He's off to JAPAN!! Our Happy Daddy!

Well no pictures because I'm still at my parents house and don't know how to get around their computer well, so pictures will have to wait. But in other news, Zack is now in JAPAN!! On his summer of research! So far he has been delayed by a Volcano, refused tea, coffee, and beer, taken a Japanese bath (I haven't found out exactly what that entails yet!), almost been inducted into some kind of cult, left jilted by his host family at a tea ceremony, and to his pure joy discovered that he could get normal icecream and coke there. And he's only been there a WEEK!! Imagine what can happen in the next 6-8 weeks! So far, so good. He's had many a discussion about mormons already, I told him he needed to find some missionaries there and get himself a stack of Books of Mormon and just start doling them out! :)

And while Zack is in Japan, we have continued to enjoy or last few weeks in Utah with our family and friends. I feel like I have grown a belly to rival Santa Claus in the time we have been here. And I think Oliver has grown a foot taller! (Ok, not really, but he is getting tall!)
Mostly I just wanted to tell Zack that we hope he had a good Father's Day!!! We love and miss him. (I say it in past tense since he's already onto Monday in Japan now.) Singing "Halloween Cat" just isn't the same without you!

HELLO UTAH!!!!

Well, It's been quite awhile since my last post, but I've become sort of a slacker since being pregnant. But now we are in glorious UTAH visiting family and escaping Craziville! Can I just say how wonderful it is to be in Utah again? Their slogan is right, "Utah, a pretty great state." Indeed it is. So far I've been loving the lack of trash all over the streets, the smooth roads, the beautiful mountains, friendly people, bulk grocery items, parking off the street, and not a triple decker in sight!! (Triple deckers are 3 story apartments that basically make up Craziville and they are all 100 years old and mostly ugly.) Not to mention the fact that we have already spent lots of time with our families which of course is the cherry on top!! I will post some of our pictures when Zack gets home since I need him to figure out how to do it on our parents computer. But if you are in Utah and want to see us, please email us!!
Oliver has been having a blast here, he thinks he just got like 10 new best friends! In fact today when everyone has been gone to work or busy he keeps telling me, "I miss my friends." And then he gets this really sad face, and even shed a few tears. I guess one friend isn't enough for him anymore! :) He is basically in toddler heaven, with 2 sets of grandparents to adore him, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc... He is such a social child that he is just eating it up! It's like an endless party for him. I'm afraid for when we go home, he's going to think being with just mom is a real drag! ha,ha.
Anyway, life is good, pictures to come...

Our Vacation in Philly and D.C.!!

We recently took a trip to Philadelphia and Washington D.C. since Zack had a conference he had to attend in D.C. It was a lot of fun and here are some pictures highlighting our trip. Oliver had a good time and traveled well, thank goodness. We got to see some of Zack's mission friends in Philly and the we got to see our friends Shiloh and Andrew in D.C., and then more of Zack's mission friends in CT on the way back home. So it was an action packed trip for the 3 of us!

Extra! Extra!! Read all about it!!

Well I figured it was time to announce that I am pregnant, and we found out last week that we will be having a GIRL! We are excited and a little scared about crossing over to the pink side, but I'm sure it will be fun. I know that some of you knew I was pregnant, to others this may be a surprise, but I'm due in late August and I hope all goes well. Zack and I thought it would be funny to just show up in Utah with me 6 months pregnant and shock everyone, but I decided that we might get a little chastisement if we did that. Now all we have to do is convince Oliver that having a sister will be fun! :)

Oliver Pictures

It's been awhile since I've posted any pictures of Oliver. Mostly because I haven't been very good at taking any lately, but here are a few for the grandparents to admire!! Enjoy!

R.I.P. Mr. Binks

Our house is on a binky bann. I took Oliver to the Dr. last week and he said his teeth were starting to move because of his binky. GASP!! Well the last thing I want is a buck tooth funny smiling baby, so therefore the binky had to go. Of course I had thought about this problem over a year ago, but if there is one thing that Oliver loves, it's his "binks." So month after month we whimped out and the binky remained apart of our daily lives. I know Oliver really loved it, but honestly I have to say it was a favorite of mine as well. He could go from cranky to happy with one pop of the binky in his mouth, it was a wonderous thing. We knew it was going to be hard and probably ugly. He was hooked, I mean really hooked on binky. It's like ripping away your child's best friend with no toddler worthy reasons. But it had to be done. So I thought I would try the old snip a little bit off at a time method. This was a total bust. It was like chopping off your favorite stuffed animals head and then giving it back to him as if nothing was wrong. He wanted no part of it. And so our efforts went from gradual wheening to cold turkey good bye. And just like that the binky was gone from our lives forever. (Or at least until the next kid.) Of course it did not go that smoothly, there were many tears for 2 days, we were geared up for a real fight. But after 2 days, it was over!! I was astonished! Could it be so easy? It didn't seem possible. We waited for a few days to congradulate ourselves in case it was all a sick joke and the binky loving child immurged, but it didn't happen. He is over it. Sometimes at nap time he has a hard time falling asleep, but otherwise, it's been pretty amazing. So I have to say R.I.P. binky friend. You will be missed, but apparently quickly forgotten. We hope you find a good home at the recycle center to which you have gone. Goodbye old friend, thanks for the good times we shared!

The Glove

The other day Oliver got his hand caught in the elevator door as it was opening at the library. His finger got a little scrape, that is all, but boy did he wail and scream. So when I finally got him out the door, I put his gloves on. Little did I know that one glove would not be leaving that hand for some time to come.....
When we got home he refused to let me take off the glove from the "injured" hand. So I let him eat lunch with it on and then he took his nap with it on. I thought after the nap he would be over it, but no, he was very much in need of the glove still since he said his hand hurt. Needless to say, the glove made it's way to making pizza for dinner, eating dinner, tub time, bowling, and bedtime. The glove did finally come off the next day around noon when he suddenly just pulled it off and said, "kiss it better Mom." After I did, it was all better, and just like that the glove was a thing of the past. So here are some funny pictures of our day with "The Glove."

Just Chilln' with the glove


Showing off his gummi bear in the tub
High fiving Mom
Bowling with Mom