A window with a view...

Although I am not big on decorating, I love to move my furniture and Oliver's toys around and rarely have them in the same arrangement for very long. Tonight, Oliver's car table got a window with a view:

Oliver said "Ya, thank you Mommy", as soon as he realized he could use the window ledge as a seat.

And now I have my all my leather furniture together for the first time since we bought it five years ago. I think this may be my favorite furniture arrangement yet. Oliver's car table on the other side of the room is actually the focal point for this set-up. We don't watch TV in the family room any longer, so we may as well have the furniture situated around what we do watch, right? :)

Best friends

So sweet!

Daddy-O and Pirate Oliver

Daddy & Oliver's nightly routine of leche and the Spanish dictionary

Oliver's nightly ride on horse Daddy-O into the bathroom. Although it may look as though Oliver is holding on for dear life, he is actually pretending he is asleep. :)

wicked sunsets

We have had some severe thunderstorms roll through here this week. It amazes me what beauty can come from something that absolutely terrifies me!

After Wednesday night's storm, the sky was this amazing magenta color. This was taken at the park directly behind our house.

Wednesday night about 10 minutes after the first picture after the sun went down. The shutter speed was wrong, but I thought this was still a really cool picture. Clayton said it looks like fire, I agree.

After tonight's storm rolled right past us without incident, the entire sky was yellow. I don't know that these pictures do the best job capturing the color, but it was so incredible; I was literally awe struck. The last four are also of tonight's yellow sky.

Puzzeling Puzzles

Oliver never ceases to amaze me. The new jigsaw puzzles I purchased for Oliver arrived today, and even though I chose significantly more challenging puzzles than the chunky board puzzles he has been enjoying, with assistance he was able to put these 12 piece jigsaw puzzles together and boy what an accomplishment it was to him. Just check out the smile on his face:

Wild Thing

Most of the music I encourage Oliver to listen to is either kids music, classical, or what we would consider oldies. I love that there are fun songs for him to enjoy that I don't have to worry about what the lyrics might say. The other night we were grooving to a CD I made him while Daddy finished dinner. The CD contains Lollipop, Do Ah Ditty, Wild Thing and others. Oliver started running through our house with a bell shouting the lyrics to the songs and it was so cute. I debated on whether or not to post this video as by the time I thought to grab the camera, he was almost out of steam...and as luck would have it, he became camera shy and didn't want to do it anymore as soon as he noticed the camera. But I decided to post it anyway as I know at least his grandparents would love to see it. Please forgive the incredibly messy house, we know the right way to play at our house: toys EVERYWHERE! :)

look familiar??

Hey Grammy & Gramps:

I was just wondering if this looks familiar??

I think my legs looked like this the entire time I was growing up; I guess Oliver bruises easily, just like I do. People used to joke that my Mom must beat me with a stick...by the way, I don't beat Oliver with a stick either! :)

Oliver version 31.5

So here it is June 5 and Oliver turned 31 months on May 17th. We were travelling that day and without thinking, I didn't take even one picture of Oliver to commemorate the date. So I decided well, two and one half years of monthly picture magnets on my refrigerator is probably enough, right? If we are going to have another child, there needs to be enough room for their pictures too, right? For two weeks I convinced myself that he didn't need a monthly picture. The pictures of him playing with his cars, etc would be enough. Then this morning came and he looked so cute in his newest little Polo shirt and I just couldn't do it. Without further ado, here is my little guy at 31 1/2 months old.

some of my favorites

love those blue eyes!

his "pirate smile"...this is his favorite smile lately

And my favorite picture that will take its rightful place on my refrigerator

Some things about this age that I want to remember:

• Oliver loves cars, trucks, tractors, basically anything transportation oriented
• Oliver is incredibly outgoing and loves to talk to people, he always wants to know what that guys name is, or what is she doing, and loves it when people interact with him
• His use of language amazes me. He corrects his own grammar, and sometimes even mine. I would say most people can understand what he is saying. A side note to this is after 10 months of not signing, he still uses some signs combined with the word...some things die hard I guess.
• He is so sweet. He still likes his stuffed animals and sometimes he likes to pretend he is various baby animals to get extra snuggles
• Every night before bed time we do laps around our house to expend any left over energy. This is then followed by a relaxing routine consisting of bath, massage, story, songs and rocking.
• Oliver is learning Spanish and understands that items can have multiple names, although his favorite language at the moment seems to be gibberish
• Oliver has begun to recognize letters and will call them out to me when he sees them
• His long-term memory is quite impressive. For instance a couple of months ago we went to a nearby Chinese restaurant for take-out and he got a large bouncy ball from one of the vending machines. This week I asked him if he wanted to go there again and he said yes, and I want a white bouncy ball this time.
• His best friend is his Daddy. Clayton is Oliver's ultimate playmate and sometimes in the day, Oliver will tell me "I don't like you, I do like Daddy." I try not to let it hurt my feelings. :)

where have all the posts gone?

My sister has often accused me of posting every day. I guess after that long week of blogging after vacation, I needed a blogging vacation. :)

Here is a little of what we have been doing:

Loads and loads and loads of laundry. Ten days on the road definitely piles up the dirty clothes.

Lots and lots and lots of sleeping to make up for 10 napless days.

And finally, tons and tons and tons of playing. One of Oliver's favorites since we have been home is building mountains out of blocks on his car table.

