Waiting

Today (and for the last several days) I have been waiting for....

*The weather to get cooler. I really am ready for 50-60 degrees. I want to wear jeans and longsleeves and not get hot playing outside. I am ready for jackets & fuzzy crocs, hot chocolate & spiced cider.

*The holidays. With cooler weather comes decorations, fall baking, holiday shopping, birthdays, & family time. I already told David that the Christmas decor is going up after Halloween this year. I love pies, caramel apples, all the food of the season. I love family football, late night games, caroling, and wrapping presents. I love warm fall colors and bright Christmas colors. I love the nativity story and think maybe this year it will make more sense to my children. I love smiling neighbors, door bell suprises, & people bustling about as they conquer their own holiday agenda. I really love this time of year.

*David to finish school. I know, I know, he is not even halfway thru. I miss my husband. I miss Saturdays. It is no longer a family day. Just another day without Dad. We don't have the whole family cuddle time in Mom and Dad's bed because he is always absent. I am grateful for the opportunity that he has to go to school and the sacrafice is worth it. But I'm waiting.

*My brother to come home. Elder Facer will be home from Norway Janurary 12. Just today he wrote in his email of his relief that he was once again reassured of that departure date and not the sooner possibility. I have to feel a little guilty for in his joy, is my dissapointment. I wish he was going to be home for Christmas. I am stoked that Seth, Hansen, and Angie will be there. I can't wait to see them!!! It would be perfect if Garrett was going to be there too. Guess he's a better person than I am. Who can blame him? He wants to serve the Lord in that capacity for as long as he can.

*My friends to come see me. Doesn't any one want to come see me? I come back to visit them...and I look forward to it SO much. Maybe its not recipricol. Or maybe its not as easy I think it is.

*A car. We knew that a new car was enevitable in the next few years. David's just doesn't have the life capacity to hold out for long. It seems like it may have served its time. To fix its most recent repair might not be worth the cost of the vehicle. David won't drive it to work since we aren't sure how reliable it is--and I absolutely HATE driving the thing. Let's just say I wasn't there when he bought it. That was pre-Malerie era. That leaves us with the next decision. What do we do...and what do we get...and how much do we spend?

*That right feeling that we're ready for another baby. I can't believe I was already 8 weeks pregnant with Chelsea when Carson was her age now. He seemed so much older than she is. So much less baby like. Did I mentally make him older because I was expecting another? Maybe, but Chels is still my baby for now. I do miss the little newborn/infant stages. I think I'll always love that. I'm just not ready for another human being in the family. Babies do grow up! For now my two are perfect. But that third will come, sometime.

*The exercise bug to bite me. Maybe I will NEVER have that push, that desire to have a consistant roustine. I know what I don't like, but there are things that I DO like. Why can't that be enough? Why do I have to make it happen? Why do I have to have a lengthy conversation with myself titled, "To work out now or not", only to have it fizzle and die with "NOT". Anyone have tips?

*My kids to wake up. They are both down for a nap (yay!) but---I'm ready to see them again. To hug and kiss their cheeks. I LOVE my kids! I miss them when they're right here, in the house, sleeping! Isn't that funny? They're just great kids like that. You always want them around.

I guess I'll just keep playing the waiting game. Its one I don't particularly mind.

Christmas Eve

This year we went to the Gaylord for their ICE! display. It was A Charlie Brown Christmas theme. I had never seen the movie so the night before we watched it.





Before the display, we had a Breakfast Buffet with Charlie Brown himself. It was pretty good. The display was really cool---in more ways than one! As you can see from the parkas they distributed, it was sub zero temps. Luckily mine was big enough that I could wrap it around Chelsea in our MobyWrap. Although, apparently I looked pregnant again because of it!

They had a slide made out of ice that Carson went on. He liked it until he got to the end. Then he started crying--not sure what he had just been through.

p.s. sorry for the blogging overload...it's so unlike me. I just seem to have the time and things to blog about!

New Years Eve

This year we did a Murder Mystery party for New Years Eve. It was really fun.

Our theme was Reformed Disney Villian's Caribbean Cruise. My brother-in-law, Bryce, wrote the whole thing. We probably didn't really know what we were doing but everyone stayed in character and had a great time. It was really quite humerous. I'm anxious to try a real MMparty.

Here are David and I dressed as Cruella de Vil and Hades; respectivly.

Christmas Morning 2010

Carson really got into opening presents. Lucky for him the event lasted 4 hours!


There was plenty of time while waiting for his next turn to try out his new stuff!

