More recital pictures...

Here are all the little ballerinas waiting for their turn on stage!

I love their little dresses!!!!

"I love you, Santa Claus!"

The Christmas Tree Dance!
This has been such a good thing for Olivia. I hope she continues to enjoy it like she already has...

Happy Holidays and more...

Well, I still don't have a camera and I'm waiting for people to send me pictures, but I thought I was WAY overdue for a blog update! This last month or two has been extremely busy and exciting! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with all of my brothers and sisters except one (we missed you, Sha!) It was so nice to have my parents with us again for the holidays! On my birthday Gary took me to an amazing restaurant owned by one of his bosses. They give everyone who works there a free meal and we have never gone, so Gary made reservations for my birthday. It was unbelievable! I think I'll have to save my money and go there once a year on my birthday! December was busy with getting ready for the holidays. I did a lot of sewing this year: nightgowns, baby doll blankets, pillows and diapers for Olivia's friends...it was fun but very time consuming! Olivia had her first dance recital on Dec. 4th, and I have to say, it was a blast! She was so good! I've been bugging Gary to get the video of it on our blog, but I think he forgot. I guess I'll have to get on his case again. But here are some pictures my friend took:

This is the dress rehearsal

Olivia is in the same class as two of her friends in our neighborhood. This is Chloe, Paige, and Olivia. They all have so much fun!

They did dances to the soundtrack from "The Grinch" this was the finale with all the dancers.

Update...

SOOOO.....my camera is broken. I couldn't even take pictures on Halloween. My sister took a bunch, but I don't have them yet. So this is going to have to be a picture-less post!

We have been busy! Two weeks ago I started babysitting a friend's kids 2 days a week. She brings them at 6am! Now, most of you know that I am definitely NOT a morning person, but luckily I LOVE babies, so it makes up for it. I also babysit my neighbor's kids once a week. Then last Monday I took Olivia in to the doctor because she had a wierd pimply rash on her face that kept spreading. The doc said it was infantigo..which is a bacterial rash caused by strep or staph. So he put her on antibiotics which was a good thing, because that night I was in Urgent Care with a high fever and sore throat...STREP!!! So since Olivia was already on antibiotics, she never caught it. I was miserable for a few days, but thanks to the priesthood, modern medicine and the best Grandma in the world (my mom took Olivia for 2 nights), I got better quick! (So to speak...I still slept all weekend trying to fully recover!)

So besides being sick, babysitting, Olivia's dance class and play dates, I also help my sister with her Youth Indoor Football League! I help answer emails and phone calls, help with fundraisers, and lately we've been running around to all the schools in the area passing out flyers! Basically I do whatever she tells me to do. It's been a busy week and I finally have a few minutes to relax. I like keeping busy, but I also like my down time! I promise I'll try to get more pictures posted soon!

Unexpected Visitors...

So, I'm totally in love with facebook...it has put me back in touch with so many people I have lost over the years! One of them is my best bud from high school, Scott. We've been emailing back and forth a bit since I found him again, and then last Friday I got a phone call from him. He says to me, "Oh by the way, we're in Salt Lake City this weekend!" I about passed out. We went to high school in a suburb of Chicago and the last place I expected him to visit was SLC!!! I was so excited. So Scott and his friend, Matt stopped by for lunch last Saturday! It was just like old times and felt like hardly any time had passed. What a great surprise! Hopefully it won't be as long in between visits next time, and hopefully we won't lose track of each other again!

Homemade Christmas Presents

Well....I don't usually brag about myself, but these turned out so cute I just had to share! I made Olivia a nightgown for Christmas last year and decided to do it again this year. I had tons of extra fabric, so I thought it would be fun to make a matching one for her favorite doll! It was a bit tricky, but I'm so proud of myself for working it out! I hope she loves it. I'm sure the little one will end up on "Lely", though...

REBA AND KELLY!!!

Yeah, we had great seats!!! I think this is when she pointed at me and smiled. You think I'm kidding? I'm totally serious.

Another great shot from our great seats.

Reba and Kelly making their grand entrance, singing "Sweet Dreams" It was AWESOME!!!
What a night to remember. I know it was a couple of weeks ago, but I still had to post some pictures!

Happy Halloween!!!

