We're back.....well sort of.

I have finally decided to start updating my blog again! It has been a long time since the last one, 5 months I think, so there is a lot of catching up to do. I just have to decide on where to start this summer went by so fast and we did so many fun things, a trip to Maui, multiple trips to the Zoo, a few family reunions, a trip to Cody and Yellowstone, hours and hours playing outside at the park and splash pad, lots of 4-wheeling trips and cookouts. I will post pics later!

Now to the most important Miss Olivia, I can't believe how much she has grown up these past few months, I may be a little bias but she is the smartest almost 2 year old. She loves to read books, sing, color, dance, watch Dora, play with her babies and Zuze (her toy dog), talk on the phone to Evvie, play with her cousins, go visit Papa and Gunga. She can say anything and has a few words of her own, chap stick and ranch dressing are meemack, a snowman is a mooman, grandma is Gunga. Her favorite word is narnit, darn it, if anybody drops something or runs into something you will hear Olivia say narnit and she says it over and over until somebody acknowledges her.

I am going to get the pics of of our summer and Olivia posted soon and try to stay caught up with this blog!

Warm Weather Fun...

We went 4-wheeling with Errol and Joanne a couple weekends ago and it was so much fun. We took the ranger, its so nice because we buckled Olivias car seat in the middle then buckled her in. She loved playing in the water even though it was cold.

Saturday we headed up to Cottonwood to fish, 4-wheel, and cook out it was perfect weather until we started to cook then it rained us out, we ended up eating it the truck then heading home. My Dad likes to joke that Olivia is just like me when I was little, you can try any thing to make her smile but if she doesn't want to she will just scowl at you. Olivia and Evvie were sitting on the cooler together, too cute!

On Sunday we went with Errol and Joanne to take flowers to the cemetery, this is Casey and Olivia at his Grandma and Grandpa Porters grave.

Monday we ate lunch in Morgan went 4-wheeling and rode horses. Olivia was too scared to get on the horse, she would scream every time we tried lifting her on it. This is Casey and Corey, such cowboys, on the horses. It was pretty funny when they were getting on Errol told them to not tip the horses over while trying to get on!!

Easter and everything else from the past month...

I've been a slacker lately with blogging it's not that I haven't had time I've just been lazy and not wanting to. To start off, Easter- We had a fun Easter weekend on Friday we went to Morgan ate dinner and looked for eggs, Olivia loved finding the eggs after she picked all of hers up she wouldn't put the basket down and carried it with her the rest of the weekend, we still have the basket and plastic eggs out and she plays with it everyday. Then on Saturday we went to Dan and Susan's in Syracuse ate lunch and had another egg hunt. All of the younger kids brought a small gift to put in the other baskets so Olivia got a ton of things, and the older kids all got money but they had to sing a song for all of us in order to get the $, it was pretty funny. Then on Sunday Olivia woke up and came downstairs to find her basket, when I was little the "Easter Bunny" always hid our basket and loved looking all over the house trying to find it, I wanted to do the same thing for Olivia but she is still a little young so she had a trail of eggs leading to her basket. We went to Church and after that we headed back up to Morgan and ate dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Nelson.

Olivia had her 15 mo Dr. check up and she is still a really, really big girl. Casey says that she is going to be a golfer but I'm hoping for a volleyball player. She is 34 in.tall-over 100%, 26lbs-91%, and her head circumference is 19.1-98%.

We have been loving the warm weather everyday we go on a walk and play outside almost all day long, Liv throws a huge fit if I try to bring her inside she lays on the ground, kicks her legs and SCREAMS, she has the loudest scream I have ever heard I'm sure our neighbors think I am hurting her or something but no she is just extremely dramatic!!! As far as Olivia putting her hands down her diaper now she just takes the dang thing off, if I don't get her out of bed in the morning right when she wakes up she will take her diaper off and pee all over her bed. Casey said we should just duck tape her diaper so she can't undo it and I'm starting to think thats not such a bad idea!!

For Mothers day we went to Morgan on Saturday for a cookout with the Nelsons. Joanne watched Olivia and Blake and Megans kids and we all went 4-wheeling, it was so much fun and we got so muddy. Then on Sunday we went Malad and ate dinner with my fam it was a fun weekend! This is the only pic that we took that day, me and my beautiful little girl

If you have an itch, scratch it, right!?

