Photoshop give away

I saw this on my friend Tamie's blog, and I just couldn't resist trying to enter.
The blog "The Secret is in the Sauce" is giving away the New Photoshops Element 7. I thought it was worth a try. Click HERE to try to win it for yourself! Good Luck!

Does anyone else's house ever look like this?

As always, I'm a little slow putting up this post that I thought of a while ago. I just had to post it and see if anyone else can say that their house gets this tornado-like:

In my defense, when these pictures were taken,

this little cutie pie...

was suffering from his first ear infection and I consequently was running on little sleep...

so

when this little cutie pie....

...was left to his own devices 'cuz Carter was demanding more than his fair share of my attention...

This is what happened....

After getting both boys into bed, I saw this sight and decided that it would be more therapeutic to take pictures and blog than to tackle the mess just yet.

(All of the shelves on this DVD organizer are normally full)

Halloween preparations

The same weekend that I spent a lot of time on Craig's list looking for the jump-er-oo, I came across another ad. This one was from a photographer who wanted to take pictures of kids, especially babies in their Halloween costumes. Of course, I could not resist responding for this complimentary photo session.

Last weekend, we met with Vivika and she took some amazing pictures. At first, Mason was really shy and wouldn't even look at the camera, he just kept holding his hands over his face. That is what he is doing in the one picture that I appear in. Now the hard part will be deciding which ones we want to order!

If you want to see some cute pictures, click HERE

If it asks you for a password, it is Halloween. Just click on 'view event' and then you can see our pictures. If you want, you can choose the slide show option and you will be able to see the pictures bigger. For any Grandma, Grandpas, Aunts or Uncles out there who may be interested, you can order some of these pictures directly from that website if you want. :)

Jumping through the years

When Mason was almost 5 months, we got this 'Hop and Pop' jumper for him.







When Carter was about the same age, we got it out for him. It's so amazing to me that our boys look so different from each other. Both of them got their Daddy's long eyelashes, though, so that's a similarity.

What do you think? Do you see similarities?


























When Mason looked like this...


the day when he would look like





















THIS seemed so far away....yet here it is. I know it's cliche to say...but time really does fly!








Of course Mason wanted to help Carter learn about this new toy. I LOVE Carter's expressions in these next two photos!

















After Carter tried out the traditional Jump-er-oo at some friends' houses, I spent a weekend checking Craig's list and found a great deal. Carter definitely likes the bigger version better, it was definitely a worthwhile investment.

For your viewing pleasure, here are two videos of him jumping in his new jump-er-oo.

You can scroll down on the right hand side of the blog and put the music playing on pause to hear it better.

I promise that I usually don't give Mason a 'treat' just because he asks for one, but I had told him before I started taping Carter that I would give him one. He's eating strawberry marshmallows FYI. :)

Notice how long Carter jumps in the second one, the whole time that I am talking to Mason. That is just a short time compared to how long it usually it. :)

Thank goodness for baby toys

This is how we quite often find Carter after he has been crying himself to sleep during a car ride. Any little toy that is circular seems to give him comfort. He's so precious!

Recipe for a typical summer day

Take this Mischief Maker

to a mostly dry park...but add one semi-hidden mud puddle.

Then look away for 33 seconds...and you will have a boy who is thrilled to be only wearing his diaper

because

his shorts look like this:

Of course, it's always more fun to have a partner in crime...
Mason's favorite is his cousin Levi!

Meanwhile...angelic Carter smiles and coos in the grass...never dreaming of playing in a mud/clay puddle. :)

I have a family tree...

The last week in July, we were able to travel to Utah for the Park family reunion. I was really grateful that we were able to go. Some of my favorite memories from growing up come from these reunions and it was so fun to see all of my cousins from this side of the family who are such a big part of those memories.

Those of you who knew me in college will find this hard to believe, but I didn't take very many pictures at all...or at least not of very many events. I'm really regretting this, but I think that I might just steal some of the pictures that my sisters and cousins have posted when I make my blog book to make it more complete. :)

We started out the vacation by leaving at 6 am, which is why Mason is still in his night shirt. Mason LOVES puzzles and played with this animal puzzle happily for the first hour or so of the trip.

Traveling with a toddler and a nursing baby made the ride MUCH longer than when I drove it alone or with other adults. Our first unplanned stop happened by the side of I-80.

Carter had been crying and I was reaching back to try to comfort him. All of the sudden Mason started crying and saying his favorite request "Carry me!" over and over again. I thought he was just jealous of the attention and I reached back to hold his hand and asked him to stop crying.

Well, I felt horrible when a few moments later he threw up the whole glass of juice that he had just had from McDonalds along with some apples. :( :( THere was a TON of it. Needless to say, David didn't waste much time in pulling over. I rushed to comfort Mason...and David did what he could to clean the car seat and the surrounding area.

Poor little guy, I know he got this horrible trait of car sickness from me. I remember following our cousins to a reunion, when we were really little and there were a couple different cars and everyone had to stop 'cuz a couple kids from each car had gotten sick. Must be a going-to-a-reunion-thing.

So...our next stop was at an obscure town to purchase children's draminine.

We had come to Utah a day early so that we could see Cindy and AJ, who graciously let us stay at AJ's parents house (who were out of town).

It was very nice to have a washing machine and a hose so that we could clean up the car seat, David did most of it!

THe next morning, we were able to visit one of my dear roommates, CHristy and her adorable little Katie and her husband Roger. I am SOO mad that I didn't get a picture!

We then met up with Cindy and AJ and Diana and Brandon and David's siblings Cindy and Aaron at the Provo Winger's. Mason was a pill, but it was fun none-the less.

One of my cousins, Kristin, is a professional photographer, so Diana and I arranged for her to take some pictures of our kids. She did such a great job and I am very happy with her work. Here are just a few of the awesome pictures that she took:

She does fantastic work, and any of you who live in Utah, I would highly recommend her! Even if you don't live in Utah, she will travel and I think it would be worth it to have her as your photographer! Click here to be taken to her website.

At the reunion, we spent a lot of time visiting and eating

and chasing kids. One of the only things that I did take pictures of was when some of the little kids got the opportunity to ride a horse.

Mason was a little unsure at first, but he definitely loved the whole experience.

Here is Mason with his 2nd cousin, Zachary. They are born within a month of each other.

No reunion would be complete without the classic kids in the bath tub shot. At least I remember having some pictures of us like this. I wish Levi would have been in this picture, to make it complete. :)

Katie is always so good to play with the kids, and they love her for it!

We had Smore's the last night there. David thought it was so funny that I got marshmallow in my hair, I don't remember the details, but I know that somehow it was his fault!

Just minutes before we had to leave, AJ went out in the lake to act as a target for the water balloon slingshot. Unfortunately...he was hit right in the collarbone, ouch! After that, David and Brandon went out in the canoe to gather all of the water balloons that did not hit AJ.