The Great Santa Run

This last weekend in Las Vegas was the Great Santa Run. Basically, they get everyone they can to come out for a charity event and everyone dresses as Santa and then either runs a 5k or walks a mile. This year was huge because we were trying to beat London for the World Record held for the most Santas gathered in one location. Last year, Vegas fell short because of some counting issues. But this year....

SANTA RUN: Ho, ho, holy cow! Locals set a Guinness world record Saturday morning when they turned out by the score downtown for The Las Vegas Great Santa Run. The running tally: 7,123 officially registered, Santa-suit-wearing participants.

The best part is that proceeds from the event went to benefit Opportunity Village.

Dec. 04, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Jared walking in his Santa duds.

So, we are part of a World Record! So cool!

So, this is the whole group that came for Thanksgiving. This is in front of the Bellagio Fountains. We had a great holiday break thanks to our wonderful company.

When we were up in Alaska, Grandma Carlson told Heidi and I the recipe for her frog-eye salad. So, for Thanksgiving I braved trying to make it as good as Grandma. It wasn't as good, but it tasted right and it was yummy. I hear that this officially makes me a Carlson now!

While Jared and Heidi were peeling the mashed potatoes, Kelsie was eyeing one of them and so Scott let her chew on it. I took this picture because I was impressed at how far she could get it into her mouth. Also, it was amazing how much she enjoyed gnawing on a raw potato.

Our adorable cousins suprised us with our own little baby shower. This is a 3 tiered "cake" made out of diapers all rolled together and it has bottles, undershirts, a bottle washing thing, and cute little cowboy boots on it! It's so cute, I didn't take it apart, I just put it in his room so I could enjoy it longer.

This is in front of the Luxor, it's dark and a little blurry, but you get the idea. It's cool looking.

This is the group that went up to the top of the Stratosphere and rode all of the rides. Looks like they enjoyed it.

Heidi helped me make a balloon turkey for Thanksgiving. It turned out pretty good.

We were so glad to have so much family come for Thanksgiving. They were the best guests! And we had so much fun and so many adventures. You guys are all the best! We miss you already!

The little guy's new room

These are pictures of the baby's room.

This is the baby's crib and nightstand. His giant teddy bear is holding his place in the crib for later.

Here you can see the two dressers and the changing table pad. I just noticed that there is a serious lack of wall decorations. I'll have to fix that.

This is a shot of the crib quilt that Jared's mom and Jared and I made. I finished the bumpers just a few days ago so that it would all be ready for when we have a little guest (namely Kelsie Carlson) for Thanksgiving.

Halloween Pics

For Halloween we twisted balloon animals at the trunk or treat. I made this vulture balloon on a cactus to decorate our trunk and advertise the balloons!

Jared dressed as a karate man and my costume in this picture is missing my balloon twisting apron because I went as a balloon twister. That's a balloon flower in my hair. You can also see my tummy at 29 weeks.

Jared's Tag

So, Hans tagged Jared too...

The rules:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I love Mexican food. I could eat it every meal for 2 weeks and not get sick of it at all. I am semi-addicted to chips and salsa. Having it in the house is a huge temptation and once I start eating it, I can’t stop.
2. So, there are some things that will put me in a bad mood really quickly. For example, having to wear glasses, not being in shape or not having time to work out, or when my hair is longer than I like it.
3. Living in Vegas and working for a construction company, I hope that I never have to build a casino... unless they decide to do something really cool like the pyramid, then I would be tempted.
4. Some things I love are coming home to a clean house and dinner ready, having a drawer full of freshly laundered underwear, and working out with my exercise machine. Oh, and my wife.
   
5. I feel cars’ pain. Any little noise that a car makes hurts me and I have to figure out what it is and get it fixed or it will keep hurting me.
6. I love to feel the baby kicking even though sometimes it might be painful for Christine. I like poking him and getting him to kick back and also trying to identify body parts that he is poking back with.

I don't know who else to tag, so we'll go with Steve, Jesse and Marie (when they have a second), and it doesn't look like Holly has taken a turn yet.

Tag

So I guess I was tagged. Here goes nothing!

The rules:
A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I love having guests. I love it when people come over and I get to play host and cook and take care of them and make them feel at home. It makes me really happy. Along that line, I love having tons of “new” cousins my age. I love all of the relatives that we have everywhere now.
2. My favorite food is frosting. (Although it has been too sweet to me since I got pregnant, but still I love it). Jared says that it’s not a food, that it’s not even really a dessert by itself, but it doesn’t matter. If there was one thing I could eat all the time and not even worry about, it would be frosting. I like it with cake under it, but it’s not necessary because really the cake is just a means of eating the frosting to me and I can eat more frosting if I just eat it without the cake. Although, I must admit that I know this is a bad habit, so I have not eaten frosting without at least graham crackers or cake for almost 2 years now, which is quite an accomplishment.
3. I love making balloon animals. I make them for kids every chance I get. I look at the sculptures online that some balloon artists make and I want to be that good someday. I have been slowly improving my technique and I’m hoping to keep expanding and learning at least one new balloon a day until I’m super good.
4. I really like that it’s still summer in Vegas, and I think it’s going to take me a really long time to miss winter. Well, I might miss it at Christmas, but other than that, it’s a beautiful sunny 75 degrees everday and I just can’t complain!
5. I love country music. I love how it tells a story and can evoke emotions. I know that other music can do that too, but it’s country that speaks to me baby!
6. I love to dance. I just love it. I’m sad that now that I’m away from BYU, there’s just not as many opportunities for a married and especially pregnant woman to bust a move and get her groove on. I just do it in the house now when no one’s around. It’s just a good way to expend energy and feel good!
   

