Bring on the Rain

I love rain. I love fall. I love that it isn't boiling hot. I love to sit and watch it rain, especially when it pours. Today Nick is at work, and I just put the kids down for a nap. My house smells like pumpkin chocolate chip bread baking, I am listening to conference, and I am watching it rain. (Yes I am blogging and listening to conference at the same time...I multi-task well!)
With fall now here, we decided we better stock up on our freezer jam supply before we can't get strawberries anymore. So last night Katie, Jana and I went to Melissa's house while our hubby's took the kids, and within 2 hours we cranked out quite a bit of jam! Yum!

Check out Jana's stirring skills! WOW!!!! Both hands....at the same time!!

This is what happens when you get 4 silly girls together....it must be the sugar in the air!

Thanks Melissa for letting us make a mess at your house!!

Red Tigers!!!!

Soccer is over for fall and we will get to play again in spring. I think 6 months will make a big difference on how well the kids will do playing soccer. We have such a fun team. All the little boys on Carsons team are just adorable! They have been fun to coach and to get to know. It is also fun to see how three year olds interact with one another. At the end of our last game, we took team pictures. I just took my camera so I wouldn't have to pay for pictures, and I was glad I did. They are the cutest little soccer team! Go TIGERS!!!

(Notice the soccer cookie...Carson wouldn't put it down, even for the picture!!! It was funny!)
This picture was taken the week before, after we got home from one of his games. He must of worn himself out with all that running!

Eight Months Old

Wow...My Little Girl is getting so BIG!!! She turned 8 months today. She has made the past 8 months such an experience and we wouldn't change it for the world!! She has brought such a joy and loving spirit into our home. She is such a great baby, if you don't mind getting up still at night! She is getting even more mobile and is starting to realize that she likes to be with her mom! Which is nice and flattering, but it can be kind of annoying when I am trying to get things done!!!
Here she is showing off her newly aquired skill of scooting. (Notice her hair is becoming more and more noticable...)
Kaylee loves to be outside and does great in the strollers. This was at one of Carson's recent soccer games. She loves to chew on everything, but still no teeth!! So anytime now I am expecting at least one to appear. She is slowly getting better about sitting up on her own, but once she realizes she wants something, she leans back or to the side so she can be on her tummy and can go get what she wants.

We love you Kaylee....

This is Carson's favorite thing to watch...

Something to think about...

On Wednesday, Nick and I attended a funeral for a friend. His name was Von, and he was only 26 years old. He grew up in Holden with Nick and their families were very close. When he was 2 1/2 years old, he had a cattle gate fall on him, and he was basically dead, but the Dr's were able to save him and bring him back to life. Since then, him and his family knew that he was living on borrowed time. He lead a very full and productive life, despite the mental complications his accident left him with. He served a partial mission in Provo, and served a full service mission at Welfare square in SLC. He was the manager for the Millard Eagles football team for almost 10 years. He was such an example of how people should live thier lives. Not judging, not critisizing, and loving everyone. He was on his way to work last Friday morning, when he overcorrected in his truck getting on the freeway, and the truck rolled, and he was killed.
As I thought about death and how we live our lives, it really brought it all to reality for me. We all live and we all die. We can't control how or when we die, but we can control how we live. Do we do all we can everyday to live the gospel? Do we go out of our way to give service? Do we show and tell the people around us we love them? What kind of priorities do we set? I could go on and on with questions that I ask myself. I am not perfect, and I have a lot to learn still. I have such a good family and great friends, who are great examples to me.
I just want everyone know how much I love Nick. He is a great husband, and I don't know anyone else who would be able to put up with me! He is a wonderful father, who is always willing to help with the kids, and he puts Carson to bed everynight. I love sitting outside the door as he helps Carson say his prayers. It is the cutest thing in the world. He reads with them, plays with them, feeds them, and loves them! He works so hard for our family. He gets up at 3:45 AM every day! And works anywhere from 40 to 60 hours a week, just so I am able to stay home with our children. He supports me in all that I do. And despite our disagreements sometimes, he is always on my side.
I love my children. Carson is such a delight and I love him to pieces. He keeps me laughing, smiling, and sometimes yelling. (He is a three year old, and gets into everything) But he is my joy! To watch him learn and grow the past three years has been amazing. I knew having children can make you happy, but it is so much more than that. It is a feeling that is so hard to explain. It is exhilarating! No amount money can buy anything so great! Kaylee is just a doll, and even though she is a lot of work, she is just an angel! She is getting such a fun personality, and I can't wait to see how she grows! I feel so blessed to have these beautiful children, and I can only imagine the love our Heavenly Father must feel for us, when I know of the love I have for MY children. I am thankful everyday for the blessings of health, safety, and love that our family has.
I am sorry that I am rambling, I just want to share my feelings that I have had the last few days. I hope that I don't have to attend any funerals for a while. The thing I fear the most is loosing someone in my family, especially my children. I pray for the Whatcott family and I know that they find comfort in knowing that they will see Von again someday.
Just something to think about...

