Firsts

Oliver was born on Christmas day in 2011 so I suppose this is technically his 2nd Christmas. However, he did not get to enjoy much of his holiday last year and I'm sure the trauma from being squeezed through a birth canal ruined anything good that happened that day. So this year is Oliver's First Christmas/First Birthday. I will do an official 1 year old post after he goes to the doctor this week and we see how he is measuring up. This post is just a million adorable pictures of our Christmas and Birthday celebrations because words can't say how awesome it was. We had my whole family gathered at my parents home this holiday and it might not happen again for awhile (more on that later).

Christmas eve we all opened a pair of matching Christmas jammies, listened to Grammy Pie read the Christmas story, sang Christmas hymns, watched The Grinch, and had a fantastic hot chocolate bar. It was magical :)


Getting a group photo with the auto-timer was a bit tough. I was trying to set up the camera and take practice shots and this is about how it went....

This is what we ended up with which still isn't great but everyone has a face in it, kind of. 

Grammy Pie reading the Christmas Story

 Kate and Jared singing Christmas hymns

 Our Christmas had a monkey theme this year. My mom went around to several DI's and bought out all of the monkeys and dressed them up very festively to hang on her 12' tree. They were pretty cute. 

 My mom and dad

 Kate and Jared

 Hot chocolate bar ... mmmm!

 Ellie was trying to make a snow angel in the carpet

 Story telling that prompted the snow angel making.

Oliver's birthday breakfast consisted of an old favorite, eggs, and a new favorite, left over Christmas Eve ham. He ate that for about 6 days. 

 There aren't any pictures of Christmas morning which is just as well because Oliver didn't participate anyway. His main concern was finding food. 

My niece Ellie got an InnoTab which she walks around the house referring to as her IPad. Kind of cute. 

 Aneleise got "so many presents I can't remember any of them" and this awesome diary with a lock! 

 Oliver spent the majority of the day getting spoiled with junk food. Chocolate milk and brownies from Grammy. Snuggles on the side. 

                                  In the afternoon we had a rockin' birthday party for the little dude.

                                       He got a lot of fun presents and some cute new clothes.

Mom found this beauty on the internet for sale from a guy in Ririe. Had to have it. He was the star of the show. Giving him to Oliver for his birthday caused quite an uproar with the other cousins which may have resulted in the gift being taken back by grammy to leave at her house for everyone to play with. I'm still going to try and sneak it out when we go though.

                Lounging around in his throne with a candy cane in hand. He has never been so sticky.

 One of Ollie's favorite snacks is toilet paper. He got a roll of it for his birthday and promptly started to eat it. 

 He got this partially finished blanket from his grandma. Ollie Wog is her grammy nick name, she says.

                      Holding daddy's hand, waiting for cake. The anticipation is just too much!

                                                           Just giving him a little help.

 I wanted him to taste the actual cake part and not just the frosting so he might dig in a little deeper.

                                              But he preferred the candle over any of it.

 He ended up in the tub after the cake which is why he is naked from here on. 

Enjoying his horsey in his birthday suit. Nothing better. 

 Dad had to pull him off to give some one else a turn and he wasn't too thrilled. 

 Luckily he had more amazing toys to quickly distract him. I love how happy Ellie looks in this picture considering how much these two make each other kick and scream.

 I have never seen such genuine joy. This is a happy baby.

Warning: Ooey, gooey, lovey, dovey, mushy blah blah blah Ahead

I blog a lot about Shark because, well, he is a major part of my life and I want to remember our time together. However, my husband is another major part of my life and today I want to recognize him.

This week Bear will take his last tests at BYU. This week he is no longer a student, but an alumni. I am so proud of him for the work he has put in to his education and to his job so I am able to stay home and take care of my child/ren. But it doesn't stop there. He has done so much in his short 25 years. The good choices he made growing up have proven themselves time and time again and he has been blessed beyond belief. And now I get to benefit from those blessings. He has always been very dedicated to his education and at the same time has always made plenty of time to serve those around him and make friends with every person he meets. He genuinely cares about everybody. I mean EVERYBODY. This guy gets pretty emotionally invested in the lives of the people around him. It's a quality I really admire in him. He loves unconditionally. He serves without reservation. He lives life to the fullest.

I also have to put in a word about the amazing father he is. My heart melts every time I get to witness him teaching our son how to use a spoon, or trying to force the word "mama" out of him because he feels bad for me that he only says "dada", or making the poor boy laugh so hard he can't crawl straight.  He has taken on the responsibility of bathing Shark before bed every night and I like to stand in the doorway and spy on him washing his hair and carefully rinsing to avoid getting soap in Sharky's eyes. I love standing in the kitchen and hearing them singing songs and splashing each other, or making up a new game with the toys in the tub. He is always teaching, he explains every thing he does to Shark. I always kind of shake my head and mumble something like, "he has no clue what you are talking about" but he will someday and his little sponge of a brain is taking in more than I realize. The role of a father came very naturally to Bear.

Here are some pictures of Austin as a kid that his father sent to me today. Enjoy.

No doubt, this is a shot from a trip to Lake Powell. His family was always up to something exciting.

This is Austin with his two older brothers, Kyle, and Ryan, who he admires very much.

 He was so adorable! Love his blonde hair (preview of what Oliver will look like)

Austin is the slouching, grumpy looking little guy in the middle. So cute!

Well there you have it. I realize people don't really like mushy, love posts but sometimes a gal has to gush a little about the big hunk in her life. If you've got one of your own, you understand. If you don't yet, you are probably gagging.