My Amazing Sister Elizabeth....

My little sis leaves in 2 weeks to serve a LDS mission in Ecuador.  She reports first to the Mexico Missionary Training Center which just opened up. It worked out that I was able to spend some time with her this week and it was so great!

Lizzy's friend was getting her endowment out in Mesa and my parents were on a Pioneer Trek, so Lizzy and Brooke came up here Thursday and then I went down with them thru Mesa for the endowment and on to Havasu to spend the week there before he Farewell.  We had SO much fun!

  When Brooke and Liz got here Ollie had a fever from his shots, so we spent most of Friday chilling in the house.  The girls were SO tired and kept waking up to eat, or say hi to Ollie and falling back asleep.    Liz and I made orange pancakes and then Ollie was doing a little better so that evening we all went shopping at the mall (trying to find a few more shirts for Lizzy's mission).  That night for dinner we were adventurous and ordered take out from an Indian restaurant.  I had no idea what I was ordering (the online menu had no food descriptions). And anyone who knows me knows I am the WORST at talking to people with accents.  When I call customer service or something like that and a person with an accent comes on, I might as well hang up because I ask what after every sentence!  Well of course a person with an Indian accent answered and I was trying to ask what some of the menu items were.  He would describe it, and I would ask What?  One time he said something 3 times and I still didn't understand him so I said I just wont order that one.  He laughed at me, at least he was patient.  I went in to get the food and he asked my name and I said "i'm the one that couldn't understand you" and he said "ahh yes Here is your food." It was delicious.  Lizzy was all paranoid about trying it, thinking she was going to open her food and there was going to be a duck head or something.  Haha  Sorry Liz, it wasn't that exotic.

Ollie did pretty good on the drive to Mesa and then to Havasu.  It was late, so he just slept.  The endowment got done at 8 PM so we had a late drive home.  We played lots of games this week: Hearts, Pictionary, Nertz, Mad Gab.  It was so fun.  I love hanging out with my sisters because they love games  too and I can get my fix! We had a funny time with Pictionary. It was really late and we were all sleep deprived and a little delusional. The game was going longer than expected. It was Brooke and I against Mom and Liz.  We kept landing on this ALL PLAY spot that made us have to draw the same picture at the same time. Well SOME cheater (won't name names) kept listening to the other team to help them guess, so we made a rule that one team had to go in the other room to draw at the same time.  We were stuck on the ALL PLAY square for some time because we kept alternating who won so no got to roll of the square.  FINALLY Brooke and I won TWO in a row and we grabbed each other's hand and started jumping up and down giggling and squealing and then while jumping and giggling Brooke said "I'm going to pee my pants" and then I said "ME TOO!"  So then we started laughing harder and we were done for.  The girls in my family have some of the weakest bladders ever. Sorry if that is TOO MUCH INFORMATION, but it was so funny.  :)

The highest Liz has ever stacked her cards

We couldn't get a normal picture of us with our dates.

Mom made us this middle eastern snack of Dates with almonds and cream cheese on top.  We are willing to give most things a try, and at first bite those were pretty good, but man those dates are CHEWY! I just sat there and chewed on for like 5 minutes, it started to gross me out.

Mmm...

Speaking of snacks, we were in short supply at home, and us girls were getting late night munchies.  Brooke and Liz ran to the store because we were craving apples.  They picked up apples, cheese, almonds, and dried pineapple.  Can you say healthy?  I was so proud of our healthy munchies.

I kept mixing up Lizzy's and Brooke's names, so sometimes I would go to Brooke and start calling her Liz, so I would finish it with "Hey Llllllittle Brooke". So that was her name the whole week. The other funny thing that I found myself saying was when we would stay up to late, or we would be discussing who gets the shower first I would always say "Guys, Ollie is going to get me up in 2 hours, so I need the shower, or I need to go to bed".  It was ALWAYS 2 hours. haha (even though most of the time he didn't wake me up in 2 hours).

