Family

Opening up…

2011-08-27T22:34:00.001-07:00

A lot has been going on in the past 4 months since I last posted… We are in the process of buying a house and selling a house, which is a lot more stressful then I had imagined! Dustin took a full time position in Spokane, so he has been gone a lot. I have decided I am going to really work at my Heritage Makers business and get that going. Then of course there is the usual busy summer days, vacations and everything that goes along with that.

I have also had a lot on my mind the last couple months… I have been reading my friend (and old college roommate) Brittany’s blog. Her youngest was born with Cri du Chat (look it up). Her and her family have had a roller coaster of a year, and she has been so open about it, sharing many of her ups and downs. I have laughed, cried and been inspired by her blog! I have been going through many of the same feelings that she has, although they are about a different issue, and there have been so many times when I just wanted to write about it. Not because I thought anyone else would really care to hear about it, but because it seemed like it would be good therapy…

A couple weeks ago Brittany and another old roommate, Ashley, and I had the amazing opportunity to spend a fun, relaxing weekend together. Which of course consisted of us staying up WAY too late, talking, reminiscing and catching up! It was SO much fun, and well worth the hours of lost sleep!

One of the things we talked about were our blogs, I mentioned that I loved reading Brittany’s blog and she told me that she really thought I should start writing down some of my thoughts, she said is really is great therapy! I was hesitant because I don’t feel that I am a very eloquent writer… But, I have given it a lot of thought….. and I have decided I am going to try it. So, I wouldn’t blame you at all if you stopped reading right now and found another more interesting blog to read!

Another issue that we talked about was… family planning… augh! I am a planner, and I never in a million years thought that I would be in this position. I can’t plan what will happen next with our family! And as irritating and frustrating as that is, I know deep down in my heart that this is my lesson! My lesson in learning to trust the Lord, trust that there is a plan for me, even though I may not know what it is right now. This is my lesson in learning it never really was MY plan to begin with!

The past two nights I have been going through my pictures, getting them organized and ready to scrapbook, yeah! Tonight I was working on the last year I need to organize 2008… I wasn’t really paying attention to each individual picture, until I came to the ones of Mersadie’s birth. And then it hit my like a ton of bricks!!! I have cried thousands of tears over what happened that day, but I haven’t really thought about it for a while, I haven’t had time. But tonight while sitting here at my computer all alone, I cried. A LOT! This is the picture that started it:

This was the first time I saw my new baby girl.

This was the day I learned that due to major complications with her birth I had just had a hysterectomy.

This was the day that I learned that I personally could not have any more children.

This was the day that I cried for the first time, because I was not done! Our family was not complete!

That was 3 1/2 years ago! I still don’t know when our next family member will join us… I have gone through many emotions, and the last year and a half I feel like I have been fairly patient and trusting…

But right now I am hurting! I am done waiting! I want MY plan back!

More to come….

Mersadie turns 3!!!

2011-05-08T18:09:00.001-07:00

Mersadie turned 3 yesterday. I know every mom says it, but seriously how did she get so big so fast?!?! Mersadie has been talking about her cake for months now, she kept going back and forth between a princess cake and a nemo cake. I figured she has a few more years to like princesses, so we went with a nemo party! Although, I wasn’t too excited about it at first because I wasn’t sure how I was going to make a nemo cake and how I was going to decorate the house. But then I remembered that I love pink and orange and so the decor came together easily and the cake (I think) turned out amazing!

I love making their birthday a big deal! Even though we just have family over, we go all out! We had the party on Friday because that was the only day Dustin could be here. We had everything prepared ahead of time and when Mersadie took her afternoon nap we decorated the house, she was so excited when she woke up and saw the decorations and her cake. Although she was a little bit overwhelmed when she came out of her room :)

(What you can’t see in this picture is the entire family screaming happy birthday, blowing horns and throwing confetti!) I love it!

I realized after looking at these pictures we didn’t get a very good one of the decorations, there were balloons all over the floors and streamers everywhere, it really was amazing!

We got her a bike and a doll, I thought she would be so excited about the bike, because she asks for one every time Carson goes outside and rides his bike, but NO, she was WAY more excited about the baby. It was pretty cute, but come on! The bike is soooo cute! (also did not get a very good picture of the bike…)

She did love her cake! It was actually pretty easy to make, but I will have to admit it was hard to cut into it.

April

2011-04-18T00:06:00.001-07:00

I decided to actually do something for April fools. Sometimes it’s hard for me to get into the spirit of, well, pretty much any holiday… But I really like teasing and joking around so April fools day is a little easier for me ;) I wanted to involve the kids so we made these cute little hamburgers that I made when I was younger. They are so easy to make, the kids LOVED helping, and they taste better than a “real” hamburger.

My sister came to visit for a week, before she left for ITALY! Lucky! But it was good to see her and for the kids to play. Mersadie and her little boy Jonah are a year apart and they had a love/hate relationship… Jonah would grab Mersadie and she would scream, so he would grab her again and she would scream again, and so on and so forth… By the time they left they were just starting to tolerate each other, but they still weren’t totally thrilled with each other :)

Carson on the other hand was thrilled to have a little boy to play with, and Jonah thought Carson was pretty cool! They played great together!

Before she left we decided to get a picture together, that however turned out to be easier said than done. These are only the “best” of the pictures. We didn’t get one “good” one, but they are pretty funny (at least to me they are)

Then the kids decided to burn off a little energy by tackling Taylor. Thanks for being such a good support Taylor! The kids love you!

Update

2011-03-06T20:19:00.001-08:00

So a lot has happened since the last time I updated this.

