The Piersons

Carson and his Red Shirt

2012-01-23T17:43:00.000-08:00

Now I know that if you read my blog you probably don't see me on a daily, weekly or regular basis. Well except my Mom. :) But if you have seen us since 2012 began then you would have seen my sweet boy in his red shirt. Carson has been wearing the same red shirt, day and night since 2012 began. We make him take it off for church but other than that its just not worth the fight. We are not sure what caused this love affair but every time I think it may have passed and I get him to wear something else to go to bed or something when he wakes up he immediately starts saying, "take this off, take this off. Put on red shirt!" My sweet mother got him these pajamas for Christmas and ordered him another pair for washing. I've alerted all of his friends in his playgroup that I will hand out a reward if they can get him to take it off...none have been able to. I hear this is a two year old thing... let me tell you so fun. :)
He wears it for everything. The other night I couldn't find him when it was time to get ready for bed. I finally went into my room and flipped on the light to find this:

My sweet boy and our sweet dog. The fact that she made room for him is a big deal.
Carson is phasing out his nap and when he is awake and Camilla is sleeping we try to do some fun activities. After our painting day we definitely had to give red shirt a "bath."

He wears it when he hops, hops, hops all over our house. He also went through a brief phase of wanting to wear only my socks, but luckily that has passed.

Even when its freezing outside, he wants to wear only it when he goes to play in his new house. I scored this baby on the side of the road on trash day. I made Aaron pick it up after he got home from work that night.

Carson is in love with drums lately. He turns all of his toys into drums and can find anything to make his drum sticks. One night he came out of my bathroom with two nail files and immediately asked me for his drums. (I use old containers or food storage containers)

Carson is a very unique boy, said with all the love in my heart. Now that being said I better go and do some laundry and wash shirt #1 while my angel boy sleeps.

6 Months

2012-01-21T06:30:00.000-08:00

Our darling Camilla had her 6 month check up this week. I seriously love this age, it is the best! She is so interactive and social and fun, yet not moving...quite yet. Although she is giving it her best effort by already trying to crawl. Luckily she can usually just take one step and then falls over. But that is how we find her in the morning or after naps or anytime I leave her on the floor. Up on all fours, rocking, just waiting to make her move. :)Height: 26 1/4" (75th)Weight: 16 lbs. 5 oz. (55th)Head: 17.5" (90th)She's just growing away and we are loving the chucky, chunky legs! Big news for this month are that Camilla already has 2 teeth. (I didn't even notice when the first one broke through while we were in Arkansas for New Years) Random fact: Carson also got his first tooth while we were in Arkansas for New Years but it did not come in quite so smoothly. :)Also Camilla started eating rice cereal.

At first she had a hard time swallowing but now she loves eating up the whole bowl. Camilla continues to be our happy sweet baby. One morning Aaron went in to get her after she woke up and he came back into the room and said, "I think we should look up a word that means happy and smiley and rename Camilla to that." Its true, its how she is all the time. She wakes up happy, goes to bed happy and laughs her little heart out when we play games together.

Camilla is sitting up and falling down. She's not crazy about sitting when she has the possibility to be held in a standing position.

One day I decided to give the pacifier another try and she took it! I was so excited. It has made going to bed so much easier and quicker. I have loved having a baby who will take a pacifier. She also started sleeping more. I still wake her up to eat right before I go to bed and she sleeps the rest of the night. It has been nice to get more sleep. Although I still feel very tired. She is making this adorable grunting noise when she tries to talk to us.She loves to hold onto her feet and grab at everything. I find her in her room trying to hold onto her feet when she should be going to sleep. She loves to jump, juump, jump. When she is being held she wants you to hold her so she can jump and bounce.She has officially been for a run in the jogging stroller and enjoyed it while Aaron was out of town. The weather has been beautiful so we have also been on lots of walks which she loves. She is loving her bath time with her brother. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of the two of them. Camilla has the cutest chunkiest legs. We love them.

Sometimes your kids poop in the bath tub...it happens. And when it happens at our house we make an emergency transfer to the shower to disinfect, which luckily my kids also love.

Arboretum

2012-01-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

We decided to visit the Arboretum on a beautiful December day before heading to Arkansas for New Years and Cole's baptism. It was seriously beautiful weather and we had a wonderful time wondering around the arboretum with our family. Soon after we got there we were joined by Carson's cousins and my sisters in law and my Mom. The arboretum looks so different in the winter time but it was still so beautiful. Carson loved running around everywhere and especially all the water and ponds. When we went this fall we didn't even make it through a half of this place so it was fun to be able to see more. I wish that it was closer and we could go more often because it is so beautiful. The kids were worn out by the time we made it to the car they both fell asleep before we made it to the highway. Aaron and I were pretty worn out too.

Love my sweet family and loved having Aaron join us!

Christmas Day

2012-01-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

As soon as the kids were up we prepared Carson to come out for a big surprise. He walked into the living room and immediately gave it a scan. Well we had out for him a new bike, a t-ball set, and his new books. Well this little boy breezed right past the bike and toys and straight to the new books. He picked it up, came straight up to me and said, "mommy read it." We cuddled up on the couch and read it again and again until I told him that he had to check out his bike. He was pretty excited about it, perhaps a little more about the helmet. We rode around the living room until Camilla was up and we were ready to open presents.

Carson wasn't particularly interested in opening presents, like we thought he would be. But he did love them after he opened them. He did insist upon holding onto each present while he opened the next one. Camilla was also very excited about her new (to her) bouncing exer-saucer. It was a fun morning filled with all of Carson's favorite things. I filled his stocking with mandarin oranges which he got to eat while reading his new books. Then we had sausage rolls for breakfast.

After a wonderful church service, we headed down to visit Adam and Cassie and their brand new baby, Ella. Later we went to Arlington to eat dinner and open presents with my family and my brother, Stephen, and his family who had arrived early that morning. There Carson played with his cousins, Camilla enjoyed meeting her Aunt and Uncle and cousin, Abby, and we opened lots of fun presents. It was a fun, relaxing day spent with the people we love the most.

Christmas Eve

2012-01-04T19:54:00.000-08:00

These pictures just show you what my life is like with this Angel girl. This is how it is with my princess every day but I love how these pictures show how much fun we had the night before Christmas. I am pretty sure that I love the night before Christmas much more than the actual day of Christmas.

We started off the evening with an amazing dinner made by Aaron. We decided to make salmon this year for dinner and it was perfect. It tasted so amazing and was a fun change up for us. Aaron is amazing on the grill and this year he had his little helper. Plus someone had given Aaron a huge steak bone from a dinner out with his firm that week so Josie had a bone to enjoy the whole time. After dinner we read the nativity and tried to act it out with the Little People nativity. Carson was not so into it. I said, "Carson after dinner we are going to read a story about Jesus." He said, "hm....how about Alphabet Adventure?" I said, "no, a story about Jesus." He said, "no, Alphabet Adventure." Well we compromised on the Nativity and then Alphabet Adventure. And then Popsicles in the bathtub.

Then we got to open our Christmas pajamas. Well the kids got pajamas. Aaron got work out pants and I wanted lounge clothes because well, I live in them these days. Plus we let Carson open a present, a book, of course. He was so excited, Christmas could have ended right then and he would have been thrilled. After Camilla went down, we played with Carson and ran around the house, chased each other around the house, and scooted around the house. Finally we were all worn out and it was time to get to bed. Mom and Dad being much more excited about the coming morning than either of the kids.

December Fun

2012-01-04T19:26:00.000-08:00

AS part of our Christmas holiday fun we went with my family to the Gaylord to see the Ice show and do the sledding. Okay the ice show was SO cold. It was amazing to see the detail in the ice but poor Carson had a hard time getting into it. There was a slide at the end and I hope you can see the pure terror that came over Carson as he slid down. He did not like the fact that I put him on that slide to go down alone. By the end of the show our lips were blue but the end of the show is the coolest part. We were lucky enough to have Aaron come with us and that made it such a fun night.

After the ice show we went and did the sledding. While the hills looked small at first they actually moved really fast and we had a lot of fun racing down with my brothers. There were mostly just kids but I told the worker that I wanted him to spin me, ha ha, I have no shame in that.

How to take a walk...solved.

2012-01-04T12:03:00.000-08:00

And we are all very happy about it. :)

Family Pictures

2011-12-20T12:59:00.000-08:00

We were so lucky to have the very talented, Ambyr, take our family pictures this year. She did such a great job and let us tell you, she did not have much to work with! Carson was a little stinker and did not want to cooperate with anything we asked him to do. She was so great with him and we couldn't be happier with the results. When it was over we were like if she can find one good picture out of this we will be happy. We were thrilled to receive as many as we did, she is a miracle worker...seriously!

5 Months

2011-12-20T11:37:00.000-08:00

My sweet, sweet Camilla you are already 5 months old. I am loving this stage of your life, you are so much fun! You are such a little smiler. You want to smile all the time. Even when I go into to check on you at night and you wake up, you just roll over and smile at me. We are so in love with you. You continue to roll all over the place and you are loving your play mat and your exer-saucer. You are getting way more into your jumper in the bathroom but your favorite is to play with Mom or Dad on our bed. We love listening to your sweet noises and you just seem to be a very social baby. You are still only going 8 or 9 hours at night before you want to eat again but you usually eat and go right back to sleep but some mornings you and Mom are up and at 'em at 5 or 5:30. You are getting so much better in the car and stay in your seat at the store. You still don't have any hair but Mom keeps the bows on all the time. :) You are starting to be a little scared of your brother, for good reason but you still light up in the mornings and after your naps when he comes in to get you and plays in your crib with you. Carson also loves to "read" books to you at night before you go to sleep. We sure have a great life Camilla and you just love being along for whatever everyone wants to do!

Scrapbook

2011-12-15T11:50:00.000-08:00

So I finally finished Carson's baby scrapbook! It has taken me so long to get done but, of course, I love it. I can't believe it has taken me this long but I wouldn't let myself put up Christmas until it was done and so I finished it in time to get all of our Christmas decorations up. Aaron loves it and asked when I was going to get started on Camilla's. Um, no thank you. I love you Camilla, just as much as I love Carson, but you will have to make due with a digital book, preferably one that I just drop the pictures into.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T12:48:00.000-08:00

We had such a fun Thanksgiving this year, both of them were fabulous. We celebrated with dinner and the Carroll family on Wednesday night at my Uncle's house and it was very nice. It is a fancy dinner filled with lots of food and the weather was great. I had so much fun seeing my cousins and meeting the newest member of our family on that side and showing off sweet Camilla.
Then on Thanksgiving day we got together with Aaron's two brothers and we had such a great time. We were spoiled rotten with kids playing, yummy food, and gorgeous weather. We also spent time playing the wii and chowing down caramel apples. I loved all of the leftovers, we ate them for four days straight and Carson couldn't have been happier with all of his cousins and having his Dad home.
We also went and saw the Twilight movie, took many trips to the park, and stayed up late talking. I was so sad to have our visitors go home.
We are so grateful this year for all our many blessings, the biggest one of course being our happy, healthy baby girl.

4 Months

2011-11-28T12:15:00.001-08:00

My sweet Camilla had her 4 month check up last week. Four months, is time flying by for anyone else this fast?? This little babe is getting so big! We knew she was chunky but were pretty surprised to see just how big she has gotten.

Height: 25 3/4" (95th)

Weight: 14.6 lbs. (75th)

Head: 16" (50th) Although Mom and Doctor agree this must be a poor measurement as your head is quite large. :)

I feel like this fourth month is a big one for babies. You started doing just what Carson was doing at this age. Laughing all the time and being so ticklish. You are rolling over, whenever you roll yourself over while you are sleeping it wakes you up. Many evenings are spent walking into your room to roll you back over, even though you can roll yourself both ways. You are taking longer naps and giving Mom longer stretches between feedings. You just started playing in your jumper and love your activity mat. You love to reach out and grab the toys and stick them in your mouth. You would really like to suck your thumb but can't quite figure it out. The pacifier is O-U-T. You are taking the bottle like a champ and continue to be a great eater. No new developments on sleeping more at night, you seem to be stuck at waking up at 4 AM and daylight savings threw you for a loop. The question Mom gets asked all the time is, "is she always this good?" Yes its true, you really are; you have been the easiest, sweetest baby. You still love to see your big brother even after he uses your head as a fun place to bang his toys. :) You are finally sleeping all the time in your own room and I'm sorry my love but not much hair has grown in so Mom makes sure to keep a bow on your head at all times.

Nice dog...scared!

2011-11-21T10:19:00.000-08:00

So I have mentioned before that Carson loves our dog, Josie. I mean he really loves her. I genuinely think she is his best friend. I would say Carson spends 30 mins. to 1 hour playing with her every day. He follows her around the back yard doing everything she does, then he chases her and throws a ball to her. He also likes just playing around her. He takes his toys next to her and talks to her while he plays. He also likes to lay with her, cuddle with her, and climb on her. Sometimes he takes his cars and run them all over her. One of his jobs is to feed her and he gets so excited and does it too well some days when he gives her his own food too. Its pretty adorable.

Well here is something you don't know, Carson is SO scared of dogs. SO scared. He won't go near them, none of them. Not the little ones, not the big ones, not the nice ones, not the mean ones. He screams like crazy if one comes near him. He says, "nice dog, nice dog...so scared." We don't know what to do. We try holding him and taking him to pet them and showing him how nice they are and he still just looses it. I have to pick him up and carry him if one comes close. It is the funniest thing and we are not sure what started it or how to fix it. I am hoping he will grow out of it!

