First General Conference

6 Months ago I woke up to Matt running in my room on General Conference morning to first lecture me for not checking my email and then to excitedly throw my phone into my hand telling me we had an email from a birth mom. That is a day I will never forget- there is a whole lot more to that story but looking back it is hard to believe that it has only been six months- our lives have changed so much and today I'm sitting here watching General Conference again but this time with little Ollie by my side. I can't help but smile as I sit here in amazement and wonder over it all. And then I smile again because Ollie is perfectly content to watch conference with me. Here he is watching the prophet for the first time. Happy six months!

First Surf Lessons

Baby steps- before he can get on the board he has to touch the water! The water is still a little on the cold side, but when it's 93 degrees out 70 degree water isn't all that bad. Ollie not only wanted to touch the water he was happy to stand in it, his little legs are getting so strong! Matt can't wait till they can go surfing together.

First hair cut

For probably a month now I have been talking about cutting Ollie's hair. Not because he has much, it was purely because he has a mullet and I've been dying to take care of it but can never really seem to find the time. Here is the mullet:

Today was the day. Poor little guy had no idea what was about to happen. He just sat there in his boppy while we took some pictures and then when I turned on the clippers he was in for a little shock!

He hardly had any hair to cut but the guard on the clippers combined with his super fine hair didn't seem to work well so while it felt like I was cutting forever not much was really coming off. He was so terrified I had to stop and resort to scissors. I couldn't find my actual hair cutting scissors so sewing scissors it was. We also pulled out a mirror so he could have something to distract him. In the end I gathered up the hair that was actually cut and it wasn't much at all, but I think he looks so much better now that his mullet is gone! Not exactly perfect, but what can you do babies hair is hard to cut!

Here is the video of the sad little show :(

13 Weeks Old

This is the week he really started to drool. I wouldn't call him excessive but definitely noticeable. Still a happy little guy and no one seems to make him laugh like Matt can. Jess and I were sitting out enjoying the afternoon weather reading while Matt sat there having some play time with Ollie. It was so cute I had to go grab the camera and capture some of his big smiles.

Just Chillin

Tuesday I actually got a lot of work and items on my to-do list done. But outside of that we all had a great time just chillin! Matt was home for lunch and the four of us put on our bathing suits and took it outside to enjoy the weather and catch some rays. Ollie hung out with us in his bouncer in the shade, he loves going outside. I ended up with a bit of a red chest but today when I woke up all the red was gone. That night we didn't go anywhere, Jess and I hung out and watched tv while Matt went to play basketball.

Today was another chill day. The weather was warmer- 74 degrees. We all decided to work on our tans again and took our lunch outside again. It was warmer so Ollie got to put on his little QuickSilver swimsuit instead of the sweats he was wearing yesterday and even Missee layed out with us. (For the record Matt's shorts aren't that short- he was tanning his thighs I guess! That guy still makes me laugh every day!)

Matt livened things up by daring us to jump in the 62 degree pool and stay under water for 10 seconds for $100. There was no hesitation from either of us. He got good laughs and was a little shocked that I did it. $100 of guilt free spending money is worth it! Jess I did it at the same time while he filmed it.


The water was SHOCKINGLY cold! I tried counting under water but as soon as I hit the water it took all my breath away and I seriously thought if I tried to hold my breath I would DIE! But I did try- I lasted a whole three seconds. I think Jess might have made it to seven seconds. I jumped out of the water but decided to brave it again to try one more time for 10 seconds so I got back in and went under and it was still shockingly cold, I didn't last any longer. But Matt is a softy and still paid us both.

We celebrated by going shopping at Nordstrom Rack. My favorite. I filled the cart full- tons of fun stuff but despite all the good deals I reluctantly narrowed it down to a variety of bright shirts. (Trying to burst out of my black, white, and grey wardrobe). Ollie was the best little shopper. Matt didn't go but sent Ollie with us so he could get some work done. It was his first time with me when I actually tried anything on. They gave me the handicap dressing room and he just sat there and smiled and laughed at me- that might not be a good thing, maybe he was laughing at my bright teal skinnies I was trying on? Matt would have been laughing if he were there. Jess found a cute outfit that she decided to wear out tonight. After shopping we came home in time for a quick dinner before Jodee showed up to take Jess country swing dancing. Not before I had time to get the cutest pictures of Jess and Ollie. Another good day!

