It's about time!

So I've calculated that since moving to Galveston the beginning of August, I've been away from Bo for 4 weeks. 4 weeks people!! That's a month (obviously, cass), and can I just tell you how tired of being away from him I am?????? That is why it's about time! Bo is coming in today!! YAY!!!!! I'm going to go pick him up in an hour, and it's all I can do not to go hop in the car right now to get there. He's flying into Spokane, and I just can't wait. I love my man. That's all. That's my blog.
Oh yeah, we went to my parents ward party this morning, it was a breakfast, and it was funny because my cousin James was Santa. It was really funny seeing him all dressed up. Good times. For those of you who don't know, James is getting married on the 28th of this month to a cute girl (Niki Forsberg) in the Boise, ID temple. We are so excited for him. They are cute together. She plays on the Volleyball and Softball team for Big Bend. GO JAMES!!!

HOME!!!

So I am in Moses Lake!! YIPPIE! After a very busy week last week, Carter and I took off on Saturday and headed for Washington. We left TX at 7:45 am(5:45 Wa time) and after a connection and another flight, landed in Spokane, Wa at 1:30 pm. Carter actually did really well. It was later on while we were helping my mom shop at some stores that the traveling and sleepiness and crankiness set in. Oh wow was he not happy. When we got into Spokane I saw an old friend and realized he was on the same flight as me. Sad that we didn't know that till the end. It would've been fun to catch up on the plane and to talk to someone. What are the odds of knowing someone on the same flight??
So anyways, while we were at church yesterday morning it SNOWED!!!! YAY!! It was so fun showing Carter the snowflakes and watching it fall to the ground. He loved it. We took him sledding outside this morning. At first he was a little unsure of what was going on, but then he warmed up to it. I forgot to take a picture, so I'll have to do it later. I got video of it, but no still frames. Sorry. It was great though. Cold, of course, but after all the heat in TX, it's kind of refreshing.
We went and helped out my parents get a Christmas tree today. That was fun. I miss real trees. Carter was so cute, he kept trying to help put the lights on. He was cute. It was good that he was cute, because his attitude Saturday night and Sunday morning was enough to make me wonder if I ever wanted any more kids. Seriously. Really, seriously. But today he showed his good side. *phew* I was afriad my little sweetheart had disappeared.
I was really emotional yesterday because we were visiting a friends church for a little while (he was giving a guest sermon), and Carter was driving me crazy. I don't blame him, really, who wouldn't be after traveling so long and having to adjust to a 2 hour time difference. Not to mention that this was his 4th hour of church. But I was the same as him, so me plus a whiney kid just wasn't working. Anyways, it was the end of church and we were walking past an open door and Carter's head barely hit it. Carter didn't even notice, and I apologized to him, but this lady on the bench by the door noticed, and then 10 min. later when we were trying to leave Carter wanted down, and there were so many people around that I couldn't bend over, so I let him slide down, and he stumbled and fell at the end, again. . .he didn't notice, didn't care, but we were right by that darn lady agan! She tried helping him up and then was all "you poor thing, first your mom hits your head with the door and then drops you." UGH!!! That was it. It was all I could do to not say something to her and to hold my tears. I was so upset. It's not like I meant to do any of it, and I was already feeling the like the crappiest parent on the earth because I was so fed up with my child and had accidently bumped his head, that her saying it just confirmed my feelings and I just broke. Do you ever get that way?
I feel better now, having caught up on my much needed sleep and Carter getting his. I miss Bo and don't know how on earth single mothers do it. I give them mad props. I need Bo. I need his comforting words, his hugs, his help, even just his presence. We're coming up on our 4th anniversary, and it's amazing how much we have grown into one. I really need him to think straight and function. He doesn't have to do anything, he just needs to be there. Does that make sense? Anyways. . . I love my man and I love my son, so maybe someday Carter still might get lucky and get a sibling. :) Unless he does something to change my mind again tomorrow. ;)
Over and out.

A Great Night!

So last Thursday night Bo, Carter, and I went to the Festival of Lights here at Moody Gardens. Moody Gardens is an attraction here on the island. They have an aquarium, rainforest, IMAX, and other fun things. Anyways, they do this thing at Christmas time called the Festival of Lights. Imagine driving by Quincy, only times it by 50.25 . ha. It was fun. You pretty much walk around the grounds of the place and look at all figures light up. They had ships, flowers, African animals, dinosaurs, SpongeBob (really random), candy canes, Santa (of course), castles, polar bears, and pretty much a bunch of other things. Some of the figures moved, some were stationary. My favorite thing was their nativity. They had the nativity story narrated over the speakers, and with each part of the story, a different scene would lite up. It was pretty good. I enjoyed it. So that was fun. I'd have to say that I still think, as far as lights go, that Temple square is the best, but these were great too. After we walked around the grounds we went inside the main building and Carter saw Santa and waved to him. I'm cheap, I know, but why pay $10 for Carter to sit on his lap there, when he can do it for free (with a better picture even) at the ward party? So Carter only got to wave. We then went into their restraunt and ordered a hot fudge sundae and hot chocolate. Yes it was like 70 degrees outside, but you just HAVE to have hot chocolate at Christmas time. My favorite part about the night was the dessert because it was spontaneous. We usually don't do things spur of the moment, and so I loved it!!! Here are some pics from the night.

On a side note, tonight we went to the IMAX at Moody Gardens and saw the Nutcracker. Oh man it was so bad! Bo and I both walked out of it wishing we hadn't gone. We're talking horrible dancing, acting, props, costumes. It makes for a funny memory though. We have seasons passes to Moody Gardens, so we get in everything here. We went to the Polar Express last week at the IMAX (by the way, they are all 3-D), and that was really fun. We plan on going to Santa vs. Snowman on Thursday.

Thanksgiving '07

So as mentioned in a previous blog, after coming home from Boston Carter and I were sick with a cold/flu/whatever for the first part of the week of Thanksgiving. Thanks to Bo we were able to get somewhat better and on Thursday morning (Thanksgiving day) we took off for San Antonio. Bo has an Aunt and Uncle who live there that are only a few years older then us. They are really fun and have three kids. Sadie, their oldest, got baptised the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so it was fun to watch that. Because of her baptism, Bo's Grandma was visiting, along with Sadie's grandparents from her dad's side. We ate GREAT food, had fun socializing, and of course did some shopping.

