The Van Leuven Fam

Puff Balls

2010-03-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

This post is mostly for my mom since she was curious how my latest project turned out. I've been having a little bit of a crafting bug so my good friend Chrissy invited me over one night to make these cute puff balls out of tissue paper that she had seen in a Martha Stewart magazine. The whole process was super easy, like it honestly took about 3 minutes to do one, and I think they look so stinken cute above Sophia's crib, plus it gives her some silly things to look at during naps and night time. Hooray for simple crafts!!

Utah - A trip to regain some sanity

2010-03-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I really need something to look forward to, especially in the bleak winters of Seattle, so at the end of February I was able to escape for a few days and it was completely rejuvenating. Myles was sweet enough to keep the kids with him and do it all on his own for a few days; well he actually had a lot of help from his family and I need to send out a special thanks to them for taking such good care of my babies. Uncle Cole even woke up with the girls at the crack of dawn and changed his first diaper, we were so proud!

My old roommate and great friend Clarissa and her husband Marcus were sweet enough to let me crash with them. They really went above and beyond to make sure that I had a great time and I did. My brother Dave is in a play in Orem right now which opened the weekend I came so my parents and my sister Eryn were also able to come down for the weekend which I loved. I miss my family a ton, so I was super excited to be able to see them.

All in all the trip was a blast, I missed my wonderful husband and sweet little girls, but it was just what I needed and helped me when I came home to be a better wife and mama.

Clarissa and I went on a tour of BYU and it was a blast and very informative.

My ghetto little apartment in Provo where Clarissa and I were first roomies.

The apartment Myles lived in when we met and fell madly in love.

My second apt. in Provo and it was sweet!

So Delicious! If you are ever in Salt Lake, go there...yummy!

After Dave's show which was hillarious, who knew "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" would make such a great musical.

Clarissa and Marcus made us the best Belgium waffles ever! They are so sweet!

Dad whippin up some world famous hash browns...he's a pro!

Sophia's 1st Birthday!

2010-01-11T15:03:00.000-08:00

Our little Sophia Tyne just turned one and we cannot believe how quickly the past year with her has gone by. Sophie girl is such a sweet little gem and has blessed our lives in so many ways. To celebrate her big day we threw a little party at our house with some family and friends and she loved it! She was a little overwhelmed with all the attention at first, but as soon as the food came out she was lovin life. Her cupcake eating was the highlight of the night, well at least for me. It was hillarious to see her shoving the entire thing in her mouth as fast as she could. She had no reservations about digging in and I'm pretty sure she was in heaven the entire time. Her Granny and Poppy weren't able to be here for the celebration so the millions of pictures are for them (we missed you guys). Anyways, we love you so much Sophia and are so thrilled you are part of our lives.

Easter Fun

2009-04-16T14:16:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter this year. Olivia is old enough now that she really got excited about coloring eggs, going on Easter egg hunts, and of course the anticipation of the Easter Bunny hiding a basket full of goodies in our house while she slept was almost more than she could handle. It's so fun to be able to remember and re-live the pure excitement that little children feel on special occasions. Myles got our egg coloring party started and he was really having a good time. It was super cute to see him so excited about spending time with family and starting traditions. Our eggs turned out beautifully, but they were weak sauce when it came to the annual egg bashing contest we participated in on Sunday at my brothers house, oh well better luck next year.

I think my favorite part of Easter was dressing up my girls and I can't stand how cute they looked. I think it's adorable when sisters dress as twins and Olivia really thought it was a kick in the pants too. I even got crafty and decided to make their hair things. Liv's turned out pretty cute and Sophie's started out that way, but by the time we got pictures taken it was already falling apart, oh well, I guess I'll just have to keep trying to get it right.

This is our favorite picture of the bunch because I think it really captures the actual feelings of the girls. I guess the photo shoot wasn't the highlight of their Easter Sunday.

What a Doll!