Crawling, Soccer, and Pinewood Derby!

Wow, did we have a fun weekend! It all started Friday with the annual Elders Quorum Pinewood Derby. Nick had worked on his cars for many many hours! His first car, was made of pine, and was painted gold, and he called it "the Whale' for the way it was shaped. The other car, the one he pimped out, was made out of aluminum, and was pretty detailed. Neither of the cars were the fastest, but it was fun, and the food was good. It was fun to see all the men and boys so giddy over such a simple task of speeding toy cars down a ramp! Here we are before we left, Kaylee all dressed up to attend the big event....the flower bow didn't last very long, but it was cute while it DID last!
Nick and Carson getting the cars registered. It was double elimination, and I think Nick won one, and lost the others.

Carson with dad's cool car!

Ready, set, GO!!!

Once we got the race cleaned up, the little kids started a game of Red Rover, which was so enjoyable to watch! Carson had never played that game before, and he really thought that was fun!!

Here is Chris Hall, I think he is putting graphite on his wheels to make them faster, we just thought it was funny, he was being so surgical about it!

We had yummy steaks that we grilled, and people brought delicous sides to share.

So the next morning, we got up and got ready for Carson's soccer game. Nick worked that morning, but got home in time to come with us to the game. Carson did even better then he did last week, but still isn't the best at kicking the ball. But he loves to run, it is so great to see him out there playing! (He is the one with the white shinguards on).

(Notice that other than me, the coach, there were also other parents out on the field, since some of the kids didn't want to play by themselves! :)

Look at Caron run! Isn't it the cutest! Notice the other little boy pushing, which is a common reaction of three year olds! They are constantly being reminded to "Not Push" and "Don't touch the ball with your hands"

The other thing we found over the weekend, is how mobile Kaylee is getting. We were just getting ready for bed, and relaxing, and some how Kaylee got herself under the couch, and was happy for awhile, then realized she was kind of stuck!!

Kaylee loves to get around now, and loves being on her tummy. She is slowing realizing how to push off with her legs. It will only be a matter of time, before she is really getting around!

Carson and Kaylee are so cute together! I hope that continues as they both get older!

Sorry for all the pictures, and rambling of how CUTE and FUN everything is! But I just wanted to share!

My Addiction

So as many of my friends know, I have an addiction....to bows. I just can't get enough of them!! And I am not even the one who wears them!! :) The following collage of pictures are just a few of the grumbles of bows that hang in Kaylee's room. Even before she was born, I had already started the collection. Nick thinks I am a little obsessed with them, and I guess I can see why he thinks that! However, even though I am spending money on these bows, most of them are on clips, so they can easily be converted from a headband to use in normal hair, that is once Kaylee gets some! It will be nice when that happens, since lately she is more interested in eating the bow, than wearing it! So if I can put them in her hair, and she can't pull it down over her face, then maybe they will stay on her head longer. I don't know, maybe I am trying to make up for the lack of hair Kaylee has, but I must say, she has a beautiful nice shaped head (I think) and so bow or no bow she is just the most adorable little girl!!

So a big thanks goes out to Lisa T. from Meadow, UT, who I have gotten quite a few of my cute bows and flowers from. She does a great job! Someday I will probably need to learn how to make them myself, so I can support my own habit, but until then, she does a good job supplying my addiction! I know some of them are still a little big, but I like 'em that way. And thanks to Cassidy for her brown and red flower headband! It is so cute!!

(Here's the proof....and she is only 7 months old!)

Do I have something on my face?

My Carson...

