Greener Family

2011-12-06T16:59:00.000-08:00

First day of school!

2011-12-05T19:40:00.000-08:00

Hannah's first day of "school"

Halloween 2011

2011-12-05T19:28:00.001-08:00

Random

2011-11-21T09:16:00.000-08:00

Suzy Boggus (Cam's country singer love) concert 08/2011

Carson's first day of "4 and 1/2" grade! 08/2011

Hannah's first day of dance/preschool 08/2011

Spring Garden planting 06/2011

Woohoo!

GateWay Fountains

2011-11-21T09:11:00.001-08:00

2011-11-21T09:07:00.001-08:00

Carsons Fun Run 05/2011

Hogle Zoo

2011-11-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

Hogle Zoo 05/2011-while Scott was in hospital

2011-11-21T08:54:00.000-08:00

Hannah who is terrifed of bugs, was not afraid of slugs!

Catching Slugs May 2011-one of many adventures while Scott was in hospital.

2011-11-21T08:47:00.000-08:00

Ensign Peak Hike Mothers Day 2011-It's windy!

Hannah learning to ride her new Easter Bike 04/2011

Hannah and Carson in their Easter dress clothes 04/2011

Dying Easter Eggs 2011

2011-11-21T08:43:00.000-08:00

Pictures at Ogden Temple before renovations began 04/2011

2011-11-21T08:26:00.000-08:00

Hannah and Carson-one of many zoo trips February 2011

Carson and Mason hauling lawnmower back to Grandmas from the "junk pile" February 2011

It's Spring! Swinging at park march 2011

2011-11-21T08:13:00.000-08:00

Calico Ghost Town, California

Calico Ghost Town California

Disney Trip 01/2011

Princess Aurora-Hannah's favorite and Hannah January 2011

Carson's 9th Birthday Party 12/14/2011

New house in Salt Lake City

2010-12-26T18:48:00.000-08:00

Gymnastics

2010-12-26T18:44:00.001-08:00

Halloween 2010

2010-12-26T18:39:00.000-08:00

First Day of Third Grade

2010-12-26T18:35:00.001-08:00

Lake Cleveland

2010-12-26T18:27:00.000-08:00

More Hannah's Birthday

2010-12-26T18:23:00.000-08:00

Hannah's Third Year

2010-12-26T18:15:00.000-08:00

Pluse one extra Hawaii--walking on Lava on Crater Rim Drive in the Volcano National Park at the Big Island.

More Hawaii

2010-12-26T18:06:00.001-08:00

Mount Kilauea-active Volcano (in the Volcano National Park) on the Big Island
Huge Sand Castle built on Barking Sands beach by Dad and Carson in Kauai
Waimea Canyon (The Grand Canyon of the Pacific) in Kauai
Napali Coast in Kauai

Hannah's name in the sand on the Barking Sands beach in Kauai

Hawaii

2010-12-26T17:56:00.000-08:00

Fourth of July fireworks on Waikiki beach in Honolulu
Luau at Polynesian Culture Center in Oahu
Authentic Luau dinner at the Polynesian Culture Center in Oahu
Above and below--Polynesian Culture Center

Best Grandpa Ever

2010-12-26T17:47:00.000-08:00

I did it!

2010-08-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

On May 6, 2010 I graduated from the University of Utah with a Master's degree in Nursing. I will be taking boards soon to be a Family Nurse Practitioner. I can't tell you how much this day meant to me. This day seemed so far away and the goal impossible at times to achieve.

Graduation outfits made by Grandma Newman

I get teary eyed thinking of all the hard work the last 7 semesters have been. Although, I know my children will probably not remember this too much (I hope!), the ache I have carried from being away from them will not leave my heart anytime soon.

I'm so glad I'm done!!

Pictures stolen from Nana!

Where's the baby?

2010-08-10T21:24:00.001-07:00

Hannah had to sleep with "all" of her babies!

Pictures taken March 2010

Easter at Nana's

2010-08-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Nana always makes a traditional Easter dinner with the best turkey ever (voted by Carson and Cam!) Of course an Egg hunt is also in order!

The hunt is a bit more competitive here for the bigger boys! Carson loves it!

Cousins and best buddies-holding hands while eating!

PS. check out Hannah's cute Easter dress made by Grandma Newman.

Easter at Grandma and Grandpa Greener's!

2010-08-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

Easter with Grandma and Grandpa Greener is always fun. The annual tradition is an egg drop and egg hung. Carson starts planning for the egg drop weeks before.

Why is it so hard to get one picture of both children looking at the camera and smiling?

Carson's invention "Flying Egg Machine" Carson is an inventor. He made this pulley contraption for his egg to get from point A to point B safely. Of course-it worked!

Karli's floam contraption however, didn't work as well!

the family with their egg drop contraptions!

Grandma and "baby" Hannah and baby Kylee.

Easter Egg Hung at Grandma and Grandpa's!

2010-08-10T20:54:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite pictures! Carson "comforting" (AKA making the situation worse! :) Hannah.

We love our Family!

Beautiful!

2010-08-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

Hannah loves, loves, loves makeup. Aunt Melissa (or "issa") gave Hannah some makeup. Hannah couldn't wait to "dig in" to her new surprise.

You can never have enough right?? Sorry about the boog-she's still cute!

The girl even knows how to match and accessorize! (PS. Look at those big beautiful brown eyes!)

Pictures taken January 2010

Scouts!

2010-08-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

Being eight really is great! Turning eight also means being able to go to scouts! Carson loves scouts and is really excited about it.

Here he is on his first day of scouts (Somewhere, I have seen this exact same picture/pose of Cameron at age 8 on his first day of scouts...Deborah do you have that?)

Within a month Carson had already received his Bobcat.

(Receiving the "Mother's Pin")

First activity of the month a rocket blast-off!

Who knew building rockets would so much fun??

The Masterpiece built by Carson with some help from Dad.

Pictures taken January 2010

Carson's Baptism

2010-08-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my sweet baby boy is old enough to be baptized. For him, the day could not come soon enough. He was so excited to be baptized.
Carson turned eight on December 14, 2009 and was baptized on January 2, 2010. Our stake does "Stake Baptisms" and our ward was in charge of conducting the program that month. When I started calling the other wards with baptismal candidates I was surprised to find out that due to the holidays many families had decided to wait until next month. Carson was the only child being baptized! It was pretty neat that he got to have his own "personal" baptism. That doesn't happen very often!

The baptism was at 4:00 and held at the Ogden East Stake Center. Carson looked so very handsome and full of happiness. I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and all of the other parts of the program were done by people who know and love Carson from our ward.

We invited many friends and family and had a huge crowd! It made my heart swell with all the people who came to support Carson on his big day.

Cameron baptized and confirmed Carson a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Those standing in the confirmation circle included Cam, Grandpa Doug Newman, Uncle Scott Newman, Uncle Eric Hansen, Uncle Max Crozier, Grandpa Ben Greener, Great Grandpa Delano Greener, Uncle Sheldon Greener, Great Grandpa Robert Manning, Friend Chris Hansen, Second Counselor in the Bishopric Marty MacDonald, and Bishop Wilde.

After the baptism we had dinner at the Eccles Park church house. We had soup, salad, and homemade rolls and breadsticks. Again, there were so many people there all because they LOVE you Carson!

To my Carson:
My mind really can't accept the fact that you are now 8 years old. You are a wonderful little boy. I'm so grateful I get to be your mother. You are such a smart and handsome boy. You have a desire in you to be and do good. Sometimes I worry, that you are too "grown up". You are mature and wise beyond your years. You look at the world differently than others-your mind is constantly thinking of how you can invent or improve new ways to do things. You also have an awareness of how others are feeling. I know you would never hurt or put someone down-it's just not in you. My heart is bursting with love and pride for you, sweet Carson. Thank you for being you because you are absolutely PERFECT in every way.

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2009-11-10T21:06:00.000-08:00

Our summer

2009-10-21T13:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-24T00:52:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-24T00:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-24T00:14:00.000-07:00

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

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

2009-07-15T21:13:00.001-07:00

Today is this sweet girl's 2nd Birthday.

Details to come....

10 Years of PURE LOVE...right honey?

2009-07-10T21:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-21T00:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-07T13:04:00.000-07:00

"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

2009-05-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-04-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

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... :)

2009-04-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

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.

Science Fair

2009-04-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

Carson had his Science Fair the last week in March. He did a portfolio on Leonardo da Vinci. He did a good job and learned a lot.

The science fair was a little bit of a disappointment though as it was not well organized. I am all about organization and can't stand when things aren't! The school even sent home a letter after the fair was over, apologizing for the poor organization. Live and Learn, I guess!

Draper Temple

2009-03-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to the Draper Temple house, the very last week we possibly could. I have really wanted to go, Carson has really wanted to go, but the timing has never worked out. The weekend reservations were always filled up, I had school, Cam had to work late or fulfill bishopric commitments, and we just never cleared our schedules to go.

I really wanted to go as an entire family but the longer we waited and tax season started (Did I mention I HATE tax season??) I knew Cam was not going to be able to go with us. Again, by the time I looked there were no evening reservations. So I let Carson miss school, and we made reservations to go on March 10th, at 9:20am (I had to be back for my class at 3:00)

Carson was so excited to go. He really wanted to go inside the Temple. The morning of, was the day after the BIG snow storm here and I was planning on leaving our house at 7:30. I am very directionally challenged, needed to get gas, was worried about SLC traffic, and if I say we are going to leave at 7:30 we most likely won't leave until 7:45-which would still give us enough time. I wanted to make sure we were on time.

The night before, I thought to myself, that I should fill the Escape tonight with gas, I should lay out the kids clothes, pack the diaper bag, etc. But I rationalized-I was tired, I was going to wake up early and do all those things.

Well, things never work out as planned, or maybe the Adversary really wanted to work against us, but I did not wake up until 7:49! I thought, there was no way I could get all three of us 'church ready' and make it to the temple on time. I almost gave up, it would have been easier, but I grabbed the kids, hurried and got them dressed and we were out the door by 8:10.

Now for the gas, I had a little less than 1/4 of a tank left and part of me thought I could make it. As you know, we were pressed for time so I decided to try it. About 10 minutes from the temple, my gas light went on. I had to stop. I found a gas station (remember directionally challenged!?), filled the tank, and we were on our way again.

We made it to the Temple late and I was frazzled. I had heard some say that it took them 3 hours to go through the Temple and I was worried being there alone and worried about how well Hannah would cooperate. Luckily, because it was early in the morning, it did not take long at all for us and my children were perfect little saints!

What can I say about our Temple day? It is hard to put into words. Walking through the doors I felt all my anxiety and stress wash away and knew this is where I was supposed to be with my family today. I felt understanding that although I wanted my husband to be with us, he was where he had to be today as well. I felt my children knew they were somewhere special and they were blessed with the peaceful, calm, spirit that surrounded us.

We loved going to the temple. Hannah would point to all the beautiful pictures and say "Jesus, Jesus" She also loved looking at the baptismal font. Carson loved everything about the temple. He was so interested and asked so many questions. I could see his little brain and heart taking it all in. When we went into one of the rooms he said "Mom this room is made out of diamonds!" It really was that beautiful and wondrous.

The beginning of our day made the end of our day that much sweeter. I am not perfect, but I am trying and I am blessed and loved anyway. We truly could not have had a more perfect day.

My Hannah is 20 months old and Craft Giveaway

2009-03-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

Seriously, where does the time go? It seems so strange to think my baby is almost two! At this time, some couples would be thinking about having the next baby but I just can't imagine that. Hannah still seems like a baby to me and needs so much more time being the 'baby'

I made Hannah this tutu. Completely impractical but oh so cute-too bad she hates it! :)

The proof.

Calming down and getting a bit happier-still no smiles though.

Finally a laugh after I let her jump on my bed (her favorite pastime).

I won a craft contest on another blogspot. The rules were that I had to turn around and also giveaway a craft. Unfortunately, I am laking in the craft department and can only really do "Girlie" things. The best I can come up with is to giveaway a tutu. I will randomly draw from the comments and contact you if you are a winner. You can specify what color/colors you would like and what age (so I know how big of a waist size) then I will ship it to you for free.

I am lame, and not into the giveaways-but you should see the cute craft I won and then you would know why I had to enter and now do this!

Happy Tutu entering!

Model Train Show

2009-03-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

We have been to the Model Train show at the Union Station for the last 7 years. The first time we went was when Carson was 7 or 8 weeks old. It it a tradition now. My boy, LOVES trains. Now, we are past the "Thomas the Train" love, but it has been replaced by a love for Model trains.

