Washington

As Mike was getting ready to head for Canada, he decided we should make a quick trip to Washington to see his family. I'm so glad we did, it was such a great trip!

We got to visit almost everyone and O had so much fun getting to know all his cousins and aunts and uncles and grandmas and grandpas again. He LOVES his cousins!

We got there Saturday and Mike stayed until early Tuesday morning, then he left for Canada. We were sad to see him leave, but glad he got there safe.

O and I got to stay another week with the family, it was so fun!

We went to Farrah and Abby's birthday party on Tuesday, and O loved it!

We got to play at the park with cousins several times, spend time with grandmas and grandpas, and visit some friends, too.

Kelly and Sara were so sweet to let us stay with them so long and snuggle baby Lili! She is so sweet and O loved her! He loved giving her kisses on the head and really wanted to hold her. :) Now he likes to carry his baby with him and pretend all day. He wraps his baby in a blanket, puts her to sleep in the crib, changes her diaper, and feeds her a bottle. It's so cute!

On our last Saturday we had fun meeting all the cousins and aunts and uncles and Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell at the park for a picnic.

He loved playing "soccer" with this giant ball and wrestling with his "papa."

It was such a fun time with family! O loved seeing his Nana Lynnie, too! I wish we had gotten pics with her! We can't wait until we can see them again.

Masters, Moving, and Family

I can't believe I've let this go for so long, I have so much fun stuff to post about now!

Mike finished all his classes and the paperwork to be officially finished with his Master's Degree! Woohoo!!

It even came in the mail the other day, and it's so neat! He was in Canada before it came, but I did send him a picture so he could at least see it...

Meanwhile, I got everything packed up and ready to go. The missionaries were so sweet to help us get it all hauled in to our storage unit. Oliver had fun playing with friends and being silly while we packed. Here are some silly pictures and videos of him.

Thanks for the giant sucker Aunt Tauna, Lil' O loved it!!

He was also a sticky mess when he got done... :)

Mike took Lil' O and I to the airport the next day.

We got to Utah without a hitch, which was such a blessing!

We got to go to my cousin's wedding and have some other fun in Idaho before Mike joined us while he waited for his visa to go through.

 Lil' O with his new train, thanks Great-grandma Lindsay!

 Tryin' out the new sunglasses, thanks Aunt Tauna!

Lindsay's school had a fun run as a fund raiser. It was so fun! Linds is the one with pink tenni's and her hair in a bun. Each kid got sponsors who either made a pledge for each lap they ran or made a donation. Linds ran 11 laps, she's fantastic!

 Grandma and Grandpa Lindsay and Mike watching.

 Lil' O wanted to get in on the fun, too. That's he and I running along with Linds. He ran 2 laps and several partial laps, it was so cute!

 Chillin' with Papa Fisher

Just waking up and getting some breakfast with Aunt Lindsay

This is just our first week in Idaho. The next week we spent in Washington with Mike's family, so I'll have to post those pics tomorrow!

Easter

Mike was home for Spring Break last week and we loved it! We got a bunch packed and some cleaned and spent some time together and with friends. What more could you ask for?

We stopped by the Swamp Center, our favorite place, and checked out all the animals. Even though we've been there quite a few times now, Lil' O is still so excited to see the animals! This time he was extra animated and liked pointing and talking to each one. He also liked walking the trail and finding all the lizards and salamanders. He insisted on getting out and pushing his own stroller about halfway through and we only almost lost him in the swamp once. Mike was fixing his shoe and I was looking at a lizard and apparently O was continuing, because next thing we knew the stroller was halfway off the boardwalk and about to take Lil' O into the swamp. It was pretty exciting.

Here's a neat caterpillar we found on the way out.

We had a nice Easter. We had dinner with a bunch of friends on Friday. Lil' O had so much fun playing with his friends on the playground. We looked over once to find him watching contentedly while his friend Leah proceeded to dump handfuls of woodchips down his onsie. We couldn't help but just laugh, we were still finding woodchips when I cleaned the bathroom yesterday.

Saturday morning we got up and headed for the Primary Easter Egg Hunt. Oliver loved decorating his bag and then looking for eggs. Here are a couple pictures of our fun morning.

 

On Sunday we got to church early since Mike is temporary choir director. We had a nice turnout for choir and they sounded great singing "I Believe in Christ" for the Intermediate Hymn. I love Easter Sunday, it's such a special time to talk of Christ and His Atonement and Resurrection. I love teaching Oliver about Christ. He loves Jesus, he's such a sweet boy. His favorite part of the "Because of Him" video is the picture of the baby, he loves babies!