On the road again

Okay, I don't know why, but coming home seemed so so so much longer than going to SLC. We left around 10:30 on Sunday morning and our first stop was in Green River Utah at the cleanest truck stop I have ever seen. Funny story is that Clayton saw an old co-worker of mine from Franklin Covey in there, but wasn't sure if it was him, so he didn't say anything. A couple of days later, Hank Taggart writes on my facebook page: Am I crazy, or did I see Clayton in a truck stop in Green River, UT? I really liked working with Hank, so it is too bad I was within a few hundred feet of catching up with him and his cute family! Then , it was on to the Slickrock Cafe for lunch in Moab, UT. I heart Moab and my now dusty old mountain bike misses that slickrock! A few other stops and long rides didn't land us in Albuquerque, NM until almost midnight. Oliver finally gave in and fell asleep in the car about an hour outside of Alb. Poor little guy, he had a really difficult time waking up and then an even more difficult time going back to sleep once we arrived in our hotel room. Unfortunately, this lead to a bad night sleep for the little guy which made day number two especially difficult for him. He was still a trooper and even opted for a 50 minute nap on day number two during some enforced quiet time. We arrived home after 11:00 pm on Monday and Oliver was so excited to see all his things...he just wanted to play. He was also happy to see his "black crib" in the words of Oliver and he ended up sleeping until 12:45 pm on Tuesday. Here are some pictures we took along the way.

the obligatory leaving picture with no make-up. Mom, let's make a vow that we will do this the day before we go next time when we both have make-up on. :)

Oliver coming in for a kiss...I loved this picture!

Good bye Gramps, thanks for playing with me!

Goodbye Grammy, I'll miss you!

I discovered I really like clouds. Without out mountains in Dallas, the clouds move through quickly and don't get caught in the valley. I loved seeing these clouds nestled up against the mountain in Spanish Fork, UT.

Clayton really likes the mountains going through the canyon on the way to Price. This was his favorite scenery of the drive.

Here is the same cliff, clouds featured this time.

Oliver wearing Mommy's sunglasses upside down. He thinks he is so cute! So do I! :)

He cleaned off his fingerprints before he gave them back to me; how thoughtful!

Okay, I hate tornadoes, but I have a sick fascination with supercell clouds. My photofinishing software makes these look more ominous than they really are, but still it sends shivers down my spine!

Oliver's view for two days straight. He took this photo.

A late night nap...poor little guy!

Necessity breeds progress. I forgot to bring a sippy cup into the hotel; Oliver now uses big boy cups all the time.

Video of Oliver ordering dinner at Sonic in Mineral Wells. This went on for a few minutes and I just caught the tail end. I actually had to encourage a few things because he was already done...he wanted to be just like his Daddy. :)

Our last day in SLC

We had a great week in SLC, we packed in as much fun as we could, and there is still another day to go. This morning, Clayton got up early and headed down to Orem with my sisters and did a 5K. I wish I had sent the camera with him, I would have loved a picture of the three of them together after or before the run, but I'll just chock that up to another mistake without my camera this vacation. Shortly after Clayton left, my sister-in-law Debbie came by to pick me up for a roller blading lesson. We went to Dewey Blueth park in Sandy and I showed Debbie some tricks on how to stop and turn. She did great and didn't even fall once. Afterwards, we went to breakfast and had some great girl time together.


One of the last things on my Utah to do list, was to take Oliver to the mountains for the first time. I had heard some good things about a short, supposedly easy hike right in Sandy. So Michele & Jerone brought their kids along with Grammy, Gramps and the three of us and we headed up to the Rocky Mouth Trail head which is on about 11300 South and Wasatch Dr. The hike is beautiful and the water fall at the top is breathtaking, but it was too technical for the little kids, either a drop or a river to the side so nerve racking for the parents of the little kids, and I thought I lost my camera with all my vacation pictures. Luckily, we all made it down safely and my Dad helped me find my camera under my seat when we returned to the 4Runner. Here are a couple of pictures we got to remember Oliver's first trip to the mountains.

Afterward we all headed to DQ for some ice cream courtesy of Gramps, yummy! Thanks Dad! Then we said our sad goodbyes to the majority of our family and headed our separate ways. I did get to spend a little more time with Michele & Travis that night when I headed to their house after Oliver went to sleep to watch a movie.

This was a FANTASTIC trip! Thanks to all my family who made our vacation so happy! We love you all!

Our family get together

On Friday night, everyone (minus Jarrett who was not feeling well) came to my parents for dinner. The food was yummy and I think everyone had a great time. After dinner, we all went out back to play. I think this was the most fun family get together I have had in a long time. Here are some random pictures from the evening:

Grammy & Gramps with all the grand children minus Jarret:

back row: Grammy, Preston, Wesley, Gramps

second row: Riley, Alex, Olivia

front row: Emily, Avery, Oliver (doesn't he look picked on), Madi & Layla

Avery showed up with some bling in her ears. You can't tell from this picture, but she is actually really happy about it!

Michele hoola-hooping. She will hate this picture, but I love it. I have a video too that is great, but I won't push my luck! :)

kids playing

Oliver & Daddy doing Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Uncle Jerone & Layla

We really wanted to get a shot of these two cousins together who are only seven weeks apart. Unfortunately, I don't thing Oliver purposely smiled for one picture this day. I love this expression on his face, ummm, smiling...I don't think so.

Oliver is about to make a run for it, but this is cute of Avery

So after about a dozen bad shots, I give up and stand up and then Oliver gives me this smile...I think he was really laughing at me! :)

Oliver & Madi had such a great time playing together. Madi always loved Oliver as a baby, and I think she loves him just as much now...and it's obvious to me that he loves her right back!

Riley with baby Layla

I can't tell you what April was talking about, but you can imagine by her hands! ;)

April, Jerone, Pamela & Michele

Debbie is the real photographer in our family, Clayton just got a couple of shots on the sidelines