Hannah also is fascinated by trains. She went around pointing, smiling, and saying "Choo Choo." Her favorite part was riding the little train they had outside of the station.

It was a fun day together. We'll continue to go until our babies don't want to anymore...which I hope is not for a very long time.

Sweet Gracie

2009-03-02T12:25:00.000-08:00

(picture taken with permission, from the gledhill blogspot)

I have been following sweet Gracie's story since her birth. I can't remember how I came across her blog, and although I am a stranger, I have fallen in love with her.

Gracie is leaving this world to be with Jesus today. I am so sad about this, but take comfort in a beautiful plan laid out by a loving Heavenly Father.

Please pray for the Gledhill family, read her story here, and leave a comment for their family.

Hannah's new smile

2009-02-23T10:42:00.001-08:00

Both my kids have had a 'picture smile.' And they both have cracked me up. Hannah just learned how to smile on demand and the result is truly hilarious. She does not share her picture smile as much as her brother did, but if she does you are in for a treat!

I was able to catch a few variations of the smile for your viewing pleasure.

You have to click on this one to view it larger. It is so funny and cute!

Sometimes her smile consists of 'crooked teeth' positioning. Here is that one.

She looks mad in this one, but no-just another variation of her beautiful smile. She almost always does the scrunched forhead look though.

Forever 29

2009-02-23T10:32:00.000-08:00

Cameron celebrated his birthday yesterday. As he said, from now on he will always be 29. I think he could pull it off, because in my opinion he still looks like he is 21.

We celebrated low-key style. I made him his favorite dinner-chicken enchildas and all the fixings. I tried a new recipe for his cake...it was "Olive Garden's chocolate lasagna" It was very delicious but probably the ugliest cake I have ever made. The frosting was extremely difficult to work with!

Here are a few things I love about Cam.

He is such a hardworker.

He is handsome.

He is an excellent pianist.

He is an excellent handy-man.

He is smart.

He is a worthy priesthood holder.

He has always provided a comfortable life for his family.

He takes me to the temple.

He is a good dad.

He loves a nice home, and always makes sure that things are in order at home.

Once he starts a project-he always finishes.

Love you Honey! Happy Birthday!

Chuck E Cheese

2009-02-23T09:28:00.000-08:00

A new Chuck E Cheese was opened in Layton recently. You can see it as your drive on I-15. Carson of course, saw it and immediately wanted to go. He has been asking for a week or two now, when we could go. I invited my sister and her family and we had a Chuck E Cheese 'date' last Friday.

The kids, of course, loved it. It was super busy, probably because it was Friday. The new facility was really nice and clean. We printed some coupons off their website so it ended up not costing much either!

We had a good time and Carson is already asking when we are going back....

Complain fest

2009-02-15T23:42:00.000-08:00

I am finally posting a few of our happenings. I know I say this all the time, but I have been so busy these last few weeks. I really feel like most the time, I am running on empty and just working through each day-day by day.

I can not describe school any better than a love/hate relationship. One side of me really does enjoy it, I like learning, I like the clinicals, and when I think about my future I really am excited about it. The other side of me HATES the time it takes-especially when that takes time away from my family.

Besides school obligations, Cameron has started busy season at work, which means early starts and late finishes. Oh and did I mention...he just bought a triplex! I am really excited about that (heavy on the sarcasm here) We have also had a lot of church obligations (besides our usual ones) -Cam and I were asked to speak at New Beginnings, I spoke in sacrament one week ago, and we have had a baptism every Saturday for the last 3 weeks-4 counting this Saturday.

I also was asked to head up a big project for Carson's school. I said yes, when I should have said no. All of this is contributing to late nights and early mornings for me.

Wow...what else can I complain about? ;) Really, life is good here. I may not have all the time I want in the world, or be able to do all I want to, but I have the cutest kids in the world, a good supportive husband, the true gospel in my life, and too many other things to list. SO really, what else can I ask for?

Valentine Boxes

2009-02-15T23:36:00.000-08:00

The first Monday, in February we had a family home evening lesson on love and made Valentine boxes. Each night thereafter, each family member was asked to leave a note in each others boxes, expressing love or appreciation to them. Carson really enjoyed this activity and every morning he would wake up and run to his box to see what notes had been left to him.

We will definitely do this again, but maybe wait until the second week-because towards the end, we were getting a little forgetful when it came to our Valentine boxes!

Camping Party!

2009-02-15T23:26:00.000-08:00

Carson carpools with two little guys J and P. The three of them have become best buddies. They want to play together every day after school, and usually do have weekly play dates. Last week we hosted the boys but I wanted to do something more than just 'free play.'

That morning when I picked them up for school, I gave each boy an invitation to the camping party. They were so excited and so cute.

I had a tent/fort set up for them when they came home that they loved. Carson received a star theater for Christmas so we set that up and they watched a star show on the ceiling of the tent. I then read the boys ghost stories by our fireplace. After that we made smores and cooked them in the oven. The kids had so much fun and played in the fort for hours.

Poor little Hannah really wanted to join in all of the fun...she loves her brother and always wants to be by his side!

Carson's Photo Shot of Hannah

2009-02-15T23:08:00.000-08:00

While I was preparing dinner the other night Carson whipped out my camera to take some pictures of Hannah.

Here are the results...

As you can see, Hannah was thrilled about this.

Ice Skating...with first graders!?!

2009-02-15T20:39:00.000-08:00

I was 'lucky' to go ice skating at the Ice Sheet with Carson's class the last week of January. It is a yearly tradition that the ALA program goes ice skating each year for their January field trip. First of all, it has been many, many years since I went ice skating. Let alone while I was 'helping" 5 children seven year olds who had never ice skated before. Can we say wet pants, sore muscles (for me), and bambi on ice x5?

Second of all, the ice skates were all WAY to small. Each of the kids had a little note pinned on by their parents stating their shoe size-trying to make the process a little easier. But every child in my group had to go up at least TWO sizes before we could even get them on. So after 30 minutes of trying to get the right size and get them on-we were ready to hit the ice-literally.

All the children in my group (and basically the entire class) were clinging to the wall in fear for the first 20 minutes.

Slowly most of them got braver and braver and by the end we had a few who could actually "ice walk." It actually turned out to be a fun and humerous day!

This is Carson and his cute little 'girlfriend" L.

Happy 18 months Hannah!

2009-01-19T11:28:00.000-08:00

My little one is officially one and 1/2 years old. Read all about our 18 month old...