As I was behind the camera, there are no pics of me. And Chels didn't appear til later.

We stayed in jammies all morning, played with new toys and games. Worked on group puzzles and ate a delicious ham dinner.

Family Time this Holiday Season

The best thing about the holidays is Family Time

Our November 25th

This year we spent Thanksgiving with my family. We missed my 3 brothers and other extended family. We seem to have smaller gatherings sometimes even though our family is growing! We look forward to the day when we will all be together again.

I love the weather here. We went to the park, played basketball and tennis, went to yoga classes, and enjoyed plenty of football!


Would you guess these girls are 5 weeks apart?! Hopefully over time, these cousins will close the gap a little tighter but for now, I think Chelsea is at least double Camryn's size!

Oh and yes, Happy 25th birthday to me. A quarter of a centry. We celebrated my day of birth just before Thanksgiving with dinner, cake, and a luxurious mani/pedi. I feel so young, so blessed, and so spoiled.

Happy Fall

We went to the Pumpkin Farm twice this year. The first time was at night and then Saturday we saw everything in the daylight. Carson really liked the animals and picking up all the pumpkins he could carry.

Carson was a pumpkin (again, yes; I did just have a baby ya'll!) He actually kept his costume on quite well. He had no idea why he was in costume but he was a good sport.

We're already listening to Christmas music at our house!! We are SO excited for this holiday season.

It is time....

I guess I should really buckle down and just blog already. Problem....lack of motivation + WAY too much to do. Solution----Just do it!

(Be prepared for random pics. I stole these from my sister...I'm too lazy to get mine off the camera! They are only a week old)

Well here goes nothing. I am not sure how much time I have or where to start but let's see how far I get.

I am so bummed that the holidays are over. They flew by. Literally. We flew to everywhere. First was Christmas with my family. It was perfect. Music, games, laughter, talking, hair stuff (of course), lots of firsts. Garrett was in the MTC, it was Carson's first Christmas and David's first with my family.---Crazy I know. Almost 3 years and our first christmas with my family. Blame it on Australia and Pregnancy...two things that probably win out.

New Years was with David's fam. Also perfect. Puzzles, food, games, laughter, music, Daines/Gill football, and family pictures. Oh i forgot to mention SICKNESS. BLAH! Carson was first and got it from aunt mindy (thanks!) Then me followed by david. After carson was sick for 2 days and on the uphill, David and I left for a kind of 2nd honeymoon.

Love these gloves, you can't tell here but they aren't mittens....actual finger spots for each little one

Disney World. Great place, happy, fun, not so much when you're sick. Oh well only the first day and a half was a bit unpleasant. It was a LOT easier to be away from my baby then I thought it would. He was great for his Grandparents and I did ok too. It was nice to be with my hubby and spend time with him playing at "The Happiest Place on Earth"

We flew back to the in-laws, had a little layover, picked up our son and headed home. This was on the 9th of January. Needless to say Home was looking good about now! But home was not loney without us. It was full of 10 other people. My family and my aunt's family came out for a funeral unexpectedly and crashed at our place. It was fun that night. Lot's of people and almost a continuation of the Holidays.

Best part about their coming....they left some precious cargo. My sister Andelyn stayed for 2 weeks. Oh how I love that girl. She's fun, and surprisingly different then her big sister. It was a lot of fun getting to hang with the "teenage" sister. We haven't lived together since she was 11 so it's been difficult to see her grow up without being around.

We went shopping, to a museum(super cool place here), out to eat, started and then beat the New Super Mario for wii, played wii fit, painted nails, did hair...you name it. She even celebrated her 15th birthday with us. Oh how could I not mention....we went to see Avatar. Amazing. Haven't seen it? Get up right now and go.

Check out the hair. He already had his first haircut here and then shortly after this he got another one!

My boy is getting big. I am frequently overcome with the full force of how much I love that little boy. He is a comedian, an adventurer, an explorer, a dare devil, a stinker, a sweetheart, a tease, a joy, the BEST. Huh? Guess all those came from either his mother or his father. We must be quite the family:) I'd like to think so!

Well there is more to tell, news to share, and updates to be given but the hour is late and my hubby is home. Time to continue living in my wonderful reality!

Laters

Pumpkin Bumpkin

I had no idea how adorable Carson would look in his costume!



Our Halloween lasted about 10 minutes. We got him in his costume, snapped some pictures, and that was it. I wish it would stay this easy...ha! I have many a cold night's Halloween to come; with the candy too. AHHH!! But for this year--smooth sailing.


