Carving & Cornbelly's

Fall is my favorite time of year! Friday, we decided to take the kids to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point and they had so much fun! Well, Raegan didn't really know what was going on, but she loves to be outside and it was such a nice day! Carson got to ride the pony, which is his favorite thing to do there. I can't even count how many times we have been there to ride the pony! A little ridiculous! He thought the cow train was pretty cool, and he LOVED the giant trampoline.

Raegan, watching her brother and enjoying the weather!

He thought this tramp was the coolest thing!

The famous GIANT rocking chair

I always look forward to carving pumpkins every year, and it's so fun to start new traditions with your kids. Last night, Jess and I were waiting for the guys to get off work, but the girls were too tired to wait up so we took some pictures of them with the pumpkins before we carved them.

Carson thought it was funny playing with the balls on their hats.

Raegan & Liv are at such a fun age and they are so cute when they interact. We gave them a bath before they went down and they were splashing together like crazy! One would start and the other would follow and then they would both get so excited.

Chris couldn't wait to get home! Let's just say that he doesn't share my enthusiasm for carving pumpkins! Of course, like every year he ended up doing the traditional triangle eyes, nose and mouth. He was done first, and we all made fun of his, but I think we were wishing that we would have done the same when we were sitting there an hour later still poking holes in our patterns!! I think I developed arthritis last night!

Carson wasn't too thrilled about pulling out the gunk and lost interest when it was taking so long. He just liked playing with all the little tools!

Carson and Daddy's finished product!

Mine & Justins

Chris & Jessica's

They all turned out so cute and we had so much fun! I can't wait for Halloween!

COUPONS!!!

I used to always see the ladies in the grocery store with the binders full of coupons and think "they're crazy, I could never do that!" And now, I'm one of them, minus the binder. I entered the coupon world a couple of months ago and I LOVE IT!! I have saved SO much money and I now look forward going to the grocery store! Jess and I just got back from a very successful shopping trip that I had to share!

So here's what I got...

2 Krogers Ice Cream .99

6 Tony's Pizza .38

Chicken Breasts 4.88

Dole Iceburg Salad .98

2 Bar S Jumbo Franks .39

2 Gold n' Soft Butter .69

10 WF String Cheese .20

4 Oscar Meyer Lunchables .99

Red Seedless Grapes 3.87

Kroger Sour Cream 16 oz .88

Mexican Style Shredded Cheese .99

1 Gallon Milk 1.79

2 Quilted Northern 12 Double rolls 4.49

5 Diet Coke 2 Liters .79

2 ALL Detergent 32 Loads 1.99

9 Hormel Chili .12

4 Diced Green Chilis .38

4 Duncan Hines Frosting .72

3 Ghirardelli Browni Mix .99

1 V-8 Fusion Juice 1.49

2 Zesta Saltines .99

4 Cream Cheese .88

4 Kotex Tampns 18 Count 1.25

4 Kotex Liners 1.25

4 Kotex Pads 1.00

2 Cheez-it Crackers .99

10 Beechnut Baby Food .40

1 Ketchup .59

1 Halls Cough Drops .15

6 Propel 24 oz. .49

4 Gatorade 32 oz. .49

2 Don Julio Tortillas .88

1 Bar S Corn Dogs 16 ct. 2.99

Motrin 24 ct 1.50

Tylenol Rapid Release 24 ct 1.50

4 Carnation Evaporated Milk .24

1 Sarah Lee Bread 1.69

I spent $95.00.....and I saved...drum roll please...

a little over $112.00!!!

It feels so good when you get home and realize everything you actually got. Chris makes fun of me because I do get so excited. If you don't already use coupons you should go to sheshopssmart.blogspot.com. They walk you through everything and it really isn't hard at all!

Family Pictures

It's done! I finally added all my email addresses in and went private. It makes me feel so much better knowing who's invited into our everyday lives! I'm hoping that this will make me post a lot more, but I've said this in the past so don't hold me to it! I figure it's too much work to try and catch up with everything that's happened in the past month so I'll just start fresh today. We just got our family pictures back, and I love them. We were a little worried about the weather, but it turned out perfect. It rained up until we got there, cleared up for a couple of hours, and then started back up again as we were taking our last shots, so I can't complain! Well, except for the fact that it's impossible to make a two year old hold still! Seriously, we were trying everything! Chris and I both turned into horrible parents for those two hours, bribing him with anything you can think of! For the most part, it worked and Laura did an amazing job, thanks again Laura!

(Yes we had to bribe him with food too!)

