Donut Falls

One of the best parts about living in Utah is being able to take advantage of the beautiful mountains.  Last summer before Maddy was born, Mitch and I went on a lot of hikes, so this year we wanted to carry on the tradition with taking Maddy on a hike up Donut Falls.  It was a really nice path, only about 2 miles or so round trip.  It was a perfect day, nice and hot, but we had lots of shade along the way.  I definitely see more hiking in our future!  

Ready for our first hiking trip!

 

Maddy was loving looking at looking at the water.

We made it to the falls!  

Father and daughter having a nice pondering moment.

Such pretty views along the path.

Mommy and her little hiker!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy First Father’s Day!  So exciting to be celebrating Father’s Day with my husband!  We started the day by making Daddy's eggs in a basket, a grease bomb (egg made in bacon grease), bacon and grapefruit.  The weather was beautiful all day – probably a little too hot for Mitch but I was loving it!  We went over to Grandma and Grandpa Olsen’s for dinner and had wonderful grilled salmon and steak, and lots of yummy food!  Then we had our second round of desserts at Mitch’s Aunt Kathi’s with the Cullimore side of the family.  Even though I couldn’t be with my family, it is so wonderful to live close to Mitch’s family and be able to spend time with them. 

Surprise!!

Maddy and I got Mitch a very practical Father’s Day present, a tie rack!  To keep his ties nice so Maddy can suck on them – one of her favorite things to do!  We also had to get him a “You’re the Best Dad” balloon because Maddy is obsessed with balloons! 

A breakfast made with love!

I saw these questions in a Parenting magazine and thought they would be fun to ask Mitch, so here goes:

What did you learn about being a father from your dad?

You need to prioritize – that even with work and other things my dad always put family first.

First word that pops into your head when you hear “dad”?

            Dedicated.

Job that would best prepare you for fatherhood?

            School teacher.

Toughest part of the gig?

            Prioritizing. 

Favorite family activity?

            Maddy's bath time.

Favorite everyday moment with Maddy?

            Coming home from work and her big smile.

Best part of fatherhood?

            Maddy’s smile.

Fill in the blank: “The key to being a good dad is …”

            Make time for your family.

Daddy, I love you so much!

Mitch is such a wonderful father.  He loves Maddy so much and has become such a softy – yes, Maddy is definitely a daddy’s girl, and I love it.  It is undeniable how much she looks like her dad too.  I only hope that she inherits his qualities too.  His dedication to his family, working hard, serving others, being selfless, and centering his life around Heavenly Father.  It is so fun to watch him as a father and how he lights up every time he is around her.  I love seeing the “daddy” way of doing things too – how he lifts her up to put her pjs on after a bath instead of laying her pjs down, how he feeds her (and how she looks afterwards), on Saturdays when I go for a run and come back to see Maddy sitting on daddy’s lap with her onesie on, toys all over, neither one dressed for the day but both totally happy.  They have this new game of hide and seek that they play with each other too – Maddy goes completely nuts when she sees him pop out from behind a door – her legs are kicking, back arching, arms waving and squealing – it is absolutely the sweetest thing in the world. 

Visit from the Grandparents!

We have had so much fun the past week with my dad and Betsy visiting.  We went to the Natural History Museum which was amazing, had lots of fun going shopping around City Creek, going to Gardner Village, and of course getting our fill of yummy food and frozen yogurt!  

Fun at the Natural History Museum.  It just opened this past year and was amazing to

look at all of the exhibits they had - I couldn't believe there were so many

dinosaurs that lived in Utah!

Maddy loving being with Grandpa!

Beautiful view from outside the Natural History Museum.

So fun spending time with my dad.

Grandpa looks so funny with that light on his head!

Of course I couldn't have my dad visit without checking out Maddy's ears - 

that's the perk of having a dad as an ear, nose and throat doctor!  Maddy had two

ear infections earlier, but Grandpa said everything looked great! 

We had a great time at Gardner Village and got to learn a lot about Gumpy's ancestry. 

(Gardner was Mitch's great great great grandpa!)  Mitch was even able to meet 

us for lunch, and Betsy and I loved looking at the cute shops.

Nummie and Grandpa definitely spoiled us while they were here - Maddy is lucky to have so many grandparents that love her.  It was so much fun being with my dad and Betsy, but of course time went by way too fast.  That's one of the hard parts of living so far away from my family, but it's great looking forward to visits and having such a wonderful time.  I am so lucky to have such an amazing family!

Allergic Reaction

Boy is our little girl a tough cookie.  She had another ear infection (her third in 7 months) a couple of weeks ago and was prescribed an antibiotic (basically penicillin plus); well it turns out that she was allergic to the penicillin because she broke out in horrible hives.  Oh it looked so awful!  But of course she was in good spirits.  Wow, do I have a LOT to learn from her.  When my dad was here he looked at her ears and they looked great and her hives were all gone.   

Day 1

I got her out of bed and saw that the back of her neck and face was red - almost like she had a sunburn.  Then I took her jamis off and saw red blotches all over.  I took her to the doctor, and they confirmed that she had hives.  They told me to stop giving her the meds and start giving her Benadryl.  

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Day 2

The hives weren't looking any better - but she was all smiles!  It was still hard to look at my baby with polka-dots all over her.  I think her hives hurt me more than they hurt her!

Day 3

Finally the hives are going away!  Thank goodness - and yes, Maddy is still all smiles.  After her reaction I was a bit paranoid about her being allergic to other things, but she has been fine since then and no more ear infections either!  She really is such a strong little girl.  Each time she had an ear infection I was surprised because she wouldn't be pulling at her ears or fussy, she would just get a cold, so I'd bring her in and then find out that our poor pumpkin had an ear infection.  She truly has taught me to be tougher - I can only imagine what other lessons I'm going to learn from this little ones in the years to come!