Merry Christmas

HO HO HO!

Every year Jake's mom's family has a Christmas party get together. This was our year to host. Jake's mom did an awesome job of planning! We had breakfast with Santa! we all dressed up as elf's and had a blast.

When Santa came Carson didn't know what to think! He kept staring at him. but he didnt want to get to close to him. so instead I sat on Santa's lap for him

Here's the gang with Santa and Mrs. Clause

Carson had a ton of fun playing with all the cousins. He was so handsome in his christmas outfit!

Temple Square

We didn't make it to Temple square last year to see the lights because Carson was so small, so we made sure to go this year.   It is absolutely gorgeous!  I'm always amazed at how they string the lights on EVERY branch of EVERY tree.  It was Carson heaven.  (anyone who knows Carson, know's how much he LOVES lights)

We had a hard time getting him to look at the camera instead of at the trees.  and we forgot our camera so all the pictures we took with Jake's phone, so they're a little blurry

It turned out to be a nice night.  It was about 20 degrees warmer than it has been.  our only problem was fighting the crowds

 It was pretty neat to see all the different nativities they had.  it looked like they were all from different countries.  I didnt get any pictures of them. you can kind of see the one behind us in the reflection pool

The Salt Lake temple is my favorite.  It has so much history and its beautiful!  

Snow

I had to shovel our driveway so I got Carson all decked out in his snow gear for the first time. He looked so cute!

He could only walk on the driveway though. if he tried to go onto the grass he would just fall. but he LOVED being outside. I was worried his hands would be cold because he kept tipping over and getting them covered in snow and he doesn't have very thick gloves but he was fine!

I made a video of him trying to shovel the snow. He was having a lot of fun until he tried to go on the grass and face planted. He actually didn't cry until he couldn't get back up. then I went to help him and his little cheeks were covered in snow. when I picked him up he had this huge smile and wanted the shovel back.

Deck The Halls!

We finally got our Christmas tree up and decorated. we were originally going to put Carson to bed before we decorated just because we thought he would make it hard by pulling them all off. but when we tried he wasn't ready. he could hear the Christmas music playing outside his room and wanted to go out and investigate so we let him come and see.

He came and grabbed an ornament and carried it around following me from the tree to the ornament box. then we showed him how to put them on the tree.

He thought that was even better. He's so cute. we are reminded daily why we love that little boy so much!

2nd Thanksgiving

We didn't get to see Jake's Grandma Pat, Dad and little brothers for Thanksgiving since we were out of town so we decided to host a feast at our house for them.  I have never made thanksgiving by myself before so I was a little nervous. but it turned out great!  Our camera hasn't been taking very good pictures lately so its pretty blurry but you can still see it a little.

Thanksgiving

This year we got to go down to sunny St. George with Jakes family for a soccer competition.  we drove down Thanksgiving day and had a delicious dinner at Golden Corral.  Carson had a lot of fun stuffing his face and making a mess.  I felt really bad for whoever had to clean our table after we left :)
the weather was wonderful! If only snow didnt exist I would be one extremely happy person. I wish I had pictures to post but for some reason we just forgot to take some, so instead I will post some of our family pictures we had taken recently.

now It's on to Christmas!  Happy Holidays everyone!

Tagged

5 Things I Don’t Leave The House Without
1. Purse
2. Carson
3. clothes

4. Cell phone
5. Keys

5 Cartoons I Watched When I Was Younger
1. Strawberry shortcake
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
3. Care Bears
4. Sailor Moon
5. Rainbow Bright

5 Things That Terrify Me
1. Bears
2. Aliens
3.  Losing a loved one unexpectedly

4.  I cant think of any more

5.

5 Things I Hate/Dislike That Everyone Else Seems To Like
1. Dessert

2. snow
3. Adam Sandler movies (some have been ok i guess)
4. marshmellows
5.tight pants

5 Things I Want To Do Before I Die
1. Run a marathon

2. Buy a house (I am copying Ang on most of these :) )
3. do some kind of humanitarian work in a third world country

4. adopt a child
5. travel the world

5 Friends/Family I Tag
1. Mckenna M.
2. Sara S.
3.  Mallory M.
4. Allie P.

5. Jeni R. 

1st Birthday!!

