Back at BYU-Idaho

School started almost 3 weeks ago and we have been going ever since! We had to unpack the two days before school started and havent touched the remainder of it since...(whoops). I am taking classes mostly for my major, child development, and one for my minor/cluster, home and family. They are, Curriculum for young children, which I LOVE, Adolescent Development, and Infant/Toddler Development, which I also like! They are a lot of work, but I love learning about those sort of things! Pat is taking a bit more than me, but he is doing very well, and actually doing his homework!! ;o) He's taking calculus, a computer science class, english, racquetball, and world religions.

We have been taking Alexa to her friend, Brylie's house when Pat and my classes overlap. I then watch Brylie, while her mom does her online classes, the other days. It's been nice to have friends here already so we can swap babysitting. But it seems like many of our other friends are graduating and will be leaving soon :'o( But I guess that's what happens when you take a whole year off like we did. BUT... I should be graduating soon! Even if I go part-time, I should graduate December 2011, so the end is near! On the other hand, Pat just changed his major from business, to Computer Science and now has a ton more credits...but I'm hoping it will REALLY pay off in the end! We hope to get out of here before Alexa starts Kindergarden, if that says anything.... *sigh*

Carney Update

I know I haven't been very good about keeping our blog updated lately, so I guess now's the time to get caught up, and I'll try to not make it a novel...

First of all, we are now officially moved out of Iowa (but I wont say that I'm glad about that, because really, I'm not) :o( We left Saturday late evening and drove to Omaha where we stayed the night. It was only about a 4 hour drive which wasn't that bad. However, Sunday we drove to Colorado which took about 8 hours, and man, I felt evey minute of that!
We will leave for Rexburg (to finish school) in a few days while we rest up from our previous 12 hour trip.
I know I am definitely going to miss Iowa. I really, really liked it there and I loved the people too! Maybe someday when Pat and I finish our degrees, we can move back there? But who knows...

School will start April 20th at BYU-Idaho, which is right around the corner. It's been awhile since I've been in school so hopefully I will be able to keep up with the senior level classes I'm supposed to take! :o/ I'm still majoring in Child Development, and Pat has decided to change his major from Business Management to Computer Science, which means we will be in Rexburg for the next few years, but I think (and hope) that it will pay off in the end!

I know I've probably said this more than once, but Lex has been growing like crazy lately!! She's saying a lot more words now and will try to immate our words. She's definitely growing into an independent little girl! She's discovered the word "No" and will use it often!! She likes to play dress up a lot and try on new clothes! (or old ones that I'm trying to fold) Her hair is growing more and more out of control but she does have the PRETTIEST little curls in the back that I don't want to cut off, fearing that they might go straight, like mine did when I was little.
Her favorite animal, BY FAR, is a cat! She has her beloved stuffed "kitty cat" that she drags with her everywhere! and whenever she sees a cat, she gets all excited and squeals. Oh and she spent Easter with her cousin Amberly which was a lot of fun for the both of them.

Karena and Jason, (and Amberly) came up to Iowa a few days before Easter to visit Jason's grandparents who loved only a few hours west of us, and then decided to stop by good old Cedar Rapids to see us! :o) It was a blast. I'll try to post some pictures as soon as I can of their visit!

My hair-bow business has picked up quite a bit! I've almost had the same amount of orders in three months this year, as I did all of last year!! So I've been pretty busy making bows lately, but I love doing it, so I cant complain ;o)

Well that's us in a nutshell thus far... I'll try to be better about posting more frequently so I dont have to write another novel ;o) And pictures will be coming soon!!

New Words

So today while eating dinner Lex added two new words to her vocabulary!!

Being the terrible mother I am, I gave lex a couple bites of chocolate before dinner and of course it was smeared all over her face, but she loved it... then after eating a pretty good meal of stir-fry and rice, Pat said, Lex do you want some CHOCOLATE? Then Lex looked at him and said "Choc-ate"!! She's never said that before or even anything close! Pat and I looked at each other and busted out laughing!! Its was so cute and funny!! Then we started asking her to repeat some other words we were saying and she just kept saying "Choc- ate"... then we asked her something about how many siblings she's going to have. I said, How many sisters do you have, and clear as a bell, Lex said "TWO"! And she's never said that before either! Then I asked, How many Brothers do you have, and again she said "TWO"! So I guess that means we are going to have 5 kids!!! Pat and I were cracking up!! Then we asked what her brothers name, then she said "NO", in her cute Lexi way. So we at least got the numbers, but no names yet :o)

Lexi's Cooking Skills

Alexa is getting very good at her cooking skills! Pretty soon she will be cooking for ME! :o) Here are some pictures of her cooking pancakes the other day...they were very YUMMY!!!

An Update on Lex...(and us)

Update time...

*Pat went to Houston 2 weeks ago to look for a job... and boy, news travels fast in Mormon land! I didn't even tell anyone in Iowa we were for sure moving, but people at church some how knew! I didn't want to tell people until we had more of a plan, but that didn't happen...oh well. All we know right now is that Pat is in the process of looking for a job in Houston, so we can both finish school. But that's pretty much the extent of our plans. Lexi and I are home in Iowa waiting patiently for Pat to find a job so we can have a better idea of when we will be moving, which means we can see Pat again!

