Nuch's pizzeria.

(Adriana and Jason Cook, Michael and me, Rachel and Caleb)

Oh I just love the dates.

Especially the dates that involve good food.

Michael found a list of good Italian restaurants located in SLC in the newspaper long ago.

He of course saved it.

Well we're poor so we don't usually drive 45 minutes to try out nice Italian restaurants.

But since it was the beginning of the year and my wonderful cousins where coming along.

We decided to splurge.

Sort of.

Michael found the one was the cheapest.

And that's where we went.

Nuch's Pizzeria.

It was pretty good and definitely worth the drive.

We got a salad, large pizza, and a dessert to share for $30 bucks.

Not too bad.

The best part was the the drive up with my boy.

I love the chats.

And seeing my favorite cousins.

Yay for dates and Italian food.

Finishing with a bang.

 (The first set of A's was from this last semester.  The ones below it are from the Spanish test he took when he first got back from his mission I think.)

Anyway,  I couldn't be prouder.

I really try not to brag on the blog, but since it is my journal I feel I can just a little bit.

But he's done.

An official BYU graduate.

With a major in Spanish and a minor in philosophy.

And this very last semester he did it.

He got another 4.0.

Now to some this may not be as impressive as it is to me.

But only in my very wildest dreams could I ever achieve grades like that in college.

So I am definitely sharing in on his excitement.

Plus it's nice to finish off with a bang like that!
Even though he has his Bachelors, it doesn't feel like anything too exciting since we know that there are years and years left of school. But it is definitely a giant step in the right direction.
So woot Michael!
I also just feel so grateful and so very blessed to have married someone who is willing to work so hard for our family.  Even though 8-10 years of school is definitely no breeze.
So I love you Michael.
Congratulations!

P.s. We'll keep you posted on what's next for us.  Things are a bit up in the air but we should start figuring things out soon!

Christmas Day.

Oh my gosh Christmas was just great.

I think the highlights for me, were talking to Winston on the phone, eating non stop, watching Olivia open her presents, my presents, spending time with family, and most of all reflecting on my life and how blessed I am and have been this year and just overall being so grateful for our Savior's birth and Atonement.

I took tons of pictures. Mostly of Olivia because she is just the cutest.

Oh and did I mention, I LOVED playing Santa Clause?

Oh my gosh, it's the best.

Ahhh I can't wait to be the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy (in the far future).

Okay, back to Christmas.

Look at the pictures and enjoy the commentary.

Talking to Elder Farr on the phone.

One of the best parts of the day, hands down!

We had it on speaker phone most of the time.

Except at the end when we passed it around and told him that we loved him.

Oh my gosh, this was so hard for me.

I really am such a cry baby.

But the second I put that phone up to my ear, the tears started flowing.

I quickly said an awkward I love you and passed the phone on.

I miss him so much and it has been SO hard not to have him here for all the fun family traditions.

But, I am so proud of him, and he is doing absolutely amazing.

Yay for missionaries!

And yay for only 20 months left:)

My boy listening in on the phone call.

He gave some wonderful words of advice!

Okay so before I explain this picture, let me give a run down of the morning.

9:00 am: church

9:45: a call from Winston while at church. Oh my gosh we all about ran out of the church building right in the middle of a musical number. But Winston said we could call him when we got out.

10:30: The best phone call. Winston seems to be doing so well and is LOVING his area.

We talked for while and had to do a few call backs because of location changes.

Then we ate a yummy crockpot egg/sausage casserole and brown sugar cinnamon glazed rolls.

Then we opened our presents at around 1:00 PM.

Can you believe it?

Yep we were patient.

Which in my family is rarer than rare.

Okay so in this picture Michael is helping Olivia down the stairs to open all her presents.

She is very excited.

Her stocking goodies.

Let the present opening begin!

She LOVED opening all the presents and would rip one open and reach out for another one.

Completely oblivious to the fact that she was getting new toys and books,

It was all about the paper.

And then my Grandma came with her new puppy.

