The Cardons

Merry Christmas from the Cardon's

2011-12-19T15:28:00.002-07:00

With being near the end of a pregnancy I was a little slow to get out Christmas cards, so here is our Christmas letter.

Click on me to make me larger or to print...

Some Christmas pictures from this year.

Livvy and Lily at the temple lights

Livvy, dad and Lily

Liv and Lily at one of Liv's dance performances.

Hair Cut

2011-11-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

So, Thanksgiving was a fun day filled with cooking and crafting by the girls and XBoxing by the boys and playing with pup-pup for the little girls. We enjoyed a lovely turkey dinner and Liv and I made some Thankful wreaths. (For some reason I didn't take any other pictures...)

Livvy's wreath

My wreath

So, it was a lovely day. We put the girls to bed that night and I could hear that they were awake, but they were just quietly talking so I didn't think much of it. Well, about 9pm we hear Liv go into the bathroom and Lily come's out and climbs on Marcus lap. He is a guy, so he looks at her and say's "what's wrong with your hair?" After a minute of him staring at her trying to figure out what is wrong, I lean over and look at her. Immediately it is clear to me that what is wrong is that a lot of it is missing. I walk over to the bathroom and pick the lock. I asked Liv what had happened, to which she replied she didn't know. Seriously!? She finally admitted to cutting Lily's hair, and I notice a little of her own. I asked her where the cut hair was so I could throw it away and again she didn't know. Can we say "I know I'm in trouble so I'm going to plead the 5th..." When I told her that it would attract bugs who would want it to make nests she suddenly remembered where it was. I couldn't look at it too closely that night. It was one of those things as a parent where partly it is hilarious but then also so not! So the next morning I look at Lily a little more closely and Liv had given her bangs from behind one ear, across her forehead, to behind the other ear. It made an absolutely fabulous mullet! But it didn't stop there. I think she wanted to layer it because where we part Lily's hair was cut all the way back to the crown of her head like .5 - 1 inch long! She also layered the back so it had a sort of jellyfish look. It was very skillfully done, if this was 1982. Looking at Livvy that moring I notice that she had cut her own bangs and done a little layering on her own hair as well, but not nearly as much. So, it is the morning of Black Friday and I think to myself, how on earth an I going to find someone to fix this!? The ladies in the neighborhood who do hair are probably with family or out shopping and I'm a little nervous to take her to a random salon and have them try to fix it, if I can even find one open. Anyway, I texted a friend who I usually have do their hair and luckily she wasn't busy. I took the girls over and she tried to cut Lily's hair into like a bob, but it still looked too goofy. She shortened it a little more and it was still goofy. She did that like 4 or 5 times, and finally we just had to go with a pixie cut. I'd rather have it be short and cute, then keep it long but weird looking. She did a great job fixing Lily's hair. I never would have cut it that short out of my own choosing, but it did turn out really cute. Marcus and I keep joking that we can see he face now!! (The pictures really don't do the fabulous 80's-ness of it justice, they really really don't...)

This is Lily earlier this month with her hair long.

Bangs to behind the ears.

If you look at the crown of her head you
can see how short it is.

Lily's new bangs.

New hair. It is messy morning hair, but you get the idea.

Thanksgiving/Craft Day

2011-11-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

Jonica came to our house for Thanksgiving this year. Moni brought her silhouette so she could help me finish a couple projects I'd been working on.

When Ann was here a couple of weeks ago we started making these cute Christmas countdown calendars. I accidentally bought letter and number stickers, which didn't have all the numbers needed, so Moni cut them out for me on sparkley scrapbook paper. Now we just need some candy to hid in there!

I decided a while ago that I wanted to redo Liv's chore chart. I just wasn't in love with how the other one turned out. I got a sheet of metal from Home Depot and framed it. A miter saw would have really helped with that step, but since I couldn't get accurate enough cuts we just made the frame fun, totally works for this project I think. Moni again helped me with cutting out all the circles of paper, the vinyl words, and the cut paper flowers in the corner. I think it is a winner, at least for now, since Liv has been very excited to move her magnets!

I did this earlier this month, but still thought I'd share. I had wanted a Family Home Evening chart for a while. Moni cut out "CARDON" for me as well as the St. George temple on scrapbook paper and then all my vinyl words. Each of our names are on a little piece of wood covered in paper that hangs from a hook so they are easy to change. It's pretty simple, but I like how it turned out.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-07T11:29:00.001-07:00

Surprisingly, or not, our Halloween's have been themed by Liv the last couple of years. This year she wanted to be a princess, and so did Lily and I she informed me. :) Daddy couldn't be a princess so he got to be the king. It's nice that he is such a good sport. I like to make our Halloween costumes and I knocked Daddy's out real quickly a couple months ago, and then nothing. October began and I still hadn't started on the girls or my own. My back was hurting with being pregnant and the idea of sitting down for hours to trace, cut fabric and sew everything together was just not sounding magical, so I kept putting it off. Luckily Kirk and Ann came for a visit in the middle of October and Ann cut out all three dresses for me! What a life saver! After that I sewed each dress up in a few hours. I was very happy I had thought ahead when buying the fabrics and gotten A-lined dresses. It fit fabulously over the baby belly.

On Halloween night we had a fun neighborhood pot luck dinner. Everyone came and ate and the kids did a parade and some prizes were given out for the costumes. It was lots of fun.

After the pot luck everyone went trick or treating. My girls would have stayed out all night!

Happy Halloween!

LDS Legacy Polo Shirt Giveaway

2011-09-02T14:05:00.001-06:00

"LDS Church History comes alive for me when..."

I hear the unknown stories of the early Saints and pioneers that you don't hear in seminary or institute. There are so many amazing stories of faith, perseverance and love that are rarely heard.

LDS Legacy Polo Shirt Giveaway - www.ldslegacy.com/blog

Crafty Wednesday

2011-08-03T17:20:00.000-06:00

So the other day I decided that I was tired of finding my girls bows all over the house. "What to do, what to do," I asked myself. I had seen a cute bow holder at a friends house and decided I was going to make one. I found an old frame in my closet, got some paint for the frame, some fabric and ribbon and got to work...

Livvy and I starting to paint. She was working
on a project while I worked on mine.

After wrapping the cardboard that came with the frame
in batting and fabric, I started to cut ribbon.

I glued one side of the ribbon to the back, wrapped
it around the front and then glued it to the other
side on the back

Liv got a shot of me in action!

All done - well except for the frame

Frame dry, ribbon done - we have a bow holder!!

When we were getting the things I needed for my project, we picked up a little wood frame for Liv to paint.

Working hard on her stencil butterfly. It was lots
of fun, because we got to mix paint colors to
make ones we didn't have!

All done! Liv did her frame all by herself, with a little
help from me holding the stencil.

We didn't make this today, but I thought I was also fun. I made this for my sister for her birthday. It has a small diaper changing mat that fits inside one side of the holder. The other side of the holder holds a small wipes case and a couple of diapers. The ribbon on front is also not glued down all the way across so you can clip things to it - bows, paci's, etc

Rainbows

2011-08-02T13:16:00.001-06:00

So lately Livvy has had a fascination with drawing rainbows. Today she came into the office from the kitchen and handed me a picture. She had drawn and written the words on the picture all by herself and she couldn't have been prouder!

She then informed me that since she had drawn me such a wonderful rainbow that I needed to draw one for her. She has been carrying it around since...

Chore/Responsibility Chart

2011-06-14T14:04:00.000-06:00

So I decided I wanted to make a chore chart for Liv. I wanted one a little more interesting than just a Calendar sort of set up. I wanted her to be excited about it so she would actually do the stuff on it :) Anyway, I couldn't really find what I wanted, so I just made one up.

We keep all the flowers on the bottom till she
completes something.

I didn't want it to just be plain white, so we added
some ribbon to the bottom.

After she has completed something, she gets
to move the flower up to the top part!

We'll see how this goes and if it helps get things done. I need to figure out some sort of reward system. I was thinking of at the end of each day writing down how many flowers she has at the top and then giving each one a value. Like 1 flower = 5 cents. So at the end of the week if she has had 50 flowers then she gets $2.50. She is only 4 though and I know she'll just spend that money on candy, gum and cheap crappy toys. Maybe she has to save half for a trip or something short term, but not right now. I don't know yet. If anyone has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Also if anyone is curious, these are the items in the flowers. Get dressed, go to bed on time (not playing for 2 hours after we get in bed), practice letters or counting (something school related), read a book, make bed, play outside (or active play), take a bath, clean up toys, brush teeth in the morning, clear dishes off table, brush teeth at night, and put dirty clothes in hamper at end of day.

Projects

2011-04-11T16:10:00.013-06:00

It's been so long since I've blogged that the thought of "catching up" is a little too scary. So I decided to post one one of some of the crafty things/projects I've done the past few months.

For Halloween (yes, Halloween, I'm way behind!) we were a Tinkerbell theme. Liv was Tinkerbell, Lily was Tiger Lily (the little Indian princess kidnapped by Capt. Hook) Daddy was Peter Pan and I was Tiger Lily's mom. Why wasn't I Wendy you ask? Well, I thought about it and at first walking around the neighborhood in a blue nightgown seemed a little weird, but at the end it would have just been easier. For next time then..

In February I got a crafty bug and made skirts for the girls...

And a little onesie dress for my brand new baby niece...

A scripture bag for Liv...

and a swing set...

This past week I decided to make a bed. It's sort of a long story, I do weird things like that sometimes. It's a little more rustic looking than I generally would go for, but I think it turned out pretty good! (just ignore the messy nightstands...)

Trash

2011-01-28T17:49:00.002-07:00

While she was hiding in an empty diaper box today I told Liv, "Be careful or Daddy might not see you and throw you in the trash."
She incredulously replied, "Mom, I'm not a booger or something!"

Ha Ha!

First Dance Performance - now with the video!!!

2010-12-04T21:32:00.009-07:00

I have lots of blogging to catch up on - but I thought I'd better post this.

Liv had her first dance performance today and it was too cute. She has so much fun, and was thrilled because she got to wear makeup for it :) Here is a video of it...

