Happy Birthday Carson

Carson as a baby.... oh so cute!

Last Weekend we celebrated Carson's birthday...better late then never on posting it. It was an action packed weekend with a friends party one night and a family party the other night. Carson is now in his late 20's which he seems comfortable with. I wonder how he is going to take being 30 in a couple years? A little while ago he was looking over goals he made when he was graduating college and it made laugh to see how expectations and goals change throughout the years. But I am happy to report that he has reached his realistic goals. And I am sure he is happy to have reached his goal of still having a six pack. We will just have to wait and see if he still keeps this goal when he is 60 like he thinks he will!

As a little ode to Carson I just want him to know that I think he is an amazing Father, a wonderful Husband and an all around great Man. I feel extremely grateful and happy to have shared this birthday with you.

Christmas Picture Craziness

So I hope I am not the only one out there that stresses over Christmas cards. It is crazy trying to get them all ready. And I think the craziest part is getting the picture. For this years Christmas Card I decided to have a friend come over to take some pictures of our family, thanks Heather. That was like pulling teeth getting the boys all ready and trying to get them to look at the camera.
Then when that is all over it is time to choose the picture and the card. Oh boy, that was work. I am so not the creative type so I went online to find pre-made cards, which was great. But the hard part is finding the right picture to go with the right card. So after completely over thinking the whole thing I give up and make my selection.
Then on to mailing them, which for me was the easiest part. Why? Because I decided to keep my list short. I decided that because I now have a blog and post pictures and events throughout the year that not everyone needs a card. So sorry to those family and friends that will not be receiving a card this year. I hope you will not be disappointed. I am posting the pictures we took and I hope you can get a laugh at how a photo session goes with my family.
I hope you are all having a Very Merry and not so stressful Christmas!

This was one of my options with a little cropping.
Merry Christmas!

Here was another option except both boys are not looking at the camera, aaah!

Carson thinks this picture is the best because it totally captures the reality of it all.
Carson and I were jumping up and down to get the boys to laugh.They are done!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Feast

Game Time
- after dinner we played a new game called "Would you Rather?"
It was lots of fun

The Turkey Coma

After Thanksgiving we got a train to go around the Christmas tree. As you can see the boys were mesmerized by it.

The Andy Williams Show

I know this post is a little past due but it has taken me a while to recoup from last weeks festivities. My mom and sister came out for a week to celebrate thanksgiving with us. We had a great time. We did so many things, one of my moms highlights was seeing the Andy Williams Christmas show. Payton and I hit the Black Friday sales bright and early, and I successfully cooked my first Thanksgiving Turkey. Carson was busy working and studying so he was glad I was being entertained and the boys couldn't be happier because there was enough attention to go around for the both of them. It was sad to see them go but we look forward to visiting them in the spring.

I really love the holidays. There is much to be thankful for and it's great to be able to take the time to reflect on our blessings. No wonder it is the merriest time of the year. Some of the things I am most grateful for are my family and friends. There is a quote on my wall that says, "The Love of a family is life's greatest blessings," I can't argue with that. I wish all of you the best this Christmas season.

Happy Birthday Carter

Last week we celebrated Carter's birthday. We just had a family get together and had fun watching Carter open his gifts. The hit of the night was his train cake, the train actually went around the cake. He loved all of his presents and couldn't wait to start playing with them. I am getting excited for Christmas when both boys will start to tear through the wrapping paper. It is hard to believe that Carter is three. Carson and I have enjoyed him so much, his personality keeps developing and he is just full of fun. He is even getting easier to deal with his strong-willed personality. Just in time before Matt starts his "terrible two" stage.

Trick or Treat!

Halloween finally arrived and everything went pretty well. There were only a few tears shed due to the fear of getting their picture taken. Our church had a fun trunk or treat and chili cook off earlier that week and then on Friday we went around the neighborhood trick or treating. To say the least Carter was happy to wear his costume twice and Matt couldn't care less. The funny thing is is that I had great time. I loved making "mummy dogs" for dinner and then getting the kids ready to go for the night. And I was so happy to hear Carter say "Trick-or-treat!" and "Thank you" instead of "Moo" like he did last year. Matt even participated (half the time). When the night was over I was ready to dig into the kiddos candy. I am glad they don't like snickers, more for me!

