Tuesday, December 18, 2007

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!

So I apologize for the internet Christmas card but basically I had the intention of doing a card for the past month but some things just don't happen, oh well:) But we had a wonderful year, full of love as always! Ryan and I every day are amazed at how lucky we are, could we be any more perfect for each other? Life just isn't that complicated when you know you love each other, anything that comes along, you know you can handle it no problem.

And our little addition keeps us laughing and loving more than we ever thought we could. Oliver just hit 9 months which is so bizarre because it's all just going too fast, where did my little baby go?! He is getting so big and doing so many new things each day. But don't worry he still needs mommy lots, and is very vocal about it:) Ryan is about 2 years away from his degree in Construction Management, yay! He is such a hard worker and also so dedicted to his family. It's hard to juggle so much but he does it beautifully. Seriously this time in life is so priceless. We feel very blessed.

Here is a little Christmas message from Oliver. Aren't chubby babies is Santa suits the best! He totally reminds me of my brother Brian when he was a baby and we put him in a santa suit. We are so thankful for our family and friends and wish everyone a beautiful holiday season.

wakie wakie

Well I was trying to get a pic of Ollie sleeping but then he woke up when the camera beeped, still thought it was cute. But then he was mad I woke him up, ah well, one day he'll thank me for such cute pictures.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Winter wonderland


Sleeping boys on the way back from Boise. We went this weekend to see our favorites the Johnson's and had SO much fun as always. Ollie got pretty sick which wasn't very fun but it was still very worth the trip, we love you guys!

Ollie and Cash lounging around at Costco, in front of the big screen TV's, typical boys:)

So the day after our saddest snowman post, we had a serious DOWNPOUR of snow. It was really a lot and it came down all day. Ryan was seriously amazed, he kept looking out the window wondering where all of it was coming from. My time in Rexburg made me a little less amazed, but it was still fun to see all those puffy massive snowflakes.

Look at that face. He was like " What IS that?"

This is Ollie's favorite place to hang out while mom gets ready in the morning. He will just lay down in there and put his head on a towel and play with whatever random bathroom accessory I choose to give him that morning, depending on his interest. Usually it is my compact mirror, or a toothbrush. The other morning unfortunately he decided to play with the handles and needless to say, we had to change that outfit. But it was so worth it to see his reaction:)

Friday, December 7, 2007

The saddest snowman there ever was

All that is left of our once thriving snowman. So it was raining all night and all day today which is basically amazing cause seriously why isn't the rain snow. On our front yard all the snow is gone and there is just this sad pile of snow that is melting by the minute. The funny thing is, we put on a carrot as his nose and as he started melting people kept trying to save his face by replacing the carrot as it fell out. So sorry snowman, it's 43 degrees, just not snowman weather. Maybe next week:)

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Break Dancing Baby

So if you haven't seen this little kid breakdancing, you really need to! It is so great. Anyways, click the top frame under the Break it Down youtube column and watch, I promise you will love it. We are going to show Oliver this video as he gets a little older and hopefully he'll learn a few moves.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Interesting...

So a couple times now I've tried to put up a poll to see what everyone's views are about the various presidential candidates, and who you're thinking of voting for. So each time I try, for some reason it re-directs my page and won't work. But the minute I take the poll off, it works. Hmmmmm, I wonder what forces are at work here?

Saturday, December 1, 2007

First Snowfall

It finally snowed today! We woke up this morning to a yard full of delicious snow to play in and explore. So this is Olivers first real experience with snow. It snowed after he was born but he was a little out of it in those days.
Aaron and Meg gave us this snow suit and it is hilarious. Oliver was totally the kid from A Christmas Story. Please just look at that kid, he can hardly move! He was nice and toasty warm. And we watched Ryan from inside as our friendly neighborhood snowman made an appearance.
We are excited about the snow but we understand that the excitement may not last for long:) So we are enjoying it while we can and are sooooo thankful that it hasn't come until now, it makes winter seem a little shorter. It's so fun to have a white Christmas. We need to go get a sled asap and hit the slopes.
My favorite part about snow is that there really are snowflakes, just like the ones you cut out in kindergarten, but just miniature. Everyone else may know this but I vividly remember when I was at school at BYU-I and I was with my friend Brooke and we discovered this. It was quite the scene, and we proceeded to tell everyone around us and at our dismay it seemed we were the last to find out:) Typical Californian's, I know. But we were seriously amazed.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Thanksgiving Break

