August, and the Endings of Summer

My goodness have we had the busiest most wonderful summer! I must say it tops last summer by a whole bunch! We’ve really enjoyed running around, being super busy, getting sick of seeing family (ha ha, we could never see them enough), and the best thing ever… creating wonderful memories!

How we feel about summer!

To start off our rockin’ month of August, Jason and I were able to attend the temple with my awesome cousin Benjamin. He was recently called to serve a 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Sacramento California! It has been a while since we were able to attend a session, and we were so thankful for the wonderful opportunity to see my cousin go through the house of the Lord. He was smiling a mile wide, and let me tell ya, that smile is super contagious! After the session we were able to eat lunch at a cute little café at Thanksgiving Point. Carter was at my Aunts house having a blast with my other cousins, and was not very happy to see us. He could just feel that the fun was coming to an end. Silly boy, you’d think about 5 hours he’d miss us right?

The temple was a wonderful thing to start off a full week of being a single mom. Jason went on a business trip to big Jonesboro Arkansas. He was gone for a full week, and was stuck at work pretty much the whole time poor kid. On Monday when he got to Memphis Tennessee, he only had a quick trip to Graceland for some Joy vacationing. Carter and I made the most of our time together however, and we went to the splash pad, the rec center in Provo for some much needed swimming, The Museum of Natural Curiosity, playing with his fave cousin, and getting watched by his fave aunt. He sure did miss his daddy though.

The Museum of Natural Curiosity

Carmen loved the animal hospital in Kidopolis :)

Carter's favorite part, the water room!

The wind tunnel!

Eating lunch after the museum.

All of us together :)

That same week I was a single mama, I got some really awesome news! I had a 3 hour MRI, yes 3 hours!!! It was totally worth it to find out that I am still TUMOR FREE! This girl has kicked that cancer to the curb (knock on wood), at least I really hope so J 3 hour MRIs…. You are missing out! Who doesn’t want to lay completely still in a tube of noise for 3 hours with your head strapped down?! I sure do! It was totally worth it to see that those nasty tumors were still completely gone! The miracles I have seen in my life… Best thing ever too, was that that same day Jason came home and we got our house ready for some guests. My cousin who I haven’t seen in over 10 years moved to Idaho from New York and decided to stop and see me on her way!!!! It was so awesome!!

My cousin Tressa and I used to be so close. We even made up our own language once, and to this day she still remembers some of it! I loved their family so very much and was able to see them all the time, until they decided to move to New York. After that we talked every once in a long while, but never saw each other. It was so wonderful to meet her hubby and hold her precious little baby. It also reminded me of how much time had passed and how much I would pray that she’d move back. Not to mention, it totally reminded me of my age and how much time has passed in the blink of an eye.

All of us at breakfast! Kneader's is the BEST!

We made a trip to Costco after. I love these cuties!

My cousin visiting was just the opening ceremonies to a fantastic week with my mom! She came to spend a week with her kiddos and brought her awesome friend with her too! I loved having her here, and it was really nice to be able to spend time with my extended family too! We rode the train to City Creek one day (Carter thought it was the coolest to ride a cho cho train) and walked around Temple Square after. Went to the zoo, threw a little surprise party for my mom’s birthday (it’s in August), and attended my little cousins baptism. Each night was filled with laughter, movies, and fun as we made some pretty awesome memories. I’m sure we caught a few of them on video. My mom’s friend Heidi has always been someone we loved, but now we decided to adopt her! She is awesome!

My cousin Emma's baptism.

Riding the train!

They love their grandma!

The Salt Lake Temple

All of us infront of the Salt Lake Temple. We're missing Heidi.

We convinced Heidi that she had to be in the picture :)

Salt Lake City

Carter's fave aunt <3

The visitor's center on temple square

Carter and Taylor at the zoo.

Our week started off with a big hug goodbye to my mom and Heidi, and a missionary farewell for Elder Lee (my cousin Benjamin who actually left on 8/26!), and being surrounded by yet more family. I absolutely LOVE it when our family gets together and I am reminded of how much my Heavenly Father loves me. There will be another “reunion” in a couple of weeks for a very exciting wedding! We’re finally not the only cousins in the fam tying the knot! With all my cousins getting married, going on missions, and being baptized, I am starting to feel my age ha ha. It is so amazing how time works sometimes. There are times when it seems it never passes, and times when you blink and a huge chunk of it has suddenly passed you by. My life revolves around time so much, and I wish it didn’t.

