Let Freedom Ring

To some Independence Day is just another holiday, an excuse for a three day weekend filled with fireworks barbeque's, carnivals, picnics, and parades. It is important to remember why we celebrate the fourth of July. We are celebrating our independence and freedom that until the passing of The Deceleration of Independence was not available to us. Many have given their lives so that we can enjoy religious and other freedoms.
I am proud to be an American!

Happy 4th!

Birthday Party!

Last Saturday we officially celebrated Carson's birthday by having our families come over for lunch. I had made chicken, pasta salad, corn on the cob, a variety of fruit and sweet treats for everyone. We stuffed our faces and had a great time. Andrew's cousin Lindsey was nice enough to take pictures for me at Carson's party so that is why there has been a posting delay, thank you for your patience.

I have complied a slide show of the day, enjoy!!

Carson didn't eat as much of his cake like I was expecting, but he did get the frosting all over his hands and face so the pictures turned out good. It was funny to see him (or Tanner actually) open his presents. Carson was extremely opinionated about certain ones that he didn't want other people to touch or take away from him. After the presents were opened he went outside and played T-ball with Uncle Dave and Dad while the elves got busy assembling his other toys.

I would like to thank all of the family that was there to celebrate with us, it wouldn't have been a party without you. We are so glad that we live close and get to share these happy occasions with you.

Someone's One!

Happy Birthday Carson!

Ever since we laid eyes on you, we have been filled with awe and love. We have enjoyed seeing you grow and experience the world around you.

Hopefully every year doesn't go by as quickly as this one seemed to.

To our boy, that's not quite so little anymore, we love you.

Some things that he likes to do include:

watching Sesame Street

helping me clean

water "sports"
(I promise he doesn't normally hang out in his diaper but he was having so much fun so I took his clothes off and let him have at it!)

exploring the great outdoors

drummer boy, rocking out with Dad...but seriously if he isn't able to play he totally freaks out.
Another thing that he does is when he hears music he will either start tapping something or he rocks his body to the beat, it is pretty cute.

He is still working on his balance but that doesn't stop him from getting into everything.

Birthday Fun

I can hardly believe that another year has come and gone and that I am now 25! With our families living in town we usually get a three day celebration (mine, his and one of our own) which is fine with me. My family came over on Saturday to celebrate and on Sunday we went to the Morgan's.

Yesterday, I received so many phone calls and e-mails wishing me a happy day, thank you for remembering! Chelsie, my oldest friend (of 14 years) didn't have to teach, so she brought me lunch and we went to the park with Carson. It was fun to catch up and have some fun in the sun.

Later that night we went bowling with a group of friends. Whenever Andrew and I can't think of anything to do, I always suggest bowling but according to Andrew that is classified as a group activity. I didn't want to do the usual birthday dinner so I called some friends. Little did I know that they had mad bowling skills, some bringing their own bowling shoes and ball!

I was impressed by the two pregnant women of the group (Catherine and Liz) who brought their "A" games and showed us how to get high scores by any means necessary.

Leslie, Liz, Me, Catherine, Alyssa, and Robin.

Just the two of us. It was so nice to have a night out! Andrew and I were sore losers, he even let me beat him...

Mark, Ben, Eric, Andrew, Josh, and Scott.
The guys as expected kicked our butts. Both Mark and Eric had taken a bowling class and Eric is in a league so was able to give us a few pointers.

Class of 2010!

After being denied semester after semester and being just a number on a waiting list, I received a letter on Friday informing me that I will be starting nursing school this fall (provided that I can pass an admission assessment exam). I am anxious about the test because I have been out of school now for a year and if I don't use it, I tend to lose it. If I pass this test, I will be attending college at Yuba City in Marysville (about 40 minutes from my house). This college was not my first choice but I just want to get into a program so I am excited to start anywhere.

Just getting the letter and knowing that my life as I know it will end in six months has already started to stress me out. I am already having sleepless night wondering how I am going to be able to juggle everything...don't get me wrong, I know that people have it worse than me and I am grateful that I have this opportunity to pursue this goal of mine. Like I mentioned before I am a little rusty when is comes to academics but luckily they added another pre-requisite that I have to take before fall so I will get a "warm-up" class this summer. I am hoping that this will help me get into the swing of things. It is going to be a long two years but I know that becoming an RN will be worth all of the hard work and sacrifice that it will require.

28

Happy 28th Birthday Andrew!

For Andrew's birthday we went and got sushi for lunch with his parents, grandparents, Eric and Robin. Carson got a present and it wasn't even his birthday-lucky-they both now have matching checkered Vans, they are styl'in.

Tonight is our Halloween costume party...yes on his birthday, he is such a good sport! We'll have pictures up soon.

Taylor's Birthday

Happy 10th Birthday Taylor!

My mom goes crazy with birthdays, which we love because not only to we get to celebrate on our special day but we get a birthday week full of little surprises. Last night, on the eve of his birthday we celebrated as a family at Olive Garden. Taylor got his very own digital camera (lucky) and tried it out on his favorite sisters.

My Best Friends Wedding

Chelsie and I have been best friends since we were ten and in 30 days she is about to tie the knot. I am so excited for her. As her maid of honor I was in charge of her bridal shower. Tim's grandparents were generous enough to let us use their backyard. It was picture perfect and we sure had a good time.