The Oliverson Posse

Enjoying the Fruits of Derek's Labor

2011-08-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

And this is only 1 day's worth!!

1st Day of School

2011-08-09T13:39:00.000-07:00

Katelyn is in 5th, Annie is in 3rd, and Samantha is in kindergarten.

I got teary eyed for about 1 second when i watched sami walk away with her backpack that is almost as big as her. then i went inside and got over it because i had eric and lexi needing me, a house to clean and work at 5pm!! (i've ended up working full time... just until the end of september. it's been crazy!!)

they all came home with huge smiles. i think this year is going to be great for all of them.

Eric James

2011-08-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

He's so sweet. He smiles all the time, but doesn't laugh all that much. He gets annoyed if you tickle him! He loves his bottle, and eats about every 3 hours. He's a good sleeper. He loves his jumper and can jump high enough his bum lifts off the seat!

Monsoon Waterfalls

2011-07-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

we live about 2 minutes from the dam. page is to the left when you're looking at these pictures. anyway, we had heard there are cool waterfalls when it rains really hard so we finally decided to check it out. when we first started driving across the bridge we could only see a little tiny waterfall. we were wondering what the big deal was. so we turned around and drove back across the bridge and then we saw what people were talking about!!! they were beautiful. (derek and i get a little terrified when we realize the power of water.) oh, and derek just dropped me off with the camera, because the camera kept focusing on the chain link fence, and so we didn't stop traffic! lexi still talks about "mommy in the rain"!

Antelope Point Marina

2011-07-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

I started working at the restaurant at Antelope Point Marina. Our good friend is the manager of the marina, and the restaurant needed some help. so i'm helping out and making some pretty good money. it's only supposed to be a few nights a week, so hopefully it doesn't get too crazy! so anyway, derek brings the kids down to swim and eat... and go on the occasional boat ride!!

lexis is scared to jump or swim by herself. we've got to get her over that this summer!

samantha, on the other hand... fearless!

katelyn is amazing. she's always helping out with eric... even on the boat. she wanted to make sure he was happy.

Let the Torture Begin

2011-07-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

This picture made derek mad, so i'm sure this post will make him furious!! annie thought it was hilarious, and you have to admit... he's a beautiful baby! ;)

Happy Independence Day

2011-07-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

on 4th of july weekend jeff, kristina, their kids, and the becks came to page so we could spend the weekend at the lake. the first day jeff & kristina were here was a nightmare. derek had to work so we went to lone rock without him. it was a terrible idea #1 i haven't driven in sand very much, #2 it was so crowded, and #3 the water has risen so much, so you have to drive in sand that has never been wet and is very deep. ya, we spent the whole time get stuck and unstuck!! oh well, the rest of the weekend was a blast. we borrowed some wave runners and a banana boat. unfortunately the wave runners couldn't handle pulling the banana boat, but the kids (and uncle spencer) still had a great time "playing king of the rock" on it.

Happy 10th Birthday Katelyn Grace

2011-06-08T11:29:00.000-07:00

10 was an exciting birthday for Katelyn. She got her 1st professional haircut. ok, not really. she's had a trim before etc... but this time she got "layers" and she was very excited about it. our good friend, Leslie, cut it for her birthday gift. it does look very healthy and pretty now.

next jeff and elea came for her birthday party. we opened presents at home and then loaded up to go to lone rock beach.

katie was pretty excited about all her gifts!

McKenna Tubman, Samantha, Alexis, Sophia Brian, Katelyn, Kelsey Smith, Annie, Elea

at our new house there's a basketball hoop in the driveway. now she has a ball to practice with once we move.

juicy lexi kisses!

Clayne has a hat on because Jeff (ok... we) shaved his head, WITHOUT kristina being present and we promised to not let his head get sunburned. (we're all in BIG trouble.) he looks SO CUTE tho!!!

another exciting thing about turning 10 was Katelyn got braces. she had been asking for them for about 2 years, and she FINALLY got them!!

The Boy

2011-04-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

Annie's Baptism Day & Eric's Blessing Day

2011-04-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

38 family members came to Page for Annie's baptism and Eric's blessing. ALL of them came to our house afterwards for lunch. i was kinda stressed out because 1 of our bathrooms had been torn out and the guy was here saturday finishing it up, my dishwasher was broken, and it was 45 degrees outside and SNOWING!! even with all the craziness the day was beautiful. so many people were there to support us... i felt very blessed.

