Reasons to smile!!!

There are often moments and even days when I feel like I am at my whits end. Being a mommy isn't always easy and sometime not very much fun either. Don't get me wrong, I love my babies and I love being their mommy but, toddler tantrums and newborn demands can really wear on you. Most days my house is a disaster and somedays I can't find time to shower, and there are even days that I'm not able to find time to make a "real" dinner for Jimmy before he gets home! But through the stresses and demands of life there is always something to smile about! And these are some of mine!

I was busy taking care of Carson and realized I hadn't heard Taylor in a bit, most times she's right at my feet nagging me for something or wanting as she says to hold me. So I went to check on her and this is what I found!

She had gathered all of her favorite stuffed animals and lined

them up on the couch to watch Dora with her!

She LOVES her hat, and apricots too!

First thing in the morning I went to check on her, she

had quietly pulled out ALL of her toys, she put her blankets

and stuffed animals in her laundry basket and climbed in with them!

Carson was fussing so Taylor was making sure he was ok!

This smile melts my heart!

All I can say is Life is good!

C is for cookie!

Taylor and I made cookies yesterday! She loved helping mommy, she kept stirring the flour saying "mik, mik, mik" then she added her magic touch by waving the wisk and saying "biddy biddy boo" which she learned from cinderella's fairy god- mother. They were the best cookies I've ever tasted!




I love this picture, she is so excited!

after the dough was made she decided to make

a mess of her own!

Where does the time go?!!!

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!! Carson is already a month old! He's growing and changing everyday. He's starting to not look like a newborn anymore. We took him in for his 1 month appointment on Friday and he was 9lbs 5oz - between 25-50 percentile, and he is 22 & 3/4 inches long which is the 90th percentile! So he's super long and skinny! He started smiling at the beginning of week 4, I love his little smile, I can't get enough of it! They grow so fast! I think I'm starting to get the hang of having two little ones.... I THINK. Somedays though I wonder what I was thinking having them so close together, I could be crazy! But most days I really do love it and honestly at the end of everyday even the worst ones...I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Taylor is growing too! She is so fun and makes me laugh, Recently she started dressing herself, I think she gets her fashion sense from Jimmy (you'll see what I mean in the pictures) She's talking a lot. Anytime Carson coughs or sneezes she says "fwess you Carson"; She LOVES her Eeyore and takes it everywhere we go, today while we were running errands she gave him a BIG hug and said "I yub you ayo"! She's also quite the dancer and anytime she hears music she can't help but dance, and surprisingly she has pretty good rythm. We went to the mall the other day, the minute we walked into one of the stores she heard the music and stood in the middle of the store and danced for everyone (she loves an audience), I think I need to help her develope this talent and find a dance class to put her in!

Jimmy is doing well at work, still trying to get use to and comfortable with it all. After so many years of school it's quite a change! He told me the other day that it's strange when people ask him what he does and he tells them that he's a Physical Therapist, he's been so use to saying he is in Physical Therapy school and now that he actually has started his career it's a little surreal.

We are enjoying Arizona! I'm just trying to find enough hours in the day to take care of two kids, clean the house, make the meals (you know all the wifely duties) and get a little time to myself. I know there are some super moms out there that seem to have it all figured out so if you have any advice or maybe some super powers you want to send my way i would greatly appreciate it...

Anyway there are my ramblings for the evening, enjoy the pics!

Taylor likes laying in Carsons crib with him

She came to me with this one sock and wanted it on,

she wore it the rest of the day!

I went in to check on her during her nap and she had her shirt on
like this, She wore it like that for hours!


In this picture she has her PJ's on her favorite dress over her
PJ's and her favorite shirt over her dress!

She LOVES to wear my shoes!

It's been awhile!

Okay so I know it's been quite awhile since my last blog and a lot has happened since then! To start off, we finished our stay in Hawaii, we sure do miss it but it was definitely time to come home. The next big thing was Jimmy's graduation, I can't believe after all these years he's finally done, but we're sure glad he is! After Jimmy graduated he started studying like crazy for his boards, during that time we lived with my parents, It was quite the experience since they already had a house full with my youngest brother living there and also my youngest sister with her husband and baby... BUT we are very very thankful to my parents for letting us stay there and sacrificing so much so that we could, it definitely was a blessing! Jimmy took his boards in June and passed (no surprise there!) we accepted a job in Arizona which he started on August 2nd. After that it was all just a waiting game for the next big event in our lives...the birth of our son! Carson James Martin was born at 12:34 pm on July 13th! He weighed 8lbs 1oz and was 21 inches long and has lots of dark hair! We are so happy to have him here and love the added joy that he brings to our lives! 9 days after Carson was born we packed up the moving truck and headed to Arizona, another HUGE thank you to my parents for taking time out of their busy lives to help us move down! A week later Jimmy started his job at Advanced Physical Therapy. And that's where we're at now, starting our new adventures in Arizona! And here are a few pictures of some of the events the kept us so busy these past few months!

These first ones are a few of our last days in Hawaii

The U.S.S. Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor

@ the Dole Plantation

We drove around the island and found a few of the lighthouses there
this was probably my favorite!

We went to several beaches! At this one we saw a bunch of honu (turtles)

This is where we stayed for the 2 1/2 months we were there


This is the back of the house

Jimmy's graduation!

These next few are of Taylor on the 4th of July!