For four years now Dustin has been working his butt off to get into a masters program, this has included, many applications, extra classes, extra tests, more certification, a second full time job, lost of extra money spent and lots of time worrying and praying about what we were supposed to do with our lives. Well it has finally all paid off! Dustin was accepted to a CRNA (certified registered nurse anesthetist) program at Gonzaga in Spokane! It was his number one pick and it is an awesome school. We are thrilled and I am so proud of him! But this means we will be selling our house, so for the last few weeks we have been trying to get our house ready to put on the market, you know all those little things that need done, but that you just live with, yeah we are getting all of those done. We are going to try to sell our house ourselves first, so if anyone knows of someone in the market, send them our way! It is a great investment property!

Dustin’s interview was the beginning of February, he had to be up there for a couple days so we decided to go with him and do something fun to take our minds off how nervous we were. So we went to a place called triple play, they have an indoor water park, laser tag, bowling, climbing wall, an arcade, and mini golf. It was so much fun, the kids were in heaven!

Carson goes skiing

2011-01-30T23:45:00.001-08:00

We decided it was time for Carson to hit the slopes! We asked Carson if he wanted to go skiing and he said “sure!” then we asked him if he knew what that was and he said “um, no”. So we showed him Youtube video and he thought he was ready to go! The entire drive to the hill he kept telling Dustin, my dad and my little brother that he didn’t need to “learn” to ski, he already knew how! Boy was he surprised when he got there and it didn’t come quite as natural as he had planned. They went up the night before, stayed in hotel, swam in the pool and went out to eat. Carson was loving all of the boy time. When they actually got to the hill, Carson went down the bunny hill twice and decided he was done. Dustin sat at the bottom of the hill with him for a while and then finally my dad and little brother came and told him they had seen a moose at the top of the hill, it took a little convincing but Carson decided to ride the big lift to the top of the main hill to go find the moose. There was no moose, but after the first ride up the big lift Carson was hooked, and he skied the rest of the day. He is a go big or go home kind of kid! I was sad I missed it and I can’t wait until we can go as a family. So much fun!

Getting his skis…

Putting his skis on…

Off he goes!

Down he goes!

Getting off the lift, with a little help

Such an awesome grandpa, he is a pro after teaching five kids to ski!

Skiing video

2011-01-30T23:24:00.000-08:00

Who’s who

2011-01-23T23:15:00.001-08:00

So I thought I would do a fun post. I think Carson looks a lot like my little brother when he was about 5. So I am going to post six pictures, 3 are Carson and 3 are my brother when he was younger. See if you can guess who’s who!

Ok so most of you probably figured it out, and the quality of the pictures does give it away a little. But isn’t that crazy how much they look alike! I think so.

Christmas

2011-01-02T22:38:00.001-08:00

We spent Christmas as my parents house on the lake and we had so much fun! It is so fun to watch the kids get excited about Christmas. This was the first year that I had the kids write letters to Santa, and as you can see they were really into it.

Carson is like a little heater, I am not sure he has ever been cold… He is still wearing shorts, the only time he wears pants is when I make him. So here he is outside in the freezing cold in shorts, crazy boy.

We have a tradition of making gingerbread houses out of little milk cartons and gram crackers. Carson did his completely on his own this year, he didn’t want any help, and he didn’t eat as much as I thought he would.

The kids asleep in their bed, dreaming of what Santa will bring them.

This is what Santa brought them. See those yellow pipe things, I know they look strange, but my sister and I got them for Christmas when we were Carson and Mersadies age, and they were the BEST Christmas gift EVER! We used them for years, we built everything with them, our imagination was the limit. They don’t make them anymore, (probably because they are dangerous) but I found a new box of them on ebay. I was sooooo excited to get these, and they haven’t not disappointed Carson and Mersadie have played with them everyday since Christmas, and I am sure they will play with them for years to come! Love it!!!!

Mersadie also got dress up jewelery and shoes, she was so excited I think she wore them all day, and almost broke her legs a few times walking in those heels. She also got a huge set of princesses from her Grandma Hunter, and believe it or not we made it home with all of the little pieces!

Playing in the snow.

See what I am saying about those pipes?!? Amazing! These are the p.j.s grandma Hunter made for the kids. they are so cute and the kids love them!

Over all our Christmas was great! We were able to talk to my brother who is serving a mission in the Ukraine. He will be home in 7 months and I am so excited to see him again.

I packed up the Christmas stuff on Friday and Carson was NOT happy, he kept telling me that Christmas was not over. I told him that yes Christmas was over and we would get all of the stuff out again next Christmas, to which he promptly asked, “Is the next Christmas tomorrow?”

Cute Pictures

2010-12-19T22:34:00.001-08:00

I just has to share this picture I took today of the kids. I think it is one of my all time favorites! The matching outfits and smiles, love it!! These two have been so happy all day, it has been so much fun to watch them play and laugh together.

A few more cute ones

Being silly,

She loves her brother,

Me with the kids,

Oh Christmas Tree!

2010-12-12T23:44:00.001-08:00

Twelve years ago when I was slave labor and forced to plant thousands of trees on my parents property I never thought anything good could possibly come out of it. But now that the trees are grown I am loving it! (Partly because I didn’t have to prune them or do any of the maintenance…) A little over a week ago we bundled the kids up and walked through the field and picked our perfect Christmas tree. The kids were so into it this year, it was so much fun! We didn’t even have to carry them most of the time, they wanted to be down in the snow.

The field

Walking down the driveway to the field

Playing in the snow

Found our tree!

Dustin (and Carson) cutting and hauling the tree.

We love having a real tree in our house, and the memories we made while getting will last forever!

Kitchen Remodel!

2010-11-21T22:45:00.001-08:00

I am sooooo excited that our kitchen is finally done. It took a little longer than expected, our countertops were a pain in the BUTT! Then our appliances didn’t get here until a week later than they were supposed to. I thought I was going to go crazy! My entire kitchen was piled in the dinning room, I feel so much better now that everything is put back together!

Here is our ugly kitchen before we got started.

I tore out the entire kitchen all by myself while Dustin was at work, Carson took these pictures for me :)

Carson was so excited to help paint!

I think Dustin looks pretty silly in his safety glasses, but he insist on wearing them (for some strange reason) So I had to get a picture :)

And here is the final product, even though it was a pain to do, it is soooooooo worth it. I am in love with it!!!! I love to just sit in here and look at it. My mom says now I actually have to cook, and it is very inspiring so that might actually happen now…. maybe…

Birthday and Halloween

2010-11-07T22:29:00.001-08:00

Carson turned 5 last month! I can’t believe how big he is getting! I keep asking him to stop growing and he keeps telling me he has to get bigger :( I am so lucky to have him, he has the best personality he makes me laugh (and scream) every day. And he is the best big brother, Mersadie is a very lucky little sister!

We did a pirate theme for his birthday and it turned out so cute! One of the best parts was the treasure hunt that ended in a treasure chest piñata, but I didn’t get any pictures of that… His loot! (this is way more than he is getting for Christmas!)

We didn’t get many pictures of Halloween this year because we are in the middle of a kitchen remodel but here are a few that I did happen to remember to take :)

(oh and the kitchen reveal is hopefully coming soon!)

Update

2010-10-24T22:32:00.001-07:00

Time never ceases to amaze me, how in the world does it go so fast? I really didn’t think it had been over a month since I last posted something. My brother Cody is really my motivation for ever posting anything lately. I know he likes to see pictures, so I have been doing this just for him :)

So here are a few pictures from the last month…

These are pictures from my brother Tyson’s wedding. I thought all the kids looked so cute in their green outfits. They had a dance at the end and Mersadie would only dance with grandpa. So sweet.

We took a trip to Spokane and decided to stop by the pumpkin patch, we had no idea there was so much to do there. Next year we will plan an entire day. There were miles and miles of farms full of pumpkins and orchards. It was so cool.

On the “Train”. Carson was quick to inform us that this train did not have “real train tires” it just had car tires. Can’t fool him!

In the maze, Carson lead us right to the castle that was in the middle of the maze, the way out was a different story, we took a few wrong turns but finally made it out.

Picking out their pumpkins. They were piling them all up, I think they thought they could take as many as they wanted, and they were going to fill our truck!

All wore out, but not going to let that pumpkin out of her sight!

Carson also turned five last week, but I will save those pictures for next week…

Bowling

2010-09-12T22:40:00.001-07:00

We took a trip to southern Idaho to see family, friends and for my brothers wedding. While we were there we went bowling with Dustin’s family. I think Carson has only been bowling one other time and I am not sure that Mersadie has ever been so it was new and fun for them.

Carson’s ball never came back fast enough for him.

Mersadie was so cute, she would push the ball of the little ramp and then just hang out and watch it roll very slowly down the lane.

The ramp also doubled as a jungle gym. I am sure the people who worked there were not amused!

It was torture for Carson to wait his turn, have I mentioned he doesn’t have a lot of patience? Well if not I am sure you have picked up on that by now :)

I normally hate bowling shoes, but I thought Mersadie looked adorable in hers!

New Bike

2010-08-15T22:20:00.001-07:00

Carson has been earning pennies for the past couple months. We told him that every time he obeyed he would get a penny, then when he had 100 pennies he would get the bike he has been wanting. Well I didn’t expect it to take as long as it did… but he earned it! Actually yesterday we were having a hard day and we needed something else to do. So I threw the last 5 pennies he needed in the jar and then excitedly asked him if he wanted to count his pennies. Imagine his surprise when he had enough! Yeah for all of us!

He was soooo excited, and it was so much fun to watch him riding around our little driveway on his new bike, even the neighbors commented on his snazzy new wheels.

This is him dusting himself off after his first crash, just a little road burn on his stomach.

A day at our house

2010-08-01T21:57:00.001-07:00

Some days, ok most days it seems like I am always one step behind my children. I honestly don’t understand how they move so fast and get into so much in such a short amount of time. Here are a few examples of what happened just today!

Carson got into the locked closet and decided he wanted to be a musician!

Carson climbed up the shelf and got my camera and decided he wanted to be a photographer! He was very excited about the picture of his eyeball!

Then he got into the cupboard, found a permanent marker, and decided he wanted to be a tattoo artist!

Oh, and don’t start thinking it is all Carson and Mersadie is just an innocent bystander, she is his perfect accomplice. She is his side kick where ever he goes. Ready to get into trouble at a moments notice. I think she especially loved the tattoo!

And I like to look at it this way, at least the kid is trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life!

Another Fun Weekend

2010-07-18T20:31:00.001-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Hunter came to visit us last weekend, we had so much fun! First we hung out at the cabin for a couple of days… We are pretty sure grandma and grandpa enjoyed relaxing and hanging out with the grandkids.

Carson is getting much braver around the water, it would probably help if I put him in swimming lessons, or taught him how to swim. Oh well we are around it enough he will eventually get used to it, right?… Anyway, this is the first time that he has actually got in the water at the lake, at first it was just with me, then we wanted to go by himself. Then he told me he was going to paddle to the other dock and jump off the diving board, I was like “that sounds like a great idea!” So he paddled over there climbed on the diving board and then totally chickened out. But it’s a start!

She loves her sun glasses!

Carson was so excited to go fishing with grandpa, he was such a good helper and I think grandpa was even enjoying the company. Then we had some excitement… Carson picked out a new hook for grandpa to try and while he was holding it, Mersadie accidently bumped his arm, and the hook got stuck on his eye, his first reaction was of course to grab it, but that only shoved the hook IN his eye! I hurried and grabbed him and held him down so he couldn’t touch it, Dustin ran over and assessed the situation. It was really hard to tell exactly were the hook was, Carson was screaming and wiggling, and closing his eyes. We finally, after about 30 seconds, which seemed like an hour, determined it was just up under his eyelid and not in his eye. So Dustin pulled it out. Luckily it was not as bad as we thought at first, his eye was hurting pretty bad for about an hour, and then he was fine. At first I was panicking because the nearest hospital is about an hour away, I can not even imagine driving an hour with a screaming child with a hook in his eye! Some one was watching out for us that day!!!

This is me trying to distract Carson after we got his eye cleaned out, but he was still hurting.

Then we brought them back to our house and hung out for a couple days. This picture cracks me up.

Carson found this little bunny in our window sill, he immediately named it Peter, I thought that was very fitting.

This picture is for Uncle Kookoo… We miss you!

Weekend at the Lake

2010-06-20T21:46:00.001-07:00

We love the summer because we get to hang out at my parents cabin on Coeur d’Alene lake.

So we installed a DVD player and wireless headphones in our truck. I know I am horrible, but I don’t know how other moms do road trips without movies! It was so nice not to worry about the little portable DVD player. It made the drive a little easier…

We we got there we decided to take a hike up the mountain. The kids loved it. I am pretty sure Carson lifted up every rock! He loves finding creatures, and Mersadie loves doing anything and everything her brother does. We found lots of ants, little ones and big red fire ants, spiders and even a blue tail skink. It was a great adventure. Carson jumped off a mound of grass so Mersadie jumped off a mound of grass…

This little skink was pretty good about letting Carson hold him, and Carson loved it. But after a couple minutes of being mauled the little thing had had enough and bit him, luckily it didn’t bit too hard! We found a place where the deer had been sleeping, so the kids pretended they were deer crawling in their bed.

There is even a basketball court, did I mention we love this place!

Taylor is a great uncle and the kids were so excited for him to read them a bed time story. Thanks Taylor…

There isn’t a very good place for the kids to play down by the water (yet) so grandma bought the kids this play toy and it was a big hit, it gave them something to do and kept them cool too.

And thanks to grandma there is always good food and treats to eat.

The new highlight of this year is the jet skis. I honestly didn’t think the kids would like them too much, especially Carson, he isn’t a huge fan of the water, I think the lake scares him a little. But Carson loved it and because Carson wanted a ride, guess who else wanted one?.. Yup, Mersadie was right there begging to get on too. We had so much fun riding around as a family. It was a great weekend! Thanks mom and dad for making it possible, we are so lucky!

Gymnastics

2010-06-06T23:28:00.001-07:00

Carson has been doing gymnastics for about a year and a half and he LOVES it! It is a great way for him to get some of his energy out and he also is learning to listen to someone besides me (not that he is that great at listening to me…) His teacher is AMAZING! and he does really well and it has been fun to watch him do it. At the end of the year they do a “recital” I was afraid he wouldn’t do it because there were a lot of people there, but surprised me and did great!

I know this one is blurry but if you look really close you can see that he is doing a face plant, he was supposed to be doing a somersault, which is normally really good at, but we all got a good laugh out of this one.

Mersadie turns two!

2010-05-23T21:47:00.001-07:00

I know everyone says it, but time goes so fast, I can’t believe she is two! How did that happen? She doesn’t look like a baby any more, she is growing up. We had a fun birthday party with just family, it is much less stressful that way. Her cake was easy, and turned out cute. Carson wanted to help her open her presents sooooo bad! Luckily she loves her big brother and let him help her with a few…

Grandma was so excited to give her the tinkerbell outfit and kitty with a matching outfit.

Almost caught up…

2010-05-23T21:10:00.001-07:00

About a month ago Mersadie came down with the stomach flu and for four days all she did was lay on the couch, she didn’t eat or drink ANYTHING! She had nastiness coming out both ends! (I know TMI) So we waited as long as we were comfortable with and then we decided it was time to take her in. We took her to the ER and they ended up admitting her to the pediatric unit. There was nothing they could do for her stomach bug, it just had to run its course, but because she was so dehydrated they had to start an IV and pump her full of fluids. It was amazing how fast she perked up and after one night in the hospital getting fluids she was pretty much back to normal, attitude and all! We were so glad we took her in when we did. It took them four tries to get the IV, I felt so bad for her!!! Doesn’t she look so cute in her little hospital gown!

She loved these glasses, they were supposed to be for her birthday, but I gave them to her a little early to try to help distract her, and I think it worked. A couple days later she put them on right when she woke up and didn’t take them off, even for a bath, silly girl!

Right when she woke up.. In the bath…..

Drying off…. Ready for the day!

Walking with the Dinosaurs

2010-05-13T10:21:00.001-07:00

The dinosaurs came to town, so we decided to take Carson to see them. We got really good seats and we were worried that he might be scared but he loved it! There were times when it was really loud though and he would cover his ears. We got some of it on video and he loves to watch it at home over and over… Dustin and I even loved it, it really was amazing, the pictures don’t do it justice!

Boat Races

2010-05-02T23:17:00.001-07:00

The boys went to the boat races a few weekends ago. It is kind of a tradition to go each year. My brother Cody is on a mission and I thought it would be fun for him to see some pictures of the trip this year. This one is for you Cody! :) But you other people can look at it too…

Easter

2010-05-02T23:16:00.001-07:00

Apparently I am not very good about posting pictures right after the holiday. I know Easter was a few weeks ago but the pictures were cute, so I decided to put them on here anyway. Our Easter was actually spread out, we were in Boise Easter weekend, so we to my grandpas house and had an Easter egg hunt, the kids LOVED it! My grandma put the best little prizes in the eggs. Then the next Sunday when we were home we gave the kids their Easter baskets and dressed them up in their Easter clothes. Carson HATES wearing ties, but his outfit was so cute with the tie, so I bribed him to at least wear it for the picture. He took if off the second we were done with pictures.