Before we headed to church, Lil' O checked out the Easter basket. He loved all his neat Easter things. Thanks so much Nana and Papa Fisher for the doodle pad and candy, and Aunt Tauna, Uncle Steve, and Jess for the soft puppy! He loves doodling away and now knows the word candy. He has to take his puppy down for naps and to bed every night now! Nana and Papa Fisher got Mike a score and me some socks. I'm lovin' my socks, they're seriously so comfy, and Mike's already been checking out his new score.

Later that evening, we had Easter dinner with some friends. It was so nice. Oliver loved playing with his friends again. He's even getting used to their cat and didn't act like he was in mortal danger whenever the cat was around!

Here are a couple videos of our silly Little Man for your viewing pleasure.

He dressed himself this day and insisted that this was all he needed.

I tried to convince him to show you his ABC's and Counting, they're starting to come a little...

 

We love you all and hope you're doing well!

Counting Down

We're starting to get ready to go now, and it's getting pretty exciting!

Yesterday I packed the first two boxes. Lil' O was awake and it was a lot harder than packing with no children. He likes to check everything out and take it all out of the box as I'm packing it in. Maybe I'll just have to speed pack during naptime? We'll see how that goes.

Here are some of his antics lately, he's so funny!

He thinks this is so funny on laundry day, it's so cute!

You have to keep your cheeks from getting chapped, ya know?

The other day I slept in and he came in to make me some soup for breakfast. :)

 Lil' O's favorite times of the day are bathtime and naked time, which closely follows bathtime.

I think he might like pasta... :)

Here he is with his friend Evelyn, she says he's her favorite friend since he never hits or pushes her and he's really nice to her. She is so sweet! She and her little brother Harrison are two of our favorite friends, too!

Nana and Papa Fisher and Lindsay sent him this for Easter and he loves it! Thanks so much, he draws all the time now and I don't have to worry about it getting on everything!

 Today we went to the Strawberry Patch for playgroup and it was so fun! Even though it was muddy from the rain last night and Lil' O stepped in a puddle up to his ankles the first 5 minutes we were there, we had so much fun picking strawberries and playing with our friends. Well, some of us picked strawberries while others of us watched and ate all the strawberries being picked...

Here he is with two of our cute friends, Leah and Orson, milking the cow. He was pretty good at milking, but didn't think much of how the "udders" felt.

 Can you guess who was doing the eating?

Phew, sorry for all the long videos, I'll try to post more often so there aren't so many next time! Happy Wednesday, we're halfway through the week, woohoo!

March!

March, where did it go?! I can't believe it's already almost over, but I am happy we survived!

Mike passed his Written and Oral Exams, finished his Thesis, and had his recital. It was crazy, but everything went so well! Now all he has to do is finish out the semester and he's officially graduated with his Master's in Music! Woohoo!

He's also been accepted into the Doctoral program here with an Assistantship offer, so we'll be staying another three years. I'm getting used to Baton Rouge though, and aside from missing my family and western friends all the time, I kind of like it. We've made some great friends here, and I'll be sad when we have to say goodbye!

Lil' has pretty much just been busy learning and growing. I can't believe I'm the mama of a toddler now. He's so independent, too! He can drink out of a cup, help clean up messes, name most of the parts of his body, climb onto just about anything, and open the set of drawers that hold our office supplies.

Here are a couple pictures and videos from the past month.

He loves the laundry basket. It's so funny when he puts it over his whole body and then walks around, I'll try to get it on video this Saturday when we do laundry again.

He insisted on taking both his red teddy and his giant teddy to bed for naptime, it was so cute!

He loves driving cars and trucks around everywhere... driving some people crazy in the process... :)

Now that most of the craziness is over, I'll try to keep things more updated. This month we'll start packing our stuff up and getting ready to go. Lil' O and I should be heading to Idaho the day before Mike heads to Canada the second week in May. My piano studio recital is at the end of the month, so I've been helping all my students get ready. I think they're all going to be great, I'm so excited!

Have a great weekend!

18 Months!

Our Little Man is 18 months next week and I can't believe it! He's getting big so fast!

He's such a silly little character. He loves to be naked, but if he can't, then in just a diaper is close enough.

He's so cute in Dada's hats, too!

He likes to dress up in anything of Dada's actually...

He had lots of fun around Valentine's Day, especially with the sweet packages he got from Nana and Papa Fisher, Great Nana and Papa Lindsay, and Aunt Tauna. Thank you so much!

Here he is in his special Valentine's shirt writing Dada a Valentine.

Here are a couple videos to show how big he's getting! :)

In the first two he's in his new jammies, they're so sweet on him!

Here's another pic in his cute new hat, too!

Not too much to report from Mike and I, we're just trying to hold on through the rest of the semester. Mike's been sick, but went to the doctor today and they gave him some prescriptions, so we think he'll be feeling better soon now.