We meant to post some pictures before of our friend Leslie's baby shower. She is going to have a little girl any day now so it was fun to celebrate this time with her. Buying little girl things is just so fun! MC^2 got her a blue outfit (probably her first blue) and some cute pink blankets. Little Morgan Abigail is going to be well dressed and taken care of.
Chris & Leslie won't believe how fast they grow up. Our Carter is becoming a pro at walking now. Just check him out.

We're still waiting for him to figure out how to stand up by himself, but he just takes off now. It so fun to be on one end of the house and have him come walking in from the other. Here are some other videos of our smart boy.

A new favorite food...apricots

Headphones

Playing with Daddy

We got him this toy for his birthday, but it wasn't until recently they he really figured out how it worked.

He is super cute with babies and kids. He loves to give kisses and hugs to every kid. If only us adults were as lucky.

Happy 26th Birthday!!!

I had a FANTASTIC birthday! My officially birthday is today, but we started celebrating early on Sunday. We had all of Jensons up as well as my sisters Jana and Sarah and their families. It was kind of a double celebration since Sarah's 37th b-day is tomorrow. Yes, we are a day apart and we look a lot alike. It's always been fun to share this time with her.
It was so nice to have everyone up at the cabin. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and it's always fun to have Carter & Jared together. They are growing up so fast!
After some yummy taco soup and homemade rolls from Dan & Analise, we had my favorite time...Presents! ;-) Mike got me everything perfect (with a little help). He got me my absolutely favorite talk on CD that I want EVERYONE to listen to. It's called For All Eternity by Dr. John L. Lund, and it a great communication help for your marriage or just relationships in general. It is funny and has a ton of good tips on it, so go get it! :-) I also got so many wonderful things from my mom-in-law, Cheri. She is way too good to me! Angela & Cheri both gave me money as well, which I am hoping to use to get some much needed clothes.
It honestly was a perfect day, and I thought it couldn't get any better until tonight when Mike took me and Carter out to dinner at a nice restaurant. Then we went and got Cold Stone (thanks Jana) before we headed to the Terminator movie on the motorcycle while Carter slept peacefully with Andy watching him. The movie was awesome, and the bike ride was amazing. I love that we have the motorcycle. I wouldn't trade it! I am so grateful for all that Mike does for me and our family. He is the best ever!

We were very lucky to have Christina's Mom & Dad stop through on their way back to South Carolina. We got to see them at the beginning of the month in Nebraska, and they have gone everywhere in a month's time. After NE they went up to the cabin in Montana for a reunion and to work on things. Then they headed to Oregon, then down to Nevada, and a sleepover in Utah, then to Nebraska, and onward! They are amazing drivers, and we have no idea how they can drive straight, but we're glad that they can because we love being able to see them.
We met with Sarah's family, and Renee's family (who are driving back with Mom & Dad) at Taco Bell for some yummy dinner. Then we took everyone out to our "house." (We are just waiting for the written approval to come through, but they are sure taking their sweet time.) It was fun for us to show them our house-to-be, especially at this stage so they can be impressed when they come back after we've worked on it. We hope that they have a very safe drive back! We love you!!

These are 4 of our cute nieces: Morgan, Tori, Annie, Elisabeth

We just got back from an awesome weekend trip with our good friends James & Kelly Barton. We drove to Scofield where James' family has a cabin. It was close to a 3 hour drive, but it was well worth it. Carter did ok during the trip, but he had a first hard night falling asleep. We tried to put him down as usual, but he cried and cried. We finally got him out and tried to snuggle him to sleep, but he just wanted to play. So we let him stay up until past midnight! Crazy, we know, but then he went down pretty quick after that. Unfortunately he didn't stay asleep nearly long enough into the morning.
Anyway, let's not dwell on the lack of sleep, but on the super fun time we had! We enjoyed lots of 4-wheeling. Mike & James took the 4-wheelers all the way to another part of Scofield where there was a private lake that we had access to...legal access that is. ;-) It was super dusty so Mike's semi-white shirt was no longer white. We'll see if it will ever be again.

One of our favorite parts about the trip was shooting all of the guns. There was this shooting target that everyone else could nail, but it took Christina about 2 rounds to get 2 hits. Carter quickly got use to the sound of blasting guns. He was just more interested in the 4 wheelers.
Oh well, it was fun anyway. Christina's favorite part though was shooting the rifles into the lake. It made the coolest noise and explosion in the water. James & Kelly were super nice to humor us and let us use all of their ammo.

Talk about too much food! It is a tradition for James to make tin-foil dinners. Only 3 of us ate them, and as you can see on the portion size we could have fed 3 people per plate.

Of course being over Pioneer weekend, we had to play with fireworks. This video doesn't do the extent of the flame justice, but we think that you'll still be impressed.

We so enjoyed the time away, and we are so thankful for all the Kelly & James do for us.

We've tried our best to get out on a hike at least once a week during the summer. This week we went with Terry on the relatively short hike to Cecret Lake. Yes, that is how it is spelled, but it sounds the same as Secret. Anyway, we couldn't have picked a better time to go. The weather was perfect, not too hot or cold.
The only thing that was kind of annoying were the bugs, especially when we finally got up to the lake. We didn't go much further because it was late, but it made for a great night. Carter of course loved it. He always does really well on hikes. Mostly because he thinks his Dad is the coolest and funniest guy ever!

He especially loved the camel pak.

Carter's 1 year stats

Height - 29 inc = 41%
Weight - 20.9 lbs = 18%

It looks like our little guy is shrinking and getting fatter. We're not surprised that he put on a few pounds with the way he eats. He had to get 4 shots and 1 liquid one, so "needless" to say he was not in a happy mood. That is until he got a yellow sucker. Then life was good again.