Our goal for Christmastime: spread Christmas cheer. I'd like to thank Liam for wearing all these humiliating clothes on behalf of our family's effort in trying to bring a smile to many a people's faces.

Liam, a friend to all...

... even to the countless number of sicknesses that have come his way the past 6 months! Liam's recent encounter with disease is the hand, foot and mouth disease. Ouch.

Luckily he has a mild form of it.. only a few blisters cover his hand and feet. His mouth looks the most sore, with blisters on the side of his tongue and throat.

This recent virus followed about 3 cases of double eye infections, ear tubes surgery (and the infections that go with it), stomach flu, electric shock, his asthma attacks and problems and the usual colds, fevers and teething, and all within the past few months! Poor kid..

(Here's what he uses to help prevent & handle any breathing problems..)

The other day I walked out of the doctor's office with 4 prescriptions. During one visit the Doctor asked, "Have you been traveling lately to any foreign countries?" I had to laugh.

Liam was even tested for Cystic Fibrosis (this was after ruling out that he didn't have recurrent fever syndrome:) Even through all of this, he has really genuinely been a good and delightful boy. He is so happy and smiles all the time. The ear nose and throat doctor informed me that Liam had 2 current ear infections when putting the tubes in. I didn't even know- he had been so pleasant to that point. I don't think we could handle these little problems with any other personality!

Catch of the Day

3 weeks of solitude and meditation, my friend's and husband's continued support and help, and 9 rolls of Christmas ribbon brought this lovely fish costume to our house just waiting to torture Liam for Halloween.

As you go out, you'll be able to tell your costume is a success by simply adding the number of costume contest wins with the number of double-takes and "how cutes". Forty or more... you're a winner.

This was my favorite view. I don't know why it is so funny. Thanks, Liam for another year of silence so that we could decide on yet another costume to torture you with.

Disgusting

When I think about gross things, usually cotton balls are not one of them. I showed one to Liam the other day and you would think I was asking him to touch toilet water. Hopefully Liam will grow out of this phase soon, but as for now, I'll be looking for some kind of texture support group.

Stay at Home Awesomeness

Stay at home... waking up to her boy's, "mama" and then eating breakfast together before a walk to the library where we made a cool craft (complete with stars) and then came home running around the living room with our sunglasses on having a great time and laughing so hard.. mom.
(You can call me a stay-at-home mom anytime. I wouldn't miss this for anything.)

Tanner, Liam and I took a night drive and 40 min later we were out and ready to fish. We caught 6 fish in little over an hour. (John, you really need to come to this place...)

How did we fish with a busy 17 month old? Luckily enough, Liam entertained himself by running back and forth and back and forth from the edge of the dock to the ground, grabbing handfuls of dirt to throw into the water...

The only thing is that he would get so excited and throw the handful of dirt too early and most would land on the deck. He would still shriek each time, so we decided not to tell.

A Fair Time

After milling around and wondering what we were going to do for the Labor Day weekend we finally decided to drive to the State Fair.
I am so glad we did. I don't know what I'd do without this picture. I'm sure I'll find many uses for it...

After days and months of reading books about animals to Liam, you can imagine the excitement of actually seeing the things in real life. This goat was particularly silly to Liam as he would peek out his head and brush Liam's clothes.

The last time I went to a fair I was wearing a bright red sequenced vest singing and dancing in a talent contest with my twin sister to a tune entitled, "Twin Sisters." I'm glad that this time I got to see a different side to the fair.

Hurray For Nicolden!

Here's to my brother and his wife and their happiness. We had a great time visiting them and busting moves at their reception. Carrie's bare feet must've been hot on the concrete at the church because her legs didn't stop-a-movin'.

We didn't have to feed Liam the whole week on account of the amount of sand he ingested.

Girl's Camp is Awesome

Girl's Camp kicked off as soon as we hiked all our junk to our camping spot and set up our tents right on top of a wasp nest that was hidden under some logs. Mix that with some smelly latrines and you have a nice peek of how we do camp...

After warning us about fire safety, skunks and bears, we found ourselves doing this crazy song and dance. I think it was to help keep the bears away.

One of my favorite parts of camp was me being mistaken as a youth (on several occasions). I guess dressing like a 13 yr old and dancing like a crazy horse didn't help any.

I did get rewarded, however, for all my efforts for the week by this ceremony wherein I was given many gifts and tokens of appreciation in the form of "Ooga-Booga" wear.

Two Kleenex boxes, one sick girl and six wasp stings later I looked back at our car full of tired girls and realized why we have camp each year; camp helps you be humble, grateful and aware of where you stand in life. And even though I had to clean smelly outhouses and was asked if I was 13, I still had a great time.

May 2006

We love you, Grandma Dunn.

We Got It Maid

Liam decided he'd start pulling his weight around our house and thank goodness! He's already started by getting into the toilet and hiding in the closet with the vacuume cleaner... I think he's a natural with this cleaning thing.

Liam loved helping us with the dishes. He mostly stood on the chair with that grin on his face, squealing each time he splashed water on himself with the scrub brush. I guess we all have to start somehow.

