Christmas Family Picture

I thought I write a little post about our new family picture! I am realizing that it is getting harder and harder to take CUTE family pictures - with everyone smiling! First THANKS to Val my sister-in-law for taking our picture she is always game for it! And since I ask a couple of times a year she is used to it and still hasn't charged me yet! So I got this crazy idea Thanksgiving night on our way home from Pinehurst at like 8pm - we should do our family picture in our pajamas! I knew I had wanted to do it in front of my mother-in-laws new fireplace but not sure what everyone was going to wear and it seems like dressy clothes this time of year only come in certain colors and I hate it! I love the other colors, blue and silver and brown and purple but no there is red and black and green! So I thought how cute would it be if we read a Santa book while she just snapped some photos so here is one and she is going to get me a CD of all of the pictures so I might put more up and of course I had to put this one up of Reese!!

I found a santa hat and onesie that said, My First Christmas, from the $1 bin @ Target, and she is actually smiling - in all the others she was mad and crying!

5-4-3-2-1

So Ryan and I have been married for 5 years now! It was actually on the 29th and thanks to Jayson and Natalie for watching our kids so we could go out to dinner all by ourselves! Weird! We went to Chili's where we got engaged,I know weird but at least we can always go there!
I wanted to point out something for each year we are married and since we have moved 7 times I can't include that yet!

5 - We own 5 couches, for some reason we have collected 3 (one is a futon) and bought two!
4 - We now own 4 vehicles, 1967 Impala, 2000 Mazda Protege, 1998 Toyota Tacoma, and our new 2008 Toyota Sienna
3 - Three kids! Cooper is almost 4, Chloe almost 2, and Reese 3 months this last Thanksgiving!
2 - We own 2 properties, our duplex in Coeur d'Alene and our house in Hayden!
1 - For our anniversary we bought a Samsung 50" flat screen plasma tv! Ryan has been looking at them for months and we got a pretty good deal...We got it at Sears and luckily we bought the minivan to haul it home cause it is pretty huge! It is finally mounted on our wall THANKS to Jason our friend down the street and to Elaine his wife for letting him come down and help my husband...

Sorry I have not updated sooner I thought I was addicted to blogging but somehow I have been overwhelmed with other things lately! Cooper and Chloe got flu shots last week and Cooper spent the whole next day vomiting all over the couches and then Chloe has had a barky cough and stuff nose for almost 2 weeks now and Reese's thrush will not go away so we are finally on the good stuff, Diflucan, and boiling everything! She is also vomiting because she is congested thanks to Chloe from kissing on her so she gags on her sinuses draining...There is so much going around that it makes it hard to stay healthy and home so we don't pick up more!

Thanksgiving was great! We had my parents, sister and her family and of course my brother who still lives with us, but not for long! After we ate and hung out they had to hit the road and we headed to Pinehurst to see Ryan's grandpa who was in town! He is so stinkin cute! He just turned 87 and is so feisty! We also got a picture of him and all the great grandchildren born so far,10 of them - ages almost 11 to 3 months - let's just say it was entertaining!

We are very thankful this holiday season and love the holidays...We have made it a goal to help others even though this email might sound selfish with the things we have bought but we are doing a Secret Santa for a family and have increased our fast offerings by double for the church so we can help others...We know we have been very blessed and want to pay it forward!

We are officially a MV family!!

So here it is our NEW MINIVAN! We were going to wait until March to get one but we had a friend of a family that Ryan grew up with looking for us! So I (Carrie) got a call Friday around 3:30 I think, and our sales guy Austin said hey I have a minivan it just came in and I have it in the back so no one else will know so when can you come in? I said oh 5:30 he said OK! 4:30 my phone rings and it is Troy (the friend) he says another sales guy has the keys and has people coming in any minute and was completely honest about it (keep reading!)...So I call Ryan right away and he drives down there and test drives it while I load the kids back up into the car and I test drive it and love it of course, (who doesn't love a new car??!) So Ryan goes in and does the paperwork while I get my kids a healthy dinner from McDonald's and we go and hang out in the playroom at Parker Toyota! We start the numbers game with our sales guy and the finance guys and Troy couldn't be there but he was available by phone...Then some friends from Post Falls 4th Ward show up and they are buying a car so we had a party in the playroom...During this party I took the kids for a walk around the dealership just inside and I see this older couple sitting at a table with no salesman and I think, crap those are the people here for the van! Suckers! Just kidding but really I kind of feel bad like we stole it! And to make things worse I took Chloe to change her diaper and the lady walked in! She had no idea I was the one stealing her dream minivan so we chatted and Chloe loved her for some reason, maybe felt sorry for her cause we stole her van but they don't have any kids! Finally 3 1/2 hours later we left the dealership and after making 2 trips to get all our cars home we own a minivan! So we get the monthly payment we want and all the insurances at a steal! Then we even got to drive it home that night...So the details, it is a 2008 Toyota Sienna LE, it was a corporate car, they need an '09 only 30,000 miles, 8 passengers, the back seats fold all the way down and the back trunk area is set like 8 inches lower so you can put a stroller there and have it flush with the floor of the van, all three middle seats come out so we will be taking one out to put Cooper in the back and the side windows roll down, okay I think that is enough and we just love having a car that can actually get up and go cause the Mazda is almost 9 years old and the truck is almost 11 and not to mention the '67 Impala...So we have a used car lot with 4 cars at our house but it is awesome! We will be selling the mazda after I can quit the paper route because Ryan's truck works great for his work and we will never be selling the Impala...Sorry for the long story but since we have never bought a new or used car and the 29th of this month is our 5 year anniversary we are pretty excited!

