Binky Love

I've always thought that babies look adorable with binkies in their mouth.   So of course I tried to get Maddy to love the binky when she was first born.  Let's just say that love was extremely short lived.  But not she had found a new love for the binky, okay it has only lasted a few days, but still, I had to get these photos because I think she looks so cute with them!  Her new found love all started as she was playing in her favorite area the kitchen and going through draws.  (My good friend Brenda who has an 18 month old and 3 year old gave me good advice when we moved into the home we're renting to put items Maddy could play with in bottom draws because she will be all over opening them - which of course she is!)  I had a bunch of her binkies in a plastic bag in the drawer, and this "new toy" became a fascination for the next hour!

Another day and still loving the binky!  She is such a silly one!

She took the binky with her when she went down for a nap, and this was how

I found her when she woke up.  I think we're having a little confusion

on how to use it!

So here is the culprit teaching Maddy to love the binky!  Lola absolutely

loves her binky - Maddy already trying to be like her friends!

Hiking on the Red Rocks

While we were in St. George for Thanksgiving, everyday was filled with fun activities (going to the Festival of Trees, Bounce House, Hiking, family pictures and lots of swimming).  The weather was wonderful the whole time we were there, so we spent a lot of time outdoors.  And one of the things I enjoyed most was hiking in the red rocks.  We went by the lava caves (we didn't go in them because Maddy was too little), but the rest of the boys all went and said it was amazing.  

This was an old lava cave entrance that had caved in so

people couldn't go exploring in it anymore.

I love this sweet picture!

Maddy's new favorite game is to put her head into daddy's neck

and then have him lift her up so she's holding onto his shoulders

 

Her other favorite game was taking daddy's hat off

and putting it on her head!

Smile!

Maddy was loving playing in the sand dunes - making sure to get sand 

on every inch of her.  We had a pack to carry her in, but of course she hated it,

 so daddy ended up carrying her along out hike.  Good thing we didn't go that far!

I love how blue the sky looks next to the red rock.

I don't think I could ever get sick of this view!

Favorite Things

It wouldn't be Christmas without Kim getting all of uspjs!  And this was the first time that I had the experience of all of us wearing our matching pajamas together.  During the week we were in St. George, each night someone shared a devotional and then one of the children were chosen to share their favorite scripture and say the family prayer.  Also, Kim would share with us her "favorite thing" - this was the theme of the week.  So on the last night, her favorite thing was Christmas pajamas.  The children, mom's and dad's all had matching sets - it was so fun to wear our pajamas together!

Mitch with his two matching  girls!  And Ellie

with her "new" favorite smile that she discovered.

Maddy just couldn't get enough of her uncles.  She went right

up to Beau and put her arms up to sit on his lap - so cute.

Maddy, of course, tried to have piggy in the picture.

These were our attempts at getting a picture of all the kiddies 

which is as hard as it sounds - at least none of them were crying! 

And I love that you can see us in the mirror behind the couch all taking pictures.

All of the grandkids with Grammy and Grandpa Olsen!

So cozy in our jammies - this is definitely a

tradition that I love that Kim does! Thanks Grammy!!

Family Photos in St. George

During Thanksgiving week in St. George Grammy and Grandpa (okay it was probably more Grammy) organized family pictures.  Surprising there were quite a lot of cute pictures of everyone, considering there were 5 different families and 10 kids to get ready!  It was also helpful that Grandma Kimmy had a stash of gummy bears with her which are great tools for bribery for the big kids and just having the little kids sit contently (at least sort of!).  I think Maddy a few too many gummies because she ended up puking, but we tried to wipe it off so at least it didn't show too much in the pictures.  She was also having troubles with her adorable boots that Grammy bought her (along with the whole outfit!) because they were too big and kept falling off and of course she kept wanting to crawl all over the red rock!  The scenery was absolutely beautiful on the red rocks - really a breathtaking landscape.  Here are a few of the cute pictures we were able to get!

We ended up using these pictures for our 2012 Christmas card and it turned out so cute!!

Thanksgiving in St. George

Our first Thanksgiving in St. George, and it was wonderful!  The weather couldn't have been more perfect too - each day in the high 60s and even reached the 70s.  It was so fun to be together with Mitch's parents, siblings, and their families.  Kim and Mitch put so much time and effort into making sure that we had a week in St. George that was filled with wonderful memories, and it was.    We spent the morning preparing for dinner and going for a walk, then it was time to eat!  There was a feast prepared for Thanksgiving Day - Brooke made her amazing cornbread sausage stuffing that was my favorite!  Everything was wonderful.  Mitch and I made creamed corn (a recipe given to us by Christopher from last year's Thanksgiving), and it was a hit - Maddy especially enjoyed it.  She was so great a trying different foods, and her Thanksgiving meal consisted of cranberry grape salad, stuffing, creamed corn and homemade rolls (I tried to give her some turkey but she wasn't a fan).

