Swing Set!

I've been meaning to post these for awhile. Jon is amazing, and was up to the challenge of designing and building our own swing set. All the kits are not only super pricey, but they also tend to be much too large for our tiny back yard. He spent ALL day Memorial Day building it! Here are some pictures of the process and the final product! Olivia absolutely LOVES it!!
staining the wood

building the frame

marking & drilling holes

watching daddy do all the work

digging a hole on one side so the swing set is even

putting the crossbar on the frame

Sumner (Livi's friend) testing it out

loving it!

Thanks, Jon for your hard work!! This is an awesome addition to our backyard!!

Gummy Grin

Found this picture of Olivia's hilariously cute gummy grin. Can you see why I'm going to miss it?

She's got 'em!

Olivia and I just returned from a wonderful trip to West Virginia. We visited Lisa, my college roommate, and her family. We had a blast playing with them, and I don't know what Olivia is going to do without Lisa's boys around to chase her, tickle her, and entertain her. The only downside was the nightly screaming. But I am pleased to announce that my little gummy grinner has not one, but two little teeth. They are adorable, absolutely officially teeth, and very sharp. I'm a little sad that her gummy grin will never be quite the same, but mostly I'm excited for her. Way to go, gummy grinner!

Just so cute!

I just can't get enough of my baby girl. She is at such a fun age, and she is so cute! See for yourself...

Terrible Mother

Last night Olivia cried herself to sleep. Screamed/cried. I felt horribly guilty about it, but I didn't know what else to do. I tried to rock her and comfort her, but she just kept hitting me! Hitting? She's only one...oh boy. I felt even worse when she awoke at 4:20 this morning with the same scream-cry. At that point I caved and cuddled her back to sleep in our bed. Then today I saw what just might possibly be the bud of a little tiny tooth starting to poke through. Now, I really can't say I trust myself in these matters. Ever since she was six months old, when she's gone through a fussy period I have thought she was teething. I have given her teething toys, teething tablets, and when she was feverish, even the occasional tylenol. But since she has reached 12 months, and still doesn't have teeth, I have stopped even thinking that teething might be the reason she's fussy. So last night, she didn't get any of that special teething treatment. Who knows if it's for real, but it sure looked like a tooth to me. My poor little girl.

Don't talk to strangers?

Today the washing machine repair man came over. To repair the washing machine. Anyway, Olivia smiled at him as he entered, and then we showed him down the basement laundry room and left him to do his thing. Awhile later, he came up to ask a question, and when he headed back downstairs, Olivia started crying. She was suddenly attached to him! When he finished the job and left, she cried again, and we had to stand at the door waving bye-bye to him for five minutes! He probably thought we were crazy. How am I ever going to teach this girl not to talk to strangers?

10 Year Reunion

We took a trip to Michigan this past weekend for my 10 year high school reunion. It was a great trip, and the reunion was definitely an interesting experience (though I have to admit, not quite as awkward as I had anticipated.) We drove 6 hours to Akron, Ohio Thursday night, stayed there, and then drove up to Michigan on Friday morning. We went to Frankenmuth, a German town that I have always loved, visited with the Bergers (she was Young Women's president when I was a laurel), stayed a the Boling's house (and had a GREAT time!), saw the Howards, drove around Holly, had a get-together with HS friends at the Prechowski's house, went to the reunion, ate at Big Boy, and attended the Fenton Ward sacrament meeting. It was a wonderful whirl-wind trip, and I loved it. It still felt like home, even though I haven't been back in SIX years. Here is some photo documentation of the adventure.