Here we go again!

I think it's pretty safe to say that 2011 will be a year of changes for our family. Chad is in his last and final semester and will graduate in May.-Which right now I have mixed emotions about. Of course I am so ready for him to be done with school, but I am also really sad to be leaving our friends here. I really have loved it here. We still are unsure where we will be moving to since we have applied for jobs literally all over...including some out of the country.-I'm not even going to get into that because I'm trying to focus on all the state-side jobs instead. Before I got married I loved change. Change was exciting and adventurous. I must be getting old because now I just want stability and no change. But change is inevitable right. So along with all the changes I mentioned previously we're going to be making some other exciting changes as well. This big change is expected to happen this August!

Tubes

This past year was filled with many things, but one of the things that happened the most was ear infections. Poor Carson had 9 ear infections last year! We finally went to an ENT and set up a surgery date for January 13th. That morning we woke Carson up before 6am and headed to the surgery center. Carson was so confused as to why he was being woken up so early and taken somewhere in the freezing cold early morning. Luckily, Carson was second in line because there was only one child younger than him. It really was a super quick process! They took us back to get him all prepped for the surgery and they stuck this lovely little sticky temperature thingy on his head. We played with his puppy and read a few books while we waited and then the nurse came and took him away. I was so grateful that he went to the nurse so easily and didn't scream or I think I would've lost it. We went and sat in the waiting room for about 5 minutes and then we met with the doctor and he said the surgery went great. Now that was fast! About 5 minutes later they brought Carson out to us. He was so groggy and still coming out of the anesthesia. It took him a few minutes to calm down once he really was awake, but then he was pretty happy and enjoying having something to eat. I'm so glad that everything went well and that we got tubes for him. Hopefully this will be the last time we have to deal with anything ear infection related for Carson!

Christmas 2010

I know it's super late to post about Christmas, but here it is anyway. :) This year we went out to Utah for our 3 week break. We stayed at my parents house and had a great time visiting family and just relaxing. I was sick part of the time we were there with this horrible sinus infection and so the last week I pretty much did nothing, but the rest of the trip was great! These pictures are a little out of order and I already wish I would've taken more. So here's a glimpse of just a few of the things we did while in Utah.

Story time with Dad before bedtime.

Carson loved pushing around this shopping cart. He was often put inside it by his cousins and wheeled around.

Cute Erica came up for a little visit.

My niece Lauren was baptized while we were there and Chad gave a talk at her baptism. It was so fun to be there for her special day. Such a cute family!

Carson reading books to himself.

Lauren and Carson. It was so fun to see how much all the cousins just loved playing with Carson and would try to include him in everything.

Carson was obsessed with my parents cat "Bob".

Hailey, Ryanne, and Lauren all opening their presents on Christmas day.

Cooper, Colton, and Dax opening their presents.

Brad and Allie. It's hard to tell in this picture, but she had on the cutest outfit ever!

Carson was more interested in the ribbons and bows.

Grandma Petterborg and my newest niece Lyndee. She is such a doll! She is only about 4 weeks old in this picture.

Chad and my Dad went cross-country skiing a few times together and boy did they look special. Great outfits huh! I about died laughing!

Chad was thrilled to get Mario Kart.

My mother-in-law made this AMAZING quiet book for Carson. Which he absolutely loves!

We went on a date night to see the lights at Temple Square. It was so great to actually go on a date without Carson and have some alone time.

Me, Chad, Matt, and Maren. We asked some random guy to take our picture for us and he about dropped our camera. I'm pretty sure all of us gasped as we saw it falling out of his hands. Luckily, he managed to catch it! Thank goodness!

My Mom reading stories to Dax and Colton and of course Chad wanted to join in. :)

Ry all snuggled up in the favorite chair.

Colton just chillin'.

Carson sporting his new Cars jammies.

Chad is the favorite uncle whenever we come and visit and the kids all beg him to play games with them.

Dax and Colton cheesing it up. These boys crack me up!

These kiddos are hooked on playing the game Mouse Trap.

Before we left for Utah we had our own little mini-Christmas here in Nebraska.

Carson is really into driving around his cars and making a "vroom" sound...which basically means he spits everywhere, but I still think it's so cute.

We read the story of Christ's birth and then a few other Christmas stories together as a family before opening our gifts. So all and all I think we had a wonderful Christmas! We have so much to be grateful for! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas too!