I love to have Dad as a dentist because I get to work for him when I am down there!  I hadn't worked since the week before I had Oliver, so it had been over 4 months.  I actually miss it!  Grandma Mel was more than happy to watch Ollie while I worked. She actually took him to the office and hung out in Dad's office.  Some of the patients poked their head in to see Dr Lundin's grandbaby.  I got done with some of my patients quickly, so it gave me time to jump in and feed Ollie. It was nice to do something else besides sit at home with Ollie (granted I wouldn't change being a mom for the world, but sometimes it is nice to change things up). We are thinking once Ollie is a little older and able to eat without needing to be nursed, I might try to pick up a half day one day a week. I hear it is good after 8 months for a baby to have just a small break from their momma, so that would be perfect.

Back in the Saddle!  It felt so weird at first!

Mom on baby duty! :)

We all went and got our hair cut and colored from this lady that is really good.  The girls watched Ollie while I got mine done.  It was nice to have fresh hair again.  I decided to give in and get the mom haircut.

OLLIE PHOTO BOMBING US! :)

 My mom is OBSESSED with reading Brooke's texts and it drives Brooke crazy.  When Brooke leaves her phone on the counter and mom sees it, you should see how excited she gets.  Usually she does a happy dance over to her phone.  In the following picture we can see the Grandma Mel has been taking Oliver to the dark side:

Lance sent Ollie a box of a few outfits and they are adorable.  The shirt is a little big on him, but he will grow into it:

Dave got into town on Friday and he said Oliver got so big and developed so much in just a week!  Ollie sure was happy to see Dave:

We had SO much fun Saturday.  We went out on the lake and then Lulu and Papa came into town and we had a BBQ at the park with steak, potato salad, fruit salad, corn on the cob and baked beans.  Then we went to Carls Jr for dessert and got hand scooped milk shakes.

At first Ollie wasn't sure about those small waves.

But then he relaxed and had a good time in the water. Even though the choppy waves kept splashing him in the face, I was scared he was swallowing the water.

Captured Liz and Dad on the waverunner behind us! 

Funny Story with the waverunner... we were having a hard time getting it started and Dad had to spray his little special spray on the engine to get it to start everytime.  On the last ride Liz and I were on the waverunner pulling Dave on the tube, and we decided to switch and have me get on the tube so I jumped in.  Well Dave decided to try to get on the waverunner from the side, bad idea.  I watched from the tube and Lizzy tried to balance the waverunner in vain.  The waverunner slowly started to tip. So Dave had to abandon ship, luckily it didn't tip, but it did turn off. So since was off Dave could go up on the back without risking his life in the propeller ;).  Well he had to get around Lizzy to get to the driver's spot. Liz isn't the best at counteracting weight haha.  Dave started to go to one side and once again it began to tip.  Dave had to again abandon ship.  Finally he made it on and they couldn't get it to start after like 10 tries.  They tried and tried and then we all abandoned ship and tube.  My ride around the lake was.... nonexistent:).  So we all pulled and pushed the waverunner to the side of the beach and Dad walked over and met us and got it started.  Come to find out, it was out of fuel and he had to put it on reserve. It was an adventure at least :).

Playing around on the playground we found this cool thing!

Brooke put Ollie in the grass on a towel and he just sat there relaxing looking at the sky for like 20 minutes.  So cute!

Relaxing in the grass with Aunt Brooke. He was looking at Brooke freak out over a bug like she was crazy!