How to take a walk

2011-11-21T09:59:00.001-08:00

So let me just say we like to take walks around this house. I like them a lot, Camilla likes them okay, Carson would like to go on two walks a day, and Josie, well she would go on a walk any time we would take her. Well before Camilla was born I had the walk thing down. Carson likes to take long walks, unbelievably long, but it didn't really matter because it was just us and Josie and Carson just walked, didn't ever use a stroller. Well now we have Camilla and everything has changed!

First, I tried using my double stroller. I have a sit n stand stroller, which I love, but its not so great for walking really. I didn't really like pushing it so much.

Second, I tried just letting Carson walk and putting Camilla in the jogging stroller that is so much easier to push. Well Carson didn't like Camilla being in the stroller without him. All the sudden he wanted to be in a stroller and not walk. Sometimes he insisted upon pushing the stroller, without any help.

Third, I tried putting Camilla in the carrier and pushing the stroller for when Carson wanted to get in the stroller - that was a lot of work! Plus Camilla is getting big to carry around and she always falls asleep in the carrier, even when I don't want her to.

Fourth, I tried leaving Josie behind and went back to the double stroller. But I felt so guilty and when I came back one time she was waiting with her little nose poking out under the fence. Plus Carson loves walking with Josie and would ask for her the whole time.

Fifth, I tried pulling the wagon. That way Carson can get in when he wants and there is room for him and Camilla, plus room for water, snacks, etc. The wagon is also easy to pull.

So I think for now we have a winner, lucky number 5. I think I will like this better when Camilla can actually sit up. I'm so glad we got this all figured out just in time for the cold weather. :)

Halloween Time

2011-11-03T06:52:00.001-07:00

We had a lot of fun this Halloween and by we, I mostly mean Aaron and me. Carson threw a F-I-T every time we tried to put him in his costume. We are not sure why but he did not want to put it on. Our friends had a Halloween party and we bribed him into it and he wore it the whole night. We dressed Camilla up like a lamb for the party so we would have our lion and our lamb.

They both looked cute and we had so much fun at the party. The weather was fabulous and Carson spent the whole party playing with his BFF, Britton. Then while we were at the BYU game Carson went to the trunk-n-treat at my parent's church. They went with my brother, Christopher and his little girl, Mia. Christopher says he had no problems getting Carson in his costume. They didn't stay too long as Carson is still not really into the trick or treating thing. Then on Halloween we went to Adam and Cassie's house to eat dinner and go trick or treating in their neighborhood. Well Aaron met us there after work and I could not get Carson in his costume. We tried again at their house and it was a no go.

So we passed out candy until the bowl was empty while everyone else went out. I think it is just as much fun to pass out candy too and see all the kids and how excited they get. Plus we don't get to see Aaron very much so it was fun to spend the evening with him and just hang out, especially with this little girl!

We are hoping next year Carson is a little more into it and gets excited about it.

The perfect life

2011-11-02T18:30:00.001-07:00

Some days I have completely convinced myself that life is perfect and could not get any better, but particularly on Sunday afternoons when we all go outside in the backyard. Aaron and I lay on a blanket with Camilla, Aaron reads, I talk to Camilla and close my eyes, and Carson plays all over the yard. I am so in love with this weather and just can't believe that its the beginning of November and we are still playing outside like this.

I have to capture moments like this because, as Aaron would be the first to tell you, some days lately I feel like I am loosing my mind! But I do relish these moments when we get to be all together.

BYU vs. TCU

2011-11-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

We were fortunate enough to go to the BYU vs. TCU football game last weekend at the Cowboys stadium. It was my first time to see the stadium and it is amazing. We had a lot of fun cheering for the Cougars and running into a lot of old friends. Even though BYU lost it was still fun and they didn't play that bad. :) Believe it or not, Camilla feel asleep and stayed asleep until we left the game. We didn't take any good pictures but Aaron did snatch a few with his phone. Aaron's parents came down for the game and Adam and Cassie came with us too. We got to spend time with Aaron's parents over the weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather and eat BBQ. It was a quick trip but always fun to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Camilla gave her grandma a few laughs that night. :)

PS- We ordered Camilla a BYU shirt and I wanted to get one that was unisex and after I tried it on her on Friday morning with her jeans, she looked too much like a boy. So I had to run out and find a navy flower so no one would question. :)

Hobbs

2011-10-29T18:37:00.000-07:00

Carson and I made a trip up to Hobbs to visit my grandparents with My Mom and my niece, Mia. It was a quick trip but we had a good time visiting. Camilla did not have very much fun in the car but we made it there and we made it home. :) We mostly spent our time visiting my Grandpa and watching the kids play in the backyard. Mia is so good to Camilla, she talks to her, she plays with her, she sings to her and pretty much entertains her. It is always good to spend time with my Dad and to see my Grandma, who Carson warmed up to while we were there. :)

And, of course, I eat good southern food while I am visiting my Grandma. Here is a small sampling of lunch one day.

Chicken fried chicken, french fries, fried onions, all smothered in gravy, with sheet cake for dessert and lots of Blue Bell. I texted Aaron to make sure he was okay with me coming home a little bigger than when I left. :) We sure missed Daddy while we were gone and so happy to see him when we got back.

Carson's Play Group

2011-10-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

(Carson likes to wear his back pack to play group and loves to carry in his lunch box, I can hardly handle the adorableness.)

This year Carson is in a play group with some of his friends from church. It has been so much fun and so nice for me to have some time with just Camilla and to get things done without a very energetic 2 year old! All the boys in his group are his age and he loves all of them. He gets so excited to go to their houses and each and every night, he prays to play at their house. He goes through each person one by one and asks to play at their house. I mean seriously, it is so adorable. I feel bad for him on Tuesday/Thursday when its just me. :) I also love having it at my house because Carson gets so excited and the kids are so fun. Plus they play outside in the back yard the whole time and we are taking full advantage of this weather. I make cookies when they come over so they will like me the best. :) Here is a picture of his Friday group. Camilla so far has been perfect when I have them over and loves to watch them play. I just love that there are so many fun kids for Carson to be friends with.

Carson has also been getting into Josie's food when I am not looking lately. I come in and he is filling up her bowl with tons of food and she is waiting very excited. This kid, I have to keep my eye on him every second.

3 Months

2011-10-19T18:05:00.000-07:00

Camilla my sweet baby you are already 3 months old and we can hardly believe it. You have continued to grow so much this month and you continue to be my little chunky monkey. You are such a happy easy going baby, we are very spoiled. Some fun things about you this month are:

Your beautiful smile, we could just eat it up. You smile all the time, especially when you wake up. We are also loving your little laugh, it is so much fun. You smile at everyone, but probably at Mom the most. You just follow Mom around the room and smile at her.

You are starting to scoot yourself in your cradle and rolling up on your side. You want to roll over so badly you try all the time.

You are taking baths with your brother which you both absolutely love. Every night Carson runs up to me and says, "bath with Camilla, okay, lets go." You just kick and splash and watch your brother. You get so excited as soon as I put you in the tub.

You love your swing but Mom has to keep you awake when you are in it.

You are still sleeping good and even gave mom a few nights of sleeping 10-12 hours without waking up to eat and they were heavenly.

You still don't like your car seat and we are still not sure why but you would happily live in the Moby wrap all the day long.

You love to go outside and lay on a blanket with Mom.

Some fun things that your brother did with you this month were:

Giving you kisses every morning, "good morning Camilla." As soon as he wakes up he can't wait to find you.

"Camilla's turn," running over to you to give you kisses and then Josie, taking turns.

He asks me all the time if its time for Camilla to eat, baby eating. One day I picked him up and you weren't in the car, he was so confused. He said, "hi Camilla" but then couldn't find you. He looked around the car and then grabbed my shirt and pulled it down to see if you were in there.

We sure are having fun with this age and love how much you love to have "girl talk" with Mom!

Alyssa's Wedding

2011-10-15T10:49:00.000-07:00

Aaron's sister Alyssa got married this past weekend and so we made a very quick trip up to Arkansas. We left late Friday evening and came back Sunday afternoon so it felt so fast but we still had a great time. So the sad news is that we left our camera in Arkansas and when we got it back the camera card was gone. So it stinks to buy a new camera card, but we lost all those pictures which kinda makes me want to cry. I do have one that I took on Aaron's phone that I love. All the girls wore these beautiful dresses and Camilla's sweet cousin, Ana Grace, held her for all of the pictures. The kids did pretty good on the trip. Alyssa's wedding was very simple but very beautiful and she looked fabulous. Hopefully I can steal some pictures from everyone else. :)

In addition to the wedding we hung out with family, saw a show in downtown and Aaron played golf. We also took some family pictures at the wedding but I have little hope of how they will turn out as Carson refused to cooperate or let go of his letters to take the picture. A fun day with perfect weather!

Dallas Arboretum

2011-10-12T13:58:00.001-07:00

Last week we met my Mom and Mia at the pumpkin patch at the Dallas Arboretum. It was a rough morning but we both finally made it there and the kids were in heaven. The weather was unbelievable! I am just loving the weather right now, we are living outside. The pumpkin patch is designed after Cinderella, which Carson wasn't interested in but Mia loved. They ran all around the pumpkins, climbed the pumpkins, and Carson counted them and tried to carry them all home.

There was also a small petting zoo with a few animals. Well have I mentioned before how terrified my child is of animals? He just freaks out about them, he wouldn't touch one of them. Carson is especially terrified of dogs, he starts crying if one comes near him, in the same room/yard as him. It is especially crazy considering we have a dog and he loves her more than anyone else in the family.

So I spotted face painting and thought it looked adorable but no way would Carson sit still for it. I knew Mia would and would love it so I went and waited in line with her while Carson ran around everywhere with my Mom. Finally while Mia was getting painted Carson came over and said he wanted to be a tiger so we decided to give it a go. The man who painted his face was awesome and very patient with him. He just kept letting him point out all the colors and "help" him paint his face. He looked so adorable I could hardly stand it! I was quick to take some pictures before he could wipe it off.

After all this fun we ate lunch and walked around the flowers.

Then the kids just ran all around the park chasing each other and having a blast.

Camilla was perfect in her wrap, just sleeping the whole time. She woke up to eat and watch the kids run around and then fell back asleep as soon as we got back in the car. After about 5 minutes in the car on the way home this is what I turned around to find:

2 Months

2011-09-21T08:29:00.001-07:00

My sweet girl had her two month check up this week and boy has she grown. We are loving how chunky this little girl is, she has rolls all over and I could just eat them all up. Her official stats are:

Height: 22 3/4" (55th)

Weight: 11 lbs. 14 oz. (55th)

Head: 16" (90th)

I can't believe her weight has almos doubled since she was born, I mean my arms can believe it but its just so crazy. Camilla continues to be a sweet, easy going baby. We have really gotten into a nice routine and besides fighting going to sleep at night, she has taken to her schedule very well. some fun things that happened this month were:

You started to smile at us and it is a beautiful, double chinned smile. You smiled first at your grandma and then your mama, but that's okay we were just so happy to see it. You smile the most when you first wake up.

You are sleeping 7-8 hours at night and Mom is loving it. You have taken one nap in your big crib but Mom hated having you so far away.

You are so good at holding your head up and whenever you do your big brother says, "good job Camilla."

You love to look at us and follow us around the room to see what we are up to.

You love your baths and we have to make you get out when the water gets too cold.

You also love playing in your activity mat and trying to grab things.

You hate your carseat and scream a whole lot whenever you want OUT. You are also not particularly fond of the stroller.

You also hated the jogging stroller when Mom tried taking you on a run once, we probably won't give that another try for awhile.

You still love to be held and especially love being in your wrap, really close to Mom and you continue to be a great eater.

I am still loving having two kids and since I can say that after Aaron has been out of town twice and working until midnight, I know I mean it. :)

Labor Day

2011-09-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun Labor Day weekend because so many people in Aaron's family came to visit. It was a very busy weekend and I wish I took more pictures! On Friday everyone came to our house to eat pizza and the kids just played in our backyard for hours.

Camilla with her sweet cousin, Abby, who is going to be a big sister again soon. She is going to be so great at holding her baby sister.

Aaron let all the cousins get out the water hoses and they had a blast, everyone went home tired and wet.

Then on Saturday morning we went swimming and the boys all played golf. Then that night we went to Adam and Cassie's house (Aaron's brother) and watched the BYU game, had a BBQ, and again loved the great weather playing outside. On Sunday we had Camilla's blessing and dinner all together.

On Monday we decided to go to the children's aquarium in downtown Dallas. Carson had so much fun, we had been once before but I couldn't believe how much more he was into it this time.

He also loved how excited all of his cousins were. We went outside to pet the sting rays and Carson was loving it, he kept going back to stick his hands in to feel them again.

Can you handle the cuteness?? This is Carson's cousin, Kate, who is just six weeks older than him, they haven't really seemed to notice each other too much yet but I know they will. :)

Carson was in love with his cousin Joseph this trip, he is just 8 months younger than Carson and they had so much fun. Now every time we go to the park or anywhere with kids Carson runs up to me and asks me if Joseph is there, it is so cute.

After the aquarium we went and walked around the fairgrounds for awhile and then all ate lunch together before everyone headed back home.

We were so sad to have everyone leave but we are going to Arkansas in October for Alyssa's wedding so it won't be too long until we see everyone again.

As if this wasn't enough fun, we headed down to Arlington to spend the afternoon with our friends and my family. We went to the Spitzer's house and did the water slide and the kids swam in the pool.