We had so much fun today taking pictures at our friend's house!!! She really decked out her kitchen with a bale of hay, corn stalks, pumpkins, the works! Then she took these (and many more) ADORABLE pictures of Olivia in her Halloween costume. THANKS, LINDSEY!!! She was so sweet to do this for us. And I must say, her boys looked so cute in their costumes, too! Olivia is my little princess. She acts like a princess, loves anything to do with princesses, and will tell you in a heartbeat who her favorite princess is...CINDERELLA!!! She is outgrowing EVERYTHING lately, so I bit off a bit more than I could chew trying to make this costume for her. Luckily, my good friend Nicole stepped in and pretty much sewed the entire thing! She did an amazing job and Olivia is SOOO happy to have a new Cinderella dress that actually fits! Olivia is such a joy and I hope I can really cherish these moments while they last...

BEST NIGHT OUT EVER!!!

OK, so I have some great friends. Lots of them. But two of them topped the charts on Friday night by giving me the best early birthday present ever! THEY TOOK ME TO THE REBA/KELLY CONCERT!!!! That's right, Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson are touring together, and most of you know what a HUGE Reba fan I am. I LOVE HER!!! It was an amazing concert. They were both on stage the entire time. If Reba was singing one of her songs, Kelly was either singing with her as a duet, or singing backup. If Kelly was singing her songs...you get the idea. It was pretty cool. AND....REBA POINTED AT ME AND MADE EYE CONTACT!!!! I promise, I have witnesses. I won't bore you with the details, but I swear it's true. We had GREAT seats not far from the corner of the stage, and every time she came to our side of the stage, I went crazy because she was so close. I know I'm a little bit nuts, but boy do I love her music! Another cool part is that the whole show was opened by Melissa Peterman who did a hilarious stand-up comedy routine. She played Barbara Jean, one of my favorite characters on Reba's TV show. She was so funny and even did a bit in the middle of the show when Reba and Kelly sang the theme song from the show. We had so much fun, and I know I thanked them like a hundred times that night, but here it is in writing: THANKS CHRIS AND CAROLYN LIKE A MILLION TIMES!!!! You guys rock. Chris took some great pictures and even got "Fancy" and "Because of You" on video!!! I will post them as soon as I get them. What a great weekend!!!

Long overdue pictures

SO.....my sister took these gorgeous pictures of Olivia just after she turned three back in July. I am finally sharing them with all of you! I just love these and can't wait to get all the edited pictures back so I can plaster them all over my house! Thanks again, Sherry! On a side note, Olivia has been in dance class for almost 2 months now and is LOVING it! She has two little friends from our neighborhood that are in the same class and they are so cute! They are learning a Christmas dance for their recital in December. They will be Christmas trees in a small production of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and I can't wait!!! Not much else is happening in our neck of the woods. Life is good!

PHEW!!!

What a week! I guess it started a week and a half ago when Olivia got sick. She started throwing up on Thursday night and didn't stop until Sunday. Poor thing couldn't keep anything down! I felt so bad for her. Then on Monday she seemed fine until the diarrhea started that night. NIGHTMARE! That went on for 3 whole days. And to top it all off, Gary came home early with the same bug on Monday and was sick, sick, sick for 3 days. Now, in the middle of all this, on Wednesday this week our plumbing decided to get all clogged up. I had had it by then, and Olivia and I left our poor sick Daddy at home and went to sleep at Grandma's. We could use the toilet, but not the shower or the washer. I didn't want to chance using anything else, either. On Thursday (Olivia was better by then) we took a break and went to the zoo with Aunt Sherry, her boys, and Grandma. It was a PERFECT day at the zoo and a much needed, relaxing day. On Friday Gary finally went back to work and the plumber came to clean out our pipes! I started feeling much better, which was a good thing, because then I had to prepare a talk for church! Gary and I spoke in Sacrament Meeting today, and I can now say the week is OVER!!! And I only have one thing to say...THANK GOODNESS FOR GRANDMAS!!! They saved me this week. I hope next week is better...

MONTANA OR BUST!!!