Ok this brings us to SUNDAY. Lizzy's farewell.  She was left a lot of time, but filled it perfectly.  My family sang Lead Kindly Light in spanish as a special musical number and I accompanied with the piano. Liz did AMAZING on her talk.  He spoke with power, confidence and love.  I could see right then what an amazing and influential missionary she is going to be.  I love her dearly and think she is just such a great example.  She has grown up so much and will grow even more on her mission.  It is SO sad that she won't see Ollie for a year and a half (he is going to change so much), but I can tell him all about his Aunt Liz on a mission and what a great thing she is doing. I honestly wasn't emotion about it until I had to say goodbye.  She was hugging Ollie and I saw the look on her face, she loves Ollie so much and Ollie ADORES her and I could tell it pains her to know that she isn't going to get to see him.  That made me tear up instantly.  Then I got to hug her goodbye and just didn't want to let go.  This is my little sister!  My sisters are my best friends.  I love them dearly.  Things just aren't going to be the same without her!  Here is my little walk down memory lane for Lizzy:

Oliver is 4 Months!

What a goofball.  Loves making silly faces. The right one is what we call "his fat boy face"

Reaches for that camera... one expensive toy eh?

Such a HAPPY boy!

Just want to kiss those cheeks!

I can't believe Oliver is growing so fast.  He is getting cuter and cuter everyday.  When he looks at me with those cute little blue eyes and flashes that gummy grin, my heart just melts! I love cute little newborns, but I have to say, I like that Ollie is able to do more.  It makes the days more fun when I can interact with him and do things with him.  Also, he is generally just a lot happier now than he use to be, which makes momma happy :).

Little Ollie continues to smile and laugh lots.  He still babbles, but mostly a gargly, throaty babble, especially when he is tired. He loves watching me clap my hands and will grab my hands and help me clap.  He is discovering his feet and when his legs are up he tips over to one side (I think rolling over is in his near future).  He can also sit up with some minor assistance, but if I let go he usually dives head first into the ground, so I have to be careful.  Grandma Lundin got Ollie a little Jumper that goes in the doorway.  The only place in the house that fits it is our closet, so while I get ready for the day and do laundry I put him in the jumper.  He hasn't grasped the concept of using his legs to bounce yet, but he'll get there soon.

Ollie in his Jumper

Ollie also has continued to do the "DUCK FACE".  That is his concentrating face. I wonder if he is going to do that when he is older, for his sake I hope not--It's cute now but may not be later! ;)

Oliver still has to be swaddled when he sleeps.  I tried letting him sleep without it one night, and he woke me up WAY too much.  Because it is SO hotttt and we can't afford to crank the A/C, my mom bought Ollie a swaddle strap.  It keeps his arms down, but doesn't cover his whole body.  My dad calls swaddling "torture" and whenever he sees Ollie swaddled he say "poor little guy, he's all tied up".

Step 1: Sleepy Baby

Step 2: BIG STRETCH....free arms!!

ONE ARM STILL FREEE!!!!! Hurry Rub the Eye!

Ok, Can finally sleep

Ollie is learning to stand up with our help and has such strong legs:

Being 4 months old also means SHOTS.  I was dreading them all day.  Took him to the Dr and found he is still in the 97th percentile for height, weight, and head circumference. He is 17 pounds 13 ounces, 28 inches long, and his head is 45 cm around.  He is a big boy.  The pediatrician asked if I was feeding him anything else besides breast milk, and I said no.  He said "WOW  Way to go!  You are feeding him well!" He also said sometimes bigger babies take a little longer to do things than smaller babies because they have so much extra weight, so that might explain why he has such a hard time lifting his head for tummy time.

My baby boy got his shots and it made him jump!  I felt so bad for him.  He did ok the rest of the day, not being too fussy.  The area of the shot was very tender! One of his legs hurt so bad, he wouldn't nurse on the one side because he didn't want to put pressure on the shot area.  He woke in the middle of the night with a fever and was very fussy.  I could tell he was feeling so sick.  The whole next day, I just cuddled with him and gave him LOTS and LOTS of grape baby tylenol, so much that at the end of the day he refused to take any more medicine--he would spit it out! The fever got up to 101 even with the tylenol, but luckily it went away within 24 hours.  I can't STAND seeing my baby sick, it makes my heart ache!  Ollie was a trooper though.

Poor Ollie with his little bandaids over his shot sites.