Sullivan Family Pic

2011-04-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

My mom insists on us taking a picture together whenever we're all together. Our family pics are always kinda ghetto, because we never plan ahead and actually hire a photographer!! oh well, at least there's documentation of us together!!

Annie's Baptism

2011-04-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

Lazy Sunday

2011-04-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

the boy with Grandma Sully

lazy Sunday morning

So Happy When It's Warm

2011-04-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

Kelsey, Sophia, and Katelyn (BFFs)

Lex & Sam

Eric James Oliverson

2011-03-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

Eric was born on March 15th at 1:37 pm. He weighed 9 pounds. The nurse said he was 19 inches long, but we think she measured wrong... at his 1 week check up he was 21 inches. He is 10 days old already, and i figure it's time to tell his birth story!!

first of all, i have always been induced and always have had an epidural. this time i really wanted to go into labor on my own. i don't know why i thought i could actually be patient, but still. i didn't want to be induced. another thing... i've witnessed my sister give birth twice naturally and it was amazing both times. she wasn't hooked to an IV, she could walk immediately after, she never had to deal with being itchy from the anesthesia, and she felt amazing afterwards. those things sounded great to me, but still... give me the epidural. well, we live in a really small town. there's only 1 anesthesiologist and he has a crappy reputation. after hearing some friends' terrible experiences i decided i wasn't letting this guy anywhere near me... and my mental prep for a natural birth started... KIND OF! (i read a hypno-birthing book, but never actually practiced.) at 36 weeks eric was breech. i started freaking out because i didn't know what was going to happen. then at 37 weeks he had turned 1/2 way. i still had anxiety not knowing what was going to happen. at 38 weeks he was turned all the way, but very high. AND my doc told me that the crappy anesthesiologist was on vacation until the 17th and a really good doc was in town from flagstaff, SO if i wanted to be induced at 39 weeks i had the option of an epidural. (my due date was the 20th.) GREAT... now i was stressing out about what to do. do i get induced before the 17th and have an epidural, or do i just wait and chance going into labor after the 17th and have to do it naturally, and what if i go a week past my due date... i would go completely insane. i tried not to think about it and derek and i decided we would figure out what to do at my 39 week appointment. my appointment was at 11:30am and i had decided i would get induced that day if she would let me... well, i get to the doc office and had to reschedule for 4:30pm because my doc was at the hospital for a delivery. i figured my chances for getting induced that day were gone. well, at 4:30 derek and i go back and my doc says i can head right over to the hospital to start the induction process!! i asked her if we could go to the hospital at 8pm... we had some things to do like grocery shop!! anyway, my sister, kristina, and derek's mom got packed and headed to page. we had a friend come over until they got here and we headed to the hospital. at 9pm i was given cervidil at 10pm contractions started, but they were weak. i was given an ambien so i could sleep... all it did was making me feel high!! so i was up all night except for a few cat naps here and there. when kristina woke up she came to the hospital. at 8 am i was given pitocin... yup had to have an iv. i hate those stupid things. the nurse ruptured 2 veins before finally getting it in. my contractions started getting stronger and more regular, but i was still watching tv and having a good time! at noon my doc came to check on me. she wasn't going to check my progress, but i told her she had to!! she said she would if i would let her break my water... of course i agreed! little did i know what would happen when she did that!!! i was at a 3 and as soon as my water broke she told me eric's head was now putting some serious pressure on my cervix, and about 5 minutes later my contractions were not fun anymore... it was now serious business. i just concentrated on breathing and trying to remember the ridiculous things the hypno-birthing book said to imagine. 20 minutes later i wanted an epidural. the nurse checked and i was at a 5, so she went to call the anesthesiologist. then i started to question what to do. my plan from the beginning was to get an epidural, but my pride got the best of me. i knew if i got an epidural i would be so mad at myself. somehow in the craziness i decided to not have an epidural. derek and kristina told me i could do it and reminded me how fast i went from a 3 to a 5, but ultimately they let me decide... they didn't want to be blamed!! in the next hour i would sit on the toilet ranting and raving about how the biggest loser contestants run a marathon, so i have to... my sister has natural births, so i have to. i sat on the exercise ball, laid down, sat up, asked derek what i was thinking, squeezed derek and kristina's hand to death, horse bit the back of both of derek's arms, yelled at a nurse, asked derek to make the pain stop, told kristina i couldn't do it and she would tell me, "but you already are doing it," told them i was going to die, and finally, a whole 1 hour and 37 minutes after my water was broke, i gave birth to eric after pushing through 3 contractions! it was the most intense 90 minutes of my life. derek was so sweet... he did whatever i told him. and when i threw his hand away from me and then immediately reached out for it again he was there. he constantly reminded me to breath. kristina kept reassuring me that i wasn't going to die, and was there to support derek. you always hear women say that the pain instantly ends when the baby is born and there's a rush of adrenalin... i didn't experience that. my body was still on fire after eric was born and i was so exhausted it took all the energy i had to hold him. i'm figuring it's because of being induced. also, it was so hard at the end because the contractions were coming on so fast i never had time to catch my breath in between. i'm going to blame that on the pitocin too!!!