So, I guess I don't really have anyone to tag. I think everyone I know has been tagged, so I'm going to tag Chrystal, because that's the only person I see who hasn't done it yet.

New Car.... to us at least!

So, this is our "new" car. We went and picked it up tonight. It's pretty sweet. It has a huge trunk and tinted windows and it's in really good shape. It's a 99 Oldsmobile Intrigue, which sounds a little grandpa-ish, but as you can see, it SO isn't. It's a nice ride. Tomorrow it's my project to get it registered so I can actually drive it legally!

Ultrasound pictures

We had another ultrasound, I guess the last one until he comes. He's pretty cute looking.

This one is of his little profile, like it says. This wasn't the best shot of it that she got, but the technician didn't print a picture of the best angle.

This one is looking directly at his face. The big black spot is one eye and a little harder to see is the other eye directly below it. He kinda looks like a skeleton, but I guess that's what happens when you're xraying him. He's doing great and he's pretty much right on schedule, so we still have a while!

Recent Adventures

So, we've just been having some random adventures lately. My parents came to visit and we went to the UNLV vs BYU football game and we put together the stroller and carseat for the baby. So exciting! Jared's job is going well and we're enjoying Las Vegas so far.

Mom and Dad in the Fall Garden at the Bellagio.

Jared and I after we went to see the Penn and Teller magic show. For those of you who don't recognize him, this is Teller. It was an awesome show! We also went to see Cirque du Soleil: Ka which was also amazing! We totally recommend it!

Jared's new toy.

My profile at 26 weeks. I'm covering it up a little, but I liked this picture more than the others we took. We had an ultrasound last week, so I'll post pictures from it later. He is doing really, really well.

Baby's first football game.... sorta. He was there at least, but I don't know how much he'll remember!

BYU vs UNLV @ UNLV. BYU 24- UNLV 14!! Go Cougars!

Jared workin' it after we got the stroller and carseat all assembled!

Missouri Trip

We went to a really cool cave in Missouri, I guess it's The Cave State. This one was cool because Jesse James used it as a hideout a couple of times and it's really, really big. These are some pictures from inside the cave.

Jared and Christine

Erin, Dad, Lauren, and Christine

Jared and Dad pointing at formations known as grapes.

Jared and Erin in front of some awesome formations.

Jared, Maddy, and Dad

This is in honor of Maddy. She does this funny little pose when she's trying on pants and we noticed that the statue was doing the same thing, so we all joined her in her "Pants Dance" tribute!

Alaska Trip

We went to Halibut Cove to go camping and Jared and his dad decided to go repelling down this very large cliff. If you zoom in, you can see a very little Jared in the middle of the wall. They said it was really fun!

For those of you who have seen "The Deadliest Catch", it's The Time Bandit!

Dang, look at us hot babes in our Sweet Side Ponytails!

Jared and Jesse decided to go repelling face-first down a cliff at Hidden Lake.

This is all of the Adventurers before we got in the boat for some wakeboarding and kneeboarding.

Washington Trip

So we just went on a really long trip to Washington, Alaska, and Missouri. Here are the pictures from Washington!

Here we are visiting my grandparents (on my mom's side)! It was really good to see them.
This is a picture from Scott's wedding of Jared, Scott, and Hans. Looking sweet guys!
Hanging out on the Hood River watching the parasailers and such. It was cool.

Misc Pictures from Moving

This is a picture of Jared's beautious packing job in the moving van. Since I'm a pregnant, he had to do it all by himself, and he worked so hard! This is on the Las Vegas side of the trip as he's unloading the van!

Jared and I had a sudden influx of food storage and we had to figure out a good place for it, so this is our new bed! It's pretty sweet!

Graduation Pictures

Here are some pictures from graduation back on August 17th.

Moving

So, just for a quick update, we've graduated (I'll post pics later) and we're moving to Henderson, NV tomorrow. Then we're off to Portland for Scott's wedding, and then to Alaska for a little cooling off! Last we'll be in Missouri before we head back home for Jared to start his new job. Posts may be few and far between for a while! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Baby News.....

We had an ultrasound today and found out the gender of our sweet baby! We're having a little boy!! We are so happy and excited to know!Here our little one is entirely upside down, which is how he stayed for the whole time. His head is in the lower right and his little feet are stretched out to the upper left.This is how you can tell it's a BOY!

Here's the little profile with his arm up by his head, so cute and comfy in there!
He's still due on January 15, 2008.
Everything else is going great with us, Jared is just finishing up his semester and we're getting ready to move! We're SO excited to be going to Alaska and Missouri in the next few weeks! It's all so exciting!