Hooligan Highlights

2011-04-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

Wow it's been like a year since I've posted! I don't have much time for blogging so I pretty much eliminated it from my life but very randomly just decided to put pics on and might as well say a few words! We have been busy but good! I lost my job, our main income, back in October (looooong story I always meant to post and never did, old news now). Anyways, we have had many struggles since then but also many blessings and are learning from our situation and have hopes it will be improving soon. We are so grateful for everyone who has been concerned for us and who have helped us in the ways they could, it has meant a lot to us! Anyways, I think I have finally found something that will work well for me to balance being a mom and working. I'm doing bookkeeping for small businesses right now from home, it's nice because I am completely in control of when and where I want to work because they just pay me as a contracted employee and don't expect me to come into their office often because my original ad states I work from home! I've recently had a few other opportunities come up as well and almost had 5 jobs at the same time but decided to simplify, I have a hard time saying no to opportunity, especially when we need the money but I have a tendency to take on too much and it isn't good for our family. I stay busy enough with Carson and the work I am doing now! Garrett got his CNA and is currently looking for a job in that. We are hoping for one at the U of U for a few different reasons... We were able to go to St. George with some friends in February this year! It was a blast and a much needed vaca! My sister owns a home there and so we were able to keep it low cost... Garrett made me creme brulee for Valentine's Day (yum!) and also again a few weeks later for me and some of my girlfriends (he's awesome!!)! Carson is saying lots of words now and running around like the crazy toddler that he is! He has a very independent personality, which I love! He can be so wild and crazy but can also be very sweet and helpful and although sometimes he is too much of a handful, I wouldn't trade it for anything! His favorite things right now are choo choo trains (obsessed), birthday cakes (blowing out the candles and singing "happy birthday to MEEE"), santa (ho-hos), ice (doesn't care how cold his hands get), snow (loves to eat it), going outside, playing with kids (he loooves other kids and is pretty good with them, sometimes he gets feisty with his cousins but usually only because he thinks he's just teasing them), drawing, pretending to be a puppy (this includes playing fetch) running around like a crazy boy as much as possible!! His most common words right now are: choo choo train, me, cookies, drink, treat, mama, dada, go, pull (pulls on our hand and says go, pull), no, baby, book, aight aight (night night), shoes, banana, show (movie), ho-ho (we watch way too many christmas movies for april. I'm sure there's more, seems like he learns a new word everyday. He is also putting together phrases, some we can understand, some we cant. We love our crazy guy and our crazy life! He's drawing on my work papers right now so gotta go!

Fun stuff we've been doing!

2010-06-07T23:31:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day at East Canyon

Indoor Picnic

Went out of town for our 3rd anniversary to the Browns Cabin, thanks guys!

"Hike"/picnic in the mountains!

Carson turned 1!

2010-05-27T23:36:00.000-07:00

While I'm on a roll and staying up way later than I should, I figured I'd finally post about my lil man turning 1. He turned 1 on May 7th! Yikes, he's turning into a toddler (or is one?)! I love seeing him grow but it happens too fast! I took him to the zoo with my mom and sis in law + kiddos on his bday and Garrett and I took him to Ihop that night, which he loved and devoured the majority of his kids meal (lol the only time we've bought him his own food at a restaurant).

This is what most of our pictures of him look like now, a blurr...

He got his owie on his bday, freak accident in the car with an ice scraper while I changed his bum (he didn't even fall so don't ask me how he managed it!)

Walk down memory lane (backwards apparently, someone smarter should have set up blogger easier/quicker to use)...

9 months

6 months

4 months

2 months

So fresh and so new... It's fun to see him grow but it's sad looking at his newborn pics and knowing he will never ever be that little again and everyday he changes and doesn't go back... Something every mom probably always battles with!

The next day after his birthday, he had his big birthday bash, which of course was a perfect day except for when we were rushing to set it all up and it got extremely windy and then lasted through the majority of the party before it was perfectly still. I know it could have been worse but I was about ready to kill the wind at first but luckily I had lots of help and except for 3 of his balloons escaping out of the car, it was a success! He ate his whole piece of cake and another half and loved all the attention!

I can't brag about making this awesome cake but I can brag about having awesome enough friends who made it for Carson and helping with some ideas(?)! Thanks again Angie & Kyle!

Mason left on his mission a few day after this, we'll miss you Mase! He is such a good uncle (& babysitter lol).

What a happy lil birthday boy!

Blogging Schmogging

2010-05-27T23:10:00.001-07:00

It's been 2 months since my last post, I guess that makes me one of those inactive bloggers...

I was catching up on everyones blog tonight (it's been at least a month or so) and realized that it just makes me depressed. Everyone always has inspiring stuff to say or something cool they did or made to brag about. I feel like all I do is work and squeeze in taking care of Carson, small house stuff and family time with my boys. There's no time for projects or cooking or even extra time to seriously work on getting rid of the last few pounds of baby weight (which it seems like everyone else seems to lose in a blink of an eye). When I do have time I'm just too dang exhausted and wore out to do anything extra and usually I don't have time, it's more like I am not doing what I should be because I'm worn out. Anyways, those are my thoughts tonight, you all need to stop being so motivated. I guess I just need more time in the day so I can be a super mom like everyone else! Sigh...

It's mostly been the last few months or so, I intended to blog all about the changes at my work but... well that never happened. I used to work from home but ever since the word MERGE (gasp) was mentioned, my life has been a whirlwind of balancing work and home and going into the office against my will but liking it but wanting to be home more and feeling like a bad mom and wife because that's what gets neglected when work gets crazy. It has been one drama after another and things haven't slown down long enough for me to feel like I'm not running a marathon at work all the time. I work 2-3 days in the office and then at home some as well. I'm the office manager at Davis Security which merged with Metro Protective Agency. Eventually they would like me to be full time at the office, with my own fancy office, doing all the financials, etc. for both companies. Awesome, right?! Yes, I love my job (most the time) and feel important (most the time lol) and talking to people all day and doing what I do and my days at the office go by really quick except I'M A MOM and that changes EVERYTHING. It's so hard to balance the two, I love doing both and am having a hard time not neglecting one or the other and it really is so overwhelming sometimes! I really can't complain about it though and I'm not, its a good job and my schedule isn't too bad, I get paid well and they are being flexible by not making me work in the office every day. I know many moms have it much worse, work full time in the office or being a single mom in general so I don't know why it is so hard for me sometimes to find this balance! Part of the problem is part of me has always wanted to be a career woman, I wasn't going to get married, or at least not for a while but things changed (for the better) and I always knew that getting married and having kids was more important and its what I would eventually do (while working of course, which worked out better in my mind). Now it's hard to keep a career but still be the mom I'd like to be, I don't want to miss out on Carson's daily little things and having others take care of him all day (they do an awesome job though and are helping us tons, thanks guys!) and I don't like that it's easier to leave Carson and go to the office now then it was the first week. I don't like that somedays when I'm at home, I wish I was at the office and I don't like it that I feel like I'm only doing half a job as a mom. Don't get me wrong, I have always wanted to work while having kids and everything but I just can't find the balance I need...

Since everyone always posts their cool projects... here is what I do, so neener neener lol

Slaves

2010-03-22T23:58:00.000-07:00

All we had to do was bribe our neighbors with some Cafe Rio and they slaved away at our WT yard all morning... Angie and Kyle are quite the lil workers, thanks guys, youre awesome!

Our little observer...

Wee lil Leprachauns

2010-03-22T22:51:00.001-07:00

Yummy, green waffles! Unnaturally green food doesn't look very appetizing at all but it sure tasted good!

He really is Irish too, wish I was!

My lil Irish Leprachauns lol

The lil crawler aka Carszilla

Valentines!

2010-02-19T17:12:00.001-08:00

I was going to do a post with the pics I just uploaded but they'd pretty much be the exact same pics I just put on Facebook and I hate it when I duplicate the two too much, so since I think everyone I know almost is on Facebook, please refer to my pictures there for this post! :)

Valentines was good! On Saturday, my mom watched Carson while me and Garrett saw Dear John and ate at Outback (from a gift card from Christmas, awesome!) and then we went with some friends in our ward to our stakes 50s themed dance. Our friend, Rachel, is the activities coordinator so that was probably my biggest motivation for going and it ended up being fun! I havent been to a stake dance since middle school though so felt a little funny. We sure know how to have a good time wherever though! So we all went as the T-Birds and Pink Ladies, everyone there loved us of course! lol Then we continued the party at our place after til the wee hours of the morning (felt like it the next day at least). Sunday, I cooked Garrett an awesome Breakfast with sausage omelettes (we boil them, AMAZING) and hashbrowns. Carson was way sick so Garrett stayed home with him and I went and taught my primary lesson. Then I cooked him a replica of our Outback meal the day before (when I planned it I hadn't planned on going out to a steak house the same weekend), I make a pretty great steak considering I don't really care for it or Garrett just says that so I make it for him again ha. It was my year to plan Valentines day so no it isn't just a one way street all the time lol. He got me some awesome CG (cary grant) movies along with Rock Hudson ones (collecting both now). I got him some fishing stuff (very romantic) and I spread "100 Reasons I Love You" all over the house that he loved finding and still hasnt found some. Carson got a lil stuffed puppy. So that's that! Other than the fun stuff, we are cursing the tax man and Gs work for claiming a freaking 4 on our taxes so we owe the government, how infuriating is that?! We were REALLY hoping for enough money back to pay off a couple things and do some improvents on our yard. Its a real bummer when you not only find out you wont get that but that you owe money you don't have... blah. I've got some interesting things going on at my work as well but its too long of a story to blog about yet and its not necessarily public yet. So were hanging in there and still happy and doing great! Since I ended up doing a full post, I'll add a few pics for those of you who don't want to look at Facebook. :)

When the boys are away, the girls will play!

2010-02-16T23:21:00.000-08:00

This is from the beginning of January but thought I'd post them anyways. We had a girls night with the Halligan girls, chinese food and pampering, whats better than that?!

My baby is 9 months!

2010-02-16T22:56:00.000-08:00

We went to the park the other Saturday, Carson had a blast!

I cant believe Carson is already 9 months! He has 6 teeth, weighs about 26 lbs and is 31" long. He is so playful, I love it! He loves kids and being around people, which is really unusual for an only child. He flirts with anyone and gets so excited at the littlest things. He is such a tease lately and makes a game out of everything, I don't know how I'll ever really discipline him. Hes a little sick right now, has a mild case of rsv and a little ear infection but he's still a happy boy, cries a lil more than usual, is a little quieter and sleeps a lil more disrupted but still knows how to party! We love this lil guy and are enjoying this age!