I've never shopped on Black Friday before, but there were a couple things in the ads that looked like fun, and some of the party was going out, so I decided to go. We left at 5 in the a.m., which might not be as early as some who go out, but it was definetly early enough for me. It was great though. I bought a giant stuffed Elmo for Carter. He's going to love it. I'm having a hard time restraining myself from showing Carter his presents. It's just so fun and I can't wait to see his face when he opens them.

We came home from San Antonio Saturday evening because Bo had to give a talk in church and I had to give a lesson. We were about an hour away and Carter started throwing up.!!! Seriously. He'd had the flu/stomach virus two weeks before, and was just barely overcoming a cold when this happened. Poor kid! We had to pull over and change his shirt because it was soaking with nasty smelling vomit. We still had an hour left of driving, and poor Carter kept on vomiting. Our car smelled so bad that even Bo and I were starting to feel sick. UGH! When we got home it was like 10 at night, Carter was exhausted, but we still popped him in the bath. He needed it. We tag teamed going to church the next morning, with Bo going the first half and me the second. Carter kept throwing up, but by Sunday evening he was stopping, and by Monday he was back on the mend. So thankfully it was a short spell this time.

We're all good now and out having fun. I hadn't posted previously because I felt like I needed a break from everything for a couple days. Carter and I have been going non-stop for like a month and we needed to just relax. With that said, I'm finally posting, and here are some pictures from the trip!

Pictures from Boston

As I said in a previous blog, I didn't do any sight-seeing while on my trip back East. The trip was a family only visit and it was fun! Tiring, but fun. Here are some of the pictures I took:

Here is Clarissa Baker! #4 of the Haven Baker family. Isn't she a cutie?!!

Here are the 4 boys. In the picture on the couch from left to right are Lawrence, Emerson, Carter, and Ethan. Man they were a handful. They were great together and it was fun to watch them play. In the of the boys in the car we had just gotten home from a long afternoon of taking pictures and this is how Teresa and I found them. Seriously, we didn't touch them. Funny huh.

Carter is in LOVE with Elmo. Don't ask me how, it's not like we get Sesame Street on our TV. He was in heaven when he saw their Elmo.

Here is a picture of Carter and me at the Boston LDS temple. It is so pretty. Here are Carter and Lawrence. They are 3 months apart, with Lawrence being the older one.

Did I say Healthy???

So we came back from Boston LATE Saturday evening. It was a great trip. We didn't do any touring, but that was fine with me. They actually offered to take me around, but since I've been to Boston twice before and walked the Freedom Trail and seen the sites, I was alright. Besides, I came to Boston to help my brother's family, not to tour, and not to mention that Bo's never been to Boston, so I'd have felt bad doing the fun things without him. We'll go later and do that.
We had a fun time. I was able to watch the kids so that my sister-in-law could go run errands and take naps. Carter and I had a blast playing with the kids. However, when we first showed up the boys were all just barely recovering from colds, and by the time we left, Carter was starting to show the first signs too. AHHHH! Now to be honest, I didn't think it was that big of a deal considering we just got Carter over the flu, but then on Monday afternoon, a whole fresh wave of sympathy came over me. Yup, I got the cold too, and let me tell you, it is a nasty thing. Seriously! All I can say is that now we've had both, we'd better not get anything come Christmas time (knock on wood)! I know this might sound selfish, but I think that the only thing worse than a sick kid is a sick mom. Seriously. I just want to curl up in a ball. My body aches, especially my bum, and I just feel gross and weak. The reason I think a sick mom is worse is because mom's still have to get up and take care of others. We don't get breaks like when we were single. Luckily it is a short day for Bo so he came home and is watching Carter snore on his shoulder while I take a break and write this blog. I just barely woke up from a 2 hour nap. Husbands are wonderful, especially mine.
Anyways, since I'm on Bo's laptop, I don't have the pictures of my trip to post. I'll put them on later when I'm on the computer. I did get to do one selfish thing while on my trip to Boston, I got to take pictures next to the Boston LDS Temple. It was really pretty. I'll post those too.

Healthy and in Boston

So can I just say that Carter had the worst flu ever?!!! Seriously, it was BAD. Poor guy. I was getting really worried too. He wasn't even eating! We finally gave him a blessing Thursday and wow, what a difference. He was all better come Friday, so on Saturday we took off for Boston, which is where we are now. I'm having fun. It's busy, but great. Carter is enjoying hanging out with his cousins, and I am having the best time holding my new little niece. She is a cutie! I plan to post pictures when I get back home. I'm going back to Texas on Saturday, too soon, and then I have to get ready for Thanksgiving. Is it just me or does the Fall always seem to be so busy and fly by? Maybe it's because Thanksgiving is earlier this year. Who knows. Oh yeah, Tiffany, I agree with you on listening to Christmas music early. Somehow only one month of it just doesn't seem enough. I can't wait, when we get back to Texas we're going to set up our Christmas decorations. Also Tiff, and anyone else, I recommend the Celine Dion Christmas CD, Special TImes, or something. It's way good. We LOVE it! That and the Martina McBride one, White Christmas (THanks Aika!!). I've been reading all your blogs, but haven't had time to comment since I've been running around like crazy with 4 boys, so sorry, but I'm glad you all seem to be doing well.

