And we're back!

This picture is of Carson with his cousin Brooke. Brooke had a little candy cane and we found both of them sitting on the couch "sharing" the candy cane. Brooke would take a lick, then let Carson lick it, then take it back. They kept going back and forth, it was really cute!

We are back from our fun-filled trip to Rochester, NY for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun to see family and we had a great Thanksgiving meal all together. One thing that continues to surprise me about Thanksgiving is my new love for yams! I think each year I like them even more. I use to hate them when I was younger and now I'm going back for seconds! I guess you gotta love something smothered in butter and brown sugar. My mom did a superb job fixing not only the yams, but all the other staple items...including a yummy turkey! Mike and Crystal (my brother and his wife) contributed some yummy pies and a cheese ball in the shape of a turkey! Dan and I made our traditional pumpkin roll and cranberry juice ice cubes. It was a great Thanksgiving!



Carson really liked our vacation too. He did great in the car on the way up and back. He loved playing with his cousins and grandparents. I wish we had more family around for him to play with. We did learn though, that he has not quite gotten over his separation anxiety. Dan and I went to the store after we put him down for a nap. When we got back he was screaming and crying and out of control! My mom said he had been looking around the house for us when he woke up from his nap and was just crying and crying. Even after we got back and we were holding him, he still was screaming and out of control. It took quite a long time to calm him down. I have never seen him like that before. It makes me nervous for him to go to nursery in 2 weeks. Hopefully he will see all the toys and kids and love it in there. He is a very social little guy, but we just can't leave him (at least that's what he thinks). Hopefully this stage will pass soon. Although, my mom said I was clingy to her till I was 4 or so....great!



Carson continues to get smarter and smarter. I love seeing him do new things or figure things out. He knows quite a few animal sounds and body parts. My favorite is when he blinks his little eyes when you ask him "Where are your eyes?". He doesn't say very many words, but he does say "Whoa" a lot, especially if he falls down. It's very cute. We also taught him to say "No Way", although it sounds like "No Wa" when he says it. He is a fun kid.



Our Thanksgiving vacation was great and I really wish it wasn't over already. We're already back in the thick of everything. Dan got up early for seminary and is now working. I need to clean the whole house and I work tonight too. Then we have various meetings and things practically every night this week....ahhhhh, life.

Let the holidays begin!

I'm off to a quick start on holiday shopping. I'm usually racking my brain for the best gift ever, but this year I'm taking the easy way out. Well, I'm still doing my regular Christmas shopping, but I've started much earlier this year. I wasn't planning on starting early, but I found a fun gift for Carson at Costco, so I had to get it. It's a play tent, TP, and two tunnels that he can crawl through. I think he's gonna love it. Dan and I plan on setting it up before he wakes up and see how he reacts when he sees it. I also bought a couple books that he likes and this fridge toy from LeapFrog. I had one of the books I bought him for Christmas out on the couch because I was going to wrap it and Carson saw it. He loved the book and wouldn't put it down. He brought it with us to Target (at least in the car), and cried when I told him we had to leave it in the car. He totally loved the book. Once he went down for his nap, I took the book back and wrapped it. Hopefully he will be just as excited when he sees it again in a month! I also have about 4 gifts for Dan already too. I won't mention what those are though :) So, the holidays are off and running. The stores already have their Christmas music playing and decorations up. And I already have a jump start on my shopping! I love this time of year!

Here's a picture of Carson that my Dad took about a month or so ago. It's so hard to get a one year old to pose for a picture! He looks like he has red hair in this picture....maybe he's taking after his Grandpa Loveridge after all!

What a weekend

Well, we're wrapping up another busy weekend. It seems like everytime we look forward to a relaxing weekend, a bunch of plans come up. A lot of the time the plans are things we choose to do, but other times they're not. Even with things we want to do, sometimes we would just rather sit at home and do "nothing". So, on friday we went to the temple visitor center to hear a BYU professor speak on "Arabs and the modern world". Obviously, this was more for Dan than for me, so Carson and I spent most of the time wandering around the visitor center and getting drinks from the drinking fountain. It was a fun night though and Dan thought the speaker was very interesting. On saturday, I spent most of the morning at our stake service project making quilts and blankets. They had a display of quilts that women had made and I especially enjoyed looking at those. Later that evening we went to a going away party for our friends, the Jensens. They are moving to VA, so we will still get to see them occasionally...thank goodness. Sunday is never the "day of rest" for us and today definately proved that right. After ward choir and 3 more hours of church, we came home to quickly eat and then I had to run off to the stake center for "Youth Standards Night". While I was gone learning about standards, Dan was off home teaching with Carson. Now, we're both home and I put Carson down for bed while Dan prepared his seminary lesson. So much for a relaxing weekend. Tomorrow starts another week of work, early morning seminary, mutual, and......Thanksgiving, YEAH! We are so excited to go on a little trip to Rochester to enjoy thanksgiving with my family. We are really looking forward to a break!

