Happy Birthday!!!!!!

 I can't believe you're ONLY turning 28 this year!  It somehow doesn't seem fair that you're STILL 2 years away from being 30!!  But I love you anyway:)
This has been another great year for you.  You've had some big moments!
 I love every day that I get to wake up next to you and spend with you.  I'm looking forward to at least 70 more birthdays with you!
You are truly my best friend.
Olivia and I wanted to tell you 28 things that we love about you in honor of your birthday!
1.  I love your smile.
2.  Olivia LOVES the moment you walk in the door from work.
3.  I LOVE that you work from home on Fridays and take care of Little O.  It's such a special thing you do for her.
4.  I love that you take out the garbage.
5. Olivia loves when you play with her.

 6.  I love that you tickle my back almost every night.
7.  I love that you get my water for me before bed.
8.  I love that you make sure I take my vitamin every night.
9.  Olivia loves it when you help her turn the ceiling fan.
10. Olivia (and mostly me) loves it that you get her up most mornings.
11. I love how hard you work for our family.
12. I love that you love the Red Sox.
13. I love that you do all the yard work.  Not my thing.
14. I love that you are so patient with me.
15. I love that you understand when I get sad about being away from family and you give me my space when I need to be alone.

16. I love that you can't stay mad at me.
17. I love that you're a worthy priesthood holder.
18. I love that my family loves you so much.
19. I love that you spent months building my mom a doll house.
20. I love that you don't complain when I buy headbands.
21. I love sleeping with you at night.
22. I love waking up with you in the morning.
23. I love that you love spending every minute with me.
24. I love that you think I'm the most beautiful girl in the world.  Even though I haven't begun to lose all the baby weight.
25. I love that you make the perfect Diet Dr. Pepper at 7-11
26. Olivia loves it when you get her dressed and pick out the perfect bow to match her outfit.
27. I love that you bring all the groceries in after we go shopping.
28. I love that you're my best friend.

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!
I hope you have the best birthday ever.  There are no words to describe HOW much I love you.  Seeing you become the father you have this past year makes me love you even more!

Love, Alicia and Olivia

Don't You just LOVE Love?

 

 

 

 

 

Valentine's Day!!!!

 

 

My Valentine girl fell asleep on the way to work:)  Clutching her purse from grammie of course!

 

 Valentine's is one of my favorite Holidays.  My mom would always do a special breakfast of dinner with a present on our plates.  I couldn't WAIT to start that tradition with my own family.  Liv and I had SUCH a FUN day!  I only had to work until noon.  Then Livy and Jeff and I had lunch together.  After Jeff went back to work Liv went down for a nap, then we went and delivered her Valentine's to Daddy's and Papa's office.  She was a hit! 

Then when daddy came home we had a nice dinner and opened presents.  Jeff got a doorbell knocker and Liv got a bracelet.  I got some REALLY pretty flowers and this special card:)  He really loves me.  I can tell!

Grandma sent us a Valentine's package!!!

I even shared a See's sucker with her that my mom sent.  That's HOW much I love her:)

And her cute outfit is from grams.  And Liv ALSO got some red earrings.  She's spoiled rotten!

I'm SO grateful for my Valentine's!

6 Months Old!

It's hard to believe that today Little O is 6 months old.  Where does the time go?!?

Being her mom is the best, hardest most amazing thing I've ever done in my life.

What little Livy is up to as of today:
Eats solid foods twice a day in addition to about 5 bottles.
She LOVES bananas and sweet potatoes.  She goes nuts for those.  She tolerates anything green after you try giving it to her once or twice. 
She sleeps between 10-11 hours at night. And lately she must know it's the weekend because she's been sleeping past 9 on Saturdays.  I'll take it!
She take between 2-4 naps a day. They usually only last about an hour.
She can roll over from tummy to back and back to tummy.  But mostly from tummy to back.  She hates tummy time!
She LOVES football.  Seriously.  She is definitely her mom and dad's girl:)
She loves people.  She doesn't get fussy when new people want to hold her.  She loves the attention.
She got her ears pierced when grammie was here last month.
She loves her Tinkerbell that papa got her for Christmas.  And she likes watching Tinkerbell on Netflix while "Helping" mommy work!
She helps mommy around the house by being a good girl either playing on the floor, or in her new activity center.
She's sitting up for about half a second.
She loves talking to aunties, cousins and most of all her grammie on the phone.
She's had a few play dates with Mimi.  She loves her Mimi!

Some of the things Jeff said he loves about her:
She's calm
Loves her squeals
Loves seeing her face when he gets her up in the morning or from naps.  She kicks her legs real fast and gets real excited.
She's a good eater.
Learns fast. 
He loves it when people at the store comment on how cute she is.
So good to take to work.