Trip to Boise and picture overload!

2010-04-23T16:16:00.001-07:00

Easter/Conference weekend we took a trip to Boise and met up with Dustin’s parents. It was kind of a quick trip but it was a lot of fun and we did everything we wanted to do. Carson was so excited to see Grandma H. that is all he talked about for about a week before we went.

Our first stop was the zoo, both the kids loved it! Carson did not waste any time, he would look at one animal for about 5 seconds and then say ok what else is there? If it were up to him we would have seen the entire zoo in about 10 minutes!

Grandpa H. was a good sport and took both kids down the giraffe slide.

These last two things were the only thing that slowed this kid down. He stopped for a little while to feed the goats and then we could not get him away from the turtle shell, he would stick his little head out, pretend to eat something and then curl up back inside, he left the zoo kicking and screaming because he wanted to go be a turtle “one more time!”

Our next stop was Chuck E Cheese. This was a highlight for Carson, unfortunately I didn’t get many pictures, and I didn’t get any of Mersadie, probably because she hated the rides. She did like the skeet ball (or whatever it’s called), and we didn’t even have to put in a token for her to enjoy it!

Next we went to the science center, it was actually more fun then I thought it would be, there was a ton of stuff to do there. The cutest thing was this little supermarket they had set up. It was a huge hit! They loved picking out grocery items and then taking them up to pay for them. Grandma H. made a very nice cashier lady :)

Park Days

2010-04-21T17:29:00.001-07:00

We love it when the weather is finally warm enough to go to the park, we are all happier when we get out of the house for a little while. If it were up to Carson I think he would just live at the park. Here are some pictures of our first “official” (whatever that means) park day of the year! This was actually about a month and a half ago...

This is Carson’s favorite park because of this train thing, he likes to drive it, or lay on the wheel, whatever…

Carson was trying to help Mersadie down the slide.

Update and random pictures

2010-04-19T23:05:00.001-07:00

I figured it was time for an update, we have been busy doing lots of fun stuff so I put the blog on the back burner. In March we reroofed the house, which was a huge job but we are SO glad it is done, here are some before and after pictures.

Carson is the best big brother, he is always wanting to hold and love Mersadie, she is not always so willing. But the other day Carson was sitting on the couch and he told Mersadie that he wanted to hold her. She climbed right up on his lap, so of course I had to capture the moment! He was thrilled :)

This one is for Grandma, she made the kids these aprons a few months ago and to be honest I keep forgetting to get them our of the drawer, but the other day Mersadie decided that she had to wear hers, she went right to the drawer and pulled it out. I didn’t even know she knew where they were. Then of course Carson had to wear his. So cute.

More to come soon…

On the farm

2010-01-18T18:21:00.001-08:00

The kids LOVE going to grandma and grandpa’s house, there is so much to do and see.

While we were visiting, grandpa was working outside so we went out to keep him company. Carson and Mersadie both love playing with the dogs and I can’t believe that Mersadie is not afraid of them because they are both way bigger than she is. It was funny to see her walking around with Jake (the dog)

Then grandpa took all of us for a four wheeler ride up the hill, it was freezing cold, but the kids loved it.

Snow…

2010-01-08T22:27:00.001-08:00

It snowed here the other day, which it hardly ever does, so of course we had to go play in it. We asked the neighbor girl to come with us and they had so much fun just getting out of the house. We couldn't make a snowman, but Carson made a great snow angel, I was impressed! Mersadie tried but just didn't quite get it. And they all love swinging on our hammock.

When Carson gets in the house it is almost like he can't strip down fast enough! He does not like wearing clothes, even when I am freezing and wearing socks and a sweatshirt, he is usually running around in his underwear. Silly boy!

Mersadie asleep in the car on the way to grandma and grandpa's house. So sweet!

Christmas

2010-01-07T14:44:00.001-08:00

We had a great Christmas, we spent it with my (Nicole’s) family. Carson was so excited he could hardly sleep! This was the first year he really got the Santa Clause thing. We went and saw Santa at our work party. Mersadie sat on his lap, although she was not real thrilled about it, but Carson wouldn’t come within 6ft of him! It was kind of funny.

This is a picture of the calm before the storm, it looked so pretty and I made the cutest tags with the kids pictures on them so they knew which gifts were theirs.

And here is the disaster afterwards! It was a mess!

Dustin and I had to work Christmas day but we didn’t have to go until the afternoon so we were able to spend the morning with the family, yeah!

Feel the Joy...

2009-12-22T16:29:00.000-08:00

I have to admit I have not been feeling as much joy as I should be this month. I really do love Christmas, I love the smells, the music, the feelings, being with family, the excitement from all the kids. But the past couple weeks I have felt very overwhelmed, stressed out, tired and have
had a hard time getting into the spirit of Christmas.
I contribute this to a few things, I will try to make it brief so I don't bore or depress you.

First- I have been really frustrated and struggling with my two beautiful children. It seems like the past two weeks they have been trying my patients like you would not believe. And I am not proud to report that I have not handled it well. This gets me to wondering if maybe I can't have any more children because the Lord doesn't think I can handle it.
Second- I feel like no matter what I do I can not keep my house in order the way I like it. It has been driving me crazy. Plus there are so many extra things I would like to do, besides just keeping my house clean.
Third- I feel like we are living in limbo, I really wish we knew what was going on with Dustin's school. I am a planner and not being able to plan is killing me!
Fourth- I feel like I don't get out much, I am such a dork, I need some friends...
Oh and fifth- I am pretty sure I have gained a few pounds. ugh!

But today I have decided to stop feeling this way about my life. Today has been a better day and I will tell you why.