New words and favorites: Hot, No!, Yes!, Fishes, look. Everything and everyone is now Mama too. She calls Cam Mama it is kind of funny.

Favorite foods: Sausage, peaches, grapes, potatoes, and anything she can dip. She loves to dip food in ketchup, ranch, cool whip, spaghetti sauce. If I want her to try something all I need to do is serve it with some kind of dip and she loves it. She also loves to "dip" her grahm crackers in milk.

She is now a professional climber. She loves to climb up and down the stairs, on the in-table, in the chairs, on the coach. You name it, Hannah will climb it.

She loves, LOVES, her blankies. She carries them around all the time. She loves to snuggle her face into her blankets and be wrapped up tightly in them. She can hardly stand to have them folded up and put away she always wants ALL of them out.

She has started to "pretend" play. She pushes cars on pretend roads and says "brooom." She likes to pretend to "feed" other people with her little spoon. She is a little mother to her babies. She wraps them in a blanket and lays them down on pillows and couches. She pats their backs and says "Shhh" to them. It is so cute.

She still loves animals and screams in delight every time she sees our cat. She knows where the cat food is and always wants to feed the cat. She can make these animal sounds; meow, baa, click her tongue for a pony sound, woof, quack (to her all birds quack), moo, and SSSS (for snake). Bears, Lions, Tigers, and Dinosaurs all say "Grrrr" according to Hannah.

She loves her big brother and being chased by him. She likes to wake him up in the morning.

She always wakes up so happy and easily. Once she is awake she never wants to go back to sleep-no matter how early it is!

She loves to "ride" things. Anything that looks like it could be sat on and rode, Hannah wants to do it. I can't tell you how long I have sat in the entry way to Wal-mart riding the Garfield car.

She still loves music and getting her groove on.

She likes to spin in circles until she gets so dizzy she falls down. Then she giggles and giggles.

She does a little side step gallop skipping motion to get around sometimes.

She can point to her hair, eyes, ears, tongue, teeth, hands, feet, and belly. She likes to point to them on someone else better than on herself though.

She does not like snow.

She hates any hairclips or bows in her hair. She cries when I try and fix her hair. (Any suggestions here?)

She has just started showing love for objects-she kisses the the kitty in her book. She kisses her babies and her stuffed animals. She kisses pictures of her family members.

She attends nursery and so far she is doing pretty well.

Her signature look is her hair-sticking straight up. She just doesn't look like Hannah with "flat" hair.

I got a little over anxious one day and decided to see how she did on potty training. It was a no go. She is not ready yet...we will try another day. She did however, like sitting on the potty and having everyone cheer for her!

Her little hands are always moving, trying to communicate. She points, opens and shuts for more, reaches up to hold hands, and much more.

She is sassy and sweet. Opinionated in her own little way. She is beautiful, smart, and loving.

Feeling Sad.

2009-01-11T21:14:00.000-08:00

Spring Semester starts tomorrow. Hannah starts daycare tomorrow.

My heart hurts.

"Oh my baby, little one,
the hardest thing I do,
is hold you close then let you go,
and say goodbye to you"

Christmas

2009-01-06T10:48:00.000-08:00

Christmas has seemed like too big of a post to tackle, but I don't want to forget it so here goes.

Our Christmas seemed even better than years past. I enjoyed my break off from school and having my little boy home again during his break. It was so nice not to have to "worry" about school, and do as we please.

We celebrated Christmas with my family on Sunday the 18th. We made and ate homemade pizza's, played games, and had fun as a family. This day, I did not bring my camera...I am hoping my sister Carrie will send me some pictures(please?).

Cam had to work the morning/early afternoon hours of Christmas Eve, right when he came home from work, we headed to Logan to spend Christmas Eve with his Mom. The weather was surprisingly good that day and the roads were fine. We had a delicious turkey, potatoes, stuffing, roll (the works) dinner. Yummy! We played some games, exchanged and opened presents, took some pictures (with his Mom's camera, alas this day I did bring my camera, but failed to remove it from its case) I am hoping to get some from my MIL (please? :), then we played rock band. I have never played rock band but it was pretty fun. I was the "singer" and then I tried to play the drums.

We left and headed to Tremonton. We had debated on how to do Christmas Day. I had to work Christmas from 11a-5p. We thought about going back home to Ogden, I would work, then we would head to Tremonton for Christmas Evening or staying at Cam's Dad's house and Cam and the kids spending Christmas day with them while I left for work, and then I would go back to Tremonton after work. We decided to stay in Tremonton.

When we got to the Greener's home they were singing Christmas songs and Carson LOVED it. He wanted to sing "I'm gettin' nuttin for Christmas" and "Santa wears a suit that's long and red"" (I can't remember the title for that second song?). We set up our cookies for Santa and carrots for the Reindeer then I tucked a very excited little boy into bed.

I woke up at 6:00 Christmas Day and jumped in the shower. I didn't want to take any time away from Christmas morning getting ready for work, once Carson woke up. I got back into bed at 6:30 and asked Cam if I could wake Carson up and "get this party started" He said "No. Not until 7:00" I laid in bed, until I couldn't stand it anymore. I didn't know what time it was so I just decided to wake Carson up. I whispered to Carson "Santa came!" He shot out of bed, eyes bright and awake in an instant.

I covered Carson's eyes past the presents and we ran to wake up Blake and Karli. Next we woke up Grayson. Carson said "Grayson, Santa came!" Grayson groaned, rolled over and said "Thanks" It was funny.

Next we ran upstairs and woke up G-pa and G-ma. Before we even got to the door, I heard Ben say "I hear little footsteps" Cute. Last we woke up Bryce and Keisha. Carson again said "Santa came!" Bryce immediately sat up in bed and with the most excited and surprised looking face said "He did!!"

Everyone in the house was awake (except for Hannah at this point) and we went down to the Christmas tree to see what Santa had brought. It was pretty much the Carson and Hannah show after that, with 9 adults oohing over my two little ones :). Carson loved his robot, Santa brought and from what they tell me, he played with it all day. Hannah received a cabbage patch doll that she could've cared less about then (she likes it now) and a cat that purrs, meows, and moves around. She loves animals and loved her little kitty.

I have to put this part in...Cam is generally not very good at present buying and I am the opposite. I love holidays and trying to find the perfect gift for someone. He is one of those guys shopping on Christmas Eve that throws the present under the tree in the store sack. Well, this year I knew that he had not gone shopping once. There were no presents under the tree for me. Silly (and selfish), I know, but I was prepared to be disappointed.