Heavyweights and Haircuts

2009-03-15T22:34:00.000-07:00

This past week our little Sophia turned two months old and we have another heavy weight on our hands. She's over 11 pounds now putting her in the 75 percentile for weight but only the 46th for height. So she's our chubby little shrimp, but that's the way we like it. She's still a really good baby and we love having her in our family. Olivia is pretty much used to her now and thinks it's super fun to get her to smile, hopefully she continues to like her and they become the best of friends.

This past week Olivia also had her first real haircut and it turned out really super fantastic cute. Myles Mom was getting her hair done at her house when we were visting so I asked Liv if she wanted a hair cut too and she got so excited so we couldn't resist. She loved all the attention she got from Bobby, the hair stylist, and she thinks her new hair do makes her look like a princess...I would have to agree! I love having girls, they're the best.

Baby Sophia Tyne

2009-02-22T21:51:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that I've fallen so far behind with this blog. So much has happened since I last posted that I don't even know where to start. We had Thanksgiving at my parents house in Idaho, which was a total blast, then we had Christmas here in Washington, my first away from home, and then the biggest event has been the birth of our sweet little girl Sophia Tyne. Sophers, as Olivia calls her, was born January 10th and weighed 8 lbs 1 oz. The entire birth went off without a hitch, in fact the whole day was pretty relaxing. Let's just say I'm a big fan of the epidural...when it's done right (I had a terrible experience with it when I had Olivia). My parents came for a month to help with the baby and Olivia and it really was the greatest blessing. They did so much to make our lives easier, like getting up in the night with the baby and cooking all our meals, I'm still going through withdrawals since they left. It's been a big adjustment going from one to two, but we are getting there. We are still trying to teach Olivia what being gentle really means, she's like a bull in a china closet, but she's working on it and she absolutely loves Sophia. We truly are so blessed to have two beautiful daughters and even though being a Mom isn't the easiest thing I am really thankful for the experience. I promised my Mom a bunch of pictures of the baby so here it goes.

Tigger 1 and Tigger 2

2008-11-05T15:55:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-13T15:32:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-29T14:25:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

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!!!!!

2008-08-13T12:17:00.001-07:00

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).

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!

2008-08-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

So we went in yesterday for the ultrasound that tells you the sex of the baby and if your little munchkin is healthy and strong and we found out that we are having a girl. We are super excited! Myles was actually giggling through the whole thing because he loves the idea of two little ladies running around the house. The baby looked really healthy and all of her measurements were right where they were supposed to be so we feel really blessed and really relieved. It's funny how worried you get about them before they're even born. Olivia still doesn't really get that Mommy is having a baby, but we've been trying to explain it to her and pump her up about having a little sister. I think they'll be great friends and will really enjoy having each other to look out for and look up to. We still can't believe that we are going to have two kids, but we are so excited and it just makes our family feel a little more complete.

CHECK OUT MY BASS!!!

2008-07-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

I know what you're thinking... that guy has a really nice bass. Well, Laura thinks so too. Enjoy.

This was a fun catch. The first time I had my bobber in the water, she went after it but didn't take. I cast out again, and watched her play with my worm a couple of times before I knew I had her. She really fought me all the way in, and I was yelling from the dock for someone to come take a picture. It took a while to get the hook out, but when we got her back in the water, she came to her senses and swam away.

TWO YEARS OLD!!!!!

2008-07-14T20:47:00.000-07:00

On July 12th our sweet little Olivia had her 2nd birthday and we can't believe she's already two, the time has just flown by. Olivia loved her birthday and is still talking about it, for example, we got her an ice cream cake and now every time I open the freezer she rushes over and says "my birthday cake." She was crazy excited about her cake, she loved all the attention, and she didn't think the present opening part was too shabby either. We just had a little party with family at Myles parents house. Everyone had a great time boating, swimming, stuffing our faces and watching Olivia and her cousin having a blast with one another in the kiddy pool. So I've added a million pictures because too many of them were too cute to leave out.

We started off the morning with donuts so that we could put candles in one of them for Liv, you know practice before the big moment at the party, and she absolutely loved it! She really got the royal treatment on her big day.

All dressed up and so excited about the princess cd player that Aunt Misha gave her.