We had a great time just hanging out and eating great food. Oh and have I mentioned yet that Camilla slept through this whole thing?? I mean seriously, this baby is amazing. She was so great and loved being held by one person or another all weekend. She was the center of so much attention and had no idea. :)

Camilla's Blessing

2011-09-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we were able to bless our sweet Camilla in church. It was such a sweet experience and we were so grateful to have so much of our family in attendance. Aaron felt inspired to give Camilla so many wonderful blessings and we know that she is going to be such a sweet spirit and a blessing to all those around her throughout her life. Before church we had a brunch at our house and it was so fun to spend time with both of our families.

Then we all headed off to church. I didn't put Camilla in her beautiful dress until right before her blessing because I was so worried she would spit up on it. She was hungry right before the blessing and so I tried to feed her really fast and get her dressed and we made it inside just in time. After church I put her in her dress again to take some pictures.

I have truly felt something so special about my sweet Camilla and we just love having her in our family.

One Month

2011-08-23T16:32:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby girl is a whole month old already, where does the time go?? I have debated whether or not I am up to writing monthly reports again on Camilla but I was so happy that I did when I made Carson's (still uncompleted) scrapbook and so I am going to try and do it again.

Stats:

Height: 20 3/4" (50th)

Weight: 9lb. 11oz. (60th)

Head: 14.5" (75th)

We can't believe you have already gained so much weight Camilla, you are so much chunkier than your brother ever was and we love it. Sometimes at night we just look at you and point out all your new little rolls, they are so adorable. You are already out of your newborn clothes and wearing a size 1 diaper. You are such a good eater and sleeper. You have recently started sleeping about 5-6 hours at night and Mom really appreciates it. You were congested a lot this month and we were worried you were having a reaction to milk but it was just the time of the year and you are doing much better. You love to be held and to read books with your big brother. You have been such a trooper going to the pool and hanging out in the heat so your brother can swim for awhile. You have had lots of fun visitors and everyone agrees that you are so beautiful. We all love your beautiful mouth and long feet and hands. You are very strong and hold your head up all the time and are already trying to roll yourself over, don't do it very soon though...please! Mom has spoiled you so much and wants to hold you every time you sleep, we just know how fast this stage will end. You also love your swing and playing on the floor with your brother. You have made a perfect transition into our family and we can't even imagine life without you.

The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing "A"

2011-08-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

Carson is going through just the most fun/challenging stage ever. We are having so much fun with him and learning a lot about patience all at the same time. It has been so much fun lately as he is learning so many new words all the time. I just love hearing him say new things every day and it cracks us up the things he picks up that we say. Carson also still loves to sing and learn new songs. Whenever we are learning a new song and I finish singing it, he says, "again, again," until we sing it over and over and over again. So we usually find a video of someone else singing it and he watches it on our phones. Oh Carson LOVES the phone, he asks for it all the time.

He is also getting better and better at saying Camilla's name. It sounds kinda like cama or camiya. He still loves her like crazy, but Carson's very most favorite thing in the world are letters. We have those magnetic ones for the fridge and Carson takes them everywhere, I mean everywhere. He takes them to bed at night, to the pool and he carries them the entire time he swims, he takes them to the store, to church, on walks, all the time. Well he has a favorite letter, the letter "A". He loves it. A few weeks ago the A went missing. It is somewhere in this house, I know it but we lost it. We pulled apart couch cushions, we looked behind dressers and under the stove. We turned this house upside down and we could not find it. We said a prayer and Carson wanted it to come so bad and it just wasn't to be. Every morning Carson would wake up and say, "where da A Mommy?" And then he would go and look under the couch because missing letters are usually found there. It was heartbreaking. Every time we would think he had forgotten it, he would ask for it again and then sulk away saying, "no A, no A." It still hasn't turned up, poor guy.

He loves to go swimming, he is such a fish, but he also loves to play outside in the backyard with the hose. But he insists upon being naked when he plays back there. As soon as we get outside he starts tugging on his clothes and taking off his diaper. Well, we think its pretty adorable so, of course, we let him. Plus its so dang hot! Have I mentioned how hot it is lately, it is a sauna here!

He also loves to wrestle, with us, with Josie, with the pillows on the bed. He is such an active child and so full of energy, he wears me down every day. He loves to go "for a walk", any time of the day. And don't think Carson's walks are just strolls around the block. Oh no, this kid can walk for over a mile and begs me to go farther.

Carson also loves to color and color. I can give him crayons and some paper and he will color the whole time I shower and get ready in the morning. He also has crayons for the shower and bath and can stay in there for an hour coloring. His favorite thing to color are of course, letters but he mostly just scribbles all over. And whenever he colors he says, "color on paper, only paper". That is an important lesson we have learned the hard way.

Time out doesn't phase this kid, I say Carson do you want to go to time out? "time out, okay" I must be doing something wrong in that department. He is kicking us when we change his diaper and when he does it he says, "don't kick, time out, okay". Maybe he doesn't understand the word don't... he also hits Josie and then says, "don't hit, pet her."

He is still our little eater, eating tons. I would say yogurt is his favorite though. When we get to the grocery store he immediately bends over and starts pushing the grocery cart directly over to the yogurt section. No matter which grocery store we go to, we must first go to the back to the yogurt, he knows where it is in every store. If I try and steer the cart somewhere else first, he says, "this way, this way, yogurt."

I can admit it, Carson is spoiled, but we sure love him and are having a lot of fun with him. He cracks us up every day. Ever since Camilla was born he has gotten very attached to his blanket and wants to take it all over the place, which I indulge because, well like I said, he's spoiled. He is a sweet boy, after he plays with his friends at their houses or at nursery, he always wants to give them hugs good bye and knows all of his friends' names and talks about them all the time. Sigh...I need to toughen up, but how do you not spoil a boy this sweet:

Whenever Aaron gets home from work or just mowing the lawn, Carson screams "Daddy" and runs up to him and gives him a big hug. And when Aaron leaves for work in the morning Carson follows him out the door and runs to his car and tries to get inside. Then I have to carry him away wanting his Dad. Then when we get inside he says, "right back." Time really does fly for him. :) We sure love our Car Car man.

"So Sweet"

2011-08-08T16:35:00.000-07:00

So I hear this phrase, "so sweet", about 20 times a day so it just had to be the title of this post. Carson is a little too into his little sister and wants to give her hugs and kisses all day long. And he always says, "so sweet" afterwards. Carson can't say her name so he still calls her baby all the time but "sweet baby". And that is just how this little girl has been. She is just the sweetest baby in the world. We are having so much fun with her and enjoying the sweet spirit she brings into our home.

Camilla has been a great eater and a great sleeper. She is a fast nurser-just like Carson. Which I greatly appreciate and makes a huge difference, especially at night. At her two week check up she had already gained just over a pound since she was born and grown to 20.5 Inches. She has reached the 50th percentile for weight, height, and head. She is just perfectly proportioned. But Camilla does have very, very long feet and fingers. Her Grandmothers are already excited that she will be a piano player. Her coloring is so pretty and I am so in love with getting her dressed and putting on bows every day.

I have had such a fabulous recovery. I am feeling really good and just enjoying life with 2 kids. I have spent so much time just holding Camilla and watching her sleep. Aaron took two weeks off from work after Camilla was born and we had so much fun having him home! He seriously earned Dad of the Year awards while he was home. He took Carson to swim or do something fun every morning, giving me time alone with Camilla. He was great about cleaning, running errands, and letting me just rest and relax. Plus my Mom came and stayed with us for a few days and she was a work horse. She cleaned the house, cooked the meals, did the laundry, organized the nursery, and helped with the baby. I so appreciated her help and enjoyed spending time with her. My siblings all came up and visited over the weekend so Camilla has been given a lot of attention and everyone has been entertaining Carson. Aaron's parents also came up for a weekend and it was so fun to spend time with them and introduce them to Camilla. They were here for Aaron's birthday so we got to have such a fun day, eating out and shopping. Carson had so much fun playing and wrestling with his Grandpa.

Our First day home from the hospital:

(Look how tiny she is in my lap)

Grandpa and Aunt Delaney and Uncle Cory:

Spending time with Aaron's parents:

(Eating sushi for Aaron's Birthday)

Sleeping babies are just the cutest:

We did her newborn pictures so I will hopefully have those to post soon, she is already getting so big. She is getting a little chunky, which Carson was never anything but skinny and I think it is so adorable. Camilla is very active and likes to move around a lot and loves when her brother sits by her and sings to her but most of all she likes to be held. :) We sure love our sweet baby.

She's Here!!

2011-07-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

We are so happy to announce that Camilla LuJean Pierson was born on Monday July 18th at 9:35 AM. She weighed in at 6lbs. 6oz. and 19 in. long. (So technical weight for Camilla was 6lb. 6.5 oz and for Carson it was 6lb. 6.7oz. and both 19 inches long, isn't that crazy!) Also they were both born on a Monday, Carson exactly one week early and Camilla exactly 2 weeks early. (While I told everyone my due date was July 28th my actual due date was Aug. 1st but I refused to believe I would go into the month of August still pregnant :) She is just the most beautiful, perfect girl and we are so in love with her. We named her Camilla, after Camilla Kimball, who I fell in love with when I read Spencer W. Kimball's biography in college and LuJean after Aaron's mother. We have yet to agree on a nickname for her. So far she has been nothing but sweet, easy going baby. A great eater and a great sleeper.

If you want to hear the whole birth story please feel free to continue reading. :)

It started early Sunday morning. I woke up to some cramping and got up and realized that I had lost my mucous plug and had my bloody show. I thought for sure that I was going to go into labor right away but nothing happened. I went ahead and packed the hospital bag and put my family on alert anyhow and waited for any signs of contractions to start. Here I am Sunday morning:

I told Aaron that I wanted to just keep our day the same as always so I wouldn't just be sitting at home waiting to go into labor. So we went to church and then came home for naps. Sunday night was my birthday dinner in Arlington with my brother that I share a birthday with, Chris, and so we headed down for dinner. After dinner I went on a walk and jumped on the trampoline, trying to get something going but nothing happened. Here we are eating cake and ice cream. I was so happy because I knew it was the last time I would eat cake and ice cream and have it make me really sick after!

(Everyone in the room knew just what I was wishing for)

Early Monday morning a contraction woke me up. So I started timing them and then after a little bit I woke Aaron up and told him that I thought I was going into labor. So we started timing the contractions. They weren't very painful but were coming pretty consistently. I wanted to call my doctor and go in because I was worried they were going to stop. So I went ahead and called my doctor at about 4:30 AM and he told me to go in since I was a 3 at my last appointment and my labor with Carson was so fast. So we get everything together and call someone to come to our house for Carson. During this time I am having no contractions. Everything has stopped. I am devastated. We decide to head to the hospital anyway. We drive to the hospital, check in and everything and still nothing is happening. I just know they are going to turn me away but I am dying to have this baby. So I am going through the check in with the nurse and she's asking me questions and then when she gets all done, I say, "I promise I did have some contractions." She tells me that I am having contractions every 7 minutes. I am shocked I tell her I don't feel them. She goes ahead and checks me and....I am 6-7! Hallelujah, I know they won't send away that far along. So I get emitted. They call my doctor and he says that he is going to come in and break my water as soon as he can.

I tell them that I want an epidural but I don't need one at the time because I am not in pain but that when I get into active labor I will want one. So they went ahead and put it in but didn't give me the drugs and told me to let them know when I was ready for it. So we just waited for my doctor and he arrived at 9 AM to break my water. He told the nurse he needed to know when I had about 20 mins. left to get back to deliver the baby. He tells me that I will probably have the baby before noon. I said there was no way it would take that long since I was already a 9. So he leaves and about 2 mins later I have a strong, hard contraction. Another one was soon to follow and I said okay I am ready for the epidural. But, of course, the anesthesiologist is giving an epidural to someone else. And then I tell my nurse I can feel pressure. She checks me and sure enough I am at a 10+ and she is about to come out. They call the doctor, who didn't even have time to make it back to his office and he turned around and made it there in ten minutes. He walked in at the same time as the anesthesiologist. So while they are getting me ready to push, he gives me the drugs. And then I pushed through one full contraction and then she came out on the next one. It was the dreamiest, most perfect labor and delivery ever. I seriously could not believe how fabulous it was. The cord was wrapped around her neck 2 times but didn't effect her breathing. I thought she looked just like Carson and couldn't believe how much I instantly loved her. I was so happy to have her here!

Soon after the delivery I realized how much I missed my baby boy. My parents went to go and get him and brought him up to the delivery room. Now getting an epidural 3 mins before your baby is born is great and all but it means you are numb for hours after your deliver. (well worth it) So when Carson came I couldn't move my legs but he didn't seem to mind. He instantly wanted up in my lap and wanted to give Camilla hugs and kisses. He just kept saying baby, baby. Now I can't say for sure but I think he realized this was the baby that he had been talking to in my belly. I had low expectations on how Carson would respond but he was fabulous, didn't act jealous at all.

Aaron and I both feel like the hospital was wonderful. The nurses were outstanding and I loved everyone that I worked with and the food, oh my gosh, it was so delicious. They also fed Aaron and on our last night we had steak and lobster and the chocolate cake, oh I still think about it. Just very different from my experience with Carson. I could go on and on about it and I do think about the whole delivery all the time, I just think its magical.

I can't believe my sweet girl is already a week old. I want to write more about her and coming home so I will update again soon, she already looks so different to me, they change too fast! I love this newborn stage and just feel so blessed to have added Camilla to our family.

