Where is that fairy when you need her?

I keep logging into our blog hoping to see that someone has updated it. Unfortunately the good blogging fairy has yet to pay us a visit so I am taking things into my own hands and updating it myself. Perhaps a rund0wn of our past few days will help you to understand and forgive our long absence from the blogging world.

1. To begin with Sam is what you might call dentally challenged. He has bad teeth. It is not his fault, it is hereditary. This year alone he has had to have four crowns. The last thing he needed to get done was a root canal. However, the situation in his mouth was such that no dentist around here could do it. We had pretty much given up hope when we got a call last week from our dentist telling us that he had located a guy in Provo who could do it, if we got there the next day. So, we took an unexpected trip North for the weekend. The surgery went fine and we can now end our dental insurance on Friday with peace of mind.

2. While the trip up North was nice it severly cut into my packing time (which I had been procrastinating until the last minute anyway). So, I have been scrambling to put everything into boxes. I have been tempted on several occasions this week just to burn it all and start over from scratch once we get to Colorado.

3. This may not sound like a good excuse for not blogging, but we got a new stroller. It is a jogging stroller and I am in love. Truly, "I LOVE BOB" (that is a bit of an inside joke for anyone who has ever done the Biggest Loser workout video and knows what I mean when I say my stroller is a Bob). We've been spending a lot of time together. I was getting so sick of getting on my treadmill everyday. Now I can get outside and I can run for longer. Unfortunately I think I over did it and gave myself shin splints but thats okay. Bob, Ollie and I went walking instead of running today and it was just as nice.


4. This really has nothing to do with not blogging, but I got my haircut. I got bangs for the summer. Really, is there anything better than bangs and short hair in the summer? Only if it is short , blonde hair. Anyway, I am loving my bangs. This is the only picture that I have, you can't really see my bangs but you get the idea.

Hail the conquering graduate!!

Just for Grandma

For anyone out there who may, on occasion, find themselves perusing our blog, feel free to skip over this post. I am once again availing myself our blog to show off my cute kid and I know you don't all care. However, there are certain people who are interested. Namely Oliver's Grandma's, who all live far away and haven't been around to see him learn to crawl. His crawl has evolved now from the army crawl to the legitimate baby crawl, the following is a video to prove it. Enjoy (if you want to).

Oliver's Top Ten Favorites

It has been a slow news week at our house these past few days so we borrowed this idea from Oliver's friend Lauren. If anybody wants to follow suit, feel free. The following are Oliver's top ten favorite things:

1. Oliver loves to go to the park. We go everyday that is warm enough. I can't quite tell which he likes more, swinging on the baby swing or sitting and watching the other kids play. Both things bring much fascination and laughter.

2. Oliver has mastered the ability to crawl on all fours now (it is no longer an army crawl) and is very happy with his newfound freedom.

3. Ollie loves to play peekaboo. He laughs and laughs when Sam and I hide our faces and then pop out and shout "Peekaboo." He also takes his turn doing the hiding, his favorite is to turn his face against the wall and then turn back and surprise us.

4. Ever since Ollie was little, Sam and I have made him laugh by growling and attacking his tummy with our wide-open mouths. Oliver now does the same thing to us whenever he finds us lying down. It is so cute and we make sure to yell and wiggle whenever he "attacks" us.

5. Oliver loves to pull himself up on furniture. The couches are his favorite and once he gets up he gets excited and starts to laugh and "attack" the couch too.

6. Oliver has decided that baby food is for babies and that he has outgrown it. He will no longer eat from a spoon, but insists on feeding himself. His favorite foods are bananas, whole wheat bread with jam and macaroni and cheese.

7. Oliver is a huge fan of cell phones. We have given him our old cell phones to play with, but those simply won't do. He wants the phones that we use. Lately I have taken to turning on my speaker phone and talking to people while holding the phone to Ollie's ear.

8. Oliver loves to play with ropes. Things that fit into this category include but are not limited to: shoelaces, electrical cords and necklaces.

9. Ollie has a strange fascination with socks, both his own and everyone else's. By the time I get mine on in the morning they usually have at least one or two wet spots from where Oliver has sucked on them.

10. Oliver absolutely loves the guitar. He sits pretty still to listen to his uncle play to him and is willing to crawl great distances to play with it himself.

A mover and a shaker

Oliver is now officially mobile. While he has not yet mastered the crawl, he has become very proficient at dragging himself across the ground. Of course, he couldn't be more thrilled with his new skill. I, on the other hand, have discovered that his newfound freedom to move about has severely restricted my own. Gone are the days of setting him down with a bunch of toys and then leaving the room. The second I turn my back he makes a beeline for the house plants and seems to find all kinds of popcorn kernels and pennies along the way. Since there is no going back in time, I am trying to look at the bright side. Here are some of the reasons that I am grateful for Oliver's being able to crawl:

1. Never before have my floors been so clean. Ollie's ability to crawl has inspired me to sweep and vacuum almost constantly.