Cam hands me my present on Christmas and I open it up. It is a tow strap. I was mad, but tried to act descent because we were with his family. All I said was "you get an F for Christmas" then he hands me a smaller box to open. I open it and a turquoise box with the words "Tiffany and Co" are on the front. While Cam was in NYC for business he bought me a beautiful bracelet from Tiffany's. It was a complete surprise and his grade went from F to A! :) (Again, yes I know -I am a brat)

After opening tons of presents, we had a pancake breakfast. At this point I had not looked outside. When I did the weather was horrible! It was a blizzard out there. I had wishful thinking that work might not need me, but sure enough they were swamped. I left for work and white knuckled it until I got to Willard and then the roads were not so bad.

When I left work at 5:30, I debated about driving back to Tremonton, or staying on Ogden because the roads were so bad. I didn't want to be away from my family on Christmas Day and they had no way to get home because I had the vehicle. I started the trek back to Tremonton and the roads again were fine until I got to Willard. From Willard to Tremonton I was thinking for sure that I was going to slid of the road. The visibility was zero! I wasn't even sure where the Tremonton exit was. I prayed a lot during that drive! Luckily "Big gray" does well in the snow.

When I was about 5 miles from the Greener's house there was a car off the road. Another man was stopped trying to push this car out of the snow. I had packed my new tow strap in my Escape and offered the strap. The helping guy said "Thanks, I don't have one, and I don't think I can push them out" He hooked it to his truck and easily pulled the car out of the snow. All I did was offer the tow strap. That was a little ironic-the gift I was so disappointed in, ended up being really needed and helped someone!

We ended up staying another night at the Greener's house because I did not want to experience driving in that again. I was glad we waited, the weather and roads were much better the next day and we could spend sometime with my parents as well. I always thought that I would want to spend Christmas with just "our" family but it was more fun and even sweeter when we were together with more of our family.

Of course we could not talk about Christmas without talking about our Savior. Each year as we celebrate His birth, I am reminded of how important my family is. How important my faith and testimony of our church is. How important my children are and what a great and lucky calling I have, to raise them, teach them, and love them.

I actually did manage to get some photos of Christmas!

Nursery...Already?

2009-01-06T10:31:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday (Jan. 4th), Hannah went to Nursery for the first time. I was sad and glad. Sad because my little one is growing up. But glad because it is difficult to do sharing time/calling responsibilities, while Cam is busy doing his Bishopric duties, with a very mobile, sometimes loud, get into everything, little lady. I was also nervous I was putting her in germ central in the middle of germ season!

So, I take my beutiful little one to nursery and go off to Primary. We had a sweet reunion about 5 minutes later (the Nursery has a great policy of a 5 min cry rule..after 5 mins, it's time to go back to Mom or Dad). She was all smiles when she saw me and clapped her hands. Somehow, I think this is the response she was after... :) Hannah stayed with me for the first hour and then we tried nursery attempt #2 and she stayed and did great (so they say...:) We will see how next week goes down...

I wanted to take some pictures of Hannah marking her first Nursery day, but also wanted to capture her beautiful dress she wore. A Christmas gift from her Nana.

(Note, we have afternoon church now and therfore nap time was missed. Hannah had tore out her pretty hairbow by picture time and also didn't really want to smile for the camera...these are the best I could do but I still love them.)

Catching Up

2009-01-01T23:46:00.001-08:00

I am trying to catch up from the 1000 pictures I have taken over the last two weeks and this is a small start.

I have posted a few new posts...not in the correct order, but in the order that I felt like doing them! I have included the dates for my own memory and hopefully to clear things up for you. So, scroll down to catch them all and read on if your interested!

Carson's Beloved Nutcracker

2009-01-01T23:37:00.000-08:00

The Friday (December 19th) before Christmas, Carson asked if he could "pretty please get a nutcracker". We went to good old Wally world and Carson picked out the biggest nutcracker they had (as tall as Hannah). He was so very excited about this purchase and also very grateful.

I thought the nutcracker would soon be forgotten but I was wrong. Carson has carried "Nutcracker Ray Greener" (The name he gave him-Ray is Carson's middle name) around with him everyday and to every event we have been to. He loves him, he plays with him, talks to him, and sleeps with him.

On the first night we had him he asked me if I thought that he would come alive during the night (you know from the book and the story). I said I didn't know and we would just have to see.

Well, guess what, he did! Every night the nutcracker would fall asleep at point A and every morning he would be in a different spot. There is nothing like magic and I hope we continue to have lots of magic in the Greener household for many years to come...

Carson's Choir Concert

2009-01-01T23:23:00.000-08:00

The ALA program has their own special choir. They had a performance on December 18th. The 1st and 2nd grade classes sang together and the 3rd-6th graders sang all together.

It was quite "professional" for a grade school choir. They sang a lot of fun, new songs that I had never heard before. The older kids did a song about Christmas lights with colored flashlights that went with the song. Carson's group wore little black and white vests that were pretty cute looking.

When the Carson's group came on stage. Carson was standing pretty close to the middle of the very back row-with all the second graders! He was the only first grader in that row, and taller than most of the second graders. That child is going to be 7 feet tall at this rate. He is a head taller than most the kids in his class.

Carson's singing was fair to good :). He put in an effort for 75% of the time, the other 25% you could tell he didn't know the words and was trying to fake it-moving his mouth in different exaggerating ways. He did look super cute though, when they did a little dance thing with one of the songs.

I am so proud of my little guy and can't wait to watch him grow up and be involved in all the things he does. He is so smart, cute, and fun. We love him so!

New Year's Day Sledding

2009-01-01T23:02:00.000-08:00

We had a bit of a tummy bug over our break so we weren't quit sure if we were up to sledding today but we decided to try it out.

We didn't stay long because of the above sentence and also because the hill was pretty crowded.

Carson loves to sled. He is very brave and just goes flying down the hill.

We took Hannah bundled up like a little eskimo in her own little sled (Or as Carson called it "Chariot for the Queen")

Hannah loved being pulled around in her little sled and riding down the "baby" hills with a great big smile on her face. As you can see in the above photo.

