Big News

We have big news!!...first of all, no, I am not pregnant.  That would be scary.

WE ARE BUILDING A HOUSE!

We have been looking into building or buying a house since December and have decided to build in Saratoga Springs!  We will be in a nice neighborhood with a beautiful view of Mt. Timpanogos and the lake below it.

It is a just over 3200 sq. ft. rambler style house with 1620 sq. ft. of it finished.  We will finish the basement later on down the road. Initially it will have 3 bedrooms and 2 and 1/2 baths with the potential to have 3 more bedrooms and 1 more bath downstairs.

This is further away from where Carson works but there are so many incentives to build out in Saratoga Springs and we are getting a great deal on the house itself so even though Carson's commute will be longer (about 35 min), we figure it is well worth it.  And hopefully the I-15 core project in Utah County will be done soon!

The beginnings...just a big hole in the ground: May 11th

The footings are poured: May 14th

Foundation is up! The back of the house: May 19th

Basement walls are up! Back of the house: May 26th

Front of the house, standing in the garage: May 26th

The Big One

As I have mentioned before, since finishing up school, I have been studying for my Radiology Boards.  My free time while James napped pretty much consisted of studying...boo.  Well, last Tuesday I took it.

This was a nasty test with 220 questions that took me 3 hours!  I felt pretty okay about how I was doing during it but of course wasn't completely confident.  Then at the end I was SO nervous to click the "done with test" button.  This test allowed me to view my score, it would come up on the screen as soon as I ended the test.  My trembling hand hovered over that button.  My heart was pounding.  I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer.  Then I clicked it and my score was brought up.....I PASSED!!! 

WHAT A RELIEF! Now I am officially a certified Radiology Technologist! I am just waiting for my license to come in the mail and you better believe I'm going to frame it!  :)  

I think I might have to get this shirt

...and this bumper sticker 

Mother's Day

This is technically my second Mother's Day as a mother but last year I was so new at it with James being only a month old, I was still trying to get into the "mother mode".

This year was much more rewarding.  James was a gem at church, well really the whole day.  It was the first Sunday in months we didn't have to take him out during sacrament, woohoo!  (this has definitely been a struggle for me).

As we were heading to our Sunday school class and Carson was finishing up some Executive Secretary stuff, we overheard the primary presidency telling our bishop that they didn't have any children today and had prepared a great lesson.  Carson quickly offered up James so they could still have nursery (that Carson...always looking out for other people).  They happily agreed to the offer! So at 13 months old, James went to nursery for the first time (they usually don't go to nursery until 18 months for those of you who don't know).  Yay for married-student wards haha!  There's another little boy in our ward that is James' age so they took him too.  It was SO nice to be able to listen to a full lesson.  It was a really good one too!

It's hard to see and turned because of how I took it on my phone, but this is a pic that James drew in nursery

look at those chubby hands!

Later in the evening we went over to my parents to eat dinner and celebrate with the fam.  It was such a nice, relaxing evening.

For Mother's Day Carson surprised me with some beautiful flowers Saturday evening and I got a long awaited Kitchen aid mixer for my birthday/Mother's Day!  I opened it last week for my birthday and have tested out making cookies and I am LOVING it!  James is scared of it, but what isn't he scared of?  Haha, he's a tender boy :)

Graduation

It's finally here...GRADUATION!  It seems like just yesterday I was looking at how long we have left thinking, we're never going to finish!  Our whole life together we've been "poor college students" and now we're thrown out into the "real world" :)  It's some-what surreal (and nerve racking).

Both our schools we attended (Carson- BYU and I- Weber State) happened to have our graduation on the same day! AND pretty much the same time!  There was NO WAY we were going to attend Carson's graduation in Provo then drive ALL the way up to Ogden for mine.  I just figured since Carson was graduating with his Masters then of course we would just attend his (I really didn't care all that much to walk and especially to go through the hassle of having to haul up to Ogden for it).  But we are grateful for a friend who happened to mention that she thought BYU allowed others to walk there with special permission.  So we definitely looked into it and it was TRUE!  All we had to do was fill out a survey and that was it!  I was able to borrow a blue cap and gown from a friend and was able to walk right after Carson in his Convocation this last Friday morning.  It was neat to celebrate that special day right by the side of the one I love most.