First- I realized that my attitude towards my children is making their attitudes much worse. So I decided I was going to be more positive. So far we have had a great day. We exercised this morning, played with play dough, did puzzels, had a good lunch, then both kids took a good long nap so I got some things done that I wanted to, now they are awake and watching their one movie for the day. They haven't had any temper tantrums and they have listened very well. We are all much happier. Even though there are times I get depressed/sad/angry that I am not able to have any more kids on my own, especially when almost all of my friends are pregnant with their third babies, I am also happy and excited because I get to experience this great thing called adoption. I have faith that Heavenly Father knows the desires of my heart, and he knows that yes I can handle more children and I want more children and my baby will come when the time is right! That's exciting!!!
Second- I just have to realize that I have two kids, my house is not going to be immaculate, I just have to work a little harder to pick up as we go, it does help. And as far as my other projects go. I will just plug away slowly at those, when the kids are in bed.
Third- I just need to relax! Again Heavenly Father knows what is best, we have a great home and good jobs, we aren't really in limbo.
Fourth- I do need more friends (that live close by)
Fifth- My new years resolution is to eat right and work out, along with a million other things. So I am waiting until January to deal with that one.

So in summary, As of today I am ready for Christmas, the stockings are hung, the presents are almost all wrapped, the Christmas music is playing, the kids are happy and excited. I am excited to be around family, eat good food, exchange gifts, and celebrate the reason for the season, so...

Bring on the JOY!

Halloween (Just a little late)

2009-11-19T21:25:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Halloween so I thought I would post a few pictures of what we did, I figure if I do it before Thanksgiving I'm still ok.
A few weeks before Halloween we went to a local amusement park, it was all decked out for Halloween, with all sorts of scary things, and then when it got dark it was transformed from Silverwood to "Scary-wood". There was a haunted house thing and all around the park there were people, or zombies, that would try to come scare you. It was pretty intense. I didn't think it would be that scary so I was planning on bringing the kids for the night stuff also, but a lady that worked there suggested that we didn't bring the kids in for that part. So my mom took the kids out to the car when it got dark, which turned out to be a very good thing, it was pretty darn scary! But Carson loved the amusement park during the day. Mersadie was not a big fan, probably because if was FREEZING cold!

Then for Halloween we carved pumpkins, Carson wasn't too sure about that. Then we dressed up, Carson was a spider (I made the costume, if you couldn't tell) and Mersadie was a Ladybug (I didn't make that costume, I'm sure you could tell). We went trick or treating at our ward trunk or treat, I love it because it goes by fast, all the candy is in one place, we know most of the people, and I feel like it is safe. Our trunk or treat is huge, the entire parking lot is packed with cars and little people. This was the first year that Carson actually figured out what he was supposed to be doing. I think he had fun...

All About Carson

2009-11-16T17:59:00.001-08:00

My little boy turned 4 last month, I know everyone says this (but it's so true) they grow up too fast. I am always telling him I just want him to stay little, and of course he tells me he wants to "get big", darn it... But I do love watching him grow and learn and become more independent. He has been one of my biggest challenges and also my greatest joy. He makes me want to scream and laugh pretty much everyday. He has a very loving spirit and a very kind heart, and it continues to amaze me how great he is with his little sister, there are many times when she gets mad at him because she is sick of him kissing her or trying to hug her. I just hope and pray that I can help him focus all of his little boy energy into good things.
Here are a few pictures of his birthday party, he had a small party with his friends at preschool and then we had a more festive party at home with family and one of his other friends. Oh and we went to Red Lobster for dinner, did I mention he also has expensive taste! This year he request a spider cake and I was very happy with the way it turned out.

Finally

2009-11-11T14:12:00.000-08:00

I think it is really funny that my last post was about how I want to be better about posting more often, and that was about 5 months ago! I really can't believe it has been that long.
I do have a good reason though. I have been working on another blog. It is our adoption blog, that's right adoption! We are officially trying to adopt, and we are so excited! So I invite you to click on our button to the right and go check it out, and then help us spread the word and tell as many people as you can, because you never know who might know a young woman who is searching for a forever family for her baby.
This last weekend we went to an adoption conference in Portland, it was a really good experience, we learned a lot about adoption, birth parents, legal stuff, and got to meet other couples who are hoping to adopt.
Oh and along with our blog we also have "pass along cards" I know it sounds really weird, but this is a great (low pressure) way to help us spread the word. They are just little cards that have a picture of us and then our contact information. If you are interested in helping us spread those around let me know and I can send you some to pass out. Some ideas of people to give them are: bishops, relief society presidents, friends, teachers, doctors, pregnancy related organizations, the possibilities are endless!

Now on to other things,
I just got overwhelmed when I looked at all of our pictures from this summer and realized I haven't posted about anything we have done. So I am going to try to hit some highlights.

We took a two week vacation and went back east. Here is a quick description of what we did
Day one-Flew in to Baltimore- got settled in
Day two- Went to the Baltimore aquarium, and little Italy in Baltimore
Day three- My sister watched our kids (thanks Jen) While Dustin and I went to DC and saw, Fords theater where Lincoln was shot, the Holocaust museum, and the National Archives museum.
Day Four- We all went to DC and went to the top of the Washington Monument, the air and space museum and the museum of natural history. Both of the kids threw up on the way in to DC but once we got there they did great and loved it
Day Five- went to church, then went back into DC and went to the Arlington Cemetery, which was way bigger than I imagined, and the the Lincoln Monument, really cool
Day Six- Carson got sick and so my sister stayed home with him (thanks again) Dustin and Mersadie and I went to Gettysburg, it was amazing I would highly recommend going there
Day Seven- We started to head north, and stopped in Philadelphia, it was a crazy city and we didn't plan our time well so the only thing we got to see was the liberty bell, still a good time!
then we ended up in New York
Day eight- Went to a beach on Staten Island to relax for a little bit. Then met up with Dustins parents and brother and sister.
Day nine- We ventured into the big city of New York, we walked around for a while then went to the top of the Rockefeller center and looked around the city. Then that night the adults went to the Broadway show Wicked, which was AWESOME!
Day Ten- Went to Statue of liberty, walked the Brooklyn Bridge and then saw times square at night which was fun.
Day Eleven- Spent the day in central park, and didn't even see half of it!
Day Twelve- Went to church, then went to the bodies exhibition, which we loved! Then we had a girls night out in the city, the girls went shopping on Canal street, which is where I got my black market purse, yeah I know its a great Sunday activity...
Day Thirteen- Drove down to York Pennsylvania so see my good friend Ashley, we stopped at the Hershey Chocolate factory, they had a fun little ride we went on.
Day Fourteen- Went to Lancaster to visit the Amish farm and learn about the way they live.
Day Fifteen- Drove to the airport and flew home