The Flu

So Carter and I are supposed to be on a plane at this exact moment taking off for Boston. Unfortunately, that trip has been delayed. Carter got the flu. Yup. I've been looking forward to this trip for a loooong time. We're supposed to go and help my brother Haven's family for a week and a half. Teresa had their baby girl 2 weeks ago, and we were flying out there to take care of the boys and help them out. Saturday night Carter got a little bit of diarrhea, which continued through Sunday, but we thought it was because of candy. On Monday morning we woke up and Carter just started throwing up. The poor guy. He just sat around the whole day expressionless. We couldn't get him to smile or anything. We had to change our flight to this Saturday, because there is no way we are taking a sick kid to a house with a new baby. Not only that, but it would be miserable on Carter and me. Wish us luck that Carter will be ready by Saturday. I have high hopes. He's already starting to eat a tiny bit, and he's actually getting up and talking and playing. So that is the update on our exciting life. Vomit. Woohoo. I do feel bad for Carter. He doesn't have many words, so he can't explain how he feels, not to mention he doesn't know why he's sick or whats going on. My poor baby.

Is it possible?

Is it possible to be more excited for the Holidays now than when I was a kid? I really think I am, and I've figured out why. Carter. I got more excited for Halloween this year then ever before and it's because I was able to get my little guy excited. I don't know, it's hard to explain, but everything is SO FUN because you get to get them excited and happy and you get to watch them experience new things. Now I know this isn't his first Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, but this year these Holidays are actually registering to him. I seriously cannot wait for Christmas. I can't wait to get up with him and show him his stocking and then later open presents! I can't wait to teach him songs and show him what a Christmas tree is. Now don't worry, I'm also trying to teach him of Jesus and the true meaning of Christmas. It's just so much more fun with a kid. I love my son and I guess I can't wait to see the excitement and happiness on his face. I love being a Mom.
Oh yeah, I'm starting to teach Carter to say Ho Ho Ho. hahahhahaa. So FUN!

Halloween!

Wow. What a long, fun, crazy day. Carter and I first went to the library at 10 in the morning so that we could go to story time. They were doing a trick-or-treat there with the kids too, so Carter was all dekked out and ready to go. He ended up being a tiger and looked super cute. His costume, however, was really fuzzy and thus hot. Carter is like Bo, they get hot sooo easy. You can always tell when Carter is warm or hot because he gets little beads of sweat on his nose. Anways. . . We hung out at the library for like 2 hours playing with friends and eating sweets, along with getting books of course, and then we went and picked up Bo and got some lunch. Carter fell asleep for like 15 min. in the car, and little did we know it, but that would be the only nap he would get. That's right. Halloween day and no nap. FUN.

After lunch I had a doctors apt. to get my thyroid checked, and then we rushed it home to try to get Carter to sleep, with no such luck. Around 5:30ish we went to the ward party and that was fun. Carter had fun playing with his friends and dancing. After the party we did a little trunk-or-treating at the church and then we went with some friends to try and do some houses too. I was pretty proud of Carter. He did great at saying trick-or-treat and holding up his pail. He was funny. He didn't quite get that only certain people gave out candy, so he would go around to everyone, just random people in the street. When he went up to people with bowls of candy and they would hand him one, he'd take it and then try to go after the bowl. Oh he was funny. Tiring, but funny. We ended up finally getting home and putting Carter to bed around 8:45ish. It was altogether a fun and very successful Halloween. Here are some pics!

Here is Carter and his friend Braeden (the skunk). On the couch are all the kids who went trick-or-treating together. You can kinda see how sweaty they got in their hot costumes. It was a muggy night. In a row is Carter, Braeden, Ava, and Carsen.

So here is everyone walking to the neighborhood we trick-0r-treated at. On the right is Ava and Carter. They are really good friends.

On the left are some of the med students' kids. Carter loves his friends! On the right isn't a Halloween pic, it's from the night before. Jana, Ava's mom, was over and we were making cookies for the ward party. I thought it was cute so I threw it in.

Random Pics

So I found these pics and decided to display them. The last ones are from when we were in Hershey. I thought I'd posted them, but I can't find them on the blog, so if they are repeats, sorry!
Oh yeah, can you tell I'm a proud mom? My little shrine to Carter.

Accident Prone

So today was interesting. Poor guy. We started out going to the aquarium with some friends, and poor Carter biffed it playing around. That's where he got the scrape on the left (Carter's right arm). Then later in the afternoon Carter was jumping down these really short steps, he's a great jumper, and for some reason he didn't lift up one of his legs high enough, so instead he tripped and fell on the sidewalk. OUCH! He was crying pretty bad, luckily though he only has a few little scratches on the the other elbow. And don't think that's all. . . later we were at the table and Bo was leaning back on the last two legs of his chair. He decided to put it back upright, only to put it down on my little guy's pinky toe. Carter just looked up at him all puppy eyed and shocked, then started bawling his eyes out and I actually had to hold him like a baby and rock him to get him to calm down. I don't blame him. It was funny though, because after that he wouldn't look at Bo except to glare at him. Lastly, and luckily he was too hyper to let it register, my little guy decided to jump on some pillows on the floor, only I didn't know that, and right as he was jumping, I had yanked them off the floor. It was kinda funny. The kid landed face flat on the ground. He started laughing, I think, because we were laughing soo hard. So that was Carter's day. Busy and painful. He took it well though.

So excited!

So Bo and I bought our plane tickets home to Wa. for Christmas back in July, and it wasn't till recently that I discovered that the week before we leave for home, Bo will spend studying for a test in school. With that knowledge, and the convincing of friends, I decided to see if I could change my ticket. What's the point in staying if Bo's going to be gone and busy the whole time?? (Bo said I should go too) My friends all said Southwest (who we're flying on) is really helpful, and sure enough, when I talked to them today, I only had to pay $10 dollars extra to leave a week earlier! YAY!!! (I sound like I'm doing a commercial) So now I get to go home Dec. 8! I'm sooooo excited. Haven, Teresa, and their 4 kids are coming home, along with Ivin, Christina, and their 2 girls. It's going to be a houseful of people, and my mom's going to need my help getting ready. Not to mention I can't wait for *hopeful* snow, teaching Carter all sorts of Christmas traditions and songs, and oh sooo much more! Seriously, I can't wait. I love Christmas at home. My mom does an awesome job decorating and making it feel so Christmasy. . .yes, Christmasy. The house smells of Pine tree, cinnamon, and cloves. There's good food, and it's just so relaxed. Not to mention non stop Christmas music. . .who can argue with that! And the family. I love coming home for the family. As mentioned, 2 of my brothers will be there with their families, along with my sister and my family. Not to mention, my 3 uncles and their families all live in ML too. Oh sooo fun! Okay that's enough of Christmas. Relax Cass, it's only October.
On a more current topic, I am teaching Carter to trick-or-treat. I'm making him come over to me and hold his pumpkin pail out while saying trick-or-treat (which really comes out as "dii deeee). When he does, I drop a couple candy corn in his pumpkin! It's so cute. I can't wait to take him out for the real deal. He was just too young last year to even register what was going on. Fun Fun Fun.