So what now?  Well, as I mentioned before here Carson was offered a full-time position for Anglepoint in Provo.  He has been working there since January part time and has really liked it so he accepted the full-time offer.  So now we're making the big bucks ;)  As for me, I'm loving being able to be a stay-at-home mom!  I also work PRN (as needed) at the hospital here and there which is nice to be able to keep up on my skills.  I guess I am actually not completely finished (boo).  I still have to take my Radiology Boards and am studying every chance I get (when James naps) so I can pass them.  I have it scheduled so it's crunch time!

It is so weird when we realize we have no more homework....EVER!  :)  (unless I decide to go back for more....but we're not thinking about that too much right now haha It's time for a break)

James at 1 yr.

I wanted to write a separate post from James' birthday about James at this age, what he is doing and his stats etc.

We haven't gone to the doctor yet for his year checkup but I took him in for an ear infection a week and a half ago and he was 20 lb and we measured him at home today and he's 29 in long.

James has become very busy in the last few months!  He is still not "officially" crawling like on hands and knees. He's still doing his army crawl, but he's pretty dang good at it and can really get hauling! :)  I would consider that crawling since he can get where he wants to.  I actually have seen him get up on his hands and knees and shuffle so he's capable, I guess he just prefers the army crawl.  He is now walking with assistance from us and furniture.  He's getting pretty brave with it too, starting to do it one handed.  With all this extra mobility, comes lots of bumps and bruises though which is so sad :( but I guess that comes with learning.

Here are a few other things he's doing or enjoys:

• He gives kisses
• He likes "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
• Loves to roll objects and chase them
• loves to play in the refrigerator and dishwasher
• loves toy cars and just about anything with wheels
• His ears are sensitive (they are ticklish)
• likes it when mommy and daddy kiss
• Holds phones up to his ear
• He can drink out of our Camel Back water bottles that have the straw
• He is super friendly and likes to wave at other little kids
• likes to take things out of their container and then put them back in again
• sneezes when he first gets in the sunlight pretty much every time (just like mommy)
• is starting to babble a lot, he even gets into his conversation with his hands
• is intrigued/scared at the same time of the ceiling fan
• for the longest time he would just put his hand out to point to things, but he now points with his finger
• loves to swing and slide down slides at the park

James is One!!

Well, my baby is one.  Yup, already!  I can not believe it.  This past year has just flown but at the same time a lot has happened in the last year.  It is so weird to think back on where we were on his birth date last year.  I will tell you, this year we all are in much better shape! :)

His birthday fell on Friday the 13th this year and actually it couldn't have been a better day!

James and I spent the day together while Carson worked.  James had his favorite lunch, mac & cheese.  He loves to look outside and it started hailing so he enjoyed watching that out the screen door.  We just spent the day playing!

Then Carson came home and we went and got James some balloons.  I thought he'd be scared of them but he actually LOVED them!

Then came time for the party!  Now, I didn't go all out with decorations or what-have-you...come on, the kid is one ;) We just had both sides of our family over and had cupcakes and ice cream which was plenty of chaos in our little rental :)

James ended up eating two whole cupcakes! haha that's my boy!

We sure do love this kid.  Happy birthday bubba!

eating his beloved mac and cheese for lunch and being so goofy

watching the hail storm

haha oh my heck, this one cracks me up!  Grandma Cullimore gave him this and he loves it!

I'm not too sure about this so I'll just pick at it...

and....devour!

An Outing with Daddy

Thursday Carson didn't have school so we decided to take James here

He had a blast!

It was pretty crowded but we were able to see all that we wanted.  We saw turtles, penguins, sting rays, otters and gross creepy crawlies that I am sure glad do not reside in Utah!

James especially loved the sting rays!  We tried to get him in there to touch them, but they were just too deep for his little arms.  He kept reaching for them though and any time we'd walk past that area he'd reach for them :)  I was able to touch them, something I've never done before.

reaching for the sting rays

He also liked the penguins.  They were really active so he had lots to observe.  This is the first time I had seen penguins too!  They are pretty neat.

In the Otters Exhibit you could climb under and poke your head up in the middle of their exhibit (like they have at the zoo).  James was SO excited, he wanted to do it so bad! haha so we crawled under (which was somewhat difficult since it is made for small children)

in the exhibit with the otters

James had fun! Carson and I liked it too, but we both thought it was going to be more extravagant than it was.  It was still pretty cool though.