12 Weeks Old

I have a confession to make, I don't always get Ollie's pictures taken on the day he turns x weeks old! But it is always within 1-2 days. We watched "The Office" this past week and Matt and I totally laughed when the "new manager" decided she could just look at people and tell what their names where. When she looked at Kevin she said "Your name is Chumbo". In Jim's little interview about the incident he said "It sounds like a mix between Dumbo, Jumbo and Chubby". Since then Matt and I have jokingly been calling Ollie "Chumbo". Marcee says we better stop now before it sticks! Luckily Jess agrees that in real life he doesn't look as big as the pictures make him out to be, but he is still getting bigger! His biggest accomplishment this past week was sleeping for 8 hours two nights in a row. Didn't happen Sunday night, but Friday and Saturday he didn't eat at 5am in the morning and survived it!

Monday was somewhat uneventful. Matt was invited to go on a last minute trip to Colorado for some Cat skiing (meaning they drive them up in the moutain in a snow cat and they get to make their own trails down the mountain), a huge storm just went through so it was super tempting but work kept him from going this time. After a lazy afternoon we met up with Marcee and the kids at the movies. We went to "The Lorax" it was...very political. I was sitting there watching it thinking- this is a kids movie, there is no way they can comprehend the things they are saying. Loved the fluffy trees though! After the movie when Matt was packing Ollie into the car he sat there playing with him and said "Ollie do you want to go get some ice cream?" and Ollie responded by saying "Um Ya!" we all laughed so hard because somehow his crazy little sounds he makes came out distinct like he really was saying Ya. We didn't get ice cream thoug, we just headed home and picked up another movie from redbox. I made it through watching the Voice (love that show) but didn't survive another movie.

Nathanael gets the Priesthood

Sunday morning we all headed over to go to church with Marcee and Lance bright and early. (Or it just felt bright and early after a late night!) Mom and Dad showed up and got to say hi to Jess, as well as a few of Lance's family. I was glad they got to meet her. Ollie was pretty good through church. There was a cute little girl sitting behind us in sunday school, her Mom commented on what a cutie Ollie is and when I asked how old her daughter was she said six months and I was a little surprised because she seemed the same size as Ollie. I of course went on to try and hook him up with another date in the future because she really was a cutie!

Nathanael's ordination was moved back to after the church meetings instead of during priesthood. He was all smiles and I was so grateful to get to be there for such a special occassion. The first grandson on both sides of his family. I'm so proud of him, he's such a good kid and such a great example to his family, cousins, and friends. I can hardly believe how old he is already, seems like yesterday that he was that cute little baby coming up to visit us at BYU barely learning to walk. I feel so blessed to be a part of his life and to watch him grow. I'm grateful that he still lets me give him hugs and that I can still put my arm around him when we are watching movies. When he was little, after Sandee was born and he was "all grown up" I would trick him into letting me snuggle him by "pretending" that he was a little baby. I would hold him in my arms and rock him back and forth like he was still a little guy and say "little baby, little baby" and then when he would try to talk I would say "hey! Babies can't talk! Your not a baby!" and he would laugh. Don't know what sent me off on that tangent because I know he's way too old to trick now!

After church we headed over to Marcee and Lance's for some brunch. Jess got to sit by papa dad while all the food was getting ready, which meant she got the low down on all 1500 pictures in his iphone! Lol I love papa dad! At the end of it all Jess was able to recite everyone's name in Lance's extended family. I can't even do that. The rest of the day was rest and relaxation. We mostly rested while the kids decided to entertain us with "Shows". It really was entertaining. I love spontaneous fun, reminded me of all the shows we would put together for my parents when we were young. My favorite was little Lilee rapping "Who are you? Hey, Who are you?" to Joshua, who would then respond by saying "Who are you?", back to Lilee "I asked you who are you first so I'm not going to tell you who are me until you tell me who are you!" That show went on for 5 minutes of rapping and dancing. When we told her to come up with something new for her next show she came back and sang a song to Joshua called "Tell me your name". I only captured one show, but here is a little preview:

After that we played games with the kids and then really late at night- like 8:30 late we all got hungry.