Reunited.. and it feels so good

Ahhh. Together at last. Tanner and I have been at his reunion this past week and you can tell that this picture was taken early on in the reunion by how happy everyone is. Very early.

When Tanner's family decided on the theme "Reunite or Die" for the reunion this year they weren't joking around. Tight-rope walking and repelling were just a few of the crazy agenda items that went on. This particular activity caused me to perma-grin for at least 20 minutes before, during, and after the event!

While we were canoing, Liam was hanging out with two of his most favorite people. This event was so exciting (or Liam was so tired) he was eventually lulled asleep.

Later on we went on a 4 mile hike with Tanner's bro's. (I saw this picture later and realized Tanner was showing off his grill...) We really did have a great time and it was great seeing everyone. See you all next year.

We've had fun times in the summer, and this past week we have been on a total fun-streak.

On Wednesdays the college holds free concerts on the grass. If you bring a can of food you get a free whatever. This week Liam got a blow-up ball that he ended up chasing the whole evening...

...every time he would lift his hand to grab it he would knock it further away. It was so funny to watch. The concert was quite relaxing until I actually listened to the band. Leave it to the college to find a rock band that sings about Humpty Dumpty and the other nursery rhyme characters.

The Library held a "Dino-Dig" for the kids...Liam just took the shovel out and flew it around on the ground everywhere. At the end he was given shades. Apparently the digable dino's weren't for kids because they were choking hazards. Yeesh.

It ended up being alright though because Liam loves to wear sunglasses.

After two double takes and a long "Waaaaah" I just shrugged my shoulders and accepted Liam being in the trunk as part of our summer mayhem of fun.

Happy Daddy Day

For Father's Day I decided to go all out. I threw this awesome dance party and invited all my friends...

Actually my friend Kimberly decided to get hitched and asked that I be in her wedding! It was a ton of fun. Her family especially made it a special day- complete with Limo rides and all. I especially enjoyed Father Ben.... It really was a good time. Thanks Kim, and good luck!

And Happy Daddy's Day, Love. I hope you had a good one.

Thank-you Grandpa and Grandma

Thanks to my grandparents, our summer was kicked off with a bang as we vacationed in California at a beach house for a week. The place was GINORMOUS. It had 10 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, 2 jacuzzis, 2 kitchens and 100 reasons to never want to return home!

I knew the week was destined for greatness when I saw my mom's tote full of towels, and three drawers in the kitchen stuffed with junk food.

And thanks to my parents we were able to visit the happiest place on earth (except when you have to wait 20 min in line for a snap shot with 2 dogs!) It was worth it though when I saw how Liam was panting during the picture.

Liam loved all the rides. The Jungle Ride and Tiki room were his favorite. This picture is about when Liam decided he couldn't be very brave anymore. After this he clenched on to me, thus enabling him to take a few glances at the last of the scary animals!

I can't imagine a job like this. Think of it- running around on a street dressed like a utensil while holding hands with a spoon. This dancing team created such a comotion that it caused Liam to dance and go into turbo-pointing-mode.

Tanner and I had 2 ways of babysitting: putting floaties on Liam and tossing him in the ocean, and burying him in the sand. This was probably our favorite way...

The best part of the whole trip was Liam getting to know all my family and saying "ba-pa" everytime he saw my grandpa, grandma, mom and dad. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma!

Summertime!

Aahh...summer. After a grueling 2nd year of graduate school, the last day of final's week is definately the best day of the year.

Summer officially began this year when I woke up at 4 am and came upon Tanner, sound asleep, sitting on the couch with the t.v. on and a piece of floss stuck between his teeth. I laughed for quite awhile.

Thegraduate school here is awesome! They always throw the best end of year bash for everyone. This year Tanner played in their golf tournament. It was fun to trek Liam along and mingle with the professors. The dean even drove around on a golf cart giving out munchies and cold drinks. Tanner was in total-fun-mode.

That night Wal-Mart threw all the students an end of the year barbeque/fun night. They really went all out.. there was live music, a clown, crafts for the kids, a bouncy balloon castle, and....

face painting!!! Liam decided he'd do his own face painting with some cake icing, even though they had a real face painter there.

We really had a great time and felt very grateful for the much deserved "thank-you" from the school for another year of hard work done.

Carrie's Trippin'

Liam and I were trippin' big-time as we drove 13 hours alone to Women's Conference, a graduation and Tanner's family.
Women's Conference is just what you'd think; a bajillion loud, crazy, and lost women frantically rushing to a bunch of classes on a huge BYU campus. I was excited to go and see all my family who came to listen to my Aunt Betty who was asked to speak. One thing she said about service that I liked was, "Even the smallest act is greater than the best intention."

After 900 miles, two fevers, being away from my honey, and a blizzard I had the opportunity to drive through myself (there were snow plows involved!) the trip seemed worth it to see Kat's face as I suprised her by showing up to Sam's graduation.

While I was gone Tanner decided to catch up on some "studying" (click on the picture for a bigger shot). Actually, this is picture of a trip we took in Grace not too long ago. This summer we have 2 trips planned to Californina. If they turn out like this past one, tough times ahead!