Christmas Favorites

This year I have discovered some new Christmas favorites......

 Candy Cane Cocoa = yummy. It has really pieces of candy cane in it. :)

 The Glee Christmas Album. I love the "O Holy Night" on this CD.

My finally complete Willowtree Nativity. It took a few years, but I finally have all of the pieces. It is beautiful.

Some old favorites.....

The First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I love these men and their messages are both inspiring and inspired. Click here, here, and here to watch.

These two scents... Vanilla Bean Noel from Bath and Body Works, and Peppermint Bark Candle from Gold Canyon Candles. It just isn't Christmas without them.

Most important of all, The Christmas Story. The birth of our Savior is the reason for the whole Christmas season. Click here to read the Christmas story as told in Luke Chapter 2.

How can you not love this face?

One of those weeks.....

Does anyone else ever have those weeks? The ones that seem to fly by and leave you wondering what happened? That was this week for us. Carson turned 5 months old on the 7th. I can't believe it! My baby is getting so big! He is my little ray of sunshine in our cold corner of the world. I can't remember what we did before he came into our lives! Work has been crazy busy the closer it gets to Christmas. Everyday I leave my to-do list longer than it was when I came in. It is getting colder (is that even possible?) and I'm already sick of the snow. Jason spent the weekend studying for finals - everyone say your prayers for him - and I tried to catch up on the pile of laundry that has been glaring at me for the last week. I finally sat down to write out my Christmas cards, only to realize I didn't order enough! Bummer! Sunday morning came before we started preparing for our Sunday school lesson... dinner was prepared out of what I could find in the cupboard, and Christmas gifts still haven't been sent to our out-of-town relatives! Yikes! Maybe things will slow down once 2011 gets here? Maybe?....Please?

Happy Thanksgiving

With Carson sick and the roads a mess, we decided to have a nice quiet Thanksgiving to ourselves. I still made a meal big enough to feed an army, but Jason and I don't have any problem eating so it won't go to waste.

Our Gigantic Turkey! You see, I am a couponer. Yep, one of those. Although you may laugh at me, I got this 21 pound (yes, that is 1.5 times the weight of my son) for a little over 6 dollars. Even though Jason and I only ate a tiny bit of that beast of a bird, we will have Turkey noodle soup and many other dishes creatively using Turkey for many meals to come.

Our Thanksgiving table - set and ready to eat!

It can't be Thanksgiving without Grandma's homemade Cheesecake....yummy!

And of course, the best part of the day.....this little face!

Some of the things that I am thankful for:

My sweet baby and amazing husband. They are my everything. Love them.

My Savior. He is my constant, my strength, my guide. It is through Him that all my blessing come.

Temples. I am so glad that Jason and I were sealed so that our family can be together forever.

Extended family. We have great families - wonderful parents and siblings who are always there for us.

Jobs, food, home, clothes, cars, etc. We don't ever realize how luck we are.

Good Friends!

Happy late Thankgiving! Love you all!

Poor Sick Little Baby....

Our sweet little Carson has been so sick! After work on Monday we took him to the doctor because he was having a hard time breathing....defiantly not a normal cold. After looking him over, we were told he had pneumonia, given 3 different types of medication, and had they had someone bring us a nebulizer machine so that we could give him breathing treatments at our house. The poor little guy did not feel good at all. They told us to keep the humidifier on constantly and give him the breathing treatments every 4-6 hours and to watch him closely. He slept in our room that night and I don't think I slept at all! I was so afraid that he would stop breathing, and a couple of times he almost did.
Thank goodness for the nebulizer machine! During all of this, Eastern Idaho (the tundra that we live in) was in the middle of a blizzard. The roads were horrible, it was freezing cold, and a 10 minute drive turned into a 45 minute drive. We decided to call off our trip to Colorado for Thanksgiving and stay home. Wednesday morning, at about 3am, Carson was barely breathing even after a breathing treatment. So, we warmed up the car and braved the roads to take our little bundle of love into urgent care.

The darn little boy was so excited to see new faces that all he could do was smile and kick his feet while he was lying on the table. They took an x-ray of his chest, gave him some new medicine, and sent us home with the promise of a call first thing in the morning once someone could read the x-ray.

Turns out our sweet baby has asthma! Jason has asthma too, so it defiantly came from his daddy's side. They told us to keep doing what we were doing and he would be fine. We have had a few scares since then, but have found out that humidifiers are HORRIBLE for babies with asthma, Carson is happy even when he is sick, and Jason can wake up to Carson crying if mommy is out shopping for Black Friday.
Carson is on the up-and-up and we are grateful for priesthood blessings and the guidance of the Spirit.

10 Things I LOVE about Carson

10. He loves to eat his hands!

9. The way he smells. Nothing beats the smell of a baby.

8. How much he loves bath time! He loves to kick and splash in the water.

7. Carson loves his cousins! The second he sees Kenzlee or Brock he lights up.

6. He babbles in the car like he is telling me about his day. So cute.

5. He has my blue eyes and my white skin. :)

4. From the first day he was born he would smile and laugh in his sleep. I loved to watch him sleep to catch those cute little laughs.