Hatch Family Reunion 2013

Dave volunteered this year to plan the family reunion (even though usually it is the aunts and uncles that plan it). The 2 aunts and uncles that were in charge live far away and couldn't be there.  He made it a SUPER HERO theme, we used the avenger theme a lot.  The week leading up to the reunion was a little crazy.  Along with Dave's regular work hours as a dental assistant, he was assigned to photograph and video THREE for-sale houses.  And we were dealing with our roof covering being blown off at the same time.  I made a lot of the last minute phone calls and details/shopping for the reunion for Dave and packed up everything.  He was editing photos and videos up to the moment we left for Thatcher.  

We really enjoyed seeing everyone and I enjoyed having help with Ollie.  It is nice to give my back and neck a break from holding him. Grandma Kathy was so nice and watched Oliver a lot for me, which allowed me to participate and enjoy the reunion.  Thanks Kathy! Ollie loves her, she even got giggles out of him. 

The reunion began on Thursday 4th of July at lunch.  After lunch, the Hatch aunts and uncles had their annual family meeting while the big cousins played dodge ball/ kick ball and the little cousins made capes/masks and did little kid games.  

This was one of the little kid games.  We played super hero music while the kids ran around throwing their balloons in the air.  When the music stopped, a name was chosen and their balloon was popped. Inside the balloon was a piece of paper that has a command (like bounce on one foot) that the kid had to do.  They loved this game.

My awesome sister-in-law Julie! Love her!

Jeff and I keepin it cool in the gym.  The only room that had working A/C.

Fun Fireworks on 4th of July. We had a plethora of homemade ice cream to sample that night! YUM!

Cute Ollie Trying to Balance on the Chair

On Friday, we had mini games and team building activities.  Those were a lot of fun and then that night was the Pageant of Heroes and Skits, which was a blast.  Dave, Oliver and I dressed up. Dave was "BEARDO MAN" and I was "THE AMAZING UNIBROW" and Oliver was our offspring: "UNI-BEARD".   Everyone thought I was such a mean mom because I didn't think through the fact that ripping off Oliver's unibrow might be uncomfortable.  It was like a bandaid.  He cried, and I felt bad.  Sorry Ollie!

Dave hosted the pageant. He had everyone come up on the stage and explain their costume, their nemesis, their super powers, etc.  

UL: Jake the Waffler -The Truth Syrup  
 UR: Megan The White Ballerina--Super Power is kicking people and her nemesis is the BAD DANCER    
 LL: Rose Wonder Woman--according to her daughter she kills with her evil black eyes
 LR: The Platypus Family-superpower is DANCING

UL: Mason--Batman, why is he so cool? Because he is BATMAN.
UR: Tom--S.E.T.H.->Super Excellent Truss Hero
LL: Caleb--Awesome Baseball Player Man--nemesis is the FAST BALL
LR: Donna--The Quill, saving the world, one grammar correction at a time.

We finished up the two day affair by watching The Avengers.  Good times.  The next day I went to my friend Katie Williams house to visit and she found a high chair for me at a garage sale for only $10.  I'm excited Ollie is going to get to start eating solids within a few months :).  I was laying Ollie down for a nap at Katie's and he fell asleep in my arms while feeding him.  When I was about to lay him down he must have had a hilarious dream because he just started deliriously laughing in his sleep.  He has never done that before and it made me laugh so hard.  That kid cannot go to sleep unless I feed him.  I don't know if that's a bad habit, but he sure does like having a full belly.  Grandpa Dan put it right--holding him is like holding a heavy sack of cement.  haha.  Slow down little Ollie! 

I snapped this little picture in church because I finally was able to capture Oliver's concentrating DUCK FACE.  It cracks me up.  Plus, he really loves the hymn books at church.  He stares at the music and tries to grab the notes. :)

 

Darn Roof..