Is such a character!! There are so many things that he does that just makes me laugh and wonder how he thinks of things! I sometimes don'r realize how smart and attentive he is getting. And other times I expect him to act older than he really is. For example, today he had his first tiny tot soccer game. Since I am coaching his team, Matt & Nat were nice enough to come and help me with Kaylee and watch his game since Nick had to work today. He was more interested in playing on the big toy, then playing soccer. There are 6 little boys on his team, and about 2 other boys were also NOT interested in actually playing soccer! One little boy cried the whole time, and would only go on the field with his dad. But it was still fun to see them all play! I don't know what I was expecting when you put a whole bunch of three year olds on the field and tell them to kick the ball. At one point in the game, the kids kicked the ball onto another field, and there were 4 teams playing soccer on the same field. It was hilarious!! I am sure next week will be even better!

Thursday, Luke and Max were over playing, and Carson & Luke thought it was so funny to get into this bus (which normally holds all of Carsons toys in his room, so you can imagine what his room looked like) and pretend to ride in it! It was really funny when they wanted Max to get in too!

Did I mention he is a character? This morning, after I got out of the shower, Carson said something about making juice, and I thought he was asking me if we can make juice, so I told him we could. It wasn't until I walked into the kitchen that I realized what he was telling me. That he ALREADY made juice! No kidding, all by himself! We have those little cyrstal light lemonade packets that he got out, got the pitcher down, opened the lemonade container, and filled it up. It was a little more full than the 2 qt line, but I was impressed he even got it filled up. He even threw the empty packet away, and put the rest away in the cupboard. What a smart little kid! (Yeah, I probably should be supervising him more carefully....but if I followed him around 24/7 I would never get anything done!) :) Isn't that funny though?? I think he was pretty proud of himself!

Again, he does the funniest things! On Labor Day, he wouldn't settle down long enough to take a nap. So while he was out in the garage with Nick, playing, he must have realized how tired he felt, cause he didn't even bother coming in the house to take his nap. This is how we found him. Asleep next to his box of toys, on the rug that is in the garage. What a funny kid!

Happy Birthday Katie & Jana!

It is so fun that two of my great friends share the same birthday! It is always a good time when we get together every year! This year was especially fun, since we did a girls day out!! It all started by convincing our husbands or family to watch our children for us so we could go to Good Things Utah (aka as GTU). It is a local show put on by Channel 4. It is basically the Utah version of 'The View'. It was fun to go to the live show at the studio, and seeing how it works behind the scenes. We got there about 15 min before it started at 10:00. It was kinda funny waiting in between the two front doors until someone was able to escort us into the studio. I guess you had to be there!
Oh, I wanted to share this picture I took today of Jana talking on her cool new birthday present she got from Ike...but Shhhh....don't tell him she used it! lol!

Melissa, Myself, Katie, Lindsey, and Jana....heading into the ABC4 studios.

Chillin' out on the cool studio audience bleachers! They even gave us little ABC4 Logo Bleacher cushions to use for the hour, which I thought was funny at first, but about 25 minutes into it, I realized how needed they were!

So I love this picture of Jana and Doug....Ike would be so jealous....He loves DOUG!!

Me & The Birthday Girls on the set of GTU!

It was so fun to talk to the cast of GTU, they are the nicest ladies! And they are even prettier in person! Nicea gave us some good info on what dish to order at the Cheesecake factory (which is where we headed for lunch afterwards). The GTU ladies L to R: Nicea, Angie, Marti, and Reagan. Super fun to see them!!!

Our yummy lunch at the Cheesecake Factory! I had never eaten there, and it was good!! The atmosphere was fantastic and the company even better! I think we all threw our diets out the window today! We just couldn't pass up dessert!!

See what I mean? Can you say C H O C O L A T E ?????

The birthday girls finally got their cool birthday plate decorated cheesecake, after one failed attempt by the staff to come and sing to them, since Jana was currently unavailable.....in the ladies room! :)

Today was so fun! I couldn't ask for better friends, and I am glad they let us group of gals share their day with them. We missed all of you who couldn't come, but I think this would be a fun thing to repeat once in a while, so hopefully next time more of our friends can come! Happy Bday Katie & Jana!!!!!!

So one more thing I wanted to share. My brother Matt and his wonderful wife Natalie came back from Las Vegas this morning....(Thanks Nick for staying home with the kids and picking them up from the airport so I could go play with the girls today!) And they brought back these shirts for Kaylee and Carson. I just laughed when I saw them, cause if you know Matt & Natalie at all, they do a pretty good job of spoiling our kids! (Just so you know, Nana is what Carson calls Natalie).

Thanks again Matt & Nat for thinking of our children! You ARE the best!!!