Starlight, Starbright, I Dream of MICKEY Tonight!

We usually get Xander in bed before we put Mara down, so tonight when I went to put Mara in bed I looked over and saw Xander, asleep in bed, wearing his

MICKEY EARS!

He got up out of bed, after I left the room, and put his ears on!! I had the hardest time not to laugh out loud. I didn't want to wake him up :) But after Pat took this picture, I did take the hat off (so the elastic wouldn't choke him) and placed it back on his head :) It makes me happy to see him wearing them. Too bad it is the pair of ears that he got when he was 19 months old, and not the black ones we just got him a month ago!! :0 Oh, well!!

Baby Time!

This is one of my Best Friends from High School, Tashina!! She had a baby Sunday night (the 2nd). I am so excited for her!! It has taken her a long time to get pregnant. We are so glad that little

McKadie Louise Gillman

is finally here!! :)

I Love My Cousins!

Last night we got together as a family, like we normally do on Sundays. Mara was being so cute with her cousin Sawyer. She had to get down on the ground and talk to her!!

Then Mara and Conli had to play

Princess Dress Ups!

Like usual! But last night they were taking turns sitting in Sawyer's car seat!

And Mara had to sit on Conli's lap!

Oh, those girls are just so cute!

Q & A

So I just got tagged from Larissa!! Thanks! So here are my answers :)

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Nope!
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Monday the 27th, (at a funeral)
3 . DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Sometimes, I like Lisa's more! :)
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Ham
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? 2- boy and girl
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? What kind of question is that!! I hope that I would be friends with myself
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Sometimes, It depends who I am with.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? You would have to pay me a million dollars
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Trix, Lucky Charms, Fruity Pebbles, I know there are more but I can't think of them.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Yes, I only have one pair of shoes with laces.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Not really. at least physically.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Albertsons Chocolate Chuncky Chocolate, Moose Tracks, or pretty much anything with chocolate.
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Idk, probably eyes
15 . RED OR PINK? PINK
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My weight. After 2 kids I just can't get rid of the weight :(
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? I am not sending it in an email :)
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Tan pants, and barefoot
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Salad, Mini burgers and fries at Ruby Tuesdays
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Mara whining and Xander talking about his legos
22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Purple
23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Rain, babies, Christmas trees
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? my husband
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? yes
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? basketball
27. HAIR COLOR? Naturally red, and I love it!
28. EYE COLOR? blue
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? yes
30. FAVORITE FOOD? Ice cream, pizza, brownies, anything chocolate, Spinach and Artichoke dip at Red Robin!
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? happy endings
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? parts of Whole Nine Yards on tv
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Purple
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? neither, spring
35. HUGS OR KISSES? both
36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Hot Fudge Sundae Cake with Ice Cream
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? no one, I'm not email it!
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND ?once again, not emailing it
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? I just finished Twilight
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? family picture
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Sound of Music
42. FAVORITE SOUND? My kids laughing
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?Washington DC
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? no
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Provo, Utah
47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? not emailing! :)

Twilight :)

I have to admit that I am not much of a reader. I have read all of the Harry Potter books and loved them. It usually takes me a few weeks to read them too. (I did read book 7 in a week, thanks to our trip to Disneyland and all the time in the car!) Lately I have heard all the buzz around the book "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. It is the book of the month for the book group in my ward, so I decided to take a chance. I am always a little weary about new books, I don't know why I thought that about this one. (I love Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, so vampires are nothing new to me!) I noticed the book lying on my mom's bed, and it had sat unread for a few days, so I decided to read it while she was at work. And after the first 2 chapters I was hooked! I found myself reading over 100 pages in a day, which is highly unusual for me. Needless to say, Pat was proud of my semi-fast reading skills. (He read Harry Potter in 2 1/2 days) So anyway!

I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!

I love Bella and Edward's romance, the fact that they know they shouldn't be together but they don't let it stop them. I guess that is what made it so good, ie: the forbidden love :) I can't wait to read "New Moon" and "Eclipse". I am slowly regaining a love for reading. I loved to read when I was in Elementary School, so I don't know what changed. I guess I just need to find good books to read, which shouldn't be too hard :)

Animals, Toys, and Dancing!

So, just about every morning and afternoon when Mara wakes up, she thinks that she needs to have all of her stuffed animals out of bed with her. I vaguely remember Xander doing this when he was about her age, so it seems normal to me. I had to take a pic of her walking around with an arm full of animals. She has her Tigger, Minnie Mouse (that Karri got her in Disneyland), and her bear that she calls "baby", and of course her blankie. She can't go anywhere without the blankie! When she drinks her milk at night, she curls up with it and plays with the tassels. It is SO CUTE! I actually caught her playing with Minnie's tail, like the tassels! As you can tell I am totally enamored by her. Girls are so fun!

Then, whenever I have the camera out to take a picture of Mara, Xander always is saying "Take a picture of Me!!" So we have a lot of pictures of Xander with toys! So here is the most recent toy pic :) He loves to play with GeoTrax!

And then this morning I had my iPod going and Mara came in to dance with me! So now that it is easy to upload movies, I had to do it! You might want to stop the music that plays on the blog to hear the awesome song that she is dancing too! :) She definitely has my rhythm LOL! (Or lack of rhythm)

Ok, so the video didn't load, so I will try to post it later :)

The Next Generation...