Eric at 10 days.

i gained a new respect for my body after that experience. even though i was loud and kind of lost it for a minute, i still did it. i really want to run a marathon and now i'm 100% confident that i can do it. there's no way it can be more painful!

37 weeks

2011-03-01T10:38:00.000-08:00

good news... the little guy decided to cooperate and turned!! he's kinda diagonal so the doc said we're not in the clear completely yet, but at least his head is down there somewhere!! now i have to face the fact that i don't want an epidural (i think i was secretly hoping for a c-section! hahaha). all the clothes and blankets are washed. i cleaned the carseat... how an infant carseat got so nasty is beyond me. every day i've been trying to deep clean something. today was the garbage can. partly so my mom and derek's mom aren't digusted with my house, and partly just trying to fill my days up so they don't drag on too slow. the first person to ever say that a baby can come any time after 37 weeks needs to be shot, because really... how often does a pregnant woman get that lucky?!

36 weeks

2011-02-22T08:16:00.000-08:00

at my dr. appt. we realized the baby is breech. so here's to hoping the lil' guy decides to turn. i was ready to have this kid natural and was kind of excited not be induced this time. but really, there are worse things than a c-section. so we'll just wait and see what happens!!

Katelyn and Basketball

2011-02-22T07:40:00.000-08:00

katelyn wasn't 100% sure she wanted to play, but after her first game she decided she liked it better than socer! the 1st game was hilarious because the ref only called out of bounds. so some of the girls would pick up the ball and run and all the parents would be yelling "DRIBBLE"!! i guess the ref will start calling more things later in the season. katelyn was really aggressive, which made her daddy proud!

baby it's cold outside!

2011-02-16T07:35:00.000-08:00

perfect trampoline jumping attire.
(notice they don't have socks on? weird-o's!!)

Princess Samantha

2011-02-15T07:33:00.000-08:00

Sam is by far our girliest girl. she was invited to a birthday party and was supposed to wear a princess dress-up. that was not good enough for her. she wanted her hair done and make-up on too! i have to say... i think she is BEAUTIFUL!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T07:28:00.000-08:00

Annie's Actual Birthday!!

2011-02-13T07:22:00.000-08:00

i still can't believe annie is 8!! i remember her "birth" day like it was yesterday. she has grown up to become the funniest girl! she makes us laugh all the time. she can be very sensitive too. she doesn't put up with anyone's crap, and if her friends are being naughty she's perfectly fine staying home and playing with her little sisters. most days she is a HUGE help because she does stay home and play with them. since her birthday was on sunday, she woke up she came and crawled on our bed and we let her open her presents before church.

kristina and fam gave her a journal and a new card game.

we gave her the traditional new scriptures.

grandma and grandpa s. gave her a scripture bag and $8.

her sisters gave her a magic 8 ball... which was her FAVORITE gift!! hahaha

annie also got birthday money from grandma and grandpa o., which she used to buy an new razor scooter. she also got birthday money from grandma helen, which i used to buy her new shoes!!

