little update

We arrived safely in California on Thursday and have been having a wonderful time thus far. We are currently staying at Lisa's house and on Sunday we'll head over to Matt and Shantele's. I just had to say this: I am so very grateful for wonderful in-laws who make traveling such a breeze. Shantele made sure to stock up her house with diapers, wipes, baby food, snacks, baby spoons, sippy cups, and shampoo so we wouldn't have to worry about packing any of that. Oh, she also bought a high-chair last time I was in town for all of us to use (not us, but the children, teehee). Both Lisa and Shantele have pack'n'plays, so when all of us come into town, we'll never have to worry about bringing that. SO NICE! Now I have to go get ready because Lisa is taking all of us to go see Harry Potter while Matt and Shantele watch Oliver! Like I said, great in-laws. *(note: it isn't just the "stuff"they provide (obviously)--Oliver is loved so much by his grandma, nana, and grandpa. There are few things that make me happier than seeing them play with him and kiss his little cheeks).

Anyway, I took this picture of Oliver on my phone before we left to come here--I think he looks like such a little boy:

is it already the middle of November?!

I can't believe it's already half-way through November! Good thing my Christmas decorations (including 2 trees) have been up since the 1st. And even better thing that 100.3 started playing Christmas music on the 3rd.

I mentioned in a previous post that we took a week-long trip up to Grants Pass, OR to visit my sister and her family. Grants Pass is so charming. It's tucked between big hills covered in pine trees. It had perfectly clear, blue skies the entire week we were there until the last day. They just bought their first house and it is so perfect and cute. Here are some pics of the cousins together:

Bryn, just watching some Dora.

 Little cousins--10 months apart!

 All of my babes.

 ahhh, I can't resist all the goofy hair and adorable faces.

Oliver turned 11 months today! He says 'dada', 'mama', 'nighnigh', and...'dora'. I know. He loves her. And to be honest, I love that he does. Her show turns on in the morning and he starts dancing and saying her name. I even bought him a Dora book. Sue me. He cruises everywhere and gets into everything. Lately he's been eating bananas by the whole--we break off a huge chunk and he walks around the house eating it. He has the two bottom teeth and four top ones. His hair is still goofy as ever (see pics). He is the most energetic, happy, loving boy on the planet. We got him moon boots at Target yesterday (size 6--can you believe it?) and he tottered around like a little drunk, stomping his feet as he went. Here he is at 11 months!:

Oliver and 'Blank'--my little bro's GF made the blanket for him and he LOVES it.

 Uncle Van in the background--he loves Oliver!

 Eating his Dora book.

Quick-story: We've been marveling over the last few weeks about how old our little baby is getting. His features are becoming more prominent, he babbles, he runs everywhere, he does little toddler things like drinking from a sippy cup and eating full-sized cookies. Plus, he's almost completely stopped barfing (yay!). Yesterday at Target he started nuzzling in my shoulder nook and Sean said, "He is such a little boy now-I can't believe how grownup he is." And then he started licking my collar bone. Ha! What a goober.

one of the many reasons...

...why I love my mother:

(she sent the card to Sean congratulating him on his LSAT exam).

LSAT madness

So, any of you who have been around us for the last 4 1/2 months have known that our lives have been consumed by Sean and his marriage to his Ace test prep class. 3 days a week, 3 hours each session PLUS a practice test every Saturday AND personal study for a couple hours every day in addition to class and test times. Phew. All of this was in preparation for October 10th when he would take the LSAT.

He did very, very well.

I am so proud of him! He did so well, in fact, that he has been receiving multiple offers (most of which are top 15 law programs) to waive his application fees so he will apply there (YIPEEEE!). So, our rather short, but well-thought out list of law schools went from 6 (you have to be reasonable when the money is coming from our bank account) to over 15. Why apply? Why not? It's free and it will be cool to see where he gets accepted. We will be applying in the next week and will hopefully know where we're going by the end of the year!

Also: my Christmas tree is up (not yet decorated) as are all of my decorations. I also realized today I still have Halloween pictures up in the window. Teehee. I'm silly.

happy halloween!

Let's be honest: Oliver didn't really cooperate. Maybe next year! On to Thanksgiving and Christmas!

little cute face

I have been meaning to upload this video for a couple of weeks now, but I haven't been able to do anything with my videos for the last month because someone sucked on and destroyed TWO mac cords in two months. We are at my sister's house (pictures to come) and am bumming a charge from her cord. This was the week Oliver turned 9 months (he turned 10 months October 14th!):

I'll post a video tomorrow of how we walks now. He is so funny.

loved this

LOVE

cutie patootie

silly boy.

oh, to clarify his curly hair: it was curly when he was born and then went pretty straight. however, after a bath, when he sweats, or if we're in a humid climate, it gets all curly and cute. Lisa said Sean's curly hair manifest itself around 11 months, so we'll see what happens! All I know is he's sort of rockin' a mullet. Neat.

things I want

If I avoid the word "covet" does it make it more acceptable to have this list?

-husqvarna viking sapphire 835. It's only, like, $1200. I could have chosen a Diamond model but I figured I would attempt to be more realistic (giggling). Heck, I would die for an Emerald.

-a freaking camera that doesn't have a shattered front screen.

-a dishwasher. I will NEVER rent a place without one again.

-another pair of TOMS--the creamy ones.

-first season of Glee.

-to not have adult acne (remember, the title of this post was "things I want" so this totally fits).

Anyway, I posted this picture to my FB account, but I wanted to post it here too:

Cute little Woody man.

thursday thoughts

I am loving the cooler, autumn weather in Provo. I actually used the heat in the car today!

Oliver has been fussy for the last week or so. Turns out his front tooth was pushing through (noticed it on Sunday)! He wasn't getting any better and I looked yesterday and what did I see? BOTH had pushed through. Poor guy.

I called my mom to ask for pointers on putting up Halloween spiderweb stuff. She said, "You just throw it up." Hey, mom, remember how you've been working with the oddity that is spider webbing for over 30 years? And this is my first year? You can't just "throw up" Halloween spider webbing your first go-around and expect it to look good. It took me 2 hours to get it right. And I'll be honest: it looks real good.

It is never a good sign when you get a piece of chicken from the Gas-n-Go and rip off a piece and start eating it and realize you have to treat it like an artichoke--using your teeth to scrape off the goodness. I should have known when Holly said, "Yeah, we made those at, like, 5AM, but the breading gets put on pretty thick which I think protects the chicken."

I failed the safety portion of the safety and emissions test last week because our front two windows were 5% too dark. I took it across the street to get the tint removed the lady said it was $20 to remove and $90 to remove and put back on after you passed safety (shady, eh?). I said I didn't care if the windows were tinted and that sunglasses could provide the tint I would need. Two things on sunglasses: 1.) they are great for shielding the glare of the sun, the sheen of snow, or hiding the mascara that tatooed itself under your eyes because you didn't wash it off the night before and 2.) they do NOT, however, shield other people from looking in and judging you for wrangling with the rubbery chicken you've been gnawing on at every stoplight between the Gas-n-Go and our house (8 lights total).

Note to self: re-tint the windows. And never listen to Holly about chicken.