READERS DIGEST VERSION

I know I have been a MAJOR blog slacker....but this last month has been SUPER CRAZY!!! I feel like I have been spread thinner than a single stuffed Oreo cookie (you know if its not double stuffed you are just waisting your time!)

So here is the readers digest version of what we've been up to...

Well the chaos all started when my independent study classes that I had started while I was pregnant were about to expire...when I got sick (while pregnant) school pretty much got put on hold since I couldn't read anything without feeling queasy. Well all the sudden I get a letter saying my classes were about to expire, so I went into turbo speed to finish them up. I did (thank goodness) and as soon as those ones were complete I had two other Independent Study classes that if I finished by the last day of the BYU semester I would get reimbursed for them (and that was a major incentive since the whole law school situation makes for lots of money going out and not so much coming in). So, pretty much I finished those two classes in a three week period...while still keeping up with my one class that I've been going to once a week at BYU Salt Lake Center. It was crazy...something I definitely do not want to repeat EVER!!! But thanks to some help with Carder from Jake's family I was able to do some hardcore studying, and am now only 3 1/2 classes away to graduating.

This last month Jake was also in the crazy bustle of finals as well as getting all his hours in at the courthouse (for his externship with the Federal Judge). He absolutely loved that experience. On a HUGE plus note, Jake is now officially half way done with law school (symbols, horns, confetti, light at the end of the tunnel) so it should be all downhill from here. We go to Vegas this summer for his internship and then just one more year in Salt Lake and he'll be done and we can stop living the life of a gypsy!

Now we are leaving behind the snow and school to spend the next 2 weeks in California for the holidays:)

JAXON'S BIRTHDAY

Jaxon turned two this last November. For his birthday what he wanted was for baby Carder to come to his house. (He always refers to him as baby Carder, never just Carder...I'm convinced he thinks baby is part of Carder's name). It was so nice to see everyone for a few days. Jaxon has LOVED Carder since the day we brought him home from the hospital, but I was surprised how responsive Carder was to Jaxon this trip. Carder would watch everywhere Jaxon would go and try to do everything that he was able to that Jaxon would be doing.

MUCHO FRIO

It has been dumping snow on us in Salt Lake. One day I went out and brought a little snow in and put it on Carder's walker tray to let Carder play with it, lets just say he wasn't a fan (maybe he is his Mama's baby after all). Every time we go out we have to bundle him up...it kinda a pain, but he does looks cute in all the layers with just his little face peering out. Carder loves Christmas time. His favorite things to do are to pull the ribbon off the tree and try to eat it, play with the fat plush Santa ornament and try to eat it, and sing along to the Christmas music in the car (and lets just say this has taken car rides in a whole new direction thank goodness).

CARDERS 6 MONTH PICTURES

Carder turned 6 months the end of November...its crazy, it feels like it was just the other day when we brought him home from the hospital...yet its hard to remember what life was ever like with out him! I try to get all his milestone pictures done pretty close to the actual day he turns that age, but with the craziness of this month this one didn't quite happen like that. We had it taken the day after we got out to California for Christmas, so its a few days before he would be 7 months, but he was still technically 6 months (I tried) :) This last month he has grown up so much. He got his first two teeth (on the bottom) they came in within days of each other. He can sit up totally independently, he can get just about anywhere by scooting/crawling and has even started standing up to stuff every now and then. (I dunno if I'm ready for this!)

Lonely

In keeping with long-standing tradition, I have just added my two cents to the blog by updating the song playlist. I have chosen some songs that, I hope, compliment each other. I'm really a fan of the first one...Keane always blows me away, plus I like how their newest CD (from which this song was taken) has a bit of a retro-80's sound. It reminds me of the time that Holli and I went 80's dancing at Area-51 (I have attached a picture for your collective pleasure -- thanks Dad for lending me your vintage 80's Adidas work-out suit -- it's what sealed the deal for Holli, jk).

Speaking of my beautiful wife, she has been in California with Carder, visiting her family for Jaxon's birthday. First and foremost, I am lonely and can't wait for them to come home -- perhaps a more appropriate song for the playlist would have been One Republic's "Come Home" (a fantastic song in its own right, but one I felt did not mesh with the others I had chosen). I digress. I miss them so much. It was really wierd attending church today without them. I have also missed having Carder's face light up the moment I walk in the door from school. Having a family is without a doubt the most rewarding experience of my life, and I am enjoying every minute of it.

As you all know, I am a huge BYU football fan, and was pretty confident throughout the week that the Cougs would take care of Air Force. It was fun watching the game yesterday with my family, and singing the Cougar Fight Song after every touchdown. I need to start singing Carder the Cougar Fight Song instead of "5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed". The Cougs have a huge game coming up on Saturday against Utah, and I'm sure that it will be a fun one. Although Utah deserves their status as "favorites" in the game, I think that too many people are writing the Cougars off because of their poor performance against TCU. I am confident that BYU will come ready to play, and am oh-so excited for the game. My one pet-peave, however, is that people call this rivalry the "Holy War" -- it just seems wierd, and for me, conjures troubling images of crusading knights in medieval times.

HALLOWEEN

Halloween is one of my Dad’s favorite days of the year if not his absolute Favorite, and that love of Halloween defiantly rubbed off on me. Jake thinks I am crazy, but for me Halloween falls just below Christmas as the BEST holiday, I just LOVE it! All during October, Disney Channel and ABC Family start showing Halloween movies, and you know that if I have the TV on one of those movies is on so I get in the spirit.

