TWO STEPS

EXCITING NEWS!! Carson took TWO WHOLE STEPS on his own today! And not just once, but twice! I can't believe my baby is getting so big..he will be turning 1 in less than 2 months. Where does the time go? He will be RUNNING around before I know it....maybe even next week on the beach!

Miles Tournament '08

Last Sunday Mike's brother Ryan and his wife Heather invited the entire family up for dinner and for a game tournament. They have a whole game room in their basement complete with Rockband, foosball, air hockey, ping pong, the arcade hoops game, and a pinball machine. Ryan made brackets for each game and we all competed against each other. We had so much fun-thanks guys!!

Carson trying to join in with the air hockey fun

Grandpa Jeff playing pinball



Brookie playing on the slide

Rock it Grandma!

Brad and Becky ping pong-ing

Mike was the king of foosball

My amazing sister-in-law Heather-playing the drums and taking care of the baby at the same time!!

"Oh Christmas Tree"

Two weeks ago we went with our friends the Thomas's to see the lights on temple square and the giant tree inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It's hard to believe that when we did this last year, Carson was still in my belly! Life has certainly changed sooo much since then.

"These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...."

My son has a sock fetish. I know this sounds wierd, but it's true! Carson crawls around the house all day with socks in his hands and quiet often carries them around in his mouth, so his hands are free to explore other things. He will not keep socks on his feet unless there are shoes over top of them. One of the funniest things is when he spies a sock under his crib that his has dropped there during a previous nap...he gets so excited and crawls as fast as he can to grab the sock! Silly, silly boy!

Sock in his mouth

Notice there is a sock in each of his hands!

"Let's Hear it For the Boy"

This is what I woke up to on my kitchen windowsill earlier this week. My sweet husband suprised me with a twix bar (mmmm....) and this cute silver dog to put your rings on when you do dishes (or other such chores). The best part was he thought of it all on his own, without hints or anything! :) What an awesome guy. I LOVE YOU MIKE!

TWILIGHT MOVIE REVIEW

**Spoiler Alert! Do Not Read If You Haven't Seen Twilight And Plan To.**

So after all that anticipation, the Twilight Movie was a total bust. I knew going into it that it wouldn't be EXACTLY like the book, but come on...they changed SOO much! Did they really have to make them eat at a diner instead of at home where Bella cooks all the time in the book? Or make all her friends multi-cultural in the movie? What was up with Eric being Asian?? (No offense to any Asian people!) Not to mention, I thought the acting by "Edward" was horrible. Seriously. And did they have to make most of the movie in close-ups? I kept wanting to yell at the camera guy to "back it up!" There were a few actors that I thought did a great job. For instance, I really like who they chose for Emmett, Carlisle, James, and Victoria. And the girl playing Jessica did a good job. But other than that I thought it was pretty awful! I'll definately be sticking to the books!!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E

Grandpa and Grandma Miles took the whole family out to see Disney on Ice today! I was worried that Carson would be too little to enjoy it, but to my suprise he LOVED it! He sat on grandma's lap the whole time and was mesmerized by all the characters, props, lights and fire effects they had. I love Disney movies so it was fun to go see the show and spend time with the family. I think everyone really enjoyed it....except Grandpa who kept nodding off towards the end! :)

Sitting with Grandma

The Castle

The Crown was just a little too big

Three Cheers!

This is what I saw after I filled my car up with gas today...


CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?!!! It only cost me $21 to fill up my tank! That is less than half it cost for the same amount a few months ago. It made my day.

Remind me again-

Why do we buy TOYS when Carson is just as happy playing with PLASTIC BAGS?! :)

Once upon a time...
...there was a terrifying dragon, a brave and noble dragon slayer, and a beautiful princess....
...and they lived happily ever after!

This is the beautiful smiling face I get to wake up to every morning!!!

"...Hands Down this is the best day I can ever remember..."

Okay, the Dashboard Confessional concert wasn't the BEST day I can remember, but it sure was a good one! It's been tradition the past 3 years for Jason and I to go to the DC concert when they come to SLC. Mike doesn't like the band so as soon as he got off work he stayed home to watch Carson and let his wife go out for a night of fun! {awww} (BIG THANKS to Julie for watching Carson before Mike got off!!). Rachel and Adam Clegg also went with us this year and we met up with our friends Leslie and Tanner while we were there. After Dashboard played we waited outside in the FREEZING cold for hours just to get the chance to meet Chris. He never came out, but we met Mike (the drummer) which was the next best thing! He said that they're coming out with a new CD sometime in the spring and will be back again next year to promote it! So three cheers for continuing with the tradition next year!