All ready for church.

waiting for her cake... which we did not eat!

the sullivan family has a terrible tradition of having the ugliest cakes ever! unfortunately this year annie's cake was no exception! she's so sweet though... she kept saying, "it looks good except for the cracks and stuff." :) luckily we've been addicted to sherbet and 7-up floats lately so she was fine with not eating the cake!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE!! WE LOVE YOU AND ARE SO LUCKY TO HAVE YOU IN OUR FAMILY!

annie is getting baptized on april 9th. she was willing to wait so we could do her baptism and eric's blessing the same day. it will be more convinient for family/friends who are traveling to make it.

Annie's Birthday Party

2011-02-12T11:23:00.000-08:00

8 is GREAT!

Annie and her friends decorated cupcakes...

Then we put on press-on nails!!!

Annie's friends were great... she got a lava lamp, about 10 gift cards to RD's (local hamburger/ice cream joint) for things like 1 free rootbeer float or a chocolate sunday, a zuzu pet, and a balloon w/ $10 in the card. every night annie has derek take her to RD's to cash in one of her certificates!

i got up at about 7am to start making cupcakes and decorating. it was an exhausting day, but i really wanted annie to feel special. turning 8 is big deal!

2011-02-09T08:31:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Derek & Baby Shower

2011-02-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

Derek turned 32!

i made him an apple cake with cream cheese frosting, the girls made him cards. the next weekend he went to provo with his brothers and dad to watch a BYU basketball game. (derek has a man crush on jimmer!!)

that night my friends threw me a fabulous baby shower. it just shows how great the people here in page are... it's amazing how many good friends i've made in the short time we've been here.

Mia and Stacey Smith (holding Ryan Bernards)

All the yummy food!

In the middle is Kristi Bernards... she was 1 of the 2 who put the shower together.

in the back... jodi mallavia, she was the other 1 of the 2 who put the shower together.

everyone was so generous... i got a ton of pjs, blankets, diapers and wipes. it made me REALLY excited to have a boy (if i could be anymore excited!!!!)

Snow in AZ

2011-02-01T10:57:00.000-08:00

you really can't beat the weather in Page. it doesn't get TOO hot in the summer and it doesn't get TOO cold in the winter. i think the girls have already forgotten the snow from our days in omaha. it barely sprinkled snow and sam and lex ran out to lick it up off the tramp... it didn't stick anywhere else. and really... the little speckles on the tramp hardly count!!! notice their bare feet?!?!

Breakfast of Champions

2011-01-31T10:47:00.000-08:00

every morning sam and lex have hot chocolate and either a waffle, pop tart, bowl of dry cereal...

they both sleep in their underwear and wake up freezing so they snuggle up to watch shows!!!

Derek and Angie

2011-01-27T10:43:00.000-08:00

The Dad

The Pregnant Mom... 33 weeks.

i guess the parents of this family should be documented once in awhile... even though i'm making the dumbest face ever!!!

Samantha and her Puzzles

2011-01-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

samantha is a very smart, intense little girl. she got a bunch of puzzles for Christmas that are pretty difficult, and if uninterrupted (by little sister) she will sit for as long as it takes to figure them out. the problem is... once she does a puzzle a couple times she has it memorized and then it doesn't entertain her as long!!

Welcome to the family lil' Clayne Jeffery!!

2011-01-18T11:25:00.000-08:00

yesterday at 9:17am Kristina gave birth to Clayne Jeffery! he is the cutest little thing!

to make a short story even shorter... she got to the hospital at 6:15am, the doc broke her water a few minutes before 8am, at 8:45-ish she was 7.5 cent dialated, 25 minutes later she was at a 8+, literally 3 minutes later i was running down the hall screaming for a nurse to come because she was pushing, 1 minute later a nurse caught clayne with one gloved hand, and the doc completely missed out!!! it was INSANE!! i've been able to be there for elea and clayne's births. i love being able to support kristina and jeff and wittness the miracle of a new baby coming into the world. (plus, clayne might have just plopped onto the bed with jeff watching, frozen in fear if i hadn't been there!! hahaha) if i could go back in time i would have definitely gone to nursing school and been a labor and delivery nurse.

