Grace:

Saturday we took a little drive up to Grace, Idaho to spend the afternoon and evening with Michael's family.
I was really nervous to take this trip because Olivia hates the car and I didn't want to mess up her naptime/bedtime schedule. Especially since it has been so hard to get her on one.
But she was a little angel in the car. I seriously can not believe how good she did. She fussed for about 20 minutes out of the 3 hours on the way up and pretty much slept the whole way home.
I was seriously wondering if it was our Olivia we had back in the carseat.
I still think that was luck but I have a bit more hope now that we may be able to do a few more things.
Anyway, here a some pictures of our day:

Olivia with aunt Rachel. She hadn't seen her since Christmas.

Olivia with aunt Sarah.

We took Olivia around to see all the farm animals. She would just stare and them. I'm sure she had no idea what was going on and why it smelled kind of funny.

Apparently she doesn't like the cow haha. Just kidding. She just wanted her mom to hold her!

This bull was HUGE. Seriously I thought its' head looked like a T-rex's head. It kind of freaked me out especially with the nose loop it had.

So pretty.

These little baby cows were crazy. They would just stick their tongues out and lick the crap out of you. It licked Olivia's leg and I about had a cow. Seriously. I have some OCD issues with germs.

A four generation picture.
Priceless.

Michael took Olivia down this giant slide a few times. I am not sure what she thought about this either. She just had this serious little expression on her face the whole time.

Everytime we put this straw in Olivia's mouth she would just sit and hold in there like she is in the picture.
Silly girl.

Olivia and her grandpa Antone.
This picture is one of my favs.

My boy and I.
Trying to keep covered so we don't get attacked by the millions of mosquitoes.

I can tell I am definitely not a little kid anymore when I get totally freaked out on the teeter totter. I am not even kidding. I pretty much just posed for the picture and then was done.

Playing with aunt Rachel right before the hotdog roast.

One of the highlights of our little day trip was that Olivia got to meet her great grandma Mickelson for the first time. She's one lucky to girl to have 4 great grandmas!

Michael and Rachel.

Me and my baby girl.

I am so glad that we decided to go up there. It was so fun to see a lot of Michael's family and just to get out of the house for the day. And little Olivia's happy attitude made it just that much better.
Yay Olivia for being a good traveler! Keep up the good work because we are getting ready to drive 6 hours up to the cabin!

I can...

Ride a skateboard. Well not quite. But at least I look dang cute sitting on it.

Eat my fruit like a big girl.

Push my walker all by myself. I can even walk from couch to couch to toy as long as I am holding on to something, which, is totally fine because I am still WAY too little to walk by myself.

Golfing with my boy!

My boy and I went golfing together the other day with my brother and his girlfriend.
I'm not going to lie, I pretty much hate golfing.
But, since my boy LOVES it SO much I try to at least tolerate it.
So being the nice wife that I am I went with him.
Not to golf. (I really couldn't swing a club and actually hit the ball to save my life).
I'm not even kidding.
But to drive the cart. Seriously it's a blast.
(Except when there is a steep hill with a lot of those bump things in it. Then it's freaky.)
Oh and to stand behind him when he swings and watch where his ball goes.
It's a hard job.
We had a lot of fun and I even sunk a putt with a left handed club.
(I hope I am using the golf lingo correctly.)
I can putt. I just can't do the really far swings. You know.
Anyway, I do enjoy watching my boy golf.
He looks so stinkin hot doing it.

Here are some pictures of our little outing:

This is exactly what I am talking about when I say he is freaking hot when he golfs.

Oh ya and we shared a romantic kiss on this cute little bridge.
Please don't look to closely at this picture it seriously looks like we are both 15 sharing our very first kiss.
So awkward.
But I promise we don't usually kiss like this.

She's a tiny little thing!

This little girl, well, she is itty bitty.
She had her 9 month appointment the other day.
Here are her stats:
Height: 26.25 inches (9th percentile)
Weight: 15 lbs 7 ounces (3rd percentile)
However even though she is small she has quite the LARGE personality.
No joke.
This little gal knows exactly what she wants, how she wants it, and when she wants it, and of course how to get it.
She's probably the most stubborn little person I have ever met.
It's so cute to see someone as small as her doing all these big girl things like pat a cake and waving goodbye or saying hi.
Oh. We've been working on this other cute action chant called Make a ball for baby. She does a few of those too. I will try and get it on video.
She sure is a cutie little smarty pants and we just love her little squishy 15 lb self more than I can begin to explain.

Painted toe nails and a mini house:

I painted Olivia's toenails for the very first time.

Look at those little toes.

Aren't they just the cutest little things?

The rest of the pictures are of her playing in our mini house. I think it is the perfect size for a little one like her. She absolutely loved it!

I also have a cute little video of her standing up on the ledge and waving bye bye for the first time! I couldn't get it to upload to the blog so if you want to see it go to my facebook!

Pictures of the Oli-de de do!

That's one of the names Michael calls her.
The Oli- de de do or the Oli-re re or the Oli- lee lee.
And so so many more.
They may sound like crazy weird names but when he calls her that it just sounds so adorable.
In fact so adorable that I have joined in on the fun.
We're crazy parents I know!
But we're happy crazy parents because we have the cutest baby girl in the whole world!

Here she is!!
It's snack time.
She is eating a little cheese puffer all by herself.

