Be My VaLeNtInE

Today Keith and I celebrated Valentine's early because I will be filling in for my sister at her work next week and Keith will be busy with work too & Keith's sister happened to come into town and she loves to babysit Carson so it was the perfect opportunity. We went bowling earlier in the day for my brother in law Mark's birthday, then we headed out to Olive Garden for some delish breadsticks, salad and Italian food! We headed over to the mall afterwards where I got to do some shoppin! One of my favorite stores was having end of winter season sales so I snatched up some cute sweaters and shirts. We ended the night watching the new Twilight.

This will be my 5th Valentines' day with Keith. Oh every one of them has just been perfect. I couldn't think of a better man I would want to spend it with. He loves to spoil me and make sure I spend $$ on myself and get time to do girly things or stuff w/my friends & sisters. Oh I just love Valentines. I know some people think it's a lame holiday that shouldn't even be, but why not celebrate love with the person you love most? I always look forward to it and I'm exciting about involving Carson and giving him little gifts too.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

mmm breadsticks

11 Penrod Events of 2011

 Our family highlights of 2011....

1. January- Carson's birth!
Our first little bebe came into the world 1.29.11. This was one of the best days of our life (next to our wedding of course)
6 lb. 11 oz. of pure preciousness

2. March- Our big move to Boise.
We finally left good ol' Rexburg for my hometown of Boise, Idaho. Love this place and am so happy to be here once again. I mean it was time to move on...both of us graduated from college & still in a college town....yah we weren't feelin' it anymore. We love love love being around family and in a bigger city.

Carson and his two cousins Skylee and Brielle--the day we arrived in Boise.  First time the Lewis family met Carson.

3. April- Trip to New Jersey
We took a three week vacation to New Jersey to visit Keith's family in April. We got to do a lot of fun things...once the kidney stones passed, Carson was blessed, we went to Philly, Atlantic City, the beach, the bay, and the Cape May Zoo.

                                            Carson's blessing 4.10.11

Eating a philly cheesesteak at Pat's in Philly

In the Mall on the Atlantic City Boardwalk

4. May- U2 Concert!
So Keith and my favorite band is U2. We had the opportunity to see them in concert in SLC and it was AMAZING! Love them even more now...if that's possible.

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5. June- Keith started his new job.
Don't ask me what he does because it's very complicated stuff I don't understand, but he enjoys his new jobs and it keeps our life interesting and entertaining with all the trips we get to take!

6. June- Keith's Alaska Trip
So for Keith's birthday/fathers day gift he took a week long trip to AK. He has always wanted to go and I have three brothers that live there so he thought it was the perfect opportunity before he started his job to go. He had a blast and we want to return hopefully sometime soon as a family.

Fishin' on the Kenai in Alaska

7. July- Trip to Jackson Hole
Our fun little trip to Jackson Hole for a week was a perfect little getaway. Jackson is such a fun touristy town!

8. August- Trip to Phoenix, Arizona
Loved loved loved this trip! Even though we went in the summer to an already hot place it was so fun to relax by the pool, cheer on the Arizona Diamondbacks at the baseball game, and hang out with my awesome newlywed niece Chelsea and her husband James. I would love to go there again!

9. September- Trip to Helena, Montana
This was the longest of our trips for Keith's work. We stayed a month in Helena and did a lot of exploring. I even made a new friend and her little boy, Carson and I all hung out. What a pretty pretty state! It was nice to also have no sales tax. :)

10. December- Our 4th Anniversary.
12.28.07----Has it seriously been 4 years already?!!! Wow it has flown by so fast! I love Keith more and more each day and am so grateful for him and his patience with me. We had fun celebrating our anniversary with a little P.F. Changs. mmmmm yummy Chinese.

Four years.

11. A year of Firsts
This year was a year of firsts for all of us...but mostly Carson. Carson's first Valentines, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. And of course mine and Keith's first fathers and mothers day.

The 4th

Trunk-or-Treat

Family Halloween Party

Christmas morn

And the first event to start off 2012 will be Carson's first birthday at a cabin in McCall! So excited!

Oh what a wonderful year 2011 has been! I'm so grateful for all my blessings and the wonderful experiences 2011 brought, especially my little Carson bear. Here's to a wonderful 2012!!!

GIVE THANKS

Our Thanksgiving was a blast! It was so nice to be with my family this year instead of being in Rexburg. We had so much fun eating, chatting and playing games. I think I ate way too much pie. There are so many things I am grateful for, I have an amazing husband, precious son, wonderful family, and the gospel, these are the most important and precious things in my life.