So my sweet little girl has figured out the she can put her hand down her diaper and she loves to do it! On her lower back she had some dry skin that would itch her so she would scratch her back and eventually her hand makes its way down the diaper, luckily each time she had done it its been a clean diaper!!! I tell her, " Don't do that, that's yucky, or no no" but she thinks its so funny and the more I try to discourage it the more she does it. I've tried ignoring the fact that shes doing it but nothing works, hopefully she will just quit on her own, but any suggestions on how to get her to stop?

Brenna got baptized a couple Saturdays ago, I can't believe she is already 8 years old!! Beth had to talk at the baptism and did a really good job! Here is the only pic I took of that day, I am really slacking with taking pics I've always been the one in my fam to take a million pictures but have hardly taken any lately, I'll have to do better.

At least the one picture I do have is the entire family, minus Kamas, we'll forgive him though since he's thousands of miles away!

Good Luck

Elises husband Kamas is leaving tomorrow for Iraq, this will be his second tour. I don't know how both Brook, Shawn was over there for 19 mo, and Elise handle it when their husbands are gone. I remember when Shawn left it was just after Casey and I got married and I cried for a week because I felt bad that Brook was going to be home alone with her two kids for so long and I was worried for Shawns safety, he was on foot patrols over there during the election when it was really really unstable and he was going to miss a year and a half of Brenna and Coles life. When Kamas left for the first time I cried again, I felt bad that Elise was going to be away from him for 7 mo., and they had only been married for 6mo. I was worried for Kamas' safety also. He told Elise that he was on base pretty much the whole time while he was over there but when he got back he told her that he lead convoys quite a few time. I think he didn't want her to worry about him so he conveniently left that out of their conversations until he got back. Here I am crying again writing this post knowing that Kamas will be gone again, I think they told him he will be gone for 6-11 months, and he won't know for sure until he is over there. I am excited that Elise will be back in Malad again but I feel bad that it is under these circumstances.
Having two brother-in-laws serve our country has made me gain so much respect for all the Men and Women who have done so and I am so proud to both Kamas and Elise in our family!!
So good luck Kamas, we will think about and pray for you every day and we will keep good care of Elise and Zulu!

Swimming lessons

Today was the last day of swimming lessons for me and Olivia, woo hoo!! We took a mom and tots class at the Clearfield aquatic center. It was Monday-Thursday for the past two weeks and was so much fun, Olivia especially loved it. Every morning when I went in to get her dressed in her swimsuit she would scream and clap because she knew we were going swimming. It was a really good class we played games but also learned a lot of good things. Her teacher, Carol, has been teaching the class for 13 years and knew a lot. She taught Liv that if you fall into a pool to turn, reach for the side and hold on, if you fall while you are already in the water to roll over to your back and float, she learned to blow bubbles and to blow out when going under water. Liv hasn't mastered all of those tricks yet but we are signing up to take the class again, there was a little girl in her class that was one month younger than Liv and she has been taking them since she was 7 mo old and she could do all of those perfectly.

These are the girls that were in her class. She went down the slide today for the first time, and didn't like it too much, I think it scared her. Just ignore the blob on the right.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, 7 TIMES OVER!

March is full of birthdays, 7 to be exact. Casey on the 2nd, Beth on the 9th, Joanne on the 10th, Elise on the 11th, Shawn on the 17th, Breclyn on the 18th and Brenna on the 24th. Friday night we celebrated all the March birthdays that are on my side of the fam, five of them.

That cute little puppy that Weed is holding was her present from Kamas. Her name is Zulu and she is a mini schnauzer. Fifi got about 10 new outfits for her b-day, I guess that's what happens when you are the "Golden Child." :0) We, meaning Brook and me, like to tease my parents that Beth is their favorite daughter with Elise coming in a close second. We all know that I should really be their fav, right?! Isn't the child that gives their parents the most grief while growing up suppose to end up being the favorite? ;) The party was fun, I love when we all get together and just hang out.

We stayed up all weekend because on Saturday my cousin Lyndsey got married. It was such a nice ceremony and a delicious lunch. Lyns looked gorgeous, she had a beautiful, simple dress and Brian didn't look too bad in is uniform either. I was so mad because I forgot to take my camera with me.

We had a fun weekend up there but it was nice to get home and relax!! Saturday is Breclyns party so more birthday pics to come.....