Brownies!

So growing up, my mom always let me lick the leftovers of the brownie batter bowl. She'd make me sit down on the floor in front of the fridge, and she would hand me the mixers and the bowl. I was in heaven!
I've found myself doing the same with Carter. It's a fond memory that I'd like to pass on to my kids. We made brownies last night, and Carter came running over, eager to lick the spatula. We sat down and went to town with the leftover batter. As you can see, Carter hasn't quite mastered the skill yet . . . he got more on his face than his mouth. Good times.

Maple Bars

Seriously, how hard is it to get a maple bar??? I noticed last year in Temple that they don't sell just your plain old maple bar. Nope. They call them longjohns or something, and they have cream in the middle. Now don't get me wrong, the creme is yummy too, but it's a little sweet, and what I really want is just the original. *sigh* I was craving one yesterday. I knew that the donut shops on the island didn't have them, so I stopped by a grocery store to see if they had one, and of course they didn't. Now at this point I would've settled for just a round donut with maple frosting, but nope, this store didn't offer those either. I was highly disappointed. I ended up getting two other donuts, but it just wasn't the same. I guess I'll just have to try and pig out on them in Washington. Does anywhere in Texas sell them??? Well that's one strike against Galveston. :)

A Fun Weekend

So this weekend was great! We actually had things to do! Most weekends we just sit around the house watching shows and trying to kill time. Not this weekend though. On Friday night we invited some friends over for pizza and pumpkin carving. It was great. I made homemade garlic chicken pizza, and they brought strawberry daiquiri's (obviously virgin). It was fun. Then we watched Surf's Up while carving the pumpkins. Carter and Ava, our friends' daughter who is 6 days younger then Carter, had fun mostly playing with the seeds and guck from the pumpkin. I had wild dreams of Carter trying to help cut and scrape, but no. Oh well, it was still fun.

The next day we went to Moody Gardens and watched an IMAX on Sea Monsters. When the lights went out in the show and they started showing a prehistoric sea monster with scary music, I started to question whether we should've brought Carter, but he loved it. He even kept his 3D glasses on the whole time! After Carter's nap in the afternoon we went and rode the ferry. It was so fun! The weather was perfect and we were even able to see dolphins! Wild dolphins! That totally made my day. The ferry ride was 20 min. each way, so the trip took around an hour. The best part was that it was free! It was really fun, a big time repeater. Sunday was Sunday, nice and peaceful. It ended a very enjoyable weekend.

Carter and Bo at Moody Gardens. This was one of the Sea Monsters in the show.

Me and Carter on the ferry. There was a real nice breeze.

You can kinda see the dolphins in the water. So fun.

swimsuits

So I love to go swimming, but I hate how I look in a swimsuit. I'm not in the best shape of my life, I haven't been for a LLLLOONNGG time. I've found all sorts of excuses not to be too, Carter being my main one, the second one being, I'm eventually going to get pregnant and my shape is going to change again, so why bother. Now I know they are bogus excuses, but they're mine all the same. So anyways, I was driving down Seawall today, as I do most everyday, and was watching all the people on the beach. I love watching people. It's fun to check out different bodies, personalities, styles, etc. So yeah, I was looking at people in their swimsuits, and it dawned on me. If they don't care what they look like in their swimsuits, why should I???? Now this might seem like a mean comment, but it's not meant to be. I just simply mean to state that I now feel better about myself. Ah, the diversity of life.

blogging

So I've had all of these ideas of blogs in the past weeks, problem is, I forget to blog them! I don't want to write too much, because it is my goal to blog each of them. Life is going good here. I've been busy socializing and keeping Carter active. Bo and I have been watching The Office. Man that is a funny show. We took a drive on Sunday and it was fun. We drove on the west end trying to find the state park. We found it, it was right by the beach and had tons of camping spots. It looked fun, only thing is, I'm used to the idea that state parks should have trees. That was wierd. Anyways, as we were driving along I was having a good time checking out the houses. They were all on stilts. Crazy crazy. I kept asking myself, why would someone live in a place where they had to have there house on stilts?? Then reality would step in and I would remember that I live on the island too. So I guess that makes me crazy. On the main part of the island, I'd say half of the houses are on stilts, or that they're designed so that the garage is on the ground floor and the house is on top. We were laughing and commenting on the fact that Carter is going to grow up thinking that houses are supposed to be built that way, and that everywhere else is wierd for having their houses on the ground. So that was one of my blogs that I had thought of. And as a random note, can I just say how much I love Halloween and this time of year???? LOVE IT! Too bad it doesn't feel too much like fall here.

Help!!

