The Office Returns!

I'm so excited for this week...all will be right in the world once more as The Office will air again on Thursday (8 pm for us). It's a dinner party at Michael and Jan's and looks perfectly Office-y. I am so glad. Other than this show consuming my thoughts...we've done a few fun things.

Easter weekend we went camping with Karl's family and a family from our ward. We headed out NE to sunflower-ish area. We camped right next to a creek. It was fun and Garrett brought up 2 four wheelers so we got to ride around the area. We took a little hike and had a pretty view. Carson's first Easter was pretty uneventful (as expected). His favorite item was just an empty Easter egg. He's still carrying it around with him and sucking on it. Below are two pics from camping. This is one of Carson's favorite sleeping positions and he loved riding on the 4 wheeler with Karl (although he doesn't look all that happy in the pic).


Karl's work had another round of layoffs (this is like the 5th). Karl's still pretty secure but you never know for sure. There was Karl and another guy doing the projects. The other guy just got laid off. So now it's just Karl. He went from bored and lots of time to do homework to busy busy and can't even take his lunches. Obviously each has its pros and cons but I know he's able to enjoy going to work a lot more when he knows there are projects to work on. So we feel bad for the other guy, we knew him and he was nice, but it's also nice that Karl actually has work to do.

Conference weekend was good. We hung out and Karl's parents, like norm. I thought the sessions were really good and it was new to see President Monson so much. I always enjoy his talks. Karl and I found the sessions very uplifting and applicable to our lives. It also helped us get a little spiritual motivation. Scripture study is always hard for us since he gets up a lot earlier than I and one of us is usually up late doing homework. We have always just done nights but we trying mornings now to see if it works better. So we got up at 5:30 AM (ouch) and read a chapter. Hopefully it goes well (since I blogged it I have a little more accountability too).

Carson is getting braver and braver. He can get himself to standing without pulling up on anything now, but once he's there he looks like he doesn't know what to do next. I saw him take a step to Grandma the other day without holding on to the chair but that's all. Kari and Garrett let us borrow this little walker that he's been pushing all around the house. This video was from when he very first started using it. He's pretty fast now.



Carson and I went over to Vickie's yesterday and we tried out the pool. I thought for sure he wouldn't like it since it was only 70 degrees. I just put his feet in to see what he thought and he got all excited and started jumping up and down. So then his whole outfit was soaked. So I put him in a swimmer diaper and we played on the top step. He loved it!!! He just splashed around and even bent down and took a couple sips. He would splash on his left for 5 seconds and then switch to the right for 5 seconds. He just went back and forth till Vickie and I were laughing pretty hard. A few times he would go to crawl and the water would be on his stomach and he'd do the cold water gaspy breathing we all do. But he never cried. We put him on the floaty raft and pushed him around and he liked that too. I signed him up for little baby swim lessons this June (I think it is more just to help babies get used to the water) and now I can see he will love it and it will be so much fun. And the water will be a little warmer. Vickie posted some pics of us in the pool on her smugmug (http://vick.smugmug.com/).

I'm still in the job search. I've had a ton of interviews and a few more to come so something has to turn up. All activity has gone pretty dead though because April 15th is around the corner. Most of the companies won't even decide till the end of April so we'll see. But we only have 3 more weeks of classes and then finals. I was going to sign up for a CPA review and pay my test fees and get it started but all the companies I'm interviewing at will reimburse you if you have an offer...so I decided to wait another month and see if I can get someone else to pay for it.

That's all for now - Kasey

Oh The Mayhem

First, new Carson things. His first time on a swing the other day at the park and his new favorite sitting position.

This weekend we went to Karl's company picnic. It was pretty fun and Kari and Garrett came too. We ate and then played on all the blow up toys. Kenzie had a blast and Carson liked most of it too. Here's a pic of Kenzie and Carson in a bouncy room. They both loved it.

Kari and I took the kids down the giant slide. Kenzie loved it and they went down a bunch. If you click on the after picture you can see Carson wasn't too sure about it.

Carson thought this car was pretty cool and was excited by Karl's cotton candy (although we're mean and he didn't get to try any).

