A Mother's Day Conversation

Me: "Oh, Carson, what a beautiful necklace. Did you make that in Primary for me?"
Carson: "Well, um, yes."
Me: "Thank you so much! Can you help me put it on?"
Carson: "Uh, no. See your head is too big and this necklace is little. So, I'll just wear it. Help me put it on, Mom."

Mother's Day Gift Idea

My sister-in-law, Alice Furniss, wrote a children's book, called The Happiest Mommy Ever and it was recently published by Deseret Book. It's super cute and would make a great gift for someone else (or yourself!). Carson loves to have me read it -- over and over and over again! I know you can get it online or at Deseret Book and I also saw it at my local Wal-Mart.

She is also doing a book signing today (Saturday) in Tooele at a children's bookstore called The Purple Cow.

To check out some of the illustrations, go to the illustrator's blog. She has a few recent posts about the book and several pictures of it in older posts.

The Insides

Some pictures of the inside of our house. It's changing so fast. Last week our fireplace looked like this:
This week it looks like this:
No walls:

Walls! (I know it's not the same angle of picture as the last one, but you get the idea!):

Like Father, Like Son

Baby Animal Days

A couple of Saturdays ago we went to see some baby animals at the American West Heritage Center. We had a lot of fun.

On a wagon ride:
Checkin' out the chickens:
Shanae came with us:
Carson loved the baby rabbits. I think he's making that face because the sun was in his eyes:
This is our 3rd year of going to Baby Animal Days. The past two years we have gone during the big festival weekend where there are a lot of activities in addition to the animals. This year we tried going to the "Just Baby Animal Days." It was wonderful. Cheaper, a LOT less crowded, and the weather turned out to be better to. So, I would recommend this for anyone who has little kids and loves to just see the animals.

Easter Weekend

We had a busy and wonderful family filled weekend. On Friday we went to Logan to see Mike's family. Mike's mom received the Silver Beaver for her service in Boy Scouts. Here she is with Mike's dad and grandpa (both previous Silver Beaver recipients!).

Then we went to see my family. The boys had a great time seeing their cousins and being spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa. Here's a picture of Blake and his cousin Justin. Justin is 3 months younger and outweighs Blake by about 3 pounds.

Carson and cousins Adam and Logan decorating Easter eggs. These boys were soooo good and had a great time with each other.

Here they all are going for a ride in Grandpa's "big red truck."

And finally, here's the latest house picture that I have. It's really coming along!

House Progress

Here is the progress on our house:

This is from last week. Carson is walking towards what will be the garage. The foundation is completely finished.

This is also from last week. It's a view from the back corner of the house. The door is framed for the walk-out basement and the framing for the basement walls is up. The contractor also added some small rock retaining walls as you come out of the basement that we really like.

This is a picture from today. The floor joists are in. I'm standing in the future garage and they are laying the sheeting for the main level floor. Pretty soon we'll be able to walk on it!

Perfect Picture

I was trying to get that "perfect" picture. You know, the one that you can't believe you captured, even after 10 tries? Well, I didn't get it. But the process was pretty funny. Mike put Blake on his shoulders and told me to look. Then Carson saw that Daddy and Blake were getting attention and decided to climb on as well. I ran to grab the camera, but Mike was my only cooperator through all attempts. He's cute too!

Couldn't resist. . .

. . .posting these cute pictures of Blake!

Weather and House Stuff

Yesterday felt so great! The weather was warm and we actually made it to the park. When Mike got home we broke out the bike trailer which doubles as our two-kid stroller. They were so cute as we went for a walk around the neighborhood.
The builder has made some progress with our house. They dug the hole for the basement, poured the footings and today they were putting in some stuff to start working on the foundation. Here's more pictures of that: