Easter 2011

Sorry for this VERY tardy post. It seems a few motherly tasks take precedence over blogging these days. However, I again promise to try and be better about it...

Here are some pictures from our Cincinnati trip for Easter, yes, Easter that took place two months ago!

The first day we arrived was our only full day of sunshine, and we went to the awesome Cincinnati Zoo with Grandma, Grandpa and Cousin Mia!
The tulips were beautiful in full-bloom!

The second day of our trip we celebrated our niece's baby shower. We didn't have any great pics of the mommy-to-be, Brittany, but here is a cute picture of Carson with his Aunt Tracey and his cousin Mia.

The skies quit dumping on us for about 2 hours, just long enough for an impromptu Easter Egg Hunt in Grandpa's yard!

Carson with his grandparents, too cute!

And here, the cousins got to hit a few putts on Grandpa's putting green. Mia can't wait for Carson to be bigger so they can play golf together!

And the first time (surely there will be MANY more of these pictures as Carson grows up) - riding on Grandpa's tractor!

We always have a great time with The Schnell Family, and we are already looking forward to our next trip for the Labor Day Party! Hopefully, this time we won't get rained out so we can see more of Grandma and Grandpa's friends!

Good times growing up!

Here are a few recent pictures of Carson having good times!

Celebrating Daddy's birthday (that candle is in a yummy cupcake):
At Red Rock Canyon with Charlie and Emma:

Carson's first trip to the snow, he loved it and we are going back next weekend (with better snow clothesso he can play and explore more without getting too wet):

Playing with Daddy:

Here are the "horsies" we saw - next weekend we will go on a ride with them, they will take us on a 30 minute journey around the snowy Mt. Charleston area. Fun!

Carson is saying more words and continuing to amaze us with how much he is learning. Every day is an adventure, and we love introducing him to the many exciting adventures in our own backyard (Las Vegas). More fun to come!

Carson's 2nd Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas in 2010. Below is a small sampling of the 400+ pictures we took to capture the fun we shared! :)

The Schnellys

Carson in his new car that Santa brought him - a total hit!

Family pic - getting ready to open our stockings

Carson loved the stocking goodies, and helped all of us pull our goodies out

Carson trying on his baseball glove that Uncle Michael bought him... too cute!

Cute little boy after all the gifts had been opened at home.

Next stop - Christmas fun at Grandmama and Grandad's in Modesto, CA

Grandmama and Cousins Dylan and Devan made an awesome Snowman Cake
Matching cousins in their Christmas Jammies :)

Carson was the referee (binkie and all) for his cousins bout on Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots game!
Carson got a step stool (handmade by Grandad) for his bedroom... awesome!

Christmas fun!

Our new traditional - my best friends Melissa and Darcy brought their kids over for some play time fun. Pictured below are Darcy's sons Ryan (6 months), Sean (28 months), Carson (14 months), and Melissa's daughter Elliott (almost 16 months).

Here are the kiddos with their Mommies

And before we headed back to the airport, Carson posed for one great picture with his Scott grandparents!

We had a memorable holiday season and know each year will bring more and more fun for Carson. He continues to grow and learn, and now that he has started walking and talking (a few words), Jeff and I are soaking in all that he can do and cherishing each step as they really go by too fast.

Happy New Year to you, our friends and family!

Our new home!

So here is the whole story...

We had absolutely no intention of buying another house. We had talked about how nice it would be to take advantage of the ridiculously low-priced real estate market in Vegas, but we knew it was more of a dream than a reality.

After a good friend of mine at work started looking to buy a house, she would email me listings of homes they liked. When I saw the amazing values of these homes, I had to tell Jeff about it. We talked to a couple Realtors and decided, it was definitely a buyers market, so we would look to see if we found something we couldn't resist, and if so, we would keep our house and rent it out.

After looking at one house, we fell in love and knew this was a deal we could NOT pass up. 2 months later, we moved into our new home on Spiced Strawberry, truely my dream home, a place where we will live for MANY years. Below are a few pictures of the living space and the outdoor space (almost half an acre which is unheard of in Vegas)... more to come in the Spring when our new landscaping is in full bloom.