Mommy and Daddy and anybody else who knows you, LOVES YOU SO MUCH!
We're so grateful you came into our lives.  You have given it so much more meaning.

P.S. Please don't hate me for the fashion choices I made for you when you were defenseless.  Trust me, everyone thinks you're adorable:)

Love, Mom

Grandma!!!!!!!!!!!

My mom came to visit at the beginning of December.   She was here for almost a WHOLE glorious week. 
We savored EVERY minute of it.

We shopped, cooked, watched TV, Liv got lots and lots of grammie cuddles, played games,

(notice who has to hold the poor little baby while she gets "poked")

talked, saw Christmas Lights, got ears pierced (Liv not me or my mom), made Christmas goodies........(and most importantly my mom got to witness our HORRID neighbors moving.  No more pit bulls!!!!!).

"If you think I'm ever letting go of her, you're CRAZY!" Said Little O.

 Chichasha Lights.  Next time I hope we're not in front of annoying hazard lights guy!

Homemade Toffee

There is something about this picture that is so tender.  It makes me tear up every time I see it.  My mom is just so amazing and special.  There's nothing she loves more than her family.

I treasure these visits with my mom. My mom said she was worried that Olivia would look at her and cry when she first saw her. Ummmm, I can officially say Olivia is OBSESSED with her grammie. I don't think she let go of her the whole time she was here. And she couldn't take her eyes off of her. It was almost like she was saying, "I remember you from when I was born, why did you leave me with these two?????? I don't think she'll ever have to worry about any of her grand kids not remembering her. They all simply ADORE her.
Thanks for taking time out your busy life mom to come see us on the prairie. We're counting down the days until we get to see you again!
We LOVE you!!!!!!!!!
P.S. Now if only some aunties would come visit...Ahem!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We had another great Christmas and New Year's here on the prairie.  While it was hard missing out on being with my family in Utah, I'm lucky to have Jeff and Liv and Jeff's family here to celebrate with.  We had such a great couple weeks with extra days off work and responsibilities.

Christmas Eve we went to dinner at Zio's with Jeff's family and Lana's brother's family (tradition).  We skipped out on the movie this year.  We didn't think Little O would appreciate it....and people in the theater wouldn't appreciate us for bringing her:)

Christmas morning Olivia opened her presents from Santa.  She is SO cute.  I think she mostly just liked ripping the paper!

Then the rest of the day was spent at the Hale's opening gifts, eating, playing games, and Jeff taking Olivia "sledding" with stiff objections from mama:)

It was a really great day.  I can't wait until Olivia gets older and understands how truly MAGICAL Christmas is.  I'm SO grateful to celebrate the birth of our Savior.  Because of him I get to be with my family Forever!

 

New Year's Eve outfit.  From grandma and grandpa Slade.  We HAD to represent:)

Olivia LOVES her Hale cousins.  Miss Haley is such a big helper with her.  And Olivia loves her!

On New Year's Eve we again went to the Hale's and ate appetizers and played games, then celebrated "midnight" with the East Coast.  I think if we had waited any longer Liv would have not made it.

 I was shocked she stayed up until 11:00......There's just something about being at Mimi's that makes those kids want to stay up:)

The next day I think we literally spent about 99% of it lounging in bed watching TV and taking naps.  Liv was a champ and took around 7 hours worth of naps.  I think she was worn out from the Holiday's!

I'm looking forward to the New Year.  I have lots to look forward to and be thankful for.

Milk

Taken a few months ago...                                                 

Taken today after a diaper mishap.....

 

 

 Milk.  It does a body good.

Am I a terrible mom that I can't stop laughing at the 2nd picture?  She looks like the Michelin Man!

Thankful

More than ever before I have SO much to be thankful for.
I'm thankful for my husband.  He's kind and sweet and BEYOND patient with me.  He can fix anything.  He fixes all my crafts that I start. He helps me cook and clean when I feel overwhelmed. He tickles my back every night.    He's an AMAZING father. He's a great provider.  He's my confidant, my best friend, he's my EVERYTHING.




I'm thankful for my beautiful daughter.  If I had known at 20 that having to wait 13 more years to be her mom would result in her, I wouldn't have been so impatient.  She was worth the wait.  Her smile undoes me.  Knowing that at times I'm all she needs completes me.

I'm thankful for my parents.
I'm thankful for my sisters/best friends.
I'm thankful for my brothers.
I'm thankful for great in-laws.
I'm thankful for friends both near and far.
I'm thankful for the gospel.
I'm thankful for my warm cozy house.
I'm thankful for my job that allows me to keep O with me.
I'm thankful for our car that still starts up every morning and allows us to get out of debt little by little by not making a car payment.
I'm thankful I live in America.

I'm just thankful.