Summer Time

Our summer has been a long one this year. So much time spending with the family in Idaho.
Lets see, what all have we done.... Kimberly has learned to ride her bike. She is pretty fast. I have had to tell her to slow down because she has a problem stopping and tends to slam into things. I would love to see how she does on the ice... hehehe=).

The kids and I are missing Cassey. They miss their daddy. Kim has had a hard time with him gone. Because of it, I have emotional moments. Collin has missed daddy here and there. But he isn't old enough to understand. But luckily, we get to talk on the web cam with daddy for as much as we can. Kim and Collin have daddy dolls with recorded voices so they can hear daddy's voice whenever they want. We were the first to receive the recorded dolls. We felt lucky and the kids just love them. We sing to the kids, "Bushel and a Peck" and they love it. We have been singing that song to them since Kim was a baby. It's a comforting song for them. So that is what daddy recorded on their dolls.

Today I canned some jam. Its peach jam. I had some peaches that needed to get used before they went bad. It was actually my first time canning them alone. I was afraid it wouldn't work out, because normally it helps to have a friend or someone else there to help. But It wasn't that bad. I will take a photo of it some time and post it on here. I want to get better at posting things that I cook in my kitchen. Because I love to cook and show what I have done. Mostly because I learn how to cook, sew and clean on my own. I don't have anyone to show me because I don't live near my family and I don't know a whole lot of people here in Utah to show me. This summer has been really long. But fun. We went camping with the Killian family. We did some four wheeling. That is pretty much all we do up there and just hang out with the family. This year didn't seem all that exciting as last year because Grandma Killian wasn't there. We had some family that wasn't able to make it because of family struggles and other personal things but overall it was fun to be there. The kids love to four wheel and go hiking and fish. Especially with their grandparents and aunts and uncles. Which helps them while daddy is gone. Well I will post more later when I get the chance. I will take photos of the peach jam I made. I was so glad it turned out because I was afraid that the lids wouldn't press and stay closed. But they did. I was so proud of my accomplishment. Thanks for reading. Please stop by again.

Utah Change

Well we made it to Utah. The kids are trying to adjust. We are all homesick from leaving San Diego. Kim said the other day she wanted to go back to school there. She has told me lately she doesn't like the school here in Utah. I can't do much about it though. Collin definitely misses the warm weather. When we first got to Utah, he kept complaining about the cold and the snow. He is just used to warm weather because he was raised in it for most of his life so far. But all in all, the kids and I are glad to be closer to family.
The kids have enjoyed their grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins.
Cassey is in Korea for a year. It started out a little hard for us to have him go. Kim has her moments that she wants to go to Korea with daddy. But it isn't safe right now.
I have been busy with school. And Kim goes to school, while Collin and I stay home and spend time together. It will be hard adjusting to this different life without Cassey here, but we knew it was for the best.
It's only a year. We are counting the months till we see each other again.
Well, this is my update on our family. It's been a while since I have been on here.
Happy January to all.

Wisdom Teeth

I had my wisdom teeth pulled out on Thursday. It was weird because they didn't tell me to count backwards or anything. And my doctor didn't look like he was happy. So I was uncomfortable seeing him before he put me asleep. When I woke up, I didn't realize I had fallen asleep. Which is usually what happens when they don't tell you they are putting you to sleep. I usually get warned about this stuff. Today is Saturday and I am still soar. As long as I have my meds, I am okay.
Tara has been a big help through it all with the kids. She has been helping out plenty. I would do something in return for her right now, but I am a little soar in the face. And talking is not something I want to do all day.
All of our kids have the flu. Which is bazaar. Tara and I haven't had it yet. I took Tara and Fred to the hospital because the fever that Fred had didn't go down. But I told her it was just a change in climate. And the flu is in fact going around right now. Collin and Kim have both had it. Collin has got another fever again today.
Tara and I are trying to find ways to relax around the kids. There are just so many of them.
Its been a crazy couple of weeks with all these kids around the house, but all in all, its been good. Can't wait for the kids to start school. It will be nice. I will probably update more information when I feel a little better. My face hurts at the moment. Take care to you all.

Summer

Well we had a long few weeks while in Idaho. Had a reunion with Cassey's family. That was fun.
Then my mom, sister and my kids and I all drove to Kentucky to see my brother graduate from boot camp. It was hot and humid in Kentucky. The drive back wasn't fun but it was still good to see Chris graduate and come back home with us.