Liv and Lucy ready for a crazy boat ride from Papa Martin

Don't they look so happy.

The girls weren't too excited about the ride on the tube. Liv yelled for "mommy" the whole time and Lucy just pretended to be asleep, I think that way she felt she didn't have to deal with the trauma of it all, but everyone else loved it especially when the babies weren't on and Papa Martin could go crazy with the boat trying to knock them off.

This kiddy pool kept the girl entertained for hours.

Liv blowing out her candles, she got them both on the first try.

We dared her to just take a big bite out of her cake, but she only got as far as sticking out her tongue pretending she was going to have a big lick.

Liv and Lucy having a blast on the new tricycle that Bojanney & Papa Martin surprised Liv with.

Thanks Bojanney and Papa Martin, we love you!

Liv sporting her new shades from uncle Jeron and Aunt Jodee, aren't they so stinken cute.

Our family (including my little baby bump for #2). We had so much celebrating Olivia's big day and we are so thankful to have her in our lives, she really does bring us so much happiness.

Announcements

2008-07-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

So I have two pretty exciting announcements to share with everyone. First our sweet little Olivia has potty trained herself and it's like a dream come true. We really didn't do anything. We had her sit on the potty a couple of times and "try" to go to the bathroom and she did it, but then life got busy and we hadn't bothered with it for awhile. Then a few weeks ago she just started telling me "I gotta go potty." She's pretty amazing, she'll tell us that she has to go and then if we aren't by a bathroom, she'll actually hold it until we can find one, it's crazy. She's not even two! To celebrate her potty victory (besides all the dancing, praise, and high fives) we bought her "princess" Tinkerbell panties and she loves them. Olivia continues to amaze us every day and like I've said before, we think she's a total genius!

Our second bit of news is that we are expecting our second baby on January 6th and we are so excited! I've felt a lot worse with this pregnancy than I did with Olivia, but I guess that's the price you pay and now I have a lot more sympathy for those who REALLY get sick while they're pregnant. I've also craved meat and veggies with this one and with Liv it was all sweet things so Myles is really hoping that means it's a boy. We find out in August what we are having and I don't really care either way, but I think Myles and his Dad want a boy so they can plan out his wrestling future (poor little guy). Olivia doesn't really grasp the concepts that there is a baby growing in Mommy's tummy, but she absolutely loves babies and I'm sure she'll be so excited to be a big sister.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!!!!!

2008-03-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

So after months of dealing with lenders, mortgage companies, title companies, and whoever else needed information from us, we finally closed on our "new" home! It's a little place just a few blocks from where we live now and it's a total fixer upper, but we are really excited to be first time homeowners (even if there is an incredible, and I mean incredible, amount of work to do inside and out). Luckily we have Myles' Dad, who has all the right connections and knows all the right people, helping us out. The house has two bedrooms, one bath, a big ol' attic that needs to be fixed up, and an unfinished basement that we are probably going to turn into a separate apartment. The people who owned it previously smoked so we've spent the past weekend painting with "Killz" primer to get rid of the nicotine yellow that seemed to cling to every surface. Like I said before, there is a ton of work to do, but it's been kind of fun to have a big project like this to work on. Here's some pictures of the new place. It doesn't look the prettiest, but it definitely has potential.

This is the house from the side. The door way leads to the basement so it's perfect for a little apartment down there. The house definitely needs some landscaping, but I guess that's the last thing we are going to work on.

This is the front entry way and as you can see our tile guys started before I could even get pictures of the house in the state that we bought it in. Also notice the lovely dark brown trim...we have no idea what would possess someone to paint trim this color. Actually now thinking about it, they probably did it so the nicotine yellow wouldn't show up. SICK!

This is the front room and it has some nice features, the arch, the fireplace, and the wood floors, but unfortunately the floors are so beat up that we are just going to have to carpet over them.

Here's the beautiful kitchen! It's honestly so stinken gross, but it's getting better. The floors are being tiled, the counter tops are going to be granite, the walls will be painted and I get the fun job of painting and touching up all the cabinets. It'll take forever, but I'm determined to make them look fabulous.