Carson had his first birthday! It turned out perfectly.  he took a LONG nap right before so he was happy through the entire event.  I borrowed my moms cake decorating stuff and made his cake and cupcakes for the party.  they actually turned out really good I think.

 

 

we let Carson blow out a candle on the little #1 cake.  then he dug right in!

He LOVES cake he almost ate the entire thing!

He had a blast with all his new toys.  the next morning I couldn't even get him dressed before he ran to play with the truck from grandma and grandpa. 

It was cute watching him hold a balloon in one hand while riding his truck naked :)  overall it was an awesome day! 

Walker

Oh my goodness Carson is walking. I mean full on walking! he has been testing it out over the last month but now he can't get enough of it. it's so cute, he still doesnt have very good balance so he kind of walks (wobbles) with a tilt. It is the cutest thing EVER. He is growing up way to fast! we are planning his 1st BIRTHDAY! so excited!

Halloween!

We had so much fun this Halloween! We decided to do a Wizard of Oz theme. after a long stressful week of costume problems, Halloween came and went in a flash! I dont know about anyone else but I had a very hard time finding a modest costume! I dont think they even make modest ones for women anymore. I ended up just buying a costume and adding pieces to make it cover me. We searched hi and lo for a Tin Man costume for Jake but never found one so I ended up making one for him. I think it turned out pretty good! We didnt go trick or treating really. Even though Jake REALLY wanted to. we just made the rounds to the family. Carson was so cute in his Lion costume. He would do this little growl that was so funny! over all we had a blast. Until next year!

11 Months

WOA! we can't even believe how these past few months flew past. Carson is going to be 1 in a few short weeks! He turned 11 months yesterday. He is still stinkin cute like always. He loves giving kisses (open mouthed drool kisses) and sharing. (usually trying to share his toothbrush or bottle by sticking it in your mouth)

He has 8 teeth now. 4 on top and 4 on bottom. He is about to walk, he can take a few steps and stand on his own. He hasn't quite got up the courage to just take off yet, and we are so excited for Halloween this year. it will be his first time dressing up! Jake REALLY wants to take him trick or treating, we'll just have to go to grandma's house I guess.

I am now selling baby wrap carriers for any of you who are interested. I LOVE mine. it's much more comfortable then a Snugli. easier to resize for Jake to wear, and it can be used in many different ways! I usually end up using mine as a burp cloth or wipey when we're in the store, but I still love it!

Last night Carson scarfed his dinner, he ate more then I can eat at one time. I couldnt believe it. I recorded him after because he was being so cute, so here's the video for you to enjoy. Just a side note, he did wave Bye Bye right after I turned off the camera.

My oh My!

my goodness we haven't posted in a while. things have been really busy last month with Jake starting school, a baby and a grandma to take care of, I just started a new job, and on top of that Jake and I are both starting new businesses. We'll give more detail on those when we finally get everything up and running. speaking of running I am starting to run every day. I just got a garmin watch for my birthday that I LOVE. it is so cool, it has a GPS so I can see exactly where I am and how far I've gone. along with the pace I am running. I'm planning on doing a triathlon sometime next spring with my brother and then running in the St. George marathon next fall.

Carson is growing so fast! He is 10 months old. (11 the end of October) he has been sick the last two weeks, it started out just a cough and cold the first week, that wasn't so bad. Then this week he had a fever one day and by the end of the day two more teeth had sprouted in his mouth! so now he has 6 teeth. that same day he took his first steps! we were so excited. He's going to be walking any day now. It's looking back at our life before we had Carson. What did we do all day? well enough for now. Here are some stinkin cute pictures of our handsome guy.
Here's Jake being the most amazing husband ever, taking over as Mr. Mom for me while I got some much needed rest.
Carson is just too cute I had to post one of my favorite pictures of him this month.

