2 Happy Birthday 2

Miss Olivia Grace turned two just two days ago.  Two years ago, we were blessed with this little girl that changed our lives forever.  She is such a little sweetie.  She is independent and so smart.  These are some things she's doing now:

She has become pretty attached to her Dad.  She asks about him

all day while he's at work and she always wants to do what he is

doing.  He loves being a special part of her life.

 

She is close to being able to count to ten.  She knows the numbers, but right now

she says '3-5-7-9-11-10'.  It's really funny, I guess she likes her odd numbers!

 

She LOVES the water.  We were in Vegas for her birthday and we swam a lot. 

She loves going under the water and being thrown around in the pool.

 

She says the funniest things.  If she hears us say something once, it's stuck in her head.

"Mommy coming too?" - she asks this

about Mommy, Daddy, Gramma, Papa, Kacee, Kortni

Mason, Alex, Jared, Chad, Matt, Sato, James, Hayden - haha

she likes to know if everyone is coming with us.

"Fa by you?" "Fa by you me?" - this

means can I lay by you?  Or will you lay by me?

I'm not sure what the Fa means, but it's so cute when she says it.

"Like chocolate!" - This one is kind of gross,

but every time she poops, she says this.  She's really into

comparing things right now, so I guess she noticed how similar those two

things look :)

 

She loves to talk on the phone and will pick one up and talk

to people for a long time, even if it's just pretend.  She babbles on about

something and then she laughs.  Most often, it sounds like this,

"Blah blah blah, sawry!  Hahaha.  Blah blah blah.  Ok sawry!  Bye."

 

She got a new bike for her birthday and she is ADDICTED to it.  It's a

pedal bike and she loves being able to go by herself.  She also loves being outside,

so it gives her something to do out there.  A couple times, it was freezing cold

and night time, but she insisted that she play outside.  So I bundle her up and

she just walks around, not even realizing that it's dark or cold.

 

Her cousin Taylor was born about a month ago and she loves her.  She tells

everyone, even strangers about her 'Baby Taylor'.  It's pretty darling.

 

She loves to dance and she starts to bounce whenever she hears music in the

distance.  Dave taught her this dance where she rolls her arms around

and he makes this weird music sound.  She loves it and always wants him to do it.

 

Her favorite TV shows are Olivia, Franklin and Friends, and Sesame Street.  She

is also liking Princess Sophia.  Her favorite movies are Frozen and Brave.  She calls Brave

'Barry'.  I don't know why, except maybe she just can't remember Brave.

 

Her favorite foods are Pizza, just like daddy, and Spaghetti.  She loves juice and milk.  She

also loves apples, bananas, broccoli, corn and tomatoes.  She will eat a bowl full of

cut up tomatoes.  It's so weird, but I'm glad because they are great for her.

 

She sleeps through the nights, but usually, she comes sleepily walking in to our room in the middle

of the night and spends the rest of the night with us.  It gets squishy, but I love cuddling with her.

 

We just started potty training yesterday, so we'll see how that goes.  I am not

really sure how to do it, so I've just been setting her on her potty every 15 minutes.

We have yet to go in the potty, but I guess she'll get it eventually!

 

She loves the slide :)  We have a park in our neighborhood and she begs me everyday to

walk over there and play with her friends.  She now can climb up the play place and slide down by herself, so that's really nice.

 

Our little girl is such a joy in our lives.  I don't know what we would do without her.  She is so much fun and she teaches us so much every day.  Her personality is so awesome.  She is pretty shy around strangers, but once she gets comfortable, she becomes a little leader.  Which, is similar to how I am.  She is a crazy girl and she loves to play.  I love watching her grow and learn.  I'm so grateful to be her Mama!

 

Miss Olivia

Olivia and Cousin Baby Taylor

Olivia and Cousin Hayden

Olivia and Hayden in The Rueckert's Bounce House

Olivia and ... 3rd?  Cousin Eloise

Davi's Easter Party

Olivia at Daddy's Vball Tournament

Olivia's New Bike

Hugging Daddy on his Birthday

Birthday Cake

Cake and Presents

Birthday Party with Kortni

Birthday Party with Chad

Birthday Party with Mason

Birthday Party with Papa and Gramma

Birthday Party with Alex and Kacee

Birthday Party with Jared

Birthday Party with Mommy and Daddy

Zebra Cake

Minnie Mouse Dress from Kacee

Easter Dress 2014

Olivia found her Basket!

 

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!  We love you!

 



What She Says

Olivia will be 2 in less than a month and she is chattering like crazy!  I wanted to remember the funny things that come out of that little mouth :)

Olivia Says:

"Wuv you mama/dada"

"Ahhh!  Pretty mama"

"I miss you Boston!"

(We lost Boston for a night and when he came back, I said this a lot.  I think

that's why she now says it every time we come home)
"Hahaha... weally funny"
(She laughs to herself and then says this.  Super cute)

"Ooh coolio" 

(courtesy of Franklin and Friends)

"Ew Bosty poop"

"My see em?"

(This is when she wants to see something up close)

"Hey!"

"My eat sumpin?"