In case you can't tell from the title, I need some serious help! Carter is hitting himself! What do I do? He's been getting into things or doing stuff he knows he shouldn't, and when I tell him no or don't or stop, he hits himself! He full on starts slapping himself in the face! Yes, I'll agree, it's kinda funny, . . .okay really funny. . . but still, it has to stop! And no, I do not hit my child. Not even close. Okay, I have lightly slapped his hand a couple of times, but seriously, that's the extent. AHHHH. Do I let him keep hitting himself? Obviously I shouldn't stop telling him no, because I need to be a parent, but man is it hard trying to stop him when all he's going to do is that. We're talking Carter going up and pushing the stereo and tv buttons, me telling him not to do that because he'll break it (yes, I even explain to him, I don't DONT scream at him), and then he looks at me all butt hurt and starts slapping himself. I feel like a horrible parent and it looks like I abuse him because where else would he pick that up? But I don't, so why does he do it???
I do think he is going through this new phase and he is starting to recognize embarrassment. Sometimes if he gets caught doing something and my sister in law tells him no, he tucks his head into his shoulder or the couch, so I know he's starting to exprience new feelings. Is the hitting the only way he knows how to vent those feelings? As you can tell, I've really been trying to think this through. Once we get home (tomorrow. . .YAY) I'm hoping that it will break this new thing he's picked up. Plus once he gets home he won't have to be told no so much, because it's my house and I don't care what he touches because it's all child proof. Plus he'll have a room to go to timeout in. But still. . . I need to get this figured out, so suggestions would be great. Or if your kids have done similar things and have turned out okay that would be great to know too. He really is the sweetest little guy. He loves his baby cousin (2months old) and has never, not even ONCE, come close to hitting him. He's a kissy, huggy, smiley little guy, who loves to share and mingle and dance, so where oh where does this self abuse come from???? Is he trying to get my atttention? I thought I gave him quite a bit. My sister in law suggests that maybe he's been getting too much. really? I love my little guy and it breaks my heart that he does that. Does he know that and is he using me? So many questions. I'm just hoping he hurries and gets over it.

YAY BO!!!!!!

So this is a brag blog. I don't care that I'm bragging. It's my husband and my blog, so I'm going to. What else are blogs for?? ;) I'm sooooo happy for Bo! He took his first med school test on Friday and boy was I nervous that day. You should have seen me the day he took his MCAT. Man I was a mess that day. Anyways. . . Bo had called me on Friday to tell me that he was upset because he messed up on part of his test. Apparently it is a 2 part test. One part is the practical where they go look at the cadavers and fill in their answers on a scantron sheet, and the other is a written test. He was allowed to copy his scantron answers down on a scrap sheet and then they would post the answers later on the internet so people could see how they did on that part of the test. Well he was mad because he missed one. ONE ! out of 60!, He was mad because he knew what the answer was, but wasn't allowed to go back to the table and put in the right answer. Today he got the results from the written test. He didn't know how well he did because he didn't have time to check them in between class and the lab, and when he got in the lab there was a professor there talking to his friend, and when his friend pointed Bo out, the man came over to Bo and told Bo that he got the highest score on the practical and tied his friend for the highest score on the written. So my man Bo got the highest test score on both his tests in his class of 230!!!! How proud am I?!!!!! I can't believe it. I'm so relieved and happy for him. His friend ended up being second in the class by only missing two on the practical. They both had the same score on the written with only missing 2 questions.
In other news, I'm here in Hershey, PA hanging out with my sister in law and her baby. We're having fun. She owns all 3 seasons of Greys anatomy, so she's got me hooked. I've got to hurry up and finish the 3rd season because the 4th season starts up on Thursday. She has converted me to the show. I like it. Definetly a little skanky, but really fun to watch. I'm excited because House is starting up again too. I love House. It's only too bad that Lost doesn't start till January. Lost is great.
So that is life. We're having fun and super happy for Bo. Sorry for the bragging, but seriously can you blame me? Right now he's the top of his class!

Fearless

So tonight we decided we wanted to go swimming, so we all got in our swimsuits and headed to the pool . . . .only to find that it was locked. So instead of going to the pool we decided to just hop in the car and drive to the beach instead. Oh man it was fun!!! So everytime we've gone before Carter has been terrifed, but not today! He seriously was fearless. He loved it! We taught him to wait for the waves and then *jump* over them. He was having the ultimate time. Bo and I took turns holding and playing with him while the other tried to float the waves. I had a blast too. It felt soooo good to be out in the ocean. Sure the water tasted awful, but the weather was perfect and the temperature of the water was just right too. When it came time to go Carter would hear nothing of it. He kept trying to run out into the ocean. He wouldn't even let us hold his hand. I finally discovered that he was too impatient to wait for the waves to come to him, so he was going to go to them instead. It was funny but scary. We had to stay on him like crazy, because he kept wanting to go further in. He didn't recognize that he was getting deeper. He had a blast though. We will definetly have to do this again. I wish I had taken my camera. . . next time hopefully.

Tropical Storm Humberto (Hurricane?)

So we had a tropical storm come through on Wednesday night. It was actually pretty fun. It was windy and it rained a TON. It was cool to see the lightning storm too. Bo and I had fun watching it come in on Wednesday night after Carter was in bed. It was cool because all day there were lots of waves on the ocean. You could see some hopeful surfers out there. I guess the storm actually made hurricane status, but that hit about 30 miles east of the island and it wasn't very big.

I love living next to the ocean!!! I drive Bo to school almost every morning and we drive on the Seawall so we get the best view of the ocean. I love watching the people walking on the beach, the waves as they come sliding up the sand, and the random men out in the water chest high fishing. I must say I do love the crazy man who's out there EVERY day walking along the seawall wearing some random horn hat that reminds you of a ram and waving the American flag while using his hand to make the peace signal to anyone and everyone that drives by. Yup, it's fun here. I love the lightning we get here too. We have lightning here at least once a week and it is fun. Sometimes it is so close that when you hear the thunder it shakes the ground. COOL!!!

I had to give a talk today in church, which is why I haven't posted earlier in the week. I find it hard to sit down and play on the computer without getting a huge guilt complex that I should be working on my talk. It's done now so WHOOHOO. I think it went well. I still haven't made up my mind about what I'm going to do about babysitting. I change my mind every day it seems. I have a 2 week break so we'll see what I feel like doing afterwards. On Thursday and Friday I had this other little boy come over as a favor to a girl in the ward who lives in my complex and just had a little baby girl. Man was it crazy. 3 little boys all within 8 months of each other! They had fun though, even though come the end of Friday I had a big headache. I was able to catch a picture of them playing. They were making me laugh. The oldest would do something crazy and laugh, then about 10 seconds later the middle aged one would catch on and do it and then like15 sec. later Carter would catch on and do it, which would make the oldest one do it again and the cycle would keep repeating itself. They were definetly funny to watch. It's interesting to see just how much a child can change within 8 months.

