An adorable first

Yesterday Carson was running around and I made an attempt to get him to sit and watch a movie for once. That didn't happen at all. So he was in the backyard and my good pal Josey called. We were chatting about her wedding plans, Carson came to get me and I told him to hold on for one minute and we'd go lay him down for a nap. A few minutes later I realized he had gone in the living room, but it was quiet. I jumped up thinking he was actually watching the movie and I found this:

This is literally the first time since he was a baby that he has fallen asleep ANYWHERE other than the crib or the car. It seriously melted my mommy heart. He is getting to be such a big boy. 

 

Apparently I was wrong

I said last week that we had a frog in our window well and showed you a picture of it. 

Well, my mom and I were comparing frog sightings and she said the one she saw was brown. It was very obvious from my photo that the frog I always see was bright green. On Sunday we went out with Carson to see what we could find and at one time between four window wells we found SIX frogs! There is the one green frog and then five other brown ones we could pick out all at one time. Who know how many there really are since they seem to come and go under the lining. And they blend in so well with the rocks..

We've been keeping tabs on them and giving them froggie baths, which Carson loves. That basically means we fill up a bunch of water bottles and drip water down by them to get them to jump around. Oh, we found a black and white lizard down there too! I got video of a frog chasing it all around down there.

So yesterday afternoon my mom got daring and said she would go down to the basement to fetch some stuff for Carson. We were talking about catching the biggest brown frog, but I was too chicken. Once we got down there the thing didn't budge. I grabbed one of my tall, skinny vases and she got the frog to jump in. I was terrified it would be able to jump out so I kept a CD case partially over the top (you know, stuff you find in your basement, haha). We brought it upstairs and it was so fun just watching the thing. Carson thought it was so cool. After ten minutes or so we took it out to the front yard and let it go. We are contemplating getting the rest of them out...we are worried the little ones are that big one's babies. Yeah, I said it. We are worried about those stupid frogs! :)

Anyway, enjoy our cool little friend!!! He was such a fun new photo-specimen!

Counting

Last night we had to go to the mall to get Carl work shoes (AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!) because now he is required to have steel toes. While he was looking I was keeping Carson entertained. He "drove" the riding lawn mowers, tried on shoes, ran in endless circles and played in the playground.

While we were at Dillard's I noticed he was in a zone while rearranging things on a shelf and got a quick video of some of it. He loves to organize things into lines and he is getting SO good at counting. He can say a lot of the alphabet when you do it with him. If you say A, he'll say B and so on. If you just tell him to say the alphabet though he yells, "A B C O T M 2!"  It's the same every time and I don't know where he got that combination.

At the end of the video you hear him count to six.

Let me do it!

So, our child has become an independent person apparently. Every other thing that comes out of his mouth lately is along the lines of, "No, let me do it!", "No, let me try!" or "No, give it to me!"

He has to do up the car seat straps himself, walk up or down the stairs by himself, get his own ______ himself etc etc etc....including getting in the highchair by himself. Don't you dare try to pick him up, or else! (Which also means the highchair is one more thing we've added to the office since he uses it to climb all over the kitchen counters and get anything he can reach out of the cupboards.)

 

We also had to add a THIRD lock to our door at the very top. He uses the bench to undo the chain and throws stuff out the door when he can't just get the chain off. This one he can't reach. For now. I refuse to be that mom whose 2-year-old ends up at the neighbors and doesn't know about it! :)

The other "fun" thing he's discovered is that his crib is now an art project. One day recently he realized there are stickers above his crib. It's been all downhill from there. Every time I get him from sleeping now he has a blue dot on his forehead.

Another new development in his world is that he has really discovered bugs. He has brought me dead bugs and makes me come look anytime he finds anything. One highlight was a day last week when we were all sitting on the porch watching a storm. This cricket (maybe?) landed on my shirt and he thought it was so cool. Since I had a sweater on I was brave enough to snap a shot before I shooed it away. haha  Doesn't it look like it has a smiley face??

 And for over a month now we have had a frog living down in our window wells. I say wells because depending on when you look he can be found in two different ones. We see him go under the lining so there must be a tunnel connecting the two down there. The first time we saw it was when I was fishing toys out from the basement window and it scared the crap out of me. I almost touched it and screamed like a little girl!

Carson loves looking for him and yelling "wwwwRibbit!" 

(And that shovel is just one of the 20+ things he has dropped down there so far. I give up.)

This was last Sunday. Once again I'll say I seriously love the skies out here. I think I've figured out why too. Growing up in Utah made it so you only saw at most half of the sky at any one time since we were right against the mountains. Out here it seems so vast and it's a totally different perspective than I've ever had before.

I'll end this post with some Grandma love. Awww.

Carl heads to Dallas for a week on Sunday so that should be interesting. Wish me and Grandma luck! :)

The 4th at 12,600 feet

We were aching to get up in the mountains again this weekend. We had a great BBQ with a bunch of friends here at our house on Saturday night. On Sunday morning we got up early and headed out. At first it looked like it was going to be bad weather. It ended up being in our favor though. The weather was awesome when you got up higher, but bad in the city so people seemed to stay away that day. It was pretty quiet up there which is perfect!