Pregnancy Update

2011-07-15T10:03:00.001-07:00

So I have not kept track of this pregnancy like...at all. Just a quick update as we close in on D-day. I have 13 days until my due date...13. I am just so anxious I can hardly stand it. With Carson I was just laid back and ready whenever he was ready. This time I'm like, "get out, get out, get out." Just to quote my favorite show Friends. This pregnancy has been so different. Being sick for 9 months has not been fun. I think I just kept thinking...I will feel better at 20 weeks, 25, maybe 30... and then it just never came. Now I am to the point where I just can't wait to eat food after the baby comes, I mean think how good it is going to taste to eat whatever I want and not be sick afterwards!

We are so excited for a little girl, I can not wait to put up pictures of the nursery when it is done. I got the cutest bedding, I love how we painted and her crib just got here this week. Clothes are everywhere in this house. We have been so blessed with people giving us clothes and I got adorable things are my shower. I am loving the girl clothes, I mean they are just so cute. I could spend an entire paycheck at baby Gap in about 10 minutes.

At my 38 week check up I was dilated to almost a 3 but my doctor didn't seem to think labor was coming any time soon. He will induce if I make it to my due date...if I want. I really want to go into labor on my own but I think if I go that far with no baby I will just be so anxious for her to come that I will go ahead and induce. Plus I am delivering at the world's busiest hospital (perhaps an exaggeration) but I have to be on a waiting list to get induced anyway and if I go into labor on my own they have to take me.

They have been worried about her being small a couple of times here at the end so I had a sonogram at 34 weeks and 37 weeks but she looks just right about 6lbs at her 37 week so she's not small, I'm just carrying her differently and so I am not measuring as big. I had a rough couple of weeks around 36-37 because I got sick twice. Plus I had acid re flux really bad and that made it worse because I couldn't keep food down, like not even crackers. But I have gotten new meds and my cold is now gone so I am actually feeling much better for these last 2 weeks.

She has been so active, so much more than Carson. I hardly ever felt Carson move but little girl is on the go all the time. It is so fun to feel her spinning around and kicking me. She gets the hiccups a lot and I think its so funny. I always think I can tell if its her hand or foot I am feeling. She doesn't keep me up at night but the evenings are her most active time. I am just so anxious to see what she will look like!! We are pretty for sure on the name but don't want to say until we are 100% which won't happen until she is born I think.

Carson doesn't seem to notice anything is going on but I keep trying to take him into the baby's room and talk about the baby. Then he just says, "baby" and gives my belly a hug. I think he will love her but is going to be very jealous, so I am working on how we can all adjust as a family. It is still so hard for me to believe we will be a family of 4 soon!

Did you notice...

2011-07-12T15:09:00.001-07:00

A big upgrade in our picture quality lately??? That is because Aaron finally forked out the cash for a new, fancy camera. Can I just tell you how much we LOVE it! I am so happy that he finally got one as he has been researching and thinking about it for a couple of years. Aaron worked very, very hard this year and we are so grateful for all he does for us. Happy (better -late-than-never) Father's Day to the love of my life. When you come home it is the most exciting part of our day!

Pierson Family Reunion

2011-07-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

This year the Pierson Family Reunion was in Arkansas, centered around Grandma and Grandpa's pool. We spent a week with Aaron's family and had a great, hot time. We got to stay with Spencer and Kellie who were so nice to host us the whole week. The week flew by as we had activities planned everyday. On Sunday Aaron's Dad was released from his calling in Church (which is why we all went that weekend) and so we went to church and then had family pictures that evening. Can I just throw in a complaint that I am pregnant all the time in family pictures, like really pregnant, not cute bump pregnant. Then on Monday we went swimming all day and had dinner all together. On Tuesday we went to the Traveler's Game and had the box. It was so fun to watch the game and see Carson be more interested in baseball this year. On Wednesday we had a crawfish boil, but with shrimp and sausage (way tastier) at Amanda and Joshua's house. This was true southern food. They boiled the shrimp and sausage with potatoes and corn and mushrooms. It was seriously so delicious. Then you just throw it out on the table and eat it all with your hands and dip everything in butter. I loved it! Then we celebrated Carson and his sweet cousin Hallie's B-days since they have the same birthday. We did cupcakes and ice cream and the kids ran all over the huge back yard. Then on Thursday, we spent the day at the waterpark, and then all the adults went downtown to see a play while the kids stayed at home with babysitters. It was nice to get out all together. Then on Friday we headed out a day early because I was so exhausted and in dier need of sleeping in my own bed. :) Thanks to Aaron's parents for all the hard work they put into this trip. It was so fun. Never a dull moment with the Piersons. It was so fun to see everyone and especially to meet our newest niece, Emmeline. She was just a few weeks old and as precious as can be. I couldn't believe how tiny she was and that I am so close to having something so tiny in my house. I am so lucky that I enjoy spending my in laws so much, we had a blast!

Happy Birthday Carson!

2011-07-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

That's right, our sweet boy turned 2 whole years old. I just can't get over that I have a toddler now. He has seriously grown over night. He looks so big to us now. We can't believe how much he has changed lately and how much fun we are having with him. Here are his stats:
Height: 35" (60-70th)
Weight: 27.8 lbs. (50th)
Head: 19.5" (75th)
Some fun things that Carson is up to lately are anything that has to do with letters, numbers, and reading. He has an obsession with it and Aaron and I aren't sure who he gets it from. He loves songs, church songs, songs on the radio, fun rhyming songs, he loves to sing them all. It cracks us up how he is able to memorize songs so well, out of nowhere he'll start singing a song that I didn't even know that he knew. Carson loves to give hugs and then say..."so sweet." He gives hugs to his friends and us and lots to Josie. He loves to play with her and say, "come one Josie." But she doesn't come...poor guy. Carson still loves to eat like nobody's business. He has to have food in both hands and he stuffs his mouth until it is so full it can't fit anything else. He has gotten pickier with his what he wants but he still eats just as much. His favorite shows are Barney and Super Why and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He loves to run and jump and climb all over the place and us. He loves the nursery at church, LOVES it! He is our water baby, he loves to go swimming everyday, just like his mama, it works out perfect. He is such a fish swimming all over the pool, jumping off the diving board, and sliding down the slides. He can throw a fit when he doesn't get what he wants and usually has to go into time out for doing something again and again after I tell him, "no." He for some reason thinks its hilarious when I tell him no, even when I do it with a very serious face. He would rather not have his diaper changed but hasn't shown any interest in the potty...none. The hair keeps on coming, he has now had 2 hair cuts, go Carson. We sure love this little guy and have more fun with him all the time.

For his birthday we had a little party with friends in our backyard. We set it up with pools and slides and water games. The kids had fun running around and getting wet. There was lots of watermelon, strawberries, corn dogs, and chips consumed. And of course, cupcakes and ice cream were a hit. Carson didn't seem to know it was his birthday but he sure had a fun time. It was so nice of our friends and family to come and celebrate the big day with us. Eventhough it was a lot of work and this pregnant mama was worn right out by the end of the day, I was so happy that we did something fun just for Carson before baby girl gets here and rocks his world. :) Happy Birthday Carson, we love you!

Congratulations Mom!

2011-06-20T15:33:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks ago (I am very behind...I blame pregnancy) my Mom had her retirement party, yes that's right, my Mom retired this year. After many, many years as a Kindergarten teacher she has finally reached retirement. We are all so happy for her and so happy to be able to spend more time with her. I know that she will miss teaching but I think she is very excited to start this next chapter of her life. To celebrate the occasion all of my siblings came in town and we all went to her party. Her party also happened to be the same weekend as my Grandma's birthday so we also celebrated her birthday with a surprise party. So it was fun to spend the day with my cousins and uncles on my mom's side. It was a busy, busy weekend with my family but it was fun to spend time with everyone.

My Grandma's party at Texas, Land, and Cattle (Soooo delicious!!):

(We did not plan to match :)

30 Weeks pregnant: (I am so much bigger than this now, wow, I can't believe it)

At my Mom's party:

Tennessee Trip continued

2011-05-31T11:56:00.001-07:00

Part #2 - Knoxville

So after Gatlinburg we went back to Aaron's hotel in Knoxville and we spent a few days there while Aaron worked. It was nice because Aaron's client was a block away from the hotel and he got to leave work every day around 6:30 so we felt spoiled rotten. It was weird to have just Carson all day and no errands or household tasks to perform. Weird in a good way, very relaxing to have someone else clean the room every day. Carson and I spent our days going to the places we could walk to: the pool, the splash park, the library, the park, and the downtown square for lunch. I guess it was all the walking but Carson was soooo hungry on this trip. I guess it could also be all the way yummy food we got, eating out all our meals. :) One day I walked 1.5 miles to the grocery store to get him a few things, I was worn out, only to find out there was a grocery store in downtown...you live you learn. :) I really loved Knoxville, it is such a cute city. I was very glad that we decided to make the trip up to visit Aaron, thanks for spoiling us Aaron!

Our favorite dining spot, we met Aaron here for lunch:

Yummy cupcakes from the bakery:

Downtown park and splash park:

Meeting Dad for lunch at the park:

Dinner at the square:

Introduction to Italian Ice...yummy!

Small splash park in downtown:

The cute library downtown:

So Carson loves watching people play the guitar, he just wanted to stay with these two guys for forever. They were playing him up, giving him high 5s, introducing him to girls, letting him touch the guitar. It was pretty funny.

Sushi Night, who knew Carson would love sushi??

I will save the flight home for its own post, ha ha, it was the worst ever, my fault, not Carson's but a nightmare (Imagine sleeping baby and me with a barf bag)! But I don't want that one, small part of the trip to be in the same posts as all our fabulous fun.

Tennessee Trip

2011-05-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Part #1 - Gatlinburg

So Aaron has finally finished his busy season at work. We were so excited to have him home for a week and then he had to go out of town for 3 weeks to Knoxville. Since we have been missing him so much lately we decided to fly out there during his second week and visit him. Just 30 minutes outside of Knoxville is the Great Smoky National Park so we decided to spend the weekend in Gatlinburg at a cabin and check out the park. We had such a fabulous time, seriously, the cabin was perfect, the weather was perfect, and we loved doing all the walks and hikes. The park is so beautiful, I wish we could have spent more time there so we could have seen more. We had so much fun and took more pictures than we have in a very, long time. So be prepared for a very detailed account of our little trip. :)

Our cute, little cabin.

Carson and Aaron out on a morning walk by the cabin.

We had a huge bath tub and Carson loved it, it had jets but when we tried turning them on he wanted them off immediately.

On Friday night we walked through the downtown, which was so cute. People making fudge, taffy, and wood structures. Carson loved walking around everywhere and watching people. I really wanted coconut shrimp for dinner so we went to Bubba Gump for dinner. We ordered our food and then 10 minutes later I decided I wanted to have crab's legs too so we asked the waitress to switch out Aaron's food with crab's legs. The food was already ready but they went ahead and did it for us anyway. Not fun waiting on this pregnant woman but the food was so good I didn't even care that I had caused so much trouble for them.

Carson slept in a big boy bed while we were out of town and he did so good. He didn't try and get out one time and Aaron loved going in and laying with him at night since he had missed him so much.

On Saturday we started off our day with a short hike up to this beautiful waterfall. The path was very crowded but was stroller friendly. (Although Carson wasn't so interested in riding in his stroller) On the way up Carson was not in a great mood and acting very tired but he got very excited when he saw the small pools of water along the way. He really wanted to play inside of them, which we let him do but then he tried to get all the way in and got his shoes and socks all wet so we had to end the party.

The view from the top was really beautiful. (This is just the top of the waterfall, we couldn't manage the hike down to the view of the full waterfall with the Car Car Man. )

Carson finally wore out on the way back down and fell asleep on my shoulder. Now Carson has to be completely worn out to fall asleep anywhere but his bed and especially while I am holding him so we had worn the poor guy totally out.

After lunch we decided to try a little bit of a harder hike, well it lasted about .2 miles. The hike was too hard to carry Carson on and so we decided to turn around and head back down. Well Carson really wanted to play in the freezing river so we let him crawl down and we threw rocks in the river for a long time. We finally had to make him stop so we could move on or he would have happily thrown rocks for hours.

So we decided to do a nature walk instead and it was much more relaxing and beautiful. Carson lasted awhile in the stroller and then decided to walk the rest of the way. Carson LOVES to go on walks and had so much fun on this one. He wanted to keep going farther then Aaron and I wanted to so when we turned around he just kept reaching out his hand waiting for us to keep walking.

Then for dinner Aaron cooked steaks on the grill. He couldn't get over the beautiful view from our back porch. The steak was delicious and it was so fun to enjoy the fabulous weather while he grilled.

Then that night we warmed up the hot tub and Carson was in heaven. This kid could walk around the whole tub and the sides served as small slides for him to go down. He just loved playing in there and lasted a couple of hours inside. We finally had to make him get out to go to bed, kicking and screaming. After he went to sleep Aaron and I made cookies and relaxed together. I seriously can't remember a more perfect day/night together as our little family.

Sunday morning was Mother's Day so I wanted a picture with my little man on our way to church. I had a fabulous Mother's Day just relaxing with my family. We moved over to the hotel in Knoxville and so I was especially spoiled with a perfectly clean room and bed that I didn't have to make. :)

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

(Aaron). I love that picture. Time for my yearly post. I realize this post is a few days late. I also realize that there is kind of a weird thing with blogging women where they hate reading posts from other people who make their lives sound too perfect. I've never understood that. I mean who wants to read depressing things? Anyways, if you are one of those people who hate those kinds of posts, feel free to stop reading. Because I am going to talk about my perfect wife.