Our Thanksgiving break was so great! We had so much fun with our families and mostly eating lots of good food. We got to go down for a whole week but both Ryan and I felt like it was the fastest week ever, too bad:(


Let's just make a point here to say that this was YESTERDAY, yes that's right, yesterday. It's hard to believe cause it is like 30 degrees out now. It was the best way ever to end our vacation, and Ollie found his new love, eating sand.

My sister Leah and Oliver enjoying a little dip in the hot tub. Since my family is so big and our current house is so small, my parents actually go to a hotel while we're all there so there's room for everyone. The hot tub is one of the greatest benefits to this ritual.

Both our families went CRAZY over Ollie, he is SOOOO loved. Plus, let's be honest, he is totally adorable and so much fun. I was surprised cause he seems like he's getting into that seperation anxiety phase, but he went to everyone and loved it.

Ryan and I LOVE hot tubs, especially when they're like 102 or above, any less than that, it feels luke warm. It was an especially wonderful hot tub night cause there was a little breeze and some fog, that's the best. Oliver and Noelle both love to be in the water splashing. Ollie thinks he can swim already. He almost jumps out of your arms, as if he could swim a few laps. My parents taught us early on so we were all good swimmers by two or three. Ollie will most likely be a water baby as well.



Laura and I at Universal Studios, on the Backlot tour. It was the coolest part of going there. There were these little towns that were made to look like New York and Mexico, so cute. They had the original set from Psycho, Bate's Motel. And for those who watch Desperate Housewives, we drove down Wysteria Lane (is that what its called?) We also drove past the closed studio sets of so many shows, the Office, CSI, Heroes, it was cool.








Ryan and I on the Queen Mary.









I literally could not put this kid on the ground at the beach because he demanded to eat sand. Finally I just said, well, let him and he'll figure it out and probably stop, cause it really won't taste that good in a while. Wrong. Oliver just say no!!! It was hilarious nevertheless. Come to find that both Ryan and I were huge sand eaters, and hey, we turned out wonderful! At least he got a generous helping of minerals, good for his bones. And don't worry his poops today had quite a bit of sand in them, yummy.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Queen Mary, Lars, and so much more...

So last night Ryan and I got away for a bit, sans baby, and stayed in Long Beach. So we both had never been to the Queen Mary and my dad had two tickets so we thought it was worth a try. We brought some beach cruisers from my house and so we rode those across the bridge, on to the Queen Mary. It was pretty cool, but honestly a little dissapointing. I was expecting like Titanic type luxury and class and it is just so commercialized now with all it's shops and a hotel. But still fun, since we didn't have to pay for it:) And the bike ride was way fun. I didn't know it was used so much in WWII to ship the soldiers and their families to their destinations, I thought that was pretty cool. And the city of Long Beach bought it for only like 3.5 million, that's like a house!!! You know they made that back in no time.


So that night we saw the greatest movie, Lars and the Real Girl. It was so our kind of movie, I can see how it wouldn't be for everyone but that just makes me sad for those people that can't understand something so sweet and beautiful. It literally touched my heart and reminded me of the kindness and graciousness of people.

And Ryan Gosling did such an amazing job playing that character, he really should win something for his performance. Sometimes I think, seriously how hard can acting be, they get so much credit for nothing. But his performance makes you appreciate how someone can put their whole heart and soul into what they're doing and it makes it all so believable and worthwhile. And it had zero drama, it was just so nice to watch. Anyways, see it if you're a kindred kind of soul, if you don't know what that means, you're probably not.

Then we went to Outback which was Ryan's first experience and it was sadly dissapointing, too bad. But Ryan got the Onion blossom which was what he was most excited about and enjoyed every bit of it's fried, crunchy, goodness. Our meal earlier at El Pollo Loco was a thousand times better:) Why doesn't Utah have one yet, really? Such a pity.