(i took lots of pics, but with kristina's camera. i will add them once i get them from her!!)

December

2011-01-18T09:57:00.000-08:00

Once the girls were on Christmas break we didn't stay home for longer than 3 days at a time! luckily i had all of the Christmas shopping done about 2-3 weeks before Christmas.
on the 17th we went to st. george. the 18th was derek's dad's and our neice, brooklynn's birthday, and we wanted to be able to give our gifts to derek's parents and jeff and kristina.
on the 20-21st we went up to cedar city to go to derek's "high school friend party". they've been having it every year and we haven't been able to go for a couple years so we decided to go this year. it was fun... getting there wasn't the best!! the weather was insane and it added about an hour to our trip. plus, lexi is potty trained, but she is also very manipulative with the whole situation. when she's in her car seat she knows we'll get her out if she says she has to go. we had been in the car for about 5 minutes and she started saying she needed to go. (she had went right before we left, so i knew it was just part of her little plan.) well, about 2 hours later she started up again and i ignored her. well, that time she wasn't lying and it was a mess. to make it worse we didn't have wet wipes so i had to soak napkins in iced down coke. ya, it was good times! but it was worth it once we got up there.
we actually were home the 22nd-25th (Christmas will get it's own post!)
on the 26th we packed up and headed to salt lake city. we stopped in hurrican to meet up with derek's parents so we could pick up his grandma. when we got up to salt lake we went straight to italian village. there are a few places derek HAS to go when we're up north and #1 on his list is italian village!!! on the 27th we met up with the Evers and the Goates at Classic. we always have a great time hanging out there!

later that night we all went to professor mangrum's Christmas alumni dinner. he introduces everyone who is there that has graduated and is working. derek pretty much came away from the dinner looking like a total stud! :) after the dinner the Goates had to head home to Heber, but derek and i hung out with the Evers a little longer. they gave us the best dessert in the entire world. it is the raspberry almond tort from market street grill. it was so good we had to go buy a whole cake to bring home with us!!
on the 28th we packed up the van, went back to the Evers for a bit, went to Hires for lunch (another must on derek's list), went to derek's uncle brent's to pick up 25 lbs of meat, and then we headed home.
it was a really quick trip, but we had a good time.

the plan for new year's was for jeff and kristina to come here. but of course last second we decided to go to st. george. one reason we wanted to leave we ended up going out with jen, spencer, jeff, kristina, melanie, silas, suelyn, and todd. (melanie, silas, suelyn and todd are our cousins). we went to milt's and had a fabulous dinner and a good time. most of the night was spent teasing derek... i'm not sure why, but it was hilarious!!! our kids stayed home with jordyn and i think they had a really fun new year's eve.

it's amazing how much we packed into 2 weeks.

Trip to Omaha

2011-01-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

Derek's friend/old boss from Omaha called him up and asked if he wanted to go to the BYU v Creighton basketball game. well, obviously the answer was yes. so derek and i planned a little trip to omaha. it was good timing because my parents were out for thanksgiving, so they stayed a week longer and took care of our girls. (thanks a ton!!) it was so weird being back in omaha. i love that city!! it is a great place, and it will always have a place in my heart! law school was stressful, but such a good time in our lives. i have very fond memories of that time and place. it was perfect timing for us to go visit too... allie and mitch were getting ready to move to utah so shauna was there to help with the packing. anyway, here are a few highlights of our trip.

derek went to the byu game.
we ate at panera bread (with allie and shauna), star burger, wheatfields (with allie, mitch and shauna), a mexican place i can't remember the name of (with chris and april), and i'm sure there are others i'm forgetting.
i went to trader joe's with allie and shauna.
derek and i went to a movie... i think it was "the next three days" (we liked it.)
when we checked into our hotel room all the regular rooms were taken so we got upgraded to a pent house for the same price as a regular room!!
bucky's
we visited derek's old office.
derek visited his professors and some friends.

it was hilarious... allie and i went to pick up shauna from the airport and the second shauna walked into allie's house she started ripping things off the wall... literally!!! this was the only pic i took of our whole trip. oh well!! it was great spending some alone time together and visiting omaha. (we missed our girls like crazy though i must admit!!)

thanksgiving...