Of course she's not actually perfect. She's just perfect for our family. To anyone who knows me I have always been the epitomy of a momma's boy. I don't have a single bad memory of growing up and I've always loved spending time with my mom. Now this can lead to some fairly high expectations when you get married. How grateful I am to see my sweet boy Carson be blessed with such a fun-loving, sweet and kind mother. No mother has ever loved a child more than Haley loves Carson. She spends countless hours reading to him, teaching him, and lots of wrestling. There was a brief moment in time when Carson preferred me. That time has come and gone. He will push me out of the way anytime he has a chance to hug his mom.

Haley is so patient and kind with Carson and me (especially me). Just one story to illustrate. This past weekend we let Carson get in his first hot tub (calm down mothers, the water was lukewarm at best). After about 15 minutes both Haley and I were cold and ready to get out. But not Carson. He was having the time of his life in there. Well me being the selfish person I am, I got out. But sweet Haley sat in that hot tub, with teeth chattering, for 2 hours because she loved seeing Carson having so much fun.

Her family is her highest priority and her greatest joy, and I love her for that. I've loved her more every Mother's day we've shared together.

You should move to Texas

2011-05-02T18:47:00.000-07:00

And I can tell you why....here are just a few reasons why you would love living here, by us, of course.

This was what we were doing in March. That's right, March people, it was so nice out we were already playing in the water outside.

Now in addition to our small playset, we have a big, fancy playset. Thank you to my family for all the help putting it together! And also we are grateful to our friends who gave it to us!

I could cut your hair. Don't I do a great job?? Ha, ha it was so hard to try and cut this kid's hair. He would not hold still for two seconds. But I do cut Aaron's hair and do a decent job.

My husband works a lot, which means, we get to have a lot of fun around here. Sometimes we eat dinner upstairs while we watch movies....sometimes I let Carson finish off the brownie batter....sometimes we eat cream with our strawberries. :)

We throw fun BBQs and the weather lately has been fabulous!

And, last but not least, Aaron has been so handy lately fixing things on Saturdays, which means he can help you if your fence blows over in this crazy wind! And when he comes he will bring his very best helper with him. Carson is very good at fixing things. He goes around our house "fixing" his toys, our drawers, everything.

Doesn't life look great? :) I keep telling myself that I have to suck up all this great weather while I can because I think it is going to be a HOT summer.

Easter

2011-04-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

So holidays are seriously getting more and more fun the older Carson gets. And maybe you don't know but I love holidays!! I have been stashing away little gifts here and there for the Easter basket since March and I loved stuffing eggs with chocolate the night before. My parents also got excited for little Carson and contributed to his basket with more than one little boy needed but I loved it!

Sunday morning we got up and tried the Easter egg hunt first thing, before breakfast, but Carson is too much like his mama and wasn't interested and just wanted to go inside and eat. So we feasted on a big, yummy breakfast and he played with his Easter basket toys.

Then we started the egg hunt. It took Carson a few minutes to figure it out but once he did he was all over it, running around, throwing the eggs in the basket, and then congratulating himself after each egg. Then he wanted to organize the eggs and play with them and then finally realized there was delicious chocolate inside.

After that we got all ready for church and Carson wore just the cutest outfit ever.

I teach the 5-6 year old kids at our church and loved being able to share the true meaning of Easter with them. I loved seeing their little eyes light up when we looked at pictures of Jesus and talked about how important this special day is. Then we made books about the life of Jesus for them to color and take home.

Then, as if that wasn't an exciting day by itself, we went over to our friend's house to have a fabulous dinner with fabulous food and people that we love. All together there were 7 families and 19 kids and we had a blast. The kids just played and played. We had a big easter egg hunt and the kids under 3 got to start and Carson didn't waste any of his head start. He was off and filled his basket before the big kids even started.

Then I quietly gave away most of his eggs to the kids that didn't have very many but one of his sweet friends, Cecily, shared some of her eggs with him. Really Carson just wanted to play with the eggs and the basket fillers.

Then it was time for dessert! Carson, of course, asked for ice cream and we just enjoyed the great weather before it was time to go home. It was such a fun evening and we love spending time with all our great friends here. A big THANKS to the Downen's for hosting such a fabulous gathering! Especially since Emily planned, organized, and did a ton of cooking, while being 8 months pregnant.

Girl's Weekend

2011-04-19T11:19:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago we had girl's trip for all the Pierson women and everyone came to Dallas! It was so much fun to see everyone and have so much girl time. Aaron and Carson stayed at my parent's house and all the girls stayed with me at our house. I know it was a tight fit for some of the ladies but I loved having us all together in one house. That way we could stay up late and eat chocolate all together instead of in separate hotel rooms and we could all still hang out even when the babies were sleeping. (We had 3 babies with us this year) Outside of all the time spent talking, we also went to the temple, did yoga in our backyard, went shopping, did pedicures, and ate out. It was a quick trip and went by really fast but I was uplifted and so happy that everyone put in the effort to be there. My mother-in-law puts a lot of hard work and effort into these trips and it sure makes for a good time!

Here are a few of us doing yoga. (I cut myself out of this picture because lets be honest, my pregnant self does not look as good as these ladies do in yoga poses :) And of course, Josie was included in the girl's trip and wanted to be a part of everything.

This is when we went to La Madeline for lunch, deliciousness.

Christmas comes late for some people

2011-04-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

And those people are the Piersons. For Christmas last year I kept telling everyone I wanted to get Carson a playset for the backyard. Nothing fancy, just a small playset with something to climb and a slide. I had the plan to buy a used one on Craigslist and it was going to be his Christmas present from us and my parents. So I started looking back in the end of October mind you. Well Craigslist drove me crazy. People wanted WAY too much for like 5 year old playsets but apparently I am the only one unwilling to pay their prices because they all sold, like hot cakes. When one would come around that was a decent price it was always sold when I called. (I was checking 3 times a day mind you) It was really frustrating. I had Aaron checking them out too. Then in December I got a ticket for not signaling while I changed lanes. Lame, I know, but a ticket I still had to pay for....postponing any purchases for the month of December. (Not that I was up for any kind of shopping or much of anything the month of December and Aaron was already working crazy hours) I got back on track for Jan., Feb., and March - same story, different verse. Finally I woke up one Saturday morning early, called 2 people about playsets and when they said both were sold, I hung up, went to Walmart.com, and bought a brand new one. Finally Carson would have a Christmas present, better late than never right?? :)

Oh wait, the story doesn't end there... I did site to store delivery because delivery was $100. Playset arrives and the pick up hours are 10 AM to 10PM. Great just great, wouldn't it be nice if I had a husband who was home one night during the week before 10PM to pick up this playset? What am I gonna do? So I go to get it myself and have the workers help me, and it doesn't fit in the 4 Runner, too big. I should've just called someone to come and help me but instead I call Aaron, full of frustration, demanding that he take care of this and spouting off how ridiculous it is that he can't come home one night before 10 and load up a playset for his pregnant wife. I'm sure you can imagine how much patience and love I showed during this conversation considering what an undramatic person I am. :) So my sweet husband, who is a much better person than I am, called Walmart, asks them if someone from another department will come over and check him out if he shows up past the pick up time for the playset. They agreed and that very night Aaron went and picked it up after working who knows how many hours, used bungee cords to tie it to the top of our car and brought it home to a wife already in bed. Isn't it beautiful?

Now, just to toot my own horn, I put this baby together all by myself. I had to use a wrench, a drill, and a few screwdrivers. It took me 2 whole hours but I must admit it was one of my proudest moments. Aaron made sure to tighten everything after he got home but I did a very good job. :) And the best part is, Carson loves it and we play on it everyday. Even though it was a lot of drama and a very late Christmas present...it was worth it.

Sometimes you forget to blog that you are pregnant!

2011-04-04T12:14:00.001-07:00

Seriously time flies when you aren't very good at keeping up with your blog. :) And yes, its true, we are expecting a baby girl in July. We are so excited and feel very blessed to be adding this little girl to our family. We totally had our minds set for another boy so we were really shocked when they said girl. I had to change my mindset some but after the girl clothes, socks, tights, and bows started coming in, I had a serious change of heart. I am in pink heave and loving every second of it. I haven't taken any pictures of my belly this time around and I felt really bad about it so yesterday I made Aaron come outside with me and snap a few pictures of the growing belly. Its mostly just big, I feel so much bigger this time around. Carson loves to grab my belly and say, "baby!" but sometimes he gets confused and grabs my chest instead. Its easy to see how he would get confused....

I am nesting like crazy this pregnancy. Not so much with Carson, I mean he was born and we were like hm... where are we going to put him. This time I'm like drawing sketches, moving furniture, and getting estimates from painters because I have to have the nursery done! Aaron is in a never-ending busy season and so he can't help very much, well not really at all poor guy. So you may be hearing me say the phrase, "I hired someone to do that," much more often this pregnancy.

I'm losing my mind this pregnancy. I forget everything. I have really started having to write things down more, I mean I show up places and forget what I needed to get. Aaron has never been known for his fabulous memory so between the two of us we are forgetting a lot. :) I am still sick...which is not fun but what can you do? Its not like the horrible, awful, no good, very bad sick I was for the first 18 weeks or so where no one ever saw me but I still feel nauseas after meals and at night. Sweets make me the most sick but does that keep me from eating them? Of course not, I wish I had more self control and I think I would feel better. I am happy to be better than I was though, to quote my pregnant friend Rebecca, " I certainly wasn't winning any Mom of the Year awards." I hated being that sick, I seriously can't even talk about it because it makes me feel so terrible. I know lots of moms go through it but I did not like the person that I was.

And that pretty much sums it up. I feel like its so far away, yet there is so much to do before she gets here. Oh and no, we don't have a name but we both feel like naming a girl is much easier than naming a boy!

Children's Aquarium

2011-03-24T12:23:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Carson and I headed out to Dallas to see the children's aquarium. It is kinda far away but it was really fun. The aquarium is at the state fair park and I had never been there before. It is really big and since it was a beautiful day, we had just as much fun walking around the park as we did the aquarium. At first Carson was kind of scared of the fish but then after a minute he just went up to each fish tank and wanted to get right up close and see if the fish would come up to his face.

The alligators and turtles would swim right up next to us. They have an outside part where you can touch the sting rays and feed them. I have no pictures of this because Carson threw a F-I-T when I told him he couldn't climb in the sting ray cage and swim with them. Every time I tried putting him down, he just tried to climb right back in. I finally had to carry him out and he was not happy about it. But then we got to walk all around the park and on the walkway that goes over the pond.

After we were all done we met Aaron for lunch since we were in downtown already. Carson was as energetic as ever, all over the restaurant and climbing back and forth between Aaron and me. Carson was very excited to see his Daddy and all this excitement wore the kid and his mom out. We both came home, changed into our pajamas, and took long naps. :)

Go Cougars!!

2011-03-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

We have had so much fun cheering on the Cougars this basketball tournament. We are all definitely "Jimmered". Carson wears his BYU shirt proudly. Here is Carson getting all warmed up for the last game while we were making burgers and fries (our traditional game-watching meal). I was cooking when I turned around and found him sitting on top of the table eating chips and dip. :)

While I must confess that I chose BYU to lose in the second round on my bracket, we will be cheering them on this week, here's hoping the 3s all go in!

Painting and Ice Cream

2011-03-09T12:10:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago I noticed that Carson would sometimes pour his yogurt out onto his plate and then play with it, sliding his hand through it and moving it around. It gave me an idea that he might enjoy some finger paints, so for Valentine's Day that is what I got him. It has taken me awhile to feel confident enough to let him try it out. (I worried he would try and eat it) But I finally set it all up a few weeks ago and let him have a go at it. He thought it was very cool. I need to wait for a warm day and let him play with it on the back porch because then he could really go at it.

Of course even more fun than actually playing is the clean up afterwards. I had to force him out of the murky, green water to eat his lunch.

We also got a lucky surprise one Friday night a few weeks ago and Aaron came home early enough to see Carson. It was even early enough to go outside for about 30 mins. So we met Aaron at the park. (I chose to stay in the car because I was cold)

They played for awhile then we went out to dinner. Well at dinner Carson poured water all over himself and I had to take his pants off, luckily it was just a fast food place. Then on the way home I decided we should stop and get ice cream. Aaron got a milkshake and I'm pretty sure Carson was in heaven. He got two small spoons and a straw and climbed on top of the table to eat. It was so hilarious. I told Aaron that it was probably the most fun Carson has had in a long time, being with his Dad and eating ice cream without pants on, what could be better? Luckily we were at Braum's so his attire didn't stand out entirely. :) Don't go thinking I missed out on all the ice cream goodness because I'm not in any pictures...I just didn't share mine with anyone. :)

A Visit from Arkansas

2011-03-01T11:19:00.000-08:00

We were lucky enough to have Aaron's parents visit for the weekend over President's Day. Sadly Aaron couldn't take any time off work but we tried to cram in all the fun we could over the weekend. (At least he didn't have to work the weekend!) We went out to breakfast and cooked on the grill. We went on a bike ride together, enjoying the beautiful weather. Aaron's parents got a tandem bike and looked awesome riding it together. They kept Carson while we went to the BYU vs. TCU basketball game.

Carson really warmed up to his grandparents on Saturday but then after we left him with them he went back to his clingy to us stage until they left. It can be SO frustrating but he just sticks right to us and wants us to hold him if he ever gets worried we are going to leave him. I look forward to this stage passing.