(When looking at the video Livvy is the one just to the right of the space in the girls.)

Mourning...

2010-09-01T13:07:00.004-06:00

So last night I came to the conclusion that I should not rapidly watch tv series. Marcus and I like to find a show we like, start at season 1 and watch a few episodes every night. The past few weeks we have been doing this with the BBC tv series of Robin Hood. In one of the episodes we watched last night one of the main characters die (I won't say who in case anyone else watches it) and I feel like I am in mourning today! I will find a way to pull through :) but the dynamics of the show will be totally different now, and in a way that will leave much wanting. Plus it was one of my favorite characters. Oh well...

On a different note, we went to the lake this past Saturday with some friends and it was a lot of fun, although crazy windy! For some reason we did not get pictures of any of us on the wave runner, but here are some other pictures.

Cruise

2010-08-27T11:56:00.050-06:00

Last month we were able to go on a week long cruise with my whole family.

On Sunday we woke up at 5:30 am so we could be on the road by 6 - headed for Los Angeles. We happened to get to the pier at the exact same time and Gr Laurie and Gr Rob & Aunt Monica and Uncle Johnny.

That first day was Gr Laurie's birthday and Gr Rob's was a couple of days earlier, so we had a birthday party for them that night. We snuck into their room and left some cake and then opened presents.

Monday was a sea day so we just hung out. Gr was just too much fun for Lily.

That night was a formal dinner.

Tuesday we were in Cabo San Lucas. Our little family went on a semi-sub adventure!

Later that day some people went ice skating. The girls and I watched.

And Livvy was the queen of high fives!!!

Wednesday we were in Mazatlan and we all went to a beach on a nearby island. We got to play in the water, ride horses and take out kayaks. It was lots of fun!

On Thursday Gr and Gr, Jonica and Daddy went and did a canopy tour in Puerta Vallerta.

Friday was a sea day again, and we were all so exhausted that we just rested. Then that night Marcus and I played mini-golf and ping pong with Monica and Johnny. It was SO windy that the golf and ping pong balls kept moving around and Monica and I were getting blown around! It was so windy it was really hard to keep the camera and ourselves still for a good picture..

Saturday we were also at sea and we took Liv ice skating.

They had a kids area were Liv could go play. She LOVED it. They had activities and games and even painted faces. One of the days they all dressed up like pirates and had a parade through the ship.

We got matching jammies for the kids. Liv wasn't there for the picture, but hers look just like Lily's.

While we were at the beach in Mazatlan we had a local artist draw a picture of Liv and Lily. Liv was so tired that she fell asleep in the chair while he was drawing.

Here are just some other random pictures...

Also, this summer the girls and I were able to go to Bear Lake with Gr Laurie, Aunt Jessi and baby Justin. This is a collage of that trip that we made for my mom.

Dance Class

2010-08-24T17:30:00.005-06:00

Livvy had her first dance class today and LOVED it... until the drive home when she found out the next one isn't for two days and had a break down. She has worn her tights and leotard all day

We have been working on our Halloween costumes as well, and I got Liv's done last week. She is a very excited Tinkerbell. Now I just have to finish all the rest of them...

Names...

2010-05-12T09:18:00.004-06:00

I have tons of pictures of the last three months, however, in order to blog about them I have to load the pictures onto my computer and then go through them! Boo! So, I thought I'd share this real quick. Livvy's imagination has gone crazy the last few months. This is probably due to a boring mommy who can't do as much with her since my time is now split by Lily too. Liv has been playing with new friends lately, the invisible kind, and has been naming many of her dolls and stuffed animals. The other day she named one and it was such a silly name that I totally cracked up, it was just so cute to me. Anyway I made her a little self conscious about her made up names. So for several days she would only name things 'Olivia Cardon.'. I guess she figured that was a safe name with me! :)

Here are a few of the names she made up the last few days...
Horsey's name - Jixin-an-twigan
Pound puppy dog - Markvin
Princess - Awkfawf

It usually takes ALL my self control to not laugh at these names, but I'm trying my best. I think it is great that she is being creative.

Livvy turned 3!!!

2010-01-29T11:59:00.007-07:00

Liv turned 3 on Tuesday! She is such a big girl. We celebrated her birthday with mommy, daddy, Mama Aurie (Gma Laurie) and baby Lily. This weekend her Aunt Jessi and baby Justin and Aunt Monica and Uncle Johnny as well as Papa Rob are coming to celebrate her birthday with us all together.

Here are a couple of pictures from her birthday during the week.

Eatting cake. Liv wanted to blow out her candles over and over!

She got a princess dress up set and got dressed right up as Sleeping Beauty! She wore it for like 3 straight days!

Opening presents.

Lillian Brianne Cardon

2010-01-29T11:40:00.007-07:00

Baby Lily was born Saturday January 23rd at 5:19am. She weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 19 inches long. The birth went pretty well. The baby tried to tease us a couple of times and dropped her heart rate down to 60 (it's supposed to be around 130) and my room was immediately filled with people who strapped an oxygen mask on me and gave me the quickest IV ever. The baby leveled out after a few mintues and seemed to be fine. (They said she probably just squeezed the cord and caused herself distress for a minute.)

Baby Lily sleeping at the hospital.

Lily with Daddy.

Lily with Mommy.

Livvy was pretty excited when we got home from the hospital. She had been waiting for two days to hold the baby. In fact when we came home she didn't even give mommy or daddy a kiss or hug, she just wanted that baby!

Mommy with her girls.

Livvy and Lily.

Some other pictures from this past week.

Mommy and her girls again.

Lily and Livvy.

Grandma Laurie with Lily.

Livvy and Lily.

Lily snuggled in her purple blanket.

First Day of School - Thanksgiving

2009-12-09T11:06:00.016-07:00

Livvy started going to Preschool a couple of weeks ago with a few other kids in the ward. She LOVES it! They work on letters, numbers and colors, but best of all, she gets to take her 'pack-pack'!!!

For Thanksgiving this year we met my parents in Las Vegas. Liv had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa. We got to spend time with family for almost a week.

After coming home from Vegas, we decorated for Christmas. Livvy thinks that all moments without the lights on is a moment lost, but she is very excited. She also tells just about everyone she sees that "Santa bringing a baby girl!" (Which isn't exactly true, but close enough.) Here are a couple of pictures. (They were taken during the day so they aren't the best, but you will still get the idea.)

Liv took this one all by herself! (Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. She loves cameras and taking pictures.)

Here a couple other random pictures that I thought were cute...

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-13T10:41:00.013-07:00

So I realize this post is a little late. Someone relocated our camera, and I finally found it last night. Liv had so much fun with Halloween. We carved pumpkins together a couple night before. Livvy really like the pumpkins seeds, and started carrying one around and calling it "Honey." She knew which one Honey was too. It was pretty funny.

Livvy went as Belle (a bundled up Belle!) She was SO excited to finally wear her Belle dress. Daddy was an army guy and mommy was a snowboarder.

We were out for 2 hours and finally told Liv we had to come home because it was time to get ready for bed. She would have stayed out all night. She had so much fun. She was a great little trick-or-treater too. She would walk up to a door and knock and then say "trick-or-treating" (she always added the "ing" to it for some reason.) She'd get her candy and say "tank you." After we got home we still had kids coming by our house so we left Liv help hand out candy as we were getting ready for bed. She would pick up the candy bowl and wait for kids and get so excited when she saw some coming. It was great.

This is a video I took of Liv a couple days after Halloween. She was running in circles around a pillar we have while talking on her phone. She got a little camera shy once she say me taping her, but it was so funny.

They're Finished!

2009-10-23T15:30:00.004-06:00

I got the stocking finished finally. I was a little afraid to put the letters on, because once on, they weren't coming back off. They turned out really well though I think.

Marcus

Erika

Olivia

The baby's looks the same as in the last picture since I don't have a name to put on it yet.

Stockings Almost Finished!

2009-10-14T15:24:00.003-06:00

I got all of our Christmas stockings sewn together! They are finished, expect for putting on the names.

From left to right: Marcus', mine, Livvy's and the new baby's

Christmas Stockings

2009-10-13T17:46:00.006-06:00

I decided to make Christmas stocking for my family. My cousin was making some, and I liked the idea. Liv still doesn't have one, and Marcus and I just have generic ones from when we were first married. I thought making us all ones would be fun. This is just a picture of the fabrics - I haven't started putting them together yet.

Marcus' is the one of the left and mine is the one on the right.

Livvy's is on the left and the new baby's is on the right.

Lack of Exterior Plumbing

2009-09-08T20:53:00.002-06:00

So we had our ultrasound this past Thursday and then went up to Orem for Justin's blessing the next day so I haven't had a chance to announce our baby. The ambilical cord was between the baby's legs the whole time, but the doctor finally gave us a fairly confident "I'm going to say that due to a lack of 'exterior plumbing' it looks like a girl." So we are having a girl! We are super excited. We even asked Livvy what we should name her, and so far she has only come up with "I'm not a boy." I'm not sure we will go with that, but it could be helpful during those first few months when people have a tricky time. (Even when dressed in pink flowers there are still some people who tell you what a precious boy you have!) The due date stayed the same as well, and the baby is due on Jan 25, the day before Liv's 3rd birthday.

Livvy's Belle Dress

2009-08-25T14:38:00.005-06:00

Here are a couple pictures of Livvy's Belle dress. I decided I would try to make one for Halloween. (BTW - I made it a size 4 so she could have it for a while, that is why it looks big, it is.) It turned out ok. Not magical, but hopefully it will at least make it till Halloween. She loves it though!

Livvy's Curtains

2009-08-18T11:53:00.004-06:00

The pics aren't very good because her room was dark, but her window was really bright. :)

Trip to LA - New Car - The Past 2 Months

2009-04-28T17:16:00.004-06:00

So, first we had an awesome trip to LA, well Valencia, California. We got to spend a week visiting with cousins and aunts and uncles, going to bouncy fun-lands, and Magic Mountain. We celebrated Easter and went swimming. With the exception of some tricky bedtimes and a middle of the night child throwing up in someone else's house, crap I don't know where anything is episode, it was such a fun trip.

