short version

so this is going to be fast...i don't have alot of time right now. yesterday (tuesday) at about 11 am-ish i got a call from derek's mom. she was calling to tell us that derek's grandpa was being taken to the hospital...they thought he'd suffered from a stroke, and things were not looking good. derek was at work, but he left the instant he found out. we were on the road to salt lake at 12:15pm. (thank you, thank you!) it's fabulous having older girls who can basically pack themselves. we kept getting updates about every hour on ray's condition. what actually happened was on monday he fell, hit his head, and his brain started to bleed. the docs couldn't get the bleeding to stop, so they made ray as comfortable as possible until his heart finally stopped beating. it was REALLY important to derek that he get to say goodbye to is grandpa. they have always been so close. we got to the hospital at 2am, and ray passed away at 2:45 am. i'm so greatful for the gospel and the knowledge i have that families can be together forever. these times are hard, but there is also peace in death....especially when the person who dies is righteous. on father's day derek called his grandpa. ray has suffered from 2 other strokes, and they made his speach hard to understand sometimes, but he was talking so well that day. he told derek he knew that out of everyone derek would call him that day. we're so lucky for all the good examples we've had in our lives. between derek and i we only have my grandpa and his grandma who are still alive. i'm determined that my children will have a close bond with all of their grandparents.

on another note....we had planned to go to st. george the 13th of july to visit family, and be in town when kristina has her baby. i didn't think driving 1200 miles 4 times in one month would be that hard. boy was i wrong....being 30 weeks pregnant made the trip alot harder for me. so now the plan is that derek will stay until the funeral is over, and then fly home. the girls and i are staying in utah until derek flies back on the 13th of july and we drive home the next week. i totally planned on being in omaha for the whole summer, with the exception of 1 week. but, now it's looking like i'll be in utah for a month!!!

biting saga

i don't remember if i've written about this before, and i'm too lazy to go back and check!! so a brief explanation...
samantha is a biter. it started as her only form of self defense. katelyn and annie used to pick her up and carry her everywhere and it would make samantha really mad. the only way she could get them to stop was to bite them. well, she has figured out that biting gets her pretty much anything she wants. if she wants to go on a slide and a kid's in her way she bites 'em. if someone is sitting where she wants to sit on the couch...she bites 'em. if a kid has the toy she wants...she bites 'em. you get the point. so far she has bitten about 5 or 6 neighborhood kids, and a random kid at the children's museum. it has gotten ridiculous. on saturday she bit annie 4 times....finally the last time i put tabasco sauce in her mouth. she scream bloody murder, so i had hopes that her biting habit might have been broken. well, just today i was babysitting my good friend's boys and samantha bit one of them. so, i did the tabasco sauce thing again....hoping....she didn't even cry. she just gaged a few times and then was over it. she did drool for about 15 minutes....but that's it. i seriously do not know what to do about it. she bit me once and i bit her back....that didn't work. she's been in time out, that hasn't worked. she's been spanked...didn't worked. so ya, if anyone has a cure for biting please let me know!!!

College World Series Opening Ceremonies

we live about 1.5 miles from rosenblatt stadium, the place where the college world series is held. anyway, on friday (the 13th) night we walked there to check things out, and watch some fire works. it was a great night. the girls were really good, and we had fun with our friends.
do you think kate and derek look alike?!?!? ha ha hathe girls were probably so good because they had popcorn, fries, cotton candy, and sprite!!!

samantha was TERRIFIED of the fireworks. she started shaking and holding derek and/or her blanket with a death grip!! i was really surprised she didn't like them. i thought for sure she would. anyway, katelyn and annie were ooohhhhing and aaaahhhhing the whole time. (and giggling because they were sitting by all their little "boyfriends" who were screaming like girls every time a firework boomed!)

yeeeeeehaaawwww! lots o' pics

katelyn wanted to go to coco keys (an indoor water park here in omaha) for her birthday, so even though katleyn's bday was sunday we actually started celebrating it friday. we gave katelyn her present early too...derek and i aren't very good at waiting!! she really wanted a nintendo ds, but we told her there was no way because of $. so she was anxious to see how disappointed she was about to be! haha she was super excited when she realized we had actually gotten it for her. (thanks to the birthday $ grandma & grandpa o. and great grandma and great grandpa o. sent!!) she also got a couple of really cute outfits from grandma and grandpa sullivan, and a necklace and some books from uncle jeff and aunt kristina.



