The Big Hotel

This past weekend we went to "The Big Hotel" (as the kids call it) for Gma Tolley's 87th birthday party. The boys have been excited to go for a little over a month. This past week all we have heard is how they are going to eat, swim and watch Bedtime Stories in the beds. It is amazing how good of memories they have since these were the things they did at the hotel last year.

The kids had a great time destroying the room as if they were rock stars, actually getting in the swimming pool and watching Alvin and Chipmunks with their cousin Sydney. By the time it was time to leave Ian decided he was permanently going to live at the big hotel.

Happy Birthday to Gma Tolley, and thanks to Gma Rasmussen for a fun trip. The kids are already looking forward to next year’s party.

I looked out the window

My dad asked me to send him some pictures of some of the beautiful flowers in his yard. I thought I'd share with all.

Preschool

How on earth can Carson be old enough for preschool? Today was his first day and he was so excited. He got to take his backpack, wear his new clothes, and put on his "cool" new shoes. We decided to take him to the elementary by my parents house. We heard wonderful things about the program. Since we will be moving back to their house in a few months we thought it would be better to keep him in the same school all year. Yep, my parents are going on a mission. They have asked us to take care of the house once again. After praying for month we decided that it will be the best thing for us. We will find out within the next month or so where they will be going.
This is his classroom and his cool name tag. Man I miss him. Ian has been asking me for the last hour if we could go get him. I guess he misses him too.
Did I cry you ask? You bet. For the last two weeks I've been crying. I'm not ready for them to grow up.

4 years old!

Carson's birthday was last week but I've been so busy I haven't had time to post. So while I have 2 seconds I wanted to wish him happy birthday.
This is Carson on his new bike. He is wearing his cool new helmet from Grandma and Grandpa Pulsipher. Can you tell that Ian is just a little bit jealous? Carson was nice enough to share his skates (also from grandma and grandpa). They would take turns on who got to wear the skates. He is in an Elmo phase right now. He wanted to help make Elmo "muffins" (cupcakes). I didn't get a picture of the cupcake, but this is him eating it in one bite.
I can't believe how big he is already. I'm so very thankful that he is my big boy.

You're so old

Happy Birthday Kevin!

8 Months old

I can't believe that Braxton is already 8 months old. He has just started trying to pull up to a standing position. This has been the cause for a lot of falls and tears. He picked up on crawling so fast. I now find him like this Stuck in a place he can't get out of. Yesterday he followed me into the kitchen. Within minutes he started crying. I thought he wanted to be picked up so I bend over and pulled, but he wouldn't come. Somehow he had gotten his foot stuck in a gap under our cupboards resulting in this The best part is how much he loves his brothers. Right now he is chasing Carson around the front room. I'm not sure if he likes them or the crumbs and toys they leave behind.
I love how dang cute his is
Could you pass on that cute smile, or even cuter legs? I can't.

Fun in the Sun

We have had a lot of fun so far with the warm weather. We have: Gone Swimming Played at the playground

And gone "Bowling"

Crazy tag

8 Places To Eat Out


1. Johnny Carino's
2. Olive Garden
3. Some sandwich shop in the St. George mall
4. Cheesecake Factory
5. Jamba Juice
6. Spaghetti Factory
7. Roxy's Diner
8. Letherby's



8 Top TV Shows


1. Food Network cake challenge
2. Biggest loser
3. The Unsellables
4. The Appentice
5. Anything on HGTV
6. Chopped
7. Handy Manny
8. Mickey mouse


8 Quirks


1. All clothes must be facing the same way on the hanger
2. Hate Kevin's feet touching me, but my feet have to touch him to fall asleep
3. Love sprouts
4. Love watching the snow
5. Have a weakness for babies
6. Love to craft, but am awful at it
7. Hate working, but love the break
8. Hate skinny jeans on boys or girls


8 Things I Look Forward To


1. Sickness to leave my house
2. Moving
3. Warm weather
4. Snow cones
5. Time and energy to keep the house clean
6. The kids to sleep in until 7
7. Naps
8. Kevin to come home from work

Sick as a dog

I found out today that Ian has croup. It is one of the saddest things to see. The poor little boy is so sick he can't even walk. He will try and end up just sitting down because he can't move anymore. This morning Kevin found him in the hall by our room moaning. He tried to come get in bed with me and couldn't go any farther. Of course he gets this right after getting over his stomach flu. We have been very blessed not to have sick kids. Sure they've all had their share of colds but nothing like this. I feel like I'm at a complete loss. All Ian wants is to be held. Something that I love to do if I didn't have a baby crying and a 3 year old running around. It's one of those times when you feel so overwhelmed with things that are out of your control. The good thing is that he is on medicine and should be feeling better soon.
I feel bad for poor Carson. His best friend is sick and doesn't know what to do. He wants to play and has no one to play with. I find him playing with Braxton a lot more lately. Braxton loves the attention.

Leave it to the pros

This is the reason that I go to have the boys pictures taken professionaly:

I thought it would be a great chance to get a picture of the kids. Boy was I wrong. Both of the boys look like they are going to kill someone with thier bubble guns. Poor Sydney lookes like her candy was tainted. Oh well, at least I try.

Bob that head

Last year Kevin took me to the Rascal Flatts concert. This was only my second concert and was WAY better than Neil Diamond. We wanted to go this year but I had to work. The day after the concert we were driving somewhere in the van I told Kevin how sad I was that we didn't go. "Just pretend with me," I told him and put in the CD. "Picture it all dark and then you hear this," I started the title track for the concert. I screamed like I was really there, sang as loud as I could, and bobbed my head. At first the boys thought I was crazy then they asked me to do it again. Now they have the chours memorized and sing it all the time. If they don't have a movie in the van they ask to "bob that head." Carson can even make the rock on sign while he bobs. Ian will give the peace sign while he bobs. It is so cute.

Vegas

Kevin and I took a much needed vacation two weeks ago. It has been 4 years since the two of us took a vacation outside of the city. We have had a few little overnight get aways, but not any longer. My mom said that she would be willing to stay with the kids and we jumped on the the chance. We didn't have a ton of money so we thought that we would head to Vegas and take advantage of the cheap hotel rooms. That way we could stay for 3 nights for the same price as one anywhere else. We stayed at the Stratosphere and loved it. Our room was so nice, and the views were incredible.
It was so nice to get up when we wanted, go to eat whenever, stay up late, and take long naps all day. I didn't have to worry about not going somewhere at a certain time because it would interfere with a nap or a feeding. We aren't party people so all we did was sleep, eat, and read. SOOOOOOO peaceful.
We had lunch at the top of the Stratosphere. It was a very posh restaurant that gave you a view of the city from 106 floors up. The food was amazing. Our normal "nice" restaurants we go to are "Olive Garden" and "Chili's". So this was fun and new. We didn't know what we were eating, but it was good. The only downfall for me was that the restaurant would slowly spin so you could look at the whole city. It took over an hour to go all the way around. I forgot how motion sick I get. By the time the main course arrived I was so sick. The food was great and I would go again. We also found a wonderful Mexican restaurant, a fun 50's diner, and great B-B-Q at a Harley Davidson restaurant.
We were excited to come home and see the boys, but really enjoyed the time away.

For you, Mom

Yes, this is a piture of a camel. Not just any Camel, but one that lives in the middle of West Jordan. No one believes us when we tell them so I took a picture on the way home from church. I don't know how they stay warm, I just know it's awesome that they are our neighbors.

New clothes!?

This morning I was unpacking size 6-9 month clothes for Braxton. I forgot how much I love this size of clothes. They are just starting to sit and the little rolls on their legs when they wear shorts is priceless. Carson and Ian were my little helpers. They loved Braxton's swimsuit.
Carson is wearing the sun hat and Ian is wearing the suit. It has been so nice to have the kids born around the same time of year. Hand-me-downs are so much easier.

Barnes and Noble

Last Monday we took the boys to Barnes and Noble. They have this wonderful train set that the boys love to play with. Kevin found this out one day when he took the boys into the bookstore while I had a doctor's appointment. They have been asking to go back for he longest time. We are always looking for free indoor things to do on Kevin's days off, and we thought this would be a good idea. They enjoy to looking at different books and playing with the trains.

