Happy Birthday Olivia

I know that I am a few days late, but I just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA! We love you! Olivia is such a wonderful person and brings smiles to our faces everyday. We had a wonderful day celebrating with her. We played, went to the park, and had a "barbecue sauce" with some friends. Olivia had a Fancy Nancy party on Saturday with fifteen of her friends. I know that it sounds crazy, but it went pretty smoothly. Grandma Coy, Shay, and Emery came to visit and helped us. They were lifesavers and Olivia loved having them here. Shay was the life of the party and kept the kids laughing the whole time. She was the waitress at the fancy restaurant, taught the etiquette lessons, and was our mc for the fashion show. They all wanted to introduce her to their parents when they were being picked up. We also had a department store where the children bought accessories and a day spa. For her birthday Olivia got a new bike, a soccer ball, clothes, books, barbies, and a barbie house built by her daddy, and lots more. SPOILED!



5 things we love about Livvy:

1. Olivia loves life! She loves to play, explore, create, and have a good time. She has always hated watching movies. She would much rather be outside playing. We were at a valentines party where the children went to a different room to play games and do activities. Olivia came back when I was getting my dinner, and she was crying. I thought that something bad had happened to her and when I asked her what was wrong she said, "They are going to make me watch a movie." Everyone got a good laugh from that. I think that she has always been too busy to be able to sit still and watch a movie for very long.
2. She is always willing to try new things. Olivia is adventurous. She jumps off things five times as high as she is. Sometimes Brad picks her up from school on his bike. He carries hers along with him, and she rides home. That is over three miles away. WOW!
3. Olivia wants to do good. She likes to please and is willing to help me out. (most of the time) She wants to help her sisters as well. Livvy loves taking care of Madelyn. She wants to feed her, change her, dress her, and play with her. It works out wonderful most of the time unless Maddie just isn't in the mood.
4. Olivia is so smart. She is reading, writing and doing math problems. She is also a good problem solver. Liv has always been a bit precocious. She is always watching what is going on around her, and doesn't miss a thing. Many people have been surprised that she is only turning five. Her preschool teacher tells us that she will be going into kindergarten way ahead of the game. (we already knew that)
5. Olivia loves everyone. She is such a little social bug and loves having friends. She never says anything bad about anybody. She is friends with everyone, and she has many friends in return. It was really hard for her to only invite fifteen friends to her party. Whenever we saw her friends at the store, park, or preschool, she would invite more.

We love you Olivia. Happy Birthday!

alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5316429838539155714" />

Earth, Wind, and Fire

Last weeks FHE lesson was on WIND.



Tonight's lesson was on FIRE.


I guess next week we will focus on EARTH.

Loving the warm weather!

Today it was 70 degrees outside and it was wonderful! We drove in the car with the windows down, played outside, wore flip flops, and even cleaned out the car. I know, the last one was pretty amazing, and trust me, it was bad! I really hope it is not just a trick the weather is playing on us. I am so ready for spring. It is time for me to do my spring cleaning.

I have been trying to go through all of our pictures on the computer, figure out which ones to print, and organize them all. It is a really big job. I haven't printed pictures since before we went to Disney world a year and a half ago. I will probably have over 1000 pictures to print by the time I am done. Anyways, in the mean time, I get to look back at old pictures and reminisce. I think that baby Olivia and baby Madelyn look a lot alike. This is a picture of Brad and Olivia on a trip to Mexico when she was only six months old. This is the reason my kids are so brave or tough or wild or whatever you want to call it. I am ready for a vacation and Mexico sounds pretty good about now!

Moms DO make mistakes

This is how my conversation with Olivia went today when she was asking to play Starfall, a computer program.

Mom, can I play Starfall?
Not today.
Why not?
Because it is Sunday Olivia and I don't think that it is a good idea.
But I have played it before on Sundays.
Well, I guess I made a mistake then.
You made a mistake? (in a shocked tone)
Yes sometimes I do that.
No, I mean my mom made a mistake? exasperated

I started laughing at this point

Why are you laughing mom?
I think that you are funny.
I just can't believe that my mom makes mistakes!!!

She will soon learn that her all knowing, all seeing, supermom... is really only human.

Army baby

Miss Maddie is our army crawler. She gets to where she wants to go and gets there pretty fast. She is so sweet!

Valentines Weekend

Olivia made her own valentines to hand out at school this year. She worked a lot of days to get them ready. She was so excited about handing them out to her classmates and had to make sure she made one for herself. She is growing up so quickly. I can't believe she will be in kindergarten next year. We were so lucky to have company this last weekend. It is so fun to have people come visit us. Jeff, Becca, and their kids Tyler, Brianna, and Ethan showed up last Friday night just before Grandpa and Grandma Lindsay and aunt Heather. We had a house full. Whenever we get together with family, we are never in bed before midnight. We play games, talk, and eat lots of food. Grandma was so cute. She brought valentines gifts, decorations, and breakfast for Saturday morning. The kids loved it!
We tried to go up the Mesa on Saturday morning for the dog sled races but were snowed out and had to turn around. Brad, Jeff, and Grandpa ended up taking the kids down into the adobes to go four wheeling. They had a blast despite the cold weather. We did a little bit of dancing and karaoke at the ward party, and ended the day with more games. The rest of the weekend was nice and relaxing. More games, food, and fun. The kids always enjoy spending time with their cousins!

quick trip to Utah

It seems like we take quick trips to Utah a lot. This last weekend we were able to fit a little bit of everything into just a couple of days. It started with a day of work for Brad in the mountains next to Hanksville while the girls and I played at Goblin Valley. They love it there. It is a giant sandstone playground. This time it was half covered in snow, resulting in a lot of mud. Brad had the camera with him so we don't have any pictures of our muddy mess. We have been able to visit quite a bit over the last couple of years while Brad works. Every time we leave Olivia asks when we will be able to go back. We went to the Draper Temple open house the next day with Brad's brother Jeff's family. Once again there are no pictures. We were really bad with the camera. Didn't get many pics. It was wonderful to take the kids to the temple. They always want to go into them. Olivia told us that she felt the Holy Spirit there and that she now wanted to get married in that temple. Since then, it has changed back to the Manti Temple. It is good to give them these experiences. We visited friends, did some shopping, threw a baby shower for Rob's wife Jess, went to Cabella for some free entertainment, had a graduation party for Rob, went to a baby blessing for my cousin's cute baby boy, had a birthday party for my sister Amity, a Superbowl party, and seemed to fit in a little sleep. NOT MUCH THOUGH! We have been home for a week now and are finally starting to recover now. It is always great to see family and friends. That is the hard part of living away. We miss everyone a lot and love you all.