This is the next generation of The Carpenters!! Now that Mara likes to play the piano, Xander has to join in too!! Like I said earlier, I Love Being a Mother. It is trying at times, but it makes me truly happy :)

Sing Us a Song, You're the Piano Girl!

Mara has finally discovered the piano!! She found the piano over at Morri and Liza's house (Pats brother and his wife) and now likes to play on the piano that we have at home. I remember taking pictures of Xander playing the piano when he was about her age, so of course I whipped out the camera like any good mother would do :)

Mara loves to play Peek-A-Boo! She got a chair out of the toy room and took it into the kitchen and decided that it would be fun to climb on it and try to pull things off of the counter. She is getting so big and thinks that she can do everything that Xander can do! I love being a mother and seeing the cute things that kids do.

I LOVE MY CHILDREN!!!!

Stickers Stickers Everywhere!!

On Sunday night, Mom, Karri and I were watching the sing along version of High School Musical 2 and Mara decided to find some stickers! It's good to have grandma's that will let you put stickers all over. She had started to put them on the cupboards (she see Xander's potty chart with stickers on it and wants to do the same thing) So Mana (my mom) grabbed her and they started putting stickers on her hand! Now she thought that was cool!! It is so cute when something so simple makes kids so happy :)

The New Stefie

This is one of my very best friends Stefanie Walker!! We have know each other since our Sophomore year of High School. We were in Choir together all 3 years of school and became really good friends. She got married on August 16th to Scott Shoell! I am so very happy for her to finally join the ranks of married-hood lol!

LOVE YOU STEF!!

And this is Mara after enjoying a piece of yummy cake at the reception!! She is so my daughter! She loves the cakes, brownies, and cookies just like me :)

Picture Randomness!

I realized that I hadn't updated the blog for a little bit. So here are some of the highlights of the past week or so. Mara is really starting to be a "cheeser". Whenever she sees me with a camera she says "cheese" and pulls this face :) I absolutley love it! I love how her nose gets all wrinkled.

My mom has slip covers on her couches and Xander likes to play under them. While he was doing this Mara found him and wanted to join in. They were laughing together for awhile, so we decided to get the camera out.

Can you see them????

Peek-A-Boo!!

The Many Moods of Mara

Mara's personality has really blossomed lately. She has started to tell me "bye-bye" and wave, whenever she wants me to leave her alone. Namely when she is getting into something that she knows she shouldn't. It has made me laugh on more than one occasion. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the week.

This is Mara sitting in a toy that is supposed to help her learn to walk (which she has mastered by the way). She likes to put toys, books, or her bear in it and push it around like a stroller. (Maybe that is why she always had to push the stroller in Disneyland!) She is definitely going to be a little mommy.



Then today she found Xander's flip flops and decided that she had to wear them. She was getting really mad for about 5 minutes while she tried to get the first one on. Once I helped her she went and got the second one. She was able to get them on and walk 4 or 5 feet before they started to fall off. I guess that I need to get her a pair of flip flops. It will have to wait until next summer, because now I need to look into getting boots for the winter. (I like to plan ahead :)

DISNEYLAND RETURNS!

Beware!! There are alot of pics!! We just got back from our trip to DISNEYLAND! Xander had so much fun! He did everything we wanted him too at least once. But there was no way he would do them again! :) It was great to have mom and Karri with us, it made taking care of Mara alot easier. Especially when she couldn't go on the rides. The trip went really fast and it makes me wish that we lived closer and could go all the time. I love Disneyland! Here are the highlights:



At the entrance, the classic picture with the mickey flowers!


Xander's first time on a REAL rollercoaster! (Thunder Mountain Railroad)


Mara and me with Buzz!


Our pic from Space Mountain! Can you see Xander???


Xander with the real Buzz Lightyear!!


On the Jungle Cruise (the second time around)



With Woody!! We were the first in line!


The Boys waiting for their car on Autopia!


Family picture with Buzz. Mara couldn't keep her eyes off of him!! :)


The kids with their new Mickey Ears!


Xander and Me on the Astro Orbitor (this was the first time I have been on this ride too!)


Me, Xander and Karri waiting for the fireworks!


Me, Pat and Mara waiting in line for the new Nemo Submarine!!


Xander in line for the Nemo Submarine!


Xander and Pat walking to the Tower Of Terror!


Inside the Hollywood Towers Hotel (Tower of Terror)


In front of Boo's door! (Monster's Inc. ride)


Xander with Lightning McQueen! Ka-chow!


Me, Pat and Xander on the Grizzly River Run! It was the first time for all of us on this one. Xander barely hit the line to get on the ride! Wahoo 42 inches! (with shoes)


After the River Run! We got pretty wet! (you can't really tell from the picture)

Mara in Bug's Life Land in the mini water area! (she got soaked to the bone! but loved it)


Xander all wet in Bug's Life Land!


Xander and Pat in front of a cool airplane in California Adventures


Xander looking at the map, deciding where to go next! We have many pictures of this!


Pat and Xander riding in the front of the Monorail that was painted yellow and blue for the Nemo Submaine ride!


Xander and Karri in the Tea Cups!


All of us in front of the Castle on the last day!
We love you Disneyland!