Mark

Here is my lovely husband who now has a goatee. I really like it and so does he (obviously). He wanted to see what it looked like dark, so we used my mascara and darkened it up for him. What do you think?

stinker.

This is the latest nickname I have given to Carter and here is why...

He takes his pants off.

He tears apart Christmas bows.

He rips Christmas bows off presents.He grabs all my school books off the shelf and throws them on the ground.

He climbs in the bathroom cupboards.

He gets stuck in the bathroom cupboardsHe pulls all the tissues out of the box.

He pulls the books off the book shelf.

He rips the entertainment stand door off and pulls out all the DVD's.

I love him to pieces but sometimes he sure is a stinker!

9 months.

Thanks Nana for the cute shirt :)

So now that Carter has had his 9 month check up appointment, I can write his 9 month post! We went to the dr. today and Carter weighs 18.9 pounds (23%), is 29 inches long (74%), and his head circumference is 17.8 inches (43%). He's pretty long for his age and the doctor called him a big boy. As far as development goes he is a genius! He crawls, pulls himself up, walks around using the furniture and his little walker thing, plays peek-a-boo, plays "so big", eats everything me and Mark eat, sleeps around 11 hours every night, takes 2 and a half hour naps during the days, and chews on everything. Carter also has 2 teeth! I've caught him trying to chew on our end table, the tv, the carpet (as in the floor), and the side of the bathtub! It's quite a sight to see!

We got these adorable pajamas at walmart for him for his Christmas jammies.

Look at the reindeer feet! haha Aren't they so cute?!

Fresh after his first hair cut with the clippers! Surprisingly he did really well. Luckily Kenzie was there to help keep him occupied but he didn't cry at all!

Look at that face!

Happy 9 months baby!

Christmas!...and my baby.

So this is a Christmas tree that we got from a family friend after we used in for our wedding reception. The ornaments on the tree were from our reception and the red ribbon I got from walmart. So if you don't count my wedding budget as my money, I spent $3 on this tree! :)

This is my front window. The snowflakes were also used at our reception and the lights were as well. Cost for this? $0!!

Moral of the story: decorate your wedding reception with Christmas decorations so you don't have to spend the money later but you still get a beautiful Christmas.

And now for my boy!

Here he is giving me kisses. He gives THE best kisses in the whole world! I love him so much. And now Mark is even getting to experience the wonderful kisses. Although I'm starting to wonder if he's using my chin as a teether now (he has TWO teeth!)
So his first oreo was in Vegas but it definitely hasn't been his last. He LOVES them! The other day I gave him one and he had oreo gunk all over his eye and in his nostrils. It was great.
So we have a cookie lover in our home. Mark made some cookies and gave the biggest one to Carter as kind of a joke but Carter took it and tried eating it like it was nothing. But don't worry, we didn't let him eat the whole thing.

Well today is the 3rd, which means tomorrow is the 4th...which means my baby will be 9 months! I can't even believe how time has flown by! The last 9 months (and 3ish years) have been the best years of my life. I am so blessed. I was talking to my sister in law while we were in Vegas about how having a baby has been such a blessing in my life. She mentioned that when her and her husband were having kids, they were always taken care of and it made me realize that we too have ALWAYS been taken care of since we had Carter. It really is so amazing that when you follow the prophets' council and you listen to the spirit and do what the Lord tells you too, you will be taken care of. Heavenly Father really does recognize our efforts and the sacrifices we make and we are so blessed. I am so grateful for my husband who is so hard working and brings home the bacon for us. He is such a wonderful dad and he loves me and Carter so much. He is so thoughtful and caring. I am also so grateful for Carter. He really is such a great baby. He's so fun and it amazes me how smart he is and how fast he is growing and developing. I'm starting to understand what people meant when they would tell me that he'll be grown and gone in no time. It makes me sad but so happy that I am blessed with such an incredible baby boy. Anyway, sorry there's so much writing in this post. I usually don't do that but I really just wanted to write down my feelings about how blessed and grateful I am for the life I have. If you take anything from this post, I hope you remember to just do what Heavenly Father tells you to.

What Happens in Vegas...doesn't necessarily have to stay in Vegas!

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Vegas like we have the past 2 years. The weather always seems to be pretty crappy while we are there. This year it was in the 40's the whole week...which really isn't bad compared to the negatives they were enjoying here in Rexburg. Here are some pictures of what happens in vegas...

Mark plays FIFA on the PS3
We get to go see The Lion King play/musical/broadway...whatever you want to call it!
Mark was really excited to go...
No but really he was!
I felt like a giddy little girl! haha I was SO excited.
Carter experienced his first oreo and LOVED it! We first tried giving him the walmart brand but he wouldn't eat it...then we gave him the real thing and he DOWNED it!

Mark made his first apple pie.
Carter also experienced his first drink!
We had a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving with great good and company! Some of the cousins were sick so germs were everywhere but it was still so fun. Carter does have a cold now that we are blaming on them but it's not too bad. We are so blessed to have family close to us and have the finances to travel to visit them! We love them so much!

Some pics on my phone

Here are a bunch of pictures I had on my phone that I thought were worth sharing.

This one is Carter trying on this fuzzy headband thing for women that we found at Dillard's.

Same fuzzy headband thing.

I took this one one morning while I was watching Carter.  He was eating Marshmallow Mateys (Lucky Charms) and managed to get a marshmallow stuck to his nose.  He liked it there...

So proud of his accomplishment.

Yesterday I decided to try a new cookie recipe.  The cookies turned out a lot flatter than I thought they would and a lot of them ran together.  There was one giant monster cookie that formed.  I decided to give it to Carter.  He grabbed it with both hands and started at it.

4 months from a year!

That's right! Carter turned 8 months old today. I can't even believe it...where does time go? Carter weighs over 18 pounds and is between 27 and 28 inches long (he doesn't have an 8 month dr. appt. so we're just guessing). It's really hard to keep Carter still these days. I don't remember the last time I was able to change his diaper without him trying to turn over and crawl away. And lately I've wiping his bum as he's crawling away. It's really quite ridiculous. No one should have to put a diaper on while there baby is holding on to the side of the crib.
Here's the proof:At 8 months Carter loves:

• His binkie...still. Marks says he has an inappropriate relationship with it and I'm starting to agree. Whenever he sees it he gets so excited like he hasn't seen it in days. It's pretty hilarious.
• laptops
• cell phones
• eating "big people" food
• crawling
• pulling himself up using furniture
• playing with moms figurines
• giving mom kisses (for some reason he's not into giving dad kisses)
• making noise
• eating food by himself (especially cheerios and little gerber cheese puffs)

(*if you're offended by my bum picture let me know and I'll take it off)

Halloween Festivities!

Our Halloween festivities started last Monday with picking and carving pumpkins. Like last year, mine took 3 minutes to carve and Marks took 2 days...On Tuesday Carter's costumes came in the mail and we had to decide between this adorable monkey...

And this adorable monster! (We chose the monster)

On Tuesday, Mark finished his pumpkin...doesn't it look great? It's Carter!

I have such a talented husband don't I?

Wednesday night we had our ward party. Carter was pretty tired so (uncle) Justin was nice enough to lend Carter his lap for a nice nap!

Saturday we lit the pumpkins (poor Marks didn't last from Monday to Saturday).

Carter and his tiny little pumpkin.

All dressed up and wondering why in the world his binkie is in the pumpkins mouth.

Extremely excited to see aunt Kenzie.

I just can't believe how cute he is!

Ready to eat our Halloween dinner.

Blood and Bones.

Witch's teeth.

Worms!

It was quite delicious :)

I'd have to say it was a great Halloween week!