2. Today he did me a favor by pulling down a bottle of sand that Sam brought back from Haliewa and dumping it all over the kitchen floor. I never really liked having to keep that thing around

3. If nothing else, it makes Ollie happy.

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz....

Springtime weather takes you on such an emotional roller coaster ride. One day you are sailing through blue skies and sunshine only to come crashing down the next day under three feet of snow. After our recent bout of cold weather Oliver and I bolted to the park today at the first hint of sunshine. It was great to get outside again. Oliver was mostly interested in eating the dirt, but he did find other things to entertain him as well.

Trading Sports

You've heard of the show, "Trading Spaces", well at our house we have given it a bit of a twist and are trading sports instead. Since my little brother, Donald, has come to live with us Sam has convinced him to take up cycling. Donald, who came to us with nothing but a backpack full of clothes and climbing gear now also owns a mountain bike and a road bike. (I won't get into how having six bikes inside of my little apartment has started to cramp my style.) The two of them have lots of fun riding together and spend the rest of their time planning new rides.

On the flip side, Sam is now set to become the next Chris Sharma. (You would probably have to be living with a rock climbing fanatic to know that he is the current rock climbing guru of the world.) Sam now owns a harness, climbing shoes, some special clips, the name of which I do not remember, and spends his spare time trying to figure out how to tie certain knots.

Oliver and I just sit back and watch. The one thing that I am grateful for is that Sam adopting rock climbing was a lot cheaper than Donald adopting cycling.

And we're back...

We had a wonderful Spring Break/Easter vacation. We went north to Salt Lake and visited with all our family. The trip included a Saturday picnic with four-wheeling and clay pigeon shooting with my family. Then church and lunch with Sam's dad and step-mom on Sunday and of course a scrumptious Easter dinner and easter egg hunt with Sam's mom and step-dad that evening.

As we are in the middle of March Madness, the trip also included a lot of college basketball. My parents bought a big screen HD TV for the occasion and Sam and Donald had the task of setting it all up in time for the first games. They did a good job and as far as I am aware the TV is still hanging in place. (I just have to mention here that after the second round of games my pick are actually doing better than Sam's. I picked Texas to win it, we'll have to see what happens)

When we got home from our Easter vacation our new camera was waiting for us. Yahoo!! This is Oliver showing off his two new teeth. (Look closely, you really can see them.)


This is a picture of Oliver on our walk this morning. I tried everything to get him to fall asleep leaning back against the stroller seat but he insisted on resting his head on the front tray instead. I am pretty sure that he learned this position from his Dad, who mastered this same sleeping position in church.

Our little nutshell

Another week has found us without a camera. However, I did not want to neglect keeping everyone up-to-date on our lives, just because we can't showcase our bright, smiley faces. So here is our week in a nutshell:

1. Oliver is now the proud possessor of two teeth, or at least one full tooth and one tiny white stub. His newest interests include eating bites of whatever mom and dad are eating, standing on his own while holding onto furniture and chewing on peoples noses. This is his new twist on the "kiss", he has found that his tooth comes in much more handy if applied to the nose rather than the cheek. He is very proficient at it, just ask his uncle Donald.

2. Sam was offered a fellowship at the Colorado School of Mines and officially submitted his acceptance letter this week. We are excited to be making plans to move to Golden, Colorado. Wherever that may be. Sam also got a taste of rock climbing this week as we tagged along with Donald and Caci to the "Bowling Alley" a bouldering area just a few miles up Cedar Mountain. Sam did really great, especially considering the fact that he was wearing loafers. Sam officially gave up desserts and candy this week and managed to maintain the eyesight in both his eyes (inside joke) during those rough first days. Unfortunately, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream went on sale and all of Sam's healthy ambitions were left by the wayside. How could anyone turn down a scoop of chocolatey, fudgey goodness like that?

3. We have decided to move in with my parents for three months this summer to save some money for graduate school so I have spent the week mentally packing my apartment. It is no fun but I can't seem to think about anything else. I have this nagging suspicion that by the time I really do put everything into boxes I will have already had to mentally pack and unpack it all at least 20 times. I have started sorting through things that will be going to the D.I. I am not a pack-rat, so it has amazed me the amount of stuff I have found to get rid of. Aside from my new packing fetish, I have gotten hooked on a new genre of books; historical fictions about the settling of the western frontier. I checked out "Lonesome Dove" from the library and plan to begin tackling it soon.

Any advice would be great...

In case you haven't noticed, our blog has been sadly lacking in pictures lately. The reason for this is that we lost our camera. We are sad to have lost it but I must admit that I am inwardly rather excited for the opportunity to upgrade. (Don't tell Sam, he might think I lost it on purpose.) Anyway, we are in the market for a new one and the options appear to be endless. So, if anyone out there has a camera that they love or knows of a good one. Please let us know. Thanks.