Valentines Cookies!

2010-02-16T22:49:00.000-08:00

My neighbor Angie hosted a girls night last week! It was so much fun, I love you girls! We made some sexy cookies for our hubbies!

These were mine, I'm definitely not the best cookie decorator so thats why I'm not showing you anyone elses cookies lol

New Years

2010-01-20T21:28:00.000-08:00

Finally, New Years! Ha and you all thought you were slow... I was going to do a lil replay of 2009 but this is going to be as good as it gets...

We went out to Wingers for dinner with some friends and then went to our house and chilled for a bit. We were with a preggo lady and the other two couples had newborns so everyone left by 8:30. Me and G stayed up to party though and another couple ended up stopping by right around midnight so we celebrated with them for a while!

Our late night partiers... ;)

Part of the early night partiers! :) Carson LOVED seeing the cute lil babies!!

The preggers...

Proud Daddies!

Caleb and Paige's Wedding!

2010-01-20T20:23:00.000-08:00

Garretts brother got married December 30th (yaya I'm slow). It was a busy but great day! Poor Paige was freezing taking pictures at the temple though... All the Halligans (including bride and groom) went out to eat at Blue Iguana after, then rushed to the reception. Congrats guys!

Oh and I hate blogger right now, this took forever and of course the pics are always backwards unless I think about in what order I upload them all much too seriously, so you can figure it out I imagine... :)

Look at Garretts face in this one and then Carsons face below...

Garretts Birthday!!

2010-01-05T11:14:00.000-08:00

I threw a surprise party for Garrett at Ruby River. It was a success, he was surprised! Thanks to everyone who came and/or helped!! I think my sister got pics of the actual surprise but I don't have them yet so here's some pics of the day!

We had quite a crowd there, thanks everyone!

After, Shane and Nikki watched Carson and me and Garrett went to a movie and then the mall for a bit.

Happy Birthday babe! I love you! Thanks for being such an amazing hubby and daddy!

Christmas!

2010-01-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas! We had a Halligan extended family party on Christmas Eve, we leave that early to go late to my fams Christmas Eve party. Then we went home and read a christmas story and open our pjs. Carson didn't wake up til 9 Christmas morning, Garrett was dying, he had been waking up every couple hours (he's such a little kid, I love it!), he was trying to convince me that we should go start opening presents before Carson woke up when we heard Carson awake! Garrett got him super fast and was ready to go ha. We had fun opening all our presents with Carson, I think he did too and got excited about some of his new toys, although he didnt really know what was going on of course. We had a lazy Christmas day at home, it was great! My parents came by to visit for a little bit but other than that we hung out watching movies, eating junk and played with our new stuff ha. Garrett got a float tube and ice fishing rod, fishing movie, fishing rod and reel cover, fishing rod holder, transformers (finally something not fishing related ;) ). He got me a pink fishing caboodle ;), which I had to decorate and now it is fabulous! Along with many other goodies, snuggie (ha i cant believe I have a snuggie), hot chocolate maker, shoes, Cary Grant movie, digital photo key chain, nail polisher... Carson got some toys, books, clothes... It was a great Christmas! The day after was spent sledding/snowboarding at Halligans farm with their 4wheeler and then onto a movie and dinner with my family.

These are a little out of order, Christmas morning:

Christmas Eve:

All the Jacobson cousins

Christmas morning:

My fishing caboodle (or tackle box as G would say)

Day after Christmas at Halligans:

My sister found him this awesome Rocky shirt, I love it!

My freshman year roommates. We had a little reunion.

Decorations for Paige and Calebs wedding dinner, I didn't take very good pics...

We went to see the lights with Garretts buddy, Tyson and his daughter Camry

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T11:50:00.001-08:00

I need to upload pictures but I don't have time now, I'll have to do a bigger post later. I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We love this time of year and are excited to share it with all of our family!

This is from my phone and its really blurry but I thought it was so cute, he looks like such a big boy here!
This is the wreath I made this year.

Carson with Gabby, she's the daughter of my old roommate from Logan, Becka. This is her version of a kiss and his... She's 22 months and only weighs 20 lbs! Carson is so dang heavy... I'm sure he's over 25 lbs now. We just had to upgrade him to size 5 diapers, I thought the size 4 would fit him for a while, doesn't seem long ago that they were roomie on him!

Quick shout out from the Hooligans!

2009-12-01T17:51:00.000-08:00

We've been busy, like everyone else, but good! Both of our jobs have been keeping us pretty busy lately but we've also had time to enjoy life! I don't have much else to say but here's some pics!

Oh and my birthday has been fantastic! Garrett got up with Carson this morning (he sluffed his morning classes) and brought me mcdonalds breakfast in bed, looooved it! Then he made me a panini for lunch (one of my favs as well!) and then we went to a matinee movie together (Christmas Carol)! He's in class right now but when he gets out he's taking me out AGAIN, what a sweet hubby I've got! Thanks babe, love you!

What a sweetie!

The kitchen cake I made for my almost sister in laws shower. The last shower I threw was a baby shower so I was trying to get back into bridal shower mode and was thinking of what I could do since I couldn't do a diaper cake and then did a kitchen cake, it was fun!

Paige and Caleb's Halligan family shower

Thanks to everyone who helped!!!

Ha yes, he has cleavage...

My 2 favorite boys!

static hair!

Love him!

Waiting in the theatre for New Moon with Paige and Caleb! Loved it!

So excited!

He LOVES bath time!

Carsons 6 months!

2009-11-13T08:20:00.000-08:00

Yikes, my baby is getting closer and closer to a little boy, in another 6 months he won't be much baby anymore...:( We had his 6 month check up yesterday and he is the size of the average 10 or 11 month old! He's a big boy (in case anybody didn't realize that already)! He is weighing in at 22 1/2 lbs and almost 30"! Still in the 100 percentile range. So there ya have it, no time for a big post but thought I'd just throw this out there.

Adoption

2009-11-05T07:28:00.000-08:00

My friend Julie, from college, is trying to adopt. I am so happy for them that they are so close now to being able to adopt and can't wait to see them start their family soon. I believe in adoption strongly. I think a woman going through her pregnancy and pain only to give her baby to someone else to raise is one of the most selfless things a person can do. On the other hand, I believe a woman ending her pregnancy for her own selfish reasons is one of the most selfish things you can do. I also believe that being told you can't have children and moving on and deciding to adopt would be extremely hard but also shows how loving and selfless you are. Adoption has a very hearbreaking side to it and on the receiving end, a very happy beginning. This time, I am excited to be the audience for a happy beginning!

Lance and Julie are having an awesome giveaway to promote their adoption cause! (I didn't do this post for the giveaway by the way) Please take a minute to look at their adoption blog (http://lanceandjulieadopt.blogspot.com). Then, make sure to enter their giveaway at http://lanceandjulie.blogspot.com. The most successful way to adopt is word of mouth so please help them spread the word! Thanks!

3 posts in one day... I'm on a roll

2009-11-02T12:53:00.000-08:00

I met some of my sisters at Gardner Village on Friday with the kiddos. Sadie, Lexi and Brody just love the lil babies, it's so cute!

Proof I was there.

Carson and Hunter. So far Hunter is the only baby (I guess lil boy almost) that Carson looks really little next to and he's almost a year older. Hunter is a big boy too!

All the cousins that were there.

Hunter is so fascinated with Carson sometimes, its adorable.

Random video:

Halloweeeen!

2009-11-02T08:38:00.000-08:00

We decorated cookies on Halloween, can you tell which ones I did and which ones Garrett did? (even though he tried to cut his out of the pic ha ha)
Im in an awkward position due to balancing the cookies and getting it all in the pic, apparently we were pretty proud of our work since we decided to take pics of cookies....?

These were our creations with the leftover dough.

Garretts is the one on the bottom right, no surprise there...

We were all pirates for Halloween! This is our lil Pirate (notice the chest hair...)!

Jacobson Halloween Party.

Carson was so comfy with his great grandma...

Carson and Scout

Lil Pirate and Pirate Wench

Arrrgh Matey

I just wear these boys out...

In true Pirate fashion. What do you do when theres not enough hands for all your loot?!

I decided I wanted to make a Halloween wreath the day before Halloween (got inspired via Google, love the internet). My mom actually had a bunch of the supplies I needed, I picked them up on Friday afternoon, ran by the craft store for the rest and finished this around 2 AM Halloween morning ha ha at least I had it for a day right?!

Our pumpkin.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! We woke up and decided to skip some of the work we were going to do that day and ended up going out to lunch with his parents and checked out Winco. That night we just went to our ward trunk or treat instead of going around our neighborhood (we were just going to do a little bit anyways since Carson doesnt care much yet). We ran out of candy fast there, luckily we only brought part of our stash. We combined the candy we got there and the rest of our candy and ran out of candy at home by 8, next year well be more prepared! We had soup bowls and cider for dinner and watched scary movies!

Day at Cabellas

2009-11-02T08:29:00.001-08:00

After we went to Cabellas, I went to my friends house to help her organize and decorate her nursury. I got almost everything (just the animal print stuff) at Ross that afternoon, love that place. I still need to go back and bring them our drill so they can hang up a shelf and someday Lacy is going to paint the bookcase (right Lac? ;) ). They originally were doing blue and brown but then switched to jungle print so we incorporated the blue with the jungle print. Can't wait for little Eli to get here!

Garrett had a day off of school for fall break so we went to Tai Pan and then Cabellas.

Ha of course when Carson is smiling, G isn't...

I did the horns on purpose if you can tell what I'm talking about, I didn't know Carson was going to be all cute and smiley though...

Family Pics!

2009-10-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

My friends little sister took our family pictures a couple weeks ago, she did a great job! Her blog is: http://www.esenteephotography.blogspot.com/ if you're interested! Here's a lil sneak peek...

These were Carson's thoughts towards the end of the shoot...

Wow, I just uploaded a million pics, my bad...

Friends, Fishin and freaks (as in scares)!

2009-10-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

I have either way too much to say or nothing so I'm not going to think of anything because I need to work so I'm just going to put up a few pics so I can feel like I blogged! Enjoy... These are in complete random order.

Womens conference with the Hooligan gals, we went to the Blue Iguana after (I tok this with my cam phone, getting pretty pro at the self-taking pics).

Finally finished Carsons toy boxes during conference

Sleepy after eating lunch...

My boys!

5 months already!

Wearin' him out on the weekend as always...

Adult Halloween dinner party at our friends Jeremy and Camary's house!