It is so dang small and just the cutest thing ever.

Olivia flipped out!

She immediately booked it to the front door and starting making her kitty sounds and reaching for the dog.

Sad, she probably won't be getting one of these.

As cute as they are, I've decided to abide by the same motto as my mother which is, "no inside pet is a pet of mine."

Maybe someday an outside dog.

She really could not get enough of it.

Oh the facial expressions of this boy.

Make me laugh so dang hard.

Oh my gosh don't you just want to shower those cheeks with a million kisses?!

Oh ya, the new sweat pants!

I'm not sure what he is doing here but whatever it is he is obviously happy!

Thanks to uncle Matthew for her new soft kitty!

Just loving the puppy.

Yay for lots of presents!

She loves to vacuum with me and Grandma Angie.

And makes the funniest face when we first turn it on.

She really thinks it's the best.

So now she has her own!

Ahhh the freaking kitchen aid!!

Oh my gosh, I could not be more excited!

Thanks to my boy and my mom.

Opening one of his "surprise" presents from me.

If you know me and Michael you know we don't keep secrets from each other.

It just isn't possible.

We both are easily bribed.

But I did it this time!

3, 1/2 hour massages for him!

Yay!

Oh just so in love these days.

Well we always were but it just keeps getting better:)

With all her gifts.

She's a bit spoiled.

But that's what you get when you are the only child and only grandchild on both sides!

She loves her kitty and doggy.

And carries them around all day making kitty and doggy sounds.

Sometimes when they make their sounds she gets a little spooked and drops them.

We hope you all had just the merriest of Christmases as well!

Christmas Eve.

 Christmas eve this year was wonderful.

We woke up and finished wrapping presents.

Made banana cream pies, breakfast for the following morning, sugar cookies, cinnamon/sugar covered almonds, and a cheeseball.

Made our cute little gingerbread house.

Which I discovered is kind of a pain in the butt.

(I am just not patient enough).

Had the tradional raclette dinner with sparkling cider.

Oh my gosh I could not get enough of the onions.

Olivia LOVED it.

Opened our family drawing gifts.

Michael got some golf balls, I got some makeup, and Olivia got a singing picnic basket!

Winston drew my mom and made her a magic ball Liahona.

It was really cool.

Watched Joy to the World.

And just enjoyed spending time with the family.

Oh and we were most excited to talk to Winston the next day.

More on that soon!

Here are a few pictures.

I was bad on Christmas eve but there's plenty on Christmas day!

 A Christmas Day post coming soon!

Christmas/love poems.

Remember how a few posts ago I talked about how we went to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point.

For the 12 dates of Christmas?

Well another one of our dates was to write a Christmas/love poem for eachother.

And then read it out loud.

Well it was romantic and fun.

Even though writing poetry is in no way a talent of mine.

Take a look!

Let's start with my poem to Michael.

We'll save the best for last:)

Merry Christmas love poem.

Dedicated to the love of my life.

Merry Christmas love

and happy holidays.

Your love for me this year

is cuter than a deer.

Your twinkling eyes,

your tamale mouth,

your manly voice,

make me all jolly and giddy 

inside.

Your love for me is like

a diamond snowflake

flickering through a dark world,

but somehow finding

my jasmine sky

and melting so gracefully

upon my heart.

For eternities and forevers

of time.

 I love you, 

Love, Isabella

For Isabella

Silver and gold,

beauty to behold,

you helped me

escape the abominable

snowman and showed

me the way to the

candycane forests.

Where we danced and 

frolicked among swirling

red worlds of peppermint.

Your Rudolph lips and

frosty cheeks glinted

like ornaments and your

song was one hundred

silver bells ringing on

every corner of my heart.

You showered me

with snowflakes and

an evergreen love and

made Christmas come

alive for me.  Thank you.

Love, Michael

Oh I just loved this.

I'm thinking there will be more poetry nights in the future!

Snow.

 Oh my gosh you guys.

It has finally started to snow.