So that was my week. Babysitting and stressing about a talk. My poor young women didn't get that good of a lesson because my creative process was shot after the talk. Oh well. Like they will hold it against me. I love my calling. The Young Women are so fun!!! Its fun to look back on life and remember how young woman's was for me.

Here are some pictures. You can see how high the water came up from the storm in the picture of our lagoon. The water is normally about a foot lower. See how it is almost touching the dock? Not to mention the little island is actually bigger, but if you look closely you can see that it is covered in water. I don't know why the little boy in the middle's face didn't show up clearly, but this picture is cute because you can see the other two laughing and Carter hasn't quite caught on just yet.

I should be taking a nap

He's asleep!! YAY! Not that I don't enjoy his company, but he's been up since 6, which means I've been up since then too. I need to take a nap, and he definetly needed to take one.
So there's this family in our ward who needs someone to watch their little boy either everyday till noon or off and on 3 or 2 days a week till 3. I could use the extra money--I like to shop way too much--and it's a good way for Carter to have a friend. The only thing is, I'm realizing that it means I can't get out of the house to hang out with MY friends til after noon. Not cool. So I don't know what to do. Do I do it or not? How important is the money to me? Not to mention it's not that much money, but he is Carter's age, therefore they play together which kind of makes it easier on me . . . what to do, what to do. I'm giving it a trial week. I'm leaving for Hershey, PA to go spend some time with Bridget, Whitney, and the baby for 2 weeks, so I'll be able to see if I liked the break or if the week of babysitting wasn't so bad. Hmmm. ..
Our car window is broken. Not cracked or anything, it just won't roll up. It's really annoying. We have it all taped up and ghetto style. It was funny. Bo and I were sick of taping it up, so we finally just popped off the panel on the door looked in , and then we were stumped. The furthest we had thought through this was to get the panel off. We finally decided it was the regulator, which thank goodness comes with a motor (we couldn't figure out which one was broken) so we'll just replace both and pray that it's fixed. If not, well then I guess we'll have to keep it taped up till January when we can get the funds to fix it. Why is it that things always break down just at the worst time?????
For good news, we finally bought a crib!!! I'm sure lots of you are astonished that I have a 20 mo. old and haven't had a crib, but seriously, in Carter's lifetime, we've moved from Alaska, to Texas, then to another town in Texas. . . with months at Washington in between each move. There wasn't space to move a crib from place to place, not to mention we're dirt poor--in case you didn't get the memo about the car window being taped up--so we've kept it simple and had him sleep in a play 'n pack this whole time. It suits him just fine, he doesn't care or know the difference, but still I've always felt bad. Our poor kid has the crappiest parents. Not crappy I guess. . . just ghetto and cheap. So yeah, I've finally got one. It's in the mail and should come shortly. Of course with my luck it'll come while we're in PA. But who cares, it's a crib!
So yeah, that's life. I'm off to take a nap now.

Weekend in Dallas

So this past Saturday and Sunday we went to Dallas to go see Bo's brother Travis and his wife Rozzie. We were excited because we hadn't seen them since May of '06 when they were married. They now have a baby boy, Lane, and he is soooooo cute. We stayed at Bo's cousin-once-removed. He has two little girls and they were so good with Carter.
We had fun. We went out for pizza and then went and walked by this lake and watched the kids play. Carter was having the time of his life with all the attention he was getting. We put the kids down for the evening and then we talked and talked . . . and talked more. We stayed up till 2 a.m.!! That is way late for me. I'm used to going to bed at 10:30. I felt bad for Joel, Bo's cousin, because he had to give the Sunday school lesson the next day and he was up with us too. It was great though. I felt like I was in college again, when I was carefree and super social. Of course in college the other reason I could stay up was because I could sleep in. Oh man it was hard to get up the next day. We were all in a zone the next day. Wouldn't trade it for anything though, because we were having fun.

On Sunday we went to church with them and played and talked a little more before taking off to go back to Galveston. It was a 5 hour drive, but Carter slept the whole time, so the ride home went well.

Today we went to Moody Gardens, an attraction here, and played at their Palm Beach. It was great! Carter didn't want to get in the water at first, but he warmed up to it and soon was splashing and jumping all over the place. We were laughing so hard because Carter had to wear one of the Beach's life jackets instead of his floaties (they wouldn't allow people to use their own floatation devices), and it was too big for him. He'd be jumping or trying to swim and the life jacket would make him lose his balance and fall. He was like Steve Erkyl. He couldn't get up. Oh man it was funny.

Sleep Deprivation

I don't know what is going on, but Carter has not been sleeping well. It's killing me! I used to long for him to sleep in till 8:30, then a month ago I longed for him to sleep in till 7:30. Last week it was me longing for 6:30, and yesterday, oh what I wouldn't have given for him to sleep in till 6 a.m.!!!! I'm soooooo tired. Bo let me sleep in till 7 this morning. He got up with Carter. I feel guilty, since I knew I should get up and play with Carter so that Bo could get ready for school and study, but I was too selfish. Is that bad??? I could use tips from anyone and everyone on what to do. He's going to bed at 8 at night. If I put him to bed later, he still wakes up early. I'm wondering if he should go to one nap a day, or if maybe he's teething. I don't know, but the sleep deprivation makes him whiney and me grumpy and impatient. It makes me feel like I'm a horrible parent to have those feelings too. I hope he gets over this soon.

I should take naps when he does, but I'm caught up in reading the Twilight series. . . again. I bought Eclipse (the third one) a week and a half ago and read through it quickly. Of course I hadn't read the first two for awhile, so I felt that I should read all three of them again. I'm just about done with the second one. They are good books. I'm a hopeless romantic and I love cheesy girly books. What can I say?? They are good. If you haven't read them, do it! I got hooked on them through my friend Linds. Apparently her second cousin is the author. I had no idea the books were so well known, but apparently they are a big hit.