Say "Choo Choo!"

Matt was more interested in the candy instead of pictures, or his costume. He was a cave man but some people mistaked him as a tiger, I can see that, sort of.
This is a priceless picture- Matt is looking at the camera, not crying, and wearing his full costume...yeah!

The "tears" I mentioned earlier. He actually liked the train I made him, he just didn't like everyone looking at him.

"Trick or Treat!"- The boys 1st house of the night and many more to go.

Pumpkin Patch

Last week some friends and I took our kids to a pumpkin patch. We all had so much fun. There were so many different types of pumpkins and lots of other things for the kiddos to see. The only downside to the whole adventure was that we had a little rain come down on us and my kids couldn't slow down long enough for some pictures, although I was able to snap a few shots.

Our attempt at getting a group picture

Matthew would not let me put him down till the very end, so I was finally able to get a shot of him.

I told Carter to give me his biggest smile for this picture

Sophie and Aleksa in their adorable Halloween tutu's

Hannah,William and Carter striking pose.The three of them ran around the whole farm yelling, "Come on guys, look at this, look at this!"

Dwarf apple trees and pumpkins for the deer

Tour de Cure

Carson crossing the finish line

The boys are excited to see their daddy

Last Saturday Carson entered a100 mile bike race called the Tour de Cure. It is a fundraising cycling event for American Diabetes Association. Carson has never entered any race before and the longest he has ridden his bike in one day has been 40 miles. So much to say I was quite impressed with his endurance to make it all the way to the finish line. He was so compeletley exahusted, as you can imagine, but it only took the ride home for him to start talking about his strategy for next years race. Crazy guy! I am so proud of him and so are the boys. Go Carson!

Our 5th Anniversary

Looking towards our future
(I don't have any recent photos of just us two and I was having trouble uploading wedding pics, so this is all I have for now)

Carson and I celebrated our 5th anniversary last Friday! I had so many different ranges of thoughts as it approached. It kind of when like this:
"Wow 5 years!"
"I can't believe it has only been 5 years."
"At the same time, that was fast!"
"So are the next 5 years going to be just as crazy?"
"So two kids, 8 apartments, a mortgage and I still don't feel old enough for all this. Crazy."

But when it is all said and done I think of it as pretty amazing. We have had a wonderful life together and have done so much. Those of you who knew me before Carson knew that marriage was not something I was seeking. So when I "fell in love" with Carson I realized that all the things I wanted to do with my life would be much better with him than without him. And its true! There is so much gratitude and happiness knowing that I married a man like Carson. When the end of the day approaches there is great comfort knowing that Carson is by my side and we are both working towards the same eternal goal. So I will save the readers all the gushy stuff about why I love Carson but just know that I do. I love him! I already told him all that lovey dovey stuff and I am sure he wouldn't want me publicizing it. Its already making me blush thinking about it. So in the end, yeah for 5 successful years and many more to come!

Bikes, Blues and BBQ

It's that time of year again when thousands of bikers from all over the country roll on into Northwest Arkansas. It's "Bikes, Blues, and BBQ" and the rumble of motors never stop.

Dickson street is marked off for only bikers to ride on and the street is filled with vendors. Like the title of the event says there is lots of music and lots of barbecue. There are many other events and a lot of the money earned goes to local charities.

Carson and I went there for our date night to check things out. It was so crazy. I have never seen so many different bikes together in one place. I spotted one that looked more like a car than a bike. It made Carson jealous and brought up the "When can I get a motorcycle?" conversation again. Carter even came up to me and asked. "Mommy, daddy get a motorcycle?" I wonder where he learned that question?!

Paella Night

Recently we got together with some friends and had a "Paella Night" at our house. It was a few of our friends that all served their missions in Spain. Above are the boys cooking the paella in the garage.

What's a paella, you might ask? Well its a popular dish served in Spain. The ingredients can be changed but it always consists of rice, peas, onions, peppers, saffron and some type of meat. We had shrimp and chicken in ours. One of the guys had a special paella pan and grill to make it in. The grill can't be wear there is a breeze that's why they cooked it in the garage. The paella truned out great and it was almost to good to eat...almost.