I bought his headband for Chloe for Christmas pictures a year ago and realized it matched Reese's outfit perfectly and she was in such a good mood I thought perfect photo opportunity!

Cooper took this picture this morning, I thought it was so cute! I have no idea how he got her to smile!

Halloween

What a nightmare! Cooper by dinner time, I thought was not going trick or treating! He could not decide what he wanted to be, not like oh I want to be 5 things, just I don't want to be anything but Batman! I don't have a batman costume and was too cheap to buy the one made in China for 50 cents and pay $20 for it! So he had a few options, Superman, leopard, thomas or spiderman for the second year in a row! So finally he decided Spiderman which was cool because he wore his mask! He loved trick or treating and Ryan took Cooper and Chloe to some assisted livings to see people and our neighborhood, for some reason our ward didn't do trunk or treat and we thought about going to the Coeur d'Alene Stakes but it was late by the time we got done with dinner and everyone dressed!

Reese was a pumpkin...Usually our kids are a tootsie roll but I couldn't find the costume! She actually smiled while wearing it so I got the end of the smile!

Chloe was a pirate princess! She actually smiled for this picutre but again our camera takes awhile to flash and take the picture so she turned her head but she at least she smiled!

This and That

This is Reese after she got done laughing, our camera takes 5 seconds to take the picture so she was done by the time it flashed! She loves to laugh and smile!
This was taken the day after Reese was officially 2 months but man they grow so fast...She is already 11 lbs 4 oz. and 23 inches long! All day Tuesday she just slept since she got her shots Monday! She is so good and I think her thrush is finally gone but I better knock on wood after writing that!

Chloe fell asleep like this last week and I thought man, how can she breathe! Let alone how much her back hurt after I moved her! She never woke up when I moved her but hasn't fallen asleep like this again!

Sorry even darker, this is my brother, Ian, and Cooper bonding playing Wii, we do a lot of bonding with the Wii, I think this is Mario Kart, we bought it for Ryan for his birthday (early), Nov. 5th!

Sorry this is so dark but this is Cooper and Chloe bonding, playing the Wii, even though Chloe isn't really playing she just thinks she is!

This is Chloe caught climbing up their bunk beds one day! She has tried repeatedly but this day I let her so I could have a picture! She does sleep on the bottom so the top, Cooper's bed, is a treat to be able to even get on the mattress!

So these are just some random pictures and things that go on in our daily life especially the Wii, Cooper plays for hours some days when I need to get things done and he has gotten so good at Mario Kart he beats Ryan and I! Next posting will be trick or treating and pumpkin carving!

Pumpkins, Drums, Lipstick, and an Eviction

Carrie and Cooper on the tractor waiting to leave with our pumpkins!

Reese is in the car seat nice and cozy! Chloe is all bundled up and could not move her arms by herself! I think we need to go earlier next year to get bigger pumpkins and you can get wagons to haul them instead of riding the tractors!

Cooper wanted a red pumpkin! I honestly had not seen a red pumpkin before and thought it was kind of cool. This is at Carver Farms in Washington, just outside of Idaho. Sad to say we have never been to a pumpkin patch before but definitely will make it a tradition!

Chloe wants a real drum set from Santa! She found these mixing bowls and so I thought why not let her bang and she loved it!

Reese has thrush...Poor thing, we have it with every kid! We use Gentian Violet instead of all the antibiotics they put you through! It is messy to use but hopefully will work soon!