3. He is my little cuddle bug. He likes to cuddle with me and fall asleep in my arms. Sometimes I will bring him to bed with me when he wakes up early in the morning and we fall back asleep together.

2. His smile. He loves to smile and every time I see it I can't help but smile back.

1. He is mine, forever and ever.

Jason's Birthday

Tuesday was Jason's 27th birthday! He had class that night after work, so we didn't get to have a party, but he opened presents when he got home. He got a lot of great stuff! My parents bought him some very nice dress shirts, my sister and her family got him a gift card to best buy, his parents got him a video about the Joseph Smith papers, and Carson got him "How to train your dragon", "Iron Man 2", a fireproof safe, 2 pictures for our theater room, his favorite drink, and some new garments. We love you, Daddy! Hope you had a great day!! XOXO!

Bathtime

Bath time with Carson is one of my favorite times of the day with him! He loves his bath! He likes to kick his feet and splash the water. I tried putting his bumbo in the bath the other day so that he could sit up. He thought it was great. He is such a happy little baby. I love my little man.

Halloween

Jason and I had to dress up for work at Melaleuca yesterday. Jason was a caveman and I was a 1920's flapper. Carson was a little monkey (very fitting). We got to take him trick-or-treating through our work, which was amazing! Our company defiantly goes all out with the decorating. He got a bucket full of candy - which mom and dad will just have to eat! haha! We sure do love our little monkey! :)

Family Pictures

My sister, Carly, is starting a photography business and she took our pictures last weekend. She did a great job! Here are a few pics that she took. 

Conference Weekend

We love conference. What more can we say?

Last day of freedom....

Tomorrow I go back to work and my baby doesn't get to come with me!! If only I could keep him behind my desk......
Counting down the days until I can stay home, for good. I did tell Jason that I reserved the right to quit at any time I felt like it and he would just have to figure out what to do. 
I'm just glad that Carson will be at the daycare at my work. Let's just say that I might be spending more time down in the daycare then I will at my desk! If you are looking for me and can't find me.....you know where to look!
Love you baby boy!

The Family Name You Bear

When I look at my son I can’t help but think of everything I want for him. I want only the best things for him. I want him to have every opportunity that I had and those I never did, every possible chance for success and happiness, abundant love, and the sweetest joy.  I want him to grow into a good man. By “good” I mean the type of man that anyone who knows him can’t find anything else to say except that he is a “good” man. That is why we gave him the middle name of Glen.

I had the great fortune of growing up next door to my grandparents. They were there everyday of my life growing up and they helped raise my siblings and I right along with my parents. My grandpa was a “good” man. Everyone in my hometown that knew him can attest to that. Grandpa was always there when you needed him and had a way of bringing out the best in people. He was a man of quiet wisdom and gentle strength.  He didn’t normally say much, but when he did you listened.  It was only Grandpa that could convince me to go to school at BYU-Idaho and it was Grandpa that asked me what I was waiting for when Jason wanted to marry me. Wise man. Good man.

Grandpa was always working. Always. He pulled weeds right along side us and then usually went back to pull the weeds we missed. He could and did fix anything and everything. He loved popsicles and homemade ice cream and Grandpa grew the best watermelons in the entire valley. He loved to scare us when we went to lock up the chickens at night and he always had a stack of the red wrapped firecrackers on his dresser to use when he saw an opportunity arise. Good man. Funny man. He taught me how to do a flip on the trampoline and loved a good game of chicken foot dominoes (teasing Grandma relentlessly the entire time). I could write forever about Grandpa and the memories I have of him, but I’ll sum it up by saying….Grandpa was a hero. 

I miss my Grandpa. I think of him everyday and it still hurts just as bad today as it did the day he left us. Thankfully I know that we will see him again and that makes me smile. Until that day comes, I hope that my son will grow to be like my Grandpa. I hope that Carson will carry on the legacy of that great man and be another bright spot in a world that so desperately needs one. So, with only the greatest love, Carson was given the middle name of Glen. It is an honor, my sweet little one. Please be true to who you are and the family name you bear. Be a “good” man, a great man, a Glen.

2 Months Old!

My baby turned 2 months old this week! I can't believe how fast time is flying! Here are some cute pictures of my sweet little boy. We love you Carson!!

Carson's Blessing

This weekend we got to have all of our family come visit and we blessed Carson! It was such a great weekend! Carson's blessing was so sweet and he didn't even cry! Here are some pictures from the weekend! 

Our sweet little boy

Jason's Grandma and Grandpa Hileman got to come!

Carson loves his grandma!!

Our little family

Hannah got to come. Love you!

Jason's parents

My parents

All of the men

The group!