Almost Two Years!!

i realized that i have not posted on this blog in over two years! that is insane! Alot has changed in two years! We have added a sweet little man to our family, Mr Brody Bell. He was born on January 25, 2011. He is a chunky little beast and the happiest smiling little joy. Delivery was totally easy and we enjoyed many months just snuggling and loving him to pieces. Carter had and is still at times trying to adjust to a now 18 month old little terror, albeit a happy smiling terror, taking over his toys and environment as he knows it. ! We have not started potty training but i am sure we will be soon, i think i will start with just putting out a little potty in the bathroom for him to investigate, we tried to put him on the toilet before bath time and he completely lost it!Brody likes to play with legos and cars. His favorite foods are Bananas, mexican rice, and fruit and asparagus. He loves his puppy stuffed  animal and wont sleep without his paci.. uh oh






Carter is now 4 years old.. i cannot believe i am old enough to have a 4 year old!where in the world has time gone? Carter is starting preschool in September at Bethany Lutheran. He is beyond excited and asks if we can drive by it almost every day. I am nervous for parent teacher meetings about him beating kids up and throwing crazy tantrums but i suppose that is life.. right? lol He is very inquisitive and eager to learn. He loves to help out, he gets excited to help clean up and show Brody how to do new things. Carter was a very independent infant and toddler and now while he is still independent he has become much more of a cuddlebug. He likes to play Cars and Garbage Trucks. And LOVES Sea Turtles and Humpback whales. His favorite foods are cereal, bean and cheese burritos, shrimp, and spaghetti.

What we have been busy doing :

This is Devins Cherry Galette - it was yummy!

White Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Pecan Gingersnap Crust

Chocolate Mousse Toffee Crunch Cake

Candy Cane Brownies for Festival of the Trees

Ho Ho Ho!!

Oh i know that its still a week away from thanksgiving , but really i cannot contain myself any longer! It is so time for Christmas decor to go up! And along with christmas decor comes the discussion of CHRISTMAS CARDS! so my family has never done christmas cards because well we haven't ever had cute pictures to use but this year will be different we are getting some great family pictures done and are so excited. But what i am more excited about is how fricken cute SHUTTERFLYS new holiday card collection is! Here are my favorites :



Just go to Shutterfly.com and upload a picture of your family and pick out a card design and voila! its that easy! and shipping is quick and affordable as well! Its a great way to let distant family know that you are 1. still alive and 2. think about them! now if that doesn't give someone the warm holiday fuzzys i don't know what will!
Do you know what is really awesome? is that if you are a fellow blogger and you want to talk about how great you think shutterfly is, you can get 50 free Christmas cards! WHAT?! FREE!! sweet! http://bit.ly/sfly2010 Really though, we have a photo book from our wedding that was done through shutterfly and it is so beautiful and such good clear quality.

Happy holiday card sending friends!

a long time commin!

Wow so have we been blog slackers or what?! since our last post we have changed out babies name, moved to california, and devin began a new job! CRAZINESS! i have been postponing updating our blog until i had some pictures of our new home to post but i am such a procrastinator and haven't 100% unpacked everything yet! its sad, its terrible, and i should be ashamed but when moving you can unpack to the point of 100% full functionality and then lose the motivation to finish unpacking the last few boxes. But fear not we only have like two boxes left and some decorating upstairs to do before we unveil the pictures of our new home that we absolutely love! We had originally decided on naming the baby benjamin but have since changed it to Brody. We aren't sold on a middle name yet so im not even going to throw out the ones we have been tossing around. I am so excited and grateful for my dear friend Allison and her family for being kind enough for planning and throwing me a shower in December. I love getting together and spending time with family and friends especially when celebrating a little baby! Carter is doing great and still growing tall. He has enjoyed having his mommy at home to take him to the park, play with him, and to be his personal jungle gym and occasional punching bag. I have an ultrasound on the 18th to see if i still have placenta previa, if so i will have to have a c section. Devin started working for his dads business as the office manager. He is loving this new job and excited to start school in January. He is a bit discouraged about the wait times to get into a nursing program but plans on applying to every program within a 50 mile radius! Holiday times are upon us, its my favorite time of year. Friends and Close family and bound to bring cheer! :)

A Birthday Surprise From Allison!

The package arrives!

CUTE Tissue paper!

i LOVE the bracelet! it reads "Forever Friends" on one side and "Share Hopes Fears" on the other!

Aww and a present for baby Benjamin! look! it already fits!!



I love you alli
<3 thank you for being the wonderful friend you are <3

Carter Turns 2!

So Wednesday night was carters actual birthday. I cannot believe i have kept a human alive for two whole years! It has seriously flown by. Sometimes i don't think you notice in just your day to day interactions but when i got back and look at little videos i took or pictures its CRAZY! Carter has been such a joy in our lives. His little personality, which isn't quite so little, can be such a smile maker. And that cute little smile of his and his giggle gets him out of SO much trouble.. he must have learned from his cute cousin Landon who has also mastered the " im way too cute to get in trouble" look. We are so blessed to be parents to such a great little man and look forward to watching him grow and learn :) So to celebrate he got to open up his present from his Grandma Bell and have cupcakes! We are having his pool party on Saturday.

Cristopher Creek

the temperatures have been horrible lately up to 116! I have been so sick that its hard for me to even walk out to the car without the heat making me even more sick. So needless to say i have been cooped up in our air conditioned apartment. Well i tend to get a little stir crazy when held indoors too long so we decided to take a drive up north a little bit past Payson to go to the creek. We had a little picnic and carter played in the creek, it was so nice to sit on the creek bank and feel the breeze against your skin and be able to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors without getting overheated. Carter loved the creek and did great in the car there and back.