*With all this cold, snow, and ice....I am SO over winter! (Another reason to look forward to moving to Houston...it lacks a winter!! :o) Staying inside all day with an 18 month old is hard!!! Especially with Pat being gone, it gets pretty lonely. But thankfully Lex and I go babysitting Mondays-Thursdays, which gets us out of the house! :o)

*Lex has been growing a ton these past couple of weeks! She's starting to LOVE books, (which before she had absolutely no interest. She wouldn't even let me hold one! She'd just rip it from my hands and throw it on the ground). But NOW...she'll want to read 5 or more books before bed, or nap. I feel bad cutting her off, but I can't read every single book we own each time she goes to sleep! She first started loving this book I made for her with family pictures. We will read it for about 10 mintues each time! She also loves, the book "Where is Baby's Belly Button" with lift the flaps, and her First 100 Words book. We will go through each picture, sometimes more than once, and she will relate that picture to the real thing, like when we see the picture of a clock, she will point to the clock in her room, and want to go find all the other clocks in the house.

She also knows, and will point to body parts such as: mouth, lips, nose, ears, eye, hands, feet and of course, her favorite body part...BELLY BUTTONS!!! She will say "Were da ba?" Which means, "where's your belly button? Then she will try to lift up your shirt to see it, even if that means she has to tackle you!!

Lex is also getting more independent Every Day! I will ask her what she wants to wear in the morning, and she will go to her drawer and pick out a shirt or a pair of pants (which is usually the first thing she sees) and I will try to match what ever she picks out. Then she will insist on putting the clothes on herself, which doesnt always work out, but hey she's trying!! :o)

She also loves walking down each of the 4 flights of stairs at our apartment all by herself, especially on the days we are running behind! She will want to sit in a regular seat in the car and use the lap belt, which then means I have to bribe her to sit in her "big girl seat".

More words Lex is pretty good at saying: "Shoes", "dat" for cat, "Ju" for juice, "do" for dog (she will also sign this, which is patting the leg), oh and she LOVES saying "What dat?!" To EVERYTHING...I'm glad she's curious, but every little sound she hears, or anything she's not sure of, it's "what dat??", she likes saying "bubbles" (she LOVES bubbles!!), she definitely misses her daddy so she will say "da da da da" over and over and point to the door, or hold up her arms as if she's asking "where's daddy?". "Chee" for cheese, also a favorite word, "uh oh", and many more. Those are just some of Lexi's favorite words.

Lastly, Lex is really good about following directions! (Except her occasional naughtiness ;o) I will ask her to grab my shoes, and she will find them, bring them to me, and try to put them on my feet! So sweet! I'll ask her to find other things for me, and she will keep searching until she finds it. This helps me to know that she does understand a Lot more than I think, which makes me feel like I am getting through to her!! YAY!

Anyway, Lex is growing up so fast! Two years is right around the corner...where did my little tiny baby go?

(Just thought I'd share with you the most recent picture I have of Alexa and her very best friend, Maddy.)

Some Christmas Pics

-CHRISTMAS 2009-

-Lexi with Santa- She didn't do too bad this year!! :o)

-Lexi about to open her present cover Santa left... (Santa came a little early this year since we were flying to Colorado on Christmas Eve)

-WOW!! A COOL Sit and Spin toy...BUT of course she was more interested in the cookies! lol

-Alexa showing off her stocking contents and gift from Santa

*Like I said before, this year we went to Colorado for Christmas and it was a ton of fun!! We spent the whole Christmas day with Pat's family, (unlike the previous years since we had to split the day between two families). Now mine has moved to a different state which will hopefully make holidays a little less stressful...??

* We also spend some time with my sister Karena, her husband and daughter. Alexa had a ton of fun playing with her cousin Amberly!! They even got some professionally done photos together!
We were also able to be one of the first to find out what my sister's next baby will be since we were in town, which was pretty exciting!
Once we found out it was a BOY, my sister and I had to celebrate by getting a FEW outfits for him, since all of her baby stuff is girly, she had to start somewhere!! But after many brown, blue and green outfits later, she ended up spending a little over $50 on boy clothes, just to "start" his wardrobe...but hey, they were all really cheap!! (This is why you should never let two sisters go shopping for baby stuff together! Lol) But if Pat and I ever have a boy in the future, I know who to go to for clothes!! ;o)

We had a great time hanging out with family, but after 2 ½ weeks of vacation in Colorado, and a prior 6 weeks in Houston, I was ready to head home! :o)

We're Home!

Lex and I are now back home in Iowa and were thrown right into the first winter storm of the year. It was a complete shock from the mild Texas weather, to Below zero temps and 3 feet of snow!! I do like to be back home, but I very much miss the Texas weather and all the fun I had there with my family!! I also know Lex is glad to be back home with her best friend, Maddy and her very missed crib. The first day we were back Lex was dying for me to put her in her crib and when I did, she was as happy as a clam for almost an hour! (she had been sleeping in a pack and play, which isnt so comfy). Anyway, we're glad to be home and I'm sure Pat is also glad we're home!

Alexa is getting bigger all the time! Even since my mom came to Iowa in October to help me out when I was sick, she said she's seen a difference in Lexi's face, which now seems more "grown up" and not so baby like. Lex also likes to talk ALL DAY long! And I mean all day....unfortunately she's not speaking the same language as Pat and I so most of the time it is very hard to understand what she is saying. She tries very hard though and I will give her a ton of credit for that! She likes to tell stories that are long drawn out sentences where she points to things, has influctions, and will look you square in the eye, and you'd totally think she was telling you a story but it's just incomprehensible. I finally caught a little bit of her story telling on video..this was actually the third time she told this story.The first time she told the whole story, then I grabbed my camera, I asked her to tell me the story again, and she did the exact same thing as before, but unfortunately my memory card wasnt in my camera, so the THIRD time I finally caught it on tape! It's so cute...I just wish I could understand her!! (sorry it's sideways)