Frankenstein and his bride, a pirate and his wench! Our team won the game so that'd be why we are all doing the same hand signal (minus Frankenstein, he's a little slow ;) ).

We watched 1408 after dinner and a game, it was so scary!

Garrett took two of my girlfriends fishing for their first time, they caught a couple and loved it!

Janae with her catch

Kortney

Garrett borrowed our friend Aarons float tube and went fishing with his brother Sparky.

Catchin' a big one...

Sparky

We went to Nighmare on 13th with our friends; Amy and Chris and Aaron and Tiffany (took pic with my cam phone). It gets scarier the older I am!

Livin' the thug life...

Baby Shower!

2009-10-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

Me and my friend Janae threw a shower for Lacy a few weeks ago, heres some pics!

I had fun decorating for it!

My first diaper cake...

Make time to laugh!

2009-09-25T13:37:00.001-07:00

My brother just sent me this in an e-mail and it was hilarious, I so needed this today! Thanks Trav! Love how most of it is sooo true....

Random Thoughts of the Day:

* I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

* More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that's not only better, but also more directly involves me.

* Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

* Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk

* I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

* The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

* Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

* There is a great need for sarcasm font.

* I think everyone has a movie that they love so much; it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the only one who really, really gets it.

* How the h*** are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

* I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

* I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

* The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

* Was learning cursive really necessary?

* Lol has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else to say".

* I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

* Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.

* My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us." Classy, bro.

* Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

* How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

* I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!

* While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it....thanks Mario Kart.

* MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

* Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

* I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.

* I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

* Bad decisions make good stories

* Whenever I'm Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don't mind if I do!

* If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring would probably just be completely invisible.

* Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from; this shouldn't be a problem....

* You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

* Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

* There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

* I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

* "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.

* I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There's so much pressure. 'I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren't watching this. It's only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?'

* While watching the Olympics, I find myself cheering equally for China and USA . No, I am not of Chinese descent, but I am fairly certain that when Chinese athletes don't win, they are executed.

* I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Darnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

* I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

* When I meet a new girl, I'm terrified of mentioning something she hasn't already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.

* I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

* Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles...

* As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

* Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

* It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.

* I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

* Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

* Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my a$$ everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time...

* My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Dad what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the h*ll do I respond to that?

* It really pi$$es me off when I want to read a story on CNN.com and the link takes me to a video instead of text.

* I wonder if cops ever get pi$$ed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.

* I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

* Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

* I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.

* The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimate d that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There's nothing like being made to feel like a fat b@st@rd before dinner.

I just think every post is better with a pic! BTW, babies sure know how to enjoy life don't they?! :)

Carson's 4 months!

2009-09-10T08:59:00.000-07:00

Seriously, time baffles me, how it can seem to go so fast and yet slow at the same time...? Amazing. Carson turned 4 months this week. It is so fun to see him grow so much! He is getting so big and not only has a double chin but is working on a triple chin ha! He can sit up really well now if he’s propped up, he’s just starting solid foods and wasn’t a big fan at all the first handful of times but he’s actually trying to eat it now, it gets all over his lil face and bib but he’s doing so much better! I get so proud of him and all his lil accomplishments! He LOVES looking at people, especially me, I’ll look over at him sometimes and realize he’s been staring at me for a while and the second I look at him, he gives me the biggest, sweetest smiles! He will jabber and squawk just to get your attention. He still sleeps great at night, he hasn’t woken up in the middle of the night once yet! He rubs his eyes like crazy when he’s tired but will fight sleep if he’s distracted or just doesn’t want to sleep. He’s like his mommy and doesn’t like to miss out on anything!
Here’s his schedule, give or take a lil:
7:30—8:00 AM: wake up, diaper change, go to mommy and daddies bed and eat 9 oz. of formula for breakfast.
Wiggle and squeal for a while and then take a nap.
10:30 AM: wake up, get dressed and a bath sometimes.
11:00 AM: Breakfast #2, 8 oz. usually.
Play time with play gym while mommy works or a walk with mommy, etc.
1:00 PM: Lunch time! 6 oz.
Nap time.
4:30 PM: Wake up and eat again! 6 oz.
Play time, usually in swing while mommy does stuff downstairs.
6:30 PM: Dinner, 6 oz. and some runny rice cereal.
Play with Daddy!
8:30 PM: Sometimes bath, jammies, then 6 oz. bottle.
Bed time!
He eats about 6 to 8 oz. for each feeding, most of them are 6 but depending on the day and if his schedule gets disrupted, it can vary. Garrett loves to tickle Carson with his goatee and Carson giggles so much. We love his giggles, he’s such a happy little guy. When I change him in and out of his jammies and lift up his arm, he starts giggling before I even tickle his armpit. He has the cutest little deep giggle. He’s started to purse his lips a little and keeping his tongue in his mouth more, which makes it easier to feed him his cereal. He is drooling a ton and has been for the last month but keeps getting worse and worse! He’s chewing on everything he can get his hands on and is getting so good with his hands.
His 4 months stats:
Weight: 17 lbs. 12 oz., 93% (he’s a chunk! Love it!)
Length: 27.3”, 101% (still super long)
Head Circumference: 42.5 cm, 56% (does anyone really care about this stat ha)

He’s such a great baby and I love seeing him learn and grow more every single day, so far it isn’t too sad but I know a few years down the road I will miss him being so little.

Randomness: As for us, we're doing great. Garrett started at the U and it's going good, he couldn't find a class he wanted (he was in one for a bit then realized it was an advanced class for a different major, not worth it just for his international credit) that was in between his other 2 for the life of him so we just had to give up but he's still taking a good amount of credits with his biology lab. Apparently hunting season is over, ha I always think it goes a lot longer than it does so it kind of messed up a few things for me but nothing huge, except I can't get on a soccer team and I REALLY wanted to play... The only team I knew about was playing on Saturdays and I didn't know if I could do Saturdays or not because 1. Saturdays are a pain to work soccer around and 2. I thought Garrett would be hunting so either he wouldn't be there to watch Carson or if he was, we prob hadn't seen each other all weekend and would want to play. So yeah, then before I knew it I found out my friend joined without telling me ha and it was too late for me to join (I thought I had 2 more weeks til it started too...) and I can't get a hold of anyone at the Murray place, nor do I really want to join a random team on my own so ya, oh well. I'm pretty bummed about it but I'll get over it! So guess I'll need to find something else, other than my workout, to help me lose some weight! Well, got to take advantage of Carson napping and get to work! :) Wow, sorry for the super LONG post!Tummy time, he gets his legs so high up in the air (this pic doesn't really show it) and then lifts his head so pretty much he's just balancing on his belly and almost rolls over half the time ha.

We almost missed him being able to wear this hat, his head is almost too big now!

He'd be able to get more food in his mouth if he didn't want to smile at us so much! ;)

One of the first couple times trying food...

I think he looks so handsome in this pic. Oh and I looove his new highchair.

We went swimming at our pool on Monday (If anyone ever wants to come swimming, please do!)

Just chillin!

I love his face in this pic!

Preparing for labor!

2009-08-31T17:50:00.000-07:00

A bunch of my friends are pregnant right now and I remember wondering silly little things about what to pack for the hospital! My sister-in-law did a great post for me on her site, Baby Specialist that helped a ton. I just did a little different one on my site, Managing Mommys, hope they help all you preggers out there!

(click on the links to go to the articles).

Post Preggo Bliss

2009-08-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

You've just had a baby; you feel a sense of euphoria, you love the way it has changed you and you have accepted your new body and well life is just perfect! .....yeah right! Like Megan mentioned in a comment before, the period after you have a baby isn't really talked about and guess what, it's hard and it just plain sucks sometimes! So I want to talk about it! :) I think there is this idea out there that once your baby is here, everything is supposed to be wonderful, and why wouldn't it be? You have a sweet, innocent bundle of joy that many people, who maybe aren't as lucky, envy you for. Babies are a great blessing but there's a little bad mixed in with all that good. Plus everyone is always telling you to enjoy these times because they grow so fast, which is true, but that doesn't mean it is all smiles and giggles. There's a lot of poo, pee and spit up to deal with, let alone feeling like you're completely crazy because your emotions are worse than when you were pregnant, you might have a hard time breast feeding or choose not to and there's guilt with that because BREAST FEEDING IS BEST and then every time you turn around you feel like someone is JUDGING your parenting skills and evaluating what kind of a parent you will be. Oh and you've just realized those 30 to 60 pounds you've gained WASN'T all baby weight! You can't fit into any clothes, you feel too young to be a mom and even if you can find something to wear to go out and maybe even get a babysitter, well you just might not want to, either you're too tired or you just plain feel DEPRESSED and want to sit at home and do NOTHING (where's the spontanaeity?). Yes, I said DEPRESSED! Even if you don't have to deal with full on post-partum depression, I think every woman feels parts of it after having a baby. It could just be because youre down because you're frustrated or all of the hormones; nothing you do makes you feel any better and you find yourself staring at a blank wall for who knows how long and getting extremely frustrated every time your sweet baby cries or fusses. You're supposed to be this super mom you've always imagined right? But really most days you don't even want to get dressed, let alone shower... (or work on losing all that baby weight). Most of this has nothing to do with your baby, yes they can be frustrating sometimes, especially if you have a fussy baby but most of it is because you had the baby and even though the best thing you'll ever have came out of that and yeah it's WORTH IT, it's hard and it takes a while to feel normal and like yourself again. Also, I don't think I have gained back the 15% of brain cells I lost when I was pregnant... When does that come back? Or does it...?

A few weeks ago I felt like I had no girlfriends and that they were all just so different from me and I think part of me really wanted someone to talk to about it all because it's kind of a shock. But this last little bit I've realized how many AWESOME girlfriends I do have and how many are going through the same thing! I realized that I had isolated myself a little by not making an effort and so I started making more of an effort but mostly I just plain got lucky and have been able to hang out with many of them lately. I don't have 1 group where we always hangout and do everything together, I have a lot of different girlfriends; single, married, pregnant, married with kids, etc. and they all are great for different things. Some of them I talk to on a regular basis, some I don't see for years at a time, some I see once a year, some I only see at group gatherings, but I can talk to all of them and it's never awkward, I love it! Anyways, so lately I have talked to some of them who have had kids recently about different things and was so glad to know they had some of the exact same feelings and struggles! So thanks for listening, sorry I'm a little crazy! ;)

Oh and guess what, I was looking for an image that could maybe back up my theory here, I googled a few different mom and post pregnancy things and they are all showing off the euphoric feeling I talked about... What's so scary about being honest?

Am I missing out?

