Trip to Phoenix

We just got back from a glorious, 11 day vacation in Phoenix. That's where Rob was born and raised so all of his family is there. We stay at his parents house and it's really nice because they have lots of room, a huge pool and we get to spend lots of time with the family. We skype pretty much weekly with Rob's parents so Carson knows who they are. It was so precious to see him run to his nanny and give her a big hug. I may have teared up a bit :)

While we were there we enjoyed, swimming, eating lots and lots of delicious food. (We may have brought a few extra pounds home with us. Seriously) Rob's younger sister, Shar volunteered to babysit all 3 boys so we could go to the temple as a family and perform sealings. It was a really special experience. I loved being across the alter from Rob again and being reminded of the special promises made to us. I am so grateful that we were married in the temple and that Carson and our future children are sealed to us forever.  I also got to visit with my auntie that moved to Az! It was so nice to be able to see her and and my cousins and get to visit for a while!

Carson loved playing with his cousins, Lincoln and Jack. Lincoln is 14 months older than Carson and Car is 13 months older than Jack! It's fun having them each a year apart but it does get a little crazy with a 1, 2 and 3 year old! It was really cute, the first night we were there all the family came over for pizza and wings. Carson and Lincoln were sitting at the kid table eating their pizza when all of the sudden we heard them just cracking up. You know what was so funny? They were saying, "poop." The 2 boys thought it was hilarious and kept saying poop and laughing. It was pretty funny and such a cousin thing. It might sound silly but seeing them get along and bond warmed my heart. Even it was from the word, poop :)

Is there anything better that being an aunt?! I LOVE my nephews so much! There is nothing better then hearing my nephew say, "Love you Aunt Mandy." I loved cuddling baby Jack and getting tackled by Lincoln.   I love that he is old enough to remember us now but it makes it so hard to say goodbye. Love and miss you so much Lincoln and Jackson!

Rob and I both agree that this was one of the best times we've had with his family. We loved every minute of it and were so sad to say goodbye to everyone. Luckily, Rob's parents are coming up here in a couple of weeks!

We love you Mom, Dad, Suzie, Nate, Lincoln, Jackson, Andrew, Noelle, and Sharlene! We had such a good time with you all and miss you!!

Angels watching over me (Or in this case, Carson)

I was standing at the stove making dinner and Carson was playing is his room when I heard the sound no mom ever wants to hear. A loud crash and a scream came out of my child that I've heard before. I don't think I have ever ran that fast in my life. As I got to his room this is what I see...

Carson was sitting to the left of the dresser and his toes were under the second drawer. He was screaming. I lifted the dresser of of him, scooped him and called Rob who had just left for work. The conversation went like this:

R: Hello?

M: I think Car just broke his toes

R: What?

M: The dresser fell on him and his toes were under it

R: Okay, what do they look like?

It's at this point that I realize Carson got out of my arms and went back to playing with his toys. He was looking at the dresser saying, "Fik it." (Fix it) I looked at his toes, wiggled them a bit and he was totally fine. Not a scratch, dent, bruise, no swelling and he's walking just fine.

M: Never mind, he's fine. 

R: Are you sure?

M: Ya, he's totally fine, playing and giggling.

Rob asked me if I was okay, I told him we were fine and to have a good night at work. We got off the phone, I put the dresser back up and went back to making dinner. 

I had to take a minute to sit down. My heart hurt from beating so fast. I needed to catch my breath. It all happened so fast. In the couple seconds it took me to get to his room I was imagining the absolute worst. Not knowing what you're going to find is terrifying. 

I found myself tearing up as I sat there thanking Heavenly Father for looking out for my sweet boy and keeping him safe. Someone was looking out for Carson. He likes to pull his clothes out of his dresser. I think he was reaching into the top drawer which is over his head and he must have pulled the whole thing down. He could have been climbing but he really isn't a climber. I am just amazed that he ended up next to it rather than the whole thing on top of him. 

As a mom of an almost two year old, I really try to keep my eyes on him all the time but it's impossible. Moms have to make dinner and go to the bathroom and we just can't have our eyes on them every second. I really believe that it's in these moments that their guardian angles swoop in and watch out for them for us. I am just so relieved that grateful that Carson wasn't hurt. Thank you angels, for watching out for my boy!!

Family update

Rob

Working hard as always. I love that about him. He works hard so we can play hard. He worked 108 hours in one week! The nice thing about his job is that over time is available but also that he doesn't have to work that much all the time. He works 5 days one week and 2 days the next week.(That's his schedule without picking up any OT) We love his short weeks!  It's so nice to have him home and all to ourselves! I don't know what I would do if he ever works a 9-5 M-F job. His hard work has payed off though. Car and I got to go down to Utah to see family and we'll be going to Phoenix next month! He has also been gardening a lot this summer. He has some massive cucumbers growing right now and we were able to eat some potatoes out of our garden as well! I have to say, it was really fun eating something that grew in your backyard! He's also been doing his mock draft for football and he and Car have enjoyed watching the preseason games together.