Tanner, Adam, Jason

Chris Carrabba

This is a hideous picture but I had to post it to show that Adam is a creeper...he does that in every picture.

The gang with Mike the drummer in the middle [and yes...we planned our outfits to match! :)]

Sad faces for not meeting Chris

On To Better Things

I can't WAIT for the election to be OVER AND DONE WITH. So to celebrate the end of election season, I've decided to look onto better things that are coming this month...like TWILIGHT!!! Like Becky, this and my birthday will be the highlights of this month. Forget Thanksgiving...I can definately live without a day centered around stuffing ourselves with mostly gross food. So in honor of Edward and Bella, my blog is now temporarily dedicated to twilight (yay! Even though Mike is rolling his eyes).

BABY TAG

I know what you're thinking...I obviously have too much time on my hands if I can keep doing these tags! That's really not the case, but as I was checking out blogs before going to bed tonight, I saw this on Shantel's blog and wanted to do it.

1. Where were you when you first found out you when you found out you were pregnant? Randomly, in the bathroom at Smith's in Farmington. Mike was in a dr. appt. and I got tired of waiting in the lobby, so I drove myself down to Smith's to buy a pregnancy test.

2. Who was with you? No one else at the time, but I bolted out of there to tell Mike.

3. What was your first reaction? Excitment and then fear, since we already had 3 miscarriages.

4. What was your husband's reaction? He was happy, but didn't want to get his hopes up.

5. Who was the first person you told? Mike

6. Were the pregnancies planned? Yes

7. Was everyone happy for you? Definately

8. What was the sex? Male

9. Did anyone throw a shower for you? Yeah, I had three-One from my family, one from Mike's family, and one from my friends.

10. Did you get any outfits you wouldn't use? A few that were the wrong size in the wrong season.

11. How much weight did you gain? 27 lbs

12. Did you get stretch marks? Just a few on my legs

13. Did you crave anything crazy? Occasionally cheeseburgers, and dryer's lime popsicles

14. Who or what got on your nerves the most? Everything

15. Where were you when you went into labor? I never went into labor

16. Did you have any complications? Yes, I had bad hypertension that was bordering on toxemia, which meant bedrest for two weeks and a planned c-section 3 weeks early.

17. Did your water break? Not by itself

18. Who drove you to the hospital? Mike

19. Did you go early or late? 3 weeks early

20. Who was in the room? Mike, two doctors, anesthesiologist (sp?), and a team of nurses and surgical techs

21. Did you video tape it? No, but since it was a c-section I think it would have been cool to see!

22. Did you have any pain medication? Um, who WOULDN'T want the medication? I had an awesome spinal block and didn't feel a thing.

23. Did you have a c-section or natural? c-section

24. What was your reaction to the birth? I was a little nervous about surgery and potential complications for Carson, but I had been waiting for that moment for a long time so I was super excited and loved the birth process.

25. How big was the baby? 7 lbs, 8 oz, 19 1/2 in long

26. Did your husband cry? No

27. When is the next one coming? Not yet, but I'll let you know when it's on the way!

I tag anyone who has had a baby, and wants to do it!

"Out of the Mouth of Gays"

This is a very interesting article...makes perfect sense to me.

http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/2/11/140806.shtml

My Voice

To all my friends and family: The following thoughts are my own, and my own only. You do not have to agree with me, but I do hope that you all take a second to read this and if you feel so inclined, to let me know what you thought (good or bad). I've always tried to be a good listener and because this is something that I feel strongly about (you know I'm not usually one to publically share my opinions), I hope that you will give me that same courtesy!


