Our weekend.

On Saturday we took another quick trip to Tutti Frutti.

I seriously can't get enough of it.

The coconut, pomegranate, and watermelon flavors were to die for.

We of course had to eat by the fountains just because Olivia loves them so much.
And I just snapped away because she is so darn cute.

Throwing something up in the air.

I love his face haha.

We had another amazing weekend.

On Sunday, we had the missionaries over for dinner.

Butch and Sarie helped with the dinner as well.

We had so much fun talking and mostly I just loved being around them because it made me so grateful to them for their sacrifice and willingness to serve for 2 years.

It also made me grateful for Winston.

I love and miss my cute missionary brother so much.

It is hard having him gone but somehow having those Elders in our home made me feel just a little closer to him.

And I'm so grateful for that.

Beach day!

On Monday, Michael took the day off so that we could spend the day at Santa Monica beach.

I've been begging him to go for quite sometime now.

We woke up that morning and got all packed up for the day.

Which takes quite a while when your packing for an unpredictable toddler.

We made the 45 minute drive and immediately upon arriving headed to the burger place on the pier.

The pier has so many people and so many different things going on.

It's a bit crazy, but super fun to walk on.

After lunch we headed down to chill on the beach for as long as possible.

Luckily it was just starting to get hot when we got there.

We immediately took Olivia down to the water thinking she would be in heaven.

We couldn't have been more wrong.

It think the waves scared her because after the first one washed up on her legs a little bit that was the end of that.

So it was back up to play in the sand.

She loved sharing mangoes with dad, smashing sand castles, rubbing sand all over herself, and resting on daddy.

After, we walked back up to the pier to get a snowcone and then headed for home hoping to beat the traffic.

We didn't.

Since I'm pretty sure there is always traffic in LA.

But we had so much fun and hopefully will get to go back one more time before we move.

Saying "cheese."

I love this boy.

Very excited.

(This is right before the wave hit!)

She loved burying dad's legs.

Sharing mangoes.

Taking a quick rest.

Headed down to the ocean for round 2.

Yep, not excited about it.

On the pier.

The water was so pretty.

I know I've probably said this before but seriously the beach has got to be my most favorite place on earth.

A fun night.

 The team met their dinner goal this last week.

So we went to a little barbecue restaurant for dinner.

After dinner all the married couples decided to go miniature golfing.

We debated cause of little Olivia but decided we'd give it a try.

It was a blast and Olivia was in heaven chasing everyone's balls and staying up way past her bedtime.

Lucky girl.

Olivia's made quite a few friends down here and is still trying to learn everyone's names.

She gets so much attention and is always so excited to be around everyone.

We have an awesome team!

Oh did I mention that I got a hole in one.

Yep, I rubbed that in Michael's face since he claims to be a pro.

However, this time I was actually on Michael's team so he was quite proud of me :)

I'm so mad that I forgot my camera although luckily Nicole was sweet enough to take these pictures.

 Braydon and Olivia.

(She is saying cheese)

Me and Olivia.

My hot boy at the batting cages.

I know Michael played baseball when he was younger and really liked it but I had never seen him play.

Let's just say he is dang hot when he swings.

Her sort of "fake" laugh.

Can you see why we love this girl so much?!

She's absolutely hilarious.

And is a little entertainer just like her dad!

Our 4th of July.

 Our 4th of July this year was mostly just like any other day.

Luckily Michael got to go to work on Saturdays schedule which is from 8:30 am-3:30pm.

After work he drove down to Burbank to help one of the owner's friends move.

So he didn't get home until around 5:00 pm.

When he got home we went to a barbeque that was right outside our apartment. 

(One of Spark's owners and the guy they helped earlier put it on for the team.)

We had chicken, salads, chips, and icecream.

Olivia loved all the attention she got and really loved dipping her chips in the dip.

After dinner she went with Michael to the hot tub and pool.

She calls the hot tub a bath.

Mostly, it was just fun to get out and spend the evening outside with Michael and Olivia.

 Pretty girl.

 Loving the chips and dip.

 Just us :)

 Having a complete blast playing with Burress.

 We are so grateful to live in this country and enjoy all the freedoms that we do.

