We had a great weekend at the cabin! We went up on Saturday and it was the most beautiful drive through Big Cottonwood! Pictures never quite do it justice, but this was the perfect weekend to go because all the leaves are starting to turn. Next week most of this color will be dead and the leaves will be on the ground. It's so crazy how quickly the colors change. We actually went back up to the cabin on Sunday and the brightest orange leaves had already faded to a softer orange-yellow, and that was within 24 hours! We're so lucky to live so close to the beautiful mountains. We just wished life would allow for us to take advantage of them more.
At the cabin on Saturday, Mike's dad Terry was persistent about taking down an 80 foot tree that was dead but still standing. He read how to cut a tree to make it fall exactly where he wanted, but with the first "Timber" the tree fell into the fork of thick, sturdy branches of another tree. We then tried pulling the tree down with his truck and the rope just kept snapping. So then we cut the base again and the stubborn tree fell off, but just dug itself in the dirt again. It was a very frustrating process, but after about 3 hours and about 8 video takes of "Timber," the tree finally gave in and came crashing down. Terry was bummed that one tree took so long cause he had planned to take down at least one more, if not two. We were glad it was just one.

So even though our time at the cabin was half gone after the tree finally fell, we still had time to fit in our tote gote ride. We even took Carter on his first ride, and he absolutely loved it! He truly does love all the roughness of going over the road because we went four wheeling as well, and he would just sit and enjoy every bump! He probably remembers loving it in the womb as well. :-)

Anyway, this weekend was especially special because on of our good friend Matt proposed to his girlfriend, and we got to help set up the area. Luckily Matt when in and cleared up all the burrs for us. :-) He set up a beautiful dining experience in the middle of the woods with Christmas lights and a rose petels and all sorts of fancy things.
It is actually very close to where Mike proposed to Christina almost 3 years ago. Matt's sister, who is a professional violinist, played for them while they ate their dinner and coyotes howled along in the background. It was super romantic and of course she said yes. We still need to see the ring on her finger since we just helped set up and leave, but we're so happy that they've made this step.

So Carter has his two month check up with immunizations this past Thursday. There was one drink and 3 shots that he had to get. The lady was way quick, but it was sad to see Carter cry so hard. His face turned bright red and he screamed out in pain. Luckily Mike was able to calm him down quickly, but it was hard to watch, and sad to see 3 band aids on his legs.

Anyway, on a brighter note we found out the following information:

Weight: 11 lbs 10 oz - 38%
Height: 24.6 inches - 93%

The doctor called him a lean mean fighting machine. He has grown over 3 and a half inches from his birth height, and he has gained almost 4 pounds. That's half his original weight! It's like going from 100 pounds to a 150 pounds in just two months! He is a healthy boy and we love to watch him grow. Some of his new favorite things are walking (with help of course) and balancing on Mike's hand.

We have new cell phone numbers! We went to the mall last week to get Christina's ring cleaned, and we looked at the T-Mobile phones because our contract is up in December so we wanted to see what's available. Well, we all know how those guys are at the kiosks, and this guy happened to be the "Regional Manager" for this area, so he was going to give us a sweet deal and he did! The only catch was that we had to get new phone numbers, which at first we thought no way, but as we talked about it we couldn't pass it up, especially since we could just forward our current cell phone numbers to our new one. So, the deal was that he gave us 2 of the new Blackberry Pearl phones that are originally $250 each for virtually free! We just had to pay $100 for each phone upfront and then we do the lovely rebate thing, but that is a steal of a deal for those phones! Also, we had to increase our plan slightly, but Christina's work pays for half of it so we really can't lose.

Anyway, we're way excited about our phones because we've just always got the free ones that are crappy, but now we've got sweet ones for free. Here our the new numbers so CALL US! :-)

MIKE: 801-739-2449
CHRISTINA: 801-739-2448

So today was Christina's first official day back at work. She has been working from home since Carter was born doing her main responsibilities, but now the "vacation" is over and she has to come back. Luckily her company is willing to let her ease into coming back to the office full time. Since she has proved that she is efficient at working from home she is planning on just coming in a couple days a week and then working the rest of the hours from home. She really wants to spend as much time as possible with Carter, and even though it is a bit overwhelming at first she thinks that she can pull it off. This week will definitely be the test.

