Christmas Recap

Here is our Christmas recap, a little look into the secret interesting life of the Carroll's.

This is a stocking. Beckett's to be specific.



This is Beck's extreme GT bike that Santa brought. It's really cute to hear him say.. "I want bike for Christmas."



Piper really excited about her first Hello Kitty present. After about the 20th Hello Kitty item the novelty wore off.



WHAT is better than a little boy in Spiderman pajamas with bed head and a binkie on Christmas morning???



Olly, that Kris took with my new lens :) He is the biggest doll face ever. It's a good thing they had a girl after him because no little boy could be cuter (except mine). And YES Eli is cute too, but he got the brains in a big way.



Notice the arrow on the tree, it's our trip to Disneyland!!




And last but not least, our awesome moms.

I Am A Lazy Pregnant Girl.

This is my dog, Sparta.



Sometimes I wonder what she is good for.

This is proof she IS good for SOMETHING.



If you are too lazy to vacuum, just call her in. She will sweep the floor. And then scower for crumbs.

P.S. For anyone who cares:
I took this with my upgraded from 1.8, 50mm 1.4 (at 1.4) and focused on her nose. It and her whiskers are the only thing is decent focus. I think that is cool. Sure, next time I'll bump it up a little two stops or so.

Whoot Whoots, And Home Building

So much for my no flu shot stance :) I got the flu, in a bad way. Nothing like that, especially when pregnant. The best thing about it was getting kicked and punched in my upset stomach. Just adding insult to injury. I am still feeling pretty crappy today, but let's hope my upset stomach doesn't affect my wrapping skills.

Our house is coming along, here we are in our future kitchen.

I can hardly believe we have GARAGE DOORS, let alone a garage!! And keypad for it! Our first garage is as big as our first pet, and kid (well, almost). I took pictures of it all but it's on my iphone and you know... just picture a garage with doors :) probably not as exciting to most. SO yeah, although selling out to the tract home industry has it's discontentments, it sure is fun watching YOUR house be built, gives it a certain sense of specialty. And not to mention, I already tested the windows and.... THEY OPEN!!!!! Hurray! Windows that open!! WHOOT WHOOT!

I have had some requests for more of these, so head over to Tonic Photography.

UGH.

I woke up today with the curse of pregnancy on me. I feel like some reality train bursted through my window the minute I opened my eyes, to let me know with full force that I am pregnant. Thanks train. As if the exponential growth of my body wasn't a reminder enough, you had to bring cramps and aches and the desire to vomit. Ugh.

Motto of the day, inspired by reality train: "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can."

I think I can accomplish all the double kid dragging around I have to do with the knowledge that tonight I am in a state of bliss with my girls. No judgment, no insecurities, no placing blame, no jumping to conclusion, NO DRAMA, just friends who can be themselves and food. Ah, (breath of fresh air just inhaled) I love girl nights. Girls relationships can be a tricky thing, sometimes I think I have mastered the art, but... you can't win them all. So here's looking forward to tonight, whether I still have the reality of pregnancy chugging at me or not. In a place where I indefinitely can win.

Now.. off to start the day with a tylenol and diet coke.

UGH.

22 Weeks

Next time I will put my hands around my belly, because well the hand on the hip thing???????
Nerd. Alert.
But I didn't know what to do with my hands and figured it hid the love handles better.
Not to mention this was self timered. Double nerd alert.
But hey, have I ever been the cool girl.. Why start now.

So here is me and my mango sized baby at 22 weeks.

Good Decision

6 years ago today we made a good decision. And happily still support that decision. I would go on and on with the long list of why Jake is so great, but since mostly girls read this, ok only girls read this.. I DONT WANT ANYONE TO TRY TO STEAL HIM. And if you knew how great he was, you might.



We are crafty. We made HER:



And HIM:



And HER: (no not me, idiot, the lump sticking out from my torso I like to call MANGO.)



Wonder what other wonderful creations we will come up with in the next 60 years....
Toni + Jake :)

30 More Days

Merry Christmas kids, this is all your getting!


Don't we wish that were true? Don't we wish kids cared more about getting a house than getting toys... We stopped by our house yesterday to see the dry wall. So.. there is the dry wall. Pretty exciting. This is the kids in the garage. They aren't too excited to be there in the cold. And NO I don't dress Piper. Ever. So skip the "oh you dress Piper so cute" compliments and move on to "Piper has such good style sense?"


Here they are in Piper's new room. I don't know why they are both leaning to the side. Maybe it's the drywall fumes.



P.S. I have had every intention of taking away the binky for the last six months. But it's just so cute, paired with his rag blankey (that is irreplaceable despite all our sewing attempts, girls.)

He's Coming To Our House

Last weekend we got to see Santa Clause. And a weird magician, but that's another story.

The problem with seeing Santa and telling him ALL the things we want is: what happens when you forget to tell him something you want? Or you see something else you want after you've already seen Santa? How will he know you want this new item? These are all issues we have been dealing with. Luckily for mommy and her invalid explanations we get to see Santa again again on Monday. Wish us luck on perfecting our Christmas list.

Hola

Yo. The break from blogging was kind of nice but I thought I'd post some proof that even though I am completely isolated in the Southern most part of Salt Lake, that I am still alive and kicking (and being kicked).

Familiar family posted on the Photography blog.

We still have our awesome cat with much less effort now that we have moved.



The kids are still.... kids. And some days none of us brush our hair.