Ok Can I just say, I HATE OLD HOMES.  It has been one thing after another with this old Triplex we have.  It seems that every month there is something that costs money and that needs to be fixed.  But, I guess I can't complain because we only pay about $165 or so toward our mortgage.  SO I guess it all evens out:  the money we spend on repairs compared to the money we save on not having to pay much rent.  But anyway, yea the first monsoon of the year hit, we were listening to the wind howling outside. We were sitting on our bed playing with Oliver and we hear a huge THUD.  I look out the window and what do I see?  Our roof on the ground yipee.  Unfortunately the wood underneath got wet from the rain, so Dave ran to home depot and called the Elders Quorum president who called like 4 guys to come help. They came within 30 minutes.  We were so grateful.  They showed such compassion and charity.  I'm going to be making a big batch of something yummy and bring it by their houses soon.

It was a really busy week.  Our roof blew off on Monday, the insurance guy came Tuesday night, I called around Wednesday trying to get some roofers to come give us a quote.  I called like 4 companies and only one has come so far, and we still don't have a quote from him.  

We had a tar coated plastic roof.  It completely got ripped off.

                     I had to snap a picture of our awesome ward members at work :).

Feeling Hot Hot Hot

Summer is here! It is like 115 degrees outside. The last thing I want to do is go outside, but we get so bored inside. When the weather was nicer, we went on walks everyday, but now we can't because Oliver sweats to death in his carseat/stroller. We are trying so hard not to run our A/C too low, but boy it is hard.  I could do it when Oliver wasn't born, but now that he is here, it is hard for me to see him sweating and uncomfortable.  Spring/Summer brings BUGS. YUCK. There are few things I loathe more in this world than bugs! I try so hard not to spend money on spraying the place, but when it reaches the point that there are more bugs in our house than out of our house I know it is time. I'm SOOO grateful I haven't seen a roach yet.  Those things put me right in to a panic attack.  I can handle most other bugs, but NOT THE SEWER ROACHES!  Every year we spray and these big nastys show up dead RIGHT by our front door:

This picture doesn't do them justice.  They sit there and twitch for days and you should see me trying to get in and out of the house, especially with Oliver in his carseat.  I LEAP.  Why don't you just move them you ask? Because that's Dave's job.  DAVE WHERE YOU AT?

Ok I'm done talking about bugs.  I can't believe I even let them take that much space of my blog.  Anyway, on a much different note.... can I just say I am so grateful for the priesthood and to married to a worthy priesthood holder, especially now that we are parents.  There are times when something is wrong with your baby and you don't know what, and  you wish more than anything you could help them, communicate with them, take their pain away.  Unfortunately it doesn't work like that.  But I am SO glad that Dave can give him a blessing in the name of Jesus Christ and that it brings us all comfort.

My goal as of late is trying to figure out what Oliver's natural sleep rhythms are and when he should go down for nap.  Well this kid keeps me on my toes.  There is no consistency, except he does go to sleep at night around the same time every night.  Most nights he wakes me up once or twice to eat, sometimes more, sometimes less, so I never know what to expect.  Some days he wake up at 5:30 and is ready to go and some days he wakes up at 7.  The days he wakes up at 5:30, he naps at 8, 11, and 2ish.  The days he wakes up at 7, he naps at 9ish, 1ish, and 4 ish.  His naps usually are about 30 minutes to an hour.  Yea, we are still working on figuring out a set pattern so I know what to plan for!

Every time I change Ollie's diaper I sing him the ABC song.  Now he looks forward to me singing it to him and smile at me as I sing.  He also loves looking at himself in the mirror.  I make sure we do that at least once a day.  It is a good developmental activity.  The FIRST thing he does when he looks in the mirror is look at himself and he gets this big ole gummy smile.  Then its back to business and he glares himself down and tries to reach for himself.  His concentration face consists of the cutest duck lips ever.

