Our New Home

I know I've pretty much bombed out this year on the whole blogging thing. O well, you do what you can do when you're pregnant and sick all year and moving to a new location. So here's a little update on where we are at right now.


We've made our move to Durango, Colorado, and love it so far! The area is gorgeous, and Andy's job is going well. He's been really busy with business trips and trying to get up to speed with his new responsibilities, but he's done well, and I think the worst is over with. :) I'm now 33 weeks, or 8 months pregnant with our baby boy, and I'm still totally feeling the effects of moving to 7400 feet elevation. We came from sea level, so I've been having kind of a rough time with fatigue and vomiting and headaches again. Isn't pregnancy fun? Haha, it will be worth the end result when he decides to make his debut. I have to keep reminding myself of that.


We've been able to do some fun things as a little family since we moved out here. I think that's been my favorite part of moving, that, and the family visitors we've received already! Every weekend, Andy, Atley and I go for a drive in the beautiful mountains, check out a new trail, or a new place to eat. Or we go swimming at the Durango Rec Center, which has an awesome toddler pool with tons of slides and water toys, a lazy river, a huge twirly blue slide for older kids (or the young at heart). Already since we've moved out here we've had so many visitors.


Grandma Mary and Grandpa have come out once together. It was so great to have them here, and have them see where our new abode is. Atley just loves her Grandmas, and has so much fun with them. Grandpa's not so bad either. ;) She adores him as well. She always includes them in her prayers at night, and lately, she's been keeping them hostage in a small cupboard in our bedroom. She will go and knock on the door, open it and say "Hello Grandma and Grandpa! How you?" Haha.


The weekend before Easter, we were also able to see my cousins Dana, Landon and their cute boy Daxton in Farmington, NM. They were so sweet and invited us down for an easter egg hunt and BBQ. We had so much fun with them, and Landon's family was so sweet and generous and showed us such kindness. Very fun.


And Grandma Mary, Merissa and Ryelyn came out for almost a week while Andy was in Texas on business. That was wonderful. We shopped and ate out, and did lots of bubbles and baths for the kiddos. Rye and Atley had a blast together. You'd think they were sisters the way they acted around each other. It was really fun to see.


Then another wkend Papose, Vickie and Unco Dallin came out. It was Andy's birthday. Happy Birthday Andy!!! The same wkend as Mother's Day. They didn't stay very long, but we had so much fun with them. We went for drives, showing them around Durango, ate at Serious Texas BBQ, and had a night of telling alien stories. Haha, don't know how they came up, but we had a long talk about creepy alien stories and other funny things. They are so much fun.

Our next visitors will be Ad, Rach, Kyler, Haydo and Annalee! We are so excited to see them in a few weeks!!!

O MY HEAVENS!!! What's that? You can't believe you're reading an update?! Believe it baby! Cuz here it is peeps:

There has been sooo much going on around here... I can't possibly cover it all from the past, what, 7 months?! So I will cover the biggies, and the rest might be in pics and I might not cover some of it at all. I will do what I can.

FIRST off, we have a new little addition coming soon to the Olson family! I'm currently about 4 1/2 months along, and about 5 pounds heavier! Haha, although I have to say it feels like 20. After much vomiting, migraines, fatigue... well, wait, I'm still going through all that, but I'm sooo looking forward to meeting our end product. Boy or girl? We haven't found out yet... but will be finding out in the next week or so, so I will definitely be posting about that in the near future.

SECOND, the Olson fam will be moving to a new location here in the next 2 MONTHS!!! Andy's being trasnferred with Chevron to DURANGO, COLORADO!!! We seriously couldn't be more excited about this upcoming move. We feel like it's such a blessing to our family. It's 5 hours closer to family, as well as around some of the most beautiful country... and it's surroundings will include all of mine and Andy's hobbies and recreational activities... so we are absolutely thrilled. We've been praying for an opportunity to live closer to family, and it's finally here! I'm going to brag a little for Andy in this family scrapbook in saying that this was the only engineering position being offered in the western US, besides California, and HE got it!!! I'm so proud of him and all of his hard work.

I do have to mention though, we will miss dearly all of our Bako friends and "family". We've made some very close connections here, and love everyone so much. Everyone's been sooo good to us. So thank you Bako friends.

THIRDLY, Atley is doing so well. We are in the midst of potty training right now, and I have to say, I've been impressed. She's done so well, and I'm so proud of her.

She is truly such a joy to be around, and says the most adorable things. She LOVES her princesses, loves to dance around the room in dress-up clothes, loves her "bearsies" and chocolate. She calls it "chokit". haha, and seriously asks for some multiple times each DAY! What can I say? She's a true girl!

So the pictures above (because I don't remember how to run this blogging system) are of a tea party we had with Sadie, Atley's friend, a few days ago, and I just have to document it because it was adorable.

FAMILY

This post may seem a bit random, but I had tons of pictures I wanted to post and write about... So ENJOY!

This photo is a bit out of order... but this was taken at Hart Park on Easter Sunday, when grandma and grandpa j and Auntie Merissa came out for a visit. I will explain more later on...

Grandpa J and Atley at Hart Park. I love capturing special moments like these... Grandpa is so good to Atley, and they have so much fun together.

Atley enjoying her spaghettio's for lunch. She's such a big girl now and can eat them all by herself with that little red spoon ya see there in her hand. She's such a happy girl, and giggles a lot. I can't remember what I was saying to her to make her laugh, but she thought it was hilarious. She's so obedient too, and listens to her mommy most of the time. She picks up her toys at the end of each day when asked, and she's so tender-hearted that she usually cries and gets her feelings hurt when we tell her sternly "no". My sweet little Atley. I'm so happy she's a part of this family.