Off to Benjamin's fare well!

Carter love riding with aunt Kira (aka Teeda)

My handsome little boy <3

Jason worked nights in August, and so we were able to do lots of fun things with him before he left (that is when he was home ha ha). We were able to go to the Museum of Ancient Life last Tuesday, and Carter wouldn’t stop talking about it. He was so excited to see Dinosaurs and see his cousin Carmen. Well, it wasn’t what we expected, but we loved spending time together as a family and being able to experience new things. Families are the greatest thing ever!

Daddy and Carter at the Museum of Ancient Life

Carter loved digging in the sand.

Carter thought the big dinosaur bones were really cool

Group selfie!

My sisters!

Cutie Carmen and her mom.

This dinosaur is pretty cool.

This past week I have really been thinking about how wonderful it is to be a mother and how much of a miracle it is. I love being able to take care of a sweet little human being all day. It especially helps that he is extremely cute and melts my heart. It is truly a miracle that we are able to be parents on this earth. It teaches us the hardest and most rewarding lessons, and helps us to be so much better. I have really tried hard to love Carter every minute of every day because I am simply so thankful to have the opportunity to have him in my life. What a difference that has made, to even react in love when he isn’t doing quite what I asked. It is incredible to think that that is how the savior taught. He loved everyone unconditionally and showed that love each minute he was given here on earth. I hope if you are a parent, you truly realize the great blessing you have, to take care of one of Heavenly Father’s children. They may drive us crazy and cause us to act in anger, but just remember what it was like not to have those cuties in your life and all those who struggle to get one of the angels as their own. Here’s to an adventurous August and superb September! Happy reading!

I love this little boy!

I can't believe I get to be this cuties mother!

Osborn Craziness & Fun!

How could you not love being the mom of this super cutie! I <3 him!

Well hello again. It seems I have let the blogging world slip through my fingers again. Here I am finally, to give you an update on what our little family has been doing.

We went camping for the first time in a year! It was so fun to have a fire, and make tin foil dinners for the first time. I loved it, and it actually got super cold at night which I LOVE. Who doesn’t love to snuggle nice and tight in warm blankets?! Carter did awesome, but we didn’t bring his pack n’ play and decided to let him sleep with us. Well ladies and gentlemen… that is a BAD idea if you are looking for a restful night of sleep. Several times I was kicked, my head was laid on, and I couldn’t help but laugh as Carter told his daddy to “stop it,” while he was snoring away and sleeping like a log. He loved every second of being outside.

We have made some pretty awesome friends here in Spanish Fork! For the fourth, we were able to spend some time with our neighbors/friends and it was so fun. Carter has a little girl friend that he talks about all the time, and he loved the fact that we played so long at their house. When the time came for fireworks however, I found myself cuddling our sweet little boy and reassuring him he was safe. Poor thing was not liking the loud noises and eventually ended inside, by himself, watching a movie. I was sad he wasn’t enjoying himself, but then again he did get to watch Cars so maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

Our neighbors are amazing people and watched our little monkey while we escaped from the world, and went to the Payson Utah Temple for the first time. What a beautiful place! It is so wonderful to have a place to escape all the crazy and to be mesmerized by beauty and the feeling of peace. A spiritual recharge is NEVER a bad idea, it helps get you through life.

 Carter and I took a grand adventure to Washington for 10 days! It was so fun to be with family, but we missed daddy like mad. Carter is a pretty good little traveler, and with his sweet little cousin Carmen in the backseat with him, he even provided some entertainment. By the time we stopped in Oregon for the night, he was pretty loopy. I’m pretty sure he said he was crazy a million times. Thanks goodness for sleep J

We spent a couple of days at my parents’ house before packing all our stuff again and heading out on a 4 day camping extravaganza. While there we were able to see many friends and friendly faces we haven’t seen for ages. We were able to get together with some family and enjoy a delicious dinner.  I was also able to meet my friend’s baby for the first time. Sweet little Hazel stole my heart until she soaked me in spit up. She soaked her mom as well and we couldn’t help but laugh. That is what you get with newborns.

I can't believe she is crawling!!!

Best buds :)

Sweet little melodies.

Trying to escape. Carter was being a good boy though and was looking out for her

Camping was amazing! We went to Lake Chelan in Chelan Washington and lived in our swimming suits. Every day we got to play in the beautiful water and Carter couldn’t get enough of the sand. It was in every nook and cranny on his body and covered everything in our tent. We only had one bad night where Carter woke up the entire state park in the middle of the night, but other than that we were pretty happy campers. I was so glad that my sweet sister stayed with me and helped me with my little stinker. It’s hard doing the single mom thing and I’ve decided to never do it again lol (that’s what I said last time).