So we don't have pictures or I do but do not want to post them of our duplex. Ryan and I bought a duplex 4 years ago and just had the worst problem with a renter ever! We almost had to evict her. She owes us almost 2 months rent plus late fees! So we finally told her she needed to get out and talk about 1001 excuses! She had a story for everything and come to find out she lies without hesitation! I told her last Wednesday she needed to be out by Saturday at noon and we stopped by after getting the pumpkins, and buying new locks for the doors, and she was nowhere near done! So Sunday night we drove by and it looked better and at 6:45 am Monday morning on the way to my physical therapy appt. she calls and says she is out. Talk about trashed - as soon as I got home Ryan and I went over there and the carpets might need to be replaced, the toilets were never cleaned and this was all done in less than 5 months! We have new renters and they have painted and cleaned up the place but the carpet people don't promise to get the red stains out, I think it is strawberry milk from the 5 year old...GRRRR!! Ryan and I learned our lesson and are doing background and credit checks from now on...We have a great Christian family on one side and Ryan's friend from high school is on the other side now so we pray for no more problems! We love having this duplex but have learned a lot from this experience especially that it is illegal to open a mailbox if it does not belong to you because you do not live there! Okay enough venting, we are doing great now and hope that we get our money or we will be posting about our experience in court, but we hope not!

I finished a 4 mile run!

So I know I posted yesterday but I have to say how proud I am of myself! I started running a week and a half ago and yesterday I ran with my sister-in-law Sarah! We never know where we are going to go but she does this 4 mile run and I said no way, I just did 2 1/2 last Wednesday and that was hard enough and she said oh you can do it! So we did it! I couldn't believe it! I seriously have not worked out for a year and Reese is 5 weeks old tomorrow! On the run I pushed Cooper in the stroller so 32 pounds of resistance the whole time and when we turned around at the halfway point all of a sudden we were headed into the wind! But I finished without walking and I am surprisingly not sore today! Hopefully we can squeeze in a 5k before the snow starts to hit!

Reese's Blessing

Ryan blessed Reese Evelyn yesterday in our ward, which is nice because all of his family is here except Tyler, our brother-in-law. It was very spiritual and amazing which each blessing is for our children. We had her dress made by Lona's mom, Jenny, Ryan grew up with Lona. Jenny is extremely talented and found spare time to make Reese's dress. Thank You!

Even though Reese hated pictures before church, she was amazing during the blessing, she really doesn't cry that often... Maybe she is taking after Chloe who glares at my sister-in-law Val every time she pulls out her camera! Thanks Val for taking our pictures! Even though Reese is mad this is the best picture for our little family...I know I just had our family photo shot quickly one night before dinner (thanks Sarah) but this one is more foraml as we are dressed up for church! The kids were okay for the pictures as our church is at 12:30!

Our second family photo that was better of Reese but we couldn't decide between this one and the previous!

Cooper sick of taking pictures.

It was a good day even though Cooper and Chloe were getting over colds so I left second hour! I have to brag that Cooper bore his testimony for the FIRST time, we are very proud parents, he practiced all week! So after the blessing, my temple recommend interview, dinner, an hour long walk, I went to our youth fireside and home teachers at 8pm we finally made it to bed at 10pm! The next thing I knew it was 2:30 time for the paper route luckily Mondays are really easy!

Sorry for the long post!!!!

Poor baby!

So we have never had a baby have acne...I hate it! I feel so bad for Reese and I know it doesn't bother her but it does me! I am such a picker! It is so hard not to pick at her face! I have been reading about what to do and that is nothing! So I have been washing her face with some Johnson's baby wash that is "milder than soap" and I do that every night and twice today since she vomited everywhere! I am just worried she will have it when we bless her at church on the 28th...So we will just pray for her face! The brighter side is that she has almost stopped peeling, I also have never had a baby have flakey skin...
So on a bright side everyone is doing well! No one is sick and other than Chloe drinking a little bit of the Mylicon gas drops and having diarrhea we are doing great! Enjoying the last few days of sunshine and 80's until the cool air comes in! That means nights are getting colder and I am going to have to wear shoes and not flip flops on the paper route!

Kids are doing great!

Reese is 10 days old now! Where does time go! She is doing great and gets lots of love in this family from her siblings and parents after the siblings of course! I had to post this picture of all the kids sleeping at the same time, it really happened, twice this last week! Everyone has adjusted and loves "baby Reese" as Cooper calls her! We also learned that there have been a ton of girls born named Reese during the past month at our hospital...We know this is true as we took her to her first doctor's appointment the day after she was born and there are two doors and a nurse from each side came out asking for Reese and we went first but we stopped as soon as the other nurse said Reese and sure enough we were going in the wrong direction, the other Reese was only 2 weeks old so we know it is a popular name around here right now!