entertaining ourselves

Chris has been gone a lot ever since he was called to be Scout Master a few weeks ago.

Tonight while these kids watched Igor,

this kid made soap beards

and while he called me in every 5 seconds to come look

I played with this adorable kid!

Saying Goodbye

On Monday we took full advantage knowing that our friends were in town at their house. Their house that they hadn't been to in months. We knew it would be our last time seeing them for awhile. And the last time hanging out with them at their house with the most awesome tree house that their dad built with his own two hands.

We had a good time visiting and playing. At the same time there was a sadness and a longing. A longing to have the whole family back. Back to the way it use to be.

We are so grateful and feel so blessed to have had the Nielson's in our ward and as good friends. I continue to miss seeing them in the mornings walking to the bus stop. I miss having the kids come knocking on the door to play. I miss trading babysitting. I miss calling Stephanie and discussing LOST episodes. I miss not having the chance to show off my baby. There is so much more that I miss.

Above all, I miss HER.

This family will always have a special place in our hearts.

Here is a news clip Christian did while he was here and here is the entire uncut version.

a crappy post.

Lately Carson has been pooping once a week. Friday is his day of choice. This morning as I was changing his diaper he tooted and it smelled like something we call a "poo-cloud".

Instantly I remembered last weeks blow-out and thought to myself,
"Today I am going to watch for pooping signs and catch him in the act and hurry and hold him over the toilet to prevent a catastrophic disaster." (It really does work. I've done it several times with Ellie and Peyton when they were babies.)

Carson was happily playing in the exersaucer that I had just cleaned the previous day. So this was his first day with his new toy, which isn't actually new, but new to him.

I was loading the dishwasher in between making silly faces and noises to get big grins and giggles to serinade me through the dirty dishes. Little did I know he was creating a monsterous mess and marking his territory all in one destructive blow.

Suddenly we had a two man clean-up job on our hands.

And poop.

I've fallen and can't get up!

I somehow fell off the "blogging bandwagon" and couldn't get up. I have a lot of posts to do to get me caught up. I am making each year into a blog book. For this reason I don't want most of December events to be in my 2009 blog book so I will be using the dates from last month. So don't be alarmed if your google reader says I updated and then you can't find it at the top of the page!

Family Pictures 2008

I know I am seriously behind on my blogging. To start off the slew of posts that are coming (hopefully really soon) here are a few of the family pictures we got taken back in November by Wendy from Blue Lily.

Christmas Day

Every year as my kids get older, Christmas becomes more and more fun. Despite some expensive and picky requests, it is still really fun.

I didn't take a single picture Christmas morning!

Where was my brain?!!

Thank goodness my brain came alive in the afternoon at least.

After a fun time opening presents we took our time getting ready for the day. I actually took a shower Christmas morning! That never happens because I go to bed so late on Christmas Eve, the kids wake up early and after presents we rush off to Grandma and Grandpa P's for some yummy breakfast and Christmas cheer. But this year breakfast didn't start until 10 so it made for a relaxing morning. Then we had some time inbetween get togethers and came home and played with our new goodies. Chris' little sister Lori joined us and showed off while playing Guitar Hero. I'm still practicing my butt off so I can one day beat her!

The gift exchange at Grandma and Grandpa's is always a fun crowded gathering. We have the cousin gift exchange, sibling gift exchange and my favorite: Grandma and Grandpa's turn!

Another successful Christmas has come and gone. It was a wonderful month full of family get togethers and lots and lots of yummy food!

Cookies for Santa

Every year we get together and all the cousins decorate cookies for Santa. This is a super fun and messy tradition we look forward to every year!

Merry Christmas to All

Winter Sing

Taylor and Preston had their annual school Winter Sing. They got dressed up and did a great job performing with all the other kids from school. Afterwards, we were starving and decided to go to Red Robin for dinner! We had such a fun time together!

garage sale

Our good friends/neighbors were having a garage sale and invited us and some other friends/neighbors to join them. So I rumaged through the house looking for things I could do without. At first I wasn't finding much. The morning of the sale I saw all the stuff Alisha was getting rid of and decided I really did have more I could live without. Taylor also found stuff she wanted to sell. Almost everything she put out, which was clothes, all sold! I think we made about $80! We also invited the missionaries over for breakfast. They showed up and we didn't even start breakfast yet so we asked if they could come back in an hour. They said yes and then they were off to an appointment. An hour passed and we were still sitting there manning the garage sale. As we saw them pull up Megan and I freaked out and ran into our homes after yelling across the lawn what each other was going to make. I told Chris to tell the missionaries that breakfast was almost ready! It was pretty hilarious. Probably had to be there.

Daddy and Carson kickin' it.

Alisha, me, Megan

Alisha's treasures

Me trying to do math!

And this beauty here happens on a regular basis!

9:27 pm

I always go take a peek at my kids when they are sleeping. Sometimes even a couple times before I go to bed. I think to myself, "They look so cute and peaceful. I should take a picture of each of them."

Last night I finally did.

Pa-the-tic.

These are the only pictures I took on Thanksgiving. It technically wasn't even actually Thanksgiving either. This was on Thanksgiving Eve. We had the Prince dinner at a church building this year. It was nice not to cram in a house or be in someone's rainy/cold backyard.

On Thanksgiving we went to my sister-in-laws families Thanksgiving feast. It was so dang yummy and hilarious to watch all the Wright's shake their booties!

I have a thumb sucker!

I love my little thumb sucker! I am not worried or bugged one bit about this little habit. He has been sleeping so great in the night ever since he discovered it. He started out sleeping 5 to 7 hours at a time and last night 10 hours!!!

Never in my life have I had a baby sleep that long at such a young age! I'm sort of wishing my other 4 babies found their thumb!

i'm so excited!

Jack's coming back tonight!

Blossom Fashion Show 2008

A couple of years ago I got to participate in my friend Jodi's fashion show. Last night she asked if I could be one of her models. I am so excited to get to do this again. It was so fun the last time.

So if you don't have any Saturday night plans yet, come to the show! She has the cutest clothes and they will be on sale! The best part is that ALL ticket ($5 each) sales go directly to the NieRecovery.

a new look

I finally got a new pair of glasses. My old ones were from 1995. They looked a bit dated. Since I actually like these glasses on me I've been taking care of my eyes a lot better than I have been. No more wearing my 2 week disposable contacts day and night for months on end! Air touching my eyeballs no longer feels weird. Even though I like the new look, I still want LASIK so very badly!

2 months

He likes to just chill on the couch with the rest of us.

And he is already throwing out gang signs or maybe it's a hang loose.

Carson is such a fun happy little baby. I love his chubs. He coos and smiles a lot and we just can't get enough of him.