We truly are so very blessed.

Just a few photos as of lately.

 Doing some dancing in her very cute bathing suit.

Hanging out at the pool.

Just like her daddy.

Totally in love with any kind of soda.

Reading books.

Michael and Burress (former mission companion) reminiscing about their mission days together.

Another one of those funny positions we found her in one night.

Isn't she a doll?!

Oh we just love her to pieces.

Well that's all for now.

Things are so crazy around here with trying to get an apartment in Oregon finalized and all the stuff that goes into moving. (About 1 month left here.) Then there is the insurance which hopefully will be finalized by August, the constant cleaning up and chasing after a hyper toddler, and just trying to enjoy every moment we have together.

I will do better at updating in the future.

Promise.

Stay tuned for the 4th of July photos and our day trip to Santa Monica beach.

Super fun!

Crying/dying laughing.

(Sorry for the crappy lighting and the shaky camera)

Okay this child is seriously dang funny.

Lately she will be crying/fussy and then will just randomly bust out laughing.

Like really really hard.

I never hear her laugh this hard unless she has just been crying.

I really can't handle this!

Enjoy!

Wedding preview.

Things are just a bit crazy right now.

Our apartment is a disaster, Olivia is exhausted, has a rash, and is teething, and I'm exhausted.

So it might be a few days before I update but here is a little preview of Sophia's wedding.

It was a perfect week of nonstop fun.

And of course the wedding was stunning.

I'm so proud of her and so excited for Ryan to be apart of our family.

As soon as I get the pictures from my dad and Sophia I'll post them!

(The top 2 pictures are just a quick preview of the serious baking and frosting that took place!)

Off to Utah.

Well we're off to Utah for Sophia's wedding.

Olivia and I.

SUPER EXCITED!!!!!

 Here are just a few of the things we have planned:

haircut (me!)

family bridal shower

snow cone shack visits

Sophia's endowment session

hanging out with Leslie, Hallie, and Jay

Baking 360 white cupcakes, 360 pink velvet cupcakes, and 360 sugar cookies.

PLUS...

frosting her wedding cake!!!

I can't believe I'm making all the desserts.

Thank goodness for friends and family who have volunteered to help.

I just hope everything turns out.

Then there is also the...

wedding dinner

the sealing

the reception

and mostly just spending much needed time with family and close friends.

I couldn't be more excited.

I'm sure there will be lots to post about when we get back.

So be excited! 

Happy Fathers Day.

(Don't you think we look alike?!!!

Well besides the baldness part!)

I am so so grateful for my dad.

He was the first to hold me, the first to really bond with me I think.

He has always been there for me.

Through all the good and bad times.

I've never ever questioned his love for me and his desire to do whatever it takes to make me happy.

And for that I am so grateful.

When I think of my dad I can't help but get teary eyed.

Because he is without a doubt one of the best men I know.

He taught me and is still teaching me how to be a good person, a good wife, and a good mother.

Sometimes when things aren't going as planned or I am frustrated and angry I think of how my dad would handle the situation and it makes me change my approach immediately.

He is so good.

I try every single day to be just like him.

I remember waking up at nights either scared or sad about something.

He'd be right there, rubbing my head and telling me everything was going to be okay.

Some nights he'd be by my side all night.

As a child and really even a teenager I would literally cry for days whenever my dad left for business trips.

I needed him and I wanted him to be right there with me.

Being 10 hours away from him has been hard.

Harder than I imagined.

But he is a huge part of me and a part of who I want to be.

And that helps me feel closer.

I love my daddy with all my heart and feel so very blessed to have him in my life.

I truly have the best dad.

Growing up, I wanted to be like my dad.  I wanted to be invincible, speak Spanish, have answers to every question imaginable, have an amazing sense of humor, etc.  Lots of kids say that they remember being disappointed when they realized that their dad wasn't Superman or didn't know everything.  Well, I'm still waiting to be disappointed.  I'm 25 years old with a daughter of my own and I still want to be like my dad when I grow up.  Any virtue I possess or am developing found its roots at my dad's feet.  Thanks dad for the lessons, Saturdays of yardwork, rounds of golf, trips, memories, etc.  Love you!