Mandy

Just busy being a stay at home wife and momma. Carson and I took a trip to Utah with my brother, Tyler last month. All of my dad's family is down there and I feel like we don't get to see them enough so it was really great to be able to spend time with them. I miss them already! When I'm not chasing after a VERY busy, almost 2 year old or cleaning/doing laundry.....wait, that's all I do ;) But seriously, being an at home mom is really hard and it's easy to lose yourself. I'm going to go take some open classes at PNB next week. I am so excited/nervous and prepared to be very sore the next day. It's important to get "me time" as selfish as that sounds, but when I don't get a break I feel myself slipping back into depression and that is the last thing anyone wants. Luckily, I have an amazing hubby and he has been supportive and helpful and very willing to let me have time to myself or time to go out with girl friends.

Carson

Where to even begin? He is so busy. We probably hear him say, car, truck, choochoo, bus and plane a thousand times a day! He is OBSESSED with all things transportation. All day he plays with this cars and I am always finding them in weird places. My mom even found one of his little trucks in her bread drawer in her kitchen! He is a chatter box! He is always talking. Most of the things we understand but sometimes he goes off and we have no idea what he is saying, but he sure does :) He even talks in his sleep. Like his daddy :) He is a love and loves to give kisses and hugs and hold hands. Carson plays so hard during the day that he literally puts himself to bed at night. After dinner and bath he'll play for a bit and then grab his blankie, go sit in the rocking chair, say "amen!" and then walk into his room and wait by his crib. It's so cute. We love him!!

My cute sister in law is doing this on her blog and I thought I would follow suit. It gives me something to blog about since our life isn't super exciting :) I also enjoy reflecting and remembering things as I go through these questions. Let's get started....

Growing up, teenage years:
*What activities did you participate in?  (Sports, dancing, music, arts, etc.)  Explain what you did with each activity.   Ballet, ballet, ballet. I danced ballet at Pacific Northwest Ballet School. Now let me elaborate on that. PNB was not a little studio located in a strip mall where you took a class once or twice and week and had a end of the year performance in a local church or school. PNB is one of the top ballet companies in the world. As a student and PNBS I was being trained to become a professional ballet dancer, preferably in their company. I had class 5 days a week, sometimes times more than one class a night. I started dancing on pointe at the young age of 11. We were expected to have our hair neatly pulled back into a bun, hairnet and all, which meant we had to have long hair and no bangs, have a clean leotard and tights and a specific type of technique shoe (ballet slipper) or pointe shoe. We had parent/teacher conferences twice a year and they would pretty much tell you if you had the body to be a ballet dancer or not. The ballet world is pretty ruthless. I danced in the world famous PNB Nutcracker 4 years in a row. Those are by far some of my best memories ever. Every year around Christmas time I listen to the Nutcracker music and still hear the counts in my head and it's hard for my body to not do the steps as well. I didn't recognize this back then, but I was pretty good. I was blessed with the right body type and very blessed with rare feet that look very pretty in pointe shoes. That being said, other girls were not nice to me. Oh, they were so mean and viscous and I thought it was because I was bad at ballet. I thought they didn't like me because I was bad. I can see now that it was jealousy but and the age of 14, you just don't understand that.  Despite all of that, I loved to dance. Loved it. I miss it so much sometimes. I know though, that if I had pursued a career in ballet that I would have never met Rob and I wouldn't be able to have kids until I was in my 40's. The years I did of ballet have left me with a love for dance and the arts, something that I can enjoy just for myself and put all my emotions into. I am also able to teach ballet. I LOVED teaching my preschoolers. I loved sharing my joy with them and seeing the sweet smiling faces on the little girls and they danced and felt so pretty. I also loved when they would perform for the parents. I loved seeing how hard they worked to remember all the steps and I loved seeing the proud faces of the parents as they watched their little dancers. Many of my memories are of the years I did ballet and I am SO grateful to my mom for driving me there and back everyday and supporting me. 

Ok, next queston...
*Who were your friends?  
I think back to each year of high school and each year there seems to be a different group of friends. Junior and senior year I had a pretty close knit group of girl friends. We had so many fun times. We called ourselves 'The Fab 4" but I'm pretty sure that sometimes there was 5 of us haha. We also had a little group called FML....Let me explain!!! The guys we hung out with called them selves Filthy Mormon Ninjas and they would prank on the weekends. Well we wanted to retaliate so we named ourselves The Fine Mormon Ladies. This was before FML meant something much different.  I loved these girls and their friendships and I have lots of fun memories and stories with them. 

*Did you have a girl/boy friend?
Do boyfriends in high school even count? Yes I had a boyfriend or two. Dating was fun. I really don't have much to say about it haha. It's funny to look back and remember how serious I thought those relationships were. Silly teenagers.


What did you like/dislike about school?
To be honest, I hated high school. I loved my friends but also hated all the crap that goes on in high school. The petty drama really took a toll on me and by senior year I was SO over it. Who isn't? I really don't understand when people say they wish they could go back. I would NEVER! I did have some amazing teachers though, some that I will never ever forget. Teachers that I think about often and sill inspire me. 