Cam's first time down the hill, his sled turned and he was riding down backward for most the trip. He unknowingly was headed straight for a large tree that was way off the sledding trail. I was screaming "Tree! Tree!" and luckily right before he slammed into it, his sled turned and he was able to veer to the side. He scraped by instead of getting creamed by the tree. I was scared and thought for sure we were going to have an emergency on our hands. It kinda took the fun out of it for me. As Cam says I worry to much. It's my duty as a mother, I say. :)

This picture made me laugh. It was harder than you think to pull Hannah up the icy slippery (small) hill. A longer rope would have helped out too, but we made it work and Hannah didn't mind!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

We have had a great holiday season, with much to blog about, which I will...later.

Of course I had to make some New Year's Resolutions and you know what they say, if you write them down you are more likely to succeed so here we go...

1. Scripture study at least 4 times a week
2. Quit procrastinating with school stuff...turn in assignments early, start studying for tests sooner etc!
3. Lose weight. Yes, the "traditional" resolution. Hard to admit like this, but not like its any secret I can hide! I need to lose some weight, and I have a great incentive to do so. I am starting a private blog to write about it, keep track, etc. If you would like to read it, leave your email here or email me and I will invite you. Especially ,those of you in the "club"!
4. Go to bed at 10:00 pm Sun-Thurs. I like to stay up late, generally doing non-productive things. If I can accomplish goal #2 it should greatly assist in the accomplishing of goal #4.

So there you have it, my resolutions. Here's to 2009!

Deciding who to Marry...answers by Carson

2008-12-30T15:30:00.000-08:00

My mother-in-law emailed me these questions (with answers from other kiddos) and told me I should ask Carson the questions and put them on my blog. I thought these questions were so cute and Carson's answers were cute too! Happy Reading!

How do you decide who to Marry?
I would just find a girl, and if she doesn't smoke and she does good things than I would marry her.

What is the right age to get married?
21

How can a stranger tell if two people are married?
By looking at their rings

What do you think your Mom and Dad have in common?
They both have eyes and mouths.

What do most people do on a date?
Go to movies and stuff

What would you do on a first date turning sour?
Turning sour, what does that mean?

When is it okay to kiss someone?
When you are 21

Is it better to be single or married?
Married.

How would the world be diffeernt if people didn't get married?
It would be poorer, because everyone would have to build new houses.

How would you make a marriage work?
The same way as it does right now.

The Big Debate

2008-12-22T20:48:00.000-08:00

Every year Cam and I have the big debate over a fake or real tree. Every year I win and this year was no exception! :) I have also convinced Carson that real trees are better so now it is two against one! :)

I love real trees, they are represent a tradition for me. I remember chopping down our family Christmas tree and then eating my mom's chili and hot cocoa up in the forest after. I love the smell of real trees and every thing about them.

Although we don't go up to the mountains and chop down our own tree (I would if we could!) we still have fun picking out our tree. Carson is the designated tree picker and always wants the fattest one.

Our tree this year is very simple but beautiful. It has white lights on it and then white handmade crocheted snowflakes (made by my mom) on it. There is a reason why there are no other ornaments on our tree...

When Carson was one, he pulled an ornament (a glass bulb) off the tree, tried to eat it, and broke it. He had little glass shards all over his little hands and little cuts all around and inside his mouth. I immediately thought worst case scenario- that he had glass in his stomach and during the night it was going to cut open his stomach or intestines or something and he was going to die, so after playing those thoughts in my head we took him to the ER. A few hours later we were home with our happy boy who hadn't swallowed any glass. (Just for journaling purposes ;) this happened while I was sleeping after working a graveyard and Cam was "watching" Carson-I forgive you Cam...:)

Needless to say I am still weary of ornaments when the kids are in that exploratory stage which our Hannah defiantly is. I love our simple REAL tree though!

See...look how "helpful" Hannah is-imagine if those were breakable ornaments! Also, isn't Hannah's dress cute?

Carsons second birthday party!

2008-12-22T20:35:00.001-08:00

We had so much cake left over that the next day after his friend party (December
14th-also his actual birthday) we had an improptu party with our neighbors and Cam's brother and sister who also live in Ogden.

We have two very special neighbors that are family to us. They love my kids and my kids love them. Carson and Hannah are very spoiled by both neighbors. We are so lucky to have them in our lives.

One set of neighbors that I am talking about live in the house right next to ours. Carson would live there if I would let him. J (the wife) has a flower press that Carson loves. Almost everyday in the spring and summer Carson looks for flower or leaves to bring to J to put in the flower press. He knows right where it is and knows how to work it. He even "borrowed" the flower press for a few days because he had so much "work" to do (according to him).

J and T came over to our little B-day party and gave Carson his very own flower press. I have never seen anything like it. I asked J where she got it and she said she "won" it at an auction this summer just for Carson. She said she could not wait for his birthday to give it to him. Carson was of course estatic. Too bad it is winter...

I could not believe what a nice, well thought of, gift this was for our Carson. We love J and T and appreciate them so much!

Carson with our beloved neighbors and the beloved flower press. If you click on the picture you will see that J and T are both holding a small piece of paper. Carson made them a little note that said "You are owes (always) loved"

Carson's Birthday Party

2008-12-22T20:01:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the school year, a "rule letter" was sent home to all students. One of the rules stated that party invitations could not be given out at school unless ALL children were invited to attend. Good rule.

Carson read this and immediately interpreted this to mean that when you have a party you invite everyone in your class. He preceded to remind me of this many times, and even more so, when it came time to planning his birthday party. The more the merrier but where to have this party??

The Treehouse Children's Museum was perfect for the occasion. They did such a great job and the party was a huge success. The invitations, craft, a special story, cake and ice cream, plus plenty of time to play in the museum was included in this party package and it was worth it. It was a no stress, safe, and fun place for Carson's friends.

On the invitations I wrote:
"No gifts please. Your Child's presence is present enough!"

Carson has more toys and things than he can even play with. I just didn't want people to feel obligated to buy him a present. I also didn't want it to seem like we invited the entire class just so he could get more presents or something. There are also many children in his class that I know (from volunteering, field trips etc), but do not know their parents. I was worried about Carson because he like any little boy loves presents but he was more excited to have his friends be together and have fun. This idea worked really well for us.

So, during the time the museum sets apart for gift opening I had the kids draw a picture of themselves and sign their name to put in a memory book for Carson. This turned out so darling and will be something I continue to do.

Two of Carson's Party Pals portraits of themselves. (Note...each child had their own piece of paper, I just scanned these two together so I could show you more of the masterpieces!)

Matt our "Party Planner" He was great!