we had a blast at the water park. we went from 11am-1pm then left to eat lunch and take naps. then we went back from 5pm-8:30pm. it was a great day.
samantha went on this slide about 1,000,000,000 times!!

at the top of this tower there was a huge bucket that would slowly fill up with water and then dump out. derek and the girls loved getting drenched by all the water.

alright, now on to the cake! growing up in my family it was a given that you were going to have an ugly birthday cake. i don't know why, but we always had cake catastophes!!! big chunks missing and the hole filled with frosting, icing it before the cake had time to cool enought, so big chunks of cake mixed in the frosting...you get the point. well, since having kids i've always bought them a wal-mart cake, or a dairy queen ice cream cake...etc. this year i just decided to make one. ha ha ha big mistake. apparently ugly cakes run in my blood!!!

when katelyn saw it she didn't know how to react!! it was pretty funny. i do have to say that even though it was ugly there wasn't one crumb left.

the night before was the night of the tornado. our friends' basement got flooded because of all the rain. so after church derek and a bunch of the elders went to help them shop vac and tear out the carpet. we ended up having a huge spaghetti dinner with them and 2 other families for katelyn's birthday dinner. luckily it's easy to double crock pot spaghetti sauce and cook a bunch of noodles. maybe a little too easy, since i came home with about 10 gallons of leftovers!!! i think katleyn had a good day/weekend.

(oh, on saturday we took the kids to see kung fu panda. IT'S SO GOOD!! take your kids...it's totally worth it.)

not funny...

it was cute and funny the first time.

the second time, not so funny, and not so cute. it was pretty infuriating actually. i dragged samantha up to the tub without the photo shoot this time. after i had time to cool down i decided a picture would be good for blogging purposes!!

crazy weather....again!

today when we got to church everyone was talking about the tornado that touched down in omaha the night before. it tore up a neighborhood that is 5-7 miles from our house! the funny/scary thing about the whole situation is that apparently the tornado warning sirens were blaring all night and WE SLEPT THROUGH THEM!! all of our neighbors got their kids and went and slept in the basement...us on the other hand were sound asleep in our beds with a tornado a few miles away. i don't understand how we didn't hear them...i get up about 5 times a night to use the bathroom, and last night my nose was runny, so i got up even more to blow it. i don't know how i didn't hear the sirens. anyway, i've always thought dying in my sleep would be the best way, so maybe not hearing them is a blessing in disguise...ya right!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATELYN!

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY, KATELYN!!

ok, so details of today and some pictures will come later. i just wanted to publicly acknowledge my first born's special day!

severe weather in the mid-west

we've had some crazy weather the past few days. luckily no tornadoes...just tornado watches. anyway, last night we had the craziest thunderstorm i've ever witnesses. around 5:30pm i went outside to "collect" my kids and their bikes. it wasn't raining...just really cloudy and muggy. then there was a huge clap of thunder and the rain started pouring down instantly. there was no way to get inside fast enough, so the kids and i stayed outside and played in it for awhile since we were already drenched! it's funny...i had been pretty ornery the whole day, and just feeling "blah", but after playing in the rain i felt better!!! it was alot of fun, and not soon after all the neighborhood kids were out there with us splashing and playing in the mud. the video is one i did last night too, but around 9pm. i've never seen lightning like this before. it was continuous, and there weren't seperate thunders for each lightning...if that makes sense!! the thunder was just continuously rumbling without a break...you can't hear it on the video though.

sneak peek of baby girl

so i had to get another ultra sound, because my doc thought i may have placenta previa. anyway, we decided to do the 3D/4D ultrasound. i felt like we were cheating a little bit, because we got some really good shots of her face. here they are!! she kept sucking on her arm, so in this one you can see her hand and stuff too.
in this one she's licking her arm! the ultrasound tech kept teasing me saying that i'm starving her and she's eating her own arm instead!!! i promise i'm eating enough! derek's pretty sure that she has my nose...i have to admit...it does look just like mine!
ok, i love this one...you can see her huge big oliverson lips!! her uncle jeff will be so proud! it's so weird that these pics can be taken. we live in an amazing time...i'm so excited to meet this little girl. the one big mystery that still remains is what color her hair is going to be. derek and i have both had dreams that she has lots of black hair. either way i'll be happy, but i have to admit that i'd be SO excited if she managed to get red hair!