Carter turned...

2!

 We started off the day with some presents (zu-zu pets, playdough, books, bubbles), then we headed to Kangaroo Zoo for some jumping fun.  A couple days later we celebrated with family and his long awaited Nemo cake.  When we asked him what kind of cake he wanted he thought about the two things he loves most and said, "Nemo Pirate" so that's why in one picture he has a pirate patch on his eye.

Some things about Carter

• He's a talker.  We get lots of comments about how well he talks and he loves to repeat anything Cooper says.
• He's big!  Upper 90th percentile for everything.  
• He cocks his head to one side and smiles at you when he wants something from you.
• He loves Nemo (sleeps with him every night) and pirates.
• He loves to tackle.
• He loves to do everything himself. ("My did it!")
• He's got some very curly locks.
• He has so much personality!
• We love him to death!

Valentine's Day

It was the perfect Valentine's Day for me.  Started with a dozen roses, not one but 2 gift certificates to See's Candy, another rose and our song playing in the car on the way to sushi (which we both had been craving), and ending with some good old fashioned ice skating to reminisce 6 years ago.  

Perfect!

Turning 2

My baby is turning 2 tomorrow!  We had a little photoshoot today to commemorate.  This kid is sweetness, spunk, and personality all rolled into one.  We couldn't love him more!

Go to beautifulevidencephotography.blogspot.com to see the full shoot.

Superbowl Sunday

Lets be honest, its all about the food!

We were lucky to have Caleb's brother here staying with us for that weekend.  We got to celebrate his birthday with him, we won't divulge what number though!

(Anyone know why those green candles are on his face?  My camera does that every time and I can't figure out why!)

Girls Night Out

Oh how I love these!  There really is nothing like shopping with some great girl friends (that happen to be your sisters), eating some delicious dessert (from The Chocolate), and watching a chick flick all without kids.  I totally need this more than once a year.

*pictures from my phone, sorry!

Of course I had to get this slice of deliciousness as a substitute since my husband was in China at the time.  

It came close but not quite ;-)

I hate Peanuts!

Well, actually, I LOVE peanuts (peanut butter, peanut butter cups, etc.) but I HATE what they do to my poor Cooper.  This time thankfully wasn't as bad as a previous time.  We caught him right as he took a bite of his cousins pb&j (which he thought was just a piece of bread) so we immediately had him spit it out, wipe his mouth down, gargle & spit, brush his whole mouth with toothpaste, bendadryl, & breathing treatment.  We got lucky, he only had a huge fat lip for an hour or so but never needed the epi pen.

I soooooo hope he grows out of this!

Smile

My Mom got the boys the cutest sweaters for Christmas and I couldn't resist doing a little photoshoot after church one Sunday.  They just look like such little men!  It makes me smile!

I think I told Coop to give Carter a kiss and Carter went for it as well!

Smile!

Fashion Sense

Ya, I think he's got it!

Adirondack

...chairs that is.

Just take a look at these beauties!  Aren't they just amazing?!  I can say that since I had no part in making them.  Caleb completed these all by himself and I just think they're awesome.  They really make our home look so inviting.  What a talented guy I have!

Picture courtesy of Cooper

Northstar Cabin

Caleb's work had a little cabin weekend and unfortunately we were only able to go for one day but we sure did have fun for those few hours.  Here are some pics from our sledding adventure (which is about the only thing we had time to do :-)  Oh well, it was worth it!

Our cute friends Jason and Meradith.  I just love this picture of them!

This kid is a born sledder!  I'd jump on the sled on my stomach and he'd hop on my back and we head down the hill face first.  It was awesome!  Wish I could have documented that one.

Seriously grumpy the whole time which is so not like him.  

Don't think he was feeling well!

Maybe next year we can make it for the whole weekend and not just for 6 hours ;-)

Imagine the fun we would have then...

Happy Birthday Honey!

Caleb is now only 1 year away from 30...poor guy!  At least I still have 3 1/2  more years before that happens!  We started the day off skiing as a fam up at Sundance.  It didn't last long since it was not more than 5 degrees but fun all the same.

We had a grand old time going to sushi with our fam here.  It was soooooo delicious!  I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the rolls.  I guess I was just too hungry and they looked too appetizing to wait any longer.  Oh well, instead you get a picture of us!

We of course had his favorite cherry cheesecake for dessert and the boys were there to help blow out all those candles.  Then we finished off the night with some rock band.  Gotta love the concentrated faces you get when playing.  My favorite is my sister-in-law Kathleen (far right).  :-D

You can now find us every night playing Super Mario Brothers on the Wii.  I gave it to Caleb for his bday and we both are loving it.  It really takes us back!  I'm Mario, he's Luigi and in this version, you can play levels at the same time with each other.  Its pretty awesome! 

I love spending time playing with my hubby.  He really is my BFF.  

Happy Birthday Honey!

The Amazing Reveal

I've been wanting to re-do do our room ever since we moved in but since we were gone all summer, we didn't get to it until we moved back.  We finished about month ago but I wanted my parents and family to see it in person before I revealed the pictures.  So here it is, in all its glory.  Hopefully you can get an idea of the transformation, its kind of hard to see in pictures.

(all the picture angles are the same, but the furniture is switched around)

Walking into the room

Before on left           After on Right 

Right inside the door

Before

After

We switched the bed from in front of the window to opposite the window.  You can get a good look at our dresser before in this picture (and our after dresser in the above picture).  We got rid of the mirrors and spray painted all the furniture black and the handles from gold to silver.

Before

After

Our Bed

(minus the cute throw pillows I plan on making, that's my next project)

Before

After

View from the Bathroom Door
Before

After

Furniture Close-ups

Before                                                                   After

 sorry, no before picture on this one...but you can see them next to the before bed pictures.

We both LOVE it!  We feel so calm when we walk in!

Caleb helped me alot in this project, (being that it is our room, I think it kind of forced him to be involved or have to deal with the mess for a week).  Thank goodness for his help and his tallness because he painted the whole ceiling himself and then helped with all the walls.  He also helped me spray paint the furniture.  

I LOVE spray praint!  This was my parents bedroom furniture forever before ours and doesn't it just make the hugest difference!?  And its so cheap (even if it does take 15 cans of it :-)

So, what do you think?