The first pic was him smiling at himself, but then he saw my phone (which he is fascinated with the cover) and started looking at me instead.  The second is him reaching for himself.  We call his reflection Cordelius (inspired after Ann of Green Gables and her imaginary window reflection friend Cordelia). :)

Oh I got pictures of Ollie doing his tummy time and wanted to post those for all to see.

He does pretty well with it at first and then all of sudden he head plants.  Then lifts it again and then head plants to the floor again. haha.  He is getting there.  It's hard to have such a big head!

I took these photos in front of him while he was on his tummy, and like I said, he likes my phone cover so much he was reaching for it and it looks like he is taking 'selfy' pics.  You can kind of see his concentrating face here (but usually his lips a little more duck like):

OK, i'll change subject off Ollie for just a sec (even though he is my favorite subject).  So Dave is working as a dental assistant and doing real estate photography for some agents in town.  He also assists a photographer Spencer Boerup as needed stretching canvas for him and going out on shoots with him.  Some months he is super busy and other months they don't really need him.  Fortunately, the real estate group he works for has changed there business model and doing photos and videos on a lot more of their properties, which means more business for Dave:).  He is also contacting other local agents trying to gain more business.  Dave's kind friend Spencer has been loaning him his really nice camera and lens for the shoots, but because business is picking up we thought now is probably the best time to get a new camera, and the shoots will pay for it. We didn't want to keep imposing on Spencer.  So, Dave just got a new camera today, and is saving up for a lens.  This will take the quality photos AND video he needs of the houses.  :) He felt a little guilty buying it, but at least it is a tool for him to earn money with.  He also has a website of sample work at company84.com.

Dave playing around with his new Canon. We are grateful for his self-taught skill in photography because with my decision to stay at home with Oliver, we definitely can't spend like we used to. Dave also just applied for dental school for the next school year.  He applied 3 years ago but didn't get in (we think because his application got in too late).  He is finally ready to apply again, and his DAT score are just barely making the time frame before they expire.  So here we go, we know it's not ideal to use old DAT scores, but he took some of his science classes SO long ago, we don't think he would remember anything if he retook the DAT.  SO we are going on faith, and hoping that some of his life experiences since 3 years ago will look good to some schools.

We had the missionaries over yesterday (Sat) and it our ward now has elders AND sisters.  Then the sisters call and tell us there are 3 of them.  So we had 5 missionaries over at our house.  I served BBQ Pulled Pork sandwiches with potato wedges and baked beans.  While I was getting things together I had Ollie in his Bumbo on the table. Dave was sitting next to him on his Ipad and I look over and Oliver had the package of buns in his hand and was smushing them against his face.  I thought, 'hmm odd that dave gave that to him to play with'.  Then Dave said 'Britt, why did you give him the buns to play with?'  Sneaky Ollie in fact had reached them somehow and with his awesome stomach and arm muscles lifted them up and was having a blast with them while dave and I accused each other. haha.  Here is a pic of that.

Today Dave and I finally were called on to give a talk in church.  We've been in our ward for a year and a half and they finally got us.  It was good though, we spoke on obedience and keeping the commandments and Dave tied in the constitution and I tied in listening to a prophet.  A few people came up to us and wanted copies of our talks and we got lots of compliments, so I guess that means we did a good job.  Anyway, we are excited for this week!  We get to go to Thatcher for a family reunion that Dave is in charge of.  Pics and stories to come :)

This week activities. Welcome to the new and improved blog.

