Olson Adventures :)

Okay... so here's a TON of pictures and updates.... so brace yourself... whoever actually looks at this site. :) This past month has been full of experiences. Both good and bad. Both happy and sad. I've learned a lot this month... to rely on the Lord, and to be happy even when life isn't going how you would like it to. I am so blessed in my life. I have wonderful family and friends who care about and love me and my family more than I have ever known. Thank you all... for showing us your love, and blessing us by being a part of our lives. We love you all, and are soooo grateful for your constant support and prayers for our sake.

BEST BUDS! My sister and I got a whole day and a half to ourselves while I was in Utah!!! We shopped, got pedi's and ate out at some of our favorite spots in Utah Valley. It was so much fun. I always have a blast with her. Sister relationships are so unexplainable... so special. She's 13 weeks preggo, and I'm soooo excited to get a new neice or nephew! While I was visiting, I got to attend a Dr appt with her, and hear the hearbeat! It was so special!

Ahhhhh.... I got to see snow! And lots of it! It snowed a lot while I was there, and it was so beautiful and peaceful. I love that the snow is white, and makes everything look so perfect and clean.

I thought this made a cool picture. This old shed is one I've passed many many times on my treks home to Gunny. I've always thought it was really neat. So I finally got a picture of it. This is what small towns are all about. Simplicity. And I really feel like for the first time in my life, this last visit, I really started to appreciate the simplicity and beauty of these small Utah towns.

Here's my baby with a silly bunny hat on. She would put it on and just play and play and play.
My parents got a kick out of it.

Here's Atley with her Grandma Jensen! Boy does she love her grandma! The only person that Atley has EVER turned her mommy down for! (mom, you should feel very privileged:) ). My mom made this adorable blanket for her while we were there, because Atley loves soft cuddly things. It has green, pink and black polka dots, and feels like a fluffy robe. Meriss, why don't you explain what that feels like to us all... I have a feeling you would know best...

Atley with Grandma Vickie. Grandma Vickie, Papose, and Dallin (Tuna) came out for a visit before we went to UT. We had a blast with them all, and we're so grateful for the efforts they made to come visit us... despite the horribly boring drive. :)

Atley maxin' and relaxin' at Aunt Merissa's house. We stayed there for 4 days this week, after finding out we couldn't stick with our original plans of flying out Monday due to Atley getting double ear infections Sunday night. She's had 4 ear infections this month alone poor girl!!! She's been thru heck and back, and still is happy as a lark. What a good example she is to me. She tries so hard to make others smile and laugh even when she's not feeling well. When I took her to the urgent care in UT on sunday night, she was lethargic and very very hot. But as soon as the Motrin kicked in and lowered her fever a little (we were waiting 2 1/2 hrs), she was running around the waiting room making everyone smile and laugh. Well when we got called back, I found out she had been running around with a fever of 101!!! Happy little girl...

Uh-Oh! Definitely a potential mess here!!! Watch out Aunt Merissa!

Atley and her cousin Dev. They had a blast together while were visiting. Atley would be sort of sickly and sad all day... until Dev would come home that is. She would have a sudden burst of new energy... He always made her giggle.

Making silly faces!

What does the cow say?? : "Moooooo"

Grandma J and Atley playing with soap suds. Atley loved this, and would get so upset if someone blew on the suds and made them disappear. She would giggle and giggle when Grandma would help her with this.

Mommy and Atley finally back at home...

BIG smiles! She definitely missed her daddy. All I had to do to get her to smile in this picture was to say "Where's daddy?"... and here's her response. Thanks daddy, for letting us go on our fun trip to see family. And most importantly, thanks for making sure we made it back home. ;) It feels good to be a complete family again.

PartaY

So I realize I'm a bit behind on blogging... as usual. ;) BUT, here's what we've been up to the last few weeks: This is Atley's first real birthday party! She was invited by her good friend Sadie Eastlick, and she had so much fun!

This is the birthday girl... Sadie and her mom, Tammy. Tam had made little tutu's for all of the little girls that were invited. It was adorable!!!

