Nursery!

Sunday was the boys first time in Nursery by themselves at church! Now that they're 18 months old they get to go to Nursery for the first two hours of church and play with all the other kids! They were such good boys and had so much fun! I prepped myself all week because I knew that they would do so well...Brayden was a little bit sad to see me go but Walker was fine--they both played just fine without me around! Can't believe they're this big already!

18 months ago...

18 months ago yesterday I was busy growing my two little angels...little did I know my water would break that night and I would have my two sweet boys 5 weeks ahead of schedule!18 months ago today Heavenly Father sent these sweet boys into Joseph and I's lives and everyday since then has been a wonderful adventure!
18 months ago, Joseph and I became parents and changed from a couple to a family

6 months ago we celebrated these sweet little guys 1st birthday--and the fact that Joseph and I had survived as parents for a year!

Today I woke up to the sound of my babies playing and giggling at eachother...as usual one of them was covered in poop--such smart boys getting their dirty diapers off--they played in the bath for an hour, we had breakfast, we played some games, we danced and sang at the top of our lungs, I chased them upstairs and they are now slumbering sweetly...

It is days like today when I know how blessed I am to be a mother and to have such wonderful children...

It's somewhat bizarre going from 2 to 4 in a matter of nine months...there were day when I was pregnant that I thought how in the world will I care for and love two children at once--I remember worrying that I might love one more than the other or that I wouldn't have time to play with both of them each day--

I can truly say that I LOVE being a mother--I treasure each moment I have with my little guys...even the poop filled ones!

I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by and how big Walker and Brayden are already--I hope that I always remember these moments and make time for more moments throughout their lives!

And there is no way I could talk about the last 18 months without saying how wonderful Joseph has been as a husband and father--he is such a natural with the boys and they absolutely adore him! They talk about him all day while he is gone and giggle and sit with him when he gets home--

I love you Joseph--thanks for being the best!

Dear...

Dear Fall...

Thank you for showing your beautiful face on the tree in front of our car this morning! Can't wait for more good times with you! Please stay for a while!

Your friends-Kira, Walker and Brayden

Young Women Beach Trip

Growing up in the same ward I'm in now I went on our ward Young Women's beach trip every year...the year after I graduated they changed it to a Youth Confrence trip and invited the boys from the ward, after that they never really did the trip again...They decided to bring it back this year and it just so happens that I just got called to be the Personal Progress specialist in YW's! I was so excited to get to help and attend the beach trip with all the fun girls in our ward! There were 9 girls on the trip and 4 leaders! We had such a fun time...it was my first time being away from the boys over night but Joseph did a great job taking care of them! It was so fun to hang out with the girls and act like a teenager again for a couple days!!The other leaders and I
The girls minus two--turning Chloe into a mermaid

Some of the girls turning Amber into a mermaid...
Morgan, Brooke, and I

Brittney if you're reading my blog I have to say being on the Beach Trip with Morgan--who is So muc like you--brought back so many memories!

It was FREEZING and these girls stayed in the water almost the entire time we were at the beach!

Such a fun trip! Can't wait to go again next year!

Summer Days with 16 month olds...

Things have been busy here in the Carlson household! We have been having so much fun enjoying summertime!
One of the saddest things about the boys getting bigger is we've cut off all their sweet baby curls...we were getting lots of mullet comments so we decided it was time! They look so grown up now!I suprised Joe and took him to Six Flags for his 26th bday! We had a great day riding roller coasters and hanging out just the two of us!
Auntie Caitlin had our cousins Payton and Brooklyn with her for a whole day last week and they came to spend it with Walker and Brayden, the girls swam while the boys napped, they colored and blew bubbles with the boys frosted cupcakes, played outside, and ate pigs in a blanket--the boys love playing with the girls!

Walker and Brayden absolutely LOVE coloring right now...while they do eat the ocassional crayon they will color for hours!

We also play with whipped creme in their high chairs before bath time! They have so much fun getting dirty!

Oh bummer, these pictures are sideways, but they love to pull our curtains around and play peek a boo behind them while they eat...I end up having to wash the curtains every few days but they giggle so sweetly its worth it!

They love to eat bananas but will only eat them if they are whole with the peel, they can peel them back by themselves and look so big holding them!

They love to relax with their daddie when he gets home from work and watch an episode of the Backyardagains or Spongebob!

Well darn, another sideways pic...we also love playing dress up in our house, hats, ties, sunglasses...you name it!

also bandanas...

Hope you're all enjoying your summers, we sure are!

Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever!

So I know it's kind of the wrong season for making things with Pumpkin, but I got some on clearance the other day and have been wanting to use it!

I absolutely love pumpkin...I found this recipe for muffins a few years back from this website and have been making them ever since! The recipe makes a huge amount of muffins--I made some on Monday and did half of the batter in my crockpot, to make sort of a pumpkin loaf...and used the rest of it yesterday to make 27 muffins! Anyways it's so yummy I thought I should share!

PUMPKIN MUFFINS

3 1/3 c. flour 2 tsp. baking soda 3 c. sugar 1 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. nutmeg 1/4 tsp. ground ginger Mix dry ingredients and add: 1 c. oil 4 eggs 2/3 c. water 2 c. pumpkin Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Prepare muffin tins by greasing with vegetable oil or butter and sprinkling lightly with flour. Shake out excess. Fill muffin tins three-quarters full and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean

I bake mine for exactly 20 minutes and they turn out great!

They are also equally delicious when you add some chocolate chips!

Happy Baking!

Mother's Day Crafts

I've been meaning to post these for a while now...I made our Mother's Day Pressents this year and felt so good about saving money and giving gifts that were more meaningful! I made both of our moms canvas' with pictures on them and made a washer necklace for Joseph's mom and picture blocks for my mom(which I don't have a pic of)!

The washer necklace idea came from here

it's been done on probably every craft blog out there but I really liked this one! Just an FYI for anyone wanting to make washer necklaces get aluminum washers--anything else is really hard to stamp, everybody blogs about them being so easy but just buying normal washers are way too hard to stamp hence aluminum washers are apparently the way to go...unfortunately for me I found this out too late!

This picture canvas was my idea, I bought the canvas on clearance at Target and just painted over it, added the pictures and bought the letters for $.99 at Target as well! I love the way it turned out, I also made one for my mom with her other Grandkids on it as well!

The idea for photo blocks is here

They turned out super cute, I painted them blue for my mom and did black and white pics on them, I'll get a pic asap!

One other thing I made recently for the boys are these awesome no sew capes
they literally took me five minutes to make both, and the boys love them! They came from old shirts of Josephs! They're a little big for now--I've been searching for small Superman shirts at thrift stores so they can be real super hero capes!