Waking up Early and CATS!

Neither of these two things have anything to do with each other (at least not for me), but they are just two things I'm thinking about this morning. I woke up at 5:30am this morning...on purpose! You may wonder why I woke up that early when I have a son that 99% of the time sleeps in past 9am. Well, I'm trying a new thing of waking up early b/c Dan wakes up at 4:30am to teach seminary and he is always so tired by bedtime, but I'm not! So, I'm trying to wake up early so I'll be sleepy and more motivated to go to bed early when he needs to. Aren't I a nice wife? I'm really just trying to help him get more sleep, the poor guy. It's actually really nice waking up early and having a good chunk of time to get things done...cleaning, exercise, sewing, etc. It makes me feel like I've accomplished at least something that day. So, I'll try to keep it up, the only problem is that sometimes I work late, so I'm not sure I'll wake up early after those nights.

Here is a picture of our cat, Louie. Okay, he's not OUR cat, we are just cat-sitting him for a week for a girl at work. Didn't you know that I am a cat person?? Well, actually, I'm not! I reconfirmed that I'm not a cat person after about 2 hours of having a cat. Don't get me wrong, I think cats are great, just not for me. This cat is super friendly and mild mannered. He just follows us around and snoozes on the couch. Carson LOVES the cat and was so excited to see it when he woke up yesterday. He trys to pet it, but the cat isn't so sure about him and runs away. Carson quickly learned how to feed the cat while he's in his highchair. Hopefully today he eats his food instead of throwing it all over the side for the cat. So, why am I not a cat person if this cat is so cute? Well, I think after having my own house and kid, I just don't want another thing to take care of. I now understand what my mom was thinking when we had all of our pets...sorry mom! I don't like when animals watch me eat, just waiting for food to fall to the floor. And I really don't like a cat at my feet all the time. And I swear I can smell the litter box all throughout the downstairs...yuck! And that's not to mention actually CHANGING the litter box...double yuck! I thought I wanted to be a vet when I was growing up, but now I think I'm glad I'm not. I'll stick with human poop and be a nurse instead :) I don't want you to think I hate animals, because I don't. I just think I've realized and reconfirmed that I don't want one for myself, at least not now in life. Dan wants a dog eventually, so we'll see about that.

Story-Time at the Library!

This morning Carson and I went to "babies in bloom" at our local library. It's basically storytime for children under 2, so they have fun things like stories, songs, dancing, bubbles, etc. The first time we went, I wasn't sure if Carson would like it or be entertained enough...but he loved it! Everytime we go, he sits in my lap and listens to the stories and songs. It's such a nice break from his usual crazy self. Today was extra fun because my friends Tami and Mary were there with their kids, it's always nice to have friends around. After storytime, Tami and I went to the quilt shop to pick up our monthly "buck a block". I love quilt shops, but Carson makes it awfully difficult to look at anything. He was all over the store, pulling down bolts of fabric, throwing fat quarters all over, etc. He was absolutely out of control! Yesterday was a pretty blah day b/c Carson was being so difficult to handle. I tell you, ever since he learned to walk, he has gotten quite the attitude and thinks he can do whatever he wants. If anyone knows any good disciplining techniques, I would love to hear them!!! This little one year old is driving me nuts! But, at the same time, he has never been cuter. He loves to say his animal sounds and wrestle with his dad. He even folds his arms when it's time to pray, it's really cute. So, I guess we'll keep him.

Crazy Crafters!

My friend Tami and I did our first craft show together this weekend and it was sooo much fun! We sold mostly baby items, but had some other things as well. Our big thing were the carseat blankets. They are really cool b/c you lay them in the carseat, then pull the buckle and straps through holes in the blanket, then you can strap the baby in and cover him all up. It's pretty neat. We also had some fun other things, like onsies with ties on them, handbags, booties, aprons, cowboy bibs...it was a blast! I must admit, i was a little scared that we wouldn't sell anything and so I kept telling myself that it would be okay if we didn't, but....we did!!! We actually sold over $100 of stuff and people seamed really impressed with our stuff. It sure makes you feel good about yourself! So, Tami and I want to try our luck at another craft fair...do you see a business evolving...hmmmm. Actually the name of our company is "LovePug Creations". It is both of our last names put together...LOVEridge and PUGmire, pretty cute huh (thanks to Tami). So, we had a great first craft fair together. It was a fun day and our sweet husbands were nice enough to watch the boys and come visit us at the craft fair...thanks guys! Watch out craft world...here we come!

My new blog!!!

I did it...I created a "blog". I think the word "blog" is really funny, but I like the idea of a place to write stories and thoughts and put pictures of my cute kid (if I do say so myself). So, I'm excited to use this "blog" as a sort of journal for me and my family. I hope I can keep up with it, wish me luck!