On our way to Lake Chelan. We got to ride in Grandpa's truck!

On our way to the lake. It was fun sitting with my sweet boy.

Cutie little Carmen!

Isn't he so cute?! I love this little man <3

Carter with auntie Kira and Uncle Andres

First day out on the water. We had so much fun!

Me and my little guy. He didn't stay in the water for long :(

My dad sure loves sailing

Drying off

Building sand castles with Grandma and Grandpa! The best!

Carmen and her mommy <3

Carter just wanted to play in the sand all day.

Carmen and her mommy on the water.

Well Carter and I were enjoying ourselves in Washington, Jason was a lone ranger. He said he didn’t enjoy being a bachelor again, but boy was he spoiled. He was able to attend an empty nesters dinner, be spoiled by family in town with free dinners, and he went to a Salt Lake Bee’s baseball game. While I was chasing down a two year old in the dirt and sand, Jason was living the life. Sunday when we finally arrived home, we both felt like it was Christmas! Nothing is better than having your daddy/husband!

Oh man, I LOVE these two like CRAZY!

While I was away our amazing garden continued to grow. In fact I am pretty sure it grew so well because I was gone. We picked 5 giant zucchini! Needless to say, we’ve had zucchini with all of our meals since we’ve been back. Every. Single. One. Good thing I LOVE zucchini.

Here's the ones Jason picked while we were in Washington!

This week was Fiesta Days in Spanish Fork, and we were able to enjoy a concert and picnic in the park, a pretty awesome Rodeo, a super long and exciting parade, and lots of time with family! Carter even wanted to ride rides at the fair part of Fiesta Days! I was blown away, but then again he is obsessed with cars and motorcycles! It was super great J My sweet little niece even started walking! I love that we are so close to family now and can see them whenever we’d like. They are all pretty awesome, I LOVE them! The only thing I could have done without, is the sunburn on half my body lol. I guess I’ll be looking a little uneven for a while.

Eating dinner in the park, So much fun!

Carter and Daddy on our blanket for our picnic.

Kira, "the fave aunt," at the parade with us!

Carter loved the parade, but the fire trucks were super loud!

After the parade we saw a pony!

Can you tell I look like 2 face? Carter got a lot of sun and just got darker!

Oh yeah baby! He loved every second... well for the most part :)

We got a date! This was right before the rodeo. Best seats ever! Almost touched a horse we were so close!

I started my own business a while back and have been trying to get the hang of things. I decided to be a consultant for Usborne Books & More selling some of the most fun children’s books I’ve ever read. It has been some hard work especially with balancing being a mom and taking classes to renew my teaching license. If you ever have a moment, you should check out my website, or better yet book a party with me! http://J4614.myubam.com Ha ha, maybe I have been working on it a little too much lately. I’ve really missed teaching and selling children’s books has let me get the little taste back, so really… check it out!

Well that is our family now a days. I hope you are all taking advantage of life’s little adventures. Sometimes they can be pretty fun. Happy reading!

Better Late Than Never

Hello! It has been a while… We’ve been quite the busy little family lately! When you own a house, the to-do lists never get any shorter. When you are the mom of a 2 year old little boy, time never stays still. The summer always makes the days fly by a little faster! Here’s an update on everything we have been doing!

We were able to go to the Payson Utah Temple open house. What a beautiful temple!

To-do Lists

We’ve been busy bees with the lovely warm weather. Our garden has grown a ton, and we just had our first harvest. Nothing like fresh lettuce, spinach, arugula in a delish salad. We even had 2 snap peas which were delish, and Jason got his crop of awesome radishes. They were a little too spicy for my liking. All of our other plants are poking through the ground, and now the only hard thing is waiting.

We’ve been trying to build a fence around our garden boxes to keep the dog and little Carter bug out. It has taken us several tries to put in a fence that we like. We finally have a cute little fence around our cute little garden area. Unfortunately the dog and the little Carter bug still find ways to squeeze their way inside. Oh well, maybe someday.

Our cute little garden area and the new fence we put in. We love having a garden!

Our first harvest!

Our down stairs living room was orange a black. Yep you read right, orange and black. Yikes! I didn’t mind it so much when we looked at the house to buy it, but it was wearing on me… so we painted it! Now the room feels so much bigger, and I love that I am not always looking at a rust orange. We are pretty happy it’s all done, because painting is hard work! One tip I would give future painters, edger! They are amazing. So happy we didn’t have to tape everything before we painted it!