2011-01-06T11:31:00.000-08:00

the weekend of Nov. 19-21st we went to St. George to have a Thanksgiving dinner with the Oliverson clan. I actually took a bunch of pics (for Christmas presents!)

The week of Thanksgiving we were all pretty excited because Thomas, Grandma & Grandpa Sullivan, Jeff, Kristina, and Elea were coming to Page for Thanksgiving. I had all my decor out (it's not all that fantastic, but still...)! Then on Tuesday Derek and Kristina pretty much decided Page was going to be boring and not as comfortable as St. George. I had a little break down because I am a control freak and wanted it at my house!! but really, they were right.

however, the girls weren't too excited to get right back in the car and go back to st. george!!

jeff is the PE teacher at santa clara middle school. So the men took the kids to the school gym to play A LOT.... like 2 times a day for hours! they kids had fun playing soccer, riding the scooters, and just running around crazy!

grandma and girls rocking out!

lex and lea causing trouble!

lex giving lea the lowdown on how to "go" on the toilet.

so let's be honest... the men took the kids to the gym so much so they could play

PICKLE BALL!!!!

(next year there will be 2 little boys in the mix!!)

we pulled off dinner and it was delish. somehow we didn't end up getting a pic of the spread. after dinner we loaded up and went to the movie theater to see Tangled. (it is the cutest movie EVER!!)
for the first time in a couple years kristina and i didn't have it in us to get up early at hit the black friday sales. cooking all day and being pregnant is not a good combo and we were tired! we totally regretted it though and promised never to miss it again no matter how tired we are!!! (1 sale we missed that i still get sick thinking about... pillow pets: regularly $20. they were on sale for $3!!)

Merry Christmas

2010-12-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was a HUGE success! i won't go into how bad derek and i and santa did in the past... let's just say that one of katelyn's famous quotes of 2010 was, "i never even used what i got for christmas last year." part of the reason is our kids asked for ridiculous things, like laptops and flatscreen tvs. this year was so much more do-able!!!

Christmas Eve... we stayed in Page and spent the night with our friends the Mallavias and the Buntings. We ate some good food, the guys played ping-pong...

and the moms helped the kids do some crafts!

Katelyn Grace

Alexis Rae

Samantha Claire

Annie Helen

We had the kids act out the Nativity. it was the first time we ever did that on Christmas Eve, and i really liked it. i think we may have to add that to our lists of traditions.

Trevor and Samantha as Joseph and Mary.

Katelyn and Natalie as the shepards.

Annie and Alexis were the Wise Men.

Aftert the Nativity we open Christmas Eve pjs. sleeping that night was a little insane. in our house the master bedroom is upstairs and the rest of the rooms are downstairs. so we put up an airbed and had all the girls sleep in our room so they couldn't sneak and see what Santa brought before waking us up! it made for a pretty crappy night's sleep honestly! because of being pregnant i'm up 5 times a night and every time lex would wake up and cry so the other girls would wake up. she ended up in our bed which is never good!!! at 5:30am i was done trying to sleep and it was all i could do to just lay there and let the kids (and derek) sleep!! finally around 7 or 7:30 the big girls woke up!

Christmas Morning!! Katie and Ann were happy to be awake... Sam and Lex were a little annoyed about the whole situation!!

(sam was NOT excited to be awake, and it took her about 2 hours to really wake up... she was comatose pretty much the whole time she opened her presents too!!!)

Lexi just asked for candy... so santa brought her something he thought she might like.

annie asked for a REAL gumball machine that her sisters would have to pay a quart to get a gumball. quite the entrepreneur!!

grandma and grandpa o. gave the girls pillow pets... i'm surprised all the windows didn't shatter from their high pitched screams when they opened them!!

i don't need to explain how happy katie was to get eclipse in her stocking!

another big highlight was the 3 bigger girls all got rollerblades. now... isn't that the most reasonable thing a kid could ask for?!?!? they have already put about 200 miles on them! grandma and grandpa sullivan gave the 2 big girls church clothes which they were ecstatic about (they looked homeless at church up to that point)! Samantha got a stash of puzzles which have been a lifesaver.

It was a great Christmas. I love being home and just doing our own thing. And... most importantly i love remembering the birth of the Savior. It is a great time of year!