Front Elevation:
Family Room:

Family Room and Dining Room (view from the kitchen)

Our Kitchen (SO big, I have a few cabinets with 2 items in them... one just had Tupperware lids!):

Formal Dining Room (looking out to the front of the house and our courtyard):

Living Room (this is open to the Formal Dining Room)

Our gorgeous pool:

In this picture you can't really tell, but the way the yard is set up is the pool is in the middle, and then on both sides of the pool there are grassy areas surrounded by landscaping... SO NICE!

The other grassy area on the right side of the pool: We invite you to come visit so you can see the rest. We didn't take pictures of the 4 bedrooms, or super-sized loft area (upstairs), so you will have to come and see it for yourself! :)

Happy 1st Birthday to ME!

On October 23, we celebrated Carson's 1st Birthday in Porterville, where his Great-Great Grandmother, Momma, was celebrating her 100th Birthday. It was a wonderful weekend with the Scott Family, looking back on our little man's first year.

Carson loved the birthday cake (mostly frosting) that his Grandmama got for him.
A week later on Halloween (in our new house) we had Carson's 1st Birthday Party. His family and friends came over for a football themed party, filled with love, good food, cake, presents and laughter. Here is "Carson Palmer" posing for a picture.
After chowing down on his birthday cake:

And here is Carson playing with a balloon. He was kind of afraid of balloons, but after his party, he became a little more comfortable with them.

It is really amazing to look back on how much Carson has changed throughout his first year. We somehow love him more and more with each passing day, and really enjoy all of the changes he is making as he becomes more of a little boy with a very distinct personality. I think Carson is going to be funny, as he will play and just crack up at the littlest things... but only time will tell.

Many more posts to come, I promise. It isn't easy trying to chase after him, keep up our new big house (pictures coming), and still find time to blog, but I will make more of an effort.

Happy Holidays to all of our Friends and Family! xoxo

Fall Fun!

We had a great weekend enjoying some cooler temps and time together as a family, and with our friends.

Saturday night we went to the pumpkin patch with The Buck Family. Here we are in one of our rare family pictures (thank you Ben for getting this good one of us)!
Carson the hill-jack eating his corn, sittin' on a bail of hay. Yee-haw!

The cutest pumpkin in the pile of pumpkins... I'll take that one!

Carson and his BFF Kaden hanging out among the squash and pumpkins.

Today, Carson celebrated his good friend Zack's 1st birthday. Carson loves Zack's nanny too!

Next week we are looking forward to a weekend in Fresno. Friday night we are going to the "Zoo Boo" where Carson will be dressed up as a lion. Saturday, on Carson's first birthday, we will be celebrating Carson's great-great grandmother's (Momma) 100th birthday... what a wonderful celebration that will be! Lots of pictures to follow...

Remember me?

Hello Friends and Family! Mommy has been VERY bad at updating the blog, so what better time than now, to send some recent pictures of me?!?

Here I am outside wearing Daddy's Bengal's hat!

Eating spaghetti for the first time. It was yummy, but I liked playing with one noodle for a while. It was funny to me and Mommy!

Here I am wearing my favorite shoes. My friend Abigail gave them to me and I wear them everyday, even if they don't match! :)

This BIG pile of books was given to me by Daddy's boss, Erin, and her 2 sons. I really love books, so I appreciated this gift a lot.

And this is my best buddy Kaden. You can see me in the back, I was thinking about going over and jumping on him, because that is what I do most of the time... but for now, I was just hanging back and letting him play. I love when he comes over to my house, we have lots of fun!

Mommy will try to get better at updating the blog, but she is busy cleaning up and chasing after me most of the time. And after a full day of work and ME, she needs some sleep I suppose. However, we will all do our best to send pictures more often.

For now, we are all off to bed, I will see you in a couple weeks when I turn 1 year old! :)

Love, Carson