This last week we had a foot of snow. I shoveled 5 times in 2 days! Carson hung out in our heated garage. He has yet to really get into the snow. Soon enough...soon enough

Here Piggy piggy....

Note: This post is not for the faint-hearted

So as stated previously, I have a story from Spokane that required more detail and definitely a picture.

THE PIG

This year we had our first annual pig roast. David made the suggestion a few weeks before we left and the family took to the idea.
The all day event started the night before the 4th. David, his brothers Bryce and Nathan, and sister-in-law, Lindsey, dug a 3x4 foot pit in the dirt. It was confidently proclaimed big enough. The next morning, after building a wood fire in the pit and adding rocks to generate more heat, David went to pick up the pig from a local butcher. It was quite a bit bigger than anticipated. Wilber, as I like to call him, weighed in at 142 lbs. I wasn't too sure how I'd feel about seeing a dead pig, knowing I would be eating it later, but everyone else was going out to see him so I went too.
The first thing David did was stuff the pig with rock salt for seasoning. He was then put in a wire casing so he could be hauled out after cooking. At the pit, there was a nice ash/coal/rock pile. Wilber was wrapped with banana leaves (yes the big cool banana leaves) and put in the pit. Unfortunately, since he was a little bigger than we thought, his head didn't have a place to go so my father-in-law quickly carved out a spot for him that was only a foot deep. We added a few corn husks as well, all to help add moisture so that the meat would be tender. A burlap-type blanket was placed over the pig and then dirt was piled on top. The pressure cooker was ready. David said that it would take about 8 hours so we waited.
Many of our friends and family had been invited for the pig roast. When they arrived, some were curious to see the pit, so we took them down. Upon arrival, David (who had been checking on things throughout the day) wanted to see how things were progressing. He was worried. The temperature didn't seem hot enough. It was warm, yes, and definitely cooking but not at a rate fast enough for dinner. The unraveling began. Nope, not cooked enough yet. As more and more people came down to see the pig, the scenery began to change. Instead of seeing a mound of dirt, it went to a partially uncovered pit, to seeing another pit--bigger and deeper than before.
We ended up serving beef at our pig roast. Everyone enjoyed hamburgers instead. Isn't it great having family experiment with you! So understanding:)
After we had a bigger pit, more firewood, bigger rocks, and 16 hours of total cooking, pork was finally eaten. It was really good too. We are planning to perfect the art for our 2nd annual pig roast next July.

Lovin' Summer

I'll probably be playing catch up for the next few posts. We have been having adventure after adventure all summer long. I'm not really sure where to start so I will just dive in and let the pictures do most of the talking.

Carson is getting HUGE! Today we had his 6 month check up and he's still in the 93th percentile for weight and 90th for height! He is growing so fast and has had lots of "firsts" this summer. I hope to remember them all

(June 29, 09)

It is tradition in David's family to give a pickle to a baby for their first food introduction. Yes, I followed along and gave carson a pickle before any other solid food. He probably didn't have fully developed taste buds because he didn't even pull a face! A few days after that we gave him rice cereal and he had much the same reaction then. He has since stopped eating it altogether. Carson actually refuses all the solids I've given him since the middle of July. No bananas, sweet potatoes, squash, applesauce, pears, or cereal for my baby. (Just mama's milk)

We spent the first part of July in Spokane, WA with David's family. It was so much fun. I have a few stories that need pictures to go along with but don't have them yet so I'll have a continuation there.

(July 4th, 09) We had a fun Independence Day. There was paintball games, swimming, a slip n' slide, food, and fun. Plus we finally go an updated family pic!

6 month stats:

* 20 lbs 7.5 oz

*27 3/4 in

* sleeps 5 hour blocks

* one tooth!! bottom left

*does not like solid food
* loves to roll over and scoot along the floor

(Aug. 6, 09)

We have one cool baby at our house --excuse the wetness, we had been playing with mom's water bottle

Mother's Day

My first mother's day was fantastic! I got the skirt shown and my favorite dessert...BANANA CREAM PIE! It was a great day

I am truely blessed

Our Christmas Holiday

So I just kept putting off a new post for Christmas because I did not have pictures yet....But WHO NEEDS PICTURES!

Is there a blogging rule that you cannot post unless you attach cute photos? NO! And so, while I await the pictures from my in-laws (note to self: Always bring own camera to Christmas so as to not rely on others)....I will post with words and perhaps get pictures on later.

