15 Month Appt!

We took Carter in for his 15 month Appointment on Monday and here are the specs
He weighs 24.5 pounds 45th percentile
He is 33.5 inches tall- 95th percentile- the pediatrician said that if he keeps growing like this, he will be at least 6'1''. So that was exciting.
Here are some new words he can say: cracker, mommy, daddy, turtle, Elmo's world, apple, banana, ball, car, tree, grandpa, ho ho ho, bath, Einstein, toast, snow, cold, brrrrr, night-night, bye-bye, hi, and he has a friend named Audrie, and he can say her name. It amazes me how fast they grow up and how much they can learn by just watching and listening.

He also knows what some animals say, we need to work more on it, but he knows what a horse, cow, dog, cat, snake, pig and duck all say. And he likes to sing whenever there is a pretty song on. (especially Christmas music). He also likes to direct the music with his hands, and also he has learned how to fold his arms and close his eyes to pray.

He loves to give kisses and hugs and waves bye-bye. and for the first time ever in his 15 months of life, he slept all through the night.

We are so happy and we love being parents.

Thanksgiving 2009

This year for Thanksgiving, I thought I would be fun to invite my family from Colorado and Boise to come to our apt for Thanksgiving. I didn't think they would go for it. I mean I wanted them to, but I didn't think they would. Anyway, they all thought it would be a fun idea, and then we could go see Temple Square and all the lights on Friday. So we started planning for just my family to come. That consisted of my mom and dad, my little sister Vanessa and my little brother Wesley all from Colorado, my older brother Russ and his wife Jade and their 3 kids from Boise. Then at the last min, my grandpa called and said they were going to come too from Colorado. So we were planning on 13 people in our two bedroom apt!!!!

Well...We had enough space....

Everyone had their own seat....

And we had way to much food!!!!

But we are so very thankful for all our family being willing to come to Utah!!!!


It looks crowded, but we had fun anyway.
My parents and Grand parents stayed in a hotel, and my brother and his wife and their kids stayed with us. I love having family over!! We did however, miss our other sister Elli and her husband Matt. But next year for sure we will all be together.

The day after Thanksgiving, we all decided to go down to Temple Square and look at the all the Christmas lights! There are over 100,000 strands of lights!!!! So beautiful!!!
It was a wonderful and very memorable Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for, and I am aware of it more and more everyday!

Trying to be crafty

For the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to be more crafty. I found this wonderful store call "the Wood Connection Crafts" and it is an amazing store. Everything and anything that you could possibly want made out of wood and you make it how you want!!!!


This Snowman I thought was so adorable. So I tried to make one!!!!

This is another thing that I have seen made before and decided I wanted to make one of these too! I ended up giving it to my sister in law for christmas, but still. So much fun. I also made 4 vinyl boards for my family, but I forgot to get a picture of them. oh well. Next time.

Oh and I almost forgot, ever since Devin and I got married, I have been trying to get my bread maker to work, but it never would. So Grandma Henderson taught me a new way, and wow!!! look what happened?

FREE CHRISTMAS CARDS!!!!

For those who are interested in FREE stuff, continue reading. my friend (thank you Jaclyn) found a website where you can get 50 free christmas cards. You just go pick out the design you want, upload a picture, and use a special coupon code. You don't have to pay for the cards or the shipping.( I actually had to pay for the shipping, Only $3 though. I got the 5 By 7 Cards) They are totally 100% free! How great it that?!?

Here's how to do it:

1.) Go to http://seehere.com and click on photo cards

2.) Choose your background

3.) Upload your picture

4.) Save it

5.) Check out and choose a quantity of 50

6.) Type in the code newbaby or freebies4mom-1109 (newbaby worked for me)

7.) Give them your billing address and complete the order.

(You don't even have to give them a cc #)

8.) Voila! In a week you will have 50 free christmas cards delivered to you doorstep! It doesn't get much better than this. AND, its so easy and fast. It took me 5 minutes!!! It was so awesome..Thanks again Jaclyn

Head First

Carter and I went to the Wet, snowy park today, and he decided to do the slide by himself.
The second time he went down, he flipped over and landed head first in the snow.

Happy Halloween!!!