We went up over Loveland Pass towards Keystone and stopped by the sign everyone takes pictures at. It was fun because this was the same place we stopped for our first anniversary weekend which was also about a month before we got pregnant. The boys were running around the hills and stretching their legs.

Our plan was to head up to Montezuma above Keystone and do a trail or two up there. We realized that Carson has been teething for a few days and he hadn't slept AT ALL the night before. Like, literally, he was awake moaning "Mommmmmyyyyy" all night long and didn't want to be held or rocked. Poor guy just couldn't sleep. :(  So even though the trail is super bumpy, he is a sucker for a car ride.

I can't even begin to tell you how gorgeous the views are when you get up where the "real" roads don't go. We meant to take Webster Pass and ended going up Deer Creek Trail. There were run-off streams all over. This one was as tall as the mountain.

One of my main goals no matter where we go is to find as many animal friends as I can. When we got up to the top I spotted this big horned sheep and snapped a quick pic as we drove by. There was a second one just below him over the hill.

The trail normally would keep going from where we stopped, but it was blocked by a large chunk of snow still there. The view up there was 360 degrees and outstanding.

It was a pretty fun place to set up shop and have a picnic.

When we were done having lunch we went all the way back to the bottom and went back up to the real Webster Pass. Carl has been on it before and was determined to go find the "water crossing". It really is a Jeep and guy thing I guess. Anyways, it was pretty neat when we found it.

Yep, that's actually the road he's crossing. He didn't just venture down a river. haha

Carson was so excited to find somewhere that he was encouraged to throw rocks!! :)

When we were leaving I went to find 'Monster Jeep' which is Carson's new favorite toy to bring along. As I walked up the hill I saw this and had to snap a pic. So cute :)

And last, but not least, I have to share some of the randomness I found. 

I knew Montezuma would be a gold mine when this is how they advertise themselves as you pull into town:

I guess this place was a big deal back in the gold rush, but is now somewhat of a ghost town with a few people still sticking around. It has some ancient buildings mixed in with a few newer homes and randomness galore.

Some of my favorite things to see and photograph are bizarre signs, license plates, graffiti and walls. 

And now we come to what is possibly the greatest sign I've ever found. 

Carl and my mom didn't get it, but if you do then it's awesometown.

You didn't think we could go on an outing and get away with less that 3 billion photos, did you?!

Backyard play

Luckily we can lock Carson in the backyard now because he wants to come in and out all day long. Unfortunately we have a TON of flies now, but that's a different issue. The other night he drove off the edge of the patio and fell over in the car. He was devastated at the time, but now it's so fun to try and recreate it. Now that we have "own Jeep" in the front yard the Cozy Coupe has found it's niche in the backyard. :)

We got him a "construction site" sandbox a few weeks ago. Carl didn't want to, but I was sick of him getting bored immediately and wanting to play with everything he shouldn't out there. It came with two little tractors and has an excavator on the side to dig in the sand with. It has been so messy so far though! We knew it would be, but it has taken a lot of patience to teach him the sand stays in the box! Not to mention in the window wells so far there have been: three shovels, a broom, four pieces of sidewalk chalk, our one and only snack cup lid, two drum sticks, tons of rocks and piles of sand. We also found a froggie friend down there....... We've cleaned one out so far and some of that stuff is back down there for a second time.

He chooses to just jump in it at random times.

Happy Anniversary to us :)

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary! Time is flying by, but in the best way possible. I couldn't ask for a better husband and father to my little dude.

I rarely have to ask him to do anything twice, even though he has to ask me to do things ten times. 

He takes it upon himself to bring me home big Diet Cokes after he has been gone 12+ hours a day.

He rubs my back many many nights while we are watching TV.

He buys mostly all gray shirts and black shorts, but still asks me if they match.

He'll never ever understand my love of year-round flip flops, sandals and hoodies.

I'll never understand his undying love for buying so. many. pairs. of new shoes.

He believes in me no matter what, even when I don't.

We love each other unconditionally and it feels great!

(Sorry to be so sappy....)

Anyways.

Carl started his new job today! He is going to be a Field Service Technician for Crown Lift Trucks. It seems a little random, but this company just keeps coming up in Carl's life. I honestly think it's meant to be. This was the THIRD time he had interviewed with them over the last seven years and this time it all fell into place. They were very eager to get him which felt great. The car business has always been second nature in our family, but it was getting beyond grueling. It is soooo time for a change! I'm very proud of Carl and everything he does to keep this little operation afloat. :)

And because I can always use an anniversary to shameless post some of our favorite pictures.... 

This is one of my very favorite pictures that came from our wedding. It wasn't even taken by our photographer, but by our pal Luke. This was mid-shot of cake being shoved in my face. You can see some weird ghosting of the action and the cake is flying though the air. You can even see cake shadows on my tongue! It just makes me laugh and feel happy every time I see it.

And a pic of my handsome guy I took just moments before he proposed to me. Think he looks nervous???

We get to go out on a date tonight, yay! 

Love you Babe!