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.

Super Mario Rock

I got a Nintendo DS a few weeks ago so I have been playing a lot of "Mario Bro.s" oriented games and I LOVE THEM. Especially Mario Kart. Here are some other really nerdy dudes who love the Marios like me.





I think they should get together and form a band. I tried to play them both at the same time to be one spectacular Mario Extravaganza, but it didn't work.

Happy New Year!

Well this is about three weeks late but oh well. You all know I am not too good about updating very frequently. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. We had a wonderful Holiday and with having four sets of parents we were able to celebrate alot! For Christmas we went to California to see my mom and dad. The weather was absolutely beautiful while we there. I have to admit I was a little sad to give up a white Christmas but a nice swing at the park on Christmas day was very nice too. Oliver could have cared less about the presents which is too bad seeing as how his grandparents totally spoiled him. I still haven't opened half the things he got. I think I will stretch them out through the year.


While we were in California my dad and his wife Rose took us all to Disneyland. Dusten and I love Disneyland and were so excited to go. Apparently so was half of Southern California because it was the most crowded I have ever seen it. The park actually sold out at noon. Crazy! The line for Pirates of the Caribbean stretched all the way to the Haunted Mansion and back 4 times! Seriously so crowded. But with the wonderful invention of Fast Pass we were able to go on almost every ride we wanted to. Oliver had a great time and was so good. He even took a 2 hour nap in his stroller while we there. What a champ.



He almost pulled the Sword out of the Stone. He didn't have as much luck as Uncle Garrett and Dusten once did.



He actually wore those ears all day.



Here we all are on Thunder Mountain. Dusten said this is my Posh picture. I am so proud.

Dusten's Top 5 Albums of the Year

This might be the first year since I got back from my mission where I didn't buy whatever album I wanted whenever I wanted it. So I may not have covered a respectable amount of area in the music industry this year. However, I would like to give props to the albums that did get me through the year. They are in no particular order.

WILCO - Sky Blue Sky
Wilco fans give Jeff Tweedy a lot of well deserved crap for reforming his band every time they record a new album. I loved their previous album A Ghost Is Born so much that when I first heard this one, it felt empty and week and I blamed it on the new line up as well. But then I saw them live in Denver and it blew my mind. In fact, it was one of the top 3 best shows I have ever been to. After the show, I couldn't get enough of it. Walken is my favorite song.

RADIOHEAD - In Rainbows
This is probably an easy one to pick. How could Radiohead ever go wrong when they are all together? Sorry to Thom Yorke's forgettable solo album. I felt like they took a good step back toward their Kid A sound from their previous album on this one. I was most blown away when I heard track 5 All I Need on my new favorite T.V. show of the season, Life. I can't wait to get my hands on a hard copy of this album.

DR. DOG - We All Belong
I will preface this by saying that I know these guys have ripped of The Beatles/Paul McCartney's sound. But it is one of the happiest, pump-me-up albums I have heard in a while. This album is a nice change to the slower, ambient music that has been so popular from bands like Iron and Wine and their sad album Shepard's Dog. If you want to be happy and clap along to some fresh yet vintage sounding music, give this one a try.

PINBACK - Autumn of the Seraphs
I fell out of love with Pinback a while ago. I regained interest with their album Summer in Abbadon and recommitted myself to them completely with this album. It made me want to listen to all of their stuff over and over again. It shows progression and maturity which I though passed them up a while ago. A lot of people disagree with me, but I feel that this album validates all of their previous work.
ARCADE FIRE - Neon Bible
This one is as obvious as Radiohead. A solid album with enough variety to please my siblings, my co-workers and even my wife, this album is nearly flawless. Everyone can listen to this and enjoy it. The only thing I didn't like was the track order. This was another album that to me was 100 times better after I saw the band live.


Honorable Mention...
Here are some other albums that were close, but not top five:

MODEST MOUSE - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
FEIST - The Reminder
LES SAVY FAV - Lets Stay Friends
THE SHINS - Wincing The Night Away
KANYE WEST - Graduation

Those Books

Before I begin I must preface this post by saying, if you have not read these books yet and don't want to hear anything about them then you shouldn't read this. I am not going to spoil anything but there are some weirdos out there who like everything to be a mystery. Of course I don't even know how this book series could be a mystery to any woman 12-75 but you never know. Okay with that said I have finally finished the third

book, Eclipse. I finished New Moon months ago but wasn't able

to jump into Eclispe right away. You see New Moon did something to me. I couldn't put that book down. I read it in one day (for a mom that should be doing other things then reading a teen romance novel about vampires that is very fast!). I absolutley devoured that book. I cried my eyes out in that book. I talked and talked and talked about that book to anyone who would listen. For the record, Dusten was a good sport and listened. I dreamt about that book and when it was over I felt empty. Even knowing that Eclipse lay on my nightstand waiting for me I could not pick it up. I was not emotionally ready for it. So after a few months (seriously) and a bunch of prodding from those who have already read it, I picked it up. I am going to go out on a limb here and risk judgement from those who nudged me...I did not like Eclipse (Sorry Ashley). It did nothing for me. I mean after what I felt from reading New Moon I was expecting alot and but still I got nothing. For those of you who loved it, I am sorry. Maybe I just missed something. I think I need to add that the biggest reason I did not like Eclipse was that Bella is just so freakin whiny. I can't handle how she complains when people want to buy her things, and throw her parties and worst of all that her hot boyfriend wants to make an honest woman out of her and marry her! (Sorry) Oh poor you Bella, two hot dudes love you and while they may be part of the fanatsy world they still want plain boring you and would die for you. Yet you just sit around and complain that you have to go to your own graduation party. UGH! You seriously bug me. Enough with that.


For those of you who didn't know they have cast Edward for the movies, here he is. I don't even care to remember what his real name is but he played Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter movies. Boring. Does this look like a sexy hot vampire to any of you? Me neither.

After hearing who they chose for Edward I am less irritated about the choice for Bella. I think Kristen Stewart is all wrong but I don't really like Bella so they can cast who ever they want. Lindsay Lohan might do a good job.
















I need to give props to my friend Kelly and say that all though I wasn't a fan at first I am now on board. Hayden Christensen would have done a great job as Edward. I mean look at this picture. Is he not a smoldering vampire?