. I am the only one with this problem?