We took Carter trick or treating around our neighborhood and he got a ton of candy for only going to about 7 houses...

Devin was Batman, I was batgirl, and Vanessa was a bumble bee...

I made her costume, thank you "make it and love it". Her wings are made of panty hose and wire hangers, and yellow pom poms and her tu-tu is made up of toule and elastic! And she bought her antennas and her earrings I made also. (I have never been crafty!!)

This Halloween was so much fun! I absolutely love holidays. We started out by carving pumpkins, and we thought Carter would have fun gutting it, but we had left it outside so the insides were freezing! He didn't really want to touch it.













Then we went to our ward Halloween party on Wednesday, and got to go trick or treating, and Carter got to march in a parade with Devin.

He was Peter Pan!

Favorites Things....

We had our first snow storm yesterday, and I thought Carter would like to meet the snow....

He sure did!!!!

Carters new favorite way of sleeping!!

He unloads all the drawers and tears up the foil!!!

Need I explain???

I still haven't figured out how to post a bunch of pictures at once, so I just do separate posts....Anyway, these are carmel Apples dipped in pretzels,

And these are carmel marshmellows dipped in pretzels!!! I know what you are thinking, and yes they're delicious!!!

Carters favorite thing to eat!!!1 Blueberry yogurt!!!

Fall for sure is my favorite time of year....

Carter LOVES it too!!!

This is Andrei Kirilenko's House. He is on the Jazz Basketball team for those that are not aware!!! Ya, he is getting paid way too much!

This last weekend, we went with Grandma and Grandpa Hendersen on a drive through Small Cottonwood canyon to look at the rocks where they cut out the slabs for the SLC temple. The trees were starting to change colors and it was beautiful.
Carter and Grandpa have sure become the best of friends!! As you can see...

Macy's is the perfect place to learn more than just shopping...

See for yourself!!!! (sorry it is sideways, Devin took it on my phone!





Go Buddy!!!



They grow up wwwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy to fast!!!!

YAY FOR Birthdays!!!

Well today is my birthday, and I had told Devin that Carter will be walking by my birthday. This morning, I woke up to breakfast in bed, and while I was eating, Carter crawled into the living room, and stood up onto his feet by himself, and started walking. If he fell over, he would stand up again and try again!!!!!!!!! That is what I wanted for my birthday, and that is what I got. Thanks buddy. I am trying to get a video of it, but he won't do it when I have the camera.

we are sleeping better!!!!

Almost everyone knows that Carter has had a very hard time sleeping for the past year. He was waking up about 5-6 times every night, and for a while there, would not go back to sleep for about an hour and a half. I was at the end of my rope, just barley hanging on to the knot. Anyway, I have been reading the book "What to Expect the First Year" which has every situation or question that someone might have about their baby. There was a question in there about helping your child sleep through the night without making them "cry it out". Which I have never liked that method. But a lot of people do, and it works great for them.

But I had to find something else. It suggests to lay them down while still awake, and leave. Come back in 5 min, just to lay them back down and give them kissies etc. and then leave again. Come back in 10 min, then 15, then 20, then start over at 5 again. It was a long process, especially doing it in the middle of the night. But Devin was a trooper and would help me and get up with him. Carter was used to us rocking him to sleep, so while we were doing this routine, we would put Carter on his tummy and he would tuck in his knees and rock and back and forth. For a couple days, to comfort him, we would keep our hand on his lower back so he would know we were there. He has a beany baby ducky that is about the same weight as our hand, so we would replace our hand with the ducky and leave. It worked wonderfully!

So, it took about a week, and we can now, even during nap time, just lay him down in his crib and he will rock himself back to sleep. We have also got him on a nap schedule, 2 naps a day for about 1 1/2 hours each. He was only taking one nap a day, for about an hour, but I was noticing how tired he was acting all the time. So he now goes to bed around 8 and wakes up around 12:00am but goes right back to sleep and sleeps till 6!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes!!! The past 3 mornings I have woke up at 6, and couldn't believe that I have been able to sleep straight for 6 HOURS! WOW Way to go Carter! He is much happier, and is learning and growing so fast.

