Road Trip

Last Tuesday night, Jared's cousin Lindsay and I decided to take a last minute road trip. So Wednesday morning we packed up our kids and headed to Cut Bank. It was Carter's first trip in big boy underwear and he did great! We spent three nights at Grandma and Grandpa Gage's house. We watched some basketball games, and the boys had a great time playing with their dad's old farm and tractor toys. Thursday night Uncle Reid and Aunt Nellie showed up, so Friday morning they dressed up in some fabulous snow gear (I especially loved Reid's tight green highwater snowpants!) and took the boys sledding. It was a good little break from being at home. I realized last week we needed to get out more when Pason said to me "You are the nicest mom ever 'cause we got to leave the house two times today!" We were glad to get home and see Daddy though, and I think he was even more happy to see us!

Mom and Boys

Pason loves to shovel the sidewalk. I hope he still does in 10 years!























Carter liked to go all by himself.


















Michelle (Jared's cousin), Reid, Carter, Pason, Nellie


















He's lucky they didn't rip bending over!

Ultrasound

Well, we had our ultrasound yesterday, and there is in fact one baby in there. The tech said it looked like my due date needed to be moved up about 1 week (Aug. 5?), but that the doctor would go over the measurements and tell me more at my next appointment. She didn't say anything about fluid or anything else. I guess I just have to assume that there is nothing to worry about, and I am just going to be huge with this pregnancy! We did get to see the baby moving (it looked to me like we might have a thumb sucker) and we got a picture to take home and show the boys.

Thumbs Up for Carter!

He did it! Carter went a whole week without any accidents (during the day)! The big test was this weekend when we actually left the house in underwear, not pull-ups. He stayed dry at Wendy's, Playhouse Disney, and dinner at Applebee's. He also stayed dry at church, so I am offically claiming victory. Carter is potty trained! I get a break from diapers for a few months at least. We still have to work on nighttime, but right now we are about 50/50, so hopefully it won't take too much longer.

A Little Bit of Big News

Okay, I know it's been awhile since my last post, but I haven't had much I could say. I have spent most of the month in bed. Seriously about the only times I have left my house in the last 4 weeks were to go to church. Jared has even been the one doing the grocery shopping. Why, you ask? Well for those who don't already know, I am pregnant. I was going to put one of those pregnancy tickers on my blog today after my doctors appointment, but I'm not exactly sure when my due date is. We thought it was Aug 12, but the doctor says my uterus doesn't feel like a 12 1/2 week pregnancy. I will have an ultrasound next week to see what's up. I should be grateful because I haven't been throwing up this pregnancy like I did with Pason and Carter, but I have been sooooo extremely tired. Like falling asleep at 10 in the morning tired. I think my thyroid dosage isn't quite where it should be, so the doctor also checked that today. Jared has been wonderful! He's done the cooking, cleaning, shopping, laundry. He's kept us going this last month, but now he's had to start those long hours at work so I am really hoping my energy level picks up soon. Anyway, we are excited about a new baby coming. Pason is convinced it is going to be a baby girl, he talks about the baby in terms of "her" and "she". We keep telling him it might be a boy, to which he says "but I want a baby girl". Carter likes to sit by me in church or during family scriptures and wave at my little (but rapidly growing) pooch and say "hi baby". So that's my news. I'll try to update a little more often (for you Nel!).

Pason is 5 years old!

Pason had a great birthday last weekend! I know I'm a little slow with this post, but I had to recover from having 10 kids over for a party. Since he turned 5 he got to have his first friend party. It was a Hot Wheels themed party. We played pin the tire on the race car, and did a tire toss game (tossing balls through a tire). Pason's favorite part was presents! Between Christmas and his party gifts I think he and Carter have more toys than they know what to do with! After presents were opened the kids had cupcakes and then ran around and played til parents came. For dinner we had pizza with family and then had his race track birthday cake. I was running out of time to get everything done, so it wasn't exactly the way I pictured it, but I think it turned out pretty good anyway! Sunday was his actual birthday so we had saved a couple of his presents so that day was special too. He got one more late birthday present on Tuesday. I had just got in the shower when Pason came in the bathroom crying. He had been playing on the stairs and fell. There was already a large purple bump on the side of his eye. Funny thing was that right before I got in the shower I had told the boys to stop playing on the stairs or someone was going to get hurt. Amazing! Mom actually knew what she was talking about! Hopefully he learned his lesson.

This picture isn't great but you can kind of see it. It was taken today when his eye is blue, and green, and red, and yellow!

Quick Christmas

Christmas was great! We all got spoiled. On Christmas morning Jared and I had to wake the boys up. Carter told me to "go away..I'm still sweepin!" I told him it was Christmas to which he replied "It's not Christmas til Santa comes". I asked if he thought Santa had come and he emphatically said "NO!" Finally Pason came in and told him there were presents and Carter jumped right up. The day after Christmas we went to Idaho to see my family. When we left it was a blizzard outside and the Monida pass was closed. We left with the hope that by the time we got there it would be open. As we got closer and closer it was still closed so after lunch in Whitehall we said a prayer that the pass would open. A few minutes later Pason said "I'm going to say another prayer just to remind Heavenly Father." Just before we got to Dillon the pass opened. What a great experience for Pason to see that prayers are answered! In Idaho we took the boys sledding for the first time. Carter wasn't sure about the cold, but Pason loved it! Now we have to find a good sledding hill here at home. Since we have been home we have been trying to get the house cleaned and get ready for Pason's birthday party on Saturday.

Watch out they got wheels!














Waiting for a turn to open their presents.














Pason going down the hill all by himself!















Grandma and Carter getting a push from Dad.

Baby it's c-c-c-cold outside!

So much for global warming, right? Most of the week our highs have been below zero. I had to run a few errands with the boys on one of these fridgid days, and even though we ran from the car to the store and back, Carter's cheeks turned a rosy red and stayed that way all day long. We told him he looked like Santa Clause. We tried to fire up the pellet stove in the basement, but it keeps getting jammed and won't feed the pellets. On Monday we tried to stay warm by baking Christmas cookies for FHE. Poor Jared had to go out in the cold though because he drank the last of the milk at dinner and I didn't have any more to make frosting! Yesterday and today have been a little warmer (highs in the teens), but it's supposed to be really cold again this weekend. We are going to keep warm by cooking up a big pot of chili for the Griz National Championship game tomorrow night! I'll add extra jalapenos! ;-) Go Griz!