She had so much fun picking up the candy at the parade!

Taylor and Jimmy at Stadium of Fire!

Eating her popcorn and watching the show! She LOVES popcorn!


The day Carson was born! Jimmy thought we needed
a picture right before going into Labor and Delivery.


He doesn't look proud does he! I think he was just so excited for
me not to be pregnant anymore so he can get out of rubbing my feet!


Carson James Martin born on July 13th at 12:34pm

Apparently I grow them big! Taylor was an ounce more when

she was born!

He's just so perfect!

This is one of my favorite pictures that I have taken of Taylor, her huge smile and bright eyes just make me smile. I'm sure glad i got this picture it shows her mouth full of teeth! Well one of these teeth we will never see again, she'll always be missing a tooth (well until her adult teeth come in). Now everytime i look at this picture I just want to cry! It reminds me of the terrible week we've had this past week. It started off last Thursday night. Jimmy had just got home. We were getting dinner ready and relaxing. Taylor was right in front of us playing and jumping around being her usual silly self , she likes to put pillows on the floor and stand on them and try to jump, well this particular time the pillow slid out from under her and she fell forward hitting her mouth on a wooden foot rest. I ran over to her to find a mouth full of blood and her tooth pushed forward just hanging there! We took her to the ER(not nowing where else to go) and they told us that her tooth had popped back into place and that it might fall out but it might be ok too. So we went home with a little hope that her tooth might be saved! well two days later... we went to run some errands. We went to Wal-mart to pick up a few things and while we were in the deoderant isle Taylor started standing up in the cart trying to reach the deoderant. i sat her back down in the cart and told her not to stand up again (silly me thinking she would actually listen to me!) I turned back to grab some deoderant off the shelf and then turned back toward the cart just in time to see Taylor flipping over the edge of the cart FACE FIRST!! I tried so hard to catch her but couldn't, luckily i did manage to at least break her fall a bit, she landed on her stomach and hit her face! We picked her up and realized the tooth had popped right out onto the floor. She was screaming and bleeding everywhere! And all i could do was sit on the floor and cry! I felt like THE worst mom in the world! Why wasn't i paying better attention to her? Why didn't i strap her in? I felt awful and still do! But there's nothing we can do now except learn from our mistakes and never let her sit in a cart again without being strapped in, no matter how much she cries! Anyway this story will most likely haunt me for the rest of my life! :) But Taylor seems to be ok even with a missing tooth. She's happy and still as active as ever and still has a big smile minus one tooth! I guess it could have been worse!

Are we there yet?!

Well, It's down to just 2 more weeks of Jimmy's final internship! Then we have a week of vacation time (i told Jimmy he can't even think about anything school related during that week, he really needs a break!) and then we are headed back to the mainland to start another chapter in our lives! It's all so exciting and scary at the same time!


This past week and 1/2 to 2 weeks has been a little crazy and just frustrating, to the point that i decided i am ready to go home, don't get me wrong...i have really enjoyed Hawaii, it's been an incredible experience and opportunity for our little family and i'm grateful we were able to come but i think we're ready for a bit more stability in our lives. The frustrations have come from Jimmy not being able to find many jobs to interview with because we are in Hawaii and pretty much everyone wants to meet with him right away, which isn't possible. Then i have been dealing with kidney stones and Taylor got pretty sick with an ear infection. I think the thing that put me over the top was Taylor being sick! She's had ear infections before but this one really hit her hard! The Saturday before easter she had a fever of 102 (she's NEVER had a fever before) we took her to the Dr. and they gave her amoxicillin (which she ended up being allergic to). We did everything we could think of to get her fever to break, finally after the 3rd day after a blessing and lots of prayers and crying (from mommy and Taylor) and sleepless nights her fever broke! It took awhile for her to get back to herself but i finally have my active, happy little girl back! :) In all of the stress and sickness though we have found opportunities to smile and have some fun!
Anyway, the purpose of that long story was to explain why i'm ready to GO HOME!!!




This is Taylor's new favorite spot to watch her cartoons, it's a
magazine/newspaper holder.


This is right before she got sick, doesn't she look like a little tourist!



There was an easter egg hunt on saturday at Gunstock Ranch,
this was before we realized she was sick, now i feel bad for taking
her!


She had fun though and caught on to the picking up eggs and
putting them in your bucket idea!


she found 5 eggs!

Got to see the easter bunny...

a cow....

AND.....Ride a horse!


After her nap that day is when we realized she was sick! :(
Poor baby!


But even with being sick, she was still trying to be her silly self!


when she was feeling a bit better we took her to the Temple for
fresh air. she loves coming here to see all the flowers and Jesus!




she's such a social butterfly! she saw this little girl sitting there
and went and sat by her and "talked" to her!


After we found out she was allergic to amoxicillin and they gave
her a shot at the hospital daddy felt bad and bought her a kids meal
and a juice.


She doesn't go anywhere without eeyore, and she definitely won't
sleep without him!


talking on the phone...probably to grandma!


Taylor, Eeyore and Daddy taking a sunday afternoon nap!


she's obviously feeling better! She was playing with this plastic
eggs in the tub and trying to stack them inside of eachother one
shot off and flew across the tub, she started laughing and said "fuh'ee"
(funny). Now she says it all the time when something makes her laugh!

so happy!

Just being silly! I'm glad she's feeling better!