Jace's First Year and Feeling Grateful

This sweet boy turned one in September!  Can you tell that he loved his birthday cake?!  We had a little family party at my moms house.  We had dinner, cake, presents(which Jackson mostly opened), and enjoyed playing outside.  It was pretty low key, but such a wonderful day to celebrate Jace.

Jace cruising around on his birthday.  He can only go backwards!

Jace had a rough first nine months of life, and I am so happy to have it all behind us now.  I am often asked if Jace is doing ok, and I happy to finally say YES!  After 3 surgeries, countless doctors, lots and lots of pain and tears.... Jace is finally fistula free.  I am so grateful that we found a good surgeon who could fix the problem for good.

 Getting prepped for his first surgery in December 2012.

Driving home after his third surgery in May 2013. He was so exhausted.

Jace is so sweet, but don't get on his bad side because he likes to bite!  I'm not sure what to do about that. He has the best laugh ever and is such a happy baby.  Even with all he's been through in his first year, he usually has a smile on his face.  People often comment to us how Jace always seems to be so happy.  I feel like it was such a blessing to have such a happy baby, so that we could have lots of smiles in between the tears and sad times.

Jace loves to try and do whatever Jackson is doing. He loves to climb on everything, take baths, wrestle, eat, sleep without a blanket, blow raspberries, snuggle, give kisses, put on shoes, and play outside. Just to name a few:) 

Since it has been 3 months since Jace's birthday, it is now the Christmas season as I write this post.  I have felt extra blessed and grateful this year.  This time, last year it was very difficult and stressful to venture out of the house.  So I am feeling so free and blessed. We have had so much fun doing such simple things.  I have loved being able to drive around and look at Christmas lights, go to the movies, pull the kids around in a sled, make cookies together, and just feel a lack of stress.  I love this times of year so much, and I love it even more now that I have my 3 silly boys to share it with!

Jackson Turns 3!

My little buddy turned 3 in August.  I love having a 3 year old.  Of course we have our moments of meltdowns and craziness, but all the sweet moments make it all so worth it.

 (Jackson at swimming lessons)

(Boating at Bear Lake for Kaden's birthday)

 (Just outside the Sacred Grove)

(New York frog)

Jackson amazes me with his sense of humor and photographic memory.  He will remember the location, color, number, etc. of things he saw months ago.  (He did not get this memory to detail from me. haha!)  I wish I could somehow remember every tiny detail about Jackson at this age, but sadly I don't share his same memory abilities.

Jackson love love loves his blankie and bear.  If we can't find them, he always says " I can't sleep without my blankie and bear!"  So so true.  We once lost if for a couple of days (it was at my moms).  I was in tears and frantically searching on the internet to try and find somewhere to get a new one.  Luckily we found it before I bought the crazy expensive one that I found on ebay:)

Jackson loves to play with cars and planes.  He also loves riding his bike and swinging at the park.  He has finally overcome his fear of the big slide!  Yeah!  He sings all day, and often makes up his own songs.  They are awesome!  He loves to wrestle with his daddy and Jace, have dance parties, play the piano, help me cook, color, read stories, and play games.

He says the cutest things.  For example.....The other day, after getting home from church, Grandpa Carter asked him if he was a cowboy since he had his boots on.  Jackson said " No, I just a church guy." I laughed as he strutted off in his boots that he loves so much.

About a week ago Jackson was talking to me about Santa.  I asked him if he wanted to write him a letter.  Jackson was playing with an old phone and said "No. I'll just text him."  And he did just that.

For his 3 year old party we had a water slide in Nana's backyard.  I'm not sure who loved it more, Jackson or Brad:)  We had Jackson safe cupcakes, but Jackson just licked off the frosting.  Maybe someday he'll actually eat the cake.  I am so grateful every day that Jackson is in our family.  Love you Jax!

Family Reunion in Hatch

We just got back from a fun reunion in Hatch!  It may seem like a random place for a family reunion....but that is where my Grandpa Wilson is from and he loves to go back to where he grew up.  There is a beautiful ranch with adorable cabins to rent out.  We hung out, played softball, ate lots of yummy food, sang old songs accompanied by the accordion, and had a horseshoes tournament (Brad and I may or may not have gotten out in the first round).

My cousin, Derik, has two cute kids that are really close in age to my two boys.  Jackson and Nixon were together pretty much the whole trip.  If one had a drink, the other needed one too.  If one went potty, so did the other.  If one put on their shoes, the other was right behind with his shoes in hand.  You get the idea:)  They were such cute buddies.

Brad went fishing a couple of times.  Hatch has great fishing from what I hear, and Brad caught several.  I'm sure he could tell you a lot more detail about that, but I just know he caught lots of fish:)

Traveling with two kids can be long, so we spent the night in Provo on the way to the reunion.  We enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool, where we ran into my cousin, Mike, and his family. Small world!  We stayed in Provo so we could see the 4th of July parade before driving the rest of the way to Hatch.  Jackson did a lot of dancing and clapping.  Jace somehow slept through most of it.  It was pretty hot, but fun.

We also got to visit our awesome friends, the Van Orman's.  They were only 15 minutes from the reunion, so we were so excited to be so close. We had a great day with them.  Jackson, Jack, and Nellie had fun playing and singing songs together; it was the cutest little choir I have ever heard! The ranch they live on is beautiful, but I still wish they would move back to Logan:)

We really needed a family vacation, so I'm so glad we could have such a fun week.  But now I have lots of laundry and unpacking, two of my least favorite things!

