Our summer

What we did...when I could not blog about it!

We celebrated the fourth of July Bothwell style. Hannah had the cutest red, white, and blue outfit there was (material chosen by Carson, sewed by Grandma Newman). We celebrated the 24th with a yummy dinner, fireworks, and a beautiful susnset at my sister Melissa's house.






We went to Color Me Mine, where Carson painted a racecar, Hannah painted a mug, and I made a birthday plate. It was such a fun activity and I highly recommend it.


We attended an awesome birthday party where a real firetruck made an appearance. Carson sprayed the hose, asked lots of questions, and we all went on a ride on the back of the firetruck. If Carson did not have a December Birthday we would be having this same party-it was great!


Probably the greatest thing (and biggest accomplishment!) was getting Little Miss pottytrained! After many attempts it finally clicked on July 28th! She is doing great and we are so proud of her!


To be continued...

First Day of School

August 24th, was the first day of second grade for my Carson and the first day of 18th grade for me. :)

Summer, as always, left us way too fast. I would love summer for 9 months and school for 3. I like having my little guy with me, waking up when we want, and doing as we please each day. I don't know if I will ever stop feeling this way.



We hosted our annual "First Day of School Celebration" and it was a big success. This
years theme was "SCHOOL ROCKS!" We had an Ice Cream Shoppe and served lots of different ice cream flavors. To go along with the theme I made rocks that had a small school supply inside of them. The kids each got to choose one rock and break it open to find the suprise inside. The rocks were a hit.



If you're interested in making your own rocks here is the recipe.

1 cup sand (I bought colored sand at walmart but you can use anything)
1/4 cup salt
1/2 cup used coffee grounds (I omitted this, because I didn't have access to any-they turned out fine without this)
1/2 cup flour.
Enough water to make it play dough consistency.

Mix this in a large bowl (I ended up needing to knead it with my hands) roll the dough around your small surprise and for into rocks. Place in greased parchment paper and bake in the oven at 350 for 25ish minutes. Flipping them once in the middle. This makes about 12-15 rocks depending on how big you make them. Make sure to not overcook them or the kids will never be able to open them. I error on the side of undercooking so they can be easily broken apart.

I can't belive I have a second grader and that baptism is right around the corner. I love my little guy and am so proud of him!

The Birthday Girl

Hannah on the day she was born.


This post written on July 15, 2009

I could write so many things about Hannah at this age. She is growing and learning so much. You can just see the little wheels turning in her head as she takes everything in.

Here is what Hannah is up to at two years old.

She is talking in full sentences. She can repeat anything you tell her to, and can communicate easily. It is so interesting to know what is going on in her little mind-because she can tell you!

Every morning when she wakes up she asks where everyone is. Where is Dada? Where is brother (pronounced Broder)? Where is Grandma? Where is Melissa (pronounced Issa?)Where is (fill in the blank over and over again)?

She is TERRIFIED of bugs. She hates them so bad. She screams, runs away, and hollers "Scare me! Scare me!" if she sees a bug. Unfortunately, Carson uses this to his advantage and tells Hannah there are buggies in places he does not want her to go.

She also does not like leaves. Anytime she sees a leaf out of place (ie on the tramp, in the pool) she grabs my hand and says "Get the leaf out." Carson and I call her the "leaf police" and even made up a little song and dance to sing to her about it. Hannah likes the song and dances and sings to it too.

She is a little mother, and I am amazed at how soon little girls have that motherly intuition. She pretend feeds her babies, always wants to make sure they are covered with a blanket, and gives them plenty of loves and kisses.

When riding in the car, she always looks out the windows for any horses or cows. When she sees either, she gets SO excited and says "look Mom, horsies eating" She loves all animals and wants to pet any dog or cat that she sees.

She still has her "pretty picture smile" that looks a lot like this...


She has finally (as in, within the last week) started to allow me to do her hair, and actually leave her pretty bows in! I can't tell you how excited I am about this! She will not however, let me curl her hair with the curling iron...if she sees that thing she immediately says "hot! hot!" and shys away.

We have been to Lagoon a few times with her, and she isn't so sure about it. She likes the train and that is about it. On the other rides (you know really scary ones like the carousel) she gets this terrified look on her face and looks like she is about to cry...sometimes she does cry and sometimes she is able to hold those little tears back.

She is getting a mouth full of teeth, as her eye teeth on top and bottom are just coming through.

She loves "chockie milk", bread, and corn. She still is an adventurous eater and will try anything depending on the order I give it to her. She will always eat the foods she is familiar with first, so I offer those to her last. She has tried and liked many new things using this method.

She loves to swim and has no fear. She jumps in if you are there to catch her or not. I can hardly stand to take my eyes or hands off her, even if Cam is watching her, because of how "brave" she is in the water.