Sneaky Boy

Carson is making all sorts of new discoveries every day around our house. I accidentally left the bathroom door open while I was making dinner the other day. Big mistake! He's a sneaky little guy and so I knew when it suddenly got quiet that he was into something. I was right! Pretty sure he thought this was the coolest toy ever.

Look Who's Walking!

Carson up and decided to learn how to walk while we were in Utah for Christmas. Before this video he had only taken just a few steps by himself, so this was a big day for him. I just absolutely love watching him walk! It's pretty much the cutest thing ever! Makes a mom happy whenever their children learn something new. I know any day now he'll figure out how to run and then I'll be done for, but for now I am loving this new found skill of his and cheering him on like crazy! The past few days he has gotten much more stable and prefers walking to crawling. So this video was taken while in Utah about a week and a half ago. Enjoy!

Breakfast with Santa and other December stuff

Chad is always finding fun stuff to do with Carson. Today it was putting him in a box and pushing him around the house. Carson thought is was great fun and was all smiles.


Every year our apartment complex puts on a breakfast with Santa. This year we actually went since we have Carson and it was a lot of fun. Lots of our friends that live in our complex were there and it was fun to see all of Carson's little buddies see Santa too.

The Ellis's meeting Mrs. Claus.

Carson wasn't sure quite what to think of the whole Santa thing, but he didn't cry so I will call it a success.

Yes we still have our little tiny trees. This year I was going to buy a big tree that was a major deal on Black Friday, but I decided against it after I realized I have absolutely no place to store it. So here we are again with our baby trees. I'm hoping next year I can actually buy a nice big tree and have a spot to store it! :)

Papa comes to town

A couple weeks ago my dad came to visit us. Both him and my mom were suppose to come out, but a few days before they were to come my mom got pneumonia and was too sick to come. So my dad made the long boring drive out here by himself. We were sad that my mom couldn't come, but we were happy to have my dad here for a while. Since my dad hasn't been here since he helped move us out here over 2 years ago and was only here for a day really I thought I better take him to see a few things.

Of course one of the top things on our list to do was to go on a tour of the Husker Football Stadium. It was impressive to see how pretty much they treat their football players like movie stars or something. They have the finest equipment and locker rooms and a whole indoor football field to train on, etc, etc. It was pretty dang cool! My favorite part was at the end when they let you out onto the football field.

Carson wasn't sure what to think of the field.

Us, with our tour guide that's randomly in the picture, where the players run out onto the field.

Go Big Red!!

Papa and Carson playing on the field.

2nd Largest football stadium screen. Yep, only the best for the Huskers!

The stadium itself is amazing! It holds over 85,000 people! And believe me when you are at a game it's insanely loud!

Speaking of the Huskers, my Dad and I got to go to a Huskers football game against Kansas. This is actually the first time I've been to a game since we've lived here.-I know, it's pathetic right. Well we went to a night game with our friends Matt and Traci and had a blast. Even though it was freezing cold it was so much fun to be able to experience going to a home game here. I've been to lots of other college football games before, but I've never seen anything like this. Just so cool! Then I wound up standing next to a drunk girl and her three drunk friends. This girl was twice my size and fell on me more than once because she couldn't stand up for the life of her because she was so wasted. Then every few minutes she'd think I was her best friend and get right in my face and say "Go big red girlfriend!" and try to give me high-five. Needless to say it made things even more entertaining.

In this picture I have my coat pockets stuffed with things to keep me warm like gloves, a hat, more gloves, and many other things. So that's why my coat is bulging out everywhere.

Me and Traci after the game trying not to freeze to death.
The game was definitely the highlight of my dad's visit here, but we did a few other fun things. One day we went to Omaha and hung out at the Old Market where we walked among the bricked streets in and out of cute little shops and had lunch. The rest of the time we spent just relaxing and hanging out. Carson LOVED having his Papa around. He thought it was pretty great to get to hang out and play with him all day. I'm sure he wonders where he went when he left. So thanks Dad for coming out and visiting! We loved having you here and miss you already! Love you!

Of course I have to add a few more pictures of my little man. He's become quite the busy little tyke.

Carson browsing the Hyvee add for sales.

Blurry picture, but a cute smile anyway. Carson loves standing next to anything, especially his little car parking garage thing.

He also loves getting into my pots and pans cupboard. I pick up and put these away at least 10 times a day. I'm sure it's more, but I usually loose count.