Sk8ter Boi

Whilst in California, we were lucky enough to participate in a little gathering of friends from my old Stake. We got together at the old Skating rink where we grew up for a night of family fun. It was really good to see all of my old friends. I never expected to really move away from Orange permanently. One day I was simply gone. It was really good to catch up with them all. 

Nicole and I were very concerned about how to keep Oliver happy at such an event. Bildo and I came up with the great idea to push them around in their strollers whilst we skated behind them. 

However, we quickly realized that although this might seem fun from our perspective, it was ranked by the kids as "a little more fun than a regular stroll and a little less fun than riding in a car seat." As you can see Oliver was thoroughly bored with it. So we threw caution to the wind and let the boys roam free on the floor, trusting that all of the other sk8ters were responsible enough to not run them over.

And that's when the real fun started for Oliver and William who then proceeded to dance all night long. William's signature move was a simple knee bounce, but he surprisingly kept a prefect beat to his bounce. Oliver's moves were much more Mia Michaels inluenced (did I just out myself?). His favorite move was holding his head down and running in a circle always trying to keep his head in the same place.

Oliver's First Taste of Soda

This one is a little late, but the picture sequence is too good to not show.

We were eating some lunch at a Pizza place near our house sometime in February. I got an Apple Beer to drink as we waited for our food. Of course, since Utah food service workers usually are comprised of 14 to 16 year old kids who have no idea how to serve food, we waited for a good 15 to 20 minutes for our food to get out. And of course, Oliver's patience ran out about 3 1/2 minutes into our wait. He kept pulling at my cup and I got sick of it, so I got out my camera phone and let him take a big old sip. The funniest part (which I sadly did not get on camera) was when he kept scratching his tongue to get the fizz off.

...and of course, he went back for a second swig and we repeated the whole experience.

Happy Birthday Nicole!

Since I was busy working in Simi Valley in March, Nicole and Oliver came down to California during Nicole's birthday. Both of them had pretty bad cabin fever after the ridiculously long winter in Utah. Plus, Nicole, the true California girl that she is, needs a certain amount of sun every so often or else she will implode. It was especially nice because Nicole's grandma was there to see Oliver. 

Nicole's dad threw nicole a little birthday party/bar-b-que in the park. Oliver was not that excited about wearing the party favors, but was very happy to taste cake for the second time in his life.

THERE! ALL CAUGHT UP ON OUR BLOGGIN'!

Greetings from the OC (don't call it that)

We are in California right now for a little trip to see family and soak up some sunshine. Its been fun to go to the beach and the pool, although Oliver wishes he was bigger and could swim on his own. He gets very mad when I have to hold him in the pool, he is just a little too fearless for my taste. Why is he not more like me and afraid of everything?


For those of you who know me well know that I am very OCD about having a clean house, clean husband and clean son. Its so hard for me to just plop Oliver's food down on his tray and let him go at it. Well here is evidence why I hardly ever do it. The food goes immediately from the tray into his hair! I am not sure if he is happy or sad in this picture but his potato salad hair is rockin!

Hello Again

Well hello there. After much pleading and begging I am back. Okay I don't think any of you really actually begged but I know you missed me. I can't believe I haven't posted anything in two months. To be honest I was going through a blog funk. I would look at all your blogs and go "Oh look they just went on vacation, oh look she is so crafty, oh look she is such a fun mom," and on and on. Needless to say I was feeling like I didn't have much to offer the blogging world. Also contributing to my funk is the fact that I live in the land where winter never ends! Anyway it was actually above 70 one day this month so I am thinking about coming out of hibernation. I am not making any promises though. Here's a brief over view of what we have been up to the last two months: Dusten went back to work as an electrician. He works out of state so he travels four days out of the week. Its not as bad as it sounds, some days are just longer than others. I celebrated my 28th birthday. 28 feels just like 27, nothing different. Oliver and I have been to California twice and are planning another trip in two weeks. That is one of the good things about Dusten being gone, Oliver and I can come and go as we please. Oliver is 17 months now and has donned the nickname of "The Beast" or "Rascal". He has so much energy and is very independent. He is so much fun and I love watching him experience new things. Here are a few pictures from the petting zoo that we went to the other day. Oliver LOVED the goats! He was so fearless and let them eat out of his hand. I on the other hand stood in the back ground making sure none of the animals made eye contact with me. I am not so much a fan of the animal kingdom.










Oliver wanted to say thanks to Auntie Em for coming with us to the zoo. She is the best aunt a little boy could ask for. I don't know what I will do when she moves away!


This is Oliver's cousin Dot. She had just had a sad run in with the mud and was less then thrilled to be perched atop a pony.


Oliver on the other hand loved the ponies. He is a true Lehi cowboy. I am sort of saddened by that.

P.S. If you hadn't noticed my heavy coat and Oliver's red face it was freezing this day. It is the end of April for goodness sakes! That's it I am going back in hibernation. See you in another two months.

Good Times

Well, it has started. Oliver is a full fledged toddler. I was sick with the flu earlier this week and so was laying on the couch all day. Oliver is such a good kid and kept himself pretty entertained. I was starting to feel better so I was trying to get the house back together. I was cleaning up something on the floor and I noticed this lovely addition to our couch. Its not a very good picture but Oliver had taken a pen to the back of our couch (this is only a small portion of the whole masterpeice). I couldn't believe it! No wonder he had been so quiet all day! Well after a slight freak out followed by a laugh ( I mean come on, you know he had a good time) I took a damp cloth and just lightly rubbed the marks and to my surprise it came right out! If you are in the market for a new couch I highly recommend microfiber. This couch has seen alot and still looks new, its the best for familys with young kids or husbands. So this crisis was adverted, hopefully we will be so lucky next time. Of course I never found the pen so who knows what Oliver is dreaming up for his next piece.

Following the couch incident we had yet another storm the other day. It was crazy. The wind was blowing so bad and blowing all the snow around that they had to close down the freeway right by our house. People were camping out at the gas station with nowhere to go. People who were stuck on the freeway ran out of gas because their cars had been idiling for hours and had to be evacuated. Crazy. We were lucky to be home when the storm hit but our power went on and off all night. We finally decided to go seek refuge at out friend's house. While we were loading up our stuff for the sleepover Oliver was running around with this light on his head. He loved it! Kids are great.

Snow Snow Snow

Greetings from Snowy Utah!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while but there has been nothing going on in our lives. It literally snows every day and Oliver and I rarely venture out into the frozen tundra. Also contributing to our Hermit life style is Oliver's new schedule. He is down to one nap a day and it is from 11:00 to 2:00. I am a prisoner in my own house. By the time I get him up, feed him lunch and get out the door its 3:00 and we need to be home in a few hours to get dinner going. I don't know how you other moms cope with this nap in the middle of the day stuff but I really don't like it. Of course you might be the kind of mom that is up and dressed and out of the house by 9:00 to run erands. That my friend, is not me. Anyway here are a few pictures of our snow covered yard. This is one of those rare days we went outside.

You can see how the mailboxes are barely poking out of the snow. Crazy!

Most days we just do this. Sit around in our pajamas and play with toys. Who am I kidding? We are livin' the high life here. (For the record, I don't make Oliver play in the closet. That is just his favorite place to sit.)

P.S. Oliver's sweet face is glistening with drool in every picture. Will it ever stop? Did I mention he already has all his teeth? Why the constant drool then? I need answers.