Here's the kitchen nook. We are doing the same things to it as we're doing in the kitchen.

Here's the "master" bedroom. We joke about how huge it is all the time, really we're just hoping that after we get it all spruced up that our bed will even fit in it.

Olivia's room had the best paint job that I had ever seen...not. Look how ridiculous this is. Needless to say the blue was one of the first things to go. The room also showcases the nicotine yellow perfectly. It was so gross and I was so happy to get the carpets ripped out and the walls painted this past weekend. I'll post pictures of the final product when it gets finished. Below is the bathroom and it's already getting some major renovations, the vanity and everything above it is being ripped out, the thing above the toilet is gone, the toilet is being changed to face a different direction, and it is also being tiled and painted.

Afternoon at the beach!

2008-02-25T10:07:00.000-08:00

Most people think it's pretty cool when you tell them that you live just a couple blocks from the beach, but the beaches in Washington are a little different than the picture that pops into their mind. They are really rocky, hardly any sand, since it's the Puget Sound there aren't many waves coming in, and the water is FREEZING...but all of that didn't stop us from enjoying the beach on a sunny afternoon. On Saturday the sun actually popped through the clouds, it was a miracle, and we couldn't waste the day inside so we packed Olivia up, picked up some subway sandwiches and headed over to Mukilteo beach. Olivia absolutely loves throwing rocks in the water so she was in heaven, plus there were about 5 million people there so she was able to watch all the kids and admire every doggy running by. It was a really fun family activity and I decided that I don't care what kind of beach it is, rocks or white sand, I love them all!

Glasses

2008-02-15T10:52:00.001-08:00

This just cracks me up so I had to share it with all of you. Olivia loves glasses and since I won't let her play with mine she's opted for her Potato Heads pair. She asks me to help her put them on almost every day and once I've got them squished on to her chubby little face, she has to look at herself in the mirror for like a good five minutes, while saying "Cute!" She really makes me laugh and Myles and I have so much fun with her. What an amazing little lady!

An entry of updates

2008-02-15T10:03:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been so long since I updated this blog. Before Christmas, nothing really went on that I felt warranted an entry, work, finals...nothing too exciting, but since Christmas life has been crazy and time has just flown by. So for this entry I'm just going to try and sum everything up.
After Myles finished his finals, which he did really well on, we headed down to good ol' Rigby, ID for Christmas and it was such a blast. It had been awhile since I had been home and this time we got to stay two whole weeks. Two weeks with my family and Mama Walker's cooking is like heaven and I mean heaven! It snowed like crazy while we were there, so Olivia got her first real experience in the snow and even though she loved to be outside in it, she didn't want to stand in it, it was like she thought it was getting her shoes dirty and that really bugged her, she's a funny girl. She spent a lot of time swinging in the airplane swing and riding on the tubes behind the four wheeler with her cousins and she loved every minute of it. I think she's been bored ever since we got home. Myles had fun ice fishing with my Dad, watching sports, and playing in the snow with the kids, and I really enjoyed just being able to relax, hang out with family, and eat until I felt like I couldn't move.

We were also able to be home for the blessing of our newest nephew Jefferson Edward Walker and it was so great to be able to get to know him and be there for his special day. He is the best baby and Joel and Amanda are so happy and Emylee takes care of him like she's his second mom, you can really tell that she's so excited to finally be a big sister.

A few days after our big journey back to Seattle (I was so sad to leave home) we had a bunch of snow and Myles and I decided it was our duty to build the biggest snowman on the block. After Olivia was tucked into bed, we bundled up and had so much fun making our own personal "Frosty." A few neighbors watched us and took pictures with our snowman after we were finished building him, which was really funny to me...snow is such a novelty here.

Recently life has been consumed with work, school, church callings, and of our course our sweet little Olivia who continues to blow us away with the things she has learned. We are currently in the process of buying a home so I'll have to keep everybody updated on how that goes. It's a real fixer upper, but that's always a fun adventure. We're super excited to see what we can do with it.