So, the day we left we finalized buying a new car. Silly timing, I know, but it just happened to all fit into place right then. We ended up getting a Saturn VUE. It is everything I never knew I wanted. We took it on our trip and LOVED it. Lots of room, but not a boat, and I don't have to bend over to put Livvy in her car seat!

2009-04-28T17:15:00.008-06:00

Here are a couple other picutres from our week there.

2009-04-28T17:15:00.004-06:00

So, we drove to LA, which wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I think I've said it before, but that Heavens for portable DVD players! Aunt Kari and Uncle Scott got to come for a few days too and go to Six Flags with us. Here are some pictures from Magic Mountain. In some of the pictures she looks terrified, but she actually loved the rides. It was fun for her to have other kids to go on them with too.

2009-04-28T17:09:00.007-06:00

So a couple days after we got back we went to the Kite Festival here in St George. Winder Farms had a vendor booth there so we went with Marcus and hit up some rides after. Livvy loved the little train they had.

Last month we went and visited my cousin, her husband and their baby boy, Jack. We took Livvy and Jack to the Springs Preserve in Vegas and then hung out at their house for a while.

Here are just a couple other random pictures. A few pictures of Livvy being cute. This bag is one I made because I got called to the Primary Presidency and couldn't find a bag that would work well, so I made one. I am just proud you can tell it is a bag!

Why Costco Is GREAT!

2009-04-25T21:05:00.002-06:00

Ok, I know I need to post a real post, and I'm going to, I promise. However, I was headed to Costco today so I looked through the coupon book they send each month. They had a coupon in there for Buy One Get One Free seasons of X-Files and Stargate: SG1. We aren't so much for X-Files, but Marcus LOVES Stargate (I will admit it is growing on me to where I will actually suggest watching it.) I figured that since it was a B1G1F coupon the seasons would probably be close to suggested retail of around $50/season. That adds up when you still need seasons 3 - 10. I figured if it was a decent price I would get 3 and 4 for him. So I get there and look at the price. Imagine my surprise when I see they are $24.99 per season. With the B1G1F coupon it made them $12.50! $12.50 for a full season of anything is awesome. So we bought all 8 of the seasons we didn't have. 8 full seasons cost us $100.00 - at the Amazon price, which I usually consider pretty good, those 8 seasons would have cost us $240. Those are the visits that remind me why I like Costco!

Asleep in the Hall

2009-02-17T12:49:00.004-07:00

I couple of weeks ago I took the side off of Livvy's crib and put a toddler rail on. Since then she has been trying to see just what she can get away with at nap time. Yesterday, when I went to check on her, I found her at the end of the hall where I couldn't see her from the other room. She had fallen asleep there. I was trying really hard not to laugh, but just couldn't help it in the end, but this video is pretty funny.

OLIVIA

2009-02-12T16:55:00.008-07:00

In our old house, I had Livvy's name in vinyl lettering on her wall. Since we are renting this house I didn't think I should put vinyl on the walls, so I painted the letters of her name so I can put those on the wall instead. I think they turned out pretty cute so I thought I'd share.

(I thought I had a picture of the old one on this computer, but it is on the other computer which is not working right now.)

Here are the letters with the base coat of paint and the pin striping.

This is the pink over the white and the pin striping.

Here it is with the striping taken off, before it is finished.

And here is it finished.

Livvy's Birthday

2009-01-31T14:19:00.007-07:00

Last week end we were lucky enough to have the whole "Mays" clan, except Frampa Rob, come visit for Livvy's birthday. We went to Jumpin' Jacks on Saturday morning. It was so much fun. It is a big indoor play place with 7 or 8 blow up party things. A giant blow up slide, an obsticle course, etc. Livvy, Jessi, and I got right to work playing on the huge slide. Unfortunately, the first picture I went to take my camera died. So, I didn't get any pictures. Anyway, later Saturday afternoon we had a little party with everyone. My grandparents who live on the other side of St. George were able to come over as well.

While everyone was here, we were also able to play a little rock band. Livvy decided her calling is to be a drumer.

I have been letting Liv pick out her own clothes for when we are just hanging out at home. This is what she picked out the other day, and she has been wearing the same thing pretty much all week. She really likes pink.

Yesterday, when I got her up from bed in the morning, this was her CRAZY hair.

New House

2009-01-20T13:18:00.007-07:00

For those of you who have been asking... Here are a few pictures of our new, and messy, house.

The couch in the first picture is our new couch. For those of you who weren't aware, we got a new couch. (I haven't been told as much, but I have a feeling someone felt a little bad for making our family move again so soon.) This is our new table as well, that can seat 8! No more putting camping chairs around our round four person table!

Daddy

2009-01-13T10:02:00.002-07:00

Since arriving in St George Livvy has been a little bit clingy. She has had a hard time going to bed at night, freaks out if I leave the room, and gets very upset when Marcus leaves for work. We have started staing in the doorway so she can wave to him and see him drive away. Today as he was pulling out of the driveway she yelled, "Bye Dada, I me you so mun!" (Bye Daddy, I'll miss you so much.) It was so cute, and great sentance work. :)

St George

2009-01-08T10:48:00.002-07:00

The past few weeks have been a little crazy for us. Four weeks ago today, Marcus came home early from work to tell me that Winder wanted him to be the new General Manager of their St George location. So three weeks later we found ourselves moving in the a house down here. I will post pictures of our house soon, but right now all you would see is boxes.

Florida

2008-10-29T13:28:00.040-06:00

Last week, well I guess last last week, we were able to spend the week in Florida with my parents. We left Utah in a 30 degree snow storm and arrived in Florida to a humid 85 degrees. Livvy was a little tired after a day of flying.
On Sunday we went to my old ward, which doesn't really exist anymore. It had been split into three wards, so we attended one of them. We ran into some old friends while there and were able to catch up for a bit. Afterwards we drove out to our old house. We gave Marcus a tour of Windermere since he had never been there, and when we got to the old neighborhood someone was pulling in the gate so we were able to follow them in! My Mom didn't recognize our house and was only convinced after we pointed out the address on front. After that we drove past my high school, which had been rebuilt and now had a freeway going through some of the practice fields. It looked a little different. We had several cameras in the car, but of course none of us thought to take a picture of what used to be "way out there" and was now quite built up. Opps! After that we visited with a few more friends and then headed back to the condo.

On Monday we went to Magic Kingdom. Marcus had never been there, he had been to Disney Land in California once when he was about 5, and so we were excited for a day of fun. We had the usual 4pm - 6pm Florida rain storm and got a little wet, but other than that is was a great day.

Here is Marcus, Livvy and I in the stocks.

Livvy with Grandma and Grandpa on Aladdin.

Livvy and I in the Dumbo statue.

Livvy on Dumbo with Daddy.

Livvy LOVED the Tea Cups.

Such a strong baby and Daddy.

Livvy loved pointing out all the "Babies" and animals on Small World. Marcus was also pretty excited that it had "Goodbye" in Swahili.

Here we are as we are leaving in front of Cinderella's Castle. (Or for some, Sleeping Beauty's Castle.)

We took Livvy on just about every ride except, Space and Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, and the kiddy roller coaster in Toon Town that she was 1 inch too short for. She wasn't quite sure what was going on at first, but quickly found her two favorite rides, the Tea Cups and Aladdin's Magic Carpet.

On Tuesday we decided to have an R&R day. The boys hung out and worked on their computers, and my mom and I went to the outlet mall just down the street and did some shopping. I got some clothes for Livvy, a great sweater for me, some Christmas stuff for Livvy, and new boots. It was a nice relaxing day with my mom.

On Wednesday after MUCH deliberation, we decided to go back to Magic Kingdom again.

Livvy all ready to go on the Tea Cups.

Yahoo! Wee!

Marcus and I on Thunder Mountain. The ride stopped as we were going up one of the hills and we sat there for like 5 minutes. Thought it would be a good time to take a picture.

Livvy was so excited about the "Duck-Duck" that she couldn't quite pull herself away to take a picture.

One of Marcus' few memories of Disney Land as a child is taking a picture with Donald Duck. Livvy doesn't know of care much about the Disney characters yet, so we decided to bypass all the character lines, with the exception on Donald.

Here we are in front of the fall inspired Mickey Mouse ears.

This is a little video of Livvy on the Tea Cups.

Thursday we decided to drive out the New Smyrna beach and play in the water. We built a sea turtle, the water was a little too wet for a sand castle. Livvy's favorite thing though was when we went into the water with Grandma Laurie and we "jumped" her over the waves as they would crash in. She laughed and laughed. After her little lips turned purple, we went up the sand to the park and warmed up. I was so busy having fun that I forgot to take pictures of this too. This is one Marcus got of Livvy chasing the birds.

Friday we again decided to have a down day as we had to leave early the next morning for the airport. That evening I was able to have dinner with one of my best friends from high school, her husband and two kids. Marcus and I hadn't rented a car since there was enough room in my parents car and so that night my parents got to drop us off for dinner. I felt a little like I was in high school again. I again didn't think to take any pictures. Livvy was having so much fun playing with a friend that I forgot to preserve the moment.

We also went by Downtown Disney and took pictures of the Lego creations. Here are a few sample for our two lego loving nephews. -We will show you the rest when you get here.-

We Moved In!

2008-10-06T14:00:00.020-06:00

We moved into our new house last weekend. Marcus' parents and his sister and brother-in-law came up to help us this past week.

Here is the outside of the house.

Here is the kitchen.
Before
After

Here is Livvy's bathroom.
Before
After

This is the half bath after we painted it, but before anything was put in,
and then finished.

Here is Livvy's room.
Before
After

And finally the awesome shelves they built in the garage.

This picture of Livvy is just too funny. This is what she wanted to wear one day...

House

2008-08-19T14:44:00.006-06:00

Just more pictures. Again, when we stopped by the house this past weekend workers were there. While I am very happy that they are working hard, even on a weekend, I was again a little disapointed not to be able to go inside. I really enjoy watching the process of building and watching the house evolve from a hole in the ground with cement and wood into a home. Oh well. They had all the siding done with the exception of just a bit in front and the trim work. It looked like the walls had been taped and mudded and I think they hung the doors inside as well. I'm sure more was done inside, but it is hard to know since we couldn't see it. Here is a picture of one of the side, as well as the front.