Well, I don't have all of the pictures from our Flathead Lake trip yet, but I can at least post the pictures from our visit with Gary's family! His dad lives near Glacier National Park in a little touristy town and we haven't seen his brother and sister in almost three years! His dad was down here in March when Gary's other brother went through the temple, but he's the only one who's seen Olivia since she was about 3 months old! It was nice to see everyone, and I especially had a great time holding Gary's 8 month old nephew as much as I possibly could. Talk about a sweet baby boy! It was heaven. Olivia loved the baby, too. Here are just a few pics:


Olivia and Uncle Sean

Posing with Aunt Sheri

My favorite picture of baby Kristian!

Playing games on the porch (Olivia took this picture!) The weather
was so perfect, we spent a lot of time outside. It was beautiful!

Olivia and Kristian

Me and Kristian (he was kind of popular that weekend!)

More birthday pics...

It wasn't easy tying in the elephant theme with the water theme, but we managed to do it! Heather bought Olivia the cutest elephant pinata and the cake turned out to look just like her "Lely" (her much loved stuffed elephant which is now lost). What a great birthday for our 3 year old bundle of fun!

Since the plane from Australia was delayed a whole day and Grandma and Grandpa and Heather missed the party by only a couple of hours, we celebrated AGAIN that night and waited to cut the elephant cake until we were all together.

Happy Birthday, Princess!!!

Yes, I'm finally posting pictures of Olivia's birthday. It felt like we celebrated for a week! I made her a little cake (pink, of course) on her actual birthday, but for her birthday party she requested an elephant cake. The cake is always a big deal for me, and I love making them for her. It took a lot of planning, but I'm so thrilled with the way everything turned out. The kids all had a lot of fun and it was so nice to have so many of her cousins here to celebrate with her. Olivia is such a friendly, loving girl, and she has made a lot of friends here. We love our little princess who brings us so much joy and laughter!

Homecoming!

I know this is a little late, but I haven't taken pictures almost all summer because my sisters have such fancy cameras and take SOOOOO many pictures, I just rely on them for all of my pictures. WELL.... I just barely got all the most recent ones downloaded on the computer, so I'm finally posting them! Mom and Dad's homecoming was so emotional and great! Grandma was worried that Olivia would be more excited to see Heather than her because her and Heather got so close while G & G were gone. Well, Olivia ran right to Grandma (who was crying because almost EVERYONE in the family was at the airport). And I am happy to report that the bond Olivia had with her Grandma before she left is still there. Whenever we go over there, the two of them are inseperable. It's so good to have them home!

Olivia was getting VERY impatient!

With most of the grandkids

The happy reunion

The WHOLE clan minus 3 - We miss you Kyle, Katie & Britt! They are away serving in the military. (Well, Katie's not, she's just married to Kyle and is dragged wherever he is stationed!)

Just the beginning of the promised pictures...

Oh yeah...I forgot to mention that Olivia had her first sleepover at her Grandma's house the day before we went camping. She was playing in Grandma's room with her cousin when she fell and hit her face on the edge of the metal bedframe (OUCH). Grandma felt so awful and we did our best to reassure her that Olivia will fully recover and will still be going to sleepovers at Grandma's! We did everything we could to keep the gash clean while we were camping and it is healing just great! She'll probably have a little scar, but what kid doesn't...

Chillin' by the campfire

Olivia and her cousin, Benson LOVED playing in the tent. Benson was so good to read to her and play with her. What a lifesaver!

ABC's About Me...

A. Attached or Single - Attached
B. Best Friend – My husband/my mom and sisters
C. Cake or Pie – Cheesecake. Does that count?
D. Day –Saturdays or any day I get to sleep in
E. Essential Item(s) – extra clothes for Olivia, lotion, diet coke, cash
F. Favorite Color – purple
G. Gummy bear or Worms – bears! Worms gross me out in any form
H. Hometown - Currently? Kaysville
I. Indulgences – Shoes for Olivia!
J. January or July – April????
K. Kids – Have one, want more...blessings from heaven!
L. Life is incomplete without – My family
M. Marriage Date – April 4
N. Number of siblings – 2 brothers, 3 sisters
O. Oranges or Apples – apples, I guess. Not a big fruit fan
P. Phobias or Fears – Losing a loved one
Q. Quote – "What yer said?" (Olivia) or "Get that corn outta my face!" from Nacho Libre
R. Reason to Smile – Olivia's emerging sense of humor, being with family, finding a good bargain on shoes for Olivia, basically anything to do with Olivia!
S. Season -Spring for sure!
T. Tag – All of my fellow bloggers!
U. Unknown fact about me – None. I'm an open book
V. Vegan or Opressor of Animals – ??? I'm not really extreme either way
W. Worst Habit – Two words....Diet Coke
X. X-rays or Ultrasounds – What kind of question is this?
Y. Your favorite food –Mexican or Italian
Z. Zodiac Sign – Sagitarius