Here's the gang devouring the food. We also served up lots of other Spanish food like Spanish cheese and grapes, Spanish olives, tortilla de potata, and flan. It all was very tasty, although I wasn't a huge fan of the olives and cheese, but it was fun to try them. Carson said the only thing missing were pastries. Spain has yummy pastries, supposedly. Maybe next time we have a Spanish night we will have them or I guess he could just take me to Spain to try them. We'll see:)

Eureka Springs

Last week we decided to go somewhere, other than Fayetteville, for a family outing on Carson's day off. We decided to go to a cute little tourist town and hour away called Eureka Springs. It was a lot of fun. We got there and decided to eat at a BBQ place called Bubba's. It was so yummy! I ordered that BBQ rib sandwich, and in the words of Rachel Ray..yummo! Then we went the Crescent Hotel which has been around since the late 1800's and took the trolley around the town. That was Carter's favorite part. We went to some shops and looked at some beautiful Victorian homes. It was a fun filled day and the boys definitely were worn out. We weren't in the car more than 5 min. on our way back home before the boys fell asleep.

What little boys are made of

"Snips and snails and puppy dog tails,
Thats what little boys are made of."

The other day Carter was being ... Carter and I asked him if he was "Sugar and spice and everything nice." He replied with a firm, "No." Then Carson went on to ask if he was "Snips and snails and puppy dog tails." He grinned his sly grin and said, "Yup!" There was no arguing with that. Carter is definitely made up of everything boy and Matthew seems to be following right along.

Prairie Grove Battlefield Park

Here are some pretty pics from their website.

Saturday we went to Prairie Grove ( a little town outside Fayetteville) for the Copeland Reunion. It was and afternoon gathering for Carson's mom's side of the family. We had a good time and it was neat to catch up on some history while we were there. Prairie Grove Battlefield Park is a place where they had a Civil War battle. They have a neat playground for the kids and then surrounding it they have a museum and a lot of old houses and a driving tour around the battlefield. Next time my mom comes to visit I will have to take her there. She will think she had died and gone to heaven. Sorry there are no pictures of the family our batteries to the camera were dead. Big bummer. Oh well, its not like we will never be there again, its only a 20 min. drive.

Birthday Time!

The Girlfriend Party

Snapshot of our date night

This past week I celebrated my birthday and had a great time doing so. I felt like it was a week long event and who can complain about that.

One night I went out with some girlfriends for dessert and then we went to see the movie "Mama Mia". It was so much fun, the movie was a little cheesy but I loved it.

Throughout the week I received cards and a package from my family. My mom gave me a steam canner, which I was happy about but at the same time it shows how old I am getting. Maybe I should just say how "domesticated" I am getting.

Then Saturday night Carson and I went out for the evening while the boys spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Ammons. Carson took me to a nice Spanish restaurant and then we played mini golf. Later he was nice enough to watch a chic flick with me, "27 Dresses". It was my first night away from Matthew only 2nd time away from Carter so it was really weird for me. In a strange way a felt lonely without them home with me.

Then on Sunday we had dinner out at Carson's parents and I had my favorite kind of birthday cake... CHEESECAKE!!! So all in all I would say it was a pretty good birthday.What a great week!

Boys Will Be Boys

I don't know if its kids, boys or just my boys but they find the craziest places to get into. Matthew has decided that he likes to take out all the DVD's in our entertainment center and climb in to the drawer and make himself a little seat there. It sure is cute but definitely a mess. I think it is about time to get a lock for that drawer.

We have a rain barrel out back that we use to help us water our garden. Carter loves to get into it and help with the watering. Maybe he is helping too much, our garden is getting a little out of control! It is suppose to be a 4x4 garden, but as you can see the watermelon plants are growing out of it because the tomatoes are taking over. Oh well, more food for us!

Home Improvements

Before: Blah, yawn, blah.

After: Much better!

This summer Carson and I have been trying to fix up our house a little at a time. We spent this past weekend painting our Kitchen. It turned out great...finally. It took a few coats of paint to come out right(yellow is a tricky color). We have also painted the family room, installed ceiling fans in the bedrooms, updated the lighting in the Kitchen, and spruced up the front yard a bit. We are enjoying this opportunity but we wish had more time to spend on it. Next on our to-do list is the hall bathroom. That is going to be our biggest task yet. I am looking forward to getting rid of the 1970's avocado green tile and having a new bathroom, but I am not looking forward to the mess. Wish us luck!