Anyway I had all these ideas of grandeur this year. Carder had a monkey costume, and so I thought it’d be cute for us to go as Aladdin, Jasmine & Abu, and I was thinking I could just make the costumes. The closer Halloween got the more I realized that the whole making costume thing wasn’t fitting in my schedule and it just may have been a bit too much to put on my plate with everything else.

Well a few days ago I was getting Carder down for a nap, and had one of those cheesy Halloween movies on (you know you love them), and I had a feeling of guilt that I was going to be a Halloween bum once again!!! Last year I was pregnant with Carder and feeling like I was on my death bed, so we did absolutely NOTHING. This was going to be Carder’s first Halloween; his first experience with this great holiday couldn’t be mediocre! So I put the sleeping boy in his car seat, and headed to Joanne’s, determined to bust those costumes out. This was first attempt at making costumes, it went fairly smoothly (Can you believe they don’t sell a pattern for Aladdin and Jasmine?) But I finished them nevertheless and we had Halloween costumes.

For trick or treating we went down to Jake’s parent’s neighborhood in Sandy. Brittany came up to go trick or treating with Carder, Jake and me (and was great at documenting his first Halloween). We hit a few houses around the neighborhood (he is only 5 months, we are warming him up for next year) and by the time we got back to Jake’s parents house he was fast asleep on Jake’s shoulder. Carder seemed to quite enjoy himself and I am pretty sure Jake is slowly starting to LOVE Halloween.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

This past month has been pretty crazy. When we found out that Jake and I were relocating to Salt Lake, my mom and I booked trips to visit each other before I even moved from California. The end of September I got to go back to California with Carder and spend a week with the fam. Its always nice to go home, especially since we move so often and it feels like we are always visiting were we are at. Jaxon loved to match Carder anytime he could. My mom and I tried to get pictures done of them together, but we only ended getting them done separately, the only one of them together both their faces look like they got stun gunned. While we were there my mom put Carder in a walker and Carder thought he was hot stuff being able to make his way around all by himself. I saw this walker than looked like a car before Carder was born and thought it was the coolest thing ever (I am totally still a little kid at heart I get super excited for cool toys), so I got it and had been saving it. When I saw how much he enjoyed himself I busted out the sweet walker and its now one of his favorite toys.

When I got back from California I got the trash kicked out of me by a nasty cold. I don’t remember the last time I was that sick. Jake was great with helping me with Carder while I recovered, but man o man being sick is not the same when you have a baby, there are def no sick days as a mama! This is why I have been a blog slacker (among other things) I am still playing catch up from when I was out of commission.

Last weekend a firm in Southern California flew Jake, myself and Carder out for the weekend. It was way nice to be able to spend a little time with my fam, and it was a little bit like a weekend away. They put us up in a hotel for the weekend, and there was some fancy smancy dinner etc. My parents watched Carder during all the festivities, so it was a little bit like a weekend getaway for us. It was nice to have the red carpet rolled out, it helped reaffirm that the end is in sight, because sometimes it feels like we are going to be lifelong students; forever living on student loans!!! Jake has been offered a position in Vegas, so by the end of the week we will know where we will be moving (yet again) for the summer. When we were there Carder went swimming for the first time and fell in love with the jacuzzi. His favorite thing in the world is to take a bath, so to be in this giant bath tub where he could kick, splash, and move around to his hearts desire was a dream come true for him.

My mom and Jaxon came to Salt Lake this last week (yeah this was the trip that we had planned before I even moved to Utah, it just happened to be the day after we came back from California). It was so fun to have them here!!! I made huge progress on my independent study classes (graduation in April or bust!) We went down to Provo one of the days to hang out with Brittany. We took the boys to the Bean museum where they were fascinated by all the animals. Jaxon categorized them into two categories the ones that had teeth showing (those were the scary ones) and those that no teeth were showing (those were the nice ones). Carder just loved walking around looking at everything. We miss Mimi and Jaxon already and can't wait to see them when we go out for Jaxon's birthday :)

4 Months

HOME SWEET HOME

MY LITTLE MAN

CALIFORNIA WEEKEND

Mom's Visit

Boys Will Be Boys

So I have been horrible about taking pictures lately. I mean my house is still a a mess with all the moving boxes which doesn't help cause, but tonight I got out the camera to capture Carder with his new found love...ESPN.

Most kids love Barney or Sesame Street right?!? Yeah, well mine loves football. I have been working so hard the last two years to break my husband of his need to watch so many sporting events, and now my sweet little boy...ahhhh what am I going to do!?!

Yesterday my sister Brittany called us to let us know that Leon's friend who plays for BYU's scout team got them two tickets, so if I would come down and spend the afternoon with her Jake could go with Leon to the game. While the boys were at the game (where BYU pulverized UCLA) Brittany, Carder and I ran some errands around town. When we finished the game wasn't over yet, so we went back to Brit's apt to watch the remainder of game and try and get the little man down for a nap. He wasn't so keen on that idea, so i brought him out to the front room where the game was on and he went from fussing to total mesmerization...Jake had on a game this evening and the same thing happened, he just wanted to watch it. So, I had to capture a few pics of him with his new love...FOOTBALL! (though I still don't know how I feel about this)

As for us, Jake is still really enjoying school as well as his externship. I am really enjoying my class as well. Both of us are learning how to best juggle school and our family life...I am going to be brave and add some more independent study courses tomorrow so I will graduate this year, so hopefully I get that juggling act down soon!!!

We were able to get quite a bit done this weekend to make our place feel a little more lived in. There are still boxes left to unpack, but after this weekend I feel like it will eventually get done, lets just hope that that is going to be sooner rather than later!