I'm so grateful for the blessing of a baby in my life. This time last year I was pregnant with Carson and I remember thinking how excited it was going to be to have a baby next year for the holidays. I have learned that things happen on the Lord's time and not our own, this has taught me to have faith in the Lord's timing and trust his plan for us not our own. I'm so grateful for my loving husband who is so good to me and such a wonderful Dad to Carson. He really is the perfect fit for me and I love him so much. I'm so blessed with many things and grateful to my Heavenly Father for thinking of me.

Penrod Thanksgiving Photo

I even braved the crazy black friday crowds to get a few things at the mall...50% off yes I'd say worth it!

Now.....Christmas time!!!

Our NOT so LITTLE man

So it's been awhile since I last blogged about our little man. Well our little man is not so little anymore! I can't believe he is already NINE MONTHS!

Carson is everywhere and into everything! He loves everything he’s not supposed to have…cords, phones, breakables etc. His new obsession is doors and cabinets. He’ll shut a door and cry because it’s shut so you have to keep opening it for him it’s so cute. He loves to follow mommy and daddy everywhere they go. He stands up like a pro and will walk from one end of the couch to the other with one hand on the couch. The other day he took TWO steps on his own! He hasn’t done it since but we might have an early walker! He hates having his diapers and clothes changed, he thinks he’s missing out on playing or something.

As you can see he has four teeth and is getting some more. Getting bit by him is not fun. He loves his solid food…crackers, bread, fruit, and jar food but still loves his milk! I love being able to feed him solids now and not always having to nurse him, it’s so nice at church or in the car to feed him bananas or some bread.  His 9 mo. Check up is this month so I’m not sure how much he weighs but I’m pretty sure it’s over 20 lbs! Time to get a new car seat!

I can’t believe his birthday is in less than 3 months! I’ve already started to semi-plan it, since it is at the end of January it will have to be indoors. I’m excited for him to turn one but that also means he is growing up so it’s sad a in a way.

Here are some pictures I took this morning, still in his pjs, w/his messy hair, eating a banana and playing in his walker.

As for Keith and I nothing too new or exciting. I fill my days w/Carson, cooking new recipes, family, and home décor shopping. Oh I can’t get enough of home décor shopping I could spend hours doing it! Can’t wait to go to a new store I heard about, I’ve already found one favorite maybe I’ll find two!


We had a little mini-mini photo shoot a couple weeks ago just so I could get a family shot where Carson is looking & smiling for my wall...I was so happy w/how it turned out we even got a couple really good shots of Keith and Carson.

 We had an awesome Halloween with Keith’s brother and fiancé and my sis and her husband at our ward trunk or treat and on Halloween we went trick or treating w/my sis and her four kids. Oh the flood of memories it brought back going trick or treating w/the kids.

We are getting excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas and Keith’s brothers wedding in December. There’s a lot to do here in Boise around Nov. and Dec.—parades, tree lightings, festival of trees, Christmas bazaars, lights at the Botanical Gardens, holiday expos, plays, Christmas Celebrations and parties oh I can’t wait!

ThE FoUrTh!

 So everyone knows the 4th of July is coming up and I am so excited to celebrate! I feel so blessed to live in America and have the freedoms that we do. We truly live in such a great country and I'm so glad we have a holiday to celebrate it. Growing up we would always and still do have a BBQ and fireworks at my Uncle Marv's down the street. Some years my siblings and I  would take a huge bag of popcorn and climb our hill in the back of our yard to watch the fireworks. Ann Morrison Park in Boise has a nice fireworks display every year and that's where we'll be celebrating the fourth along with the parade downtown. I do have to say that I will miss the Idaho Falls fireworks though, every year they put on quite a show. Those fireworks are amazing especially if you are lucky enough to get a good view up close. I hope everyone has a wonderful fourth of July celebrating the amazing country we live in. Here is a recipe I found on skinnytaste.com it looked so yummy I had to share.


Red White and Blueberry Trifle

ingredients:

• 10 oz angel food cake, cut into 1-inch cubes*
• 2 pints strawberries, sliced
• 2 pints blueberries

For the cream filling:

• 6 tbsp fat-free sweetened condensed milk (I used Borden Eagle)
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• 1 package sugar-free white chocolate instant pudding mix
• 12 oz fat-free frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

Whisk the condensed milk and water in a bowl. Whisk in the pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set; fold in the whipped topping.

Arrange half of the cake in the bottom of a 14-cup trifle dish. Sprinkle evenly with a layer of blueberries. Spread half of the cream mixture over the blueberries and gently spread (I piped it using a plastic bag and cut the corner off). Top with a layer of strawberries. Layer the remaining cake cubes on top of the strawberries, then add more blueberries and top with the remaining cream mixture. Finish with the remaining strawberries and blueberries, arranging them in a pretty pattern. Cover and refrigerate at least one 1 hour.

*I only used 10 oz of a 16 oz cake.