I'm not really a huge fan of the cold period, but if it's snow I can definitely deal with it.

Almost enjoy it.

I hate the gray ugliness of winter. No offense to anyone who likes it.

But snow just makes it pretty.

And fun.

So I took Olivia out in it for a minute and she loved it!

She loved holding her little hands out and feeling it.

So I'm excited for the snow and sledding, snowball fights, hot chocolate and all that good stuff.

Not the driving though.

So I probably won't drive on the snow days.

I have bad experiences with driving in the snow.

2 of my 3 accidents (there were a couple more but only 3 are actually on record) were in the snow.

One of the times I flew right up over a roundabout.

Yikes on that.

Anyway, I hope it's a snowy Christmas because that would be just wonderful.

It's all about Olivia.

Well our little proozby (one of daddy's nicknames for her) is 14 1/2 months now.

Crazy how time is flying and crazy how quickly she is learning everything important and fun.

Here's a little bit about her.

Words she can say: mom, dad (da), grandma (ma), yay, bird, more (mo), shoe (su), hot (haa), ya, hi (hiiiiiya, really loud and high), banana (bbbbb), juice (jjuss), bum (she always says this when we change her diaper), sock (da), ba (stands for any of the following, baby, bath, bottle or binky.  She also shakes her head for no.

Sign language words: candy, milk, mom, more, no and we are working on thank you.

Animal sounds she does: dog (rororororo with her little cheeks puffing out), kitty (meow or oww in a high voice), fishy (moves hers little mouth making a soft little popping sound), snake (sssssss), horsey (she spits), cow (mo), sheep (ba ba ba), bear (YA), bunny (she scrunches her little nose up and sniffs). If Michael asks her the animal sounds in Spanish she will do them as well.

Things she loves: 

Talking on the phone. She somehow always finds a phone and will be found pacing around the room with it up to her ear.

Cleaning/ vacuuming.  If you give her a rag or wipe she will start wiping down the floor. And she loves to help vacuum.

Baths.  She loves her baths so very much.  When I take her diaper off she immediately takes off running down the hall before I can grab her.  I think she likes the whole feeling of no diaper! We just have to grab her fast so we don't end up with a puddle on the carpet :) The first thing she says when she gets in is haa (for hot).  When I tell her its not hot she will will get a big smile and start playing. She will be taking her bath and pull the plug and then look up at me and do the sign for no. And then put it back down.  She usually repeats this a few times. She knows not to pull it while she's in it! Before I get her out, I will say, "Okay, it is time to clean up!" And she will hand me each block one at a time followed by her wash rag.  She loves cleaning up! Yay for mom:) And then she usually shakes her head when I try to take her out.

Dancing/ singing.  She flaps her arms up and down and shakes her head like a crazy lady when any type of music is turned on.  She loves it! Especially the upbeat songs.  She also has recently started singing.  Like when we are in the car and have music on we can hear her in the back the whole time singing "ahhhhhh, ahhhhh, ahhhh etc."  She will even do it louder when daddy joins in to make sure she is being heard.  The other day, we had on the Little Drummer Boy song  and she would say, "pum, pum, pum" whenever they did. Oh my gosh it was so darn cute and funny!

Reading.  She loves to be read to, (really fast and for only a few minutes).  She has a short attention span haha.  She also loves her touch and feel animal book and will always go straight to her shelf to find it and start doing all the animal sounds.

Going to get the mail with mom.  Every day after her nap I will ask her if she wants to go outside in the cold to get the mail.  She gets a cute little smile on her face and goes, "ya".  Sometimes in a whisper.  I bundle her up like a little caterpillar and she lays her little head on my shoulder and we walk up to get it.  She seriously thinks this is the best thing ever.

Food.  She has a sweet tooth like her mom and loves all things candy and sugary.  She knows exactly where we keep the candy and can always be seen doing the sign for candy.  She also loves cottage cheese, cheese toast, toast, cold cereal, tangerines, fruit snacks, crackers and a little bit of everything else! If she doesn't want it she will either spit and out it comes or throw it off to the side on the floor.She really loves any type of drinks especially milk.  Oh and let us not forget the pop.  Mostly mountain dew. If she sees any sign of that can she is booking it straight for you!