Here's happy Atley in the bounce-house all by herself! (which is the ONLy way she liked it) Any of the other kids would get in, and she would immediately GET OUT!! She would run and head dive out the door. It was pretty funny. She knows her boundaries... all of the other little kids were twice her size.

Here she is in her little tutu and one of her favorite things: balloons!!! Even better... PINK balloons! She was in heaven!

K, this has nothing to do with the party, but here's our cat Moze. This is her "bobcat" face... when she's just about ready to pounce. She sure is funny.

Ahhhhh, our fine feline. Andy insisted on taking about a billion pictures of this cat until he got the perfect one. So here it is. Isn't he just a great photographer?? Haha. What a success story.

"I'm a Big Kid now!"

My baby's in NURSERY!!! Today was her first day, and she did so well. New dress, and new bow for a new stage of life. :( I have mixed feelings about it... I'm a little sad to be honest. This means my baby is finally growing up, and isn't a baby anymore. I handed her off to the leader, and she didn't cry the entire time... although I must say, she was VERy happy to see me when I came to pick her up. :) (always makes a mommy feel good to be missed a little)

Her new bow I put together this morning... not a good pic, but I thought I'd post a little something. I think it turned out darling.

Right before church... and NURSERY. :D

At the park last week on a beautiful California day!!! She's sooo happy at the park!

Atley just getting out of the stroller, ready to play hard at the park!!

The beauty of living in California during the winter months!!! It was gorgeous last week! And since we live right by a park (literally like 1/2 block away), we went and played for a while with our good friends Tam and Sadie. This is Sadie and Atley holding hands, playing on the equipment. They're so cute when they play together.

Chillin' in her cute LOVE shirt that she got for Christmas from Uncle Jess, Aunt Jen, Cayson and Lily. I think it looks so good on her!

So for the last two weeks, our family has been stricken with illness. :( We've all taken our turns with the stomach flu. Definitely not fun! Luckily mom was already mostly over it by the time Atley was sick with it. (phew) Anyway, here's Atley with a fever... just loungin' in her boppy and sippin' her sippy with her favorite teddy-blankie in her arms. I hate it when she's sick... I always feel so bad for her... but this is just adorable.

HAIRCUT

Atley's new haircut! We got rid of the mullet... and so here's the new Atley!!!

Andy calls this outfit Atley's "Buffy Outfit". Haha... cause of the boots and sweater. He's such a character... and loves teasing his little girls.

Happy Atley pie.

Christmas 2009

Atley giving her new baby "kisses". She's a very affectionate, nurturing little girl and loves giving her teddy bears and animals loves and kisses.

Christmas was different this year. Andy and I felt it would be best to stay in Bakersfield, so we did... just the three of us. It was peaceful, quiet, relaxing and actually really nice. We spent Christmas Eve with some of our good friends, the Fieldsteds, who live just down the block from us. We made a huge Christmas Eve dinner, cheesy potatoes and ham...the works, and we did white elephant, played games and watched Elf. We had a blast with them!

Christmas morning, we slept in. :) (since we don't have a baby that really knows what Christmas is yet) We took our time opening gifts, and it was so nice! The past year or so, Andy and I haven't seen much of each other between his business trips, callings in church, school and other activities. So it was truly nice to just be able to spend a few days together as a family. I felt like our family ties were re-united.

Atley riding her new elephant... I don't know what it is about this girl, but she LOVES animals! More than humans I would say... ;) She gives them lots of hugs and kisses, and carries them around wherever she goes. We got her a new teddy-blankie for her to sleep with, since the one she's had since birth is starting to look raggy. Anyway, I thought it would be nice to have a "backup" in case the one got lost. Well, that plan back-fired. Now she wants to sleep with BOTH of them all of the time. So now instead of keeping track of one teddy-blankie, I'm keeping track of two!!! The rule is: they don't leave the crib! :) Haha... if I'm lucky that is.

Koo Koo Ka Choo!