 

I'm also grateful for this cute daddy.

And Olivia is too.

She loves him so much, and they have so much fun together.

Plus I think it's cute that they look alike.

And act alike.

I hope someday Olivia will feel the same way about her daddy as I do mine.

I'm sure she will.

Because that is just the kind of dad Michael is already.

So Happy Father's Day you three. You mean the world to us.

Olivia and all her cuteness.

 It appears as though our Olivia is hitting the terrible twos a bit early.

Or maybe it is a 20 month thing.

But she has gotten SO hard.

  Oh the constant running around getting into everything well mostly just the very few things she knows  she can't get in to, making HUGE messes, throwing things in the toilet and garbage, hitting, pinching, pulling hair, sleeping less at nights, fits, constant attention and probably a few other things.

It's adorable really:)

I honestly thought I was tired and all when she was a newborn, but I am telling you right now apparently I didn't quite understand the meaning of tired.

Because there are days when I am just completely worn out.

Especially when I don't even get enough time to shower.

(Don't drop by on those days please).

It has gotten a lot harder to get things done because the playing and attention she requires is literally 24/7.

It's all I can do to eat, shower, and clean.

But...

Things have gotten a lot better.

I think it is all about figuring out the child.

And since I am a first time mom I really have no experience with this age.

Over the course of the past few weeks we have been experimenting with a lot of different things and I think I've figured her out.

So that being said, things are a lot calmer around here, I've had a little more time to work on my checklist, shower, workout, and all that other stuff.

Let's just say that every single second counts during those 1 1/2-2 hour naps and after 7:00 pm.

Before I move on to all the positive/cute things she does I want to share a few of the not so good but sort of funny (looking back) stories.

1: The other day, I walked into her bathroom to get a bow for her hair. She was of course right behind me (I love that she follows me around like a little puppy dog!). Well in the millisecond it took me to reach up and grab her bow she had opened the toilet lid, said "pee pee" and had thrown one of my shoes right in. Oh my gosh I about died because that kind of stuff freaks me right out. But we had a little talk, disinfected my shoe and went on.

The bathroom doors must ALWAYS be closed. 

There of course have been times when we have accidentally forgotten and we hear that toilet lid open and shut and of course take off in a full sprint to assess the damage. 

We've found washcloths, ribbons, toys, baby dolls, and shoes.

Sometimes I just throw them away because it just grosses me out so badly.

Same goes for the garbage.

One day, I opened it up and found what I thought would be an empty garbage, but instead found it chucked full of toys.

We've learned to check the garbages multiple times a day.
She also loves to climb up onto our desk and pound the computer. We've learned to always pull the chair out, especially after she grabbed a black marker and colored all over it.
(It was dry erase so thankfully it came out.)

2: We have recently started putting her on timeout in her crib with the door closed when she hits or climbs on things she knows she shouldn't. We always give her a few warnings and if she either hits again or doesn't get down we take her to timeout. We know she understands what we are saying but oh my gosh she is so stubborn. (Thanks to me and Michael). Anyways, it seemed to work for a while because she hated time out and would always scream when we put her in. So whenever she would hit and we would say, "Olivia please don't hit, you need to be soft. If you hit again you are going to have to go on timeout." She usually responded to us by either shaking her head quite hard or saying, "no."

Well, lately she's been saying, "ya" and nodding her head. 

Are you kidding me?

I really had no idea a 20 month old could have as much sass as this girl.

Despite all the craziness of having a toddler, I still love being a mom.

In fact, I think I might like it more.

Now, I get to teach her everything I know, interact with her and have her respond to me when I tell her something, get lots of wet kisses and squishy hugs, but most of all there's nothing better than her cute little innocent smile when things get hard that remind me how lucky I am, how truly blessed I am to be her mom.

That being said let's talk a little bit about all the wonderful/cute new things our little one has learned.

