Hello??

Hey, if anyone is still out there actually reading our blog, let me just say that we are still alive and well!! I know it's been awhile, the last few months have been kind of hectic and full of sickness, thus blogging was not the top of my list of things to do, but now things have calmed down and we're back!! I hope everyone had a great Christmas (yes, that's how long it's been!!) and I wish you a Happy Valentine's Day today!

Turkey Day!!

Well I hope everyone had a Superb Thanksgiving!! We spent a quiet Thanksgiving at home flying solo. (Well we actually had a woman over that we barely know, one of the missionaries investigators but otherwise solo.) Besides the fact that the chicken (our turkey stand in) wasn't done in time to eat with the rest of the meal, dinner went off without a hitch. I also made my first ever pies from scratch! They were amazing if I do say so myself. So much better than store bought. I thought I would have a few tragedies to report, but the pies both turned out well. Whew! Oliver had fun helping me make the pie crust. And now we are continuing Thanksgiving weekend by enjoying all the leftovers. Family and friends, we miss you, but at least we have good food to keep us company!

The Cooks!!


The Pies! Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie with cornmeal crust and Almond Coconut Peach Pie. Oh yeah, I know you're jealous!

I have to say that I put this video on even though I'm not looking my best. But Oliver looks cute and is talking, so there you have it.

Adventures in Tubbing

Why is it that every time I get in the bath tub, I am always accompanied by a 2 year old that wants to poke, splash, and play ball. Can't a woman get some peace?? It's not like I don't plan for the right moment, because I do. I wait until Oliver is very into whatever he is doing, playing with his toys, running around, bouncing his ball, whatever. He will be totally engrossed and so I think, here is my chance to get in a quick bath, so I run and gather all my stuff and get in and the POOF, there he is next to the side of the tub. "What Mommy doing?" Peaceful relaxing bath officially over. Our last tubbing experience involved 2 large knitting needles. Oliver found said knitting needles and of course brought them into the bathroom where he first poked me with them for awhile, followed by putting "pins" in my hair. Hmmm.....OUCH! Then he threw some of his other tub toys in the bath with me so he could then fish them out with his new knitting chopsticks and finally it ended with us having a knitting needle sword fight. (He lost by the way.) Needless to say, my bath time is usually cut short and most days I opt for the shower instead. But for some reason I continue to test the waters as it were....maybe someday I can fly solo!! Oh well, I guess these are the moments that I will miss someday.

He did it for the CANDY!!

O.K. so this post is a little late since Halloween is officially gone and over with, but oh well I guess I'm a little slow on the photo downloading! Oliver was Baby Elvis this year thanks to last years b-day gift from Uncle Greg and Aunt Kris Tina! He was a hit and did a mean lip curl! He didn't actually want to put the costume on until I informed him that if he did he would then get CANDY from people. Then there was no stopping him. Oliver loves candy. Sigh. He sported his costume to the playgroup at the library and got some treats, to our ward party (at which he wouldn't talk to anyone and was acting shy until someone gave him some candy and then he was all smiles and chattering away), and then on Halloween night. I think you can see from the video that he was in total awe at the amount of candy that was in his possession at one time! Good thing he's still at the age when the candy can magically disappear overnight and then Mom and Dad can enjoy it. Anyway, Halloween was a hit in Oliver's book and even when the older kids we trick or treated with were tired and wanted to give up, Oliver was still going strong spurred by the fact that he could get even one more piece of candy in his bucket, not to mention the fact that Zack kept hoping for the butterfinger jackpot!

What Oliver has been up to lately

Burning the Midnight Oil

REQUIRED

As many of you know, I have never been what one would call "athletic." I sort of have bad hand eye coordination, which makes it hard to excel in most sports. But I have recently found a sport I am really good at! Kitchen Baseball!! Oli pitches to me and I hit the ball. I am getting really good, I hit probably 88% of the balls thrown at me which is pretty good considering a 2 year old is the one throwing it. It has become his favorite activity the last 2 days. Watch out world series of kitchen baseball, here I come!!

*Since it's hard to take a picture of myself, and Oliver isn't capable of it yet, I had to settle for a cute picture of Oliver playing Kitchen Baseball instead.



My birthday wish: I've decided that every new mom and old mom for that matter should be issued one of these when they leave the hospital!! I mean seriously, who doesn't need a good massage like 5 times a day! And frankly Zack and I are too tired to give one to each other, but if we had one of these bad boys! Oh Yeah!
I'm thinking we could just stop eating for a month or two or five and then we could get us one of these chairs. When you sit in one at the store, it almost seems worth it. Almost.