I have decided to take a stand. This has been a long time coming, and surprisingly a very tough decision for me, but I have finally made one and am sticking to it. Proposition 8 has been a very hot topic lately and has spread way beyond the borders of California. I have many friends who are gay/lesbian and one especially that is close to my heart (you know who you are). I have heard countless arguments from both sides about legalizing gay marriage. My initial reaction is always to protect the ones I love…to not let any harm or judgments come upon them. As I’ve dug deeper into the issues and into my heart though, I’ve realized that reserving the sacred covenant of marriage for a man and a wife is not discriminating against same sex couples. It is standing up for what the definition of marriage is and has been since the beginning of this world and before. The religious aspects of gay marriage have personal meaning to me…but are separate from my decision to support Prop 8. Marriage= man+wife. Marriage does not equal any other combination of gender, animals, or whatever else people may think up. It would be nice if we could bend laws and rules to fit our personal needs. If I could do that, then I would have changed the speed limit to 50mph and gotten out of that speeding ticket! That’s not how things work though. Rules are set into place to govern us and to keep order in the world. We cannot change them on a whim to fit our lifestyles, desires, or decisions. As nice as that would be sometimes, that’s not how life goes or is supposed to be. Although I cannot cast an official vote, my decision is clear. I do not love my gay friends any less…in fact I have more compassion for them and the struggles they face each day that I can’t begin to understand. But they along with the rest of us must follow certain rules and learn to deal with this journey through life.

Picture Tag

I stole this tag from Meredith's blog cause I was curious to see what my picture would be! What you do is choose your 4th picture folder on your computer, choose the 4th picture in it and blog about it. This is what I found: (awwww...)



This was when Carson was 3 days old. He was still in the NICU, but had just gotten unhooked from most of the machines, tubes, etc... This was the first day that our families and friends were able to go in and hold him. I might be biased, but I think he is the cutest baby in the world (even with his two black eyes in this picture)!

8 TAG

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Answer the six "8" items
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV Shows:
Grey's Anatomy
Supernatural
Heroes
Lost
Bones
Friends
The Office
24

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
Played with Carson
Talked to Mike
Worked
Watched TV
Cleaned the house
Blogged
Laundry
Went on a walk

8 Things I Look Forward To:
Hopefully seeing my grandma this weekend
Hawaii in December
Dinner with friends tonight
Having more kids
Shawn getting home from Taiwan
Carson learning how to crawl forward
Going to bed
Payday every two weeks

8 Favorite Restaurants:
Olive Garden
Goodwood Barbeque
Waffle House
The Roof
Macoroni Grill
Tucanos
Tepanyaki
Wendy's (okay, not a restaurant but still good)

8 Things On My Wish List:
A second car
New clothes for all of us
Tile for the Kitchen
Countertops for the Kitchen
New Carpet
A King Sized bed
Bigger House
New couches

8 People To Tag:
Nicole
Allie
Vonique
Stacy
Melanie
Julie
Mandy
Corinne

1st Annual Herget Girls Weekend

Date: Oct. 10-11, 2008
Place: Midway, UT
Girls: Mom, Rachel (sis), Me...and Carson (boy, but an exception to the rule)
Activites: Dinner @ The Eating Establishment in Park City, sugar scrubs and eye treatments while watching The Holiday, and Shop till you Drop at the PC outlets

"You make me happy, when skies are gray"

I can't believe baby is 8 months old today! Where does the time go?! Here are the latest stats:

Name: Carson Dee

Age: 8 months

Weight: 21.2 lbs (a great workout for mommy's arms everyday!)

Height: about 28 inches??

Clothing size: 9-12 months

Favorite Foods: formula, graham crackers (a new discovery), squash, peaches

Teeth: 2 on the bottom

Favorite toys: mommy's cell phone, remote controls, books, measuring spoons, toy where the animals pop up and you have to push them back down, anything he can bite

Favorite People: Mommy and Daddy

Sleeping: 10 hrs a night, plus 3-4 short naps during the day

Comforts: his THUMB, binki and blankies

Latest tricks: Scooting around the floor, getting up on his knees and attempting to crawl, taking steps across the floor while we hold his hands, holding his own bottle (some of the time...he still likes us to do it, but he can do it himself), picking up food and eating it.

Favorite activites: splashing in the bath or the sink, reading books-he loves to hear our crazy voice inflections, anything outside-swinging, playing in the grass, going on walks, playing with cousins and other little kids, being tossed in the air, eating, twirling mommy's hair in his fingers, looking at the "cute baby" in the mirror, and loves to do new activities that we haven't tried before...he is very adventurous.