Hannah at her One year old birthday party


She loves her brother and he loves her. It is cute to see their little relationship. Hannah can't stand it when Carson is sad, and is always there to comfort him with hugs.

She is a very friendly little girl, and doesn't mind being the center of attention, or being around people she doesn't know so well. She can make anyone fall in love with her.

She is currently obsessed with monkeys, and gets very excited if she sees one (a picture, a stuffed one, etc).

She loves to sing and has quite the repertoire. She can sing, Jingle Bells, Old Macdonald Had a Farm, Five little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, Yes Jesus Loves Me. Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle Little star, bits and pieces of the Alphabet song-especially the letters C and D (over and over again...), and a lullaby song she made up to her babies.

Her hair is getting blonder and blonder and is straight as a stick and very wispy. She might be twenty before she has enough to pull up in a pony tail.

She also may be wearing diapers until then as well. :) Despite my best (and many) attempts at potty training her. She just isn't ready, I guess. Serenity now...is all I can say about that.

She has her Dad's type of skin and we call her our little "brown baby." Even though I always slather her in SPF 50, she always manages to get a little bit more tan.

Even though she is two, she still looks so babyish to me. I am not sure if it is her lack of hair, her round baby cheeks, or what. But to me, she still has that baby look to her and I love it. I would keep her little forever, if I could. :)

We are so blessed to have Hannah in our family, and glad we waited so long so we could have her and enjoy her as much as we do. Everyday she is a big ray of sunshine, and I am always excited for her to wake up from bed or naps, just so I can be with her.

Happy Birthday Hannah! We love you so!

The Cake

One of my favorite things about birthdays, is making the cakes. I think I'll cry when my kids ask for a "store bought cake." Of course we needed a monkey cake, but I didn't like any of the Monkey cake pans or the cake designs with a monkey face. They all looked a little to boyish to me and didn't fit the "vision" I had for Hannah's cake.

I made the base of the cake with yummy pink buttercream frosting. I made HOMEMADE (I am very proud of this!) fondant to make the monkeys. I'm not much of an artist, and the monkeys were harder to make than I thought...but I think it turned out pretty cute.

The Presents

Hannah is a loved little girl, she received lots of monkeys, babies, a tea set, a pretty Sunday dress, lots of beautiful homemade dresses, sweaters, and blankies.

I really wanted to find a WOODEN kitchen set for Hannah, but never found the "perfect" one. The day of her birthday came, and I still did not have anything picked out for her. Hannah LOVES to jump on my sister's "trampoling" so as a last minute purchase...

Hannah loves her trampoline, and it has already received many hours of jumping time.

The Party

We had a swim party with of course lots of food. I think Hannah enjoyed being the center of attention.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

Today is this sweet girl's 2nd Birthday.



Details to come....

10 Years of PURE LOVE...right honey?

This June Cam and I celebrated 10 years of marriage. 10 years seems like a long time yet it has gone by so fast.

Ten year Review:
Our first home. Graduation. Tuition x2. La-Z-Boy. Bear River Valley Care Center. Sealing. Welcome Carson. RN graduation. McKay Dee Hospital. Bachelors Graduation. Graduate School begins. CPA exam studying. Masters in Accounting. JD Clark. CPA. Home sweet home. "Your Mom goes to college." Bishopric. BSN Graduation. Welcome Hannah. Graduate school begins. Goldman Sachs....what's next?

Its hard to not get a little choked up thinking back on the past ten years. Cam has been a good husband and daddy. I feel lucky to have snatched him up.

We made it Honey! Here's to many, many, more years!

We celebrated this milestone last week. Here's how:

Happy Father's Day

I want to tell my Dad Happy Father's day and share how much I love him. I know I have the best Dad out there. I can't think of a kinder, more selfless, giving man than him. There are so many reasons I love my Dad, but here are a few:

Thanks Dad, for always coming home to make us breakfast in the morning, and watch for the bus. I will always remember sitting at the bar in the morning and your watchful eye looking out the door.

Thanks for being the coolest Dad in school. Can you say baby calf for show and tell? Thanks now for passing this fun memory and moment down to my son.

Thanks for always being there when I needed you. It was always reassuring to know I could get ahold of you and you would come and get me if I needed to go home from school or just plain needed someone.

Thanks for the cans of Mountain Dew and change from your truck ashtray. :)

Thanks for enduring many singing and piano recitals for me even when it wasn't "your thing." It meant a lot for me to see you sitting in the audience.

Thanks for never making money a issue. I never knew growing up if we did or didn't have money. I always felt like if I asked for something, I would be given it. I never went without and always had a few of (Dad's dollars) in my pocket just in case.

Thanks for loving and supporting me when I wasn't easy to love.

Thanks for your jokes and happy personality. You always make me laugh and you are always fun to be around.