Games. She loves it when we play "I'm going to get you" and chase after her.  Sometimes she gets running so fast that she trips, (sad) but luckily she rarely gets hurt she just busts up laughing.  Oh my gosh, Michael and I love this. She loves to ride her rocking horse.  And hops up and down on it when she is sitting down. She also loves to be chased up the stairs. And still loves to play peekaboo and has learned to put her hand over her eyes instead of on the side of her head!
Cheers and praises.  This little girl loves to be cheered for and loves getting complimented.  Her little face just lights up.  She even starts cheering for herself when she does something hard or brave and keep cheering until we all join in.  "Yay Olivia!!" And clap our hands.

Giving loves and kisses.  Getting a kiss from her is seriously the best thing ever.  It is more like a lick on the cheek but it is so full of love!  She also loves giving loves mostly just to me though.  Woot for the mom!
Animals.  She was introduced to kittys and doggies up at her Grandpa and Grandma Mickelson's house.  She loves them. Oh and they also showed her a teeny tiny baby turtle and she screamed when she saw it haha!

Babies.  She loves loves loves babies. Real or fake. She will often be found walking around cradling her baby talking in a cute high voice to it.  She also loves other babies and toddlers and always waves  and says hi whenever she sees one. She loves giving them hugs and just being social about it.  Yikes for me because honestly people I am not the social one and really to be honest am not that interested in talking to people I don't know or even having a lot of friends. So I have no idea where this child came from.  Maybe she gets it from her dad but that's a little iffy since if he happens to spot anyone he knows he books it in the opposite direction haha. Anyway, let's just say, she is not shy at all.

Cuddle time. Every morning the first thing we do when she wakes up, is find her binky.  We then hop in the bed together and cuddle for about 15 minutes.  We both love this.  We talk about animals, what we are going to do that day, pretty things, and of course all the funnies that occur in our every day lives. We also cuddle before each of her 2 naps and right before bed while she drinks her bottle.
Shredding things.  Mostly paper or toilet paper.
Running errands.  Whether it is taking out the trash, going to one of the kids games, or going to the store, count her in! (Especially when grandma takes her!)
Backscratches.  She loves to scratch mom and dad's back.
Wrestling. Whenever I lay on my stomach Olivia always comes over and gets on my back and starts to hop up and down and then starts rolling around. It's adorable.

Oh my gosh she really is the funniest. And of course the cutest. We love all the new things she does each day and really just love watching her.  Sometimes we do the spying and that of course is a treat.
She's a handful though, which is why she is still the only one for now:)

Here a few more random pictures I found of the little one.

When Grandpa Mickelson came, he taught Olivia the snake and cow sounds.

All bundled up to go outside.

Watching the first 15 minutes of Finding Nemo.

Oh my gosh you wouldn't believe how fast I'm running around trying to get my stuff done haha.

Precious time I'm telling ya.

Well congrats if you read this all because honestly it's a novel. But I want to remember all these cute little things about my baby girl.

She's my pride and joy and I love every second of being her mom.

A wagon ride around Thanksgiving Point.

This year for Christmas I came of with 12 activities to do either as a family or just with the husband.

I called it the 12 dates of Christmas.

I posted about it on my other blog here.

So far it's been just great.

Romantic, super fun, and overall just helped us have a wonderful christmasy holiday season.

Well one of the dates was to go to Thanksgiving Point and take a wagon ride around to see the lights.

Of course Olivia loved this and pretty much just tilted her little puffy head back and stared the entire time.

She loved the horses and would make her little horsey sound (spitting) whenever she saw them.

After our wagon ride we went straight to JCWs for dinner.

I love that place, and it was a perfect way to end our cute little night together.

Here's a few pictures of us all bundled up!