2009-08-26T14:40:00.001-07:00

Carson is napping (love nap time, it could only be better if I were napping too), I'm working and getting distracted by blogging right now.

Does anyone else worry they don't get enough out of life? Not like "poor picked on me" attitude or anything, I feel super blessed but more like I don't take enough action to get everything out of life. I have issues with never wanting to miss out on anything, I have rarely ever been the one to go to bed first or say no to anything. Just wondering if anyone else is like that...? I feel like I have been wanting to be able to be able to work from home forever because I need that flexibility but now I feel like I don't take advantage of it enough or just get caught up in the routine of life and don't fully appreciate it. It was so hard sometimes going to an office everyday, especially in the summer and I love being home but feel like I don't enjoy it enough. Does this make any sense? I have serious issues in the summer because all winter I can't wait for summer and feel like I should do everything and be outside all the time but lately sometimes I'd just rather stay inside and work or something... Or even at night instead of going and doing something fun, I'd rather just stay home lately. We still do a lot of fun stuff, don't take me wrong and I'm sure next summer will be different because I won't be post preggo and Carson will want to be outside. It's also hard when I don't know anyone that lives by me though and most of my friends don't have any kids yet and are at work during the day. Plus I really do need to work but I can work at night sometimes too. I can't wait until he's a little older and wants to go to the zoo or the pool, etc. I LOVE this age too and am enjoying it though! Sorry for the random post, had a lot of random thoughts today! :)

Pics!

2009-08-25T09:26:00.001-07:00

I just started taking a ton of pics when we went fishing ha it was fun

This was when we were trying to take the pole and he wouldnt let go...

Just chillin

These 2 pics could not be any funnier with his expressions...

Lil budha

We both caught like 5 of these, I caught 2 with no bait ha.
I like fishin like that but Garrett prefers REAL fishin, not at stocked ponds...

Lil truckers

We love to smother him...

Daddys so fun!

I've got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight. Back to school, back to school...

2009-08-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

It's Garretts first day at the U! Yes, I made him pose for a picture! :)

Carsons giggles

2009-08-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

I've never uploaded a video before so I kind of just wanted to try it out... Something happened to our video and it's all black and white except for the green parts, weird. Anyways, Carson was giggling so much when Garrett was playing with him, by the time I got the camera he wasn't doing it as much and he gets really distracted every time I bring out the camera and stops what he's doing but you can kinda catch it at the beginning.

Rain boots

2009-08-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

Laughing at daddy

Contemplating life while still posing

His boots are on the wrong feet, hmmm wonder who did that

The only thing that would make these pics perfect (carson was definitely being the perfect model) was if it was a cute background, dangit.

More pics of the lil man!

2009-08-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

What else is there to take pics of but this sweet boy? ;) I actually do keep wanting to take more pics of all of us but I usually forget or its just not as easy as just taking pics of him, he's always photogenic! ;)Every night we put him to bed the right way in his crib and every morning he ends up all the way at the top and in the completely other direction. It doesn't matter how far down we put him in his crib, he always ends up at the top!

I like this outfit, he looks like such a lil prep!

Most the time he would rather look at us than his toys so he hasn't been grabbing for toys too much yet, but today I put this one in his hand and he held onto it for quite a while and played with/sucked on it.

Love these feet!!

He's been holding his head up really good lately and can do it for quite a while. Not as long in his bumbo as when you're holding him though because he has a tendency to like to arch his back and look backwards so he'll just get short/monitored sits in this til he gets more used to it...

My boys

2009-08-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

I know I already posted this picture of Garrett once before but the picture I took of Carson today looked almost identical so I had to do a real side by side comparison!

The one on the left is Carson, the one on the right is Garrett at about 1 year probably.

Fishin' at Silver Lake

2009-07-31T08:44:00.000-07:00

Last night we went fishin' at Silver Lake with our friends Joel and Seena. It was pretty cold and we didn't bring jackets (forgetting how cold it gets in the mountains) so me and Seena didn't really end up fishin but it was still fun! Carson was all bundled up and was smilin' and gurgling the whole time. Before we went, I got a surprise from Garrett!Since I caught my first fish the other weekend, I guess I deserved my very own fishing poll! I also got some fishing chapstick, a cute card and this super cute frame that he thought of and created all by himself! Inside it is a pic of my first fish (too bad it's not a cuter pic of me ha oh well). I asked him how he thought to add those things on the frame and he said it's because he married a designer, I've never done anything like that though!

Carson was nice enough to share his blanket with me

This was hilarious, watching a big guy like this scared of touching the worms...
We found out his wife usually takes care of all the creepy crawly things for him!

This picture is so dang cute! He was being such a sweetie!

After fishing, Garrett watched some of his hunting dvd I got him and I practiced tying fishing knots. Thanks babe, you're great, now I can be a fisherman just like you! Now I just need a caboodle like he has... or a tackle box, whatever... ;)

What I wake up to...

2009-07-30T14:54:00.000-07:00

Carson wakes up with the sweetest smiles, LOVE THEM!

He looks so buff in this pic ha

Quick post

2009-07-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

Jacobson annual party, Safari theme.

He usually prefers to stare at me instead of his toys, silly boy...

He's so smiley now, it's so fun!

Just a lil this and that...

2009-07-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

Garrett and our new nephew, Scout David Jacobson. Born on 7-7-09
(exactly 2 months younger than Carson)

Carson and Scout, I thought Carson was still a newborn until I met Scout!

All the baby boys (Hunter, Carson and Scout) have these matching camo pjs that Trav and Brandi got us, we need to get a pic of them all together!

I just realized I made it sound like we didn't have Carson the entire weekend last weekend. Let me clarify, he was only babysat for the canoeing on Saturday. I wish I had my camera because he was soo cute at the aquarium, loved looking around at everything and his eyes would get all big and bug eyed, it was super cute. He was great through the drive in too, he usually goes to bed around 9 and so we had him in his jammies and everything before and made a lil bed for him, he was soo good, took him longer to fall asleep but he finally did and stayed asleep for the rest the night, although he did get startled a few times during the loud parts of the movies. We are definitely lucky to have such a good baby, makes taking him places and getting him babysat so much easier!

Our weekend!

2009-07-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty eventful weekend! Garrett had Friday off so he could take care of some school stuff. He surprised me and we went to the Living Planet Aquarium with two of his buddies Tyson and Nick from Tooele and Tysons daughter, Camry. Of course, it was a blast! Then we hung out for a few hours in the afternoon, I worked while Garrett took care of some stuff and then...

We went to a drive in! I love the drive in but don't go very much anymore, this was the first time this summer. We got Cafe Rio to go and ate it at the drive in, Caleb and Paige met us there. We saw Harry Potter 6 and Transformers. Loved it! (sorry, been horrible at taking pictures lately...) Not going to lie though, it was a little tough getting home after 2am, that used to be a cake walk!

Saturday, we took Carson to my sisters house and we went canoeing/fishing with Paige and Caleb, Paige's lil sis and Mason.

I caught the first fish of the day and my first fish ever! Caleb caught one too and of course G caught a handful including his first Wallleye.

We definitely had a few adventures getting home but finally made it back without getting arrested or hit by any cars but were burnt and exhausted...

A Pirates Life For Me!

2009-07-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

Every year, we have a Hooligan Rendezvous at Garrett's parents house for a weekend. We slept in tents this year because of the grass hopper infestation in Tooele. Carson was great for his first "camping" trip. This year was a Pirate theme, we truly are pirates so it was great! The adults get more into the theme than the kids so its great fun for everyone!

The scavenger hunt, (this is what we had to plan). We did one where you drive around, I found it online and it ended up being pretty fun! We had 2 teams and met back at Carls where we mostly bought and bartered for their lunch.

Medium Pirate (she didn't want to be little pirate or anything...)
Works out good though since Carson was the lil Pirate!

The obstacle course, thats right: I won, not Garrett, ME!
And in true pirate fashion, I cheated (but only once).

G at the obstacle course

One legged salty wenches.
I need to get some of the guys pics from Diane and I'll post those.

Big Booty (yes I came up with that myself...dont know why), Captain Skull and the wee lil Pirate

Lil mans bed

All bundled up

Dreading Sunday!

2009-07-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

We have to speak in church on Sunday, ugh I'm scared to death! I hate this stuff, the older I get the more it scares me! We were fortunate to sneak by without speaking in our last ward and were hoping for the best here but not so lucky I guess... I haven't spoken since I was a youth speaker! I plan on staying up there as long as I last and letting G fill in the rest the time, hee hee. He's so good at this stuff though! Wish me luck...

Carsons 2 month stats!

2009-07-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

We had the lil mans 2 month appointment last night. Sometimes I can't believe its been 2 months and other times I think "wow, it's only been 2 months?" We are loving every new phase with our lil man, especially now that he smiles so much! I hate and love to say it but we are so lucky, he is kind of the perfect baby. Yes he does cry sometimes and can be a pill but most the time, he's perfect. As of last week, he sleeps 10 hours every night, goes to sleep on his own, doesnt wake up til about 8 am, its great! We just moved him into his crib last night too and he did great, we missed him though! I'm scared to have another one! Hope I don't jinx us with this post! Thought I better do a post with some info, usually I just upload a few pics and call it good since I'm usually posting one handed while feeding lil man (still feeding him now but being trickier). He got a new cousin yesterday, Scout Jacobson (congrats Shane and Nikki!). I thought I still had a newborn but after holding Scout, I'm amazed at how fast this lil man is growing! I already miss his first weeks! Seems like he jumped through the newborn phase... Here's his stats at almost 9 weeks:

12 lbs, 59%
25" long, 101% (he's soooo dang long!!)
Doc says he's developmentally about 3 months, he loves to look at everything! Also, he's eating about 2 oz more than his age so I'm glad to know we're feeding him more than enough!

As for us, we're just enjoying where were at now! Taking care of lil man is keeping me busy but working from home as well is keeping me beyond busy but I just try to remember how lucky I am to be able to do that and to not stress about doing everything because there is never enough time in a day to get all that I want to done. Garrett loves playing with lil man and Carsons face lights up whenever he's around, he keeps his eyes on him all the time! Garrett is super busy with work too, more often than not, he goes in early at about 5 am and doesnt get home til 5 or sometimes 6 or 7 and then still tries to muster up enough energy to play with us at night, I don't know how he does it!

Randomness:
Ya know how parents always have goofy nicknames for their kids? We now have nicknames for him that probably sound so weird to other people but so normal to us...
Bugs and Lil man are our favorites and now I can't remember any others but I'm sure theres more!

