A Day In The Life

Today we:
Cleaned the kitchen
Planted flowers
Built a fort
Grilled Salmon
Bought more dirt and planted more flowers
Filled up Carson's pool- too cold to get in
Had a small water fight when my husband started to get lippy
Read books
Tossed the ball
Cleaned the kitchen again
Mowed the lawn
"pretended" to drive the car
Turned on the bubble machine and played in bubbles
Were invaded by the "tickle" monster
Carson put away his clothes and then took them back out of the drawers multiple times
Also unloaded his kitchen drawers and scattered items several times
Threw rocks
Went to the store
Justin helped someone move
Planned church lessons
Took naps (well two of us did anyway:)
Ready for another day!

Underage Driver

How did we get here? Carson eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in his new car?

It all started with this. Justin let Carson pretend to drive the redneck truck in the garage one day. See that smile? Should have known life as we knew it was over. At the time, he had never seen a stick shift so it was a microphone. I think he drove that truck for an hour before we brought him in kicking and screaming.Life will never be the same. Every single car...yes every one he passes he whines and cries at. Parking lots are nightmares for us. He believes he should drive every car he sees. The good news? Rainy days are so much fun. I get to sit in the car, listen to my country while Carson drives me to far off lands. Every walk we go on means chasing him up people's driveways as he cries to get in their cars. So we got this. Loves it. He also got to drive Grandpa Mark's jeep out on his property. yes, really drive. I am not sure who was more scared....me or the buffalo. Of course, this experience convinced him that he really should drive every car he sees.

This is where we shop now. I changed grocery stores to keep him happy. Oh...to have the world revolve around you:)

This is at Discovery Gateway. Again, kicking and screaming to get him to leave. However, I was proud of how he held his ground to much bigger boys. Don't mess with the Driver. He was not turning over that wheel to anyone.

My favorite was Mother's Day though. I was sitting at the computer when my special delivery car (pushed by Daddy) pulled up. Out the window he handed me a card, some candy, and then my very first coloring picture ever made by Carson. It was adorable.

Now if I could only get him to run to the store for me.

First Hike and Cabin Excursion

We took Carse on his first hike for Mother's Day weekend. Some friends let us borrow their "hiking backpack" for him. He spent about 2 minutes in it before he decided it was way more fun on the ground. I was very impressed with his "hiking" ability. Granted, there was not too much of an incline but Carson walked the majority of the 1.6 miles by himself. It took several hours because there were many distractions but it was so much fun!
This last weekend, my sis, her boyfriend and my adorable nephew came to visit! We went up to Grandpa Marks cabin and had a blast! We rented an ATV and it was definitely the highlight of the trip. I love seeing my boy outside, he is just totally content like his daddy!
Just a note: Cute Little Baron is not so little, he is 6 1/2 months compared to Carson's 16 months and they weigh the same! That noggin alone is at least a full pound!
We had a few exciting "mis" adventures... Carson pulled a hose on the ATV and the guys "fixed" it which caused the ATV to shut down in random locations--like when I was out by myself. The Bronco got a flat. And so on.. but we had a wonderful relaxing time.
We finished the trip by taking the long route through Heber--gorgeous and ending on the Olympic Park Zipline in Jeremy Ranch. We all did the EXTREME Zipline--pics to come later! I about passed out from fear--Justin says it is the most expensive ride ever since the only way I got on in the end is when he promised to buy Carson this yard helicopter teeter totter from Costco:0

We Saw Wicked!

I have been so busy that I have not blogged about it yet but J and I were fortunate enough to see Wicked at the Capitol Theatre!
It was FABULOUS and that is an understatement.
I have wanted to see it and had a few chances that never ended up working out. Almost paid $400 a ticket to see it in New York while on a work trip but that trip got cancelled.
Thanks to Nikki who came through and got us in on her season tickets sweet deal. We purchased the tickets last summer and I have been excited ever since.
Honestly... I highly recommend it to anyone, even if you are not a theater person.
Wicked is now a close second to my absolute favorite Les Miserables--but truly Les Miserables is untouchable in my book.
So, if you have a chance...go see it! Oh, but don't read the book. I started once, but it had puppet porn in it and I put it down. Very weird. I did hear it got better but I couldn't handle it.

