2010 In Review

I put together a little slideshow of our 2010.  It actually includes the end of 2009, but that was some really important stuff, so I put it in.  I hope you enjoy it!  (P.S.  I love having a Mac, it made putting this together so easy!)

Click here to watch it on YouTube!

Watched Over

I just wanted to quickly share an experience I had over the weekend.  Leland and I were going to a Christmas get-together with his cousins on Saturday night.  My parents were going to be watching Carter for us and we met up with them at my grandparents' house where my mom and dad were putting up the Christmas tree.  The party was a potluck and so we had our crockpot with us and we brought it in to keep it plugged in until it was time to leave for the party.  It ended up getting plugged in on the island and I made a mental note to not let Carter go into the kitchen so that he wouldn't pull on the cord and have a hot crockpot fall on him.

My dad had gone downstairs, we thought with Carter in tow, and the rest of us were sitting and chatting in the front room.  I don't know how else to describe it other than I suddenly knew Carter was not with my dad, but was in the kitchen about to pull the crockpot down on himself.  I jumped up and ran into the kitchen just in time to grab him as he was standing and reaching for the crockpot cord.

My heart was pounding, of course, and I just held him tight because I knew how hurt he would have been if he had pulled that crockpot off the counter.  My mom said something about my "great Spidey-sense" which got me thinking.  That wasn't me; that was a prompting from the Holy Ghost watching over my little family and keeping my little dude safe.

Anyone who knows me won't be surprised when I tell you that I'm crying as I write this.  I am so grateful for the power of the Holy Ghost in my life; I know I am being watched over and that my little family is, as well.

Another year...

A year has gone by since I wrote my last anniversary post.  I just reread it to reminisce and remember what was going through my mind at this point last year.

Last year on our anniversary:

• We were pregnant (hugely pregnant) with exactly one month left to our baby's due date.  Though we didn't know it at the time, we would be in the hospital exactly one month after our anniversary to have labor induced and have our little one join the world.  What a journey it has been since then!  I love being a mom and I know Leland loves being a dad (since I'm writing this alone I will put that in for him).  Carter has blessed our lives and even though struggles have arisen from the stress of parenthood, I'm thankful to know I have a partner I can count on while we raise our son.

• We were getting ready to close on our house.  While reading last year's anniversary post, I saw that I had written we were hoping to close on our house the following week.  Well, that didn't happen.  But we did evenutally close on our house (while in the hospital being induced, sheesh!).  We love our little house and we (and by we, I mean Leland) have put a lot of work into it to make it our own.  It's funny to look back on all the worrying and stress we let bother us last year and to realize how un-stressed we are now that we are settled in our home.

This past year has been more of a discovery for us as we've learned that love is infinite.  I didn't know I could love as much as I do.  My love for my family has grown exponentially since I became a mother.  Every day I love Leland and Carter more than I did the day before.  It's not always the way it is in the movies or in books (sometimes it is) but I climb into bed at the end of every day knowing I have an awesome sweetheart and the coolest kid around who both love me.

Thankful: Post #1

I am thankful for:

• an awesome husband who put up with my crazy over this whole weekend.  He helped me with the heavy lifting and kept our son Friday night and ALL DAY Saturday so I could focus on Ashley's Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party.  I am thankful for him and I love him SO MUCH!
• everyone who made Ashley's Bridal Shower possible.  I couldn't have done it without:
• Terri and Dave for the letting us invade their beautiful home and throw a big party in their backyard
• Myrna, Tina, D Jo, Lawanna, Angie, Karolann, Nicole, Terri, and Corrinne for help with the food, the food prep, the setting up, the teacup shopping, and everything else
• The Men: Leland, David, Tyler, Dave, and my dad, Scott for picking up/dropping off tables, setting up tables and chairs, and waiting around for me to give them one more thing to do
• My mom, Lisa, and my Aunt Linda for all their help with floral arrangements, because I suck at it, and for doing all the kitchen stuff during the shower so I could play hostess
• my husband, Leland (again) for painting and installing our baseboards after the awesome job he did on our floor (and thanks to everyone else who came and did flooring and painting at our house, it looks amazing and I love it!)
• my parents, brothers, and Aunt Linda who held or kept an eye on Carter on Sunday so I could have a peaceful Sacrament Meeting and eat my lunch at the luncheon after the baby blessing

I think that's a pretty good start to my "thankful" posts.  Three cheers for GRATITUDE!  Hip-hip-hooray!  Hip-hip-hooray!  Hip-hip-hooray!

Up to the challenge?

I've seen a lot of "Challenge" posts recently, all trying to get us to focus on being grateful and whatnot.  Well, I'll admit it, I'm not always so focused on the "gratitude"; unless, of course, I'm pointing out someone else's lack thereof.

So, I'll take your challenge (whoever YOU are).  Let's see if I can manage to get the word "thank" (or any of its siblings) in all of my posts from now on.  I'll attempt to do short daily posts, I hate it when I have to write long ones, 'cause nobody wants to read all that.

Forgot to blog about my birthday...

The other day I hooked up my camera to the computer to upload the latest in Carter cuteness.  And what did I find?  A bunch of pictures of my birthday evening that I forgot to blog about.  Guh!

So here's the skinny:  back in September was my birthday.  It actually fell on a Friday so we went out on the actual day.  And I got dinner AND a movie.  I felt pretty special because we never do both anymore.

We had a great time at Black Angus (I was in the mood for some meat and it's not as if Leland would ever turn down steak.  I mean, really?) and then we went to see a movie (come to think of it, I can't remember what movie it was).  All I can remember at the moment is that I laughed hysterically throughout the entire movie.  I'm talking, side-splitting, cheeks hurting, falling over in your seat laughter.

I've just spent about 10 minutes looking for the name of movies that were still showing in September, but none of them are ringing a bell.  How about we use the comments to guess which movie Leland and I saw on my birthday?  I'm sure I'll recognize it if one of you guesses it.

I asked Leland to take a picture of us, but he didn't want to be in it.  So I asked him to take a picture of me.  And he proceeded to keep hitting the button every 5 seconds while I was trying to get situated.

You've also got to love the leftover food on plates and take out box in the foreground.

Then our server was walking by, so I asked if she'd take one of both of us.  That's what he gets for taking weird pictures of me!

Carter's First Haircut

I know, I know, you're wondering why we would give Carter a haircut, when he's got so few hairs to begin with.  Well, he was starting to get this crazy old man look going on around the ears and the back of his head was all full and normal looking while the rest was just hairless (with the exception of a few crazy long ones that stuck out at odd angles).

So Grandma Lawanna busted out the clippers and we gave him his first buzz cut.  He loved it!  No crying or nervousness whatsoever.  Just a bunch of smiles and giggles!  Yay!

 

Before

Getting situated in the cape.

Wondering why we were holding his head like that.

"Hey, that tickles! Do it again!"

"This is fun, mom!"

"hehehe"

Almost done!

"Thanks, Grandma.  Let's do that again sometime, okay?"

All finished!