Also this weekend we, Jessi and AJ, Monica and Jon, and Marucs, Livvy and I, were able to go to the wedding reception of one of the girls Jessi and I went to High School with in Florida. We were able to catch up with lots of old friends there, it was like a giant reunion. Here is a picture of the three of us with the bride, Whitney. I didn't get any other pictures, opps!

Also earlier this week we took a couple pictures of Livvy being silly. Here she is with some toilet paper around her head.

House Update

2008-08-09T20:47:00.003-06:00

We stopped by the house last night on our way to Orem and it looked like it had been a busy week. We got our windows installed, the insulation finished and drywall installed, and they were putting on the siding. Workers were still there, so we weren't allowed to go inside, so we only have outside pictures.

Ducky and Wheeler Farm

2008-08-05T12:51:00.013-06:00

I think I mentioned that when we went to Lagoon Marcus won a giant duck for Livvy. Yes, I know it doesn't make such sense to "throw away" your money on those amusement park games, but if you have kids you might be familiar with doing things that don't make logical sense because it makes them happy. Anyway, here is a picture of Livvy with her duck-duck. She actually snuggles with him (or her, I'm not really sure) while she sleeps, and she enjoys body slamming it while she's not asleep.

This past week we went to Wheeler Farm with our play group. It is, I believe, a working farm, but you can go and pet the animals and feed some and there is lots of room to run around and be silly.

A bunch of the kids before we went in.

Livvy with the ducks.

Trying to hug a goose.

Trying to pet the sheep, who says "hahaha!" (As opposed to baaa.)

Looking at the chickens.

Carynn, Mckenna, Avery and Livvy sitting in a "tractor."

Livvy and Mckenna doing twirlies on the grass after lunch.

Ahh! I'm so dizzy, I can't stand up.

Here is the house update. They have the plumbing, venting, and electrical done. The roof is also done. They have framed where the bar will be in the kitchen as well as put in the ac and heater. They have also framed in the garage door and hung the exterior doors. They had just started insulating and had installed the hall bath tub/shower and the master bath soaker tub. (I only have pictures of some of it, because I didn't have my camera with me when I went out this past weekend.)

The venting in the ceiling upstairs.

The plumbing in the laundry room.

Aunt Jessi and Livvy in the master bath with the tub.

Looking at the house from outside. Check out that roof!

Family Reunion

2008-07-24T13:38:00.013-06:00

This past weekend we had my Bridges Family Reunion. It was a very full, fun, and tiring weekend. My parents flew in on Friday, after having changed flights due to a canceled flight they were expecting to take. Friday night the girls went to a double wedding shower for my cousin Ashleigh and soon to be cousin, Lauren. It was a lot of fun, and Livvy really enjoyed body-slamming the huge presents. Then Saturday we spent the day at Lagoon. We had lots of fun spending time together out in the hot hot sun. Livvy really enjoyed playing in the water. She also got to go on some rides by herself!

On Sunday we drove by the new house and then went to Monica and Jon's for dinner and Wii fun.

Walls

2008-07-17T15:50:00.005-06:00

We went to look at the house last Friday and we had walls. They finished the foundation and framing the main floor. Here are a couple of pictures.

Every night when Marcus gets home Livvy likes to help him put his shoes away. The other day she decided she wanted to wear them first. Here is a little video of her walking around in his shoes. (It's a little dark, sorry.)

Haircut

2008-07-08T15:22:00.007-06:00

Any one who has seen a picture of Livvy recently has I'm sure noticed her rag-a-muffin hair. She has very nice long hair, but she rarely lets me pull it back (so I have to pick and choose my battles) and she often has bangs covering her face.

This past Saturday I decided I would do something about it. Now, I don't cut hair really. I cut Marcus' hair, but his is easy. So I was a little nervous about tackling this "adventure." Not to mention that my first "subject" was a less then still toddler who would want to see what I was doing the whole time. With M&M's in my pocket (as random bribes to keep her occupied) I dove into it. I didn't cut off an ear, or have any quick turns resulting in catastrophic snips from my scissors (such as racing stripes.) Anyway, I think it turned out fairly well. We can see her again.

This first picture is from right after, and she is telling me she wants more. My guess is more M&M's rather than hair cuts.

Rock Band

2008-07-01T16:45:00.003-06:00

This past week AJ bought Rock Band after waiting months for it to be released for the Wii. We all were a little concerned about his "love" of the game. However, after playing it a few times, I can say, it is fairly addicting. You can have 1 - 4 players doing any or all of the following; playing drums, playing guitar, playing bass, or singing. You follow along on a bar with your "notes" and try to hit them at the right time. Some of the songs are awesome ones that we all know, and some are ones we have never heard of and are a little strange. It is lots of fun though. Livvy even enjoyed helping me sing, for a few minutes till she moved on to something else.

On the way to AJ and Jessi's I made Marcus stop by the house so we could get pictures of the hole. I want pictures of the whole process. Yes, I know I'm bizarre.

The Past Month...

2008-06-27T14:14:00.014-06:00

The past month has been a very busy one for us. My mom came to visit the first week of June. That weekend everyone, except Livvy and I, did a 5K! Marcus, AJ, and John ran, while my mom, Jess and Monica walked it. Jessi and AJ's neighbors did it as well with them.

That night we went out to dinner at Brick Oven, and my silly baby made a new hat for herself. I thought it was funny, so I decided to share it.

This past weekend, the 20th and 21st, was the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay. Marcus' work had a team again this year, and AJ got to run it with Marcus. If you don't remember from last year, it is a relay from Logan, Utah to Park City, Utah. I want to say its about 180 miles (it goes around a little.) Marcus got sick on the way there and was sick for the first coupe hours, but other than that they had a ton of fun. Marcus first run was at about 1pm and it was straight uphill for 7.5 miles. (He gained over 1000 ft of elevation in the 7.5 miles.) AJ's second leg was basically the opposite. Straight down for 8.5. They both did great, and like I said, had a lot of fun.

Finally, we had our pre-construction meeting yesterday for our house. Everything went well and they were already digging. When we stopped by our lot after the meeting our hole was almost completely dug! It is strange how a hole in the ground can be so much fun. Anyway, the house is still scheduled to be done near the end of September. We will try to stop by the site once every week or two and post pictures of it's progress. I didn't have my camera yesterday, so I couldn't get a picture of the hole, but this is a picture of our lot.

Ok, actually this is the last thing. We finally got our Cardon Family picutres from this past Christmas. Here is one of the whole family!

Last Weekend and It's Official

2008-05-27T10:27:00.010-06:00

Last weekend my sister Monica called me and said "John and I are going to the zoo, do you guys want to come?" And we sure did. We had actually been wanting to go to the zoo for almost two months, but due to the crazy weather here (it couldn't decide whether to be hot or cold) and our travels during March, we just haven't made it there. So we ended up making it a big party, Monica and John, Jessi and AJ, and Marcus, Livvy and I all went. It was a beautiful day, albeit a little toasty. We weren't sure what Livvy would think, but she really enjoyed looking at the animals. She also wanted to push her own stroller around. She loved looking at the elephants and also really liked the monkeys. When we were done we played on the playground for a bit before heading home. Here are some pictures.

Here are a couple pictures of Uncle AJ being a turtle. We thought they were funny.

As for our official news... No we aren't pregnant. We are building a house! It is kind of a long story as to why we chose to build, but it's just what worked the best for us. We have already chosen all of our structural upgrades. We also took a "fact finding" trip to the design center (everything inside) and were able to look at our choices there so we have a pretty idea what we want when we go back to chose for real. They have put our papers into the city to get the permits and things needed and will hopefully break ground in about 2 weeks. We are excited!!!

Promotion

2008-05-14T15:15:00.004-06:00

This past Monday, Winder Farms, Marcus' employer, announced that Marcus had filled the role of Customer Service Manager. We are very excited. Marcus finished his Management Training rotation and moved into his new role this week. He will be shadowing the current CSM and then will take over completely in June. His promotion will keep us in Utah for the next few years, so we are able to start looking at houses. (We previously didn't know if he would be transfered out of Salt Lake upon completing his training rotation.) Just wanted to let everyone know so you can all be excited with us.

PS - We are currently accepting donations :) (Anyone who read this earlier, don't judge my spelling, I am often distracted while typing.)

Diapers

2008-04-24T10:55:00.008-06:00

Lately Livvy has been very aware of her diaper. Not only does she like to pull off the tabs and then put them back on, (which she doesn't do very well,) she will also bring me a diaper when she wants hers changed and I haven't acted quickly enough. She will grab one out of her room or her diaper bag and walk over to me saying "di-di."

Yesterday, while we were hanging out, she walked over to the coffee table with her puppy. I looked over at her and she laid her puppy on the table and then took a diaper and started putting in on the puppy. Now, if this was a puppy who actually needed the diaper it wouldn't have helped him one bit. She is horrible at putting them on, but it is sure funny to watch her be a Mommy to her puppy. I tried to take pictures but she stopped. So when Marcus got home he had her do it again so we could take a picture. It wasn't quite the same, but you get the idea.

Last night I went to check on her before going to bed myself. She was totally out and looking very cozy in her bed. As I walked away I noticed her leg looked funny so I looked at it closer. I figured she had just pulled her leg up into the stomach of her jammies. Her leg, however, was out of her jammies. As I looked closer I realized I could see the picture on her diaper. Wait a sec, the picture is supposed to be on the front of her diaper and she is laying on her stomach, I shouldn't be able to see the picture. She had unzipped her jammies, pulled one leg out and undid her diaper. Luckily she hadn't had to go to the bathroom and her bed was still dry. Laughing I left her room to grab the camera, and went back in. Marcus followed me in so he could see what my issue was. (It was very late I so I was laughing hysterically.) We pulled her out of bed so we could get her situated again. I decided to put her in some new jammies since she was pretty warm. As she was sitting on her changing table waiting for me, she decided she needed to tinkle then. At least it wasn't in her bed!

The past 2 months...