San Diego has not been so warm this summer. The news has reported that it hasn't been so gloomy and cloudy since 1916. We have sun pop out every few days but it really doesn't feel like summer. It almost feel's like its turning fall quicker than expected. But that is okay. The weather here in San Diego is always nice.
Kids are playing a lot outside and inside. I take them on walks as usual and take them to parks to play.
I really missed San Diego those few weeks I was gone seeing family. I will be sad to leave this place in December. I have grown attached to this place and it will be hard to let go.
Kimberly starts school in September. I have been looking into some classes for Collin, but he doesn't really need preschool. So I have been thinking of putting him through a tumblers class or something. I am still looking into it so its all up in the air.
I have been working on mom's blanket. It is taking forever to finish. I had to go buy some more supplies for the blanket so that I can finish it. It is almost done. I spent days and nights working on it in my room. I have been avoiding my husband, so he comes up to our room so that way can be together while I am working on the blanket. He is fine with it because he reads his nook all night. He really likes his nook (should have waited till the end of this year to give it to him).
I am also working on other projects to keep me busy.
I try to take some time off the projects so I can clean house and spend time with my kids. I mostly work on my projects when the kids are taking naps, and then I do the rest at night while they play with their daddy.
I have been spring cleaning my home, but it is going slow as usual. Doesn't ever feel like I got rid of anything because I still have so much. Problem is I live in a small home. If I had a bigger house I definitely wouldn't have a lot.
Well this is the scoop on us for now. Happy Summer.

Easter Sunday

Well... It had been quite a weekend for us. Collin and Kimberly had not been good the whole weekend. Kim was home for spring break. Collin is going through a tantrum phase. He doesn't want to listen to anything we say. So that was fun for the weekend. We also decided to celebrate Collin's birthday on Easter since we were getting them gifts for Easter and doing Easter activities. So we decided to put all the excitement together. He wanted a spiderman cake. So I decorated a spiderman cake. It took a while. I was trying to figure out how to draw the spiderman face on there. I wasn't sure where to start. But I did the best I could.
We went Easter egg hunting on the Marine Corp Recruit base. It was better than the Community Egg hunt we went on Saturday. That is a long story so I won't go into detail. But in short, the kids were unhappy with the Community event. But they had fun on the base event.
We also took Collin to Island Burgers. A restaurant with palm trees and parrots in the restaurant. Especially surf boards. If you live in San Diego, you will see many different things here. Which is awesome. We had fun at the restaurant.
Over all this excitement of the weekend, we also experience an earthquake. I was cooking in the kitchen and preparing Collins cake when Cassey looked over at me to ask, "Jenny! Do you feel that?" So I held still for a moment and saw the blinds moving and then I started feeling swaying. So I yelled, "Earthquake". It was pretty quick that it happened, but I immediately shut the stove off and ran out of the kitchen and grabbed Kim (who was freaking out by the way). But it didn't last long so we were safe after that.
General Conference was on this weekend as well. It was really good. I didn't see all of conference, so I am going to have to go back and see the rest of it.
News about Cassey and Re- enlisting....
We have been trying to find jobs available for Cassey's career interest. We have tried the last couple months to find opening's but they have been given to other people. Cassey asked his Chief to put in a good word for Cassey since his Chief knows someone that is giving these openings to people. His chief would like Cassey to re-enlist and stay on the ship. But Cassey doesn't want to work another few years on the ship. He would like a shore command. Which isn't turning out well. They had about three openings for California but were taken. So Cassey hopes to have some good choices this Wednesday when he looks for more openings. If he doesn't get any of these job openings for shore command by late April, we wont re- enlist and we will just find a civilian job. I don't know of all the areas Cassey will look for. But California, Idaho and Utah are among the areas he has in mind to look for civilian jobs. So if we go back home to Idaho, it will be temporary if he can't find a job there. This is all if he doesn't re- enlist for the next few years. So far its not looking good, but we will see how it looks next month. I will post more about that later.
We are all doing well here. Collin will officially be 3 years old this Wednesday. So I am excited because he can go to preschool for a bit. He wants to go to school But I also need to have him fully potty trained.
Take care and this is our Carlson scoop for now.

Valentines

Happy Valentines to all. We hope you all have a great Valentines.
Well... Collin is in the middle of potty training. He is a pill trying to stay on the toilet. But he is doing pretty good for the most part.
Kimberly is doing great in school. She may not need the extra help when she goes to kindergarten. Which will be nice.
Cassey is working hard right now. Busy as ever. They are packing the ship and having to move all their stuff to the barge. They are stripping out the entire ship. I was there the other night eating dinner with him and they had it stripped from one place to the next. It was kind of unattractive. =)
Anyhoo. We are doing good here. The weather has been off and on. A little rain here and a little sun there. This weekend is Presidents Day weekend. Kim has a four day weekend. Cassey may have to work over Presidents Day Weekend because they are trying to clear the ship out so they can move it into the yards.
Well that is all I have for now. I will post more if I have anything else to say.

Kevin did this photo of us at Bonneville Fish Hatchery. It was a ton of fun learning about the fish. My hardest part was trying to take pictures of all the seals we spotted over there because the employers kept shooting off their guns and fireworks to scare them off. But this was my favorite photo done of us through out the Oregon trip.
Kim is inside a big tree I spotted as we were walking back to our vehicles from one of the waterfalls we hiked up to see closer. She really looked cute inside the tree. She could make a cute tree fairy.
I also like to take photos of wildlife. This duck was sitting in front of me near a pond at the fish hatchery and it looked like a great picture to take. "Peek-a-boo"!.
And little Mr. Collins just sitting on the bench all by himself. It was cute.