WOO----HOOOOOOOO!!!!

I can't believe this! We just bid on this home, and it was accepted! So...we just have to get financing in order, and we should be in within a month as long as all goes as expected. Pray that things go smoothly!! It was a forclosure and the people who owned it before were in the process of remodeling. It has 5 bedrooms, an office, 3 bathrooms and 2 living areas. Oh and the whole 2nd story is a master suite! :) The house needs a lot of cosmetic work on the inside and a few appliances, which allowed us to get a great deal on it. Our real estate agent said the day we move in we should have enough equity to buy a small home in Texas if we wanted to flip it! How awesome is that!!!! When we get settled, everyone needs to come visit, and we'll be sure to post before and after pictures as we finish the house up. PRAY, PRAY, PRAY that everything works out and goes smoothly!!!!!

In baby news...I keep forgetting to answer everyone's questions! We are due on February 17th, and are hoping that this baby is born on any day except V-day, so if labor starts on that day, I'm keeping my legs crossed! :) I'm feeling great! In fact, I keep forgetting that I'm pregnant, because aside from my face breaking out and being hungry more often, I really don't have many symptoms at all! I haven't had any morning sickness to speak of, aside from the nagging nausea if I ignore my hunger pains, and I haven't even been super tired. We are almost 11 weeks along, and I can't believe we are already almost in our second trimester.

Day at the Zoo

Josh, Kelly and I took Carson to the Denver Zoo. It is humongous, and it was very, very hot. Carson was such a trooper though! He wasn't fussy at all, and took a nap while we were there. He loved looking at all of the animals, and called everything that had 4 legs a dog. We watched a wild life show, and he shrieked in excitement every time a bird flew. He is so funny! There was also a really cool aquarium and rain forest exhibit building, and a lot of the fish tanks were at his eye level. He would have stayed there all day if we had let him! We had such a fun time!

very tired and looking at the bears:




one of the bears had just had triplets:


deciding where to go next:


Posing by the hippos:


Turtles:

9 weeks, 3 days

We had a prenatal appointment today, and all is well! They took two measurements so that we could have an average and the measurements put the baby at 9 weeks, 4 days and 10 weeks, 1 day. The baby seemed like it was sleeping, but wiggled every once in a while when our nurse pressed on it. It's heartbeat was strong, so that's really good. It's really amazing to me how developed babies are at this stage. We talked about all of the stuff that will happen over the next several months, and the hospital seems like it is really nice. I go back at the end of August, and then the next appointment will be my gender ultrasound. How fun!!!

Fun weekend

Well, I'm off! Today my dad, my sisters and I are heading on a father/daughter overnight campout with our church. It should be lots of fun! Cary's on daddy duty, and our friends Josh and Kelly come into town today to spend the week with us. It is going to be so much fun to hang out with them!!! And Kelly and I have already set a date to go shop the Nordstrom's half annual sale! SO FUN!!!

14 Months

Carson is 14 months today, and he seems so big! He's such a sweet boy! He loves to play with the dogs and gets so tickled when they play back. He even tried to pick Fisher up today, and Fisher is nearly his size. He cut another tooth this morning and took a step - although I'm pretty sure it was accidental. When he wants to show you something, he'll grab your hand, stand up and then walk (while holding on to you) to what he wants to show you. Almost every time, it is a ball or a stick that he has found. He loves to play and read books and is saying quite a few words now. Whenever he recognizes something in his books like a balloon or a ball or a dog, he'll call it out, and then we have to look at that page for a while because he gets so excited. He's full of personality, so funny, and such a ham! He brings so much joy to our lives!!

Digital Camera...$300

Talking someone into taking our picture...$5

Creating a blog entry...10 minutes

Telling you there are really 4 people in this picture...

PRICELESS!!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

Hope you all have fun things planned! We are getting on a plane tomorrow and heading to Ar-Kansas to see some of Cary's family. It should be lots of fun, and it will be good for Carson to get to see his cousins and grandparents on this side.

Happy 4th everyone!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, Cary! You are the best Dad we could ask for! I am so thankful to have you in my life and by my side! I love you!!!

Carson was voted Toddler of the Week!!

Go check it out

This is the birth board that we are a part of. Each week they nominate a new toddler, and then the members ask questions about that toddler all week, and the nominee is supposed to answer and post pictures. It's lots of fun, and feel free to check it out, it changes all week :)

I'm such a nerd! :)

Climber

Look what I caught Carson doing...the dishwasher was closed, so I don't even know how he managed this:

Home Again, Home Again

Well, we're home! Camp was so much fun, and Carson did great with my parents! I really believe that a lot of our youth were really challenged, which is such an awesome thing! Here are a few pictures from our week. If you want to see more from camp, just go to www.coolyouthgroup.com.

Carson from right before we were leaving:


Our group:


My cabin girls:


Me, my bro Austin, and my sis Kelsey:


Me & Cary with the view right in front of camp:

Summer Camp

This Saturday, we are taking our teens to summer camp, and we are SO excited! It's going to be crazy fun, and the more things that we work on nailing down, the more excited I am becoming. We're leaving Carson for the first time, and I know he'll do great. I'm nervous about it just because I've never been away from him for more than a day, HE'll do great...I'm more worried about me :) Isn't that silly???