2008-04-18T11:37:00.021-06:00

Well, it's been a while since I blogged so I figured I should get on it before my next entry became even longer.

First of all. Livvy's only had her cast on for 3 weeks. We took her back to the doctor on Feb 13th and they said everything looked good and that the fracture had healed well. We took this right before heading up to the hospital.

A few days later I went into her room and was immediately afraid. "What happened to my baby? I laid her down for a nap. Did she figure out how to get out of bed?" During this 5 second conversation with myself I realized she was still in her bed, I just hadn't seen her.

The first two weeks of March, Marcus, Livvy and I found ourselves in the lovely city of Las Vegas. Marcus' company wanted him to spend a little time at the location their and Livvy and I decided to come along. I have family in Vegas and so we went and stayed at my Grandparents house. It was so much fun. We played games (the boys must cheat!) and went to dinner a few times. Livvy's favorite thing by far was the porch swing. She would go out with Granpma and Grandpa several times a day and they would swing together. We also were able to go out to Valley of Fire and walk around and have lunch one day. She also really loved Special Grandma Cindy's (that is my Aunt Cindy) hot tub. Livvy was not very happy when Mommy made her get out after 5 minutes.

One day while Marcus was at work Grandma and Grandpa took us to the mall to ride the horsies! Livvy loves horsies!

Livvy also helped Daddy help Grandpa with some yard work. Doesn't she look strong?

We had so much fun in Vegas, being able to visit family. Thanks again to Grandma and Grandpa for putting up with us for two whole crazy weeks.

We got our tax returns while we were in Vegas and when we got home we sat down to decide what to do with them. "Should we invest it all? Should we buy our pony?" After MUCH anylizing (if you know Marcus that won't be shocking) we decided to save most of it and keep some for something fun for us since we had been being really good and not spending money on crap. So we bought a TV. Extravagant? Maybe, but we got a killer deal. It was half off, and we love it. Plus it is something we use every day.

Well, after being home for a week, Livvy and I hopped on a plane a flew to Phoenix to visit my parents. It was so much fun. Livvy had been walking with the furniture for about two months and so we were really hoping that she would get the walking thing down. Poor girl had to relearn how to do it a couple times because of her cast, but when she decides she is ready she figures this out real quick. She practiced lots and got pretty good, but saved the finishing touches till we got home and she could show Daddy.

While we were there we got to visit lots of people. Aunt Kari and Uncle Scott, and Great Grandma Mita. For some reason we had so much fun playing with them that I didn't take any pictures. We also got to visit Great Grandma Susan and Great Aunt Katie. They have two dogs or "Pup Pup" as Livvy calls them. After getting used to each other they all became pretty good friends.

She also got to read a book with Great Grandma Susan.
Livvy with Great Grandma Sue and Great Aunt Katie.

We got to spend lots of time playing with Grandma Laurie and Grandpa Rob. We went for lots of walks, and read books, and went swimming.

After being away from Aunt Jessi and Uncle AJ for so long we had to see them. This past Sunday we went over to their house. Jessi and AJ made broccoli cheese soup and Monica and John brought over some yummy treats. Kate and Steve, AJ's borther and his wife came over for a while too. Jessi's neighbor has a 'pup pup' and they got to bring it over and we all played with him for a while. Livvy thought he was pretty cute, but was a little unsure. He is truely a puppy and is very hyper. Uncle John even sacraficed his hand to keep the puupy busy while Liv's petted him. It was nice to play outside though. It was a beautiful day! Once we went back inside Daddy thought it would be fun to play 'Bounce Livvy in the Air' on the love sac. She thought it was so fun. However, after Daddy and Uncle AJ decided to play together and my child soared for the celing (ok she didn't really but she did soar a couple feet) Mommy abruptly put an end to that game. After Livvy got over he inital fear and stopped crying she pointed at the lovsac and said 'Again!' Even though she didn't get hurt, Mommy had to say no. I know I'm a meany! BTW - I 'made' Liv a ribbon for her hair and I am in love with how cute she is!

So that is the story of the last few months. Although, Livvy has started trying to take off her own clothes recently. Well, I think that is what she is doing. Twice when I've gotten her up from naps she is all kabobbled in her shirt. It's pretty funny.

Battle of Wills???

2008-01-23T10:40:00.001-07:00

Last week Olivia started something new. When she would be in a one piece pj she would not let me bend her left leg to change her diaper. She is often silly about diapers and so I didn't think much of it. Then, my sister asked me, "Why doesn't Livvy bend her left leg when she crawls?" I hadn't noticed this. I watched her play and sure enough she didn't bend that leg to crawl or play. When she would walk, it looked like she was mainly standing on the right leg and using the left to balance. I decided I would take her in to see the doctor.

Monday morning I woke up and called the office to see if we could come in. They were closed for Martin Luther King Day. I decided to send a message to the on call doctor to see if this was something to take her to urgent care for, or something that could wait to Tuesday when the doctor was back. The on call doctor felt it could be something bad and I should probably take her in sooner than later, but it was very likely NOT life threatening, so do what I thought best. Let me back up for a moment. When we woke up that morning we looked upside and it had snowed 8 inches or so and it was still falling. Taking Olivia to the doctor meant I had to take Marcus to work and go back and get him later. I DO NOT like driving when the roads haven't been plowed. I decided I would play it safe though and take her into urgent care. After taking Marcus to work, on unplowed roads, we drove over to urgent care (passing a car that spun out about 100 feet in front of us on the way.) We saw the doctor and the doctor felt that something was wrong and Olivia needed x-rays. She also thought that she might need blood work. Instead of doing to x-rays there and then most likely having to send us up to the children's hospital for blood work, she sent us up there for both. Primary Children's does alot more x-rays on children anyway, so they would probably be able to do them better. (Toddlers don't generally like to sit for xrays the way an adult will.) We got back in the car and drove through the still unplowed roads to Primary Children's Hospital. Olivia was admitted to the ER, and the testing began. First the x-rays. No sign of a break. Next blood work for different things, mainly an infection or arthritis. Clean. By the time we reached that point we had been in to ER for 3 hours and at the doctors for about 5. It was 3 in the afternoon and I had not come prepared. I usually bring enough food, drinks, and toys for several children, but I had not been planning on a day at the ER and had drastically underestimated our needs. Luckily, we were able to walk over to the hospital cafeteria and get some lunch. After coming back to our room and eating it we both felt much better.

Anyway, after 4 hours of tests and playing with the baby's leg the doctor diagnosed her, through the process of elimination, with a toddler's fracture. This is a fracture (a break that doesn't not go all the way through the bone) that is often just caused by learning to walk and the weight being put on the leg, or the falling associated with it. The breaks are usually so small that they do not show up in x-ray's until they start healing 7-10 days after they happen. They put a cast/brace on Olivia leg and asked us to come back in a few days to rexray the leg. So that is where we will find ourselves this afternoon, the fracture clinic of Primary Children's Hospital. At least I will be more prepared this time.

I will try to put on a picture of her cast soon.

Teeth

2008-01-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Livvy and I were sitting on the couch together playing. I was tickling her and when she laughed I noticed something in her mouth. So like any mother (or just the unsanitary ones) I stick my finger in her mouth right then to feel it out. What did I find? She had had two teeth break through the previous night! Now she is up to four! (Three on the bottom, and one on top.) She also has another top one that should poke through today or tomorrow, unless it decides to go back down.

Hopefully there will be a picture coming. It depends on if I can get her to let me take one.

Also, later that night I was getting ready to go to an Enrichment Committee meeting. The baby saw me go down the hall and decided that she wanted to come too. I heard her voice getting closer, so I poked my head around the corner to see how close she was - she gets distracted when she crawls - but she wasn't crawling. She was holding onto the wall and walking down the hall toward me. I was excited. She walks all around the furniture, but she had never done that. (Sorry, the video is sideways.)

Missing Car Seat

2008-01-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, when we flew back from Texas earlier this month, our car seat did not make the journey with us. After spending two weeks working with the airlines delayed/lost baggage department, I had all the paperwork filled out and ready to send in for a refund. The day I was going to put it in the mail I received a call. I was at Sam's Club and I didn't know the number, so I let it go to voice mail. When I listened to the message, this is what it said. "We think we found your car seat. It came in today on the flight from Dallas..." I confess my first thought was, "Crap, after two weeks it is probably in pretty bad shape, I would really just rather have a refund." I wasn't able to get ahold of the airline that day, but the next day they called back and I was able to speak with someone.

"We think we found your car seat."

"Ok, great."

"What does it look like?"

-I describe it to her.

"Yep, that is what we have here. Can we bring it out to you later today?"

"Sure, but I am in Lehi and won't be home for a while. Can you tell me what kind of condition it is in? I'm just a little worried it's been 'beaten up' while it's been floating around airports and airplanes."

"Actually I think it has just been sitting in Dallas. There wasn't a tag on it and they didn't know where to send it. Either way, it doesn't look damaged, or dirty."

"Super."

After making arrangements for the delivery company to deliver it between 5-9 I thank her and wish her a great afternoon.

Later that night...
I get home around when they say they will bring it. I sit, and I sit. Normally you don't need to be there for a lost luggage delivery, but I had a loaner seat from the airline that I had to give back. 9 pm rolls around and I still hadn't seen or heard anything. "I'll give it a little longer, they are probably just running late." At 10:30 I still hadn't seen or heard anything, so I decided to call the airport.

"Hi, I was supposed to receive my car seat tonight. It's ok that it hasn't come, I just wanted to let you know (in case your records show something different.)"

"Hold on, let me talk to the guy. Yeah, he is still out delivering."

"Oh, so he is bringing it tonight still?"

"Yes ma'am, it will be there tonight"

"Ok, thanks. I'll just wait."

A little after midnight Marcus and I decided it must not be coming and they didn't want to call and tell us because it was late. So we got in bed and started watching a movie. Around 12:30 my phone rings with a strange number.

"Hello???"

"Hi, Mrs. Cardon?"

"Yeah..." I'm very confused who would be calling me in the middle of the night and not think it is odd.

"Hi, I have your car seat and I'm just pulling into your complex. Cam you tell me where your unit is?