Words she says: (Now before I make a list it is important to understand that there is no way for me to write them out exactly how she says them, the sounds she makes are just so cute especially when her tongue gets in the way, so I'm working on getting it all on video. But for now I will mostly just list words that she regularly says and you can safely assume that she does not pronounce them properly!)

bandaid/bottle/bath-ba

 owies- ow (for sores and she likes to stick her finger in Michael's toy alligator and quickly pull it out saying ow)

Jesus- Jethuths (she loves to point at his picture and say this)

nana- banana

Butch- Buthch (He is a friend here she likes in Cali.)

bubbles- bubbushs

Sophia- Roph (for Soph)

Grandma- ma

Grandpa-pa

Amen- mea (she always says this proudly at the end of a prayer.)

more- maa or mas

baby- bay bee

hi- hiiiieya (She says this to literally everyone she sees. We will be grocery shopping and she will just wave her little hand and say hi. People just think she's the cutest and I don't blame them.)

bye: ba bye

night night- na night
pajamas-mamas
Gigglebellies- besh (She loves to watch it so much that she's apparently learned how to turn the tv and dvd player on. What the heck!)
Hallie- ha (her little friend)
Jay- jayjays (another little friend)
shoe- shoosh
there it is- der i is
Brown bear- ba baa
no
ya
rolls-roths
fish- bish
bird-bir
turtle- tu tle
squish- squitch
star-da
c-mon-mon (she does the little come here motion with her hand or comes up to you and grabs  your finger and pulls you to whatever she wants. Which is usually either the front door to go outside or the food pantry.)
church- chuch
huh- (She always holds out her to hands and will be like "huh?? huh??" It's quite cute)
twins- tis
toes- tossh
noes- nas
hot- ha
eye (if you ask her where her eye is she will literally point to it so hard I'm afraid she might poke it out. Same goes with our eyes.)
hair-air
teeth-tath
pow pow- paa paa (If you tell her to pow pow, she will come up and spank you.)
pee pee
poo
please-peeeze (in just the cutest voice.)
thank you- da ooo
drink- dri
dressed-thatched
gosh-shosh (whenever I say "Oh my gosh" she always says, "shosh"right back.)
shirt-(sounds a lot like the s word).
outside- sith
door-da
bug- bu (She is so facinated with them and thinks that every single spec of anything is a bug even Michael's mole on his arm!)

Okay, that was a lot of words, and there are more. It seems like she is learning new words every day. She really likes to imitate us when we say something or ask her to say a specific word. If the word we ask her is too hard she just makes something up herself!  To sum up her speaking just either put a tch or a sh sound at the end of every word with your tongue out and that is pretty much how she sounds. We love it!

Let's talk about animal sounds now.
She has learned so many and if you saw her do them you would just freak out.
She knows: fish-she moves her mouth up and down, kitty- a really cute soft maw sound, doggie- ruff, lizard-sticks her tongue in and out, crab- says pinch while making the pinch motion with her fingers, kangaroo- lifts her arm up while saying boing, moose- puts her two hands on her head and says moose, bunny- sniffing sounds, chicken- ba, duck- makes sort of a gagging sound in her throat, sheep- baa, cow- mmmmm, horse- she spits, monkey- ooo, skunk- she plugs her nose.
She loves animals so much and completely freaks out when ever she sees any sign of one. It is especially funny when she sees a doggie. She just ruffs away.


