It's beginning to look a lot like...

It has been another busy couple of weeks. On Sunday December 5th we decided to go and see Zoo Lights. It was REALLY foggy that night which I think was fun (and made it a little warmer). Carter LOVED looking at all the lights and I got to have some hot chocolate and a fried smore (not recommended)

The 6th was Jason's 29th birthday. The only photos we took were after dinner when everyone came over for cake. We had a great time at Fridays for dinner. My hubby was definetly spoiled by all!!

On Saturday the 11th both my grandma and my mom came down to help us celebrate Carter's first birthday. We decided to go down to temple square. It had to have been the busiest Saturday night downtown. We lucked out though with some VIP parking.

Sunday was the big day! My baby turned one! We had quite the turnout of people. I didn't think that I would be emotional about it, but I just can't believe how much he has grown and learned this year. It was also very touching to see how much love and support he has. Thank you everyone that was able to make it.

Cake smashing

I can't believe my baby will be ONE next week! We decided to let him have his cake a little early and get a little photo shoot in since last week we tried to do his one year photo shoot and he cried the whole time. I'm pretty sure he enjoyed this photo shoot a little bit more. Plus we were getting him warmed up for his real party where he gets to smash a whole cake!! He ended up eating SIX of these cupcakes!

Happy Halloween

I hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend. Here in Utah we feel that we are extra special and celebrated on Saturday instead of Sunday!
We carved pumpkins with Jeff and Alyssa on Wednesday night. Carter didn't care much for it. He just liked throwing everything on the ground!

Here's all our finished pumpkins (From left to right--Alyssa, Jeff, me, and Jason)

So proud of our finished work!

On Saturday morning we took Mr. Man to boo at the zoo! I can't believe we had never been before we Tori and Elle! Carter had so much fun looking at all the other kids in their costumes. By the time it was time to go he was wiped out! He even slept in his carseat for over an hour while we ran errands!

On Saturday night we had a few friends over to help celebrate. Carter sure enjoyed all the attention.

Ben and Leslie. I am pretty sure that Ben wore his "fangs" the whole night!

The whole gang

It rained all Saturday evening. We still took Carter out to a few houses. I think he had had enough and was ready to be in normal clothes. He found the trick or treat bowl and was in heaven. I can't believe he will be 1 years old in less than 2 months...can someone please slow time down!!!

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta (picture overload!)

So this past weekend, Jeff, Alyssa, Jason, Carter, and I all took a roadtrip down to Albuquerque, NM for their annual international balloon fiesta. I have been trying to get Jason go for years now. He decided he wanted to go after seeing a segment about the fiesta on tv. Go figure! Anyways we drove half way (Monticello, UT) on Wednesday night. We decided to go to four corners since Alyssa had never been. I hadn't been in 10+ years and man is it different now. It's $3 a head to get in and there is massive construction going on in the area. Here is Mr. Man sitting in all four states. As soon as I sat him down everyone was saying how cute he was. We had a hard time getting him to sit still since he wanted to look at all the people.

Jeff and Alyssa

Mr. Man was getting tired of being in his car seat so we let him drive for awhile....

We arrived Thursday afternoon and decided to go up the tram that night. I forgot how beautiful the Albuquerque sunsets are. (and how cold it is once the sun goes down)

Thought this was pretty funny...



We got up bright and early the following morning for the special shapes mass assension. It was too windy for the special shapes, but some of the normal balloon's still went up. They also filled most of the special shapes which was fun to see. Some of them are just massive! Carter did great with getting up so early too! He LOVED the balloons!!

My dad ended up having meetings in Albuquerque so my mom came along. She met up with us at the park.

Such a happy baby! Even at 5am!

After the balloon fiesta, we met up with Cari, Ryan and their kids at the hotel for some swimming while others rested. Hope decided to have a little mess up with some milk and had to go home. The rest of us spent the rest of the afternoon at the Children's Museum. I am not sure who had more fun--Carter or Jason and Jeff....

After the children's museum, we headed back to the park for the "Glodeo" which is when they inflate the balloons at night and they glow from the flames. Cari, Ryan, and her kiddos met us at the park for a fun filled night finished off w/ some fireworks!!

Hope loved Carter! She told me multiple times that he was her best friend. She was constantly giving him kisses and hugs and talking to him. It was so sweet!

One of my favorite balloons---the bees

We got up again the following morning to hopefully catch a better mass assension. We were in luck!!

This balloon is MASSIVE!!!

Later we spent the afternoon in Santa Fe shopping and eating and having some great margaritas!!

This is the famous mayor's mansion where all the local Native Americans sell their goods. It was a little pricey for my liking...

That evening we met up again with Ryan and Cari for some good Mexican food at El Pinto. It was a fantastic evening. Carter did great the whole night and fell asleep in the car before we had even left the parking lot!!

And for the 3rd day in the row we went to the farewell mass assension. We had a great trip!!