Day at the Beach

For our friends anniversary we all rented some wave runners and headed to Pineview Reservoir. We had a blast riding around the water. We brought a tube and Knee board to pull behind the wave runners. We also brought Carson's little kiddie pool that he played in on the beach. We didnt let him ride, obviously because he is to young. But he still had fun playing with his new friends!
Carson hated the feel of the sand on his feet, it was hilarious! everytime we would try to help him walk across it he would pick up both feet and and just hang there. He is so stinkin cute
Here's a picture of the whole gang. Happy Anniversary Stringhams! Thanks for the fun day!

31!

Jake and I became and aunt and uncle for the 31st time today! My sister had her little boy about 3 weeks early so he is in the NICU but he is doing great! Everyone is very excited to welcome Brodee into our family. Being at the hospital made me want to have another baby! but dont worry everyone, a baby isnt in the works just yet, maybe sometime next fall.

Updates

Carson is now 8 1/2 months old. He has 4 teeth and is crawling like crazy! He is almost ready to walk. As soon as we hold his hands he takes off running around the house. He pulls himself up on anything and everything, and gets into trouble every chance he gets. He is growing up so fast!

Train Set

Carson has a really cute train set that he loves to play with. above is what it's supposed to look like.
This is how it looks after 5 minutes of Carson playing and then he's done with it until I decide to build it again. He's so funny!

2 years

Jake and I celebrated out 2 year anniversary last Monday. We both can't believe it has been two years already. It feels like we just got home from our honeymoon! To celebrate we went to Lagoon!! one of my favorite places to go. we went on a Monday so all the lines were short. But we still didn't get to ride all of the rides, we missed the Ferris Wheel, and the pirate ship. there were a few others we chose not to ride. We left Carson with my sister overnight... This is the first time I have ever been away from Carson for more then 8 hours. I don't think I can do it again for a while. but it was worth it for one night. We are looking forward to celebrating many more anniversaries to come!

Cherry Hill

This week we got to go to Cherry Hill with my niece and nephews. Carson had fun playing in the kiddie pool and floating the Lazy River with me. while Jake took the older kids down the water slides and into the deep pool. MaKenzie is on the tube behind Carson and I.
Here's the gang from left to right. there's MaKenzie, Spencer Brayden, Carson, Jake.

Flaming Gorge

Every year my family goes on a camping trip we usually go to Bear Lake but this year we went to Flaming Gorge. We had an awesome campsite that looked over the gorge. we had so much fun! we went four wheeling and cliff jumping and just had a blast hanging out with the family.
Here's Jake and Carson hanging out in the tent. Carson's hair always looked so funny because of all the sunscreen he had to cake on.
Jake's brother Jason got to come with us.
Carson did really well being trapped in his playpen all weekend.
By the end of the trip he was ready to get out of the sun and into some air conditioning!

Water Party

Carson was invited to his cousin Dreysen's birthday part a few weeks ago. He just turned two and had a water party! they had a bunch of little kiddie pools with slides and sprinklers and then this little purple pool was for the "babies" who couldnt play in the deeper water. luckily the older kids thought this pool was better and came to hang out with Carson. Dreysen is on the left and his other cousing Tommy is on the right.
Carson played in this pool for 2 hours! he LOVES the water. especially when he gets to gnaw on a watermelon rind :)
We had a lot of fun at the party.

Carson's first Mohawk!

Carson's hair is finally starting to grow in so we tried to give him a mohawk! it was stinkin cute!
The hair in the back is still quite a bit longer than in the front so instead of a mohawk it had more of an iguana effect. :) but still cute! I guess we'll wait a little longer to try again.

Hogle Zoo

We went to the zoo last weekend for Carson's first time. He is still a little too young to care but Jake and I had a lot of fun! it was overcast all day and not to hot which made for a perfect zoo day. Carson's a little to small to be a gorilla!
Here's Jake and Carson while looking at the black bear. He was fun to watch play with his toys overhead.
We stopped for lunch after a long day of walking.
Carson was having a ton of fun!
Especially with Jake teasing him all day.
Here's Jake being a dork! :)