Friday, December 16, 2011

Merry Christmas

These are my attempts at artistic photos of our beautiful Christmas tree. It makes me so happy every day.

One day I was in Hobby Lobby and started tearing up because I really really wanted one and I'm pregnant so I cry over silly things. But alas, we had no room in our apartment for a tree what with a business and a baby and just living. And I knew we had no room.

I came home and was telling Danny about how silly I was being at the store, crying while looking at Christmas trees. And he agreed I was silly. And then that wonderful husband of mine left later in the week to get some groceries for me and came home with a tiny 4.5 foot fake tree. Just the perfect size to fit on top of our filing cabinet, hence out of the way of everything. And making me happy every day.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Children

As members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are blessed to have the knowledge that Christ has established prophets and apostles on the Earth for us today. The first weekend of every April and October is reserved for a worldwide General Conference where these special witnesses of the Lord give talks that are broadcast to every continent. Then, the next month, their words are distributed to members in written form in a church magazine called the Ensign. I am so grateful for the wise and inspired counsel that is given to us from these conferences that applies so directly to our day and the specific challenges we face.

This morning I was reading one of my favorite talk's from this last October's General Conference. It is by Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles titled Children. As we are preparing for the birth of our second child in just a few months it was encouraging to me to listen to and read his words, and I would like to share some of them with you.

"Many voices in the world today marginalize the importance of having children or suggest delaying or limiting children in a family. My daughters recently referred me to a blog written by a Christian mother (not of our faith) with five children. She commented, '[Growing] up in this culture, it is very hard to get a biblical perspective on motherhood...Children rank way below college. Below world travel for sure. Below the ability to go out and night at your leisure. Below honing your body at the gym. Below any job you may have or hope to get.' She then adds: "Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because they are cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.'"

"Across the wold, this is a time of economic instability and financial uncertainty. In April general conference, President Thomas S. Monson said: 'If you are concerned about providing financially for a wife and family, may I assure you that there is no shame in a couple having to scrimp and save. It is generally during these challenging times that you will grow closer together as your learn to sacrifice and to make difficult decisions.'"

Elder Andersen then gives many examples from the scriptures of faithful couples bearing children during times of hardship, ending with the most supreme example of all: In the most beloved story of a baby's birth, there was no decorated nursery or designer crib - only a manger for the Savior of the world."

When people are shocked to discover we are already expecting our next child when Oliver is so young, it's wonderful to know that we are doing as we are commanded to multiply and replenish the earth. We have prayed about our little family and are so excited to know that the Lord is willing to bless us with at least this one more little baby - and we hope to have more. I love this gospel and the beautiful principles it teaches, especially about families.


Saturday, November 12, 2011

Bump

This pregnancy is going fast! Halfway to baby already! We found on on this past Wednesday that we are having a girl and we are so excited. Sorry that all of my pictures are in nasty work out clothes. That's just usually when Danny and I go "Whoa! You (I) look pregnant! Let's take a picture!"


14 weeks(ish)















(Almost) 20 weeks





















In other news, this little guy took his first unassisted steps today! And then refused to do so again, but still! Look out world - he here comes!



Friday, November 4, 2011

Happy Halloween

I need training on how to get my pictures in the right order without deleting them all.


So...before I was ever pregnant with Oliver, Danny and I had a discussion about Halloween costumes and how fun it would be to dress up like Christmas when we had a little guy and I was pregnant. Danny would be the tree, our child would be the star on top and ride on Dad's shoulders, and I would be the present as I would be carrying our unborn child.


Fast forward to this year, and we had the perfect circumstances for this family costume. And no one knew I was pregnant yet, so it was a baby announcement to our ward as well.




























































Monday, October 10, 2011

Montana

In August we went with my whole family on a little trip to Montana and Glacier National Park. My parents had some friends in their ward who rented their cabin to us and we had a great time. Glacier was beautiful!

Poor Ollie guy had a rough trip. He got a window slammed on his little fingers during the boat tour we took, he got sunburnt, and got his first earache all while we were there. But he was a trooper, and other than those minor mishaps we had so much fun just being together, playing games, hiking, swimming, kayaking, camp firing, and eating eating eating.






