Tigger 1 and Tigger 2

This year for Halloween Aunt Mishy bought her and Olivia matching Tigger costumes and even though they were sweating to death in them they had a great time trick or treating and looked so cute! Olivia got an overdose of Halloween and candy because one weekend we had trunk or treat at the church, a practice run you might say for our little tigger, and the next weekend was the real event and Daddy took it pretty seriously. We trugged up and down block after block and at moments I thought I might literally go into labor from all the walking. It was all worth it though because Olivia and Aunt Misha scored in the candy department. Half way through the night we had to start carrying Liv's bag for her because it was getting too heavy, but Daddy wasn't giving up until it was nearly full. I've tried to limit Olivia's candy intake each day but she knows where her bag is and it's just so cute when she gets it down and asks you "what kind you like." I've been really surprised at how willing she is to share . Besides the excitement of begging for candy, Myles lost his wallet somewhere along the trick or treating trail and we were all in a panic until our mortgage guy called us the next day saying someone had called him about finding Myles' wallet (his card was in the wallet). Myles was able to run over and claim it back with in a couple of minutes and our trust in mankind was restored for the day...we love honest people. All in all we had a great Halloween and we were so glad that we were able to share it with Aunt Misha.

Pumpkin Carving & Biringer Farm

For Family Home Evening last week we decided to carve pumpkins to get us in the spirit of fall and the fun of Halloween. It was Olivia's first real carving experience and she loved it. She wasn't too fond of the slimy stuff inside the pumpkin, but she had a good time drawing on it, and watching us try not to cut off a finger with our dull carving knives. Her favorite though was when lit them up and stuck them out on the front porch to shine for all the people going by. Unfortunately the light attracted the wrong kind of people (punk teenagers) and our pumpkins didn't last through the night. Olivia is still talking about how "someone broke our pumpkins...that's a no no." Even though the pumpkins were destroyed in less than 24 hours we still had a great time together and made a fun memory.






Since our 1st set of pumpkins were smashed, we decided to head over to Biringer Farm and Pumpkin Patch to pick out a second set, hoping they would last for more than one evening. It was so much fun and the weather was absolutely beautiful! Fall is my favorite time of year so I was incredibly happy when the sun was shining bright and the air was crisp and cool (the way it should be, not dark with drizzling rain). Olivia was so excited about the tractor ride out to the pumpkins and getting to pet the goats, but I think her favorite was just getting to chill in the wheel barrell while we pushed her around (she has the life). We found three perfect pumpkins, well perfect for us, and had a blast just running around an open field and spending good quality time with one another. We decided Biringer Farm will be a yearly tradition for our family, and just in case you are wondering, the 2nd set of pumpkins have lasted for three days now, but probably because we've kept them inside...hum.

Bye Bye Baba's and Binki's

Olivia has recently been forced to give up her baba's and binki's, and it's the saddest thing ever. We felt a little bad doing it, but it was definitely time. We convinced her right after she turned two that we needed to give her baba's to the "Baba Fairy" so that the fairy could give them to little babies who didn't have baba's and needed them. She went along with this plan pretty well, especially when we took her outside and hung her bottle on the tree so that the Baba Fairy could come get it after Olivia went to bed. For awhile after that she would ask for her bottle and then stop herself mid sentence and say "the baba fairy took it" with the saddest look on her face, but when we convinced her again that little babies needed it, she would smile and say yep.

The binki was a completely different challenge. We weren't really expecting to get rid of it so soon, but after loosing like 10 in one day and not being able to find any before she went to bed, we gave up on looking and decided we weren't going to buy any more. Olivia loved her binki's, probably more than anything, she constantly had one in her mouth and then one in each hand. I would say her binksters were like little best friends for her so needless to say she wasn't at all happy when we told her we couldn't find any before bed one night. I tried to tell her as sweetly as possible that they were lost and she looked at me with big tear filled eyes and say "no they're not." When Myles tried to explain to her that we couldn't find any she would say "yes you can, Mommy is getting it." This went on for a few days and it's been about two weeks now and she's still asking for her binki. I kind of miss her having one. She is already growing up so fast and it was the one thing left that was still a little babyish and now it's gone. I know that's silly because it was such a pain to find all the time and expensive since we went through so many, but I think sometimes I miss it as much as she does.

Evergreen State Fair

Myles and I decided that it would be a lot of fun to go to the fair this year with Olivia and his family. Since we both had to work all day we only went for a few hours, but it was the perfect amount of time and everyone had a blast. Papa Martin, Bojanney, Uncle Cole, and Aunt Mishy had prepared Olivia for all the fun things she would see, so when we came to pick her up to go the first words out of her mouth were "I wanna see the farm" and especially the "little piggies." I wasn't feeling that great and was about to call the whole thing off but as soon as I saw how excited she was I knew I'd just have to suck it up because she really did deserve to see the piggies.

This is right before we went in and I think Myles' goofy face says it all...we were so excited!

We headed straight for the animals when we got there and the "little piggies" didn't disappoint. Olivia loved watching them wrestle and nurse their mama, she even got to touch one. It was so cute!

These little pygmy goats were so cute, especially the babies. Liv loved them!