And they still love Max & Ruby best. And no, I don't clean much.



I made these with Alexis' instructions, so I thought I'd show her I actually accomplished them.



Halloween happened.. and I had to post this of Oliver for Kris. No chance in getting them all to look one direction.

Happy Birthday Piper!

PIPER IS FOUR!

I don't have my computer set up here yet so you don't get any awesome flashback when she was born pictures or anything, or the super awesome Oreo Truffle Pops I made that I am super super super proud of (good thing Lex is willing to tell me how to be crafty). But don't worry it wouldn't be a blog unless I took a picture of them! I mean, come on, they can't only be for preschooler's eyes. What is all that work for then? We got Piper a super cool present I am excited to give her. When did I have a four year old, and a third on the way? WTF? But I love my munchkin Piper even though she pushes every button I have. every single day.
Today will consist of pink, pink, more pink, treats, Hello Kitty this, Hello kitty that, a visit to the Hello Kitty store and a party at Kris' since I don't have my own house. But don't worry I will go say hi to it and hope I can tell what the crap they are doing to it, and hopefully that crap they are doing consists of some wood that I believe they call framing :)

RECENT HAPPENINGS

TA DA!!

We have a hole.

Shown: Area of land that will reside our future home.



Shown: Neighbors massive house. Our house will be on your right.



Shown: Current neighbors (for 5 more days) inconspicuously trying to kidnap my cat about 4 feet from my property line.

FYI: If you hear of this cage mysteriously disappearing in 5 days, it's a TOTAL coincidence. And you stick with that story NO MATTER WHAT. And wave at the nice lady who lives there when you drive by :) But don't feel bad when she doesn't wave back.

At Least We Got Some Pictures That Are Cute

Since we were all together for a funeral we figured we would take some pictures. You know, since everyone's makeup was all perfect and all. And because everyone looks better in black.

This is my dearest cousin, Kate, whom lives in Oregon. This was the first picture before my brother said "Kate-fake it." Or something along those lines.



Us, yes that is purple in my hair, no it is not marker :) And yes it's there on purpose although it looks more like Punky Brewster purple than the dark purple it once was. But hey.. Punky was an early idol of mine so I am just representing.



Kate-faking it!







My parent's together debut on my blog, and their most recent picture together since their wedding day! Oh wait... they didn't have a wedding photographer.. um, their most recent picture together this century and probably until next :)



It's hard to see the good in things that are so difficult but I am grateful that we were all together and got some pictures together. If there is one thing I think matters in life it is acknowledging how great life is. How great YOUR life is. Everyone has crappy stuff and always will, it always comes up. But moping around is retarded. I will have moments everyday that I pause and my chest aches for her and I feel hopeless, but I am glad that is the case. It's remembering. There are holes in my heart from losing my grandma but I do have a lot because of her and most importantly lessons by example she taught. I also have a hand made blanket she made to curl up in at night, so it could be worse. I have a long ways to go before I don't take things too seriously, don't get too stressed, always keep a positive attitude and betray all greed, but having her gone is even more reason to work on practicing those principles she lived and didn't preach.

Still My Angel Boy

There. I think I have blogged enough to make up for the last month. I have all these pictures I have taken and not even looked at yet. I love these ones of my sweet angel boy peanut. He really can do no wrong, I think Piper knows it too and acted worse to make up for it. So I have to try really hard to point out everything good she does instead of the bad. It's kind of hard sometimes :) This has been a boring week if you can't tell by my computer time. I finally got my butt back in gear after a two week break and ran yesterday. You can't use the sad and stressed excuse forever.. the love handles still find you :) Anyways, sorry for another boring pointless surface post. If anything at least it made Jake happy to see peanut's face while he is at work.

Atleast I Have Cute Cheeks To Kiss

I am like a blog fool this week. Hoollllaaa! Don't get used to it a few more days and then we will be packing up and moving to the in laws and I will vanish!
Here is a couple pictures of a couple faces I really like. Piper and her baby doll she loves, and we have managed to loose, and Beckett and his "too boc" or tool box. He was fixing my car apparently.
Good bye neighbors with log cabin (cat stealers), good bye gravel driveway, good bye awesome for pictures yard. Soon we will just have dirt in the background of our pictures. But we will be on a cement driveway, with a garage.. or three :) Trade off's-what do you do?

It Wouldn't Be Fall Without The Pumpkin Patch

First off I gotta send out thanks to all my sweet friends and all your great texts, calls and cards through losing my grandma. I survived. It sucked, but we all survived. And are still trying to be surviving. But it really helped.


Last week we went to the pumpkin patch. I mean, you GOTTA go to the pumpkin patch. I can't believe how many times I have been, guess I have been a mom a lot more years than it feels. I just hope even though I am moving three miles west, I am still invited :) (hint, hint)

I was too busy playing to pack around the good camera and/or try for any decent pictures. These ones are the only ones I took. I am pretty sure Lex has some of me going down the monster slide :) burning a million calories climbing and carrying my kids up it.


This is Piper and her BFF Lucy. They love love each other, can you tell?

A Night At The Circus

A couple weekends ago we went to the circus.
Here we are.. sorry Piper's little head didn't get into focus.





The rest of the group. Auto just doesn't get everyone into focus..or I don't know how to use my D60 anymore.. either way, sorry Kris.



Me and peanut....



Eli wasn't too entertained :) he fell asleep in my mom's arms.