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

WELL...What a crazy month! I keep waiting for the hundreds of pictures we've taken of all the recent events, but I still don't have them on my computer, so you'll have to wait for pictures! Since my last post, we have had Olivia's birthday party, my Mom and Dad's homecoming, family visiting from out of state, a camping trip to Tony Grove, and a family vacation to Flathead Lake, Montana! It has been a blast! We are finally home and I think we are settled in for the rest of the summer.

Olivia's birthday party was so much fun! She loves the water, so we had a bunch of her little friends over for a water party! We had a small pool, water balloons, sprinklers, treats, and lots of fun! Of course she got spoiled and she got her first Barbie! She's getting so big...

We went straight from Olivia's birthday party to the airport to pick up my parents and Heather. They were supposed to be here for her party, but they got delayed 24 hours in Sydney. But they finally made it and we spent a week hanging out with them and lots of family from out of town. It was so good to have my sister Shauna and her kids here for 10 days. We don't get to see them enough.

When everyone left, Olivia and I packed up and left Gary home for a camping trip to our favorite spot, Tony Grove Lake with Grandma and Grandpa, Heather, Sherry and her boys! It was great! Then we had 1 day to do laundry, and pack up for a ten day trip to Montana! We visited Gary's dad in Whitefish for a couple of days, then went to Flathead Lake where my family rented a house right on the lake for a week. We were in a perfect little cove where the water was shallow enough for the kids to play in ALL DAY and Shauna and Steve and their kids came for half of the week! It was so relaxing and so much fun! The kids all had a ball, and it was hard to get them out of the water at the end of the day. We took one day and drove up through Glacier National Park and over Logan Pass which is the most beautiful drive I've ever taken! (Pictures to follow, although pictures could never do it justice...) It was hard to come home from such a great vacation, but now we are back to reality.

Somewhere in that busy month my sister came to my house to take pictures of Olivia which turned out SOOOOO cute! She starts a dance class this week and she is so excited. It will be so good for her. Sorry for the long post, but we had a lot going on! I promise pictures soon...

Tea Party with Belle!

A friend of mine is in the town production of "Beauty and the Beast". Some of the cast got into costume and presented a "Tea Party" for the kids before the production today. Olivia went with one of her little friends and I must say it was WONDERFUL!!! They had people register ahead of time so there were only a certain number of spots for each time slot. They took pictures there of each of the kids with Belle but we won't get it for a while. Here are some of the snapshots I took. We had so much fun! It was the cutest thing ever.

Here are Little Cinderella and Little Belle waiting to see Belle and the Prince...aren't they beautiful?!?!?!?

This is when Belle came around to the tables to talk to all of the girls

Here is Olivia (I mean Cinderella) with Mrs. Potts and Chip

We also saw Babette, Lumiere, Cogsworth, and several dishes, but my little Cinderella wouldn't get close enough to them to take a picture. She was in awe and I agree with my friend who said how much fun it is to have little girls!

4th of July Festivities...

What a great 4th of July! We started out at the parade, where you can see that everyone took advantage of the water fight at the end! It was lots of fun. Olivia loves to get wet, but the trucks that come by to spray everyone kind of intimidated her, so she got a little nervous. My nephews played a trick on me to get my camera away from me so they could dump a bucket of water on me! They got me good. After lunch we went to the "carnival" so the kids could play on the big blow up slides. Then it was barbecue time and cake and ice cream for Daddy's birthday! We love to celebrate his birthday on the 4th with everyone there. Unfortunately, I was holding the cake and didn't get pictures of the big man blowing out his candles. Then it was time for the fireworks! Of course my brother came through with LOADS of fireworks and sparklers for the kids. It's so nice to sit in my front yard and have a great view of the city fireworks show that is so great every year. Overall it was a perfect day and the clouds even stuck around to make the heat bearable. I love the 4th!!!