I am sure I missed something, but as I was writing this I was thinking, HOLY COW, what kind of crazy person would plan a "vacation" like this. We did a TON of stuff and the amazing part is we really were not to tired at the end of it. We had a great time! Here are a few pictures...

I think that is enough for one post, I will catch up more tomorrow...

2009-06-10T21:16:00.001-07:00

I set aside the past couple days to clean and organize my house. Right now Mersadie is still in our bedroom and we are really running out of room. So we are going to rearrange, but as much as I really want it done, I DO NOT want to do it! So I have put it off like you wouldn't believe, and now two days have gone by and the house looks pretty much the same. Instead I have been doing some research on the internet and have found some really amazing blogs. How do people find the time to do all they do? But they have inspired me... There are a few things I really want to get better at, here are my top five:
1. Blogging, my blog is way lame compared to the ones I was looking at
2. Keeping my house clean, it really shouldn't be that hard, but it is at the same time
3. Cooking dinner, as much as I like to eat you would think I would like to make dinner but I don't!
4. Doing more learning activities with my kids
5. At the end of every day have at least an hour of personal reflection time, I would love to just sit down and read, write in my kids journals, pray, what ever, just kind of a meditation time. Right now at the end of every day I find myself wondering what in the world I did all day, I feel bad because I think I should have done more productive things with my kids and myself.

Anyway, thats what I have been up to the past day or two. Wish me luck...

2009-05-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the past couple months.

My brother Tyson got home from his mission in March, we were all so excited, I can't believe he was gone two years! Carson and Mersadie think he is great, however Carson has a REALLY hard time telling Tyson and Cody (my other brother) apart. Whenever he sees one of them he has to ask "are you uncle Tyson?" or "are you CooCoo?" Yeah Carson calls Cody CooCoo, like the bird, or like "crazy" its very fitting!

I know it is WAY past Easter but I saw these pictures and realized I hadn't posted any and they are so cute I just had to share. I love their outfits (of course I do I bought them)!

The weather has finally warmed up here, and I think its for good! So we have been outside a lot, working in the yard and just hanging out. I love it, and so does Carson, he is an outside boy all the way. He has been in a very good mood lately too, just about everyday he recalls what we have done and then he will say "we had a fun day", or in the morning he will say "it is such a good day" He is such an optomist, and it doesn't take much to make him happy right now, all we have to do is go oustide and play! Today we were out in the front yard, because we put more grass seed down in the back, and he turned on the hose and filled a low spot in our sidewalk with water and then proceeded to "swim" on the sidewalk. He then took his shorts off because they were wet, then he took his shirt off because it was wet too, I thought he was amusing until he then took off his underwear because they were also wet. We live on a busy road and I can only imagine what people thought as the drove by and saw a naked boy running down the sidewalk! So we came inside and called it a night!

These are pictures from another day when we were out playing in the sun.

Creative Madness

2009-04-27T22:09:00.000-07:00

Here is the result of my insane idea that quilting would be a fun new hobby! (Actually I really do like it, it is just a lot more work and a lot more stressful than I thought it would be.) I am so lucky to have a great husband who put up with nights of midnight quilting madness! For my first quilt I thought it turned out pretty well. Thanks to a great teacher, thanks Sue! I am giving this one to my sister for her new baby, she is due any day now. I think she is going to use it for her crib set. I guess I better get it in the mail.

This is the fabric for the next quilt that I still have sitting around, it is going to be the same main design as the one above only it is in girl colors and it is going to be a twin, which again was a more work and stress then I thought it would be. Which is why it is still not done, not even close!

I just thought I would throw this one in there, I made this cake for my dad for his birthday. It was cute and not too hard to make. I am excited to make a fun one for Mersadies birthday, which is coming up fast, oh my!

2009-04-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

I finally put my pictures on my computer and I realized a lot has happened and there is a lot I want to share. I will just do a few for now and post more in the next couple days.
Mersadie is walking all over the place and has been for about a month now, she is not even a year old, but she has a big brother she has to keep up with. Oh and she gives great slobbery kisses and loves her dad.
Carson is still busy and loving gymnastics, although I am not sure how much his instructor loves him... He is a great big brother, he always wants to know where Mersadie is, just to make sure she is ok. so cute.

Here are just some random ones of my very cute kids!

Carson finger/hand painting

I love Mersadie's tongue in this picture, what a goof

So tired she doesn't know which end is up!

Check back soon much more to come...