She loves to clean and throw things in the garbage when we ask her, she loves to dance and sing with daddy, she loves to give high 5s and "pound it", she loves Wal-mart's smiley face fruit snacks, blackberries, rolls, toast, icecream/candy,turkey, watermelon, milk, (she still drinks at least 3 bottles a day) and all sorts of other food. Although sometimes she can be picky.
She loves her beeeeeee. (binky)
She loves to be tickled and to be the one tickling. She loves to wrestle and jump on our backs, laugh and roll around.
She knows where her eyes, hair, head, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, toes, tummy, belly button, and hands are.
She LOVES to read and be read to. We read for about 15 minutes before bed every night. She just lays on me and listens. I love it. She also loves to get out all her books and pretend to read to her babies.
She loves to cuddle in the mornings. And sometimes will be laying right inbetween Michael and I and just wrap each of her arms around our necks and squish us together and just lay there for a while.
She loves other children, especially babies. She is so friendly and always runs up to them to say hi and give them a great big hug. Although it freaks most children out one little boy just sat and hugged her for seriously 5 minutes.
In church on Sunday we substituted a primary class of 9 year old boys. She got so excited when she saw them and immediately started screaming "bay bee bay bee!! (She thinks all kids are babies no matter how small or how big they are.) Anyways, the kids were a bit distracted the whole lesson and not to our surprise Olivia by far was the most disruptive one. She sat on the end of her chair laughing and looking around to get attention. "Hahahahaha, hahahaha" this was her semi fake laugh that she did for 5 minutes straight until Michael had to tell her be quiet haha. Oh my gosh, I was laughing so hard and so were all the boys of course. As you can tell she loves to be the center of attention and will do anything to be there.
She loves the pool and the hot tub. She has gotten really comfortable with jumping off the side to Michael, so much so that I wonder if she would just randomly do it so we have to be careful.
Sometimes when she eats or talks to her teddy bears she makes this "yub yub" sound. It very much reminds me of those little ewok bears from Star Wars. I can't really handle it.
She loves to do dishes with Michael. And will stand on a chair right next to him the entire time.
She of course is drenched when they're all done.
I'm so glad she loves to help and clean because it won't be long until I can put her cute little self to work!
She is learning how to do somersaults. She has done a few but mostly just gets in the position with her head on the ground and flops to the side. It is hilarious.

Well this was a long post but I really want to make sure I write down all of the cute things that she does/says so that I can remember them always.

We love her so very much and our so grateful that she's ours.
In fact we love her so much and think she is so cute that we're thinking about having another one:)
(THAT WAS NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT!)
We are in the process of getting maternity insurance so hopefully we'll be pregnant sometime in the fall!
Yay for another cute little Mickelson baby!
I think Olivia would just love to be a big sister:)

My cactus.

In Relief Society on Sunday our cute teacher gave everyone a cactus.

At first, I was like what the crap.

But the lesson was about how despite all of our trials and afflictions (prickles on a cactus) there will always be sunshine at the end of the tunnel and that things will work out for our good (the bloom).

I had no idea cactus's bloomed but then again I have never really studied cactus's.

Anyway, today my mini cactus bloomed.

I never ever in a million years thought I would say this but my cactus is beautiful right now.

And I love what it symbolizes.

On a side note:  

I have never been really good at taking care of things.

Mostly plants and pets.

I just don't get it and it seems hard.

 I thought a cactus would be super easy for obvious reasons but apparently they need water and fertilizer and all that stuff. 

I have no idea what I am going to do.

Sad it will probably die soon.

Especially since right after I got done taking my picture with it I dropped it on accident which resulted in a droopy, smashed flower.

Sad.

At least I got to enjoy it for a few hours!

Just one of those hilarious clumsy moments in life.

Michael and I have been working on some things together.

We want to make sure we have the Spirit in our home always.

Well, everything has been going really well.

So yesterday we fasted.
To be honest it had been quite a while so it was kind of hard to say the least.

At around 2:00 pm Sunday afternoon we were just laying in our bed talking.

Mostly about food haha.

When we both decided it was time to end our fast.

So Michael said a prayer and got off the bed to head to the kitchen.

I was not about to let him get there first so I proceeded to literally fling myself off our bed to get a bit of a head start.

Well, in the process of jumping my foot got tangled up in the sheet so instead of landing on my feet like I had planned I ended up skidding across the carpet face first.

(Ahead of Michael!)

I'm sure you can only imagine Michael's reaction.

He was laughing so hard.

I was too even though my knee really hurt.

Well after about 2 minutes of us both laying on the floor laughing our heads off.

I just started bawling.

I have no idea why because even though my knee hurt, it didn't hurt THAT bad. 

And I wasn't at all embarrassed because I just don't get embarrassed in front of Michael anymore.

So again, you can only imagine Michael's reaction.

One second his wife is flinging herself off the bed face first on the ground and is dying laughing about it, and the next second she is bawling.

Going from a high like that to a low so quickly is not like me.

Maybe I'm getting more emotional or something.

So today I'm grateful for hilarious/clumsy moments like that.

Laughing like that with Michael is truly one of my most favorite things.