Carson is also still into everything! His favorite activity is exploring. The minute something new opens (the dishwasher, front or back door, refrigerator, pantry, etc.) he is there in a second and you're left wondering where he came from and how he got there so fast. Here are just a few examples.

He decided to help with the dishes. But apparently he needed to get a little closer.

Fridge, drawers, cabinets...it's all fair game

And all these pics are just from last week. Actually - two days. But each time I catch him doing something new or crazy it just makes me laugh. He keeps our lives exciting. Oh - he also got a third tooth on the bottom. Still none on the top.

As for me - my CPA exam application is processed now so I just need to schedule the times and then study like crazy (oh, and pay way cool exam fees to the tune of $750). We'll see when I can fit the tests in. I'm going to have to sit with a calendar before I start scheduling them.

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That's all for now...I know it's all just about Carson but I'm pretty sure that's all anyone cares about. And Karl and I are pretty boring.

Love Kase

Job Update

Well, to start off, I didn't get the job at Deloitte. A little disappointing, but I also had reservations about working that much and trying to be with Carson as much as possible. So I'm just looking at the positive and thinking about how all the other jobs I'm interviewing for will be a little more family oriented. I have two more confirmed interviews in the next few weeks and a couple more I still haven't applied for. I'm actually just as interested in quite a few that are coming up. So it's all going to be okay. It still would have been nice for them to say "Kasey, we can't function as a company with out you." And then I would say "hmmm, I'll have to think about it. I'm just not sure." But oh well. I'll let you know how the next ones go. Oh...let me say a few words about the interview though. So it was narrowed down to 6 from who knows how many applicants and then 40 1st round interviews. So when us 6 showed up (for 2 positions) they said that they already knew we were qualified now it was just trying to see who would make the best fit. So we rotated through and one-on-one met with a partner and then two other employees. I was pretty honest about my worries about being a working mom so I'm assuming that I wouldn't have been a great fit...I'm okay with that because obviously Carson is more important. But anyway, 3 hours later we all went out to a fancy lunch (their treat). It was actually pretty fun - chit chat for 3 hours and then lunch. The other interviewees were made up of two other ASU students (one girl, one boy), a girl of U of San Diego, a guy from BYU, and a guy from UCLA. I was surprised they came from all over. Moving on.

I've uploaded a video of Carson laughing - pretty dang cute. It won't let me post pics right now - but I've got some cute ones for later.

When is something exciting going to happen?

Well I haven't blogged for awhile because I didn't want to put you to sleep with our boring life, although if you have trouble sleeping perhaps you should read my blog regularly. Carson is still doing all the same stuff - pulling him self up, screaming da da, drooling like crazy, climbing the stairs. I tried to get a video of him climbing the stairs. Both weren't great but they are below if you want to watch.

New things, hmmm....he now shakes his head no a lot. He doesn't know what it means but sometimes his timing is hilarious. He is really into throat gurgles lately. We gave up on keeping him out of the kitchen and he loves his new freedom (we just have to watch him around the backdoor blinds and the garbage can). He is fascinated by other kids. Today at church he chased this other little crawling baby girl all around the foyer till he backed her into a corner. We all thought it was pretty funny till she started to cry. Apparently Carson is a little too aggressive or just really scary. He now knows what he wants and also what he doesn't. The minute he's done with his bottle he swats it away with no warning and impressive force. It often takes me by surprise and goes flying across the room. I can get him to go to sleep in my arms at church now if I go into an empty room with no distractions. This new trick has made church a little more bearable. Also, the endless desire for Gerber Puff finger foods allows for him to sit on a lap much longer than normal.

As for Karl and I, school's going great. Karl just did really well on a test. Carson and I spent a couple evenings up at his parents' so that he could have the night to study uninterrupted. So we were all glad he got a good grade (which proves he really did study, not PlayStation marathon or something). Karl's also re-figured out his school schedule and after this semester, he only has two semesters left. Hooray!!!