Maddy was loving her uncles the entire time we were in St. George.  

She especially loved watching the football games with Beau and Mike.

   

Last Thanksgiving we didn't go to Branson with the Cullimore side of the family

because Maddy was so little and it was flu season.  We ended up spendingThanksgiving with 

Marty and Christopher.  So this year it was especially wonderful to be with Mitch's family.

This is a face of a girl who has thoroughly enjoyed Thanksgiving!

 It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a little Black Friday shopping!

Some stores were actually opening on Thursday night, and Target was one of them.  So Kim, Sharee, Brooke and myself made it over to Target a little before 9:00pm, when the doors were to open.  We couldn't believe how many people were in line - easily hundreds.  We decided not to wait in the line but would watch as the doors opened and people started running in.  Instead, we went to another strip mall that had a few clothing stores open, I got Maddy some clothes from Oshkosh and Gymbore.  We went back to Target to see if the line had gotten smaller, and to our luck, there was no line!  So we went in and started piling our arms with items since the carts were all taken (we found games, DVDs, a princess doll house for Maddy).  We thought we had outsmarted the other shoppers who waited in line, until we saw the checkout line - it wrapped all the way around the store.  Brooke asked someone who just bought something how long he waited, and he said over an hour.  We put down our items and headed out.  So the picture we took was our unsuccessful shopping trip to Target on Black Friday, but a lot of fun being out together!  

I have so much to be thankful for.  My heart swells with gratitude for my wonderful family, for my wonderful husband and baby girl and for both of our families.  I am so thankful for a Heavenly Father that knows each of us and our needs and wants nothing more than for us to be happy.  And I am eternally grateful and happy for all of my many blessings.

Three Year Annivarsary

It's hard to believe that three years ago from today we were married - so much has happened, so many wonderful things!  To celebrate we went to The Roof a few weeks before our anniversary -  my mom was in town and was nice enough to offer to babysit her.  We absolutely love The Roof, and it's where Mitch took me the night he proposed.  The summer of 2009, Mitch was home during summer break from law school, and I flew out there to see him and make the drive back to Michigan for him to start his second year at MSU Law School.  When I had got there, he said he had to work, but that a fun day was planned with his mom and sister.  We had a great day and then Brooke took me to a Salon and Spa and said Mitch had a surprise for me - a massage!  It was wonderful!!  Then, when I thought I was all done, a girl at the Salon said she was ready for my manicure and pedicure (another surprise!), and after that, a girl styled my hair (it was soo wonderful!).  He definitely spoiled me.  Mitch had told me to bring a nice outfit to wear and that he was going to take me out for dinner the night we got there since we hadn't been able to spend much of the summer with each other.  He had also packed a bag for me that had skittles, flavored water and magazines!  He honestly thought of everything, so sweet.  So, at the Salon, I changed into my favorite black dress (I felt like I was famous being all glammed up!), and Mitch came to pick me up, and then he surprised me with dinner at The Roof!  The restaurant has the most beautiful views of downtown Salt Lake City, and the Temple looks absolutely breathtaking from up there!

After dinner, we walked around the Temple grounds.  There was some construction going on in front of it, so we couldn't go right next to it (which later I found out was where he wanted to propose and was all thrown off because of the construction!).  We then went over to the old Tabernacle building.  It was pretty cool out, so Mitch was hugging me to keep me warm, and I had my arms inside his suit coat (I didn't realize the ring was in his suit and he was afraid I felt it - but I was totally oblivious).  We then sat on a bench and before I knew what was going on, he was down on one knee asking me to be his wife!  It was so wonderful - one of the happiest days of my life!

Three years later - and still so in love!

  

We absolutely LOVE their desserts - 

over 20 homemade wonderful creations!

And yes, I ate every bite!

The Temple always looks so majestic -

 breathtaking in every way.

Happy Anniversary!

On our actual anniversary, November 20th, we were in St. George with Mitch's family for the week to celebrate Thanksgiving.  So, Mitch and I went out to dinner at a local favorite, Olive Garden!  Before we lived next to Sweet Tomatoes  we would go to Olive Garden all the time to get their soup and salad and yummy breadsticks.  It was fun to reminisce and talk about what the next three years might have in store.  I have such a wonderful husband and am grateful to have him as my helpmate.  We truly are the best match for each other.  Love you hun!