"Hey Mom Look... it's a Kitty-Button!"

2010-11-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

Hot Air Balloon Regatta-- first weekend in Novemeber

2010-11-18T10:17:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning you can go outside early in the morning and see at least 10 balloons in the sky. Then on Saturday night main street is closed for the Balloon Festival. Balloonist from all over some set up, tons of vendors set up booths, and it's a great night to walk up and down the street. We saw all our friends, ate some delicious kettle corn and just had a really fun night as a family. The balloonist have a count down and all light up their balloons at the same time. It was so awesome!

On Sunday morning I had gotten all the girls ready for church, and I was upstairs drying my hair. All of a sudden I heard a really loud noise and knew it was the flame of a hot air balloon... but it was way to close! So i ran outside onto the deck that's outside my bedroom and saw this!! A balloon was having trouble and had to land pretty much in our neighbors front yard! The girls were freaking out, so I let them run over there and watch the balloon be deflated.

Katelyn and Annie's 1st Races!

2010-11-18T09:54:00.000-08:00

Katelyn has been running with a team called "Girls on the Run" after school on Mondays and Wednesday getting ready for a 5K. November 6th was the big day! Her cousin, Jordyn, ran the race with her.

This was before the race.

Annie wanted to run in a race too, so we signed her up for the 1 miler. Her cousin, Kamryn, ran it too.

When Katelyn had about 1/5 of a mile left I yelled, "Don't you dare let Jordyn beat you!!!" Her competitive side kicked in and she booked it to the finish line. She finished in 34 minutes, and place 4th for her age group. She had a ton of energy left when she finished, so she decided to run the 1 miler with Annie and Kamryn. (I have a feeling if she would have run it with a grown-up her time would have been a minute or 2 faster!) ;)

After the race. This was Jordyn's 3rd or 4th 5k, and we were all really proud of her. I could tell that Katelyn was really proud she did so well, especially for her 1st time!

The starting line for Annie's 1 mile. She was SO nervous!!! It was so cute.

I was so proud of her... she worked really hard and totally ditched Kamryn and Katelyn.

Annie had about 50 yards to the finish line and she wanted to walk so bad, so I jumped on the track and made her sprint to the finish!!! OK, a little embarrassing now that i think about it! Apparently I'm a tiny bit competitive!!! BUT, her goal was to finish under 10 minutes, and her time was 9:31!!!

I love to run. It's painful and torture sometimes, but I love it. Races are so much fun too. That atmosphere is so fun and everyone supports each other. Watching Katelyn and Annie run was one of my favorite things ever. They did so well, and I am so excited to have this baby and start running again so I can race with them. It's great to see the excitement in your child's eyes when they accomplish a goal... and realize that they did a really good job!!!

Halloween... Finally!

2010-11-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

SCHOOL PARADE

Dr. Annie

Pirate Katelyn and one of her BFFs

PUMPKIN CARVING

(I seriously didn't get a picture of the finished product... lame i know!)

the girls' friends helped dig out the guts.

We've collected a lot of costumes over the years so for the trunk-o-treat annie decided to be a vampire.

(those are her real eyelashes... amazing!)

Alexis thought everything was too scary, so she wouldn't dress up. I did end up putting some make-up on her, but she never saw herself! and yes, i dressed up for about an hour, then the wings and halo had to go... no laughing!

treats i made for a party. they actually tasted pretty darn good!

The Big Girls

2010-11-18T09:03:00.000-08:00

Katelyn has decided she is a tomboy...

i was actually really surprised she walked out of her room in a pink hoodie.

Annie claims to be a tomboy too, but she never shies away from dressing up!!

Week of October 16th

2010-11-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

Jeff and Kristina moved during this week. For once they actually took me up on watching Elea for them! She's like one of my own and it was a good time having her for almost a week. We've never spent too much one on one time with her because there's always so many other cousins around. It was really nice having her to ourselves (without her mom and dad around too!!). She took great naps and slept great at night (not normal for her). I think the craziness of our house exhausted her! I'm pretty bummed this is the only picture I took the whole week. Like I said... it was a crazy week!