I have friends!! I've been hanging out with some other girls in my ward and it's been great! The ward has lots of young couples and they are all really nice. It's been fun meeting them. One friend, Stephanie, has a little boy a couple months younger then Carter and her husband is a first year med student too. She's been a life saver. We've gone swimming, to the aquarium, to the library, and if I can talk her into it, hopefully we'll go to Sam's today. It's such a relief to make friends and have someone to help you kill time till your husband gets home. Well that's all for right now. I need to write more often so that my entries aren't so long. I'm really starting to like Galveston. The ocean is soooo cool! It's fun to look out and see the swimmers, and in the distance (way distant) the huge ships. I've heard you can even see dolphins every once in awhile. I can't wait! Oh yeah, and at Stephanie's apt. there is a lake that has turtles in it!!! How cool is that! Yeah, I'm starting to get comfortable here. Go team go.

Galveston, Tx

So we're here, and man is it HOT!!! No seriously, it's HOT! When we got here two weeks ago, they were having record highs here. They were saying that Galveston and Houston both had records. Galveston hadn't had a new heat record since 1920. It was 99 degrees. Now that doesn't sound that bad, in ML it can get in the hundreds, but they said that the 99 with the humidity actually made the temp. around 115!! Seriously, my body can't handle it. We are melting. We live on the third floor. You can only imagine how bad it was moving. There was an elevator, but it was like a sauna, more so than outside, in there. Needless to say, when we were done, we looked like we had just gotten out of the shower with our clothes on. It is so hot! Guys, I don't know how I'm going to be able to handle 4 years here! They say it's only this bad like this in July, Aug, and Sept., but I don't know. . . Humidity is a killer.

So we're all moved in. I love my apartment. New paint, new carpet, new wood floors, a balcony, and the best news ever. . . so far not that many bugs!!! I'm not that skilled in decorating, but I'm pleased with my progress. We have a two bedroom apt. and a HUGE walk-in closet. Love it! We have a spare twin bed and now a futon, thanks to Whitney, so anyone and everyone is welcome to visit!

You might have noticed they news talking about Hurricane Dean. For a good couple of days, there were announcments on the freeways and news about the hurricane possibly coming here and to get your gas can full. Bo and I went to Walmart and got an emergency evacuation kit together. It's got flashlights, a radio, panchos, food, diapers, first aid kit,. . . well tons of stuff. It's all ready to go in a little suitcase so that we can just grab it and go and the first notice. I live in the land of hurricanes. It's scary, I'll be honest. We have tons of spare water in our apt, so that in case we do get stuck on the island, we'll be okay, and luckily since we are on the third floor we don't have to worry about flooding. The hurricane missed us, it went to Mexico, but it's still early in the season. There was a little tropical storm last weekend and it brought in some fun waves. I really want to go down and go body surfing. We'll see. Carter doesn't like the ocean much. We're going to have to warm him up.

Well I don't want to talk long, I know it's probably too much and overwhelming for everyone besides myself. :) I just want to end that Bo starts Med school next week. YAY BO! He had his white coat ceremony on Monday. I was sooo proud of him, and he looks so cute! We went to a party for his class at the Yacht club yesterday and that was really fun. I've never been to a Yacht club before. Anyways, I hope this isn't too much. Sorry for being delayed at writing. I'll write more and keep my blog updated on the storms and how we're handling it. And as an FYI for those of you who don't know where Galveston is, it's a little Island south of Houston on the Gulf of Mexico.

Here are some pics!

Man he's cute!

Here's the view from our balcony. past the buildings in the top right corner is the ocean.

He might not like the ocean, but he loves swimming in the pool. He put these on himself and was walking around. It was funny.

What the heck?!!!!

DAH!!! Can I just say how frustrated I am? Is it too late to change your child's name?? Seriously! Before I had Carter, I had only heard of one other kid named Carter, and it was a baby that was born while I was pregnant and already planning the name for my own child. Now, everywhere I turn I'm either meeting a new Carter, or someone I know is naming their child Carter or has a sibling or friend who is. Chad Platt and his wife just had their baby and they named him Carter. They knew, KNEW, my son's name was that. AHHH! I do not want my child to be a Sara or a Jessica, or Nick or whatever! I don't want people saying, "Hey Carter B." What can I do though? The damage has been done. The thing is, I look at my kid, and he just IS a Carter. What else was I supposed to name him? His name is perfect for him. I guess I can't blame everyone else for using it, but still, I'm entitled to be a tad frustrated, yeah?? So there you have it.

Being a Parent

So I was on the phone with a friend today, and we were both talking about growing up and our parents. I knew my parents had some quirks about the way they raised me, but I thought that it was just my parents. Then talking to this friend, she revealed some of HER parents' quirks, and I don't know, it just dawned on me, that hey, if both of are parents aren't normal, how many are? Seriously! Now I know we all love our parents, and obviously they did a good job (well at least on me :) ) but still, we can't deny the craziness of their lives and the inpact on ours. ANYWAYS, my point is, why am I feeling so stressed about being the perfect parent, or a normal parent??????? No one else is, why should I???? I think I'm going to relax on this whole parent thing, and just enjoy it. I can't believe how fast Carter is growing, in every aspect. If I worried about all of these ridiculous things that I need to teach Carter and so forth, when would have time to breath?, much less have fun?? I want to enjoy my kids. Now of course I'm still going to try and be a good parent, I'm going to try and teach him in the things that I feel he should learn, but I think I'm going to chill out and just realize that since my kids are still going to think I'm crazy at the end of the road, then why not have fun while doing it. That's my two cents.

In other news, we take off today to go to Seattle. We are officially leaving Moses Lake. Of course we'll be back for Christmas, but we're done for the summer. I'm excited to go to Seattle! I'm hoping to go shopping for some shorts for Carter and some jean capri's for me. Bo and I are going on a double date with Ivin and Christina tomorrow night. We're going to the Bourne Ultimatum. We're really excited. We love the Bourne series. The books are even better, I recommend them to everyone. Anyways. . . on Monday I'm getting my hair highlighted. Yay for highlights! Yay for blondes! When I get highlights I always feel so much more alive, you know? I feel fun and exciting. It's a sure fire way of getting a boost in self esteem. Look at me. I just said sure fire. MAN!!! I guess you can't take the farm out of the girl eh? SO. . . we fly out on Tuesday, and are moving in on Wednesday. I probably won't be blogging for a week because of unpacking. We'll see. Hope everyone's having fun, and just so you know, I do read your comments, so thanks for them!!!