So overall it was a glorious night of hot tubs, food, movies, sleep, not sleep:), and just hanging out that was so needed after so much baby time. It was my first night away from Oliver, and it was perfect timing. I think any earlier would have been too early for me. It was nice to leave and feel ready, not sad. It was a perfect getaway and it was so nice to come back and see Ollie's face light up at our return. Honestly, we both missed him sooo much, but sometimes you miss each other too! Good to know we still got it babe!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Tagged, thanks Linz!

So this is a hard one for me because most of the time I say exactly what I think, most of the time too much, and so there really isn't a lot that people don't know about me. So I am seriously just sitting here thinking of things to say, so wait a minute... 6 things about me that most people don't know

1) I used to have HORRIBLE stage fright, like to the point that I thought I would die. So like when I had to give talks in church, I would seriously have a meltdown and usually someone would do it for me or I would do it and feel like I might just die the whole time. I remember in high school that I would get special permission from my teachers to do my oral assignments after school just to them, it was seriously a big deal. And even reading out loud, oh dear, I would go into panic attack mode. It was funny cause when I got the job at the jail and I had to teach all by myself every day to like 30 people, even scarier inmates, I took on the challenge and was finally like, this needs to be over. So when I talked to them about fear, I was speaking from a lot of experience.

2) Like a lot of people I have weird OCD traits. Let me share a few. This happens basically all day but really bad when I'm watching tv or a movie. If I see a word on the screen I will spell in out with my fingers EXACTLY the way it was spelled, cursive if cursive, you know whatever font it was. Sometimes I will catch myself spelling a certain word all through a movie, and I'll wonder how many times I had spelled that particular word cause the movie was almost over. It gives me a headache. One more, so I have this thing about water. Ryan thinks it is so crazy, cause it is:) So I usually keep a water bottle and just refill it with, mind you, purified water out of a brita filter, you know. I could never just drink the tap, oh gross and so scary. So even if I fill it with the purified water but leave the bottle out until it gets room temperature, I call the water "old" and I seriously can't drink it anymore. Even if I put it back in the fridge, I can drink it but I secretely know it's been tainted and it was old at a time. As if water goes bad, I'm so weird.

3)I probably cry every day. I am totally one of those people that cry at a commercial, or if I see a homeless person on the street, or if I see something beautiful. Or when I listen to a beautiful song for the first time, totally cry. And now that I have a child, so much worse. And the worst, when I see someone cry, I am like required to cry or something. I am just real sensitive and actually I think I like it.

4) I am obsessed with people. I love to listen to people talk about their lives and make real connections with them. I could probably sit and listen to someone talk for hours. So because I need real connections with people, this sometimes makes me really apprehensive in getting to know people because my worst enemy is small talk. I would much rather say right when I meet someone, let's just cut to the chase, enough of the face values, who are you really, what do you believe in, what are you passionate about. I like when people say what they mean and mean what they say. Even if I totally don't agree with someone or dislike something about them, if they are genuine about it, I love that. So even though I can be really outgoing, I can also be really reserved, depending on how authentic I think a connection is with someone. So if I seem reserved, it's just cause I haven't gotten to know you yet, I'm waiting to cut the crap.

5) I like to make up songs for Ryan and Oliver and sing them to the top of my lungs, preferably in a mock opera voice.

6) So this last one a lot of people might know but maybe some of you don't. I have been obsessed with pregnancy, labor, and all that is related since a very young age. I have been watching "A Baby Story" on TLC since I was in like 7th grade, maybe even before that. So you think since I just had a baby, my cup would be pretty full. Nope, still love to hear about it, talk about it, read about it. So my dream has been for a while to be a midwife. Even in the midst of my labor, 7 cm dialated with no medicine, I was still like, this is the coolest thing ever. I love it all. When I was pregnant I couldn't read enough, just because I thought it was all so interesting. (Note: this does not mean I will be a baby machine, I might just have to live vicariously through others when I hit my baby limit).