I was just watching some videos of Carson I'd made (just from our camera, don't have a video camera) and he was fascinated with them and loves watching them I guess but then he started looking at me weird like he couldnt figure out why my voice was coming from the computer when I was on his other side, it was so cute!

Garrett LOVES reading his fishing magazines to Carson and Carson loves it too!

2 months old!

2009-07-07T15:05:00.000-07:00

4th of July

Carson is 2 months today! Carson got a good birthday present today, he got a new cousin, we get to see him tonight!

More blessing pics, from my mas camera

2009-07-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

St. George

2009-06-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

We spent last weekend in St. George with part of my family for a little weekend vaca.

Pics are all mixed up. This is how Carson spent the majority of his first time swimming....

It was a lil chilly at night, he liked it better the next day in the sun

Glaring at G for laughing when Heather scored on me

The game is on...

Loved this restaurant!

Our lil Pirate!

Smilin' at Daddy

Tongue Fascination

2009-06-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

My mom sent me this picture of Garrett with his tongue sticking out. Carson is always hanging his tongue out and playing with it, now we know where he got the fascination from!

Carson's Blessing!

2009-06-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

So handsome!

Carson was blessed on June 7th. It was a great day, Garrett did a good job and we had plenty of people over afterwords. Thanks for everyone who came and supported our lil guy! He's a lucky one!

Sorry, been busy but heres some pics to update ya!

2009-06-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

Party Animal

Striking a pose

Loves his crib mobile

2 year anniversary in Park City

Were doing great by the way! I'm adjusting to working from home and taking care of Carson so its keeping me really busy! Garrett is adjusting to being away from Carson all day and he doesn't like it! Sorry for the boring post!

Carson's Blessing!

2009-06-01T10:32:00.001-07:00

We are blessing Carson this Sunday, June 7th, our sacrament meeting starts at 11:00 AM and we will have refreshments at our house after. Our church address is: 3175 S 3450 W, West Valley, Utah for anyone who'd like to come!!

Heres the story!

2009-05-13T11:34:00.000-07:00

Here it goes, I'm not a good story teller so hope I do ok: From the paper my doc gave us about getting induced, we thought we wouldn't get called in til after 5pm sometime on Thursday night, Garrett was planning on going fishing Thursday morning and everything and I was just planning on finishing some work things up, getting everything ready and doing laundry Thursday day. When they called Wednesday night with more info, she said to have everything ready that night because they could call us as early as 5 am but it could not be til later that night but wed need to be ready to go in whenever that'd be. We were 3rd on the list so it depended how full they got with women coming in that were in labor. I was hoping we got called in the morning but was ok if we spent the day at home relaxing together (G canceled his fishin trip). They called Thursday morning at about 8:15 and told us to be there by 9. It was kind of weird being woken up to that phone call and rushing to get ready and leave but I guess not nearly as weird as if I went into labor naturally... They induced me at about ten or so, I was in labor by 11. I got the epidural sometime in the afternoon and was in enough pain by then to really appreciate it! Love the epidural, its amazing! At about 5pm, I was only dilated to 5cm, I was progressing about 1 cm an hour so we thought we had a ways to go but 20 minutes later my doc checked me and I was 9cm, he went upstairs to do a quick surgery and figured I'd be ready to start pushing when he came down. I started pushing around 7 and Carson arrived at 7:34! I was amazed I didn't have to push for hours. It probably helped that we started our next Rocky movie (Rocky 5) for my Rocky Marathon I've been doing before pushing and it ended while I was pushing! He was 9lbs 8 oz, 22" long and has lots of hair, I was surprised with all of that!

That night we were going to sleep around 2:30 and the nurse came in to check his vitals and offered to take him to the nursery after so we could get some good sleep, I accepted and I'm glad I did. I thought he'd be back soonish to eat but woke up when the nurse came in about an hour and a half later and said he was breathing really fast so she had put him on some oxygen and was calling the pediatrician to see if he should go down to the NICU. Next time she came in and told me he was being transferred to NICU and then the pediatrician came in and talked to us. He said he had some fluid in his lungs and it could be infected, he said it could end up as nothing and he'd be back in our room that afternoon. Turns out he did have a little infection so they said he needed to stay in NICU so they could monitor him, luckily we always knew he would most likely be fine eventually but hated having him down there, especially with him hooked up to an iv, oxygen and then later on a feeding tube, poor lil guy had a rough start! I don't know how NICU parents can do that for long term, its hard and I hated not taking care of him, sometimes it felt like I didnt see him forever between visitors and recovering and everything. Saturday the nurse said he could probably come up to the nursery that afternoon and she was thinking he'd be able to come home Sunday or Monday and just do the 3 day antibiotics. He did come up to the nursery Saturday evening and we loved that we could be with him all the time! Sunday morning the Pediatrician told us that he was going to need the 7 day antibiotic treatments and would need to stay here the whole time, that was kind of a rough start to my first mothers day but once we adjusted to the idea, we were just glad he wasn't in NICU and was with us and it wasn't anything more serious.

So since then we have been fortunate to be able to pay to stay at the hospital as a hotel stay on a night by night basis, its looking like we will be able to stay in this room up until he is released (Thursday night after his 7pm treatment), that has made it much easier. We are loving every minute with our new lil guy and are so glad he's doing so well! We have been so lucky, our family has been so good to us and spoiled Carson rotten!

Update

2009-05-10T18:57:00.001-07:00

I was going to do a nice long post with the update and the whole story but I keep falling asleep ha so just going to do the update. I did upload a lot more pictures on facebook though so if you have a facebook account, you can at least see more pics (family: all of my pics are on the Walgreens site)!

Carson is doing much better now. They took him off his oxygen and feeding tube yesterday and yesterday evening he was released from NICU and put in the nursery! Yay, we LOVE being able to have him in our room and I hated when he was all hooked up to all those tubes so we are very thankful he's with us now! He will have to do the antibiotic treatment for 7 days so will probably be able to go home on Friday. I was "discharged" yesterday but the hospital allows you to pay for a "hotel stay" if they have enough room, were lucky so far and were able to stay here last night and will tonight, its kind of a day by day thing though, we could kicked out if they get really full and need the room but for now we are just glad we can be with him!

Oh and Happy Mothers Day all you awesome moms out there!

He's here!

2009-05-08T13:56:00.000-07:00

Carson Garrett Halligan came on Thursday at 7:34 pm, 9 lbs 8 oz., 22" long (yeah, I can't believe he's that ginormous). He's a cutie! He has lots of long, darker blonde hair! His mohawk is adorable! I'll give a more detailed "birth story" another day but thought I'd put up a quick post.

Also, we would appreciate prayers, Carson started breathing fast early Friday morning and ended up going to Newborn ICU to get oxygen and now he has a feeding tube too because he just wants to sleep... He has an infection in his lungs. He will be ok because it was caught early but will probably have to be there all hooked up for 5-7 days... :( It's sad to see all the tubes coming out of him and have him away from us but were glad it was caught early and hope he gets better soon and can come home!

Trick My Trucker...

2009-05-06T17:24:00.000-07:00

My trucker!

This is one of the oversize machines Garrett hauls...

His truck, it's a 2009 Kenworth with a Cummins 600 in it (thats really big)!

I know this is kind of a random post since you're all waiting for a baby post but Amy reminded me I was supposed to blog about Garrett's truck so here it is! Garrett works for Salt Lake General Contractors hauling heavy machinery, he has his CDL and everything so he can play with the big boy toys all day! He's really good at what he does and LOVES the toys!

Baby is Getting Evicted!

2009-05-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

Well, the baby is getting kicked out whether he wants to or not! I'm getting induced Thursday night so we should have a lil stinker by this weekend (Friday afternoonish prob...). I highly doubt hell decide to make his appearance before then and I'm pretty ok with that, thats kind of what I was planning when I said I thought he'd be late, really late... A few times I got my hopes up and wanted him out but never really thought it'd work! It was nice of Carson to wait for Garretts finals to be over I guess, he's done as of last night. I decided to try the famous "labor pizza" at Cafe Trio last night, mostly out of curiosity because only half of me wanted him to come last night (I can't ever make up my mind if I want him to come earlier than Thursday or not so that probably doesn't help...) but it didn't work for me, bummer. This baby is very comfy in there, sorry to make you all wait! It will make his appearance that much more grand I guess!

Oh and Garrett is planning on going fishing Thursday morning, I wonder if he convinced the baby to wait until after that...? ;)

Some pics of our townhouse so far...

2009-05-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

There are still some things we are working on but for those of you that have requested pics, here they are (some rooms aren't done enough yet to take pics of...)!

Guest Bathroom

Oh and yes, still pregnant...

Just got inspired...

2009-04-29T11:45:00.001-07:00

I keep telling Garret that I want to have a Rocky Fest sometime soon and the other day I said I want to start them while I'm pregnant and then finish them during Carsons first few days of life, so he can be subjected to the important things early on. I have a theory now, I'm going to start watching them asap and maybe they will even induce my labor, lets hope!! If not, I'll be happy anyways because I'll be watching Rocky so its kind of a win win situation. If anyones interested in joining me in this venture, you're more than welcome!

Come on baby, make your arrival!!

2009-04-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

Todays my due date and I'm still as preggo as ever... I'm finally ready for him to come and of course now he's going to make me wait! Ugh, having little motivation all a sudden to do anything but have a baby... I don't know how many more nights I can feel like I've been productive and everything is ready for him to come and hope he comes... ha and I've only had 2 nights like that, I'm so impatient! Of course my baby will be late entering the world since I'm late everywhere I go...

My sister tagged me, picture post

2009-04-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

Here are the rules...
Open your Picture folder on your computer.
Pick the 6th Folder
Select the 6th picture in that folder.
Post that picture on your blog...and the story that goes along with it.
Tag 6 others to do the same....

Ha way random pic, this is of me on a cruise in 2006, trying to be tough...

Carson's room!

2009-04-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

My mom made the quilt. I couldn't find my exact colors in any 1 collection and so I ended up using multiple collections for everything, I love how it worked because its easy to find stuff that matches but in the end, its all more unique!

As promised, here's some pics of his room! There are still a few last minute things I've got to do but you get the idea... :) The drapes aren't up yet so that's why there's no pictures of that wall...

A lady from my work gave me this bassinet, she used it for her grandkids, I just changed out the ribbon...

Me, trying to be all crafty.

The many sides of Garrett doing homework...

2009-04-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

Staring at it...

Staring into space...

Sleeping on it...

Here he goes, good work babe! ;)

39 weeks...

2009-04-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

Expecting Daddy, isn't he cute?!