Summer of Fun

So my summer of fun is almost to an end. I can't really figure out what I feel right now. I'm excited to go to someplace new, but scared at the same time. It's kind of a crazy town, the most crazy part being the weather. For those of you who don't know, we'll be moving to the city of Galveston, Tx. where Bo is going to start med. school. I'm excited about having a new place, especially a place of my own, but nervous to see the apt. at the same time. We saw a model, but the doesn't necessarily mean that's what our place will be like. I'm kinda sad to leave home. It's been fun having babysitters anytime I want, and it's been great having my dad or Bo watch Carter in the morning so that I could sleep in. Those days are going to be gone once we leave and Bo starts school. I'm also sad because I'll be leaving all my family. Whitney lived in Temple too, and now that he's gone to Pennsylvania, we're gonna be alone. We have family in San Antonio, but still . . . not next door. The thing I'm most bummed about is that I'm gonna have to start all over again at making friends. It takes a lot of work, and I like my old ones!!!!! I am getting kind of skeptical at the thought that I can make as good of friends as the ones I've left behind. They were such good friends. Each time I leave, I have to say goodbye. I guess there's one comfort in the fact that at least in Galveston I'll get to keep my friends longer because I'll be there for 4 years.
Anyways, those are the emotions I'm going through right now. For some good news, and I'm sorry it's a tad old, but Whitney and Bridget have a baby boy!!! His name is Elijah Jesse Baker. He is cute. He was born on July 17, and was 9 lbs. 11 oz. He was a big one. If you want to see pictures, go to bakerfamily.net
I'm off to go have fun this last week in Moses Lake.

I'm DONE!!!

Don't worry Sam, I won't give anything away, but I'm done with the 7th book of Harry Potter!!! I must say, I'm sad I'm done. I love Harry Potter. I'm proud to say I'm a fan. Bo and I went to the midnight showing of the 5th movie, and the day the 7th book came out, we bought two. If I didn't have a wedding to go to the next day I would've gone with a friend to a midnight party for the book. Such a good series. I think I've bawled my eyes out for every book since the 3rd one. I get that into them. Anyways, I'm done. Bo finished too. I've got to go and re-read the last third of the book. I have to sort things out, but there it is. Is it bad that I'm sad I'm done? No more. What do I have to look forward to? This just means I need to find a new book (or maybe move on with my life and start paying attention to my surroundings again). Any ideas? I will say that I am waiting for the third book in a series that started with Twilight. The third one comes out in August. It's a fun series. Nothing to Harry Potter, but still. . . . you can thank my friend Lindsay for getting me hooked. I recommend them to all. They aren't super deep, but still fun. The author is Stephane Meyer and she's mormon, but the books aren't religious. There you have it. Until next time. . . .

I'm Alive!!!

Yes, we are still here in Moses Lake and have been very VERY busy. I'm sorry I've been slacking on my blogging duties, but seriously, I really haven't had time. I'll break down what we've been doing:

June 26-30 we were either at my aunt's visiting because of a cousin coming home from his mission and thus tons of relatives in town, or we were in Othello visitng Bo's family that was all coming in for a family reunion.

June 30-July 5 We were in Othello for Bo's family reunion on his Mom's side. It was really fun! We swam, played volleyball, swam some more, played games, and caught up on each others lives. Oh yeah, and we watched a great fireworks display. Happy 4th everyone!!

July 5-July 10 We went to Seattle to help my brother Ivin build a fence for his back yard and put in 3, count them. . .3!!, truck loads of dirt in his back yard. Yeah. . . we still need to go back and level the dirt better and put in sod.

July 10-14 We had a 2 day break at home to breath, which of course meant we ran to Othello to visit Bo's mom, and then we spent the next couple of days camping up in the Cascade's with Ivin's family. It was really fun and beautiful!!! I hope we get to go camping again before we leave, but I don't know if we'll have time.

July 15-18 We had Sunday off to unpack from the camping trip and pack for a quick trip down to Utah for my cousin's wedding. We left for Utah on Monday, spent Tuesday at BYU and then in Salt Lake helping with the wedding. It was fun seeing my family and eating good food! The wedding was in the Canyon, at a place called Log Haven. It was gorgeous and fun. My cousin looked great. We took off the next day and headed for home, but not before we stopped off at Costco and where my parents and brothers bought me a digital video camera for my birthday. I LOVE IT!!!! Best birthday present ever!! I also got some shirts and candy and bracelets and more candy and a book from other family. Oh yeah, and I got a churro to eat on the way home from my dad. :)

July 19 Bo took me on a date for a late birthday present. We went to a Thai restaraunt in town and then went to Transformers. I liked it, but wasn't my favorite. Still, it was good. OH yeah! We went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter. LOVED IT! It was soo fun. We went to that the day it came out. It was fun staying up late and watching the movie. They had 2 theaters open for it and it was PACKED.

The rest of the week was spent going over to Bo's grandma's in Othello because his sister came into town and his Mom was going back to Alaska so we wanted to hang out with her before she left. Oh yeah, and we also had another wedding on Saturday for one of Bo's cousins. Which was fun and of course beautiful.

So that has been the last month. I laugh when I think I had wanted to get a part time job this summer, because seriously, when would I have had the time????? It has been busy and fun and has been going by too fast. I now hate the car, but still want to go back to Seattle some more. We're taking this week off for a break though. I think I'm going to a movie today with one of my Aunts.

Here a some pictures of the summer:

This is Carter and me at the Palmyra Temple

This is us in front of the place where the Book of Mormon was first printed.

Carter at Niagra Falls

I thought this was the cutest picture!

Carter and me on the Log Ride at Lagoon. He was fearless!

Carter and Ivie swimming in the back yard.

Us at Lake Diablo where we camped.

Carter and my dad at the campsite.

I love this picture. We're on a ride at Lagoon.