(This one is usually said as soon as she wakes up in the morning and 

a lot of times, in the middle of the night)

"Mommy der"

(This means, mommy there.  This is what she babbles when

people try to talk to her and she doesn't know them so 

she is shy)

All of these are much cuter and funnier when you hear them - I'm sure you don't really get the full effect just by reading, but I don't want to forget this cute time in her life.  Also, she can count to 5 and is getting very close to being able to count all the way to 10.  I hope I can get that on video :)  She knows most of her colors too.  She is a smarty!  I can still remember when she was in my belly and when she was so tiny at the hospital.  Now she's this crazy, smart, energetic girl.  Time goes so fast.  

This is her on St. Patrick's Day this year

The fourth.

We celebrated our fourth anniversary last week.  The years just keep ticking by!  Four years comes and goes so fast.  Four years ago, we were 20 years old, naïve about what our married life would be.  We were in love and that's all that mattered!  Four years has brought a lot of trials and a lot of really great times as well.  We have been on lots of vacations, bought a dog, had a baby, bought a house, started a business and we've managed to stay in love throughout all of our ups and downs.  I love being married to my husband - but I have to say, marriage is really hard!  I think that's something that all couples that are engaged need to know.  Marriage is the hardest thing you will ever do, but it is also very rewarding.  There is nothing better than having someone by your side, through everything. 

My husband is such a great guy.  He is an amazing example to me in lots of different areas of life.  I love his sense of humor and his determination.  I'm so thankful for the little girl he has given me!  He is the cutest daddy to her.  I'm so happy that we've made it for four years!

This year, we decided to keep it low key, so we just celebrated by going to dinner at Johnny Carino's.  It was marvelous, but of course, I forgot pictures.  This is the only picture I have of our anniversary, but it'll do.

Happy Four Years To US!



My Resolutions

It's the beginning of a new year and I can't help but think about a new start!  I want to list my resolutions here so that I will remember them.  I hope to make 2014 the best year yet!  Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Read the Book of Mormon every day - Finish by the end of the year
2. Eat right and keep up my exercising - Down to 130 and really fit
3. Lighten up - Don't take things too seriously, enjoy life
4. Go to the temple once a month - With Dave of course
5. Blog more - I want to make this like a journal so that I can look back on my life
6. Put my husband first - This won't happen overnight, but I want to focus on making him happy more


Those are what I've thought of so far.  All of these things will make this year fabulous!



#endof2013

It's the end of ANOTHER year... I can't believe it, of course.  It feels like 2013 just started!  This has been a really fun year for our family.  Our little girl is always at the center of what we do, and she is 20 months to end the year.  She is a smart girl and every day she talks more.  She learns so quickly and she's starting to get too heavy to carry around all the time.  It makes me sad... this time next year, she'll be close to THREE!  That means Primary!  Wow... I love that girl.  And I love her Daddy.  Nothing would be the same without those two with me.  Here are just some highlights of our year:

Mine and Dave's Third Anniversary

We celebrated at the Homestead in Midway.  There were ants in our room

and we were both sick, so it was not the most romantic anniversary but we 

enjoyed the rest :)

Easter

Livvy's First Easter Dress

Her cute bunny ears

Olivia's First Birthday

We had a small party at our house with family.  She got spoiled!  

Mason and Kortni's Wedding

She waited for him during his mission and they got married three months

after he got home.  True love??  I think so!  We were so happy for them.

4th of July

We went to the West Jordan Parade and spent time with family.

Favorite holiday :)

Summer Fun

Livvy swimming with Chad

Cow Appreciation Day at Chick Fil A - Free Meal!

Boating Trip with our friends The Alexanders

At Gina's Bridal Shower with Grandma and Haydee

We painted one wall in our living room

Livvy's first trip to the zoo - She loved it even though this picture doesn't look like it!

First trip to Lagoon!!  This is us at Lagoona Beach

Eating some watermelon at the Rueckert party at Grandma Goldia's

Livvy's first trip to the Library!

The Dirty Dash with the Rueckerts

Labor Day Campout
This is always so much fun and Olivia loved being able to play in the dirt

and on all of the cool toys.

Halloween

Dave went as Si Robertson from Duck Dynasty, I was the Wicked Witch of the West

and Olivia was a Kitty Cat

We also had a Murder/Mystery Dinner with the Rueckerts and 

I was still a witch, but Dave's character was Captain Barbossa from 

Pirates of the Caribbean

Family Pictures

None of the men in the family enjoy this, so we just did it quickly one night.

We all put on fall colors and we stopped on the side of the road by the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.  

It was getting dark, but we got some great pictures :)

Thanksgiving

We had it in St. George this year, in Mason and Kortni's apartment.  It was

so much fun with just us!  All the girls cooked for hours and the boys watched 

football.  So much fun!

Christmas

Christmas was so much fun this year because Olivia was old enough to 

get excited about presents.  She loved 'Ho, Ho' - which is Santa :)  As long as 

she wasn't on his lap!

This is us with Santa, he's hidden behind us all.  But Olivia was fine if 

all of us sat on his lap together!

This is our Christmas Card picture.  I took it of Olivia in her Christmas dress by 

our tree.

This is us Christmas Eve night, with our Duck Dynasty jammies on

at my parent's house

There were many more things we did this year, but these were highlights.  I am so grateful for a loving family and that we have so much fun together.  Here is to 2014!!  

Happy New Year!  May all your wishes come true this year!