He used to sleep like this with the bear and all. The bear made him think he was sleeping next to me, and helped him for a little while. But now he has a new crib and sleeps wonderfully! I think we have tried everything to help him learn. But I hope and pray that from now on, it will just continue to get better.






Here is also a little update on what else is going on in Carters little life. He can say bye bye, doggy, kitty and tries to immitate everything that we say. He can wave bye bye, and blow kisses, and he knows what a monkey says. He is trying so hard to walk and is getting better and better everyday. Eating is also getting better. He knows how to blow on his food to cool it off, and he is trying to use a spoon. For a while there, the would not let me feed him anything. He had to do it by himself. Which was very frustrating. But he is leaning how to try different things and let me feed him.

We are loving our new apartment and ward. The ward especially is awesome! They are very welcoming and we have already made some very good friends. Its too bad that houses are so expensive in this area, we will never be able to buy a house. Oh well, we can just rent the rest of our lives. Ha Ha. Nannying is going good, the kids are super cute, and Carter LOVES playing with them. Other then that, we are doing awesome!

Girls...a little motivation never hurt anyone...well most of the time.

For the past couple of weeks, Carter will walk back and forth to Devin and I, and only take a few steps. This last week, he has been getting more daring, and will let go of the couch and walk a few steps alone, then realize what he was doing, and sit down really fast. Kind of like, oh no don't let mom and dad see me. Well this last Sunday in relief society, we were sitting in the back row, and Maren, the 17 month old little girl that I nanny was sitting in front of us. Carter wanted down. So I set him standing up on the chair, and he turned around, saw Maren, WALKED over to her, about 9 steps, stood right by her, and then pusher her over, then he sat down. She was fine, but I couldn't believe it. I wanted to raise my hand and tell everyone my good news. He had never done that. Well, pushing Maren over, he has, but not walking! And it is just getting better and better. Way to go little Man!!!!

Dancing with Elmo

I have started to Nanny some kids, and they have this Elmo that plays the guitar and sings. All the kids love it, and they dance to it. The first time Carter ever heard it, this is what he started to do...


(sorry its blurry, I took it with my phone)
They also have a tickle me Elmo, and another one that does the hokey pokey. They love Elmo, and Carter is starting to also. Carter is also learning many other things from these kids. For example, he won't let me feed him anymore with a spoon. He has to do it. So, he no longer likes baby food. He also tries to talk and make us understand. He can go up and down the stairs too fast, and loves to suck the dirt off of rocks. He likes to pull hair, especially girls, (sorry nat, we are trying to teach him so christmas won't be so bad), and he likes to tackle and beat up older boys. He is just learning so much, we may or may not be a good thing.

Carter's First Birthday!!!!

For Carter's first birthday, we decided to go up to Idaho Falls, to Palisades Reservoir, and celebrate his birthday with Grandma and Grandpa Phillips, Aunt Hily and Uncle Adam, and the timing was perfect for my Grandma Jaynes and Aunt Nessa and Uncle Wesley to come out too. They were on their way to Rexburg, to drop Nessa off at school, and decided to make a camping trip out of it.

Well we spent his birthday 4wheeling, hiking, and then ended with presents and cake.

He loved all the presents that he recieved. The hardest part for him was having to open muliple presents and not get to play with them. The Cake on the other hand....well...

sad to say, he didn't really want much to do with. He just poked and grabbed it, and really only took 1 or 2 bites. But can I really complain? He would much rather have a bag of cheetos, and crackers, then a huge cupcake. Oh well. It was so much fun.

We came home from our camping trip on Sunday, a day early, and not because we were tired of camping, (in a motorhome, how can that be tiring), but Carter had not been sleeping well, so no body was sleeping well. So we decided to pack up and head back early.

Monday morning, we woke up and decided to all go to the Idaho State Fair. It was a beautiful day full of tiger claws, corn dogs and those potatoe twirly things. MMMMHMMMM!!!!!!

Monday evening, we invited some friends and family over for another birthday party for Carter. We were hoping to have some friends there for Carter to play with, but they were still "baking" (meaning there were 3 pregnant girls there) and they are due in the next few months. It was a great trip to Idaho, and Carter had a wonderful 1st birthday. Thank you for all who came.