Swim Class

2011-02-28T18:02:00.000-08:00

Carson just finished his first swim class last week. We had so much fun taking this class that I was tempted to sign up for it again this month, but we really have learned everything we needed to in the first class and plus I had to give up my entire eating out budget for a whole month to pay for it. :) I signed up for an evening class because we are in Aaron's busy season and since he is working until late every night I thought it would be a fun distraction for us a couple of evenings a week. Well one night we got a very big surprise and Aaron showed up for Carson's class! We were so excited and Carson loved showing off his new moves for his Dad. Carson is seriously fearless in the water, dunking himself, throwing himself backwards, and jumping off the sides. Our teacher joked that he must splash in his sleep since he splashed the whole class long.

So Proud

2011-02-28T17:54:00.001-08:00

Carson gets so proud of himself when he does anything exciting lately. And the first order of business when he does something exciting is to make sure we are watching. He loves to climb up on Josie and play with her (we seriously have the best dog in the world, Carson climbs all over her all day) and give her lots of hugs but he always wants to make sure that we see how "sweet" he is being to Josie. (Sweet is one of Carson's very favorite words to say)

So Carson finally learned that he can climb up on our chairs in the kitchen. I was surprised it took him so long to try but since we have the window benches, he is usually fully occupied climbing on those when we are eating. He gets so excited to stand at the table and take his toys up there. These frogs are Carson's favorite friends.

Baby you're a Firework

2011-02-24T11:27:00.000-08:00

So Carson is in LOVE with the song "Firework" by Katy Perry. I think it is the funniest thing in the world. I personally could do without any of her songs but he is obsessed with it. I always turn the radio on while I clean in the mornings and whenever this song comes on, no matter what he is doing he runs into the kitchen to listen to this song and dance. Yesterday we were in my closet picking up, he was playing with his shape organizer and all the sudden he threw down his star and ran out of the room. I didn't know what had happened but sure enough I found him in the kitchen with Firework on the radio. He sure is a funny boy.

Why do I buy toys??

2011-02-23T18:40:00.000-08:00

So lately Carson is really obsessed with climbing in boxes and playing in boxes and putting things in boxes and carrying boxes. It is so funny. He takes his little stool over to the box and takes whatever he wants inside and plays in there for a long time. It just cracks me up. I started collected boxes from Costco and anywhere else I could find any and I just set them up in the living room. It has provided fabulous entertainment.

(You may notice a theme of these two blankets in every picture. He never plays in his boxes without both blankets or one of my dresses :)

He also loves climbing into the kitchen cabinets and then shutting the door and hiding inside. I came into the kitchen the other day and found every, single cabinet door open and everything pulled out but one little door closed with a sweet little boy hiding inside. I'm just amazed at how kids come up with the funniest things to play with.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-16T11:07:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Valentines this year over the weekend since, of course, Aaron would be working late on the actual day. On Saturday night we went out to dinner with some friends in downtown McKinney and had a great time talking and eating Italian food. Then we came home and had ice cream. It was nice to go out and actual enjoy eating our food since taking Carson out has turned into so much work. Then on Sunday morning I made heart-shaped waffles and got out our Valentine stuff and I got my boys and we all had breakfast together. Carson was very excited about waffles and strawberries in the same meal and wanted to open his new paints right away. I love these small holidays, I love getting ready for them and decorating for them, and having Carson has made them even more fun. I hope everyone had a terribly romantic, chocolate-filled day.

The Superbowl sounds like a good reason to start blogging again...

2011-02-07T11:42:00.001-08:00

So I have decided to once again begin blogging. It was a nice little vacation but I feel like I am not keeping track of our lives since I am on a year long hiatus from scrapbooking. It started out with just taking Christmas break off from Blogs, Facebook, etc. and as it turned out, I really didn't miss it. I also found that I was spending much less time on the computer, but...I am completely out of touch with all of your lives and I miss that. So I am back but I think only once a week for reading/blogging. (at least this is the new goal) So I am trying to go back and post the major events I missed.

Yesterday we had my family over to watch the Superbowl/ eat way too much food. It was the most fun Superbowl ever! We had a blast. Everyone brought yummy dishes and Aaron made ribs for the first time and they were fabulous. I think more Coke was consumed during that game than some families consume in a year.

My Mom did a score grid and we all guessed the scores. Anyways we had a winner at the end of each quarter and it made the game so exciting. My Mom won first quarter, Delaney- second, Aaron- third, and Cory was the overall winner where he was given 30 seconds to decide between trading in his original prize for the unknown amount of cash in my Dad's hand. He wisely stuck with the original prize. It was such a fun night and an exciting game, although the commercials were a bit of a disappointment. Thanks to all my family for helping and for being so much fun, and for fitting perfectly on our couch. :)

18 Months Old!

2011-01-08T11:20:00.000-08:00

My little boy had his 18 month old check up and it was probably his worst one yet. He would not let me put him down and did not want anyone, doctor or nurse, touching him. But we were able to kinda/sorta get his stats:

Height: 34" (90th)

Weight: 24 lb. 6 oz. (30th)

Head: 18 3/4" (50th)

He has stayed pretty consistent in the percentiles and just keeps growing. He looks like such a big boy to me. He is in just the most fun age ever. We seriously cannot get enough of our Car Car man. He is into everything, pulling out everything, climbing on everything, running everywhere, and pretty much wearing me out everyday. While doing some shopping for Christmas we turned around to find him pulling off everything the shelves at the store.

He still loves books like its going out of style. He would seriously read for hours everyday but I have to limit it because it starts to give me headaches after awhile.

This kid still eats like a teenage boy, it seriously amazes me somedays when he eats more than me. (And most of you know that I can put it away) His favorites are all vegetables and fruit, cheese, graham crackers, milk, pizza, and quesadillas.

He is still not talking very much. He is repeating a few words but for now has stayed pretty quiet. Which has its positives and negatives. I could do without the whining noise he makes when he wants something and gets frustrated that I don't know what it is. It is funny though becaue he loves to sing and has learned a few songs but just doesn't talk. But when he does say a word he is very proud of himself, that could also be because we get so excited for him.

He is still a great sleeper and very interested in everything. He also loves doing everything me and Aaron do.

He is going through a very clingy stage and loves his Dad more than you can imagine. Sometimes people ask me if it bothers me that he prefers his Dad over me and I say, "No!" I am a very close 2nd and we don't see Aaron Monday through Friday so I am perfectly happy for him to want his Dad for everything on the weekend. :) I feel like I could go on and on about what he is doing these days because he is just changing so much!

New Years in Arkansas

2011-01-01T11:13:00.000-08:00

We decided to spend a few days in Arkansas for New Years and had a busy few days. We spent lots of time with family, celebrated our nephew's birthday,

celebrated New Years with family, Aaron played golf and went to the movies with the boys, and Carson decided it would be more fun to ride in his new car naked than take a bath.

It was great to spend time with Aaron's family although I spent most of it vegging on the couch. Carson was abnormally attached to our hips this trip which wore us out, especially Aaron (refer to me vegging on couch most of the trip) but really loved playing at his Aunt Lindsey's house. Happy 2011! I really hope to keep to my resolutions this year.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T12:43:00.000-08:00

We had such a fun, little Christmas this year at our house. My parents went to Mexico this year for Christmas so my family didn't get together until the 28th, leaving the 24th and 25th just to us. For Christmas Eve we had steak and french fries and played games until bed time. For dessert I made strawberry shortcakes and Carson was pretty much in heaven.

Then we got Carson all ready for bed in his Christmas pajamas and he was out.

He seemed excited this year (much more than last :) but not sure why.... He didn't show any interest in the tree and didn't try and open any presents ahead of time. We decided, at the last minute, to have a big yummy breakfast and made a late run to Walmart. Well apparently we weren't the only ones with this idea because all the cinnamon rolls were gone, eggs out, biscuits, you name it, even bacon. So I made cinnamon rolls from scratch (they of course didn't turn out), we got turkey bacon, and luckily we had eggs and hashbrowns. Who knew it was everyone's plan to make a big breakfast???

Well we must have really worn the Car Car man out because he slept in Christmas morning until after 9 AM!! I was all done making breakfast and told Aaron that we had to wake this boy up, I couldn't take it anymore!! He finally rolled out of bed and was very excited to see his toy car all set up under the tree. We had a big breakfast and then opened presents. Carson loved everything he got but really wanted to open everything in his car. (Which by the way was a b-day present from grandparents that we saved for Christmas. One of these days we will have to start buying Carson presents ourselves :)

Josie anxiously awaiting her presents.

Then for Christmas dinner we got together with friends for a feast of ham, funeral potatoes, asparagus, fruit salad, rolls, corn casserole, green beans, cakes, ice cream, pies, jello pretzel salad, beans and so much more. It was a fun way to finish the day, completely full!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2010-12-23T11:23:00.000-08:00

We seriously love Christmas around this house, everyone is happy and giddy and I can't stop singing Christmas songs. Carson is in love with Rudolph this year. He wants me to sing it to him all the time and he claps and claps when I finish. He loves for me to touch his nose. Which has led to him loving the book, "That's Not My Reindeer." He doesn't seem to notice that things are very different and he hasn't shown much interest in the tree but he loves all the fun things we are doing. We were lucky enough to have Aaron's little brother and his family come and visit for a few days before Christmas and we loved it. While they were here we went to look at the lights along a lake down here and they were beautiful.

It was very cold, but very fun to drive around in the trailer and watch the lights. Carson was very in love with his little cousin, Hallie.

Hallie is exactly one year younger than Carson and it was so fun to see how much Carson has grown. We had so much fun spending time with them and I am pretty sure they were the easiest guests ever.

This kicked off Aaron's 2 weeks, yes 2 weeks, of vacation for Christmas. We were so busy getting everything ready and Carson could not get enough of his Daddy since we hadn't seen him for the whole month of December. We were lucky enough to have a couple of days of perfect weather and went to the park.

Carson also sustained a few falls over the break trying to run around the park and refusing help on steps, slides, etc. :)

This newfound independence has also carried over into his eating where he does not need help with certain foods either.

What is he allergic too???

2010-12-09T10:30:00.000-08:00

So I have posted a few times about our allergy problems with Carson. After a few trips to the doctor we decided that it was best to go ahead and go to an allergist. I had been against it but the bottom line is, if he is allergic to peanuts we need to have an epipen for emergencies. So the same allergist my pediatrician goes to is the one a friend recommended so I decided to go to him. Well I call and appointments are three months out! Are you freaking kidding me? But a partner in his office could see me in two months. So I make an appointment with the other doctor and wait. Well that was a little over two months ago, no major rashes but we are giving him Benadryl pretty much every night. The long awaited appointment arrives and I go to the doctor and I wait....and wait....and wait. Now I have waited at the OB trust me, for a long time, but Carson's pediatrician NEVER makes us wait. Finally after an hour and half I get into a room and then I wait for 30 more minutes people. If you have husbands in medical school, tell them to get into children's allergies. Finally the doctor comes in (no apologies of course) - oh and have I mentioned yet that you can not eat ANY food in the entire office, poor Carson is starving by this point as we are now into lunch time- and he talks to me for a few minutes, makes some notes, and that's it. He tells me to come back in one week for testing. What??? Well apparently Carson needed to be off Benadryl for one week before testing, didn't we get the info packet in the mail?No we did not. Aaron is irate calling the office telling them we aren't paying to come back...which we do end up paying. Finally they run tests which are really hard. My sweet boy had to lay on his stomach, without moving, for 20 mins and he did so good. My biggest fear in going to an allergist was that they would say he is allergic to like 10 things (which is common when you test this young) we had the exact opposite. His tests came back negative for everything we tested. I guess we'll never know what he's allergic to....sigh...because I don't think we'll be going back any time soon.

But the good part is that we haven't seen any major rashes in a couple of months and last week I found Carson sitting in his cousin's car seat reading the Ensign. :)

Eclipse

2010-12-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

So I finally watched Eclipse this weekend. I know what you are thinking: what! how could you wait that long, didn't you love the books??? Well as you know Aaron and I are very cheap. Pretty sure we haven't paid full price to see a movie since the last Bourne movie, the summer of '07, and that is fact. Yes I did love the books but the movies have been a huge disappointment for me. I fell asleep during the second one and don't even get me started on the first. I admit that they are getting progressively better but I had such high hopes for these movies. While this one was the best so far, I cannot get over the horrible acting. I mean seriously, I swear Bella intentionally tries to act bad in these movies. Like she's too good for them and wants everyone to know it and Edward (who I think was very good looking in Harry Potter) just doesn't do it for me. Aaron thinks Jacob is the worst actor but I say at least he actually seems like he tries.... So I have decided to re-cast the movie.

Edward: Zac Efron - now say what you will about him but no one can deny that he is one beautiful guy. When me and Aaron watched 17 Again, Aaron said, "I'm sorry but that guy is so pretty, its sick." Of course a River Runs Through It Brad Pitt would have been my first choice.

Bella- Jessica Alba - now I know she's not the best actress in the world, but so beautiful and could pull off a teenager with the right make up. Also she could pull off a more simple teenager and then made more beautiful.

Jacob: This is a hard one. So I must go back in time to a younger Daniel Day-Lewis. Have you seen the scene in Last of the Mohicans where they come and get him out of bed to take him to prison? He isn't as native american looking as Jacob but he could pull it off.

Those are the main ones that bother me, but I would like to change Rosalie... I'm just not sure to who.... I know I'm a total dork but imagine the possibilities if these movies had good acting in them. I guess I just built up the characters too much in my head.

Christmas Cards

2010-12-01T17:55:00.000-08:00

Now some of you may remember how Christmas Cards were a debate in our house last year. I wanted them, Aaron didn't. Well we did end up sending them out last year and loved all the cards we got but this year I said, hm... maybe not, but Aaron really wanted to. So Aaron found this awesome deal on Shutterfly where you can get 50 FREE Christmas cards. Well that sold me. They have so many cute options that seriously it is so hard to choose which one is my favorite. I love so many of them I thought about sending out 2. :) Maybe I could send out a photo card and a regular card. Here are a few of my favorites:

I like this one because I love brown and it is simple and clean.