"Um, Ok..."

I tell him how to get to our apartment and we go into the front room to get the door.

After closely scrutinizing it I decided it looked just fine. Everything was there and working. Now scratches, dents, or dings. For good measure though, I did wash everything on it. No, I'm not obsessive, I'm thorough. :)

Christmas 2007

2008-01-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

I figured it was about time to blog about our Christmas. Marcus, Olivia and I had Christmas on Sunday, the 24th. (We are cheaters I know...) We hooked up the web cam so that my whole family (they were all at my parents house for Christmas) could watch us open presents. Of course by us I mean Olivia. There is nothing exciting about Marcus opening up presents. :) Anyway, on Christmas day we flew to Dallas so we could spend Christmas with the whole Cardon clan. (Well, almost. At the last minute Marcus sister Kari got really sick and she and Scott weren't able to make it.) We had 15 people at his parents house and while it was a little hectic at times it was so much fun. We went shopping, we saw "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," and we had family pictures taken. On Sunday, Becca, Alison, and I sang at church. Olivia decided to get sick halfway through and we ended up having to take her to urgent care Monday morning. She had a double ear infection. We also got to go see animals; sheep, goat, a donkey, and a horse. Livvy had fun feeding and petting them...as long as she was watching mommy do it and not doing it herself. On New Years Eve and New Years we set off fireworks, and even managed to light one of Ann bushes up! (It never caught fire, but it did glow quite brightly for a minute or two while the firework was lodged inside it.) We were able to spend just over a week there. Fate apparently did not want us to make it back home. Our flight was delayed by a couple hours and when we finally made it home at 1:30 am our car seat had somehow not made the trip with us. Oh well.

Here are some pictures.

Livvy sitting in a pile of presents at our house.

Opening up presents at Grandma Ann and Grandpa Kirk's house.

Grandma and Grandpa got all the kids matching jammies. This is all of them sitting on the couch. Left to right...Seth, Johnathan, Robert, Megan, James, Livvy and Susie.

Ben has a blow up jumpy thing that the kids can play in. I set Livvy on the outside so that she could bounce but not get squished by her cousins. She loved it, and I loved what it did to her hair!

Livvy and Megan had lots of fun playing together.

This is visiting the animals. We are feeding the sheep!

With 15 people staying in one house hot water often ran out. Especially during specific times. One being bath time at night. Livvy really needed a bath this night, but we were out of hot water so this is how we fixed it. We heated up water on the stove, then put it in this big pot and washed the baby in there. She thought is was a little strange, but it worked.

Bug Antennae

2007-12-08T22:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I put pig tails in Livvy's hair for the first time. They were so cute. She wasn't quite as sure about them. She didn't quite care why I was holding her head still, she just knew that she didn't like it much. Anyway here are a couple of pictures.

There were only half pigtails so they looked like bug antennae to me. :) PS - She was very excited about that box. I wonder why I even buy her real toys, she would do just as well with trash. Silly Girl!

But I'm not tired...

2007-12-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

Olivia has recently started crying when I lay her down for bed. She will sit herself up and cry and cry. So I started sitting her in her crib and leaving her lamp on (if it's dark outside) and letting her play with her stuffed animals for a while till she falls asleep. This works really well, except sometimes she doesn't realize she is tired and falls asleep sitting up. I have walked in on some funny positions the last few days.

When I leave her she puts her face up to the bars and cries for me to come back. (She wasn't very upset in this picture because she knew I wasn't leaving while I was taking a picture.)

Here she fell asleep sitting up and her head sort of slouched into her lap. It's a good thing she is bendy!

Yeah for December!

2007-12-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty busy weekend for us. On Saturday it snowed all day! Aunt Jessi and Uncle AJ came over and we played all day long. But first, a couple funny pictures.

I really like manicotti (stuffed shells.) That and macaroni and cheese are my favorite big girl foods right now.

On Friday we had to walk down the street to drop off some papers. It was really cold so we had to get all bundled up. Mommy put some mittens on my hands and I just wasn't sure about them. I thought it was a game. But I look super cute in my mittens and hat. Thanks special grandma Jill!

At bath time on Friday night my hair looked like Medusa, so we thought we would share a couple pictures of that too.

On Saturday night Aunt Jessi and Uncle AJ went with us to the Festival of Trees. For those of you who are not 'Bridges' - My cousin Lindsay's (and Jason) little baby boy, Gavin, passed away last month. He was 3 months old. His short little life was filled with many physical trials. However, he brought so much peace and love to anyone near him. His Bailey relatives decorated and donated a tree for this years Festival of Trees. Here are a few pictures of it.

Here are a couple of the trees we liked the best or thought were the most creative. We only made it about 1/3 of the way through. Olivia got tired and grouchy.

And finally, we decorated out tree yesterday. Here is a picture of it.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-27T12:13:00.001-07:00

Yes, I know I am still being a big blogging slacker. What can you do? First, for Halloween we carved a Livvy pumpkin. Here is a picture of them together. (Note the one tooth in each.)

For Thanksgiving this year we met my parents in Las Vegas. Since we will be going to Dallas for Christmas, we thought it would be fun to see them. We all stayed at my grandparents house and butted in on my aunts Thanksgiving festivities. It was a super fun day. We played Thanksgiving BINGO and then went fishing for prizes. Olivia was feeling sick so I did spend a good portion of the weekend cleaning up explosions. My aunt heated up her pool and so we did get to go swimming. It was FREEZING outside, but nice and warm in the pool.

On Friday night we had a big game night with cousins and my aunt. Olivia enjoyed playing games too. Then on Saturday morning Marcus and I got to have a boys vs. girls rematch of Ten Thousand with my grandparents. The boys slaughtered us, again. The drive back home went ok, but Olivia needed to play with the camera case for a while to stay entertained.

Notice the second tooth! Two big girl teeth now!

Fall Leaves

2007-10-27T12:08:00.000-06:00

On Thursday Olivia and I headed over to University Hospital to see her cranial/facial specialist about her head. He said that it was looking very good, and that her torticollis is getting better. Then we decided to take the tunnel/bridge over to Primary Children's Hospital to visit Lindsay, Cindy, and Gavin. I love visiting Gavin. He is so adorable, and keeping up with adorableness, was dressed like a pumpkin when we visited. I was able to talk to Lindsay for a while and Gavin just slept. Gavin, like Olivia, knows that being so cute is hard work, and sometimes needs a long rest. Olivia played to the waiting room with Aunt Cindy. Aunt Cindy must be lots of fun, because my super tired baby was having the time of her life when I came out to get her. Anyway, the leaves where being raked on our way out to the car (from the apartment) so we thought we would take a couple fall pictures.

Today we had our ward's Trek or Treat. Basically it is a Trunk or Treat, but inside. They had games, Olivia like the fishing game. We fished over a sheet and "caught" some fruit snacks! Then we went to the classroom and got candy. I had really wanted to dress her up as a bunny, because I always call her bunny (don't ask) but was having a hard time finding a bunny costume. So, last night I was at Walmart trying to figure out what to do, and my smart sister Jessi said "Why don't you just put bunny ears on her?" Well, duh. Or course. So I found a child size bunny ear and tail set. We put them on with some pink pants and shirt and voila! The cutest bunny ever. Her ears were just too big (they were on a headband) so we took one of her headband bows and put that over the ears to hold them on. So she became a bunny with a bow. It turned out really well. After Trek or Treating we took a couple more pictures in the leaves.

I've been waiting for this my whole life!

2007-10-24T12:33:00.000-06:00

Finally after 6 months of waiting (so not quite her WHOLE 9 month life) Olivia finally had a tooth break though! It is her bottom middle left incisor. We are very excited here about this and to celebrate we thought we would share a couple pictures. Hopefully it doesn't take another 6 months for the next one to follow.

They are just barely out of the gums so you have to look kind of close.

Standing Up

2007-10-22T15:41:00.000-06:00

Wow, I'm a huge blog slacker. I haven't posted in almost a month. It's not like I've been busy either. Oh well. I don't have anything exciting to post, so I will just post a couple of pictures of Olivia from yesterday after church.

PS - You can't really see her shoes in the picture, but I am in love with them. I will have to post a picture of them later.

Queen Tut-iliv-ios

2007-09-25T16:31:00.000-06:00

Not much has happened this past week. This is just a few highlights of this past week.

Livvy started eatting Cheerios. This video is of the first day she started eatting them. Since then she has become quite the pro. She eats Cheerios, Gerber Puffs, and bread. She also tried rice once, but was a little concerned that it was so sticky.

A few days later she was eatting Cheerios again, and one slid out of her mouth and just stayed on her chin. That is why she is Queen Tut-iliv-ios. (It looks like an Egyptian beard.)

We also went to the swings and played for a little while. Olivia is starting to enjoy the swings much more. She has never been scared of them, but she does sometimes look at me like, "Is this supposed to be amusing mom?"

Today I decided it was cold enough (our house was like 65 degrees) to turn on the heater. I took all the vents off so I could clean them out and much sure they weren't pushing dust into our apartment. This is what I found...
.........................Before........................................After.........................

Clapping!

2007-09-17T17:57:00.000-06:00

The other day Jessi and AJ were at my house. Jessi and I were playing with Olivia and her blocks. I guess Olivia was very proud of something she did, and she started clapping. For the first time. It was so cute. She had never clapped before, and she just did it. Here is a video of it.

Here are also just some cute pictures that we took that day.

This picture is of Aunt Jessi feeding her a bottle. She was being really silly and kept arching her back like she used to when she was little.

This one is of her going poopy on the potty. Sometimes when I am giving her a bath she decides that that is the best time to go poopy. Instead of letting her poop in the tub and having to clean it out and redraw the bath, I pick her up and set her on the potty so she just poops in there. She thinks it is pretty funny.

This is just a picture of her clapping. It just really captured her joy. (Blocks can be pretty "joyful!")
P.S. Grandpa Kirk - check out those John Deere socks!

Run Run Run

2007-09-14T13:39:00.000-06:00

This video is special for Becca. However, I do know a couple Grandma's who might find it pretty cute as well.