"Olivia the Good Witch of the Northwest"

2007-11-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun this Halloween! Olivia didn't really get what was going on, but she had fun dressing up, playing with other dressed up kids, and knocking on doors where people greeted her with treats (who wouldn't love that). She was a cute little witch and she loved her costume... well everything but the hat. On Halloween night Myles was at school until late so his sister Misha and I took Olivia around the neighborhood and it was a blast! Our new neighborhood is a neighborhood with a lot of families, so a ton of kids were out and the homes were decorated up so cute, it reminded me of a movie. I'd forgotten how fun trick or treating was and it was so great taking Olivia around and seeing her eyes light up every time someone stuck a big bowl of candy infront of her face. She caught on to the whole routine by the third house. She'd help us knock on the door and then when the candy came she would take a piece, just one (so polite), and then stick it in her pumpkin treat bag, we'd say thanks and then we were off to the next house. The holidays are so fun with kids around, it just reminds you of the excitement you felt when you were little and that is the best feeling in the world.

Liv was not happy when I tried to squish her hat on her head...

but she got over it when she noticed the camera and I told her how pretty she looked.

Liv was so willing to share her candy with everyone. We tried to cherish the moment because we were sure this would be the last year she'd give up her Halloween treats so easily.

On the Saturday before Halloween we also went on a little adventure to Biringer Farm, which was so fun. They had animals, a pumpkin patch, a corn maze, slides, music, a little trolley to ride on and lots of mud! Olivia loved it and she drew a crowd of admirers when she started showing off her dance moves near the entrance of the farm. I think the music was her favorite thing and she wasn't afraid to let everyone know it.

Liv loves animals, but only from a distance. She gets really nervous when they get too close, probably because this psycho cat pounced on her once.

Later that evening we went to Myles' parents ward for a Halloween party and "trunk or treat." So needless to say Olivia had a ton of Halloween fun and was completely exhausted by the end of the day.

Liv loves playing with other kids so she had BLAST!

Liv and Dad ready to catch a big one.Aunt Misha and Liv...aren't they the cutest little witches you've ever seen.All the excitement made her thristy. She loves drinking out of the cup by herself.

WE MOVED!

2007-11-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

It has been forever since I wrote on our blog and so much has happened in our lives. A few weeks ago, my job asked me to work full time (well actually they told me that I had to work full time or that they'd find someone else) and I was heart broken. I love my time with Olivia, but I also have a husband who is trying to get through law school and our family has to eat so I now have to put in my forty hours a week, blah. We got our schedule all worked out though and everything seems to be going great so far. To get our schedule to work though, we had to pack up our life in downtown Seattle and move north to Everett. Myles' mom was a life saver and agreed to watch Olivia everyday so we moved close to his parents to make that arrangement possible. Olivia loves her time with her "Bojanney" and I think her "Bojanney" loves the time too...well I hope so.
Luckily my parents and my sister Eryn were here the weekend that we moved. They helped us out so much and we couldn't have done it without them, plus it was just really fun to have them around. Myles' parents also worked their booties off trying to get our new place all fixed up. Myles' Dad actually owns the home we moved into (we live in the main level of it)and he was sweet enough to want it to look great for us, so they really did work hard to get it all spruced up and it looks great! (I'll post pictures of the new place soon)
We are starting to get used to the new place and it feels more like home everyday. We are really blessed in our lives and this move has really made us realize that things work out for the best and that our families are the greatest people in the world and will do anything to help us out. We love you guys!

Myles giving me one last kiss in our old place.

Pausing for a quick photo before we left.

We barely fit all of our stuff in this U-haul.

We were amazed at how much we had crammed

into a 500 square foot apartment.

I thought I would add some shots of the old apt.
before we packed everything up. We loved our orange walls!

It was our first "long term" apt. and we loved it!

Our "master" bedroom. It was huge...not really!

Olivia's cute little nook. She didn't even have a door
door to her "room," but it was still a great little place!