Getting fatter and fatter...

I'm ready for him to come, I'm hoping he comes soon (beginning of May would still be great even though its past my due date!). If I'm induced, I still probably have 2 weeks left, seems like forever...

Workin' on the house and babies room...

2009-04-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

Me, putting together the baby dresser... I should have made Garrett do that one because it ended up being the hardest thing to put together!

Garrett painting above the stairs...

Brody and Colby have been coming over often with their mom and hanging out, helping sometimes too!

I've been a slave driver to Bon, she's put in many hours here!

Brody was so eager to help paint, thanks buddy!

Garrett painting the baby's room..

Showers

2009-04-24T11:45:00.001-07:00

Halligan family shower, it turned out great, thanks!

Old ward shower, me and the host: Marissa. She did a great job! Thanks girl!

Jacobson family shower, thanks girlies! I had lots of helpers opening presents!

Friend shower, someones always got to be dirty... Who knows what Em is doing here... ;) You guys are cute lil party planners, thanks!!

Thanks for all the showers and support everyone, we really appreciate it!!

Baby's a comin'! (I hope!!)

2009-04-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

I'm 39 weeks this week and my exact due date is April 29th... Taking bets on when he's coming! We think he'll come late, we always have. What do you think?! (come on, someone give me some hope he's coming sooner rather than later!). Major award to the winner!

Busy, busy and some overall whining! ;)

2009-04-08T11:32:00.000-07:00

Like many of you I'm sure, we have been super busy lately. We have been swamped with house projects (they seriously never end!), we spent about 4 or 5 hours in Home Depot last Saturday finally getting a ton of stuff that will keep Garrett super busy... doors, light fixtures, etc. I just wish he had more time, he's barely had time for home work and he was sick yesterday because he's so worn out! I wish I was more help with some of it! I'm just so glad I have such a handyman, if I didn't, all these repairs/updates would get very expensive! I've been doing what I can do: decorating, helping Garrett with bigger stuff, even some craft projects (shhh, don't tell). I had a surge of energy last week and felt motivated to get stuff done (I think I just realized how close it was getting... oh and the fact that Garrett believed me that I said I was going into labor on April Fools scared me a lil...) but this week I've mostly just felt exhausted and we're both sleeping very deep! Which is probably good, since pregnant women aren't known to sleep good this far along and I probably wouldn't if I was going to bed earlier or if I was able to nap or something so I do appreciate that! Other than the extreme pain I get under my ribs (i think its a mixture between ligaments stretching and babys foot in there, it hurts so bad sometimes though!) and it waking me up every night and killing multiple times during the day, and the constant back ache, head aches, inability to move well, siatic nerve (spelling?), exhaustion...I'm doing great! ;) ha ha jk, I really can't complain too much (just a little). Carson's room is getting closer... His crib came in the mail last week, it's still in the box but it's here! Glider came on Monday and his dresser shipped out today (yes, I've become a big fan of online shopping recently, that's what happens when you barely have time to get to the store!). I finally washed some of his clothes, just in case he comes early (he's not though, expect him the first week of May). My mom has a few stripes to finish painting on his wall and Garrett needs to get the chair rail up and then I think things will come along a lot faster and I'll be able to start putting things away and setting up his room. When that time comes, I'll get pictures and post! As ready as I am to be done, it's probably good he's going to be a little late because I'd like to feel a little prepared! Some people don't think it matters probably but I know many do so I'm not abnormal! I'm definitely a planner! As much as I tell myself to not worry about it all and just relax (I tell myself that everyday and it only works if I'm really tired), I still want it all to feel ready so I can relax better at some point... Anyways, that's what we've been up to, not too exciting I guess. Sorry if this was a little whiney, just stating the facts.. ;)

Fishin Fanatics

2009-04-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

Garrett has started a fishing blog, you all know how much he loves it! I'm sure he'd love it if you all went and checked it out and commented on some of his posts to help get it going! It's www.fishin-fanatics.com

I need opinions!

2009-03-24T13:49:00.000-07:00

Should I dye my hair darker again? I keep thinking about it and keep trying to ignore it because 1-Garrett likes my natural hair and it did take a while to grow out all the last dye and 2-I'm kind of lazy and don't necessarily want the "maintenance" of dying my hair again but at the same time I want something new and I like dark short hair so much more than the color I have, I think... I would probably do the same color I had before, dark brown with a hint of purplish hue...

Looking back...

2009-03-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

I feel a little post happy all a sudden ha but oh well. So I deleted most of the pictures on my work computer except my wedding power point because it has a ton of pics on it that come in handy sometimes. I was looking at it to get a pic for my last post and started looking at some of our baby pics and trying to imagine what Carson will look like, I can't wait to find out! Here's some of our old pics so you all can wonder too! ;)

I just think this ones funny

All about G-ride!

2009-03-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

How well do you know your Significant Other? Share with the one who sent you this and more of your friendsby Stacia Chamberlain

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? a fishing show or hunting or some silly show on mtv or what not that we get addicted to or "what i like about you" ha he likes that one.
2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? i dont think hes too picky with that... he likes our poppyseed or raspberry vinaigrette at home but I dont know if hes ever ordered a salad out, if he does hell just share mine and I usually get blue cheese.
3. What's one food he doesn't like? hmmmm, tough call on that. hell eat anything really but he doesn't love "girl food" restaurants, food he thinks won't fill him up even if he thinks it tastes good. he likes most food but hes not one of those people that "loves" food, i usually have more of an opinion on where we eat and what not, im slowly converting him into more of a food lover though.
4. You go out to eat and have a drink? we usually just order one diet coke and share it (yes I convert everyone around me) or he loves mountain dew and sometimes a raspberry lemonade. 5. Where did he go to high school? Tooele High
6. What size shoe does he wear? 9 1/2 or 10 I believe
Where did 7 go?
8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? everyday for lunch he has a honey baked turkey lunch meat with meunster cheese and he usually puts doritos on it. occassionally, hell buy a ham and bake it and cut it up for his lunches. when were out, he likes sandwiches with steak and what not.
9. What would this person eat every day if he could? steak and shrimp
10. What is his favorite cereal? cinnamon crunch (the lil square ones) or the bag version of banana nut crunch (cant remember the name, honey oats or something)
11. What would he never wear? girl pants (and no not like pants for girls, the ugly style now that boys wear...)
12. What is his favorite sports team? he doesn't really have one... we dont watch much sports. 13. What is the color of his eyes? hazel: green/brown. when we were dating i said his eyes were green/brown and hes like no theyre hazel, he didn't know hazel meant it was a mixture of 2 colors basically
14. Who is his best friend? me and he's got a handful of guys hed consider best friends
15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? probably worry so much about getting things done
16. What is his heritage? irish and norweigan
17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? one with hardly any or no frosting! he likes yellow cake the best probably. he does like the whipped cream frosting that comes on some cakes you buy though...
18. Did he play sports in high school? yes, wrestling for tooele. he played soccer outside of high school at some point as well.
19. What could he spend hours doing? fishing, hunting, riding his motorcycle, sharpening his knives, looking at his fishing stuff and bow, basically anything in the mountains ha and he can apparently spend a lot of time puddying walls (hes kind of a perfectionist with some things)
20. If he had a $100.00, what would he spend it on? i wish i could say me ha but realistically it probably depends what his current want is i guess. most things he wants are well over $100, so right now hed put it towards the drill he wants or the gun he wants or he can always spend money on fishing stuff
21. If he could go anywhere on a vacation, where would it be? samoa
22. What is his favorite icecream? he doesnt have a particular favorite but among the top are butter pecan, vanilla (for ice cream cones) and i cant think of another one, just depends, maybe something chocolatey
23. If he went on a reality show, which one would he go on? trick my trucker or whatever it is ha ha jk, he wishes he could be on that. he would love to be on one that involved fishing but i dont know if there are any like that
24. What is he affraid of most? good question, i dont know. probably the norm; losing his fam, house, job, etc.
25. What is his favorite thing to say? "10-4" would be at the top

Update...

2009-03-19T12:50:00.001-07:00

Well I feel like we fell off the face of the earth the last few weeks! We've been so busy with getting our new home ready and getting ready for the baby and we haven't hung out with anyone in so long.. :( We are enjoying our new home but can't wait til we have less projects (I don't think the projects will ever end completely) keeping us busy. We miss all our old neighbors and friends, call us and come visit please! :) Once I feel our place is set up a little more, we'll throw a party and have Marcus come DJ! ;) So just wanted to send a shout out saying we are still alive and to call us to play!

Baby update: I'm getting back into the super tired mode and sometimes I feel so exhausted and it drives me nuts because I feel like I have so much to do and hate not being motivated/too tired to do it but I'm glad that I have so much help getting our home ready! We are starting to get Carsons room ready this week and I think I'll feel much better/ready when that's done! He's still kicking my guts out and is outgrowing my belly already, he gets a foot or something stuck up in my rib cage all the time and it can be pretty painful so I can't wait for him to come out! Hopefully I'll be ready by then because I'm sure not now, except my body is so done with this! haha. I need to take pics, we haven't taken any pics of anything for a long time...

This week is Garretts spring break, he's filled the "extra" time in with working on the town home, getting his motorcycle registered and today he went fishing, I'm wondering if he will ever come home? He is definitely getting more and more obsessed with fishing... He even reads fishing books, which is saying something considering he never reads. Of course, the ones he's read so far have all been filled with lots of pictures... I ventured out and surprised him and bought him a huge book all about fishing stories, and guess what? NO PICTURES! Ha so far he says he likes it but hasn't had much time to read it and it's definitely different from his other fishing books! Pretty soon here I might get him reading regular novels or something... ha ha.

Well that's about it for us right now! Busy but great!

2009-03-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks for interviewing me Rachel!!
1.How did you get interested in Interior Design? Would you like to start a business?
I think I have always been interested in Interior Design. I remember when I was little I'd just take all of my decorations down from my room, put them all on my bed and then put them all back up differently, sometimes re-arranging my furniture as well. In high school I took the Interior Design class, I didn't really work too hard at it, it was a goof off class but I did enjoy it and was considering it as a career but I think the pay scale deterred me from it, they made it sound horrible with pay for some reason. Interior Designers get paid a wide range so its kind of what you make of it but I don't think I'll ever put it before my family enough to be too big time with it, that'd be fun but I know I can get too into work sometimes (when I'm working for myself with things I love). Anyways, I started in Interior Design at Utah State, then I got worried I didn't like it enough for how competitive it was up there and so I just took a couple classes for it and did generals. Once I left USU (couldn't afford the lack of good jobs up there), I realized I really did have a passion for it. I was working at a law firm for a year and planned on going back to school the next year in Interior Design, I did it and got my Certificate in Design. Now they offer an Associates in it so I'd like to go back to get that, it will only take me about 2 semesters but its Garretts turn for school now.
Yes I would like to start my own business in Design eventually. I am slowly working towards that. For one, it's an impossible field to get into unless you know someone (especially with the economy right now) and most designers work for themselves or only have a few designers in a company. One of my motivations for design is to be able to work for myself from home and be able to choose when I want to work.