Matt was already making some of his home made bread so we decided to make indian fry bread out of the dough. Only problem was we didn't have half of the ingredients to make it at Marcee's so Nathanael and Jess and I made a run to our house. We were also short on bottles so after washing and refilling all the bottles and picking up ingredients we headed back. Nathanael couldn't get over how excited Rocky was to see him and how he was running around like a little puppy and somehow he easily talked me into taking him back to his house with us. Only problem was we had Matt's truck that has a cover over the bed of the truck. There has only been one time that Rocky has ever riden in the front of the truck and that was when he was on his death bed in Mexico. I guess I'm getting used to spoiling him now that Adrianne is gone because I decided it would be fine to let him ride in the truck. When we tried to get him in he started running down the street, Nathanael chased him which I think in turn made him run harder and faster. I ended up driving to the end of the street to pick them both up. Once we got Rocky in the truck the close quarters made me realize how much he smells like a dog right now and we all agreed we weren't going to tell Matt. When we got the the house Matt was a little surprised to see Rocky and asked Nathanael how we got him in the truck (meaning the back of the truck- his only confusion was how Nathanael or I could lift him) when Nathanael told him he jumped in Matt didn't believe him because he hasn't been able to do that for a few years. It of course still wasn't occuring to him that we brought him inside the truck. I knew I would never actually try to keep it a secret from Matt and just laughed as I told him he rode inside. About 10:00 we finally ate! I don't remember much else of the night because I fell asleep and didn't wake up again until 5:30 in the morning when Ollie woke up crying and I woke up the whole house trying to get him his bottle!

Saturday BBQ

After the NightRider event on Friday we headed back to the house to get ready to go out. Nothing big, Jess was a good sport and went on a blind date- I guess she trusts us! The got to hang with us old folks for the night. The four of us met up with Marcee and Lance for some chineese food. There was lively conversation, a lot of surf talk and good stories to go around. After dinner we were going to do a fire in the back yard and make Smores, it was cold out and a fire sounded good, but the boys wanted to do a double header and were afraid that would take too long so instead we made Pizzokies. Marcee whipped up some home made cookie dough for the occasion and I think Matt filled up on just the cookie dough! I didn't make it through the double header. I lasted through the first movie but I was out a few minutes into the second one. Apparently I was the only one that fell asleep- no surprise there.

Saturday we got up late and decided to do a last minute BBQ. I put the invite out and Thomas and Michelle and Katee headed over with their kids. The weather forecast said it was going to be stormy and rain, but despite the overcast morning it ended up being a beautiful day. We usually don't start BBQing until early May, the pool is still too cold, but the weather was perfect for hanging out in. We did heat up the Jacuzzi or "kids pool" as they like to call it. The warm water really did feel good. All the kids were fun, Little T and Michael (and Thomas) were brave enough to jump in the pool and did it over and over.

Gehrig cracked me up, he would walk around the step in the Jacuzzi and say "excuse me" to Jess so she would move out of his walking track. He also threw up his hands like he was a tiger and would say "RAHHHH!" and giggle at any of us that would act scared. Then he would crawl up and "jump" to Matt. Never really got his feet far off the ground it was more like a fall but it was very entertaining. Matt cooked up some Terriyaki burgers and hot dogs. While I was in the kitchen with Jess and Michelle he came running in and said, hey do you need a picture of a lifeguard and flaming burgers?

Good times! Saturday night Jess went out with a friend from Utah that recently moved down here and we headed over to Thomas and Michelles for game night, Jess and her friend joined us after their movie. I won the first game, was mediocre through all the ones after that until I finally won the last game of the night. Headed home tired and happy, it was a good day!