Well here I am again after how many years of not blogging? I have my sister-in-law Cadie to thank for this. I have been writing a little journal for Oliver as a Word Document and thought 'why not just write it as a blog? Then I can still print it off and store it as a journal for him with pics and everything. And if I write it as a blog, our loved ones can keep in touch with our lives if they so wish. So that is what I am going to do. SO... if you don't like all the nitty gritty details I write, then just don't read the blog. :) Just know I am writing this with the perspective that this is a family journal. With that said, this week was a pretty good one. Oliver has begin to give kisses. Dave asks "Will you give me kisses?" and ollie opens his mouth against our cheek. Not like a nursing open mouth, just half way open. And he loves the way Dave says kisses. It cracks him up! Our two big activities that we do every week is Story/Activity time at the library for babies 18 months and under and swim lessons. Oliver loves both activities. He likes to get out of the house and have things to see. I wish I had pics, but when it is just me and him, it is hard to get pics. Story time has lots of other babies and we sing songs, read stories, interact with a puppet, and wiggle around. Ollie just sat and stared at everyone. He loved it though. The other activity is swimming. He LOVES the water. It instantly relaxes him. I know most people think "swimming lessons, for a 3 month old?" But it really is a lot of fun and he is actually learning things too! And the best part is it is free up to 6 months of age. Ollie's new trick that he does is floating with my help of course). I hold his neck with one hand and my other hand is on his forehead. His bottom floats on its own and he just floats around the pool with me moving him around. We even practice putting his ears under the water, he startles at that at first but then gets used to it. It is a different noise under the water! I wish we had a pool, I'd probably go swimming everyday. (

Oliver is starting to support his head SO much better. It still gets a little wobbly, but he is doing great. His tummy time was COMPLETELY different this week than it has been in the past! (Man I need to get a pic of that too. Sorry!) He lifts his head completely up and looks around. I'm like "WHO IS THIS BABY?" I can see him crawling before we know it! He can't sit on his own, so I put him in the Bumbo on the table sometimes so I can do dishes. He sits in it and looks like such a little cute munchkin. His little feet stick out of the seat barely and his chubsters take up the whole seat. He is cute. Here is a little photo of him.

Other new news this week, I got Mastitis, for the SECOND time! Mastitis affects breastfeeding women a lot. It gets really inflamed, red, SUPER sore, and lumpy. The ducts become clogged and infected. They say when you get it to let your kid feed A LOT to try to unclog it. THe first time I had it I did that and I felt it unclog. This time, nothing seemed to help. I woke up one night and my whole right side was in PAIN. Wednesday I felt sick. I had flu-like symptoms and was extremely weak and sore. I had to still take care of Ollie and could barely carry him around. One time I was changing his diaper and felt so dizzy I just laid on the ground so I didn't faint. I went to the doctor and got an antibiotic. Hopefully that helps and it doesn't ever come back! If not I have to go get an ultrasound.

Because I have been so sore and my back has hurt so bad from lifting Oliver, I told Dave we need to do yoga twice a week to strengthen my muscles so I can handle carrying Oliver. We are doing P90X yoga and we did it last night and this morning I woke up and could barely move. haha. It definitely didn't help, but over time I think it will.

Last thought of the day, to save money and to follow the council of the prophets, Dave and I are trying to build up our 3 month supply food storage. 3 month supply is meant to be cooked with and used so it will save us money buying in bulk and when things are on sale and with coupons (yes I have begun couponing). I have found a few websites that I have found useful: everydayfoodstorage.net and thefoodstorageshopper.com and foodstoragemadeeasy.net are blogs with useful recommendations and recipes etc. A couponing 101 website I refer to a lot is thekrazycouponlady.com. Also I signed up for a website that is about 5 bucks a month that does a weekly meal plan according to the weekly ad deals and gives you a shopping list and everything. I love not having to meal plan. It saves me so much time! The website is dealstomeals.com. So just in case anyone was wondering, those have helped. We are getting it all slowly but surely. Plus we are going to be asking for a wheat grinder this Christmas and other food storage cooking devices :).

Oh, one more thing. So I have had a CHALLENGE my whole life making a good chocolate cookie. They either go flat, or are crunchy and hard. Well recently I made these ones on the left and posted it to facebook saying WHY?! And I think I got judged a lot by my friends that I couldn't make a cookie. I guess that is Mormon Housewife 101. Whoops! So I had to redeem myself and here are the results! I think I am finally getting the hang of it! YAY! SO do I pass? Anyway, first blog DONE! Love you all! :)