Usually around 3:00 pm, Olivia wakes up from her afternoon nap. Of course just like the rest of us do after we wake up from a nice sleep she wants to eat. We have all sorts of crackers and then her favorite is of course the juice popsicle that we share. (I have to help otherwise it will melt everywhere.) Well sometimes we have snack time outside, so today we sat on this little table under the porch. She immediately found her little self in the window and could not stop staring. I'm pretty sure she thinks she's pretty cute. I don't blame her. Anyway, she would only look away to have her licks of the popsicle. It was pretty darn cute.

Doing pat a cake like she pretty much does all day long:)

So this little cutie as you know pretty much thinks she is the center of attention. (Which she is.) And that it is all about her. (Which it pretty much is!) Anyway, when I talk on the phone to anyone and start smiling or laughing she immediately starts smiling and laughing too. She thinks I am smiling and laughing at her. Well this picture is one of those smiles. I was on the phone with my mom telling her funny stories about Olivia (cause there's lots) and I of course was laughing so Olivia was laughing too! Silly girl.

I am so pleased to announce that my darling baldy is getting a tad bit more hair on top. Almost enough for a cute little pony! Ahhh I am so so excited. I have clips that have been sitting around for 9 months now. It's almost time to pull them out.
Until then, we will of course continue doing the frequent head massages to help stimulate her hair follicles!

Uncle Emerson made her all pretty with a cute pink baby rose behind her ear.

Me and my baby.
She's my favorite.

That's all the pictures for now but there will be more soon because I seriously am addicted to taking pictures of this baby.

4th of July Happenings:

Nothing too exciting happened in the Mickelson family yesterday.

We didn't do fireworks.

We didn't go to any parties or host any parties.

We didn't have fancy red/white/and blue desserts.

Ect.

But we did spend the day together quietly relaxing. (Sort of!)

And that to me is the best way to spend any day.

Here are a few pictures that show what we did.

Michael had to work. Sadly. But he was home by around 12:30 pm, so that was nice. Anyway while he was gone, Olivia and I cleaned the house. We vacuumed, disinfected and wiped everything down, steamed the floors, dusted, and scrubbed the bathroom. It was quite the project. But so nice to smell the nice clean smell of Lysol and a freshly lit sweet pea candle.

We of course did lots and lots of playing and reading.

Did 4 loads of laundry.

Made banana bread.

This little darling did a lot of fussing. I think she might be teething. She honestly did not let me put her down for one second. Fussy babies are just so much fun:)

I decorated my cute little fireplace. I still have a few more ideas, but I am loving it so far!

For dinner I made a rotini salad and attempted to cook steak for the first time. I must of gotten a little carried away with the seasoning because my boy made the nice comment that he thought he was eating a salt lick haha. Apparently, I am going to have to work on the art of seasoning.

After dinner we put this little doll in bed for the night. (She sleeps about 10 hours straight now!) Yay!

And then we went to turn on the Bachelorette and found out that they were playing the same episode as they did last week. So that was a bit disappointing. But it turned out okay because I spent the rest of the night talking and cuddling with my boy. And pretty sure it doesn't get better than that!

We feel so blessed to live in America and enjoy all the freedoms that we do. We are so grateful for all those who have and still do serve our country.

9 months!

 This crazy girl is now nine months.

I can hardly believe it.

We are loving all the new cute things she is learning to do. 

But at the same time I don't want her to grow up. 

I just want her to sit in my arms like a little baby and sleep.

But we all know that never happens even when they are newborns.

 Let me tell you a bit about this little spitfire. 

*She has about a 10 second attention span. No joke. You give her a toy and she of course gets all excited and plays with it, but after about 10 seconds she throws it and wants something else. I'm not going to lie it gets quite exhausting entertaining this child.

* She hits now. I have no idea how she learned but I can not tell you how many times I have gotten whacked in the face. Oh ya and she bites too. She's kind of a vicious one.
*She will not drink out of a sippy cup or bottle.  She only drinks out of a glass like we do.
*She loves to eat but only when she can eat the same thing as us.
*She loves the movie Finding Nemo. Whenever I set her in her little play saucer and turn it on she starts jumping and squealing with excitement.  She will even randomly giggle during the movie.
*When I talk on the phone to Michael and start laughing at something, Olivia will start laughing too.  She loves to be a part of everything.
*She loves to play pat a cake.  She wants to do it pretty much all day.
*She is a momma's girl.  If I am anywhere to be seen she wants me to hold her and will latch onto me like a little monkey when someone tries to take her.  The other day, I set her on the ground and started walking away and she seriously flung her little body forward and latched onto my leg haha. It was hilarious.
*She loves to be read to.
*She hates to sit on or touch the grass.
*She loves music. Pretty much any kind.  But she definitely has her opinion on what songs she likes and doesn't like. She will start crying when she doesn't like the song that is playing and when we change it she stops.
*She hates being in the car.  Her max is 1 hour TOPS.
*She is only ticklish when she wants to be. And she only smiles when she wants to.  She is a pretty serious baby.
*She sticks her tongue out all the time and loves to suck on her upper lip.
*She loves to stand up and hold onto either our hands or a chair or couch.
*She loves mountain dew. (Only a few little tiny sips). Michael introduced her to this and every time she see that green can she flips out.

I could probably go on and on but I will stop for now.
We love her cute little personality.  Not a day goes by that she doesn't put hundreds of smiles on our faces.
We love her so much.