Liv loves her "Uncle Cole Cole" and was so happy that he got to come to the fair with her. Thanks for entertaining her a bunch while you visited Cole, Liv is still talking about it.

Olivia flipped out with excitement when she saw all the rides, unfortunately she wasn't tall enough for most of them, but we did find two that she and Daddy could go on. I don't know how much she liked this little roller coaster, at times she would be laughing and at other times she was burying herself in Myles side, but the Carousel was a definite hit!

We had so much fun watching Olivia experience the fair for the first time. Her enthusiasm was completely contagious and we all had a blast looking at the animals, riding rides, and eating delicious food! We can't wait to do it again next year!

Home to Idaho

On August 15th we finally got to go home to Idaho and I was so happy! I haven't been home since Christmas and that is just way too long. We only got to stay for a week, but we still had a great time and I just want to thank my Mom and Dad for taking such good care of us and making sure that we got to do everything we wanted while we were there. Myles got to go fishing everyday with my Dad or with my brother Matt and watch the Olympics at night, Olivia was able to play with her cousins everyday all day and she absolutely loved it, and I got to relax, be with my family, eat so much good food (you can't beat Mama Walker's cooking), go to the Playmill and visit the BYU-Idaho campus... it was like heaven. I miss home a lot, so when I get to actually go I try to take full advantage of my time there. The weather was great (it's rained everyday in Seattle since we've been back) and everything is just so peaceful and laid back at my parents house that it's impossible not to love it. We were also really glad that Olivia had that time to spend with some of her cousins and get to know them. She had such a blast with all the kids and when we left she cried so hard for her cousins , saying through her tears "I need to see my cousins." It was very sweet. Myles said we can go back for Thanksgiving since I can't go at Christmas (which breaks my heart) because I could go into labor at any time, so hopefully that works out and we'll be able to see everyone again in a couple of months. So anyways we had the best time ever and wanted to share a few pictures of our time in Idaho...most are of Liv with her cousins.

Liv with Savanna & Whitney. She loved the trampoline, but everyone had to sit down while she jumped because she was still really nervous about it. She's such a cautious girl.

My Dad took all the kids to the splash park in Rexburg so my Mom, Eryn, Amanda and I could go out to lunch and Myles and Matt could go fishing. They all had a blast (except Olivia,she doesn't like things that spray her...too cautious) and by the end of the day they were out!

Ice Cream cones are a huge hit at Granny and Poppi's house...yum, yum!

Liv and George on the way to Island Park to stay at Russ and Eryn's Cabin. Georgie would smile except whenever I asked him to for a picture. He and Liv had a really good time. She tried to beat him up a couple of times (not so cautious) but they both survived.

We all went floating down the river while we were in Island Park and Georgie was so excited that he ripped off all of his duds to hop in before anyone could stop him.

Amanda and Jefferson getting ready for the float. Jefferson is such a good baby, he smiles all the time except when he's crawling and Olivia's trying to ride him like a horse...whoops (thanks Joel and Amanda for your patience with her).

Liv w/some of her cousins that she grew to love so much before they all plunged in the water.

Myles and I celebrating 4 years of marital bliss...we still got it! I love you babe!

Whitney was the first one to dive right in even though the water was freezing cold and I mean freezing cold! I think it shocked my entire system when I got in and it took forever to get used to. Olivia was also not lovin the cold water, but after awhile she got used to it and as long as she was on Mama's lap she had a good time.

Oh my screaming girls!!!!!

So I'm a huge fan of the Twilight Saga, like most who read it, so when Stephenie Meyer announced that she was having one of her four concert series book tours in Seattle I jumped at the chance to go see her in person and get my book signed. The night really was so much fun! I made Myles go with me and he is such a good sport because there were over two thousand people there and literally only about five of those two thousand were men/boys. We caught ourselves giggling a lot because most of the girls were sporting t-shirts professing love for one of the characters in the book and they were absolutely going crazy, like high pitched screaming at every opportunity. Stephenie Meyer couldn't say the name "Edward" (the main heart throb of the book) without the crowd roaring with cheers, it was insane. Also Justin Furstenfeld, the lead singer of Blue October, was there with her and he was so so good live and acoustic. It was really neat because she'd talk about a song of his that inspired a certain part of her book or represented a certain character and then he would play the song, and then again everyone would scream and some even cried. The whole thing made me really excited for when my girls are that age, because it's fun to be giddy and silly and I can be giddy and silly right along with them.

I made Myles hold up my book and get his picture taken in the middle of the crowd of girls anxiously awaiting the beginning of the show. I tried to get him to pose infront of one of the posters for the upcoming movie, but I guess that was a little too much for him to agree to.

One of the many shirts expressing affection for the fictional vampire boys. I think these girls are doomed to search for Edward their entire lives and are going to be highly disappointed when a god like vampire boy doesn't sweep them off their feet. I guess it's good to dream though.

This is just the beginning of the crowd rushing in, the place was packed and like I said before extremely noisy with all the screaming and giggling.

Stephenie was really fun to listen to. She answered a bunch of questions from the audience and then talked a lot of her passion for music and how it inspired her in her writing. She and Justin Furstenfeld were really funny with each other too, almost like they were old buddies getting to hang out on stage. The whole thing was very relaxed (except the screaming) and even Myles admitted that he had a good time (I love that guy).