ALL ABOUT CARSON

It's hard to say, but Carson is definitely not a baby anymore, he's our little boy. He's grown up so much over the past few months. It's been so fun to watch him grow and learn new things but I wish I could just stop time dead in it's tracks. I know all you mommy's out there know what I mean. Most of you read this for the kids so I thought I'd keep you updated on what's going on with them. I'm hoping that if I think of this blog more like a scrapbook then I can stay caught up.

• Carson LOVES cars, airplanes, trucks, pretty much any moving vehicle! He could sit and play with them for hours. Jeeps are his favortie. PaPa bought a new jeep, and he got to drive it the last time we visited and he can't stop talking about it. He has about 100 little hotwheels and it's funny because he knows when one is missing, he'll describe it and tell me it's gone and sure enough I'll find the exact one he was looking for.
• Most kids go through the stage of asking "what's that," "what's that," but not Carson it's, "What's dat noise," and he hears EVERYTHING!
• Nothing melts your heart more than a two year olds prayers, and Carson's are so sweet! He blesses everyone he can think of, and then goes on to bless every food he's ever eaten (this is during bedtime prayers), then blesses every toy, sometimes they go on FOREVER! As your walking out of his bedroom he always says "wuv you, nuh night".
• Without fail everytime he says goodbye to someone, even if he barely met you he says, "Bye, haf fun, tall me" (Bye, have fun, call me). It's hilarous, he once told a stranger in Target to call him!
• We live right by the temple and everytime we drive by he has to tell "Angel Mowoni" hi and bye! If we go the other way, he always asks where he went!

• He's so good with Raegan, and always has to know where she is. He's the first to hear her when she wakes up from her naps, yells "babies wake" and runs up the stairs to get her. A lot of times I don't even think he hears her, he just wants to wake her up. He'll even share his cars with her, although most of the time they are the old crappy ones!:) He loves to make her laugh and when she's crying he'll try and give her hugs even though that usually makes her more mad!
• He's like a little sponge, and picks up on everything!! We have to be very careful of what we say around him!
• Lately, he's mister independent! He has to do everything by himself. It's always, "No, I do it!"
• He LOVES his binky and his blanky! Yes...he still has his binky, and I probably am a bad mom for letting him still have it but it's so hard to take something away from him that he's so attatched to. He usually only has it when he goes bed, nap time, or on long trips in the car but getting rid of it has been on my to do list for a very long time now. If any of you have any tips on how to do it, let me know!

(Excuse the butt shot, I just love this picture of Carson)

• He's still our little cuddler, and loves to lay on your lap while you tickle his back.
• The other day at Grandma's, he burped, then laughed and said, "I jus tooted in my mouf, dat funny," gross I know, but he's all boy!

He makes Chris and I laugh so hard and he comes up with the funniest stuff! He's just so little and innocent and I want it to stay that way!! He's definitely spent a lot more time in "time out" lately and I sometimes have to remind myself that he's just two and a half, but he really is such a sweet little boy!

ALL ABOUT RAEGAN

• Raegan is already 9 months old, and she's our little princess! Chris has called her that from day one and it kindof fits her! I'm hoping she might grow out of that one!:)
• She's just figured out the army crawl. She gets up on her hands and knees like she's going to start crawling but hasn't quite got that one down yet. I'm a little worried for when she does because she is going to be into EVERYTHING!!
• She's our little firecracker, and she's got some attitude!! She'll let you know exactly what she likes and especially what she doesn't like!

• She is so expressive! She can pull all sorts of looks with her dark little eyebrows.
• She takes the best naps, you just lay her in her crib with her soft blanky and binky and she'll go right to sleep, usully for a good 2 or 3 hours. Nights on the other hand are a different story. She goes to bed around 7:30 but still wakes up one time around 3, sometimes she even wakes up twice! I try and keep her up later, but she's so fussy you have to put her down. Like I said, she know's what she wants!!

• She is already such a flirt! Anytime someone looks at her, or talks to her, she'll smile and turn her head to the side and lean into whoever's holding her.
• Her smile is so sweet, she'll wrinkle up her nose and give you the biggest grin. She has her two bottom teeth and I think she's starting to get her top ones as we speak.

• She loves Baby Einstein, but only the Baby McDonald one! She thinks the cow puppet is hilarious and laughs everytime he comes on.
• She LOVES her daddy! He's been wrapped around her little finger since day one!

(This is one of her faces when she's not too happy!)

• She LOVES her brother, and just watches him all the time. Carson doesn't have to do much to make her laugh. The cutest is in the car, they'll be in the back seat just giggling at each other.

It's so fun to watch your kids grow, even if it does happen too fast! Both of our kids have been such a blessing in our lives and we are so lucky to have them!