*What was your first paid job? 
Right Start Montessori! This job sort of just fell into my lap. My little brother went to preschool there and I was picking him up one day and his teacher/the owner of the school asked me if I wanted a job that summer. I said sure! I always loved little kids and wanted to be a teacher so this was perfect. This job turned into much more then a summer job. I worked there all years of high school. It was just a few hours after school everyday but on breaks and summers it was full time. When I turned 18 Debbie would let me take over. I absolutely loved this job. I learned so much and gained so much experience. I will forever be grateful to Debbie for giving me that job and keeping me and I still think about those sweet kids and the cute things they would do and say. What I loved about working at a Montessori preschool was watching the kids learn. You would have a kid that was just learning letter sounds and by they end of the year they were full on reading. I love that. I love seeing kids learn and shine and I love that I got to be a part of that. 

Dear Carson-Boy, I just wanted to write you a little note telling you how much I love you. You are such a joy to everyone. You are such a happy little boy. And yes, you're a little boy. You're 20 months old. Almost a 2 year old. Where, oh , where has the time gone? You are growing up and learning so much everyday. You are a chatty little boy and you love to talk. If you're not talking you're making silly noises or making car noises. "Vroom vroom" is probably your most favorite phrase. You are OBSESSED with cars. And the way you say cars is so cute. It sounds like 'kuys' kinda like guys but with a K. You also love trucks or "tuks" as you call them, and you love choo-choos and wowwows. (Ambulance, police cars, fire trucks) You call them wowows because that's the sound they make! :) 


You are my sunshine, my light, my love, my joy, my everything! Nothing brings me more joy then getting to be your mom. I love that I get to be with you all day. You are so happy and good that I honestly miss you when you're sleeping! You are an amazing little person, my boy, and your mama loves you more then you will ever know. Thank you for letting me be your mom. I love love love you forever. 

As of May 29th we have been married for 3 years! It sounds so funny to me to say that. 3 years seems like such a short amount of time. I feel like it's been much longer. I know that sounds bad but I really don't mean it in a bad way. I was talking to my amazing in-laws about it while we were in Florida and my father in law mentioned how when your meant to be together it seems like you've always been together. That's how it's always been for Rob and I. We were best friends since the first day we were together. I was worried, since he was a missionary when I met him, that when we could actually be together it might be awkward. That wasn't the case. I had never felt happiness like I felt when we were together. I also had never felt heart break like I did when I had to go back to Washington. (I went and visited him in Phoenix) It was a literal ache in my heart. Just remembering it now makes me cry. That was over 4 years ago and so much has happened since then. We got married, lived in 2 different apartments, had a baby, gone on lots of trips, bought our first home. We've had ups and we've had downs but at the end of the day, I am so glad it's Rob I get to do these things with. He his mine and I am his. We GET each other. He gets my weird sense of humor and laughs and my craziness. I get his need to always have a project to work on and support that. We really are perfect for each other. I am so blessed to have him as my husband. I am so grateful that he fell in love with me and asked me to be his wife. I love you forever and ever my babe!! I can't wait to see what the next billion years have in store for us :)

Last weekend we spent a lot of time doing yard work. I was mostly squatting and the following days to come had increasing pain in the ball of my foot. I mostly ignored it as I was a dancer and pretty used to pain in the feet. I mean, I used to dance on pointe with broken toes so a little foot pain in nbd to me. Well, it got to the point of not being able to drive and barely being able to walk. The pain was waking me up at night. I went to the doctor and he said to stay off it and ice is as much as possible! That is so impossible!! It's really hard for me because I can't stand when my house is messy. I really, really bothers me. And also, I have a 19 month old. Enough said. Rob has been helpful but he worked all weekend and since he works nights, he sleeps during the day. Luckily, I have stayed off of it some and it is feeling much better. My house is a disaster but I need to be able to walk on my foot because.....

WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD ON SATURDAY!!!

Okay, I'm a little excited. I have never been to Disney. I am fully prepared to let the 4 year old girl in me out. I'm also super excited because we're going with Rob's family and it's always nice to see them and get to spend time with them. It is also our anniversary that week and we spent our honeymoon in Florida so it will be fun to be back there and the same time of year. Happy 3 years babe! (More on that later)

Not much else has been going on here lately. The weather has been absolutely beautiful so we've been spending a lot of time outside. Carson is awesome as usual and talks non stop. He still has his baby language where he just babbles but he also is putting together 3 and 4 word sentences. He will also repeat pretty much any word we tell him to say. I love that little boy so much!  

Here are some pictures of our recent happenings....

Carson was being naughty and spent some time in timeout

Out and about and Car with his chicken nugget

Wearing Rob's flip flops

One of our 6 Rhododendron bushes 

Car's sippy in my cup holder because I was tired of him throwing it

Enjoying the sunset outside

It amazes me that he sleeps