Why I hate the snow

I work in the evenings and come home in the middle of the night. I hate when it snows because it is so cold and icy when I head home. So this is my story of last night.
I'm driving home on Bangerter and everything is okay. The roads aren't to bad and I'm going normal speed. I'm in the left lane and everyone else is on the other side. There is one guy who is pretty far a head of me in the same lane. I look ahead and see that there is an accident a little bit down the road, and I think you need to slow down. So I lift my foot of the gas. I'm going through the light at 4700 at this time. I guess I was the only one who saw that the accident was in the right side and middle lanes. They all merge very quickly around me to avoid it. Three in front and Three behind. I think the guy in the very front was going slower than the mergers planned and they slammed on their brakes, causing me to slam on mine. The whole stretch we're on is covered in ice and we can't slow down fast enough. It felt like my brakes weren't even working, but everything else was in slow motion. I notice that if I don't do something soon that I will plow into the car in front of me. I move left into the median, thinking that if I pass him at least I won't hurt him. Well as my front was almost to his rear he had the same idea and swerved over. To stop myself from hitting him again I cranked it to the right causing me to almost to flip around and face everyone behind me. Somehow I recovered from that as well. The cars behind all went around me and drove away like nothing happened. I drove the rest of the way home in a daze going about 35 at the most. I have never been that close to an accident before.
I didn't realize how bad it affected me until I climbed in bed and Kevin put his arm around me. I couldn't stop shaking, and had a heck of a time trying to breath. Finally my body started to settle down. It may sound crazy but I know that I was told to slow down. If I had been going any faster I know I would have slammed into the cars in front of me and the ones behind would have hit me.

ABC's

Carson doesn't like to sing for anyone but me and Braxton. I recorded it so Kevin could hear, and thought I'd share. He does it without any help from me. He does forget some letters but his cuteness makes it okay.

It's Warm!!

I'm so excited that it is starting to get warm again. The boys have been dying to go outside to play. So that is just what we did.
I was so proud of them for going down the slide. Last fall they both were so scared. This year they just ran right to it. I have a feeling that we will be spending a lot of time outside this year.
This is my little man. I didn't try the slide with him. He did enjoy laying on the grass however.
I just realized that I have been pregnant for 3 of the past 4 summers!!! Wow, that's all I can say, Wow.

Yay Carson!

Carson is completely potty trained!!! He has been for the past few weeks but I've been scared that I would jixs it if I wrote anything. He has only had one accident in the past month and that was at night. We are so proud of him. It is so wonderful only having to change diapers for 2 instead of 3.

Carson loves to talk to Braxton. He will ask him questions, wait for an answer and then continue on with the conversation. It is so fun to watch. This morning he asked Braxton what he liked to eat, waited for the answer, then replied "milk I like milk too." He then looked at me and said, "I like water, milk,lemonade, sprite, and bouncy balls."
For some reason Carson is scared of everything lately. He woke up around 1:30 this morning crying that a "noisy car" woke him up. He was then scared of everything. I let him come into our room and sleep on our floor. After laying with Ian so he would go back to sleep, feeding and rocking Braxton to sleep, and trying to sleep with Carson I the floor I gave up and let him come into bed with us. It was almost 4 before he fell asleep. Kevin's alarm goes off at 4:30. It was a long night.

Between a rock and a hard place

I have reached a point in Braxton's life that I knew was going to come. To wean or not to wean. I love nursing my babies, but around the time they turn 5 months things change. My body decides that it has had enough. I will get very lightheaded and weak, and the baby will stop getting enough nourishment from me. I know that I have to do what is best for everyone. This weekend I deiced to switch Braxton to a bottle and it is killing me physically as well as mentally. I blame myself for not being able to continue. I know that it's stupid but that's what I do. We started yesterday and I'm ready to cave in. I go back and forth on what is right all day. You would think that this decision is going to change his overall outcome in his life or something. He is doing a pretty good job with the change. This morning was the first time that I have feed him formula because Kevin has taken an active role in the feedings. Brax looked up at me like I was crazy. An hour later he finished all 4 ounces. The part that I love is that Kevin now gets up with him at night. If I go in there he won't settle down. It is a very nice break. In more exciting news Braxton can sit! Not for extended amounts of time but long enough for me to get excited about.