New Hobby

2009-03-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

I have started a new hobby. Quilting! Real quilting, not just tying yarn knots. I cut out about a bizillion little pieces then sew them together then sew cool designs on it, then put the binding on. There is this lady in my ward who I work with in young womens and she is a really good quilter so I decided that I would take the opportunity to learn from her while we are here. It is a lot harder and takes a lot longer than I thought it would. I finished my first quilt a couple weeks ago, it is a baby quilt and I am actually giving it away! Crazy I know. The one I am working on right now is a twin size quilt, which is A LOT harder than a baby quilt and I am keeping it, yeah! So I set up a little sewing station in my living room and I have been staying up late at night to quilt! Dustin has been a good sport about it, considering I have been obessed with finishing them. In fact he has even helped a little bit :)

Life

2009-03-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

My lovely cousin reminded me that I do need to post something a little more regularly. In my defense we just got a new computer and we are still trying to get it all set up. So that is my excuse for why I haven't posted for the past month. I don't have any pictures loaded on this computer yet so you will have to wait a little while longer for those.
Here is a quick up date:
Mersadie- is now 10 months old and trying to learn to walk so that she can keep up with her brother who she adores. She can only take about one step by herself right now and I am not in a huge hurry for her to figure it out completely!
Carson- is still just a busy as ever! This week he finally started gymnastics, I have been talking about it for a while but just haven't taken him. So we took the plunge. This is his first "organized" activity (besides church) and I think it will be really good for him. Although we really need to work on his summersaults, I realized that I don't think he has ever done one, and he was really confused about what the lady was asking him to do. Yeah I know I am a bad mom, my kid has no idea what a summersault is! Although it was kind of funny.
Carson is also now a sunbeam, and although he had no problem going to nursery (in fact leaving nursery is when he screamed) he does not like sunbeams! He never wants me to leave, luckily he has a great teacher and he is finally getting used to her and now as long as she is there he will let me leave.
Dustin- is still working in the ICU at our hospital and loving that. But we are also waiting to hear back from a masters program. He is on the waiting list at Midwestern and they said that they could call any day right up until the first day school starts and tell him to come on down. So it is totally up in the air right now. Which is hard for me, I have NO patience!
Me- I am still working about one day a week in the PCU, right next door to Dustin, which is kind of fun when we work the same day, although we really don't see each other that much. I am also so excited about our new computer so that I can start editing our home videos which I love to do. I love to watch my kids over and over again. They are so much fun and bring me so much joy!

My goal now is to blog more often so I don't feel like I have so much to catch up on. And I will have my pictures for next time, because those are way more fun anyway!

New Hair Cut

2009-02-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

I got my hair cut the other day, and even though it is not exactly what I wanted I actually really like it! The only bad thing about having a short hair cut that you like is that you have to get it cut more than once a year, which is what I usually do. So we will see how long it lasts.

Then there are those of us who don't have to worry about hair cuts at all! I won't mention names (Mersadie) Hopefully she will get some hair soon, I can't wait to fix it cute. She is getting so big and she makes me smile everyday, what a silly girl!

2009-01-26T20:34:00.000-08:00

We love how peaceful they look when they sleep!

I am really good at looking at everyones blogs and wondering why they have not updated them since the last time I look at them. Then I realized I haven't added anything to mine in a while. oops.

Christmas was great we did a lot of driving and although Carson does not do well in the car he did surprisingly ok. He only threw up three times and we consider that an accomplishment! We had so much fun hanging out and seeing family member we hadn't seen in a while.

It was a needed break, but we are glad to be home.

Mersadie is getting so big, she loves to eat and if you get in the way of her food or take too long to get it to her she will usually growl at you. Actually she has started growling at a lot of things lately, it is kind of funny. She is also getting very mobile, yesterday she climbed to the top of the stairs all by herself.

They are both so much fun, they make me laugh everyday, and I am so lucky to have them!

2009-01-01T10:22:00.000-08:00

2008-12-20T21:40:00.000-08:00

Ok consider my blog updated! Don't forget to read about what has been going on in our lives in the previous post!

Family Pictures

Don't ask

She is just too cute

Sorry I know there is a lot, but when you have some of the cutest kids ever there are just too many pictures to choose from. And besides I love pictures and I firmly believe a picture is worth a thousand words!

Halloween #2

Halloween #1

Cody comes home!

Carson and my friends little girl Ella

Carson turns three, (how did that happen?!?!)

Oregon Coast Vacation

He wants to be a cowboy baby...

Blessing day, my mom made that dress out of her wedding dress!

Summer fun

Summer baby

Looking and feeling much better

Traumatic delivery of baby Mersadie

Easter-2008

Hawaii- January 2008

2008-12-20T21:23:00.000-08:00

I put our blog address on our Christmas cards so that it would force me to start actually using and updating our blog. So here it goes, my first blog entry!
This has been an exciting and busy year for our little family.
Our family vacation was in January, we went to Hawaii and loved every minute of the warm weather. Carson LOVED rolling and playing in the sand and I am pretty sure his goal was to see how much he could take home with him.
In May Mersadie Hunter made her very grand entrance into this world. We are so grateful for the joy she brings to us. She is always smiling and loves life.
In July Mersadie was blessed and we were so glad to have family here for that event.
We took another family trip to the Oregon coast in October. It was windy and rainy but still a nice little get away. Then we got back and celebrated Carsons 3rd birthday. He is such a boy and makes us laugh and want to pull our hair out, all in the same day, just about everyday! I have been told by severeal people that it doesn't get any better as they get older so we are just learning to love and enjoy it.
The end of October Dustins brother got home from his mission and it was great to go Rigby and see him.
I started working at the hospital in September, I worked full time for 3 months during orientation and now I just work one day a week which is perfect. I get to keep my foot in the door and keep up on my nursing skills, but still feel like a stay at home mom! I work in the Progressive Care Unit, and Dustin works in the Intensive Care Unit, which is right next door. So that has been kind of fun.
Dustin has been applying to masters programs and has at least one interview in January, hopefully it will have one or two more, we are just waiting to here back. We are keeping our fingers crossed!
We are excited for Christmas, for some time off and time to see family and friends. Hopefully this will be a fun and easy way to keep in touch with people we haven't seen or talked to in a while.
Have a great holiday season and stay tuned for more post to come...