2.You love old/classic movies. Which movie is your favorite and who is your favorite actor from that era?
I do love old movies! I would love to go back and visit different historical eras, it fascinates me in so many ways! I'd definitely have to say my favorite actor from that era would be Cary Grant, all of his movies are just great, never been disappointed yet (he was in over 70 movies)! Coming as my 2nd favorite actors would be: Doris Day, Irene Dunn and Rock Hudson (Doris Day and Irene Dunn are in many CG movies, I've recently discovered I like Rock Hudson a lot as well). I would like to get all of Cary Grants movies someday, ha so I plan on being on the news 50 years from now for my Cary Grant movie collection! I don't know if I could say which movie is my favorite though... For a Rock Hudson/Doris Day movie: "Pillow Talk". For a CG movie: I think I will say "A Touch of Mink" because it is the first CG movie I got and what made me fall in love with those movies.

3.What are you looking forward to the most with having a little boy?
There is so much to look forward to, it's hard to say. I think what I am overall most excited for is being there while he experiences everything and watching him as he develops. I can't wait to take him to places for the first time and seeing his personality more and more.

4.What are you most excited about with your new place?
It's a toss up between having some space and to be able to have more freedom with decorating! I LOVE organizing and can't wait to be able to organize with some space. Our apt was as organized as it could get but it had to be so we could fit everything! I just wish I had more financial freedom for decorating so I could do everything I really want to do!
Oh and even though our backyard is small, I'm so excited to have one! I feel like I have missed out on summer while living in an apartment with no porch or anything, didn't get to see the sun on a regular basis!

5.What is your funniest memory of your husband?
Hmmm, that's a tough one... I can think of a lot of things that are regular things that make me laugh but most of the funny memories about him, for me, have something to do with his obsession with the outdoors. For some reason one moment that sticks in my mind right now is from the first night we met. It is so much more interesting to look back on all of the beginning now that I know him so well. Now that I know him so well, of course our first conversation ever was about hunting. I have no idea how it even came up but he kept asking me what kind of bow my dad had and all this stuff, of course I had no idea. He says he went home that night and told his mom he found the girl he was going to marry (kind of joking). I wonder sometimes if he married me only because my bros and dad hunt...? Thats prob not a great funny memory to all of you but its what came to me and still makes me laugh because it's so Garrett! This picture below sums him up, this was in college while he was bear hunting ha he's crazy and constantly entertains me with his obsessions, he gets so excited about it, I love it!

If you are interested in having me give you a few interview questions for you to answer on your blog, be one of the first five people to follow these instructions and I’ll be in touch.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Leave me a comment in this post saying, “Interview me” (please include your email address as well).

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions of my choosing.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include these instructions and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions each.

29 weeks

2009-02-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

Here is an updated belly pic. I think some of my maternity clothes make me look extra big because this one is in a regular shirt (yes I still squeeze into some regular shirts) and I look smaller than my last belly pic, I think...

Lover day!

2009-02-20T09:50:00.000-08:00

We had a great Valentines Day! This year was Garretts year to plan and he did great! It was chill but perfect...

We slept in and Garrett made us yummy crepes! Then we were going to go out to lunch later but we ate bfast too late and were too full so didn't end up doing that. After breakfast we exchanged our presents, got ready and went to RC Willey to look for some things well be buying soon maybe, then we went to Wal Mart because Garrett had to pick something up for later and I got a memory card for my phone. Then off to the movies to see Bride Wars! It was so good! We filled up on popcorn here so decided to skip the dinner Garrett was going to make us and just had toast... (he made his dinner Sunday though!) We then went home and Garrett did the best thing ever..... he made me creme brulee!!! It was so good! I LOVE creme brulee but it is hard to get, its not at most restaurants and the ones you can get it at are usually expensive. I'm always looking for a place with creme brulee but now I have a professional creme brulee maker at home! We then watched a movie Garrett rented for us and gave each other massages. It was soo great! Thanks babe, I love you!

Crepes!
My present from Garrett

Garretts present from me

(of course I had to cutsie it up with a theme and lil notes on everything...)

Random pics of us...

Garrett being a tough guy with his knife

Me just being fat and preggo

Of course these uploaded backwards. This is Garrett torching the creme brulee.

Making the creme brulee! Thanks babe!!

2009-02-03T10:28:00.001-08:00

This came off of Facebook but my friend posted it on her blog so I thought I would do. I'd love to see any one who hasn't already done it post about it! Oh and yes, this was really hard to think of 25 things but by the time I was done, I kept thinking of more so just do it!

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged.

1. I am an organized (yes, not clean) freak. I often just make minor adjustments to pictures or what not when walking by without even noticing it. Sometimes I get up just to adjust something. My brother in laws thought itd be funny once to walk around our apartment and tweek everything while I wasn't home, I am pretty sure I found everything they tweeked pretty quick since everything is pretty much always in the same place at our place, but I walked around a bit just to make sure everything was back in order just in case. I can always tell when someone has used my office at work because of little things that were moved, like the phone, etc.

2. I love the Rocky Balboa movies and used to have "Rocky Fests" where we'd watch all 5 (now 6) in a row and box, etc. I needt o have another one soon because it's been too long!

3. I've gotten into a bad habit that probably nobody knows about but my husband and most would probably be surprised. When I see strings or lil pieces of paper on the floor at our place, I of course have to pick them up and most the time instead of throwing them away, I put them behind the couch or bed (depending on what I'm next to). I actually can't believe I do this but it's just one of those random things that I let myself do I guess. Now that I'm thinking about it, I am really bugged and want to move our furniture to vacuum behind them... :)

4. I hate having people in the kitchen when I'm trying to cook, I can handle Garrett and one other person usually but more than that and I feel super distracted and frustrated. I already have a hard time cooking when I'm not alone because I get so distracted.

5. On that same note, Garrett always laughs at me because I start doing other things while I'm cooking and then I always remember at the last minute (most the time, nothing gets burned!). So when we cook together, I start something and then start doing something else and G always finishes what I started even though I tell him to leave it alone. So when we're both in the kitchen, he usually does most of the cooking.

6. I rarely pre-heat the oven and don't think it's necessary, unless I happen to remember to, which is rare.

7. I hate cooking raw meat, I do it sometimes but Garrett cooks the majority of meat, partly because he likes to too.

8. Me and Garrett have never slept apart for more than 1 night and never because of an argument, always because he's out of town doing some camping thing or another. A couple times he has planned on being gone 2 nights but randomly came home early both times.

9. I love mexican food!! Cafe Rio of course and also Guadalahonkey's and La Puente, or any other one that is similar to those.

10. I like my diet coke in a glass with ice and a straw. We don't have an ice maker in our apartment and I used to empty the ice trays in a bin and re-fill the ice trays. I kind of got sick of doing that though and most of the time I just take out the ice cubes I need and put the tray back in, it drives Garrett nuts but luckily he doesn't use ice very much!

11. I can be really awkward with girls I don't know well (post high school problem) and usually get along better with guys. I was 1,000 times more nervous when I went to a girl sorority thing than I ever have been with talking to a group of guys by myself. Unfortunately, this hasn't cured now that I'm married but obviously I don't have very many guy friends anymore.

12. After I moved back from USU, I didn't have very many girl friends in Salt Lake and would go to parties by myself if no girlfriends could. Most my girl friends didn't really like parties anyways. I always knew guys at the parties but didn't want to go with them because I liked meeting new guys at parties. I loved it actually and would do a lot of the initial talking to the guys. I wouldn't have met G if I hadn't hit on him (it helped he was staring though!).

13. My lack of girlfriends in SLC :( attributed to parties I threw being called "sausage fests", ha it worked for me!!

14. I often can't sleep if I have a current Interior Design project on my mind, just for a family project or even just thinking of changes I'd like to make to the townhome were getting. I have to try really hard to not think about design most nights when going to bed or it takes me hours and I just want to get up and start working on it.

15. I hate waking up to an alarm and have the hardest time with it. I get all delirious most the time and automatically hit snooze for as long as possible. Especially work days because I'm not getting up for something I want to. I will re-arrange anything just to get another 5 or 10 minutes of sleep. Oh and some Saturdays I'm so excited I can sleep in that I end up waking up way too early... I hate that.

16. I still fantasize about my old Jeep Wrangler, it was the sexiest vehicle alive, seriously. I already want one again... I had more marriage proposals in that thing than I thought was possible. ha

17. I don't like typical mormon assumptions and have a hard time accepting Relief Society things and especially when people expect certain things just because you're a woman or a man. Like when people act like only husbands work or thats all that matters or that women only cook and not men. ha hate that stuff. I'm not saying either way is right or wrong, I'm fine with whatever people do for themselves but don't like when people assume one way or the other. Of course men and women are naturally better at certain things and thats where most of it comes from, I'm understanding that more and more but still have a hard time with it sometimes. Half of me always wanted to move to New York or something and have a big career and the other half of me knows other things are much more important, I've always battled with myself on this! Luckily, the selfish part of me didn't win or I would have missed out on a great hubby!

18. I was a cheerleader for a year in high school, even though I hated the cheerleader stereotype, I had a lot of fun doing it and wish I could do it as a hobby ha thatd be gay though.

19. I used to take a lot of naps and miss them! Wish I still could. Even if I have time some afternoons or evenings, I usually have too much on my mind still to sleep! We still get an occassional nap in on Sundays though but its not like my old 5 hour naps!

20. In high school I always had marks on my face from sleeping in my last class. I slept a ton in classes and could fall asleep just about anywhere...

21. In high school all my friends kept saying I wasn't going to walk at graduation because I had so many absences (I don't regret any of that!) and I didn't... I graduated in a wheel chair... ha long and embarrassing story!

22. I used to act like I was gangsta all the time. I'd talk like it and dress like it sometimes and basically everyone knew I was really black not white... Once I got my first office job years ago I started being more civilized unintentionally, bummer. I still like rap though!

23. My nickname in high school was Kitty. Weirdly enough, many people still call me that... I don't know how it stuck and don't even really know where it came from really.