Oh and a few short one's just for kicks, I won't let Ryan kill bugs in the house, I feel too bad for them, besides spiders, cause for some reason they don't count. I have always wanted to adopt, and still do. I have a small, maybe not so small, obsession with traveling. Ryan calls it my secret porn addiction cause I get on the computer on travel sites and I can't get off. I LOVE to cook and hope to be really good at it someday. I love to exercise, it makes me feel alive. I need the sun, but I love the rain.
I'm supposed to tag 6 other people but let's just say that if you are reading this and haven't done it, do!!! It is so fun to read everyone's.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Veteran's Day

So I went to the post office today to mail out some packages from their automatic postage machine (thank goodness for those). So as I was there, people kept walking in, really bothered that the post office was closed and they kept wondering aloud why. It was really sad that so many people didn't even know it was Veteran's Day. So I just needed to say how grateful I am to live in this free country and that a price was paid for me. Both of my grandfather's fought in WWII and I admire them so much for that, it is truly heroic. I am glad there is so much good to fight so much evil. So Happy Veteran's Day and may we all appreciate what we have a little more.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Are you kidding me?


So I need to express appreciation at the fact that I am in shorts and a tank top laying on a blanket outside (Oliver is eating leaves at the moment, whoops, I don't even care). It is SUCH a glorious day outside today and I know there is a God in heaven because he brought this warm day in the middle of November, lets not even think about how it was last year. SO my time in Utah may be a hard time, but someone understands! Actually it might even be warmer here right now than California! Nevertheless, we are still SOOOO excited to go home in about a week for Thanksgiving. I am officially hot, almost sweating, this is crazy. Global warming anyone? Oliver wants to eat computer, better wrap this up, hope everyone can get out today and enjoy some warm sun on their skin, mmmmmmm:)

Friday, November 9, 2007

I LOVE ROCK AND ROLL

So I HAD to include a video of the crazed guitar loving baby. Seriously today, the guitar was on the couch and it was almost all covered by laundry except a little piece showing out from under the clothes. So Oliver spots this piece of the guitar, knows it's there, and is determined to get to it, like always. So he gathers all his strength and pulls himself up to a standing position holding onto the couch for dear life and stands there until he falls, of course, but unusually doesn't make a big fuss, and goes right back to do it again. He is die hard. I didn't get that on video sadly, that would have been funny. I can't believe he's almost 8 months, doesn't time just go soo fast!

Friday, November 2, 2007

So this is what cold feels like...

So we went on a walk tonight before dinner and it is seriosuly getting cold which really makes me sad. You can't just go outside any time and take a little stroll and feel the warm sunshine. Oh, it makes us miss California or better yet, Hawaii!!! We hope to embrace sledding this year to make the best of our frosty conditions. Ollie already has a snow suit (thanks aaron and meg:)

Safari man and his lion cub!


So I realized that we didn't get a picture of all three of us, but I did get one of Ollie and Ry, so you get the idea of our safari costume. The dots on Ryan's face are because we visited an aborigine village along our jouneys to see the Lion pack. The trip was a success!!! And one even followed us home...

Sunday, October 28, 2007

BOO!!!

As you can plainly see Oliver is a ferocious Lion for Halloween, watch out! And yes, I will toot my own horn right now and say that I hand sewed this costume. It was no walk in the park and I lost it a few times, but in the end I'm glad I stuck it out. I like how I usually pretend I can do something until I finally can, or can't I guess:)
More scary poses.
Ryan and I are going to be a Safari couple so we can fit in with our Lion counterpart, oh what fun.
Now... does that look like the face of a scary, mean, Lion? I think not:)

Noelle counting

So this video is mainly for family (dad, leah, and chelsea) and I tried to send it over email but it was too big so here it is. A bunch of my family got together this weekend and we had a lot of fun. I am officially at a quarter century now, seriously I never thought I'd be 25, weird.

Dad is so sexy with that guitar


Ok so maybe I said that but I just had to show how much Oliver LOVES when his Dad plays the guitar and sings, he's really good! He seriously just sits and listens intently for so long, very sweet.