Mays Family Cruise

2007-09-04T12:59:00.001-06:00

Well, the anticipation of the last seven months is now at an end. This past week we went on our Caribbean cruise with my whole family. I think everyone is a little sad that it is over, however I believe we all had a blast. Here is a run down of the week...

Sat, Aug 25, Flying...
Jessi, AJ, Monica, Johnny, Marcus, Oliva, and I flew to San Juan via Atlanta. We flew all day long, but luckily the baby was very cooperative and played and slept on the planes. Once in San Juan we met my parents at the airport and went to a hotel for the night. My poor parents lost ALL their luggage, but I will let them share that story on their blog. Everyone except my parents went out to eat (at midnight) that night because we were starving. The official language of Peurto Rico is Spanish, so it made ordering a little tricky. Luckily everyone except Marcus and I knew some Spanish so we had translators.

Sun, Aug 26, San Juan...
Everyone except my little family went to church in San Juan on Sunday morning. (You parents who have ever spent a day flying with church falling at 9am the next morning will understand why we didn't go.) The seven of them split up into two cabs (they opted not to walk 3 miles each way in a place they were not so familiar with.) My parents driver knew immediately what building they were talking about and told the other driver where to go. The other driver must have misunderstood because AJ, Jessi, Monica, and Johnny all ended up at a Baptist service. They did find their way to the LDS church, luckily I think it was just down the street. They all attended sacrament in Spanish and then came back to the hotel to get ready to board the boat.

Mon, Aug 27, At Sea...
Monday was a sea day, as we needed to travel to the south end of the Caribbean islands. AJ tackeled his main goal of trip that first day, ice skating on the boat. He was also very excited to find out that the people in charge of ice skating were mainly Russians. (For those of you that don't know, AJ served his mission in the Ukraine and speaks both Ukranian and Russian.) He confused the people there by speaking to them in Russian, but then they enjoyed talking to each other for a while. (Most of the emplyees on the boat speak English as a second language, and usually just enough to communicate. I think it was nice for them to have a conversation with someone that involved more than, "What size skates do you need?") Luckily my parents bags made it to the boat about 30 minutes prior to sailing, so they didn't have to wear the same thing all week long.

Tues, Aug 28, Barbados...
I know Tuesday was a highlight for me. My parents rented a Catamaran for just our family all Tuesday morning. It had a net in the front of the boat that you could sit on and the waves would lap up on you while sailing. (Unfortunately the water was very calm that day so there was very little sea spray.) They also took us snorkeling at two different sites. The first had some beautiful fish and a shipwreck. The second, turtles. Olivia obviously couldn't snorkel, however at the second site I strapped on a life vest and took the baby into the water just behind the boat. She loved it! I wish I had had my camera with me, but it wouldn't have lasted long in the water. She was smiling and splashing and thought that it was just amazing. Just like a huge bathtub! Also on Tuesday night we went to an ice show on the ship. Due to the fact that I didn't have a baby monitor and I didn't want to go across the ship to check on the baby every 15 minutes or so during the show I decided to take her along. It was amazing! First of all the rink was much smaller than what you normally see. They had professional skaters who did the show. It was accompanied by lights and music and Olivia watched the whole thing in amazement. During the show there was a trick where the one guy flips a girl over him and she lands behind him (all while moving of course.) She slipped on the trick, and we later found out that when she slipped she broke her wrist! Ouch. No one had any idea though, they skated through the rest of the show like nothing had happened.

Wed, Aug 29, St. Lucia...
On Wednesday we were supposed to have a girls day doing a 'Scenery, History, and Art' Tour. We were so excited, and then it was canceled. I guess not enough people were as excited as we were. So instead we all walked into town and went shopping for a while. After a bit I decided to take the baby back to the boat because it was so hot. AJ, Marcus, and my dad all took a taxi up to the George F. L. Charles Airport later that afternoon.

Thurs, Aug 30, Antigua...
On Thurday everyone except my mom, the baby and I went Kayaking. Monica and Johnny even won a race against all the other kayakers. They all said that the water was just beautiful. Afterwards, we all met up and went into town again. Here, Marcus and especially AJ found one of the 'trip goals.' A steel drum. We also got the baby a maraca. We decided they should all start a band together. We also tried another of everyones 'ship goals,' rock climbing. They had a big rock climbing wall on the top deck of the ship. It was a lot of fun.

Fri, Aug 31, St. Maarten/St. Martin...
On Friday everyone except the baby and I went and did a canopy tour. It was a series of bridges, ropes, and zip lines up in the canopy of the trees. I think that everyone loved it. Again after the canapy tour we all met up and went shopping.

Sat, Sept 1, St Thomas...
Saturday was the last day of the cruise and you could deffinately feel it in the air. Everyone was a little sad for it to be over. That morning my mom and dad went parasailing in the harbor. Daredevils! We went shopping again afterwards.

We spent most nights together playing games and sitting on my parents balcony overlooking the ocean. It was so much fun to be with everyone. Our wait and room staff were all excellent. Every night our stateroom attendant would make something out of towels for us. We also learned some words and phrases in Indonesian. Our waiter was from Bali and we enjoyed learning things about his country.

Sunday as we flew home everyone was just exhausted.

Just Married...

2007-08-21T13:34:00.001-06:00

This past weekend my baby sister, Monica, got married. The night before, Marcus had his last SL Bees game. At this game he got a Pegasus balloon animal. Olivia liked her new pony.

We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch before the sealing. Hey now, keep it clean! :)

Monica and Jonny were married in the Mt. Timpanogas Utah Temple. Here are a couple of pictures of them exiting the temple.

Here are a couple of group pictures. The Mays Family, the Williams Family (sorry this was the best picture I had) and a group shot of everyone. BTW, this was one of the sunniest days ever, so if it looks like we are all grimacing and blind, we are. (Most of the pictures were taken in between the photographers and we only looked up and smiled on the count of three, so alot of these we are looking down. Oh well, they are still cute.)

Here are a few shots of the Mays girls and the Williams siblings...

We also had a chance to take a family photo of our little Cardon family. Smile...

While we were waiting for the 'happy couple' to take picture for the next hour or so, we took literally about 50 pictures of the baby. Here are some of my favorites.

Livvy's New Helmet

2007-08-13T16:46:00.000-06:00

Today Livvy got her helmet. She was sort of interested in it for the first few minutes, but when she realized that it wasn't going anywhere she was a little less enthusiastic. For the next few days she will slowly start building up how long she wears it until she is up to 23 hours a day. She will wear it for 23 hours a day for 2 months. Then just at night for an additional month. Today we just wore it for an hour, then took it off for an hour, then wore it for an hour, etc. We also found out that she has torticollis. That is where one the muscles in the neck (the left in her case) is tighter than the others and pulls the head in that direction. If can actually pull the facial features in that direction if it is not fixed. Lucky, the treament for that isn't quite as evasive. We just have to do stretches several times a day to help loosen up the tight muscle.

Here are a couple of pictures of the helmet.

If you look closely at the "design," it is 'thumb print bunnies.' I call her my bunny, so I thought it was only fitting. Plus the colors are cute.

After I took it off, her head was very sweaty. Since people lose most of their body heat through the head, her little body has to retrain itself to rid her body heat other ways. At least she looks pretty stinkin' cute still! (Not that I'm biased or anything.)

She took a nap later in the afternoon and was so tired from the 'strains' of the day that she just fell asleep with her head in her hands. "I can't believe this mommy!"

This is a video from a couple days ago. "Do I want to eat you or love you?"

Busy Week

2007-08-07T15:48:00.000-06:00

This past week and a half have been a very busy one for us. Last Tuesday we met with a cranial facial specialist at Primary Children's Hospital about Livvy's plagiocephaly - pla·gi·o·ceph·a·ly -(flat head.) Her pediatrician was concerned about the amount of flatness and suggested we visit with the specialist. After looking at her, he recommended that we see an othotisist about doing the helmet therapy. We met with the othotisist on Wednesday and he too strongly suggested that we do the helmet therapy. So, not off to the best week. However, they scanned her head for the measurements, as opposed to the older way of taking a head mold. AHH!!!

Wednesday night Grandma Laurie flew into Salt Lake and we picked her up from the airport. Thursday was also a busy day consisting of visiting with a good friend from when we lived in Florida who was in town, going to Provo to help Aunt Monica with some prewedding things, and getting a haircut.

Friday morning was what we were excited for. We were going to Bear Lake! We left Friday morning and Olivia did great in the car. She enjoyed playing with her seat buddy, Gr Laurie, but mostly she slept.

She was asleep when we got to the lake.
We spent a few hours there and then went to my Grandparents house in Dingle, on the north side of the lake, for games and dinner. My aunt had rented a boat for the lake, so Marcus and I decided to take a turn while we were out there. Due to some dumb decision making on my part, my glasses ended up flying off my head and are now at the bottom of the lake. For those of you who know me well, I am BLIND without them. Luckily Monica and Johnny were just getting ready to leave, so they stopped at my apartment and got my other pair. Luckily I had two pairs. I don't remember much of the rest of the day since I couldn't see it. I know we had an obstacle course for the little kids that they really seemed to enjoy, and also relay races for the little kids and one for the adults. I didn't get to participate, but I did watch some of it through the camera and it looked like fun.

The next day we went back to the lake for the big reunion. Again Livvy was pretty exhausted.

Then she decided to wake up and play. But by the time we got home she was wiped out again. She was so tired she couldn't even keep her paci in.

Sunday morning we decided to go to church before heading home. Livvy passed out before we even made it there.

She was asleep when we got out too. The drive home went well,and we took Gr Laurie to the airport that night.

On Monday, Livvy got her 6 month shots and I guess due to the shots and because she was still a little tired from our wild weekend, she fell asleep trying to decide if she wanted to sleep on her side or her back. How silly!

I think my favorite thing was Monday night though. I leaned Livvy up against the couch and she stood there for about 30 seconds. She was leaning against the couch but that was all. I wasn't holding her up at all! She is also getting really good at rolling over, which we are excited about because she hates to be on her stomach.

These are a couple videos that were requested by Gr Laurie for Gr Rob.

Can I help you???

Eating is no reason to stop such a great noise!