Covered in Carrots

Sleeping Angel

Eating Graham Crackers for the first time

1st Annual Miles Family Sleepover

Every year since Mike and I have been married, the Miles family has made their annual trek to Park City for October Conference weekend. This year though, since Dad and Mom Miles are selling their enormous, beautiful house, we all gathered there for a family slumber party last weekend. Dinner was Saturday @ 5, followed by Priesthood session for the boys, crafts for the girls and grandkids, youngest babies to bed, and playing Rockband together late into the night. Even Papa Jeff got into the music by trying out the guitar and drums. We all had sooo much fun rocking out together...the family that plays together, stays together, right?? Mike and I left late that night due to a 7am work meeting the next morning, but the rest of the gang enjoyed breakfast, conference, and visiting together. Here are a few pics of the night...and as soon as I figure out how to upload our HD videos, I will post those too!

Loving all those fun toys

Cute Brookie

Boys will be boys

Jed and Carson-almost the same size, but Jed is 9 months older than C!

Jammin

Mike belting it-he and Becky were the best singers of the night!

"The Leg Bone Connects to the Hip Bone..."

Last week during Mike's time off we took Carson to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. Our friends Julie and Jared and their two boys (Joshua and Jaxon) went with us. None of us had been there before but we had a great time. There were so many fun discovery activities for the kids to do and some amazing dinosaur displays!

Cute Jax


Sitting in the caves with Joshua

Digging for some dinosaurs



Playing with a mini dinosaur

Smile and Pose!

I wouldn't want to meet that dinosaur in a dark alley

Enjoying the scenery

Carson giving kisses

Walking through one of the many halls in the museum

What. The. ?????

So if you notice the time stamp on this post you will see that it is 2:56am....ugh! Not happy at ALL that I am up at this time posting instead of sleeping. This is happening for 2 reasons; one, because it's super hot in our bedroom right now (only like 74 degrees, but our door was shut up until now, so the heat got trapped in) and two because Mike just got out of bed, which woke me up the rest of the way. So, in my attempt to cool off the bedroom and fall back asleep, I have opened our window and can't believe what I am hearing...still. Yesterday morning when I got up and opened the window (I love the cool, fresh air) I could SWEAR I heard Halloween music playing...which I thought was wierd for 7am. Brushing it off, I went about my day until later when Carson and I took an afternoon walk and were a couple blocks away. As we walked, we passed a house that had a bunch of those huge blow up Halloween decorations in the yard and lo and behold one of them was playing that Halloween music! Now I enjoy Halloween and like when other's get in the spirit of the holiday, but as I'm laying awake at 3am and am STILL HEARING THAT MUSIC I am NOT happy. Is this going to continue for the next 25 days??? And the best part is that every few music there is a witch that lets out a cackle...haha. If I ignore my tired body this situation is pretty comical. But seriously...If this continues for much longer I'm gonna have to go stab that blow up vampire with his noisy organ.

Family Night Fun

Mike has been working overtime the past few weeks and starting in October he won't be able to take any time off for the next 3 months, so he decided to use some of his paid vacation time and take this whole week off of work. YAY!!! Carson and I were so excited. So Monday night we had Family Night...which usually doesn't happen cause Mike works the closing shift that night. We kept it simple and just read an article from the Ensign and then delivered pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies to the neighbors that we had made and decorated earlier in the day. It was great to spend some quality spiritual time together as a family and we had fun getting to know some new people in our ward.

Chinese Night!

Okay, since I have lots of catching up to do, these next few posts are going to be kind of short. So I'm not sure why but the past few weeks I have really been enjoying cooking. I like to cook in general, but don't do it very often cause I'm usually the only one eating my creations. Don't get me wrong, I usually make dinner at night for Mike and I...but he is such a picky eater that the extent of our dinners is spaghetti or tacos, or hawaiin haystacks. Not exactly "cooking" in my book. So last Tuesday I got the craving to make some Chinese food and decided to make a night of it and invite over the neighbors and my sister to enjoy it with me. Dinner consisted of homemade fried rice, won tons, and fortune cookies. It ended up being a lot of fun to make and eat together! The only picture I got was of the fortune cookies...not bad for my first attempt! They even had real fortunes inside them. Here is the recipe if you want to try!


Chinese Fortune Cookies

1 egg
1/4 c. sugar
2 tbsp. oil
2 tbsp. water
1/4 c. corstarch
1 tbsp. vanilla


Print out fortunes on small paper strips. To make cookies, beat egg slightly. Gradually add sugar and beat until very thick. Fold in oil. Mix cornstarch with water and a little egg mixture. Beat into remaining egg mixture.

Heat griddle to 350 degrees. Drop batter by heaping tablespoons onto griddle, forming circles. Cook about 5 minutes(really does take that long) until set and golden on bottom. Remove from heat.