It's definitely hard to leave this cute little boy with someone else, but we are extremely lucky to have Mike's mom helping us out so it's not just some stranger. She is so sweet to be willing to take him, and today he was super good, so hopefully that will last. Christina realized that he's growing up fast, and by having to work full time he's going to grow up even faster without her. So she wants to capture and remember everything.

Here is a video from this morning. Ever morning he is pretty awake and happy. We usually put him in his bouncer and let him have it.

We've started another project at Mike's parents' house. There carpet in the living room and down the hall got ruined so with the insurance money they decided to get hardwood floors. His family worked hard all last week to rip up the carpet and lay down plywood in preparation. They were finally able to fix most of the squeaky parts of the floor. Cheri & Terry picked out a gorgeous hand scraped wood.

It's a crazy looking nail gun that you use to install hardwood floors. It's a great design for most of the floor, but it doesn't fit quite right on the first row that is closest to the wall. It always seems to be a 1/4 inch too big, so Mike and Dan had to be extremely careful with the first row so that they didn't put holes in the wall.



Before and After of the hallway



In the middle of doing the floor we had a wedding of a long time friend of Mike's, Eric Barton. It was a nice break from the work to go and celebrate in their marriage.

But of course we can't just leave a project almost done, even if it's late. So like all of our projects we worked until late into the night. The neighbors are probably use to hearing the saw and air compressor going off at 11 o'clock at night.

It was well worth all the effort. The floors look beautiful, and even Aussie is getting use to sliding around. :-)

Carter is 2 months old today!! It's crazy how fast the time goes. He doesn't have his check up until next Thursday. We can't wait to find out exactly how much he weighs. We think he'll be at least 12 pounds. What we're not excited for is that he is also going to get his immunizations. Hopefully he won't have any bad reactions to them. He is doing pretty good sleeping. He usually only wakes up once in the middle of night and then around 6:30. He's become way more smiley so that is fun for us.
He's really started to find his fists and arms. Whenever we put him up on our shoulder he is just sucking away at his wrist. It's so adorable!


When Mike's friends from Taiwan visited last month they gave us a "Little Devil" outfit. Before we knew it he was getting to big for it, so we had to take some pictures of our cute Lil' Devil. He's definitely his father's son. ;-)

HAPPY 23RD BIRTHDAY LISA!!!

Mike's younger sister Lisa turned 23 yesterday! It was a momentous occasion for Carter since it was the first time he met his Aunt Lisa. We were a little hesitant when we picked her up to have her sit in the back with him since she has been known to hit people, both young and old. But it was a very touching scene because when she sat beside Carter in the back she looked directly at him (which is amazing in itself) and smiled a huge grin!! It was absolutely perfect! Mike then would take the back of her hand and gently let her feel his cheek. She would smile and laugh every time saying "Good job," or "Awesome Jobs." It was very special.

Lisa was actually extremely good and happy the whole stay. We had a wonderful dinner and then cake and presents. Lisa definitely loved the present Angela gave...a Madonna cd full of all the old hits that Lisa loves to sing and dance a long with. It was a fun party.

It is nice that Mike only has to go to school for a week before he gets another long weekend. We loved having some more time together. We were able to go up to the cabin on Friday and enjoy a perfect evening. The weather was absolutely wonderful and it felt good to get out of the city for awhile. We drove back late Friday night to enjoy a laid back Saturday. We went school shopping for Mike and we even got some new snow gear for both of us at the Snigrab. Sunday was our last time for 1:00 church because we switch to 9 o'clock next week. It's kind of strange changing before the new year, but we're excited to have more time after to church. Before Carter was born we loved sleeping in until 10 or 11 and then getting ready for church, but with him we're up anyway by 8 so we might as well go to church. We think it will be a nice change.

A storm blew in on Sunday so we had to bring the barbeque in the garage to cook our kabobs, but they still turned out great and it was fun to watch the storm. On Monday we enjoyed some time at home and then we went up and saw the Kennecott Copper Mine. Christina had never been so it was an awesome experience, but the bad weather was still there and it was EXTREMELY windy outside. Mike had to stop the stroller from tipping over with Carter in it! Needless to say we just grabbed a quick glance at the massive hole and then spent most of the time in the museum. They had this cool miniature display of a house with even a mini Mt. Dew pack in it. It was to show how we can conserve energy in ever room in our homes.
It was neat to learn more about it. They are planning on only keeping it open until like 2020 or something like that. We wished the weather was better so that we could enjoy it more, but it was a cool experience. (more pictures of the mine to come)