This our orange living room right before we painted!

The after color... so much better!

2 Year Old Little Boy

My sweet little Carter at 4 months 

My sweet little boy on his second birthday! 

My big little boy <3

Okay, so I am so LATE on this! Carter is 2! He turned 2 on April 10^th and oh my goodness that little boy melts my heart more and more every day! He is so smart too, and I cannot be more proud of him! Here are some facts about this sweet little cutie!

We've gone to the zoo a couple of times, and Carter loves it!

Favorite color: All of them. He knows all of his colors and always makes sure to use them when describing things. My favorite is when we are driving and he sees a car of a different color. He’ll yell, “Mommy red jeep (or car or truck or whatever it is)” and he always gets the color right. He is a little smarty pants, no wonder he is in the 90^th percentile for head circumference. He just has a lot of brains.

At the zoo during the opening of Jurassic Park.

Favorite toy: Cars and trucks are his obsession. For his birthday he got a little Mater (the tow truck from the movie Cars) and he is his best friend. They do everything together, and he even has to tuck him in when they go to sleep at night. He also loves riding his cute little motorcycle (he gets to be like Grandpa). When he puts his sunglasses on while riding he means business.

Favorite food: EVERYTHING! Except veggies, although he loves dipping broccoli in ranch. Sometimes I am blown away that he eats more than I do. He’s just like his daddy though, hollow legs.

Cool dude on a motorcycle

Favorite things to do: He absolutely loves playing with cars, running around outside (his favorite place to be), watching and touching bugs, playing in the dog’s water, playing in dirt and rocks, making up games with balls, being silly, and giving hugs and kisses. He is the sweetest boy when it comes to showing love to everyone.

Outside washing the car!

Carter with baby goats, so sweet!

Favorite people: He sure does love his aunt Kira. If he doesn’t ask about her at least once a day, there is something wrong. His best friend is his cousin Taylor, and he Loves texting and talking to Grandma on the phone. Many times he tells daddy to go back to work, and has to have his mommy do everything (ok so secretly it’s kind of funny). He has been a huge mommy’s boy lately.

Aunt Kira (aka Teeda)!

Carter with his best friend/cousin.

Jason

For a little while Jason was working nights (in May), and we were able to do all kinds of fun during the day together. He really enjoyed helping to plan and carry out a 5k fun run in Springville for Nestle. Friday we went on an incredible date to celebrate OUR 5^th YEAR ANNIVERSARY (how has that much time past?)!!!! We went black light golfing, ate dinner at an AMAZING restaurant called Oregano Italian Kitchen (better than Olive Garden), and surprised me with tickets to the BYU play Hansel and Gretle. He is such a hard worker and is amazing at taking care of us. He’s my favorite.

Clarissa

I’ve been taking a class online, and just finished my last test! Now on to writing papers, YUCK! I also signed up to be a consultant for Usborne Books & More and have been a little frazzled at starting my own business, but it’ll be an adventure! I’ve loved living close to family in Utah, and get to see my sisters at least once a week. It’s pretty fun! We just ran the 5k Jason helped organize, and had fun. Siehara and I ran with our kiddos and boy was it hard. Pushing 30+ extra pounds while running is hard. I have been incredibly busy with play dates, attempting to decorate my house, and running after my sweet little man. He is my obsession and I can’t get enough of taking care of him. Being his mom is so fun!

The running crew after running in the rain!

Carter at a play date with Mater. Every where he goes...

Our ever growing family

My niece Carmen turned 1! We were able to celebrate with a wonderful trip from my mom, dad, and baby brother Dyelan (still blows my mind that he’s home from his mission and is 20 years old!). My sister in law announced that she is due with a little girl in September, and my beautiful cousin just announced her engagement (she’s still 13 and totally not allowed to even touch boys yet!). Not only that, but one of my baby cousins graduated from High School. What?! Since when did I get so old?

My sweet little niece Carmen. Can't believe she's already 1!

Kira made her smash cake. She's talented and we loved the cupcakes she made!

Well, I’ve probably left a zillion things out but that kind of happens when you wait almost 2 months to blog. We have continued to see miracles with my health, and our testimonies are continually strengthened by the experiences we’ve had! I hope to keep you in the loop more often, but we’ll see how that goes. Until then, enjoy life and the amazing moments you are given!