Thursday, October 6, 2011

Cannon Beach

We had a great trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon back in July with Danny's family. It was so much fun and I just found the pictures on our old camera so I thought I would post some really quick.



Reading

As I was helping Danny get out the door for school this morning I hadn't heard from Ollie for awhile so I checked in his room to see what he was doing. I found him laid out on his belly with his head down reading his new book he got for his birthday. Of course, he got distracted and looked up when I got the camera out but this picture is pretty darn cute too.



Happy Birthday, Son!

Oliver turned one year old on September 30, 2011. Almost a week ago now. We celebrated by going to the doctor to get his one year shots. He was a great sport - didn't cry for more than a minute. He definitely got his pain tolerance
from his dad.

But we did have a great big-boy-one-year-old party on Sunday after General Conference (which was so good on Saturday.
Sunday....Ollie didn't nap very well, so mom didn't watch
conference very well). See pictures below of the family bash.

Thanks to Danny's sister-in-law Bre for being our photographer for the evening!

Look at those cute cousins - the kids were all so excited for the cake all day long.











Monday, May 9, 2011

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, yesterday! What a great day to be celebrated and honored for a job I love more than anything in the world. My sweet husband made me crepes for lunch and bought me this:














I'm so excited! I've been listening to audiobooks on my brother's old iPod shuffle and so every time I would accidentally bump a button it would be impossible to find my place again.

We spent the afternoon with Danny's mom. We made her some dinner (with ingredients she left on the counter for us - she made it pretty easy. What a mom!) and talked to his brother Jon who is coming home from a mission next month. It was a really nice afternoon.

My mom had a specific request for a Mother's Day gift - she wanted a piece of poetry from each of her kids. She told us it didn't have to be long, could be silly or sweet. I decided I wanted to get all of the poetry from my brothers and make some scrap book pages she could keep for a long time. I've been wanting to learn to make beautiful things and this seemed like a good opportunity to get some craft supplies and get started.

I think we were all surprised by the sweet and sentimental things we wrote about our mom. I even wrote a silly little one for Oliver. We met up with Jackson at my parent's house last night and Conrad joined us on the webcam and we all read our poems to my mom. It was really sweet and I think she was very touched.

Here are my pages I made - and I have to say I am very proud of my first venture into scrapbooking.
























































What a great thing to be a mother - and especially to this little guy! He makes every day joyful! I tell Danny all the time that we have such a great life. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the chance to be a part of an eternal family with people I love so much. And I am especially grateful to my mother and all she has done for me.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

First Picnic of the Year

Yesterday was beautiful! So we packed up a lunch (okay, Danny packed the lunch) and headed for the park. It was the first time Ollie had spent outside out of a car seat or stroller, and we think he liked it. He even got to go down the slide with Dad! What a day!







Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Crawling Practice

It's too bad you can't see his face, he was laughing so much. Funny little man.


Crawling Practice Part 2






Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Spring Break

Last week was Danny's Spring Break. It was great because he didn't have classes, but it was still a lot of studying for him as the MCAT is only 6 weeks away! Yikes! But we scheduled something to do with family or friends for each night and still had our free subscription to NetFlix, so we had a good time. One day he brought me these pretty flowers.
























And one day I got our very first Bountiful Basket! How fun!

















And also, sweet little Ollie boy got his first tooth. What a great week!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Oliver's Blessing Day





I never posted any pictures from Ollie's blessing day, so I thought I would put some up. Danny's great sister-inlaw Bre took these for us. He was blessed right after Thanksgiving in hopes that we could get some more family here, and Danny's brother Mike and his wife Madison were able to make it!


Thursday, February 17, 2011

Good Morning Sunshine

Ollie woke up screaming at 1am because he had rolled onto his belly and couldn't get back over. Then this morning I find him like this, mind that I had laid him down with his head the completely opposite direction and in the middle of the crib.



Don't Judge Us

It was just so funny. And when he was in the box, he was just fine until I got the camera out.