Friday, October 26, 2007

baby einstein

Oliver LOVES Baby Einstein and this isn't even a great video of him watching it but it gives an idea. Sometimes when I'm getting ready in the morning, I'll turn it on and I literally hear him screeching for joy in the family room, it's too funny. There are these little puppets who he laughs at the most, or any time there's a baby on screen, of course.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Pumpkin Patching/ Weekend in Boise

It was SOO windy and cold when we went to pick pumpkins but we were still very excited. Actually, I don't think I've ever actually picked a pumpkin. Ollie's face was so classic in the wind. He still doesn't believe he can breathe in wind like that.
Ryan and Ryan with the boys, Ollie and Cash. Mary and I were busy finding the perfect pumpkins, and these wimpy boys just wanted to leave! WHAT?
Oliver was intensely looking for the right pumpkin, or maybe he was asking "what are those"? And thus the life of a baby...
The boys going on a walk in B-town! We had so much fun with Ryan and Mary, they are truly some of our favorite people. I love that I went to college with them and we are still so close. And it's too fun that Oliver and Cash are 3 weeks apart.
The ever buzzing monitors

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Ready, Set, Go!!!

Well I tried to catch Ollie's first real crawling today but as always when the camera comes out, he stops. It's cute anyways so I'll put it on. But yeah, he's been doing the face dive lately and for the first time today, he finally realized that his arms can really help him get around. So he made like 3 consecutive big boy crawls and then couldn't stop, he was so excited. It was pretty funny how excited Ryan and I got, oh the joys of parenting.

Mom, we crack ourselves up!


There are some things in life that are just too funny for a baby. Who knows what that is? He does. (And we pretend to just so he won't feel left out, sometimes it's hard to be a baby). We love to match. You know you are limited to what you can match when you have a boy, I take what I can get:)
Ollie was a bear today, bear ears, bear on the shirt, and bear slippers. It was oohhhh so fun! Actually I was surprised that he wasn't trying to take his beanie off all day, but I think he knew he looked cute and wanted to keep that going all day.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Tribute to Radiohead

So basically Radiohead just came out with a new cd and put it on their website for a you name it price, so cool. I just needed to make a little tribute to Radiohead as one of my favorite bands, if not my favorite. They are truly an original, and have come out with yet another amazing cd that touches both heart and soul. I love them. If you have never listened to Radiohead, now might be the right time to invest, and for free, it doesn't get better than that. I still can't decide which is my favorite song, but check out "All I Need", absolutely amazing. Here is the link to get the cd, www.inrainbows.com

Sunday, October 7, 2007

WE LOVE THE FALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oooooooh how I love the fall!!! It is definetely my very most favorite season, it just makes me so happy when it starts getting blustery outside and the leaves start falling!
We went up Provo Canyon this afternoon after conference and enjoyed the beautiful fresh air, it smelled like memories.
Ollie loved to play with the leaves! He didn't seem to notice that it was about 38 degrees outside. There was actually snow on the mountains above us and below that was a rainbow of fall colors.
Momma and Oliver loving being outside! We are a little worried about the snow coming cause that it going to limit our time outside, which is basically what we do all day. We are going to have to get creative! Maybe we'll start perfecting the art of sledding, in a infant sort of way:)
Ollie takes "organic" to a whole new level!

SICK and TIRED!!!


Can you tell who's sick and who's tired?

We love our Smart Grandparents


This weekend we spent some time in Bountiful at the Smarts house. Great Grandma fed us lots of yummy food and had a nice warm fire going for the rainy/snowy day outside. We love being there! Oh for cute!!! (0ne of g-ma's favorite sayings) Ollie was trying so hard not to be a grump, but sometimes being a baby is sooo hard, especially when you aren't feeling well. Ollie slept in the same crib that his Nana Facer slept in, and Great Grandma even still had the crib she slept in, what treasures!

Visit with cousin Noelle!



Ollie got to hang out with his cousin Noelle a few weekends ago. He basically LOVES her! He loves babies so much, I'm starting to think he should have come as a second child cause he just loves to play with other kids. Sorry Ols, no siblings for a while, mom and dad will have to do:) Noelle was learning her "eyes, ears, mouth and nose" so she kept poking Oliver in the eyes and mouth, he loved it.