I also like the font on this one and that is one of my favorite Christmas songs. Perhaps you are starting to wonder if I just like the picture of this girl. While she is very cute, it is just a coincidence.

I love the black and white in this picture. (Again the same girl, I know) The blue over the black and white looks great too.

So it should be one of these three. As many of you know, I have no artistic talent and could never design my own cards so I am happy that there are so many talented people out there to do it for me! I can't wait to get mine.

My Little Helper

2010-11-10T08:13:00.000-08:00

So Carson is really into helping me lately, with everything. He wants to do everything himself, but not me, I must need help with everything I do. His main obsession is to help me with Josie. He wants to help me walk her, feed her, put on her leash, brush her, pet her, everything. He even sits next to her while she eats and puts the food in her mouth. I have to admit that it is pretty darn adorable. At night when it is time to feed Josie, he goes and gets her bowl and walks to the pantry where we keep the food and starts dishing it up. Everyone always says that having kids help you takes longer but is way more fun, well I disagree with that for the most part, but with Josie it is way more fun. :)

How does this thing work?

Now where did that dog run off to??

I will go and put her leash back on.

She must be hungry now, I will feed her.

High School Football in Texas

2010-11-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

So football here in Texas is a big deal. So some of you know that my brother Cory and his wife, Delaney, moved to Fort Worth this year because Cory got a job as a math teacher and assistant football coach for North Crowley High School. Well it has been so fun to have them here, even though they are pretty far away and we don't get to see them as much as we would like. As it turns out they are in the district of the high school that we all went to and so last Friday night we went to Arlington to watch Cory coach on the big stage. As a big sister, I thought he looked adorable in his coaching gear. His team is, well to put it nicely, having a rebuilding year so they got smoked but we still had fun. Carson had the time of his life. He danced to the band and walked around the stands, his Grandpa following him everywhere he went. He got to stay up way past his bed time and could sit and watch the cheerleaders for hours. Aaron is still adjusting to high school football here in Texas. He can't believe Cory is the Assistant Receiver's Coach. At his high school they had 2 coaches for the football team, who also did basketball and baseball. Different worlds I tell you.

Halloween Week

2010-11-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun Halloween week with Carson. I didn't realize that people buy costumes like super early so when I went two weeks ahead of time I thought I would be just fine. I was sorely disappointed to find all the costumes completely picked over...everywhere. I was just trying to find something in his size. Finally I found a cute, little bumblebee and called it good. Last weekend we went to a party at our church and had a lot of fun. Carson stuck to the cake walk, again and again and again, which was just great with me because he then had no interest in his cupcake and they were amazing.

Then we decided to make sugar cookies to decorate and I let Carson eat he beater when I was done, he was so addicted. He cleaned that thing off and then the next day when I was loading the dishwasher he found it and pulled it out and started trying to eat it again. It was so funny. It was the cutest thing in the world to watch my boy eating cookie dough and dancing with me to Taylor Swift while we made cookies.

We had a fun, little Halloween party for the kids that I teach at church. I team teach with a good friend of mine the 3 and 4 year olds and they got all dressed up and we played games and such at her house.

Then on Halloween we stayed at home with friends and watched the Rangers...lose...so sad. When my Mom found out Carson was a bee for Halloween she got him a bear dressed up like a bee. Carson carries it around the house, giving it hugs, of course.

Halloween like tripled in fun this year with Carson, next year, when he can say trick-or-treat, I can only imagine how much fun he will have.

Hugs All Around

2010-10-25T11:56:00.001-07:00

Carson is going through a major hug phase. He wants to give hugs to us all the time. And its not just us, he gives hugs to kids when he sees them, really whenever he is happy. We are pretty sure that this is just about the cutest phase he will ever go though. Now not everyone receives these hugs as happily as Aaron and I do. Just this week I was keeping our friend's little girl, Julia, and we went on a walk. On our walks, we often stop and have hug breaks or Carson just hugs my leg. Well Carson wanted to hug Julia today and she looked at me and said, "tell Carson no hugging me." Carson also really wants to give Josie hugs and she is not so interested in his attention so I have to make her sit. That's okay because it just means more for me. :) We will be so sad when this stops, I hope it never does.

Congrats Dick Pierson!

2010-10-18T11:46:00.001-07:00

Last week we made a trip to Arkansas to see Aaron's Dad receive a really important, fancy award (that I can't remember the name of) from the Arkansas Hospital Board. We are all very proud of him and happy that we could barely make it in time for the Awards Ceremony and dinner. All of Aaron's siblings came (except his brother in Utah who had a six day old baby...) and it was so fun to see everyone. Aaron had to work that morning so we were hauling to get there, no stops along the way. Then we threw our screaming baby at the baby sitter and took off. Pretty sure she earned her wages that night. After that we spent the weekend in Arkansas, enjoying beautiful weather and watching soccer and baseball games.

Google This:

2010-10-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

Texas Rat Snake

This is what we found in our back yard on Sunday night. It was pretty much the scariest thing ever! After Aaron tried to cut its head off and missed it coiled up and hisses at us, I was freaking out! It was huge, it says they can be up to 6 feet but I would say this one was about 4. Aaron went next door to borrow a hoe from our neighbor and I refused to stay alone in the backyard with it to keep an eye on it and while we were gone, it got away. To where??? Who knows but I send Josie out to do an inspection before we go outside since she found it in the first place. Seriously snakes are scary.

15 Months

2010-10-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

My little man had his 15 Month check up last week. While there he got 3 shots, yuck! His official stats are:

Height: 32" (75th)

Weight: 23LBS. (30th)

Head: 18.5" (50th)

I was happy to see his weight go up some but I don't stress out about it at all because he continues to be a fabulous eater. We are loving this age more than we knew possible. It is so fun to see him copying sounds and dancing and doing hand motions to songs. We could watch this kid play for hours. He is really good about playing with his toys but his mega obsession is still books. He wants to read all day long...it really wears on me some days. A girl can only read these books so much! I get new ones at the library but we read so much I am worn out on them a few days later. And he follows me around the house with a book until I stop and sometimes he grabs my hand and opens it and puts a book inside, how old are kids when they can read on their own? :) Oh well, there could be worse things I suppose. Carson loves to take showers, he is such a funny kid if I try to shower without him he starts banging on the shower door and taking off his clothes...hard to resist. He is into everything and loving every minute of it. He can throw a tantrum already if he doesn't get his way or if I stop reading before he is ready but overall he is a happy kid. We still aren't sure what he is allergic too but we will keep trying to figure it out! He is down to one nap a day and sleeps about 11 hours at night. He loves for me to chase him around the house and he love to take walks, barefoot of course because we can't convince this kid to wear shoes for anything. He is a very curious boy and he could spend hours in my Mom's classroom at her school, pulling things out, stacking things, and reading books. He is turning into such a sweet and cuddly boy and he even gives "Sam" his hand puppet dog friend hugs and kisses. He hates to brush his teeth at night and doesn't enjoy reading scriptures at night...he tries to pull the book out of my hand and replace it with one he would rather read. Also as soon as he sees me pull out his medicine he tries to run away from me. He does the same when I change his diaper, he thinks it is a fabulous game.

We sure have a lot of fun with this sweet boy!

The return of wheat

2010-09-28T20:12:00.001-07:00

As soon as I could bring back one of the forbidden foods, wheat made a return in all its cookie, rolls, waffle, and sandwich glory. We really missed it and so far (fingers crossed) no rash has shown up so I am hoping this is not the culprit. Thank you so much for all of your comments and helpful advice with the rash, I used the advice and his rash has cleared up and he feels much better. In fact here he is on day 7 of his diet, all cleared up.

(Don't judge the pink Dora sippy, we use any and all hand-me-downs people throw our way)

And in other news, beautiful Texas fall has officially begun and it is not disappointing. The weather is amazing and I feel like we could live outside. Only bad news is my bike is in the shop and it is taking forever to fix. I am so upset without it since the weather is so amazing. Today we went to the zoo and had so much fun, Carson loved it much more this time around. Pretty sure he spent about 5 minutes of it in his stroller, the rest of the time he wanted to walk or push the stroller. Then at the end we went to the park and it was empty and what started out as fun on the slides ended up like this:

Needless to say my little man was worn out and took a very long nap, skipping lunch, after we got home.

Austin and Allergies

2010-09-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

So a little over a month ago I gave Carson a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he loved it. The next day he started breaking out with a rash that started on his legs and spread all over his little body. It was so sad. So doctor said sounds like he is allergic to peanuts, Benadryl until it clears up. Well it cleared up and I stopped giving him peanuts. Then it turned into the rash that never goes away. We cannot get this thing to clear up, it just keeps coming back. So I decided maybe its not peanuts, it must be something else. But we cannot for the life of us figure out what it is. Carson eats everything in sight and has since he was 9 months old so I can't figure out what is new in his diet. So we go back to the doctor, blood tests at this age are usually inconclusive so she wants him off milk, wheat, nuts, berries, eggs, and seafood. Are you kidding me??? Do this for a whole week and see if it clears up and then you'll know if it is one of these things. Poor Carson, he can't eat anything. I have had the hardest time coming up with anything for him to eat. He is all fruit and vegetabled out. After 2 days of oatmeal he was over it and a person can only eat so much rice. I sure hope its like seafood, that wouldn't be so hard but wheat causes a whole lifestyle change. And I will have to do it too because when he sees me eating bread or something he wants it. Did you know there is wheat in ice cream? Not to mention milk! I feel sorry for him. It has only been 3 or 4 days but the rash is not clearing up. Any ideas, what are your kids allergic too?

On a lighter note we went to Austin this weekend. I forgot our camera but we did take this picture of Carson riding the train. (this is before he peed through his diaper and jeans and onto my lap :) I love Austin and we had a great time, it is so beautiful there. Aaron and I went on a run through UT campus and around the capital and enjoyed checking it out. The football stadium is huge. I oftentimes think we would be happier in a smaller town...

Just call me Martha

2010-09-10T09:44:00.000-07:00

So do you think nesting can rub off on people?? My friend, Andrea, is 30+ weeks pregnant and really nesting and I think it rubbed off on me. She was at my house talking about getting the nursery painted and all set up and mentioned that they were going to donate their second bedroom furniture and we said, "we'll take it." Now I know I have never accurately described the current state of our bedroom. Well I would use the word pitiful but that seems a little strong since we do actually own a bed, so I will say...bare oh and I must add unorganized. Our bed sits on the floor, we have no furniture in our bedroom. We used to keep our clothes in piles on the floor (since we have no dresser) until Josie started sleeping on it. So I moved my craft and scrapbooking shelves into our room and that's where we've kept our clothes.

Next problem, Aaron. Aaron has many wonderful and fabulous qualities but one of them is not organization or throwing things away. He keeps EVERYTHING and doesn't ever really find a place to put it. So it usually ends up in a big pile next to his side of the bed. It drives me crazy but Aaron always says, "let me have this one place in the whole house." That's tough to argue with but also this pile is difficult to sleep in the same room as. Add the pile of books and every talk Aaron has ever read and it was starting to wear on me.

Enter the new furniture. Now I did not take a before picture of this furniture but let me give you a brief description. Remember the shiny laminate particle board furniture phase? Probably not because it was before your time but I'm sure you have seen some of it. It was that with the gold lining. I don't think I am hurting Devin and Andrea's feelings when I say that while the furniture was in excellent condition it wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing. So after spending some serious time on google and many of those do-it-yourself blogs I decided that I could fix them up some. I sanded, primed, and painted the dresser and two night stands all by myself. This was my project while Aaron was out of town last week. I worked on it every night after Carson went to sleep. I love the color and I wish I would've gotten a glossier finish paint I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. I really wanted to rip off the handles and put new ones on but the two Lowe's workers convinced me that I would ruin the drawers. (After the first one said no I set out for a second opinion because I really, really wanted new handles)

(Not a great picture, not sure why its spotting. Trust me the whole dresser is painted)

Well the new furniture caused me to go into a major state of nesting, at least that's what I'm calling it. I moved the shelves back into their home in the office, which meant I needed to move stuff around in the office and organize the office closet.

Then I thought well I need to move some stuff from Carson's closet in here so I organized Carson's closet and put up a curtain in his room. (I hung it all by myself and used a power tool in the process :)

Then since I was working on the bedroom I moved the plastic drawers into the closet and organized the whole closet.

I had to move some stuff upstairs so I organized the upstairs closet and all the holiday stuff.

Then I thought while I was at it I would work on the laundry room. (Which reminded me that we need more toilet paper)

Phew and then I was done and very happy and I only had to purchase 3 storage bins. Maybe Aaron should go out of town more often...just kidding, I hate for Aaron to go out of town.

And the best part of the room is this compromise. I found an extra basket that we weren't really using in the laundry room and Aaron is free to fill it with whatever he wants and at least it looks better inside a basket right?? Well I may have taken it too far when I said he could put whatever he wanted in there because he has put clothes in there that he doesn't feel like putting away and yesterday I found candy. Marriage is all about compromises. :)

*Note I don't mean to sound like I am complaining about our bedroom furniture. Really our bedroom has just always been the least of priorities. We worked on our office, living room, upstairs, and Caron's rooms first. I know we'll get around to finishing up our bedroom eventually.