Breaking Window Avoided

Last week we made a quick trip to Penneys.
As I loaded Carson in the car to leave, he whined until I gave him the car clicker (or FOB as J calls it)--I gave it to him, as always.
Tossed my purse in the front and went around to open my door. Locked.
It took me a second to realize what happened. I was locked out, my purse was in the front seat, my baby in the back. Windows were rolled up.
First signs of panic. Heart is racing. Beginning to sweat. My baby is locked in the car. He still has the clicker and from experience I know that it would take the jaws of life to pry it from his hands...he will not let go of it.
I start to try to communicate through the window to my 15 month old to press the right button. He laughs.. he thinks I am making faces at him.
A lady parks by us and makes eye contact. She sees my panic that I am trying to hide.
"Did you lock yourself out of the car?"
I explain. She offers to wait with him while I go into Penneys to call someone. What choice to I have? My biggest fear at the moment is that he will start to cry and I can't get to him. Also, the car is pretty warm.
The Penneys associates at the front of the store are not helpful. They have 12 phones up there and say I need to run all the way back to customer service to use one. I have told them my dilemma. They reemphasize I need to go back to customer service. This puts a distance between me and my child in the parking lot that makes me nervous. No time to punch a sales associate in the face so I run to the back of the store.
I am told to wait even though I say I have an emergency. She says it will be a few minutes. I am seconds away from jumping over the counter and flattening some bangs that are way to high to start with. However, when I explain my emergency she immediately gives me the phone and leaves her customer for two seconds. It may be the look on his face that caused her to react. I think he was ready to grab the phone and hand it to me. After all, he was just placing a catalog order and my child is stuck in a locked car.
Justin doesn't answer. Three tries. I call his grandma's. He is there. He says it will take him an hour to go home, get the spare, and drive there. Way too long. I tell him I am calling the police.
An employee runs through the store at that moment. "Your baby just unlocked the car!" She is elated. She had not been up at the front originally. I am grateful for her and the way she is running shows me she cares.
Those were the best six words of my month. I run outside.
My original angel is by the car with the door open. She says she almost took him out to find me but realized if we missed each other I would really freak out. She waited until someone else parked and had them go tell a sales associate.
I am so grateful! Apparently she heard the door click and grabbed it very quickly. Smart thinking.
Carson has this smug look like he knew what was going on the whole time. He thinks he pulled the best joke ever.
No clicker, FOB or whatever you want to call it for Carson anymore! His privilege has been revoked permanently!
All is well that ends well.

Wheeler Farm

Wheeler Farm is a very special place to me. When I first moved to Utah, I lived in an apartment near the Farm and I would go walking there almost every morning. It was a time for reflection, exercise, and with the beautiful mountains--a time to appreciate the beauty that surrounded me. Oh yeah, and at one point I had a faceoff with a fox.
Today, Justin met Carson and I there for lunch. We had such a great time and it is fun to be able to see J during the day. Carson is so excited to be able to walk everywhere that it was hard to get him to stay still during a picture.
This was my favorite picture from today. The best part??? There was a whole family in the background and I photoshopped them out. Pretty cool, Huh? Don't look too close though. Anyway, I think I will play around with it some more and see what I can do. I think we will be spending a lot of time there since the weather is warm.
While this pic may look idealic...let me shed some light. This picture follows me deciding to change Carson's diaper while he was standing near a picnic table. There was a messy situation going on down there that I was unaware of until I dropped the diaper. Once I got that cleaned up we started to walk up the hill. Carse is getting over a cold and start to cough really hard. This brought up his lunch which started out as a huge regurgitated lump in his mouth. He appeared to be choking on it, so like any good mom I pulled the chunk out of his mouth. Then he sprayed vomit everywhere. The poor people trying to enjoy their lunch nearby.
At that point, I wanted a shower but Carson was still wanting to play. There was a garbage nearby but it was not in the direction Carse and J wanted to go. So he insisted I carry my pukey wipes to a much farther garbage near the geese.
Don't you wish you could get the background on every picture???

Easter

My bro and his cute fam came to visit last week.

We went up to the Bennions for Dinner and an egg hunt. Carson did not quite catch on to the concept yet. He found his fave egg and held on tight the rest of the evening. Hey, the kids knows what he wants and doesn't let go. Nothing wrong with that.

Some of the weekly highlights:

Wild West Park...we all loved it!

Discovery Gateway Children's Museum- I think even Big Kids can enjoy themselves there. It was difficult and dramatic to pull Carson away from the steering wheel. It was the first time I saw him hold his ground even with big boys trying to push him out. He could have been there all day.

When Shawn Jr. was grumpy one morning he crossed him arms, pushed out his lips, and said "Hmmph!"--Carson loved it and started imitating him. It was adorable and Jr could not help but laugh at himself after that.

Rounds of "Wheels on the Bus"

Duck Duck Goose.... I have never seen Carse so excited as when waiting to see if he was a Duck or a Goose- good times

My brothers gourmet cooking- can't be beat.

Beth beating us at Knights and Castles her first game, while holding a baby and keeping Jr busy

Carson scared of his younger cousin Xarik and panicking when he came near

It was a crazy busy couple of days but it was so much fun! Jr already called to say he missed Carson and wanted to talk to him on the phone.

We miss you guys!