S'MORE PLEASE!!

Last night our friends Ashley and Dave invited us up to Mueler Park for some hot dog roasting and s'more making. It was a blast! Olivia had so much fun playing with their daughter Kelsey. I don't think either of them stopped moving the whole time. Olivia got to throw rocks into the raging river (scary to me), and helped Ashley roast the hot dogs. I think when you are little the amount of dirt you are covered in determins how much fun you had. And if that is the case Olivia had tons of fun. She was filthy and loving every minute of it. I love watching Olivia play with her friends she is such a social little thing when she wants to be. The whole ride home Olivia kept saying (over & over & over) Kelsey, Fun! Kelsey, Fun! It's nice to get out and see friends. And it made me really ready for a camping trip.





Bye, Bye! The girls thought it was hilarious to take off on the trail as fast as they could.

Olivia's first s'more. She was interested for about 5 seconds. I think it was too exciting to have a friend.

Simply Beautiful

All to often I find myself thinking or saying, "I'll be happy when we have more money", "when I lose 5 lbs." , "when we're out of debt","when we have a bigger house" ,"when we have another baby." Well in my on-going battle to better myself, I have decided to stop saying "maybe when" and it actually worked! I had one of the best weekends. Nothing out of the ordinary happened but I found myself enjoying the simple things.
Saturday morning Nic & I went on a bike ride. Being on my bike gives me an absolute freedom that I cannot find anywhere else. On my bike nobody is judging me, I don't feel the need to please, and the only sound I pay attention to is the wheels as they move me forward. I can't believe I waited so long to get a bike it has fulfilled a part of me I was missing. I know that sounds silly but I'm sure anyone who has a hobby that they feel passionate about can appreciate what I'm trying to say. I also love riding because I get to spend time with Nic. I love how he encourages me even when I know I'm going waaaayyy to slow for him. Still he peddles slowly and stays with me.
Later that day I got to spend time with my mom. Watching my mom giggle while Olivia ate ice cream made me smile. My mother has a hard time showing emotion so to see her express happiness with Olivia makes my heart happy.
That evening me, Cody, & Olivia decided to picnic at the park. Simple as it was I was so happy. I sat on our blanket and watched Olivia and Cody chase the segals away from our dinner. Olivia looked at Cody with so much love it reminded me why I married him.
Sunday we took a ride up to the Uintahs. We ended up running into my dad and grandma up at Trial Lake. What a beautiful day!! The lake was sparkling, the sun was shining, and the fish were biting. Cody caught 3 he was so proud of himself it was great. I sat on the rocks and watched as Olivia chased my dad around yelling, "bampa!!" My dad was smiling ear to ear. My grandma has had a really hard time in the last 5 years. So to see her happy and smiling always makes me feel wonderful. It was a perfect day and weekend.
I realize this isn't an exciting post. No cute Olivia pictures but I felt the need to express my gratitude for all these simply beautiful things in my life.

While We Were Away

So while we were gone, my baby brother had his 23rd birthday. WoW! I can't believe he's that old. It's weird because I stay the same age and everyone younger then me just keeps catching up. He trully is the best brother a girl could ask for. He helps me out anytime I need anything. I don't know what I'd do without him. He's also single and looking so if anyone knows a single girl push her our way she'd be lucky to have him.

Love Ya little Bro!

Of course I'm not forgetting fathers day either. Happy Father's Day to all the dads in my life. I wouldn't be the person I am without their influence. I hope Olivia will have as much love and admiration for her father as I have for mine. He is the best man I've ever met and will ever meet. I love you dearly dad! (even though you don't have internet and won't see this)

D.C. and back again.....this is very long so get comfortable

Okay so we made it! I worried much about nothing as usual. The airplanes did not crash and we made it to D.C. and back to Utah alive. We had such a blast! I can't even describe how badly we needed this vacation, but it saved us in many ways. We did tons of walking, sight seeing, sweating, and eating. Vacations are great but it is nice to finally be home. It put a much needed smile on my face (after a 3 1/2 hour lay over in Texas, and a 2 1/2 hour flight) to pull up to our house and see the roses had bloomed and everything was still in one piece. We took millions of pictures but I'll just share some of my favorites from each day.

We had a little bit of drama Wednesday night before we left. Olivia was up until 2:30 crying because she couldn't stop coughing and had a runny nose. I was crying right along with her, I had know idea what we were going to do. Luckily she was okay Thursday morning (though extremely tired) and right when the airplane started she was asleep. So I guess her being up the night before turned out to be a blessing. She was sleeping pretty much the whole flight. And she did well every flight we had. I had my moments when I was thinking about our funerals and everyone we would leave behind but I was brave and survived. We did arrive in D.C. on Thursday afternoon but we didn't take any pictures that day. We were too tired and basically got dinner and went to bed.

Friday was a busy day. We had a welcoming ceremony type thing that we went to in the morning. It was actually kind of neat to see how many Interstate Batteries there are all over the country. And even now in different countries. Cody's office won an award for the most specialty batteries sold which was pretty cool. Of course I forgot my camera so I didn't get pictures of that but it was cool. Later that day we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. That was so awesome! It is so big and so much to do. We were there for a few hours and didn't see hardly anything. We then had a dinner with all the Utah people. That was delicious! Then we decided to go see all the memorials. Because we heard they were neat to see in the dark. They were beautiful and I enjoyed it much, much more then I ever imagined I would. The Lincoln memorial was my favorite. I've always been fascinated with Lincoln and seeing that memorial was just so unreal. All the memorials really made me so grateful for those who have fought for our country. It was a very long day! We didn't get back to the hotel until 11:30. We were all exhausted. My feet have never hurt so bad. But it was worth it.



Here we are at the Smithsonian. There is a elephant about to walk over us but he didn't make it in the picture.
T-REX!!!!
The Hope Diamond. I wanted to bring this home but they wouldn't let me. This picture doesn't do it any justice.
Olivia picking out her rocks.
The Washington Monument & Reflection Pond.

We have about 25 pictures of Lincoln. And pictures don't do him justice either. I was so surprised at how big this monument was. I have seen it so many times on TV or movies but in real life it is huge. About as tall as our house.

This is the WWII memorial. It is beautiful. Olivia was really upset that I wouldn't let her swim in the water.

Alright so if you are bored already I'm extremely sorry because that was just the first day. And I left out millions of pictures. Saturday we decided to go to Arlington and watch the changing of the guard. This was by far the hottest day I have ever experienced in my 27 years. I think it was only 85 degrees but the humidity had to be at least 80% it was miserable. I can't believe that the guards have to stand in that sun in full uniform like they do. It gave me a new found respect. They did a wreath ceremony while we were there which included playing taps. That brought me to tears it was so beautiful. After we survived the heat we got cleaned up and went to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum for a big party. Interstate rented out the building for us and we had lots of good food and got to walk around. Once again we were there for a few hours and didn't get all the way through.

Pictures of the party at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. I warned you this would be a long post!

The Wright Brothers Plane


Okay moving on to Sunday! Sunday we had a nice brunch then we decided to go to the National Zoo. It was HUGE! I have only been to little Hogle Zoo. And this was so big! We were there all day and we missed a big section of animals. But it was a lot of fun.


Notice the crusty on Olivia's face?? She was convinced this bear was hers. Anytime another kid tried to touch the bear she would yell "NO MINE!! NO, NO, KIDS!" She through a fit when we had to move on.


I know I didn't include a lot of pictures of the animals. But Olivia is fun to look at. If you want to see more animal pictures come to my house I'd be happy to do a slide show. Kacy I know how much you love my slide shows!!

Okay I swear I am almost done. But hasn't this been educational? Monday we made our way to the White House. That was really cool to see in person as well. We were also there when a motorcade stormed into the gates. We got that on video if anyone is interested. We went back to the Smithsonian Natural History to see more things. Then that night we had a huge farewell party at the hotel. They had impersonators Tina Turner and Dolly Parton. They could've been the real thing as far as I was concerned. I was screaming and dancing. Olivia was singing and clapping with me. It was awesome! Olivia also had fun dancing with the kids.

Okay so you are probably thinking...What does this picture have to do with The White House? Well nothing actually. But I think Olivia looks beautiful in it. This was by far the hardest day for her. She had just finished throwing a major tantrum and Cody snapped this picture. Makes you think she's incapable of throwing fits doesn't it?
The Giraffe at the Smithsonian. Olivia was terrified. She thought all the animals were real and about to eat us for dinner.
She is looking at the Polar Bear above her. Holding daddy tight because she didn't want Polar Bear to get her. She didn't seem to notice the big bear behind her. I told Cody to act like he was scared and he said that was lame. Oh well this works.

Now The PARTY!!!! YIPEEEEEEE!!! We are almost done folks!

Olivia & Cody swing dancing.
This picture didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped for. But it still makes me giggle.
Tina singing her heart out. She didn't say anything but I'm sure I was the inspiration for her performance.
Dolly saying goodbye. She sang "I will always love you" just for me. I just know it.

Well if you made it through I am impressed. I will be quizzing everyone so I hope you were paying attention.

Should be doing something productive

Well we leave for Washington D.C. early Thursday morning. I should be packing, cleaning my house, or doing something. But here I sit on my butt, a true example of my motivational short comings. I wish I could be more like my friends. Kacy would have created some awesome book to keep her daughter busy on the plane. She probably would've started it 6 months ago and had it ready to entertain. Jenny would probably have done research about Washington and found all the fun places to go with kids and planned out precisely how to get there, and what to do there. Then there is me, I'll start packing tomorrow evening and end up getting 2 hours of sleep and wonder why I'm in such a bad mood on the plane. I just wish I could be more organized and creative. Maybe I'll just take Olivia into the bathroom on the plane and let her play. That seems to be her favorite place to be anyway. She can shove toilet paper down the toilet and flush repeatedly while someone who actually needs to use the bathroom waits outside the door and wonders what is going on. That actually isn't a bad idea. I guess if I get desperate enough that will be my plan. That is of course if I survive the ride myself. I might need to be highly medicated. I'm terrified of flying. I've already pictured the plane bursting into flames as we all plummet to our death. So in case that happens I hope you all know I love you. We don't have wills written up so you'll just have to fight over all our many valuables (hee hee). Okay enough rambling I know we will be fine and it's going to be an awesome trip.
In other news, today I took Olivia to get pictures taken' for Father's day. You know I think she is beautiful everyday. But for some reason these pictures just really made me realize just how beautiful she is becoming. I can't believe something that perfect could come from 2 imperfect people. It's truly amazing. Right before we left I was gathering up our things when I went to grab her she was dipping her feet into the toilet water. I have no idea how she got on the toilet without falling in but there she was straddling the toilet and cooling off. Luckily she didn't get her outfit wet or it wouldn't have been as cute or funny. I know the pictures are going to be hard to see but I had to share some of them anyway.