Colorado Wildlife Preserve

This was a big highlight of our trip. We visited the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Preserve and it was awesome! They had a baby bear that licked Carter's fingers! You can witness it in the video...or not because it won't let me upload it! I hate it when it does that. It was an older lady that owned it and her granddaughter was there helping her (probably about 14 I'm guessing). The animals they had were beautiful and you got to be so close to them. Kinda scary close, actually. At first you're thinking, wow, this is cool because there's only this wire fence in between you and the wild animal, but you can reach out and touch some of them if you wanted to (ie the black bear) and it kinda started freaking me out, actually. I loved feeding the horses, of course, and enjoyed sharing them with Carter! One day he'll ride more than just his rocking horse!

Lovely Colorado

I am finally posting some pictures of our fun trip to Colorado we took a little over a week ago! It was so fun and Carter did remarkably well in the car for the long drive. There were only a couple crying episodes, which were mostly on the way home because he had terrible allergies while we were there, poor guy! Some mountainous shrub he's allergic to, I guess, because they flarec up again when we flew to Reno! Anyway, back to our trip...These first pictures were taken at one of our first pit stops. I think it might have been in New Mexico, but I'm thinking it was Arizona on the reservation. Anywho, we had a fun little pit stop exploring ladybugs while Mom got her fix of the Indian jewelry!





These next pictures were taken at the actual location we were at, Pagosa Springs. It was the cutest town and so pretty!





It has natural hot springs we went and saw, but they smelled like fart! You would smell like a big fart after you swam in them, I'm sure. Anyway, we had fun walking around this cute town and Mom's timeshare is awesome! Thanks again for taking us, it was a blast (curse my big mouth! Ha ha).

My friend...

Okay, so I've been meaning to do this because the picture you just witnessed is truly amazing, isn't it? I don't know what I would do without my mascara and Bare Minerals. I'd look like Exhibit A, that's what...My sister-in-law did not believe that I would post this horrendous picture of myself, but I just have to show an example of what my makeup and flat iron do for me every morning! Justin's twin brother says girls trick guys with makeup. And hey, it's kinda true. I am not wearing eye liner in the first picture either. It's a trick my ugly eyelashes play on you. They truly are not good eyelashes either...they are dark at the roots and light at the tips AND they are so stick straight, they pretty much point down rather than curl up. So, good thing after letting my hair dry overnight, I have these lovely tools to make myself look presentable after a quick 30 minute ritual in the morning! Yay makeup (and a special shout out to my flat iron)!!!

General Conference

Unfortunately, we didn't spend this last General Conference weekend watching General Conference. But we did spend some much needed time visiting family, most notably, Justin's dad at his permanent address. It was nice to go there again and put some nice flowers down and such. We sure do miss him! I don't feel right calling it a "grave" or anything of the sort for some reason. I like to say we're going to visit him. Justin laughs at me, but hey, I guess I'm a little quirky like that. Carter loved walking around outside of course, looking at all the monuments they have set up there. We later went to dinner at my parents' and had fun there, also! He loves his Grandma and Grandpa! Actually, he adores everyone in our family and consistantly asks about every single person who's name he can say throughout the day. He says Grandma "Mama" only he yells it and that's how I know he's not talking about me. He'll say, "Mama?" and I'll respond, "Yes, bud?" and he'll then go, "Ma Ma!!!" as if he's searching for her. That's his way of asking where she is =) Of course both Grandmas are the same name, so I'm not sure which he's speaking of all the time!

My little chatterbox

This Carter of ours talks a whole bunch, which I love! This video is of all his animal noises he does. I think it's funny he feels the need to do them in a gruffy voice. I'm totally gonna be bragging, but he even put together his first 3-word sentence together while my dad was here! He came in from outside and said, "Papa, the ball?" and then tapped his mouth with his finger and said, "Hmmm." So, he's said 3-word phrases before like, "I don't know." But that was his first self-made sentence like that. So, I was very proud =) And I should've explained in my previous post the pictures of him coloring money. I came out of the bathroom and what do I see? Carter coloring a one dollar bill with a green crayon! At least he picked out the right color, huh?

Playing Outside

The weather has been super nice here, as I mentioned before, and so we have been playing outside a TON! Carter could live outside if we'd let him, so he's been greatly enjoying our outdoor adventures! Our newest undertaking has been bike riding! We got a seat for the back of my bike and Carter loves sitting in it! He throws his arms up in the air and says, "Weee!" He especially loves going over bumps and repeatedly says, "Bump," as we're driving around. He's also helped me plant some fun stuff in the backyard and fertilize our tangerine tree! I'm trying to talk Justin into putting some grass in our backyard, but we'll see what happens with that! And PS, the first helmet we bought for Carter was too big and kept falling over his eyes, so that's why he's not wearing one in the video. We have one that fits him now and he wears it =) Oh, and nevermind my embarressingly huge cheesy smile in the video either. I really thought Justin was taking a picture, not a video, so it turned out rather hilarious of myself!

April showers bring...guests!

Honestly, though, we don't get April showers here in Vegas...so sad =( The weather has been perfect, though! Last week, we had our nieces, Sophia and Emma, and nephew, Damian, in town staying with Mom Wagasky. Meanwhile at our house, we also had my dad and his girlfriend, Mara, staying with us from Oregon! Let me tell you, this is gonna be one busy travelling month! Not this weekend, but next, we're driving to Pagosa Springs, CO with Justin's mom and then shortly after we get back, Carter and I are flying to Reno to see my little brother off on his mission. Crazy, huh? Anywho, back to our guests...
We went on a fun trip to see the gardens at the Bellagio with my dad. It was so fun and they had a butterfly conservatory set up where you could see tons of gorgeous and HUGE butterflies! Carter thoroughly enjoyed smelling all the flowers, as you'll see in the pictures. After we walked around in there a bit, we went to see the fountains outside. Carter spent our waiting time throwing sticks in the water, but after it started, his eyes were glued! He loves playing with water, so he was amazed by this and every time the would kinda shoot in our direction, he got really upright like they were going to get him. But after it ended, he looked at me and did his sign language for "more." So, all-in-all, he loved every minute of our sight seeing!

Our Anniversary

This past Thursday was Justin and I's fourth wedding anniversary! How exciting is that? I can't believe the difference those four years have made in our life and how much our love has grown over that time! Being married to Justin is so fun and he's a wonderful provider for our family! I am so grateful for our wonderful marriage and am excited for what the future holds for us. So, this would not be complete without a funny memory of our beginnings! When we were first married, I was not too creative of a cook because people had cooked for me my whole life! So, Justin told me he loved chicken and pasta. I learned how to cook it and cooked it pretty much every night. After a while he said, "You know, you don't have to cook that every night." It was kind of hilarious. So, needless to say, I dragged out some cookbooks and started branching out. I try to cook a lot of different dishes now =)

This is on our honeymoon in the Bahamas...my poor stomach is mutilated now!
Ready to go on our date
We ate a yummy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory!
This is us walking around The District after we ate. Thanks Mom Wagasky for watching our little munchkin!