Lay a paper on each cookie. Working very quickly, fold in half, then fan bottom edges toward each other. (**NOTE-I found that once you fold them, lay them over the edge of a bowl to cool. This way it helps form the shape without having to hold them in your hands cause they are very hot!) Cool and keep in airtight container. Don't cook too many at once, or they'll harden before you can shape them. (Makes about 18)

"Just a Mom?"

Mike's mom forwarded me this email awhile ago and I thought I'd post it for all those people out there who are "just moms"!


A woman, renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk 's office, was asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation. She hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.

'What I mean is, ' explained the recorder, 'do you have a job or are you just a ...?' '

Of course I have a job,' snapped the woman. 'I'm a Mom.' '

We don't list 'Mom' as an occupation, 'housewife' covers it,' Said the recorder emphatically.

I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in the same situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of a high sounding title like, 'Official Interrogator' or 'Town Registrar.'

'What is your occupation?' she probed.

What made me say it? I do not know. The words simply popped out. 'I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations.' The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair and looked up as though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly emphasizing the most significant words.. Then I stared with wonder as my pronouncement was written, in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.

'Might I ask,' said the clerk with new interest,'just what you do in your field?'

Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply, 'I have a continuing program of research, (what mother doesn't) In the laboratory and in the field, (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters, (first the Lord and then the whole family) and already have four credits (all daughters). Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities, (any mother care to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day, (24 is more like it). But the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are more of a satisfaction rather than just money.'

There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door. As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants -- ages 13, 7, and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model, (a 6 month old baby) in the child development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. I felt I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than 'just another Mom.' Motherhood! What a glorious career! Especially when there's a title on the door. Does this make grandmothers 'Senior Research associates in the field of Child Development and Human Relations' And great grandmothers 'Executive Senior Research Associates?' I think so!!! I also think it makes Aunts ' Associate Research Assistants.

Breathing easy once again

"ahhh..." (happy sigh), I am feeling much better now thanks to that wonderful (yet painful) shot of antibiotics that I got earlier this week, but "uhhhh...." (sad sigh) poor Carson is still sick. We took him to the doctor today and found out that he has a sinus infection. NO FUN! It hasn't slowed him down too much though. He still wakes up with that gorgeous bright smile and has fun playing all day long. But now we have some amoxicillin for him so he should be better soon! I'm a strong believer in Eastern Medicine and natural treatments for ailments, but it's times like these that I'm so grateful we have modern Western medicine too!

*cough, cough, hack, sneeze, ugh....*

So Carson has been sick with a cold for the past TWO weeks...poor baby. He does okay during the day, but at night he gets all stuffed up and has a hard time breathing..which means that he wakes up crying and I have to get up with him multiple times a night to help him breathe and soothe him back to sleep. It hasn't been bad till I caught his cold last Friday and it has now turned into strep throat. UUUGGGGHHHH......have I ever mentioned how much I HATE getting sick??!! I'm a pretty independent person and like to be on the go, and getting sick just totally gets in my way! Not to mention I feel like #@!* (are those the right symbols?) and can't even swallow my spit without wincing in pain. I've resorted to running to the bathroom sink every few minutes to spit instead of swallowing it. Mike took me to the doctor a few hours ago and after confirming it was strep, the nurse gave me a shot of anitbiotics. Never had the shot before, they have always just given me antibiotics in pill form. They said the shot works really fast though, so I should be feeling better by tomorrow...hopefully!

A little of this, A little of that.....

A few weeks ago I found myself walking around our house making a mental note of all the little unfinished projects we had EVERYWHERE. I'll admit, I'm one of those people who starts lots of projects but has a hard time finishing things...I usually run out of time, money, or patience or a combination of the three. So last week I made a list of all the things that needed to be finished and actually got quite a few knocked out. For example:

I finished adding Carson's name to this cute signature frame that I got from one of my baby showers AND I hung it on the wall in the bathroom.

I finished screwing in the last two knobs on the dresser we refinished for Carson's room.

I finished making these cute altered letters for Carson's room.

I started and finished cleaning up our backyard that was overgrown with weeds (thanks to a lot of help from my neighbor Rachel and her cute little girl Hailey!).

I started (not quite finished) hanging pictures on our family room walls. The rest are still to come as soon as we get our new family pictures back from the photographer.

Five projects down, only a few left to go!