I know it will be 4 days and 3 nights of awesome memories, and we pray that lives will be changed forever.

Mother's Day Pictures

This was such a good mother's day - my first real one. We had lunch with my mom and Cary's mom and some other family. All in all we had 20 people there. It was so fun, and lunch was SO good! :) Cary and Carson got me a really sweet mom and baby ring from James Avery that looks like a heart. I love it! :) Here are pictures from our day:

Carson stood up for the first time by himself on Mother's Day:


My handsome boys:


Carson and Aunt Stephanie:

Carson's First Birthday

Carson's birthday was so much fun! We had a great turnout, and Carson was happy and so sweet. He loved opening presents and showing off for everyone. He got SO many toys, so today we went through the house and put all of his baby toys away that he doesn't use anymore so we could make room for the new ones. He LOVED his cake, and was sad when I took it away after he had eaten most of the frosting. It was a wonderful day. Here are a lot of pictures, but we took SO many more! :)

Carson in his birthday outfit before the party:


Carson's cake (I loved it!):


Carson and Bella:


Carson and Mommy:


Carson and Auntie Kelsey:


I LOVE this picture:


Cary being silly with a few of Carson's presents:


This shirt says "If you think I'm cute, you should see my dad!"


cutie patootie:


The train we got him:


Eating cake - well, frosting really...:


Carson having fun with Aunt Stephanie and one of his toys from them:


And so appropriately, the last picture we took at the party (but not on purpose):


He's off to start another year.

Fun with family

Here are some pictures of all of us at Daniel's Park which is this beautiful park up the street from our home.

Almost done

Well, I'm almost done getting everything together for Carson's birthday and party on Saturday. I'm getting so excited! Cary get's home tonight from his business trip, and DeAnne, Steph and Emily will get here either this evening or tomorrow. I LOVE having company! :) I'm feeling so accomplished today. I finished getting everything for Carson's party except for the food. We don't really have anywhere to put it, so we're waiting until the last minute. I was determined to do a generic train theme for the party, and I was having so much trouble finding cute things to go with it - EVERYTHING is Thomas the Train. Anyway, Carson and I went to Party City and found the CUTEST 1st birthday stuff with a transportation theme, and there are trains all over it. I think it will work really well. I got the balloons and cakes ordered. The main cake is SO cute! I'll be sure to post pictures. In fact, the post for Carson's birthday will probably have a ridiculous amount of pictures, so there's your warning. :) I also got the whole house cleaned, laundry done, and Mother's Day shopping completed. Yay for me...hey...someone has to pat me on the back...right???? :)

Carson got his first hair cut the other night. Cary promised me he would edit the video, so I'll do my best to get a clip of it up here for you all. Carson was very tired, so it was a little traumatic, but fun just the same.

Have a great day everyone! :)

2 weeks in a nutshell

Well, it's been a while since I've posted because there hasn't been a whole lot to blog about. We've been really busy and have done a lot lately though, so here we go:

We were in Austin and Waco last week visiting friends while Cary had business. It was lots of fun to see everyone, and we are so thankful to Roy and Debbie who opened their home for us (Deb gave me a sweet, girly welcome to her home gift - she's so thoughtful! :)) and David, Staci and their sweet little girl Julia, who had a little get together for us while we were in Waco. It was so good to see everyone while we were there. Oh, and while we were there Roy and Debbie bought their first home - how exciting is that! We are so jealous! :)

Then when we were in Austin, our friends Joey and Natalie (Joey also works with Cary) joined us so the guys could work together, so that was so much fun. Natalie and I did some crazy shopping at the outlet mall there in Austin and got some great things! :) And Cary's Mom and step-dad Tommy came to see us while we were there. It was so great to see them and have them spend some time with us and Carson. I'm so excited that they will be out here next week for Carson's 1st birthday. I'm beginning the buying process for that... I still can't believe he is turning 1 already! :)

Cary has been traveling like crazy lately. He left Monday and got back yesterday evening, and then he leaves again on Monday :( I have lot's to do before Carson's party, so this week will be crazy busy, I'm sure, but very fun! :)

Here are some fun pictures from the last couple of weeks:

Carson playing guitar with Daddy


sharing a cracker on the plane:


and playing with Julia on the piano:

Happy Easter!

Here are some pictures from our fun day. It looks like Cary was behind the camera today. I hate that we never realize that one person takes all of the pictures until the day is gone. We'll have to work on that! :)

Here is a close up of Carson in his Easter outfit, and one of him with his Easter basket train:




Here are a few of Carson and I as we were waiting for lunch:




Here is Carson hunting for eggs:


Success!:


Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!! :)

Happy 11 Month Birthday Carson James!!!

I can't believe you will be a year in just 30 days! You are getting so big! You are doing so many things now. You love to play games, especially tag with Mommy and hide-and-seek with the doggies. You love food, especially when you can feed yourself. Your favorite food lately is scrambled eggs. You love anything that is outdoors, and love to explore everything in sight. You are full of joy and charm everyone you meet!