Carson choose a pirate theme for his party. Here are all his guests wearing their craft (the pirate hats) and saying "Arrgh!"

Carson's cake, included in the package. It is a treasure chest. It was so delicious! It was seriously one of the best cakes I have ever eaten!

My 7 Year Old

2008-12-15T08:02:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post this yesterday, but ran out of time. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

All about Carson at 7 years old!

Carson is very tall for his age. He is at least 2 inches taller than the next tallest student in his grade. I asked him once if he was the tallest person in his class he thought about it and then answered "No, Miss Carter (his teacher) is taller than me"

He loves telling jokes and knock knock jokes. Some are funny, most aren't!

His favorite activity at home is playing games. He loves Monopoly, Life, card games like Uno and Old Maid.

He loves to read and is very good at it. His favorite books are the Magic Treehouse series. Books about the earth, Volcanos, the Human Body (he loves learning how the body works) We also just finished James and the Giant Peach and he really enjoyed that.

He is a fast runner. I really think that is going to be Carson's "sport" He can outrun anybody. Even Cam has to seriously try to stay the same pace as our little Dash.

He loves school and he loves his teacher. I can't say enough good things about the ALA program and his teacher. He has really changed this year and loved school.

He is a great big brother. He does like to pester Hannah but really he does love her so very much.

He is so friendly. He can start a conversation with anybody and he makes friends easily.

He loves primary. He always wants to be called on and always wants to participate. He suprises me with all he knows sometimes. Recently he repeated the story of Lazarus-and I was shocked. He really is listening and taking it all in!

Girls don't have "cooties" yet and he has quite a few "girlfriends." Just ask him about them and he will say "Oh I have tons of them"

He loves playing outside and going on hikes. He loves to explore new things.

He is fascinated with all thigs science. He loves to do experiments and we have concocted quite a few interesting things in the kitchen.

He loves to stay up late and will try any excuse to stay up just a minute longer.

He has an uncontrolable appetite. I don't know how we are going to keep this kid fed! He eats as much as Cam.

He is "Mr. Question" he always wants to know how something works, why something happened, what I am talking on the phone about, and on and on. Questions, questions all day long.

He is very loving and writes cute little love notes for his family and friends. At his birthday party he wrote everyone notes that said "You are owes (always) loved"

This list could go on forver, we love our boy. He is perfect. We always thank our Heavenly Father for sending him to us! I am so proud to be his mom.

Happy Birthday Carson!

2008-12-14T20:01:00.000-08:00

Today is my handsome little boys 7th birthday. I love this boy so much!

Happy Birthday Son!

NYC Blog

2008-12-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

I started a new blog to document or NYC trip. You can see it here. I am having major blogger issues-it isn't formatting the way I want it too. So it looks pretty messy right now...I need to clean it up, but its a start.

Missing

2008-12-02T21:42:00.000-08:00

We are missing him already... It's different knowing that Cam is at work, or at Bishopric, or working at the duplex because I know he will be home soon. We don't know when he really will come home at this point..maybe two weeks-maybe six, maybe more?? Carson immediately comes home from school and wants to email Dad...Hannah keeps walking into different rooms in the house saying Dada? Dada? looking for her daddy...and for me, time is creeping by, my mind is playing tricks on me (ie noises, shadows, all that good stuff), and I am well basically lonely...

Being a little mischievous...

2008-12-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

I think these pictures speak for themselves...

Being Thankful

2008-11-26T22:51:00.000-08:00

This is the season for reflecting and thinking about all the things we have to be thankful for. This year I find myself being a little emotional when I think of all I am thankful for. I have three (true) stories I have been thinking about constantly and wanted to share them. They have been unwilling to leave my mind and have truly changed my perspective!

#1 After a few hours of picking up wet soggy leaves, Carson, Hannah, and I headed off to our local 7-11 for a well deserved slurpee. I didn't bother changing my clothes or cleaning up at all and needless to say we weren't looking our best. Carson had a dirt smudge on his face and dirty wet knees from kneeling on the grass. Hannah had red watery eyes from being outside and wet knees too. We were all wearing our work clothes which were now pretty dirty.

We ran in the store grabbed our slurpee and went to the cash register to pay. The total popped up and I started digging through my purse. I was certain I had enough coins to pay the total and continued to rummage. I could have easily slipped the cashier my debit card or the $10.00 bill I had, but you know how it is-I didn't want to use those for my 1.92 tab. I still needed to find 5 cents when the man behind me reached over and provided the nickle. He said to me "Here you go, don't worry about it. I've had hard times too."

I turned to look at him and embarrassingly explain "Oh no, I have the money..." but I stopped. This man looked as though he had lived through hard times and they weren't over yet. In my imperfect eyes, I thought I should have been giving this guy some money not the other way around. I simply smiled and said "Thank you" and he smiled back and cooed to my baby.

My heart was humbled and it reminded me of the story of the Widow's Mite (Mark 12:41-44).

I have much yet I give little.

#2 We have been feeding the ducks at Beus Pond as often as we can. On this particularly week as we were getting out of the car, a disabled man was unloading the trunk of his car-which was FULL of bread. The man saw Carson and asked Carson if he wanted some more bread to feed the ducks with. Carson happily accepted the bread and we took our arms full of bread down to the feeding dock.

The man continued to tell me that every day he goes to a different set of stores and asks them for the bread that is expired (that they would normally throw away he said) and brings it all to feed the ducks. He said he worries about the ducks and wants to make sure they are getting enough to eat.

You all know I have a soft spot for animals and this made me want to cry! I couldn't imagine all the time and effort it took this man to go to the stores, gather the bread, and bring it to the pond each and every day. I know they are "just" ducks but they are also one of God's creations. It made me think we are all in this same big world, just trying to do our best each day, and make a difference somehow. This man made a difference.

#3 Another money story. A few nights ago Cam and I were discussing money while Carson was drawing at the kitchen table. We were not arguing. The conversation consisted of Cam trying to convince me that we should invest in another rental property with me trying to talk him out of it! It wasn't really about money as much as it was about the time it would take Cam away from being home.

Carson got the impression that we needed more money to be able to buy the rental property. He tapped us on the shoulder and slipped us this note. My son knows only to give.

Click to enlarge.

I am blessed. I am grateful. I can do better. I want to do better. I can give. I can make a difference. I am thankful for these small stories to help me see what is truly important and just how blessed I am. I have much to be thankful for.

Hannah at 16 months old!