We had a couple friends over for dinner tonight and then played the newly wed game. It was pretty funny. Karl and I scored the lowest but we sure had fun doing it. We forfeited quite a few points because I kept forgetting he was supposed to say an answer and THEN I was supposed to reveal what I wrote. I was just so excited I kept blurting out what I wrote before he guessed. But on the questions that we actually got to count, we did pretty good.

I've begun interviewing for jobs. I've made it to the second round of interviews for Deloitte. I heard from another interviewee that there were only 6 people that made it and 3 openings...so 50/50 chance. But who knows...I'm actually quite nervous. It's an all day event on Wednesday, I'll give you an update. But one thing I know for sure, if they ask me my weaknesses I won't give them Jessie's answer on one of her job interviews..."ummm, sometimes I'm lazy." Although she got the job so maybe they value honesty???

Well, that's all for now. Kasey

Our New Adventures

With Carson always on the move we are definitely having some new adventures. Our living room no longer resembles a living room. It looks like a war bunker. We move all the chairs from our dining room table along one open side and then we place his saucer in front of all the wires. The room becomes a fortress to hold a little somone in. And still half the time he magically shows up at my feet in the kitchen. He is constantly trying to stand and getting braver. I've seen him remove his hands from the coffee table and turn his upper body completely around to the chair behind him (while standing). Every once and a while he'll let go and try to play with his toy standing but falls pretty fast. Also, new development as of tonight, he can climb stairs. So I came home to a living room that looked even more ridiculous because Karl had moved the coffee table in front of the stairs. Carson climbed up a couple steps to the first landing. We are going to need to figure something out to let him roam free but not make an obstacle course for us all day. Here's just a picture of Carson checking the computer wires for me to make sure they're all connected right.

Church is an adventure all on its own. We are at the 9 to noon slot and Carson likes a 10 am nap so that is awful. He won't fall asleep in our arms anymore (which is actually our doing since we worked really hard for him to put himself to sleep in his crib) and we don't have a mobile car seat anymore for him to sleep in. So we carry him around and keep him up until he's basically falling over. He also eats cereal at 11 am so we do that real quick in between Sunday School and RS/PH. But that only takes 5 minutes so we're not late to our classes. But the poor thing's schedule is so haywire on Sundays. Getting Carson to sit on a lap for 3 hours is impossible. He just arches his back and squirms and screams till you put him down. I watched a 1 year old play at her mother's feet with a few toys for the entire hour of Relief Society. When I tried that with Carson it was a disaster. He explored every inch of that room with in a few minutes, tipping everything over possible, ripping some ladies papers before I could get them, etc, etc. So Sundays aren't fun. He'll usually make it through sacrament meeting happy, but then it's usually one of us sitting in the lobby while he crawls around. We take turns. I don't understand how other kids just sit on their parents lap with a toy...Carson wants none of that. He wants to explore.

This Sunday, Karl and I had a particular moment that was just a glimpse of life to come and we both had a good laugh. (It's probably not that funny, but I laughed). Karl and I are running around Sunday morning trying to get ready. Whoever gets ready first will usually just start on Carson and then the other joins in when they're done. Karl was done first and I showed Karl what outfit to put Carson in. He got him ready and I joined in just to get his bag together and throw everything in the car. We made it to church right on time and sat down. Carson was standing on the seat backwards basically screaming with glee at the people behind us. It was about half way through the meeting when I looked at Carson's outfit a little closer and noticed that his pants were on backwards. They were cotton (so no zipper) but pockets and a little fake fly. I just started laughing, knowing that it will probably happen several more times in our life.

Karl had President's Day off so we took advantage and drove down to Tucson to see these caves Karl heards about. Kimberly orignally had class so we stopped by just to see her. Then as we were leaving she called and told us she decided to skip so she came with us. The caves were in Colossal Cave Mountain Park. The caves were pretty cool. Lots of stalagmites and tites. Carson did pretty good but seemed to whine whenever the guide stopped to talk for a bit. There were also a few times he decided he was really happy and just shouted "da da" for 5 minutes. Hope the other tourists enjoyed our sound effects. Karl and I decided we probably wouldn't go back though...we've seen cooler caves. But definitely somthing fun if you're bored in Tucson. We packed a little picnic and ate afterwards and then drove home in time for me to go to my class that night. So pretty fun day.