So lots has been going on around here... I've just failed to blog about it. (sorry) Atley finally took her first steps!!! Last Wednesday night, Andy and I were finishing up dinner. Atley was getting close to bedtime, and so getting super ornery in the process. :) She wanted me to hold her, and I was trying to put it off as much as possible because I was tired... so I went to turn on The Wiggles (her favorite show), she got up on her feet... frustrated... started bouncing (like she was gearing up for her big debut), and took 2 really quick steps!!!! And then fell... BUT 2 STEPS on her OWN!!! Yay!!! We were sooo proud of her! No she's standing up more and more on her own. She has yet to walk more though. She's such a cautious and stubborn little baby girl. :)

We also went to Disneyland this last Friday... which was a blast. Andy, Atley and I went with our friends Tammy and her beautiful daughter Sadie (who is so hilarious). On the way home after a long day at Disneyland, we were at a stop light waiting for our turn to get going, and Sadie (who can just barely talk) says : "COME ON." Haha! We couldn't help but all start laughing. She's such a cutie.

Right now Atley's really into asking questions... even though she can't speak with a lot of words yet... She says things in a question-like manner, with her vocal inflections going up at the end of every word? Dadda? Dodo?? Ssssssa?? Mamaaaa? Use your imagination. :)

Her vocabulary is growing though!!! She can say doddy (doggy), key (kitty), mow (meow), R R R (ruff ruff ruff), daddy, mama, sssss (sippy). And she knows a little sign language too! She knows "more", "eat", and "sippy", and "all done". Smart little baby!

Daddy and Atley girl enjoying the carousel at Disneyland. Mom is good at taking pics at just the right moment!! :)

The happy fam at a Halloween decorated Disneyland. It was very festive! Pumpkins everywhere! Even the flowers were all orange, yellow and red... autumn colors.

Every kid has to have that spaghetti pic sometime right?? She got it everywhere!! And is totally thrilled.

So I threw a baby shower for a friend a couple of weekends ago. It was a huge success... but I just had to show off my decorations. I made these tissue-paper balls and hung them from my ceiling. I thought they were kinda cute. She didn't know the gender of the baby, so she wanted white, black and yellow for the colors... in case you were wondering.

This is Atley's little friend Nina. They play together all the time, and are such good little buddies.

Grandma Jensen sent Atley a halloween package in the mail a little while ago, and she got this darling halloween princess bucket... with.... (gasp) M&M's inside!!!! (Atley's FAVORITE) She knows the M&M package by heart. And every time I pull it out she gets this huge smile on her face, goes "Ooooooooo", and starts shaking her hands cause she gets so excited. It's hilarious. I think she was saying "Oooooo" in this pic. You can kind of see it if you look closely at her mouth. Haha.

This is a pretty rose from my flower bed in front of my house. Andy picked it for me before his last trip to Houston, and I thought it was sweet. It was sooo fragrant! It smelled just like those rose scented body lotions. Reminded me of my grandma jensen. She always smelled like roses.

Now THIS is an Atley M&M face. See what I mean?? I accidentally left them out one night on the floor... OOPS!!! I was busy in the kitchen, and I noticed she suddenly went quiet that morning... I turned around, and found... this!!! Colors all over her hands, all over her face. And as soon as she spotted me, she stuffed as many in her mouth as she could cause she knew I would take them away. She's so funny.

Atley before church (notice the happy face). The happy face is no longer present when church is over. But this pic is special because the dress she is wearing was mine when I was a wee baby. I think it's so much fun to dress her in clothes I used to wear. Thanks mom for saving them for me!!!

I got this kitty headband as part of my halloween ensemble for myself this year, and ever since I got them, Atley puts them on her head all by herself and crawls around the house going "Mow". Haha. No idea where she got that from!

Don't know exactly what she's doing.... but this is after bathtime. I just love her in these warm hooded towels! So fresh and so clean clean.

Disneyland pic. Sorry these are so out of order.

Atley loves loves loves this dog!

Kitty in the kitty bed. I swear I did NOT put her up to this. She did it on her own!

So this is our new ball of fur... her name is MOSE, named after Dwight Schrute's cousin on The Office. She's a darling kitty and soooo sweet. We just got her.

Our dear friends Tammy and Sadie... we went to Disney with them this last weekend, and had a blast. Sadie's hilarious. On the way home, after a long day of waiting in lines and such... we were at a stoplight, and all of a sudden, out of this teeny tiny 20 months' old mouth, we hear "COME ON" from the backseat. We all just started laughing.