New location

Things have been busy for us lately. We moved to a new apartment 2.5 weeks ago so we were busy packing and unpacking things for a while. We are getting to know the new area we are in, and really liking it. We love our new apartment-well as far as apartments can go. It is a bit bigger than our last one, has been better maintained, is less expensive, closer to Ryan's work, and it is on a golf course so we get free golfing anytime we want! We haven't been yet, but we are excited to find a babysitter and get out there! My parents bought us both golf clubs for our graduation gifts last year (THANKS!!!), but we haven't used them yet so we need to ASAP. I am really looking forward to going soon-I guess I need to buy a cute golf outfit first!
Halli is growing like a weed. She had a doctor appointment yesterday. At 3 and a half months she is weighing in at 14 pounds 8 ounces which is about the 80th percentile (or as the doctor said-robust), and she is 26 inches long which is off the charts. She is so long-not too lean, but definitely long! Here is a photo of her that was taken on Sunday. I put a new dress on her and walked out to show Ryan and Carson and Carson said "Oh Halli, you are a princess" (Thanks for the cute dress Lois!) It was cute so I had to take a picture of her. I have also been wanting to post of photo of me, but all the pictures we have are of our children, but Ryan took one with Halli and I in her dress so I could show my "new" haircut. I actually got it cut the end of July, but haven't had any photos so here is my new/old cut. It has grown a bunch since but oh well.
Ryan is enjoying his job, and is expecting to start working a lot of overtime sometime next month. It will be hard for me, Carson, and Halli, but it will be nice to have some extra money for Christmas! We'll see just how much overtime it will be when it comes I guess. Speaking of Christmas-my sister Aubry got engaged on Sept 12 (her birthday) and is going to be getting married on December 20th. I am so excited and happy for her and Michael! They are so fun and great together.Carson is doing ok these days. He has been throwing a lot of fits, and screaming at me a lot...I have tried to figure out the best way to discipline him (time outs, taking prized toys away, putting his blanket in time out, putting him in his room, locking myself in my room) but I just can't seem to find anything that works on him. I have also tried to reward and praise him for good behavior, but that seems to do nothing with the bad. If anyone has any suggestions they would be greatly appreciated. I am just hoping that the "terrible two's" will end when he turns three-or shortly after! On a happier note with him though, we did sign him up for some swimming "lessons" at the rec center here and he just loves it. We go twice a week and get to splash around for a while-he loves the water.I am doing well. Some days are fantasticly fun, other days are deadly difficult, but we are enjoying life and the changing season. I have also been working on a project/business venture idea for the past week so, and I am really excited about it, and enjoy it alot! So look for some forth comming news and photos on my attempt to do something in my "spare" time.

Gas Prices

So we went to fill up our car today with gas, and I was just thinking how fast the gas prices went up this year. I was also wondering what prices are like around the country, so tell me what you are paying per gallon to fill up your tank. Today we paid $3.37 which I hear is pretty good-let me know!

Dad's new art blog!

Today I started on an art blog for my dad. You may have seen the old website which was linked below, but until the new site is functional, I thought it may be good to create a blog to more easily keep people posted about new art, shows, etc. Please give it a look if you get the chance and link it on your blog or website. Help us get the word out! Thanks and enjoy.... the link is called Watercolor Backroads. Thanks!

Air Show & Park Party

Two weeks ago we were sitting at home on Saturday and we decided to go to the park to play. Lucky for us some church was putting on a carnival thing at the park and they had tons of fun stuff to do. We all had a fun time being outside doing something out of the ordinary. It was a nice surprise! Carson was a little bit hesitant to get his face painted, so I got mine painted first then he was excited for it! He was also really really excited to see the fire trucks that were right next to the park. He has been wanting to get a close look of the fire trucks for a long time!
Last Saturday there was an air show at this small airport by our apartment so Ryan took Carson over there and check it out. They had a fun time-Carson is still talking about it. He just loved seeing all the airplanes and helicopters. Ryan bought him a little toy airplane while they were there and it is his new favorite toy. He has also been telling me frequently that daddy works on airplanes-he seems proud of it somehow. It is just fun to see the things that mean so much to him. Carson just loved this little plane he got to sit in-too bad something like that would cost hundreds of dollars. It would be a way fun toy to get!

Carson

So I did I post about Halli last week, and I thought I should do one about Carson too. Plus my sister Aubry took a ton of great photos of Carson while we were on vacation I just had to share some of them. I really appreciate her taking so many shots of my children because I never remember to. Carson had a lot of fun on our vacation-some of the highlights for him were swimming numerous times, riding a horse, going to a parade (although I found it rather dull), hanging out with my family, getting to see Jenny (Ryan's sister), eating lots of sugar, cooking with grandma, and always having someone to do something with. He sure loved all the attention he got when he was there. And yes, he had a hard time adjusting back to just my attention-he threw lots of fits. He is doing much better now though and has been really helpful the past couple of days.He grows and changes so much. I don't realize or recognize it, but so much changes in him each week and month. He still enjoys drawing and playing ball. Those are probably his two favorite things to do. Any game we come up that involves a ball he absolutely loves.
He is getting freckles...our children will all the covered in freckles because we both are. As you can tell from the photos he has one in his eyebrow. This has just come since moving here! I can't believe how fast they just pop up. He only has a handful now, but I know he'll be getting more and more as time goes on.
He is so much fun and brings so much joy and happiness to our lives. I really do look forward to spending each day with him and waiting to see what things he will come up with to say and do each day. He has a fun imagination!

Gettin' Jiggy With It

Carson was back to groovin' on vacation. I got a couple videos of him dancing, but I think this is the best one. He sure can make me laugh. Who knew anyone could dance so great to backstreet boys. ENJOY!

Halli's 2 months!

So we have a lot to post from our vacation, but I thought I would just start with some news with Halli. She is two months old already as of the 10th! The sleepless nights have seemed to pass, and she is more content with life now. She had a really rough start and seemed to be really colicky, but while I was on vacation I talked with a family friend and she told me that going off dairy really helped her colicky baby out so i tried it and went completely off dairy. The outcome-Halli is a new child!!! She is much happier and instead of crying and fussing all the time she smiles, talks, and is pretty content to just relax and lay on the floor at times! Between that and a couple of blessings she received she has improved so much! Needless to say life is going much smoother for all of us. Just a side note-I never realized how much dairy is in different foods. I am not eating any so I have to look at labels before I eat things and I am on a serious diet now! It basically cuts out all desserts, unhealthy quick meals, and chocolate so I should be dropping this baby weight in no time now :)!!
Halli is also sleeping through the night really well. She has been going to bed sometime between 7 and 9, and sleeps until about 5. She eats, goes back to sleep for a couple hours, and gets up for the day around 8. It has been a great blessing that she has been a great sleeper. I really don't function without sleep so I am glad she does so well!
She started really coming to life a couple weeks ago. She has begun "talking" to us, and smiling all the time. I can usually get a smile out of her pretty quick. Her hair is still really curly, but I am thinking her dark hair may be on its way out. The roots of her hair are a lighter more blonde color-so we'll see in the next couple of months if her hair will be changing color.