Well, that's all for now. Any suggestions on how to make it through 3 hours of church with an 8 month old would be helpful.

Love Kasey

Other Updates

I was so consumed with the family health right now I forgot to mention other Carson updates. While being sick, he had a new tooth come in. (I can't remember if I mentioned he got his first tooth over Christmas break). Anyway, he now has his two bottom teeth. He likes to pull on them with his fingers. It looks quite painful to me. It's hard to describe - it's like a snap but with a finger and tooth instead of two fingers. He also like to chew on everything to hear the sound his two little teeth make. He can pull himself up to standing now. This means everything goes up two more feet and the crib goes down a level. He can now reach real hard and get everything on top of the coffee table. The gnawing + pulling himself up = little teeth marks all over the inside of the top rung of his crib. Very classy! He's become really interested in books lately. He used to just like them because he could slap them and make noise. But now big picture books he'll just stare at and make excited noises. So we're taking advantage of that and trying to read to him a lot. Although he's not really into word books yet, just pictures. I think he gets bored. If he's tired, he'll sit through a short word book with me. With him being sick, his appetite went way down, but it's starting to come back. We've started him on some little cracker stick thingys thanks to Karl's mom (I think they call them biter biscuits). He absolutely loves them and will sit in this high chair for a good 20 minutes working on that thing - which is great for me when I want to clean the kitchen. He's been making the "da" sound for awhile but is recently obsessed. He'll say "da, da, da" for an hour while playing. We're trying to associate it with Karl but he thinks we're just funny. Oh, he's also developed this little sense of humor with in the last few weeks. When we play or do something silly he'll give us a little laugh. Or he does it randomly and who knows what he's laughing at. With in the last two weeks there's been a lot of development. It's like nothing for a month and then all the sudden he's doing a ton of new things. This second picture is just an example of how he climbs on absolutely everything.

A Little Better

Hey All - things here are going a little better. Carson isn't nearly as stuffy and Karl's feeling well enough to start helping out again. Unfortunately Karl missed a whole week of work so he's bummed about that. While Carson was sick I kind of spoiled him in that I rocked him to sleep each time because I didn't want him to cry and get more stuffed. So now we're reaping those rewards. And by rewards I mean punishments. He's also such a momma's boy now (hopefully it will go away soon). He's fine when I'm not in the room but when I come in and he realizes I'm not holding him, he immediately crawls to my feet and just cries and pulls on my pants till I pick him up. In the night, he wakes up and then won't go back to sleep unless I sit in his room till he is completely out. The minute I leave, he screams. So last night we let him cry it out. He screamed for 30 minutes without slowing down at all. After 2 hours of Karl trying, me trying, holding him, letting him scream, I just brought him into our bed because I was way too tired - it was 4 am and I don't function at my best then. So I think he's well enough to break this habit but it is not going to be fun.

I went to a "Meet the Firms" night at ASU. A lot of the large accounting firms come and recruit. I was a little nervous to go because the career fairs at BYU were just out of control - way too many people competing for attention, shoving resumes in the recruiters faces. But this was much better. First of all, it was just accounting firms so not as big. I was also there early so the crowd wasn't huge. So I just made my way around and it wasn't that bad. I also met some firms I really liked (and some I think really liked me). So now I have to submit a bunch of applications and they also took my resume so we'll see. I'm not quite sure what size of firm I'd like to get my experience at - but I think I'll apply everywhere and then see what my options are. A bigger firm is going to have more prestige, a smaller firm would probably have a more flexible schedule for me though. We'll just see.

Our ward is taken over by babies right now. We had 5 baby blessings today. Then sacrament took extra long because of all the people visiting. By testimony time there was only 10 minutes left. Crazy.

Oh - my blog is different because I tried to change it and then I lost everything. Anyway, I got it back but lost a few things. So then I just changed it to one of the templates they have available.

Kasey