Mom watched the babies and cleaned while the rest of us packed up. What a trooper, especially since Olivia was freaking out about the whole moving process. She was so worried we were taking her things away and she wasn't going to get them back. She'd look in the cupboards in the kitchen and when she saw that they were bare she would just start bawling. It was so sad, but so cute at the same time.

What a vocabulary!

2007-09-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

I was hanging out with Olivia yesterday and was totally blown away by the vocabulary she's developed. I mean I've noticed every time she's said a new word, but yesterday I just realized how amazing it was and how quickly she is learning. So I thought I would list all of the things she can ramble off. She's only 14 months and she can say: Mama, Dadda, hi, bye bye, uh oh, poo poo, shoes, thank you, bubble, purple, ball, bath, dog, yum, no, yes, eyes, nose, bird, moo, keys, duck, book, baby, belly button, food, and her absolute favorite lately is "oow" (like if something is gross, I don't how to spell it). Like I've said before, she is so smart that we can't even stand it! We love our little gal, we are so proud, and we're convinced that she's a genius!

Anniversary Trip to the San Juan Islands

2007-09-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

Myles and I had our third anniversary on August 28th, but because of school and our crazy schedules we postponed our celebration of it until labor day weekend and went on a really fun over night trip to the San Juan Islands. It's about an hour drive and then an hour on the ferry, but it's worth the travel. I'd never been on a ferry that long before, but it was really relaxing and the scenery was extremely beautiful. We stayed at a cute little Bed and Breakfast, went on walks around the tourist town, took a bike ride (we are so out of shape), and ate at a fancy Mexican restaurant...ok it wasn't that fancy and it had a t.v. playing the UW football game so needless to say Myles had a hard time staying focused on me and we had a really romantic dinner, just kidding, it was great! Anyways we had a fabulous time and we just wanted to share some of the pictures with you guys. Oh and we would also like to give a special thanks to Myles' parents for watching Olivia and spoiling her like crazy so that she didn't even miss her Mom and Dad while we were gone.

On our ferry ride. You gotta love Myles' famous crazy eyes! He laughs every time he sees this picture.

Outside on the deck of the ferry before we docked. It was really windy.

In front of our cute B&B. The room was great, breakfast was delicious, and the owners were so nice.

Getting ready for our bike ride. Myles said he refused to wear a helmet, but when he saw the pink one he couldn't resist.

I don't think I'd been on a bike for like five years, but I did all right.

"We did it!" We went on a ride that loops around the entire harbor, like 8 miles or something and even though most of it is flat, there were times when we were struggling and our legs felt like they were on FIRE! We came to the conclusion that we're really out of shape and need to excercise a whole lot more.

Right before we left we got some killer ice cream (it was really good!!) and paused for a photo on the pier. We had such a great time but we were also very excited to get back to our little Livy.

Big enough to do it on her own.

2007-09-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

I love yogurt!!!!!!
YUM, YUM!
The bath that always comes right after, good thing she likes the tub!

Olivia has come to the conclusion over the past few weeks that she is big enough to use a spoon (or whatever untencil) by herself. If you try to feed her anything she'll bite down on the utencil as hard as she can until you let it go and she's free to use it herself. She's so smart, we can't even stand it! As you can see from the pictures she's really good at only getting it in her mouth and I'm always surprised at how tiny the mess is...hehehe. I think we give her at least three baths a day now. We love the little bugger though and who knew you could have so much fun with a cup of yogurt.

We're on board

2007-08-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

Jeron's Fam & us at the tulip festival

Liv lovin the pool at the Armstrong Reunion

Liv and Lucy's first big tube ride...woohoo!!!!!

Myles floating with Liv at waterbabies, she loves it!

Liv's first birthday! (We went a little overboard on the candles)

After watching everyone around us become bloggers we thought we better jump on the band wagon. We're new at this whole thing but we figured it was a great way to keep in touch with the people we love and miss so much. Life in Seattle is great, Myles just started his third year in the JD/MBA program, I work part time and have a blast with Olivia the rest of the time. So here's a few pictures of the fun little adventures we've had in our lives recently. We love you all!

Our Little Family

2007-08-24T13:13:00.000-07:00