Happy Pioneer Day!

2007-07-26T22:28:00.000-06:00

This 24th of July we celebrated by going swimming for the first time! Well, it was Olivia's first time. Jessi and AJ came over and the four of us went down to the pool for some summer fun. Livvy seemed to enjoy it.

This is her swimming outfit. It keeps her warm before and after swimming.

Here are pictures of her swimming. Most kids are "fish" in the pool. Mine is a puppy. She kept trying to lap up the water. She had fun though, she liked it when I threw her up and she splashed back into the water.

Later that night we went to the Salt Lake Bees baseball game. After the game they had fireworks to celebrate the holiday. Olivia loved them! In fact the lady in front of us commented that she had never seen a baby who was that excited by them. It was very hard to take pictures, but here are a few that Aunt Jessi and Uncle AJ took.

Now I have no idea why I like this picture so much, but I think it is so funny. "Mommy what ARE you doing?"

Ski Jumping, Harry Potter, and Bath Tornados

2007-07-24T10:40:00.000-06:00

Last Tuesday and Wednesday Marcus went to Park City for a management retreat with work. They spent most of the time in meetings, but were able to have some fun as well. On Tuesday they went miniature golfing, out to dinner, and then saw the movie Transformers. On Wednesday they went to Olympic Park and got to try out the ski jump!

Like the winter version, the skier skis down a ramp and after launching off the ramp, does tricks in mid air. The difference is that instead of landing on snow, they land in a big swimming pool.

Here are a couple pictures of Marcus trying it out.

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Like many of you, I too spent this weekend with "the other man in my life," Harry Potter. So that we could still spend time together, Marcus rented NCAA 2008 Football for the PS2. I read on the couch while he played his game. Due to this arrangement, we narrowly avoid several tense and uncomfortable moments. I was engrosed in my book and occasionally I would laugh due to the witty remarks often given by the twins and Hermione. Marcus, who was struggling to figure out his game, thought that I was laughing at him. Needless to say, he was getting a little miffed at me as I was continuially "laughing" at him while he continued to struggle. After some time, he realized that I was in fact laughing at my book and not him, and we had a pretty good laugh about it. Close call! Afterwards Livvy enjoyed sitting by Marcus on the couch and watching him play his game.

------------

Finally, Livvy really enjoys her baths. She loves watching the water come out of the faucet, and then go down the drain. Her is a little video from after her bath last night, laughing at the drain and its "tornado."

6M

2007-07-14T12:37:00.000-06:00

So, today I was pulling out Olivia's next phase of clothes so that I could wash them. But what do I come to learn? 6M, what size would you think that is? Well, not only is it 6-9 or 6-12, but it is also 3-6! Needless to say there were several outfits that she will never get to wear do to this silly sizing. Luckily, since we found out, we went through her 9M and found that a good number of them were in fact 6-9. Glad we caught that! Well, we will probably pull through, but it was a little annoying. Just thought I'd share my frustration.

Giggles and Spit

2007-07-10T12:04:00.000-06:00

Olivia recently decided that she likes to blow spit bubbles. So here is a little clip of it. It is odd how spit can be so cute.

Sitting

2007-07-09T17:48:00.000-06:00

Olivia figured out the other day how to sit all by herself. She can sit really well, unless something draws her attention. She almost always tips over when she reaches for something, but she is getting better. Here are some pictures.

I couldn't figure out which one(s) I liked the best, so I put all four on. Nothing beats proud mommies I guess.

This little video is Olivia playing Hide-n-Seek with daddy. (She usually thinks this is pretty funny, but she was tired when we were playing, so it wasn't as funny.)

Mookey

2007-07-05T13:13:00.000-06:00

Here is what you have all been waiting for...Mookey!!!

Here is daddy with his little baby cow, moooo.

Walking around the grass Mookey and Bumble bump into each other. The kids get so excited and all want their pictures taken.

Dancing

2007-07-04T16:43:00.000-06:00

Aunt Jessie came over today. She showed us a clip for 'Dream Girls' and Olivia wanted to dance to it. I warn you though, it is pretty spazzy...

Olivia really built up her appetite with all the dancing, and was ready for a bottle afterwards. Most people hold their bottle with their hands. Not my baby. She uses one hand, and...one foot.

Also here are a couple of pictures after her bath last night. Her hair sticks up after I fuzz it to dry it.

A Lazy Friday

2007-06-29T14:57:00.000-06:00

Well, it is another boring Friday afternoon. Livvy wanted to show everyone how she can hold her bottle all by herself.

"I don't see what the big fuss is. Look it is SO easy!

"I can do it with my eyes closed...

"I can even do it with my feet in the air. Oops, it's slipping.

"There we go, I just have to lower my legs a little."

Now to be fair she can usually only hold it for about 30 seconds before it slips out of her hands, but she sure is proud.

Also we got a new, well a first swimsuit this past weekend, for Olivia, and tried it on today. Here is what she thought about it.

"Mommy, what is this thing. It feels weird.

"Mommy, I'm not sure that I like this thing."

She may still be iffy, but I think it is cute. We can't wait to break it in at Bear Lake, and then use it on the cruise!

I finished my quilt!

2007-06-27T12:27:00.000-06:00

So, in April Marcus, Olivia and I went to Dallas to visit Marcus parents. Ann is an excellent quilter, so while I was there I decided that I wanted to learn how to make a quilt.

I'm piecing the little pieces together and getting the squares started.

Now, I'm sewing the squares together to make the rows.

Now, I'm putting the rows together to create the front.

The quilt is together, I just have to flip the binding to the back and sew it on.

Finally Olivia's quilt is all done! She even tried it out and she loved it! I know that because it went straight to her mouth. :)

Relay Races and Baby Showers

2007-06-25T12:27:00.000-06:00

This weekend was a pretty busy one for us. Marcus met at work at 6:30 Friday morning to head up to Logan. He was going to run the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay Race with work from Logan to Park City. Now before you freak out and say, "That is so far!" there are 12 people on each team and they each run 3 legs, so not as far. Unfortunately, he found out he was going to run two days before, when one of the members of Winders team cut off his own thumb. So, needless to say, Marcus was a little less than prepared. They did have some 'adventures' with their team, however none were due to Marcus collapsing. One of his team members got dehydrated, which then turned into heat exhaustion. When they took her to the medics tent he tried to cool her down too quickly and put her into shock and gave her hypothermia. So, she had to be wisked away via ambulance to the hospital. Two other Winder team members went with her because they couldn't get ahold of her husband and they didn't want her to be alone. So Marcus van which had the first 6 runners, now had 3. His team had to pick up the extra legs and run a little more than first expected. Marcus did complete all his legs, and fortunately was able to walk the next day. He also said he ran one of the most beautiful runs he's ever run. He ran somewhere between Kamas and Heber at about 12:20-1:40 in the morning. It was pitch black, except for the sky, which he said was very clear. He didn't take many picutres, but here are a few.

These are the 6 team members who were in Marcus van.

This is their group at the starting line. They took off at 9am with 40 other teams.

This is Marcus finishing his first leg and handing of the'baton' to the next runner.

While riding in the van Marcus looked up and saw a dog running across the road and following one of the runners. But wait, it wasn't a dog. After a second glance he realized it was a goat. The goat followed this runner for about half a mile.

Marcus got home around 3pm on Saturday.

On Firday Olivia decided she loved her mommy and took a nice long afternoon nap. I took advantage of my time and worked on the quilt that Ann had helped me start during our trip to Texas. It is now almost all done. I just have to tie it and finish the binding! Later that night my sister Monica came and slept over so me and Olivia didn't have to be all alone while Marcus was gone for his race. We partied pretty hard. I did the dishes and then we watched the new 'What Not To Wear.' Then on Saturday I went to a baby shower with both my sisters for my cousin Lindsay. It was a big family shower with all our cousins and aunts, and also Lindsay's mother and sister in law. It was lots of fun. Afterwards, a bunch of us went to the mall and went shopping and then went to Olive Garden for dinner.

Don't you miss...

2007-06-16T16:40:00.000-06:00

Don't you miss the days when you could lie around all day. You had no cares and people served you hand and foot. And...you could sleep with your foot on your chest.

Gum Brush

2007-06-15T13:00:00.000-06:00

I felt bad that I hadn't posted anything of us in a while, so I thought I'd throw this picture on. Livvy likes to chew on anything she can get in her mouth, shocking from an infant huh? :) This is her gum brush. She discovered it recently and it was love at first bite. Now it goes everywhere with her.

I had to include this one too. She also loves her carrots!

Britian's Got Talent

2007-06-15T12:15:00.000-06:00

Of course my first post in a week and a half isn't even of us. However, for those of you who are 'American Idol' fans here is a clip from the British version. And for those of you who are Andre Bocelli fans, the contestant is singing 'Time to Say Goddbye.'

A Good Weekend

2007-06-04T13:28:00.000-06:00

Well, our weekend was pretty good. We started off Friday by seeing the doctor and getting our 4 month shots. Certainly not a favorite. Afterwards we visited some friends and spent most of the day being cranky. Saturday was a much less uncomfortable day. I tried to massage Livvy's chunky little thighs to make sure the shots were not making them stiff, but she thought it was so funny. At least the shots weren't hurting her anymore. The rest of the day we just hung out and relaxed. On Sunday we went to our new ward. We also tried Sweet Potatoes. They were an immediate favorite.

Yum, my toes taste great!

2007-05-31T13:42:00.000-06:00

Livvy: I'm so hungry and my mommy won't feed me. I guess I will have to eat my toes. They taste pretty yummy though.
-and yes, that is the opening credits to 'Law and Order' in the background

An exciting Tuesday

2007-05-29T21:18:00.000-06:00

So, today was a lively one. Poor little Livvy has a diaper rash and has had a grouchy day. So, we spent the day setting up a blog (which btw is tricky to do with only one hand.) Mainly so we can share pictures and videos. Anyway our apartment here in Salt Lake is getting put together, soon we should even have all the boxes unpacked. Bye everyone.

Livvy laughing with Marcus

2007-05-29T18:58:00.000-06:00

This video is really dark, but it is super cute (to listen to)