I am so in love

2010-09-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

With these pictures of Carson!! Ambyr always does amazing work and these pictures do not disappoint. We just can't stop looking at them. Thanks again Ambyr, you are fabulous.

Carson's one year pictures

I hate teething!

2010-08-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

It seriously hurts my heart to watch Carson go through this teething process. Why must teeth hurt so bad when they come in?? Last week Carson broke 4, that's right, 4 molars. It was not a fun week. He had a fever non-stop, he never let me put him down, when I did put him down he cried, and when that wasn't going on, he slept. He seriously took mega naps. Every day I kept thinking that it must be something else and I was going to take him to the doctor and then one morning he woke up, he was happy and back to his normal self. Not to mention that he had an allergic reaction (we think to peanut butter which is a travesty) and broke out in hives. Poor guy, it was not a fun week. His poor, little mouth was so swollen. I just wish they could wake up in the morning with teeth one day...

In other news, I finally decided that maybe, just maybe, Carson had enough hair for me to try and fix a little. Well Aaron doesn't like it, but I think its cute and it at least makes his hair show up more with product in it. I don't know I have only tried it twice but what do you think? I know it doesn't look like much but be reminded that normally Carson looks bald in all pictures.

Pierson Family Reunion

2010-08-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

We recently attended our Pierson family reunion in Arkansas and I don't feel like my blog post will due justice to just how much fun we had. We started off by making a horrible drive to Arkansas where Carson didn't sleep the whole drive and instead took to screaming. The only time he was quiet was when he managed to get a hold of his yogurt and open it and get it all over himself in the process. But... after we got there, things turned up. The top collage is from our trip before we went to the house in the Ozarks and the bottom one is from our house in the Ozarks. We arrived on Saturday when we had a BBQ and late night swim (love the pool at Aarons' parents). Carson, of course, missed all this because he was finally sleeping. The on Sunday we celebrated Aaron and my SIL Kellie's birthdays. They happen to share the same birthday. We introduced Carson to his newest niece, Hallie (who happens to share a birthday with Carson). I can't believe Carson was that small just a year ago. Then on Monday we seriously spent the whole day in the pool. I got in at 9 or so and didn't get out until 5...a perfect day for us. Then we went to a baseball game that evening and I spent most of the game inside the air conditioned box, eating one of everything they brought us.

Arkansas Part 2

2010-08-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

Then on Tuesday we took off for our house in the Ozarks. It was seriously so beautiful, I could not believe it. And the greatest part was that we had the whole place to ourselves. No one else had rented out the other houses. Every day was filled with doing fun stuff. Those of you who have heard me talk about my mother in law know how fun she is and she outdid herself. We had book reviews, talent shows, sack races, egg tosses, baseball, trips to the river, going in the canoe, slip n slide action, bean bag tosses, karaoke going non stop, and of course, fabulous food every night. Then the adults stayed up after the kiddos went down and just played games and talked. I was so worn out by the end of the trip that I could barely wake up in the morning. (Helped by my sweet boy waking up before 6) I wouldn't have changed one thing about it, well except maybe the bugs, yuck. I feel so lucky to have married into such a fun family. We loved spending time with them and Carson sure is lucky to have so many great cousins to grow up with.

Happy Birthday Aaron!

2010-08-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

I found my camera and so I just wanted to put up some pictures of Aaron's birthday. We had so much fun spending the day together at Hurricane Harbor and then going out to eat at our favorite, Red Robin. I can't believe we are 28, we are feeling old these days. :) Happy Birthday my love, you make every day so much fun.

While I haven't been blogging...

2010-08-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

I've been turning 28!!

Riding around town in my new bike and bike trailer.

Reading to Carson, the same books over and over and over again.

Going to baseball games.

Spending lots of time with my niece, Mia, who has been visiting.

Watching Aaron turn 28 and celebrating with an all day trip to Hurricane Harbor, eating Red Robin, and caramel brownies. (I do have pictures I just can't find my camera right now :)

And listening to this laugh all day long. It has been a great month.

Lovin the 4th of July

2010-07-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun fourth of July weekend and took full advantage anytime it wasn't raining. We had a BBQ with friends and watched the fireworks on the 3rd and then went out on the boat in the morning and swimming in the evening on the 5th. We had a busy weekend and I was so worn out by Monday night. (Not to mention unbelievably sore from the wicked fall I took wakeboarding) Now we still don't have a camera battery so we are making due with Aaron's phone. Not the highest quality of pictures but I hate missing out on fun pictures and videos. A new battery charger really is the top of my list for things to buy.

You only turn 1 once

2010-07-07T08:32:00.001-07:00

So why not celebrate twice! We just can't believe that our little man is a whole year old. He had his one year check up yesterday and his stats are:

Height: 30.5" (75th)

Weight: 20lb. 11oz. (20th)

Head: 18 1/4 " (55th)

I've given up worrying about this kid's weight because he seriously eats like a horse, I've just accepted that he is lean. But he is very healthy and handled his shots like a champ. We just think 1 if the funnest age in the world and I told him on his first birthday that he was never allowed to turn 2. :)

For his birthday we celebrated with my family in California and I made a cookie cake with ice cream and all the toppings. He wasn't so interested in the cookies but loves ice cream.

So then we celebrated again here with a few of our friends and I made an ice cream cake. We had a great time.

For Carson's birthday we had always planned on getting him a car seat but my sister in law told me on this trip that we could have their old car seat because they had just gotten new ones. And since she keeps one in each of their 3 cars it is in fabulous shape!! So that meant after we got back from California we got to actually purchase Carson a few presents and now he officially has toys. Although he has been pretty content with his Tupperware and empty bottles. :)

Carson is a barrel of fun these days. If you're lucky he will tell you where his head is and it gives him great joy to tell you what a snake says. He is walking all over the place and making a mess everywhere he goes. He loves to play with his Dad and go swimming with mom everyday. He whines like crazy when you don't give him his food fast enough and eats anything you put in front of him. He still loves to read stories and wants to read them over and over again but pull out a book he doesn't want to read and he throws it right on the ground. He loves drinking milk and still loves his mama's water bottle. He could take any one of you in a starring contest and has started giving his favorites big hugs and kisses when he first sees them. He claps when Daddy gets home and when we say splish splash he starts looking all over until he finds some water to splash in. He throws food down to Josie and tries to walk with her. His hair is coming in slowly but surely and the slight curl in the back is adorable. He is a great sleeper and I can't quite give up the 2 naps a day schedule. He could sit and listen to you sing "Big Iron" all day long and starts laughing as soon as we start "the wheels on the bus". He loves to play Peek a boo but can't always figure out quite where to put his hands, sometimes over his eyes, but most of the time on top of his head. He wants to play all the time, no matter what we're doing. We could listen to his adorable noises all day but could do without the whining noises that come on cue every night when I make dinner. We sure love our sweet boy, Happy Birthday Car Car man.

California

2010-07-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

My family decided to do a trip this year to California where my brother Stephen lives. We also spent a few nights camping on the beach. Well, some were camping, others (like the Piersons) were in a hotel. It was a busy trip but we had a great time. I have had the hardest time recovering from the trip, we are all still on California time. The unfortunate part of the trip is the lack of pictures. Our camera battery died while there and we could not find the battery charger. Even now we have searched our house and can't find it anywhere. It was a pretty big bummer since while there Carson turned 1 year old and Aaron and I had our 3rd anniversary. (I am really behind on my blogging) A quick summary of the our favorite parts of the trip were: roasting marshmellows on the beach with snickers, twix, milky way, etc.; enjoying the beautiful weather; eating breakfast in downtown HB; seeing our good friends the Castletons and my friend Stacy; our little family stayed by ourselves for a night in Newport Beach and we had a great time; and just being around all my family. Towards the end of the trip several people got food posioning which was no fun but I think everyone has recovered from that. Carson was a fabulous traveler and sleeper and that was so nice! But we are very glad to be home and not traveling for at least a month. :)

Happy 3 Years!

2010-06-30T14:55:00.000-07:00

We kept our 3rd anniversary sweet and simple, no monetary gifts, no night out on the town, just being more in love than we ever have before.

I Heart Summer

2010-06-23T07:18:00.000-07:00

I am so in love with summer. We have just been having too much fun this year. Last year I was stuck inside all summer because I was big and pregnant and then I had a tiny baby but this year we spend just about every day in the water and we both LOVE it. We went to New Mexico to visit my grandparents and when Carson wasn't walking up and down the hall with his walker at my Grandpa's nursing home, he was splashing it up in the big pool or walking around in the splash pool. We have also been going to the lake, boating, and hanging out at the beach on the lake. On days when we don't go swimming, I feel like something is missing. I sure am lucky to have a boy who loves the water as much as his mama. Carson is fearless in the water he will just throw himself under the water, I am really going to have to keep my eye on him. Also we have (and I mean only Carson) are burn free. I am so worried this kid is going to get burned, especially atop his bald head but so far he seems to have great skin. Actually, he is tanning. I was pretty shocked because he has such fair skin. Another reason we love summer is we get to see Aaron, everyday! Yea! There are cons to my hubby's job but the summer in definitely not one of them and we are loving it. So I've decided... this year it is going to stay summer all year long, next year the winter may return if I feel like it. :)

The Curious Case of the Pink Eye

2010-06-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

So Carson and I both have pink eye, double pink eye. Carson got it first and then passed it on to me. Luckily the meds work great and we aren't contagious for very long. And for right now it appears (fingers crossed) Aaron has escaped it. But we have no idea who he got it from, we don't know anyone else with it. So Carson and me were pretty house bound this weekend but we still got to celebrate a wonderful father's day with Aaron. We had breakfast in bed (well he had to get back in bed because we all woke up so early) and presents and one of Aaron's favorite dinners. The only fluke was that apparently I am the one madly in love with Texas sheet cake, not Aaron...whoops... so sadly I will have to eat it all myself, it's a rough life. :)

We love you Aaron! Thank you for working so hard for our little family. The best part of our day is when you come home!

Utah

2010-06-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

Last week Aaron and I took a week-long trip up to Utah to visit our families and we had such a great time. There is nothing more beautiful than Utah in the spring time, it is seriously perfect weather every day. It was so nice to escape the record breaking heat here in Dallas. We spent the first half of the trip with Cory and Delaney and loved seeing their new place. It was so fun to see my little brother all married and happy, I loved it. We ate lots of good food (including Cafe Rio, of course) and played Settlers just about every night. We visited BYU and felt very nostalgic as we walked around campus (not to mention, old, did I really look that young when I went to college, I remember feeling old and mature? :) Aaron and Cory played golf every day. We visited our friends Mim and Allan and met their new baby boy. Then we spent the second half with Aaron's brother Jedd and his family up in Kayesville. Here we went on bike rides and hikes and runs. Aaron played golf and tennis. We went shopping and ate great food, had BBQs and stayed up late talking. It was seriously such a fun trip and so great to spend every day with Aaron. Carson got so attached to Aaron during the trip it was a rough seperation when we got back home and Aaron had to go back to work. Besides being a nightmare sleeper (and I mean nightmare) Carson was a very good little traveler and, of course, a great eater. I started having to order him kid's meals when we ate out because he just eats too much of my food now. We sure miss Utah and those beautiful mountains, maybe I need to make a trip up there when its snowing. :)

11 Months Old, one month away from a year!

2010-06-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

So truth be told I didn't really keep a list of Carson's progression for this month. It just flew by and with two week long trips, I had a hard time keeping up. But just a few important things for the month of May were:

Walking and loving every step of it.Eating anything and everything insight.

If people make one comment about Carson while we are eating it is, "does he always eat this much?" Yes he always does. He is still skinny as a rail though.

Did a great job on the airplanes but sleeping at night not so much while we were traveling.

Loves to perform for people, everywhere we go.

He just goes up to random strangers and claps for them or whatever his latest trick is.

Has his favorites stories and at the top Puppies Count still dominates.

He loves to swim and be in the water.

He is really into giving us kisses but the temptation to bite us remains very strong.

He loves to get into everything and pull out everything he gets into.

He really likes to shut doors but traps himself in the laundry room all the time.

While traveling he did play favorites for Aaron and me.

Jabbering all the time, thinking he is talking to us. I'm pretty sure he thinks Ma Ma means either "I want" or "more" because he only says it when eating and wanting more food or whining that he wants a toy.

One new tooth.

His new favorite food is smoothies, I make them when he wakes up in the afternoon and he usually has 2.

Changing this kid's diaper is unbelievably difficult.

Can't believe this little guy is almost a whole year old. I am getting so sad and excited all at the same time.

Our little walker

2010-05-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

So I didn't want to rain on poor Josie's parade but on her birthday Carson decided to start walking. We were at church and I wasn't really paying attention and he just took off from the chair and walked to me. He mostly just takes about 4 or 5 steps but he absolutely loves it. We have taken a couple of videos of him walking between us but sometimes after he walks between us a few times he starts enjoying falling and being caught by us more than walking so it turns into that game, which we love just as much as he does. Tell me he isn't the cutest baby in the world. I dare you. :)

Teenagers aren't so tough

2010-05-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post that our puppy turned two yesterday, well we celebrated yesterday. I think these teenager years have been the easiest yet. :) For her big day she got to start the morning with a walk where she was allowed to chase all the rabbits. Then we filled up the pool in the backyard and she and Carson played together. She got treats all day and then last night we went to her favorite park that has a pond and she went swimming. It was a pretty good day for Josie. We think she is the greatest dog and seriously can't imagine life without her (as lame as I know that sounds to some of you). But she has trained for a marathon with me, lets Carson throw her food all over the floor, and falls asleep at Aaron's feet. We sure love our Jo Jo.