It's been a while....

I can't believe how long it has been since I blogged!  Life has been very busy, so I stopped blogging for a while.  But I decided to get back on top of it after looking through my blog last night and seeing all the pictures of my sweet Jackson boy.  I often write down thoughts in my journal, but I loved seeing pictures that went along with some of my memories.  I sometimes feel sad that my children are growing so fast, and I hope that this blog will be a fun way for our family to look back, and better remember, some fun things about our lives.  

Since I last blogged our family has had a major change....Jace David Carter joined our family on September 16, 2012.  He has brought so much joy to our lives.  I often wondered how I could love another baby as much as Jackson, but I felt my heart grow the moment I saw my sweet Jace.  He is the happiest, smiliest baby ever!  His whole body shakes when he smiles because he is so happy.  All you have to do to get him to smile is look at him:)  It is pretty fun.  He is now 5 months old and 21 lbs. He is starting to sit on his own, rolls from his back to his tummy, and has his hands figured out pretty good.  He is working on cutting TEN teeth right now.  None have broken the surface yet, but his gums are very swollen where ten little teeth are obviously working their way down. 

Jace has battled a fistula and abscess on his little bottom for most of his short life.  He had surgery on it in December, and we have been trying to help it heal ever since.  Sadly, he went in for a second surgery yesterday.  They basically cut out all the infection, and leave a big open wound.  Then we get the awful task of wiping the wound out every time he has a bowel movement.  He also spends a lot of time in the tub to keep it as clean as possible.  I don't mind the washing part, but my heart breaks every time I have to clean out the wound. I wish so badly that I could take the pain for my sweet baby, all I can hope is that someday soon this will all be over.   I was worried he would be so fussy when he came out of anesthesia  since he wasn't allowed to eat for several hours.   But we came to the recovery room to find him smiling up at the two nurses caring for him.  Even with cutting a mouth full of teeth, and a sore bum, he is the sweetest little guy.  We love him so much, and are so grateful to have him in our family!

Jackson is currently 2.5 and is an awesome big brother!  He adores Jace, and is constantly begging to hold him.  Jackson is so creative and imaginative.  He is constantly using his imagination, and I love watching him play.  He dances, and jumps, and runs in circles all day long.  One of my favorite things about Jackson lately is how he accidentally mixes words.  A few of my favorites: hair gel is "Jello", bow is "rainbow", robot is "rainbot", birth mark is "marker".  He is growing up to be such a happy, funny, sweet boy that we love so much!

Life with two kids is a bit crazy, but wonderful.  Brad keeps himself busy with work at USU, web design, running numerous websites, laying carpet, and being an awesome daddy and hubby.  I am happy that I get to spend each day hanging out with my two handsome little dudes. I feel so blessed and very lucky!  

Brad is gone camping with the 11 year old scouts tonight. I hope they don't freeze to death! It is supposed to snow tonight. I am glad I am home in my warm house and not in a cold sleeping bag. So I figured now would be a good time to give a little update of what we've been doing this fall...

Jackson has become a much better eater. One of his new favorite foods is spaghetti. This was his second helping:)
We've been learning to make our own pizza. Brad made this beauty all by himself, even made the crust from scratch! It was so delicious we made it two nights in a row:)

We've been enjoying our last warm days of the year. Jackson loves going to the park by our house. He always snuggles with me like this on the swing. I love it!
We also love going on walks. We have a beautiful trail by our house that runs along the Logan River.
Jackson has been getting his first set of molars. See the lovely drool on his shirt?;) And he learned to copy Brad's "o" face!
We've carved some nice pumpkins. Here is one of Brad's pumpkins this year.
And we had fun with this cute little monkey!
Well that's it for my random post of pictures. We have had a wonderful fall and are getting so excited for the holidays!

Jackson is 1! What?!

My sweet little Jackson turned 1 on August 8th. This last year has been the best year of our lives. Brad and I can't imagine our family without Jackson and are so grateful everyday to be his parents. I still can't believe a whole year has gone by; it went way too fast!

We celebrated Jackson's birthday with a family party. Jackson was totally spoiled by everyone. Being the only grandbaby on both sides will do that I guess:) I even made Jackson a dairy free cupcake, since he has a milk allergy, which he wanted nothing to do with. Oh well! We had so much fun being with our family and enjoying the beautiful day.

Jackson is at such a fun age. He is walking, starting to talk, gives the sweetest kisses, points at everything, and loves exploring every little detail that surrounds him. His favorite things right now are music, his special blankie, and any kind of ball. He loves anything he can feed himself (food doesn't taste as good if I try and feed it to him I guess) and loves drinking from a straw. He is definitely a momma's boy; I'm enjoying that while it lasts:) I love his big cheesy grin, showing off his cute little baby teeth. He still isn't the greatest sleeper, but at least we get to spend lots of time snuggling in the rocking chair. We just love our little man so very much!

Our friend Sami Jo is an awesome photographer, and she took some pictures of our family and Jackson at 1 year. Here a few of our favorites:)

1st Haircut

My friend Brijin, who cuts my hair, was so sweet to give Jackson his first haircut. Jackson did so good. He was very serious the whole time, but didn't cry. He was a little squirmy, especially when the razor tickled the back of his neck:) I was a little sad because he looks so much older to me now. I know there is still plenty of soft, adorable baby hair on his little head, but I feel like he is growing up too fast!

Before:

During:

After: