Olliewog is One!

Hello. My name is Oliver, and I am one today. I started out my big day with a ride in my car seat so we could drop Lincoln off at school. I sure do love to be forward facing.

 

Once we got home and got everyone dressed, and dropped Ivan off at preschool, it was finally time to get down to some birthday business. We headed to WalMart for some cake supplies. And Mom decided it was high time I experienced my first chocolate milk. Don’t worry about me, I’m much safer standing in the back of the cart, than I am sitting in the front of the cart. Because even if Mom seatbelts me in, I still wiggle out and stand up anyways. So, I least in the back I can’t fall out and land on my head.

 

 

 

 

After WalMart, we went and picked up Ivan from preschool. Then we went to our ward play group and played in the gym. I love the gym! It’s nice to be able to explore really far and still be able to see Mommy the whole time. And I love to sit back and watch the other kids run around. They make me laugh.

I had a nice nap after that. While I was sleeping Mom worked on my cake. It’s a teddy bear.

 

When I woke up, it was time to go get Lincoln from school. On our way home we stop and got a pineapple pizza and some breadsticks and some rootbeer for birthday dinner.

 

While Mom was cleaning up and getting everything ready, and Dad was upstairs washing my birthday present, I decided to see what was in the cup drawer. One of my favorite things to do is load and unload the cup drawer. But mostly unload.

 

Grandpa Swan came over to have dinner with us. I always love it when he’s here. He helped cut up the pizza, and made pieces just my size. I got try my very first pizza, more than just the crust, which I’ve had before. It was good, but I mostly tried to save room for dessert.

 

After dinner we opened presents! My mom says we have enough toys, so this year my parents and Gramma Tama and Papa Kerry gave me a playhouse with a slide that’s just my size. I was unsure of it at first. I had to watch Linc, Ivan, and Del, play on it for a little while before I wanted to try it out for myself. But once I did I had a great time.

 

I also got a monkey from my brothers and sister. He’s the monkey from the book Hand Hand Fingers Thumb. Grandma and Grandpa Swan gave me a great bath toy and a Birthday Monster book.

 

 

 

The big kids were so excited about my birthday that they hardly gave me any room to breath. Mom had to keep telling them to scoot back so she could take pictures.

 

I loved my presents and I thought the tissue paper was pretty awesome too. I tried to eat it.

 

 

Finally it was time for cake. I wasn’t sure about it at first either, it had a squishy texture. But once I got it in my mouth, I knew it was good stuff.

 

 

And that was my big day. I got to get in the tub right after cake and play with my new bath toy. It was sweet. I was so tuckered out from all the fun, I slept through the whole night. My mom and dad were so happy.

We Took Advantage of the Beautiful Day

The sun was shining and it was decently warm today. So we bagged school and played outside. Who knows how long it will be before we get another sunny day.

It’s a Beautiful Day to Be 28!

I woke up this morning and I was 28 years old. How did that happen? Weird. But my family made it a fantastic day. Lincoln came in to my room bright and early and surprised me by tossing some confetti at me and blowing is party blower. He was so excited about his surprise and his thoughtfulness that I just had to smile. Actually, I think my kids were more excited about my birthday than I was, and that’s sayin’ something, because I get pretty stoked about my birthday.

 

Aaron asked me what I wanted for breakfast, and I told him that it might sound silly, but that what I would like most in the whole wide world for breakfast was a smoothie. I love breakfast food, but I don’t like to eat it in the morning, it’s too heavy and makes my tummy hurt…but a smoothie, now that is pure heaven in a glass. So Aaron took a couple of the kids, and went to the store for smoothie ingredients. He made me a perfect Nutella and granola breakfast smoothie.

 

I opened presents from my kids. Lincoln said he thought about getting me a cactus, but decided to get me a garden shovel instead. :) Ivan gave me a sprayer nozzle for the hose, so that I’ll have an easier time watering the garden. Del gave me some glass dessert bowls and Ollie gave me a meat thermometer. I love that they choose out things for me, and that they are so excited to give them to me. It makes me happy.

 

In the afternoon Aaron’s parents came over and watched our kids so that Aaron and I could spend the afternoon and evening together with no kids. I am very grateful to them for being willing to do that. It was SO NICE to have Aaron all to myself. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present.

 

As you are probably already aware, I have been a little bit obsessed with the Dressing Your Truth program for the last little while. I took the course, and learned the five fashion elements for my Type, and I have am in the middle of taking the 30 day challenge, which is to dress your truth for 30 days. I already have a lot of things in my closet that match my Type, and I have created more by experimenting with dying clothes. But for my birthday I wanted to go shopping. So Aaron’s parents, and my parents, and Aaron all gave me money for that purpose. And Aaron willingly became my fashion consultant for the afternoon. :) I was surprised, and super excited about how easy having my Dressing Your Truth color card made my shopping experience. It was really cool to be able to walk into a store and know at a glance which clothes I should wear and which ones I shouldn’t. And it was even cooler to feel confident about the clothes I tried on, and to know that the things I chose to buy were going to coordinate with all the other clothes I’ll be wearing. It makes getting dressed so much nicer. Really.

 

Aaron and I went to the Sketchers Outlet store in Orem first, because I wanted some new shoes. I found the most awesome ones! They look a little bit like TOMS, but seem more sturdy. And they are super comfy, like walking on a cloud. I told Aaron they felt like a party on my feet. :)

 

Then we headed up to Lehi, to the Dressing Your Truth store. It was fun to give Aaron a visual of all the things I’ve been telling him about the different Types. The store is separated into four sections, one for each type. So it’s really easy to see the differences in the Types. We looked around, and I tried on some things, and picked out a rust orange lacey shirt, with a red cardigan to go on top. Aaron picked out a pair of earrings and a necklace that he liked to go with. It’ll make me happy every time I wear the jewelry, because I’ll know that Aaron picked it out. That’s way better than him just liking something I picked out.

 

After Dressing Your Truth, we stopped to put air in the tires of the van, and I changed into my new stuff. I couldn’t wait. :) Then we went to Gordmans. Neither of us had every been there before. It’s sort of like Ross, only bigger, and organized more like a department store. We found a cute ruffley orange and gold top, that will look really nice under one of my brown sweaters. Then we headed over to Kohls. They had an awesome sale going on, and I found a great casual green shirt with 3/4 sleeves.

 

We met up with my mom and Kerry, who came down to take me out to dinner for my birthday. We went to my all-time favorite restaurant, Texas Road house. Delicious. Perfection. Steak. Mmmmmm.

 

Mom and Kerry came back home with us, and they and Aaron’s parents have cake and ice cream with us and the kids. Of course we had a homemade Lion House German Chocolate Cake. What else would we have on my birthday? We paired it with BYU Creamery ice cream. So satisfying. Can you tell I’m a food person? All of my best holidays have foods to go with them. Haha! Just like Thanksgiving and Christmas are not complete without homemade rolls, and Valentines would be a flop without Black Forrest Cherry Cake; my birthday just wouldn’t be my birthday if there wasn’t German chocolate cake. :)

 

Anyways, it was a wonderful day. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I have such amazing family and friends, and I’m grateful for everyone who helped make the big 2-8 a huge success.

Today

Me and my best girl. Not sure if this is kissy-face or fishy-face. 

"Hmmm...How does this work?" I guess he fits right in with the rest of my crew. #anotherengineer #theyalltakeafteraaron

Science Club Vday Party and Homeschool Showcase Poetry Recital

I forgot to mention a couple of Valentine activities we were lucky enough to participate in. #1 Was that our Science Club had a Vday party. Jill planned it and did such an awesome job. The kids and moms all had a great time. She helped them make monster boxes to hold their Valentines in, then she played a few games, served pizza, and let the kids exchange Valentines. So much fun! Adelia even managed to fall off the trampoline and into the mud, so she got to have a shower there and everything. Haha! Some pictures:

 

#2 Was our Homeschool Showcase group did a poetry recital and Valentine exchange. Each of the kids memorized a poem and recited it. Lincoln did The Constant Shirt Wearer, and Ivan did My Mother’s Chocolate Valentine. Before hand, all the kids had made Valentine boxes, Aaron helped our kids with theirs. Then after the poetry recital the kids got to exchange Valentines. I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked. I was trying to help the boys with their poems and Adelia to pass our her Valentines, so I only remembered to take pictures on our way out of the library. But here they are:

Ward Valentines Dance

Our ward had a Valentine’s Day Dance. Aaron and I had a lot of fun trying to remember how to swing dance. We managed to pull off a back flip by the end of the night, so I’ll consider it a success. ;)