2008-11-18T08:08:00.000-08:00

Note: I have had this as a draft since 11/18-and just got around to finishing it!

I was only planning on doing a Hannah spotlight every three months now, but she has learned so much more and I wanted to document it! So here's Hannah....

She can fold her arms when we say the prayer and she hollers her own "Amen" at the end. It sounds nothing like amen but she says the exact same sound after every prayer.

Loves, loves LOVES to dance-she is so stinking cute when she hears music. She has a new move now too...a little squatting motion -it is hilarious.

Still only 8 teeth and no signs of any molars yet...where are you teeth?

Everything is Mama, Dada, or Brother (sounds like Ba-ber). She always says "Hi Ba-ber".

New words include (things that sound like)- "good girl" and "peek-a boo" and "here." She will hand me things and say "here mama"

She has also now learned the word No. I think she picked it up from singing Three little monkeys jumping on the bed. (You know the part where it says "NO more monkeys jumping on the bed) because she only says NO after we sing that song.

Carson has been trying to teach her how to count and she can chime in with "twoooo"

She is fascinated with other babies and other little kids. She just looks at them and acts like she wants to touch them, but at the last minute changes her mind and pulls her hand back. It is very cute.

She is an animal lover. Especially our cat and small dogs. She doesn't know what to think of bigger dogs yet. Animal sounds she can mimic are:

"oof oof" for a dog barking

"mooooooo" for a cow

"ack ack" for a duck quack

"meowww" for a cat

She has been waking up VERY early around 5:30 or 6:00 (if I'm lucky!) in the morning (an hour earlier than her usual wake up time). She is still going to bed at the same time. When I tried putting her to bed later it only resulted in one more hour of night time unhappiness and a very happy baby at 6:00 am.

She will occasionally smile on demand with the cutest little scrunched up face that you can't help but smile back at. She is a little stingy though and will only do it when she feels like it!

She is very independent and a little busy body. She loves to explore, open and shut cupboards, take things in and out of drawers, look in any possible hole or corner she finds......

The girl loves to bathe or shower. She runs in the bathroom any time she hears water running. She tries to lift her little leg up and over the bath tub to jump in! She takes as LEAST one bath or shower a day-depending on who can't stand to see her cry when she doesn't get in and lets her join them!

She is very good at following directions. You can ask her to get her shoes, or close the door, and many other things-she will always do it. I am amazed at how many things she knows and understands.

She loves to play on playgrounds and can now (and she now wants to!) "push" herself to go down the slide. She giggles and laughs when she gets to the bottom.

She is so cute and happy.

She loves to color (or scribble!) she always wants to have a crayon or pen in her hand. I swear she has "crayon detector" in her little body. No matter how well I think I have put ALL the crayons in the house away she always manages to find one and come walking around the corner with one in her little fist!

Oh how we love this little baby.

P.S. My mom made her sweater-isn't it so cute?

Our Day in Numbers

2008-11-17T20:51:00.000-08:00

89... # of times Carson asked when Mason was coming over.

3:00 time he actually did come over!

1 Mom

2 BOYS

1 GIRL

1 loaf of bread

24 slices in the loaf

50+ ducks and geese we fed

5... minutes... how long the bread lasted!

1 walk around the pond with a...

90 minute detour at the park

2 "secret" trails we discovered and explored

56...degrees...very warm and sunny for the middle of November!

32 pictures taken by the 1 picture crazy mom.

4000 lbs or Tons! ...the amount of fun we had!

Leaves For Sale!

2008-11-17T20:33:00.000-08:00

We have SO many leaves at our house and we have been slackers at getting them picked up this year! First of all, our trees shed their leaves a little later this year than usual and just in time to get rained on for quite a few days. Cam kept telling me that we would let them dry out for a few days before we raked them up. Well that day never came, it would rain again or we had something going on, the list of excuses could continue...

Finally, after feeling like we were "the trashy owners who didn't care" on our street, I started raking the wet soggy leaves. I set a goal of picking up one section of leaves a night, which is all I could manage before Little Miss had had enough. I completed 3/4ths of just the front yard until I ran out of bags today. On Saturday Cam Cam did the back yard and side yard. I have everything raked up and just need to get some more bags and then our leaf problem will be over for the year!

So far we have 28 bags of leaves and I figure I need 8 more to pick up the remaining piles!

Okay, this post is very boring and I am sure you were all dying to know about the Greener's raking up their leaves so I will end now with the most important part-pictures! :)

Carson and his baby blues..

Check out Hannah's face in all of these pictures. She pretty much hates anything to do with leaves...touching, stepping on, looking at...

2008-11-13T23:27:00.000-08:00

I heard this on the radio today...

"There will be many more times we spend without our children than there are times we have with them."

I just want to bottle them up and keep them little forever. I love my little ones...

Fall (Change) is in the air...

2008-11-11T09:54:00.000-08:00

Fall is definitely my favorite season and it always reminds me of change. The leaves changing and falling off the trees, weather changing, the time change (yuck to this though!), the beginning of school, and on and on. This year is no different. Fall is in the air and change is happening at the Greener household.

This Friday is Cam's last day at JD Clark and Company. He has accepted a position at Goldman Sachs in SLC, as their new Tax Manager. Leaving JD Clark has been a difficult decision filled with sadness, anxiety, and tummy aches!

Cameron has worked there since 2003-his first job-using his degree. He has been successful and JD Clark has been good to us. JD Clark is less than 3 miles away from our house. It is also "family friendly." Cam can come home early to tend the kids so I can be to work at 5pm, he could pick up Carson at school if I needed him to, attend activities, etc. Again, JD Clark has been good to us.

But change can be good and we hope this change is. Cameron is excited for his new job and new opportunities. He feels like this is a step in the right direction, when he thinks of where he wants to be in five years...

With this change, I have cut back working even more (if that is even possible!) I used to work 3-4 days a month, and now I am working only my required call each month (18 hours). Besides call, the next time I actually work a shift is on Jan 6th!

Cam will be spending (a lot!) of time in NYC training for his new job, and we are making a little family vacation out of a few weekends of it-which I can't wait for.

This change is also making us think about relocating. It wouldn't be for awhile (bad season and time to try and sell a house!) but it doesn't make sense for Cam to drive to work and for me to drive to the University of Utah for school...We really love our house though, neighbors, ward, Carson is in the best program at school, the list could go on. If and when that change comes it is going to be difficult.

But what change isn't?