24. I hate getting ready and do everything I can to minimize the time it takes, I don't wear a ton of make up and what I do wear is super easy and simple (I actually don't really know all the right ways for makeup so that may be part of me not wearing much of it, way too complicated!) and I only wash my hair and eyelashes once or twice a week (I still shower and wash my face of course!).

25. I'd like to own my own Interior Design business someday. I'm still too chicken now though!

Wow, that was embarrassing and waaay too much info I'm sure!!!!

We need renters!

2009-01-26T11:24:00.000-08:00

We're trying to get someone to rent our apartment because we are moving before our lease is up. If you know of anyone in need of an apartment, please send them our way! Here are the details:
The apartment is just above ground level. It's right by the creek in the back, probably the best located apartment in the area. It has 1 carport spot and open parking for everyone to share. There is a playground around the back and we have access to the pool at Linden, just down the street. 1,000 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 1 full bathroom, large family room and large kitchen with a bar and tons of counter space, washer and dryer hook ups, dish washer and air conditioning. Water and Sewer is paid for, the power and gas have never been very much monthly. They're pet friendly as well, we didn't have any pets though so it has been pet free. New carpet, got it less than a year ago. Linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom now but they will do tile before you move in. It's $824.00 a month for a year lease and includes cable. Move in date would be around the beginning of March but we can be flexible with that if you need to move in sooner. Also, I can e-mail more pictures if you'd like. Thanks!

My belly...

2009-01-26T11:15:00.000-08:00

Me and Garrett were out of town this last weekend and saw this when we came home. I take it as a sign that we have definitely have out grown our space here and good thing we're moving, it's not a sign that I have too many clothes, like Garrett thought... ;) I just hope it doesnt pull the whole rod off its hinges before we get it fixed or move (Garrett figures we ought to fix it because it won't last very long... I say lets wait and see because I don't want to take all my clothes off the rod til we move...).

Oh and we have people coming to look at our apartment tonight so they will see this. Obviously it's an easy repair though!

Since everyone enjoys so thoroughly fat pics of me, aka preggo pics, here ya go! ;)

This was taken at 25 weeks. I'm 27 this week.

What a week!

2009-01-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

Well in one week we have had some pretty big changes... We got under contract with a town home and that same day Garrett was layed off from his job and a week later, re-hired with a raise!

It's amazing we survived so well and relaxed like now that I look back on it! So I guess I'll start from the beginning... We found a town home in West Valley that we love! It is over twice as big as our apt (we've realized now that a baby is on the way how little space our apt has, mostly because there is NO storage whatsoever) and very comparable monthly payments to how much we pay rent. It doesn't seem like its real yet (even though I already have the whole place designed in my head ;) ). Garrett got layed off from his job the same day. It wasn't a huge shock since the company has been down sizing for a long time but it still shocked us because they love Garrett so much there and I guess we just weren't expecting it unless the company was going down for sure. The company has probably gone from a hundred or two hundred employees to 19 after Garrett left. They cut everyones pay 10% months ago and cut all the supervisors pay more after Garrett got layed off. We had a hard time with accepting it at first because of the town home (especially since they like to have 2 years experience at one job...) and the baby coming and everything but after a while we were able to look at the good from it and were excited for a fresh start for him (even though the economy is horrible for looking for a new job right now!). Everyone at Gs work who had already been layed off called Garrett when they found out he was layed off (he had soo many buddies and everyone looooved him there, his supervisor was all teary eyed telling him) and told him they had cut everyones insurance so we were extremely grateful we could still pay our premium and get it since he was layed off. We have since found out there is maybe more to that story that we don't know and they do still have insurance there. Anyways so the past week Garrett has been unemployed and looking for a job. It's been nice having him home taking care of things a little while I brought in the bacon, I'm going to miss that... ;) So today his work called him and left a message and even called me and were trying to get ahold of him as quick as possible. They told me it was to offer him a position again, I wasn't too excited and figured if they weren't offering insurance we might be better off not accepting it. However, when Garrett spoke with the owner, they told him they wanted him to drive both the transport trucks. The medium load he was doing before and also the heavy load and that since he is part time (with school) it works out well for them even though they aren't as busy as they once were. Also, since he is doing the heavy load truck, he asked if he got paid more and so he got a raise too! Once we found out all of that and that we'd still have insurance, we still debated it but figured why not, if the company goes down and he gets layed off again, at least things will work out with our town home and it can't be any worse than when he was just barely layed off. At least now we know we can handle it! So there's the long story for ya'all. Some of you knew most or parts of it and this is probably news to many of you, we aren't always good at keeping people updated... Sorry for the long post!! As for everything else, we're doing great! Carson is kicking my guts out, even though they aren't super strong yet and I guess pretty soon here we'll be getting ready to pack up our things and move into more space! It's funny that the town home isn't huge at all but will seem like a mansion to us! Oh and one of these days I'll take a good belly shot and post it....

Christmas!

2009-01-09T11:04:00.000-08:00

Better late than never right? Our Christmas was great! Christmas Eve we went to the extended Halligan family party then right over to the Jacobson party. Christmas day, Garrett kept waking up every couple hours and when I woke up for a second at like 5:30 he sat straight up and checked the time, I knew then we were going to be opening presents earlier than we thought. So we got up, opened all our presents and hung out for a couple hours, then G ran to the store to get some milk for our breakfast and we went back to sleep and woke up a few hours later. It actually worked out great! We loved staying home all day on Christmas! My parents came by for a little bit to check out our stuff and then later that night we went out to Garrett's parents house and exchanged gifts and had a big ping pong tournament. We had a perfect Christmas this year!!

All our presents...

I feel guilty, we spoiled each other way too much...

We love shopping for each other and playing Santa!

At the Halligan extended party:

Isabelle being a stinker... ;)

Zack showing me where his candy cane is hiding in his pocket

Gma Trane sitting on Santa

At the Jacobson party:

Sadie was Garrett's lil buddy all night,

she kept coming up to him and sitting on his lap all night! It was so cute!

Even Carson got spoiled by our families!

The chaos

The princesses, they loooved the Princess dress-ups they got!

Brandi or Travis had Garrett's name for Christmas

(Garrett had Travis so they just went to Cabellas and picked stuff out). Garrett said he was excited for some of Brandi's famous wrapping and so she decided to go all the way with his and wrapped every individual little fishing lure and even put gold fish in the box!! Everyone was getting kind of bored watching Garrett open his present becaues it took forever but Garrett loved it!

His fishies, he says he can use them for bait... :(

Sadie and Brody were fascinated with all his fishing stuff and the fishies...

Me with some of my present from Bon (my mom)

We don't have a fish bowl so the fishies are in pitchers! (yes I'll wash them very good before we use them again)

Garrett modeling his Christmas Eve jammies

These were our big surprises to each other...

Garrett, just realizing what his surprise was

He loved it!

It is still next to our bed and he always picks "her" up and just plays with her in the mornings.

Testing out one of his presents

Modeling some of my presents
My surprise from G, he did good! I didn't even know I wanted one but I love it now, my jewelry was all over our dresser and it was a mess...

Garrett's loot from Santa and others.

Yes, we still put all of our stuff out in a pile and take pictures... We're such kids!! :)

Garrett playing with his new fishing stuff on Christmas

My loot from Santa and others

Me organizing my new jewelry box

Us in front of our tree on Christmas!

At the Halligans Christmas night:

Princess Grandma rockin' out with Princess Isabelle

Princess Isabelle

Caleb and Paige

Hope everyone else had as good a Christmas as us!

Ugly Sweater Party

2008-12-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Here's some sexy pics...

One of the graduates

Super sexy!

Chad and Lacy

Aaron, Marissa, Rachel, Ryan

Natalie and Blake

Emily, Janae, Lacy, Kortney, Me, Natalie (friends from Highschool and USU)

The other graduate

Brett and Garrett

Emily and Kristina

Kortney, Me, Emily, Kristina, Janae

This should be on a Christmas card

Garrett's 25!

2008-12-22T10:22:00.000-08:00

It was Garretts birthday last Friday. We went up to Park City for a time share/free night stay on Thursday night. Friday morning we woke up and checked out, then I took G to Ihop for Breakfast (he gets his birthday off at his work...). We went to see Seven Pounds that afternoon, it was such a good movie but really depressing too... :( After that we ate at Texas Roadhouse, then Garrett picked a movie out at Hollywood Video and we went home and watched it. I hope he had a good day because he deserves it! He is such a good hubby!! Thanks for everything you do babe!

(of course all the pictures upload backwards because blogger sucks)

The hotel
At Texas Roadhouse

Garrett and his meat!

They made him sit on this while they sang...

at Ihop

Driving from Park City

The hotel

Quick Update!

2008-12-18T11:51:00.000-08:00

Going to see the lights with the Halligans!

Yes, my coat is bursting at the seems, I dont normally zip them up anymore

but Garrett insisted ha I barely fit but was warm!

Some of our Christmas decor...

This year will be remembered as our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree year... It's a long story with why we have this tree but I think we did a good job with its lack of branches and now we love our tree all the same! (the two branches at the top look like reindeer antlers or something ha but we didn't want to cut any branches off since we didnt have too many! )

It's a boy!

2008-12-17T12:50:00.001-08:00

Most of you know that but I'm just getting around to posting about it! :) The name so far, unofficially, is Carson Garrett Halligan. Who knows though, we still have time to find one we like better so throw ideas at us if you wish!

His lil profile!

We could see it soo good on the screen (pic didnt turn out quite as good though),

I think he has Gs lips and my nose.. ;)He wasn't bashful! Just like his dad!

My birthday! (I'm finally updating a lil.... Stop your whining ;) )

2008-12-04T11:08:00.001-08:00

Well I kind of skipped Halloween and Thanksgiving, at one point I realized I had too much to blog about so I just skipped it all! They were good though and refer to Facebook for pictures... ;) Heres some pics of my birthday though! It was a good day! I worked during the day and my folks took me out to lunch at Cafe Rio. Then that night Garrett took me to Outback and then we went to the movies and saw Four Christmases, it was hilarious! It was a really fun night, thanks babe! He is such a good hubby, he had 3 finals the next day but prepared for them in advance so he could take me out! He also treated me to pretty flowers and took me shopping ALL DAY on Saturday for my birthday!! I'm so lucky!

Here's our photo shoot! :)

Look at my pretty flowers!

Sexy

Thugs

Sassy!

My lil thug!

FBF's - Fishing Buddies Forever, Bearded

2008-12-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

Dallin, Garrett and Aaron