Yesterday I was lying flat on the carpet near her because I was really tired, and she came over, put her head on my chest, then started whining and trying to lift up my head. She thought something was wrong with me. She kept whining "Mama! Mama!" I didn't mean to traumatize her, but it sure was cute.



Sunday afternoon... this girl loves her BUBBLES. So I filled up a bowl of suds, and took them outside and let her play in them. She loved it. Somehow she got the idea to put them on her face like a beard... she has so much personality!

Before suds on sunday... we made chocolate chip cookies together and took them to her friends, Nina and Sadie. She had a blast dumping the ingredients into the bowls and helping me stir... and eating the chocolate chips. :)

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of babysitting Nina while her parents went out. Well, Andy the engineer built this amazing tent for them to watch Nemo in. They absolutely loved it! What a fun daddy Atley has. I swear he worked on it for like 20 minutes. :) He had to have it perfect. And if you look carefully, you can see who else enjoyed the tent... our cat Moze. She always has to be in on the action. Haha.

Atley has a fetish with stuffed animals and really soft materials. She holds them close to her face and just loves on them. So Grandma J made this soft cuddly especially for Atley and sent it in the mail. Atley was hooked right from the get-go... and this is the cute blankie. She had made a her a larger one previously and Atley demanded to carry it EVERYWHERE she went, so grandma was kind enough to make a bit of a smaller one that she could carry around. :)

NO, she's not always watching TV. That's just the only time I can get her to hold still for pictures. :) So no judging.

Like I said... she loves her animals... this is a bunny that Grandma Vickie sent to her for Easter. She kissed it and gave it loves right away! Thanks Grandma J and Vickie for being so thoughtful! For being so far away, you sure know Atley really well! :)

Playdough creations by: Emi Fieldsted and Gin Olson. Aren't they a work of art?

Over Easter/General Conference weekend, my parents and Aunt Meriss came for a visit. They only stayed for a couple of days, but it was sooo nice to see them!!! We had so much fun with them, and Atley ADORES my mom. They have a special grandma/granddaughter relationship, that is for sure. I had so much fun with my mom, dad and sister, and was so sad to see them go. This picture was taken at Hart Park, sunday afternoon. You can see how happy little Atley is to be with her grandparents at the park.

Quality Daddy/daughter time! I love my dad sooo much! He is such an inspiration and strength in my life. Always full of optimism and humor, health facts and anecdotes. :) I love you dad and truly treasure our time together!

Another quality daddy/daughter time. Atley loves her daddy too, and always runs to him when he gets home from work. She loved feeding the ducks with Daddy. Mmmm... stale honey chex. Bon appetit' duckies!

On the riverbanks with grandma j... she's making her giggle.

TA-DA!!!

Everyday Life

So these aren't anything extraordinary to anyone else I'm sure, but to a mom, it's the little moments that make life worth living, and make life fun. These are some things my baby and I do nearly every day together...

Make music... whether it's with her small play keyboard, her little xylophone, the piano, or listening to mommy's music. We always have a good time, and we always find time to DaNcE! Atley LOVES dancing!

Watch a movie... I know, this probably isn't the greatest thing in the world. But ya know what? It keeps this mother sane!!!! So here she is, in her new Fairy chair. (Word of Caution to kids and kitties: NEVER try to sit in Atley's chair... she is very POSSESSIVE of this chair, and it can lead to minor bumps on the head or pulled fur... sorry Nina and Moze.)

Getting ready to go outside in mommy's cool sunglasses. Aren't they awesome? Haha. She puts them on, and doesn't ever want them taken off. She has so much personality.

That's right!!! It's already swimming suit season here in Cali! It's the best thing ever, having this weather. It's already high 70's here. We absolutely love it. So the other day, we went swimming in our backyard with Atley's little friend Sadie and her mom Tammy. It was lots of fun! Here she is in her little swimsuit Aunt Meriss bought for her, and her little sunhat (I'm sorry to say didn't stay on very long...)

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day... Not really a day we celebrate a whole lot of, at least not like most people do, drinking til' they're smashed (to put it bluntly). Instead we have a few traditions of our own. Like, the night before, each of us sets one of our shoes outside, and the little leprechauns come during the night and leave stuff in them that we find in the morning when we wake up. It's lots of fun! So here's what Atley got this year in her little shoe...

Tiny little animals that will fit in her hand, and a pair of pink snoopy socks. What a thoughtful leprechaun!

Here she is discovering...

And here's my little girl all dressed in green. Sooo festive! Even daddy wore green this day (which was a big surprise)! Too bad we didn't get a pic of it... I was gonna do green food, but Atley's so picky, I don't think she would eat it! Haha. And Andy wasn't home anyway to share in the fun. So no green eggs and ham this year.

End of leprechaun's day, and bath time. :)

Smiles & Boots

Atley insisted on wearing her boots the other night... anyway, we got a "kick" out of it. Haha... lame joke.

19 1/2 months

"I looked out the window..."

"and what did I see?... Popcorn popping on the apricot tree!!!" Aaaaah! Could it be? Spring is finally coming? This is one of my favorite times of year, when the beautiful blossoms are springing on the trees. So enchanting... So since I also have an "enchanting" little girl, I thought I would do a little photo shoot with her and her good buddy Nina. They really are funny little friends. The other day Atley accidentally knocked Nina down, and she went up to her afterwards and gave her a hug and kiss. And they always share snacks together, and will feed each other. It really is adorable.

"POPCORN"

"M & M's??? This is the question I'm asking her... and this is her response... haha.

Pretty little Nina "dandelion picking"... much more preferred than the usual "nose picking". Haha.

She is soooo happy to be out of the house! She loves playing outside. I think in this picture she's smiling because she sees some ducks flying. There was a pond nearby.

Look how tiny my little girl is in comparison to these big snowy trees!