Thanks for being the best Grandpa: tractor rides, feeding and choosing baby calves, fourwheeler rides, trips into town, babysitter extraordinaire, and more and more and more. My children love you and love to be on the farm with you.

Thank you for your help on all of our house projects. We can never repay you or thank you enough.

Thank you for your service to your community and neighbors. I am always proud to say you are my Dad because I know all the good things you do for people.

Thanks for always workings so hard from morning to night and still making time for your family. My favorite times are when we are together.

Dad-
Your the best. I am proud of you. I am so lucky and privileged to call you Dad. I love you!

Show Us Where You live

Its Show Us Where You Live Friday-Office Edition. Started by Kelly's Korner





I spend way too much time in here, stuck on the computer doing homework. At least, I like the room though! I love all the built in book shelves in the office, the woodwork, and our office rug (sorry, didn't get a picture), but I especially love the view to the left of the office:





This is from the "sunroom" looking into the office.

Too good not to share

I started another tradition with Carson this year and wanted to share. I bought the Dr. Seuss book "Oh, the Places You'll Go" and asked his teacher to please write a note on the inside cover of the book to Carson.

His teacher this year wrote:

Hi Carson,

I want you to know what a great person you are. I have loved having you in my class. You have worked so hard in first grade! I am very proud of you and excited to know of all the great things you will do!

Love, Miss Carter

PS I still don't like snakes :)
(The last line is a little joke between my snake lover son, and his snake hater teacher:)

Isn't that note sweet?

At the end of each school year, I will ask his teacher to do this until I decide when to give him the book-which I am not sure of that detail yet. I was thinking when he graduated but it gets complicated when they no longer have "one" teacher, but many. So, I was thinking possibly before he entered middle school, or if I did continue it longer, then asking one of his favorite teachers, or his seminary teachers to write the note. What do you think?

I want this to be a boost to Carson when he is older, he can read the comments and remember all the great things he has done, and the people who have helped him get there.

Last Day of School Party!

Carson and I started a kindergarten tradition that I hope to carry on for many years. On the last day of school, we wake up early for a celebration breakfast at McDonald's. We continue the celebration all night long with activities and fun. This year we included Carson's two best school buddies (and carpool friends) to join us.

Our afternoon celebrations started by going to Cold Water Springs in North Ogden for some fishing. Carson has been here before on a father/son outing and LOVED it. He has been begging to go ever since. As most of you know, I am not one for fishing or any activity that is mean to animals. I talked myself out of that, and told myself it was for Carson and I could do it.


I don't know what I was thinking...but lets just say I will be leaving the fishing up to Cameron in the future. I thought there would be employees to help get the fish off the line etc, no such luck. I was having anxiety over it, when luckily before any fish were caught, a kind man at the pond came to our rescue.

He taught the boys how to take the fish off the hook and was very helpful to us, and I left with clean fish free hands, which I couldn't have been happier about!

The pond is just swarming with fish and it was easy for the boys to catch them. We did some exploring, some fish feeding, and then headed home. Like, I said I won't be attempting that on my own again, the boys had so much fun.


Next, we went on one of my favorite hikes up 27th street to the little pond that is there. This time I came prepared for the kids to take their shoes off and play in the pond and stream. The water was icy cold but they loved it and Hannah loved getting wet too.


Carson loves to do neighbor "boo's" where we buy a little treat and sneak up to their doorstep, leave the treat, and run. We always do it for Halloween and Christmas, but I knew the kids would love doing it anytime. We bought some treats and each of the kids made a note that said "Yeah! School is out! From your secret friend" (each child made their own note that said what they wanted...but you get the idea :) We then snuck to a few kids in our primary who had their last day of school that day and dropped of our treats. Out of 3 houses we got caught twice, but it didn't matter, the kids still had a great time.

Last, we had dinner (kids choice-chicken nuggets) and made smores over the fire pit. We did some sparklers (shhh-don't tell!) and played tag and outside games. It was a fun night, and Carson sure slept well that night!

Safety Week

May 18-22 was safety week at Carson's school. I have decided to be as involved as I can be with Carson, while it is still "cool" for Mom to be there. I was in charge of "Fire Safety" day. I got the big idea (Cam thought I was crazy) that I wanted to have a fire truck come to the school for an appearance. One of our ward members is a fireman, so I asked him if that would even be possible. He pulled some strings and the fire truck came to the school for 3 hours on fire safety day. They let the kids climb on the truck, they sprayed water, and turned on the lights and siren. Needless to say, it was a huge hit. Score one for Mom!




On a side note...this cute little girl, my Hannah is posed with is another Hannah from Carson's class. She always loves to see our Hannah because they share the same name. On this day, 7 yr old Hannah wanted her picture taken with little Hannah in front of the firetruck.