It's really over. The whole Holiday Season; gone. It was just amazing though. I have already mentioned the wedding we had. What a crazy weekend! I worked way to much for my current condition but I think it's in my blood. I can't just stand around and say, "oh I'm pregnant...I'll just sit here." I feel guilty that everyone around is bustling to do this or that and as a true blooded Facer, you just are not satisfied with watching and waiting. That wedding weekend, I was up late working on details, worked all day Friday to set up at the reception, got up super early to do Lindsey's bridal hair, and kept going and going with the festivities. Amidst all the glory of the wedding, I was stressing and preparing for our Sunday Christmas Sacrament Program. The one I was completely in charge of. I pulled it off though. In fact I have never received such generous compliments from so many people. I am grateful for the Spirit which was felt, I know that I could not do it without the Spirit and I'm so glad that it was present.

The next few days (22-24) were a little bit calmer. The days consisted of gingerbread house making, doctor's appointment, haircuts, gourmet dinner prep and eating, games, nativity scene reinactment, Christmas Eve seafood dinner, present wrapping, stockings stuffed, and anticipation for the Day of Christmas.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Oh what a day. It's like the baby knew what day it was because at 5:30am...kick, kick, flip, movement, kick. I was not going back to sleep. Half hour later the little kids came in (we slept over at the in-laws almost an entire 2 weeks over the holidays). The madness began. Everyone was in their Christmas Eve jammies, and all the girls had french braids from the night before. We went around the room; youngest to oldest, one at a time until the tree stood empty. A few highlights for me....

baby swing, playpen, clothes, etc
fuzzy crocs
Guitar Hero World Tour (yes David got it for ME,hmm)
piano lamp
necklace for all the girls to match
down comfortor King Size! (we have a queen bed but
don't fight over covers anymore)

The list, of course, could go on. We played guitar hero with two guitars and a singer (we have yet to get drums), then just hang out playing new board games, eating way too much food and spending the entire day in our pajamas. No one got out of them until the next day. Boxing day was a continual of games and lounging. The family played a great game of football and we had dinner with other friends and family.

And before we all knew it...2009 was at the door. Happy New Year! I love that I am back in my own bed, in my own house. I have set up all the baby stuff and have started the laundry process for all his new clothes, blankets, bedding, etc. I am excited for time to fly out the window and for labor to begin. Ok so maybe that last part I'm not 'excited' for....but I want to have a baby to hold; I guess that means I do want labor to come...ahhhhh!

Hope all had a merry holiday season.

A Different Kind of thanksGIVING

This year we had a new kind of plan for the Thanksgiving holiday. Instead of turkey, stuffing, and pies; we experienced sheetrock, itchy insulation, and lots of hammering, nails, caulking...etc. The list could go on and on. The women mostly concentrated on the painting. We were able to finish the piano studio, both kids room, and the office. I can't believe how hard we all worked. I think even a week later we are all feeling the effects. However, every muscle pain was worth the memories and the service we gave. Here are some pictures of the progress.

Tis the season

I have been excited for the holidays since September. I really have just been waiting and waiting for Halloween and November to come. David has always said that he doesn't want any decorations up until after Thanksgiving but yesterday he wasn't home. So the decorations went up. That's right, my tree, my nativity scene, stockings...it's all out. I loved getting everything together. I do need David to put up the lights outside so I'll have to wait on those.

As for shopping...I am almost done! Seriously, I think I have 3 presents left and then I am done. I've even started wrapping. It's probably easier since I don't have any kids to shop for yet, only our family names and each other. But still, quite the accomplishment I must say.

Wow, now what am I doing to do in December waiting for Christmas?! Any project ideas?

HaPpY HaLLoWeEn

It's here! In about a half hour, I am sure my doorbell will ring and little trick-or-treaters will be in front asking for candy. So cute! I'm excited for next year when my little boy will be able to dress up and look cute too. I've had fun carving pumpkins this year. When I was in with my family I carved 2 pumpkins with my siblings and then here, I helped carve 3 pumpkins at my in-laws. And yet....none are sitting in front of my porch. Oh well, kinda funny. Hopefully I'll get pictures from my family and I can show them off. Well, Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

Easter Fun

Under here?

This year for Easter I was with my family since I had been watching the kids. My parents came home from their cruise on Easter so we were able to be together. All except for David. The kids and I painted Easter Eggs on Saturday and had the hunt. We found our Easter Baskets on Sunday and played croquet on Monday. It was such a fun weekend with my family.