Show Us Where You Live

One of the blogs, I like to read Kelly's Korner started this up and I thought it would be fun to join in. Today is Dining Room Edition.

The dining room is probably my favorite room in our house. The ceilings are beautiful and curved. We believe the wallpaper is original-but the original owners two granddaughters disagree-one thinks the wallpaper is original-the other does not. So were not sure.



We bought our table two years ago and it seems to fit in with the historic house perfectly. It has two more leaves and 4 more chairs-we need to have more kids! :)

The hanging light is different and I don't know if I love it or not. It was in the house when we bought it. I often think I would like something a little more elegant like a chandelier type light, but I am still undecided. What do you think?



My favorite feature of the dining room (and the house)- is the built in China cabinets. They have light tracks inside and the room looks great in the evening, with only those lights on. I am not much of a China person, but when we bought the house with those cabinets of course I had to get some then! I searched for months trying to find the perfect set. I wanted something old fashioned, and something that had a floral pattern (not what people typically chose now). My husband found this beautiful set, in an antique store. The date stamped on the back is 1926-only five years after our home was built.

Hannah's Report Card

"Hannah and Carson were playing on the trampoline. Hannah bit Carson on the left arm. I put ice on Carson's arm and had Hannah sit down and rest on the couch. I told her "no-no" and we sat on the couch together. After Carson wasn't crying, I talked to Hannah about not biting and then Carson and Hannah hugged and kissed"



Carson was oh, too happy to show me "Hannah's Report Card" from the babysitter yesterday, when I got home. Oh the joys of having kids! :)

Show Us Where You Live Friday

One of the blogs, I like to read Kelly's Korner started this up and I thought it would be fun to join in. Today is Kitchen Edition.

As most of you know our home is in the historic district and built in 1920. While I love the old aspects of old homes, the kitchen just has to be modern! Here is our kitchen (pictures taken in the fall as you can tell by the orange pumpkin :)


This little arch is the top of what used to be the old wood cookstove in our house. When we finished the kithchen I begged (and then demanded :) that Cameron keep some of the arch. I am not much of a decorator, and rarely hang things on the wall (obviously) but I do like to keep fresh flowers in the arch and on the table.


I also love our hanging pot rack, a feature I didn't love originally. I had to buy special pans just to hang there (ha!), and according to Cam, I can't even use them! Who would have known? My mom gave me the kitchen tools you see hanging. They were my great grandmothers-I cherish those.


The island in the middle took some getting used to, especially having the stove in it. But now I like it. When we bought the house the kitchen needed the most work. I had envisioned a white kitchen becuase our old kitchen was mostly white, and white just seems light and clean to me. It turned out green with black appliances that have grown on me. Eventually, when our money tree starts growing more money :) I want to get a black microwave and a black dishwasher so it all matches.

The cupboards and the layout were the only things we kept from the kitchen, but all the glass was out of the cupboards. It was a month or so before we had the glass replaced and I got used to never opening up the cupboard doors. I just put the dishes away through the slots where the glass is now.

Next to the fridge there used to be a "wet bar" with a sink and all, but we ended up taking all of that out. My favorite feature is the double ovens. I love those.

The stain glass windows are said to be from the old historic church that was torn down close to our home. I love those windows.

So, there you have it! Join the fun!

Easter

I have so much to post about, but right now the kids and I all have a case of the sickies. I just wanted to show how cute Carson and Hannah looked in their Easter outfits.




One more thing...why is it so difficult to get one cute picture of two kids at the same time???

Hannah and my Mom's sweet sewing skills.

My mom made this cute dress for Hannah. I bought some more material and we (well...my mom basically :) made some more this weekend. I love them! They are so very cute. We also made some mock baby legs (although not the ones in this picture). I am going to take some photos of Hannah modeling her other dresses and 'baby legs' so stay tuned....

Ps...I feel like I have more and post more photos of Hannah crying then smiling. This little lady does not enjoy having her pictures taken! Not good when you have me as a mother! :)

Distance makes the heart grow fonder... :)

Cameron has been in Princeton, NJ for the past 2 weeks with still one more week to go before he comes home. Goldman Sachs' main offices are back East (NY and NJ) and it was easier for Cam to physically be there to help during the busy tax season.

Well, as any CPA's wife would know :), its not like Cam would be spending a lot of time at HOME during tax season anyway, so at the time, it didn't seem like that different of a sacrifice. Also, does anyone tell their boss "No" if they are asked to do something reasonable?

Cam was supposed to come home on April 9th. He called me and said that they wanted him to extend as long as April 15th. What can I say? What can he say? I told him I was disappointed he would be gone over Easter.

Well, Cam talked to his boss and is now coming home on April 10th. He will be home for my birthday, and be home for Easter. I am grateful.

Honestly, the time has gone by fast, and hasn't been to bad. But now, I miss him, and I want him to come home. Now.