October... Finishing up Soccer

2010-11-18T08:44:00.000-08:00

we had a great time watching the girls play soccer this season. it was a little crazy having 3 of them play, but they really enjoyed it. Katelyn's team ended up taking 1st place. we won't talk about what place annie's team took! haha we were really impressed with annie though... she's always just wanted to take dance and wouldn't try sports. and let's be honest, i kinda thought she might have the coordination of the aunt she's exactly like!! but come to find out, she is VERY athletic. she picked up the game very quickly and did a really good job. samantha's team was hilarious to watch. just picture a herd of sheep running around!

It's a.....

2010-10-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

I know i haven't even posted that I'm pregnant with #5, so this is kinda a 2 in 1 post! So, I'm about 19 weeks pregnant, and that makes the due date around March 20th. i was hoping for a boy, SO BAD. derek was praying for a girl. (he thinks raising a teenage boy would be torture!) katelyn and annie were hoping and literally praying for a little brother. sami thought it would be a girl. so we took all the girls (except katelyn) to the ultrasound. the technician was awesome. he asked if we wanted to know the sex and when we said yes he did that first. all the other times the techs have made us wait until the very end of the ultrasound to find out... which is torture! so the tech tells us the baby is spread-eagle and it could be a really ugly girl, but he was 98% sure it was a BOY! i started laughing and derek was in shock. it was hilarious! he really never thought we would have a boy. he was happy the baby is healthy, but i think it took him a good day to get really excited. now he's always telling me to "take care of his boy." after the ultrasound we took the girls to maverick to get a treat. we decided to get katelyn a blue icee to tell her. when we got home she run up to the car and asked what it was. derek handed her the icee and i asked her what color it was. she looked at it and then started laughing and crying. she was so happy!!!! i wish i had her reaction on video... it was priceless! anyway, we are all really excited! kristina and shanna are both having boys too, so it works out perfectly!

ok, a little behind

2010-10-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

here's the past few months in a nutshell... i feel like i start posts like this a lot!

we've spent some time being sick.

we've spent a lot of time at the lake with friends.

we've spent time together... fixing things!

our sweet alexis turned 2 on august 28th. we gave her a kitchen (with help from grandma & grandpa o. and great grandma helen). elea, jeff, and nina gave her food to go with the kitchen.

grandma & grandpa sullivan gave her new clothes... which she loved!!

then she got to talk to them on the webcam... um, ya!

not sure how to comment on these two silly girls!! they must get it from grandpa sullivan!

derek's gone fishing.

the 3 older girls played soccer... we were down at the fields monday - thursday for about 2 months!

the little girls have danced.

and we can't forget derek's fantasy football draft!

10 YEARS AGO TODAY...

2010-08-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

10 YEARS LATER!

makes a mother proud

2010-08-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

you know your a mom when.... your 9 year old wakes you up at midnight because she's puked, you instantly start imagining the mess your about to have to clean up, you ask, "is it all over your bed?", she says, "no at 11 i got a bowl because my stomach hurt and i puked in that." I COULD STILL CRY WITH JOY, RELIEF, APPRECIATION, AND LOVE FOR MY RESPONSIBLE, BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER!!!

7 Peaks! TRADITION... TRADITION!

2010-08-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

we started going to a water park every summer the thursday before the oliverson reunion. we started out going to raging waters, but the past couple of years we've gone to 7 peaks. (spencer does trade work for tickets and hooks us all up!) this year is was raining and pretty chilly when we first got to the park, but then the clouds parted, the temp rose to about 85 degrees and there were only about 20 cars in the parking lot the whole day. it was PERFECT!

the little girls ran for the wave pool as soon as we walked in!

lex and lea like it best when the waves were turned OFF!

Derek and Jeff took Katelyn and Annie on the steepest slide FIRST!

Kristina, Lea, Sam, Lex and I stood at the bottom and watched! Jeff went first...

I thought Katelyn would be freaked out, but she jumped on the slide like it was nothin'!

(did keep her legs crossed!!)

katie loved it. she ended up going on it 3 more times. she also did the boomerang 5 times and some other steep slides a bunch of times!! after kate is was annie's turn. she was terrified. it took a lot more coaxing for her to finally go.

"GOOOOOO ANNNNIIIIEEEEE!!!"

"GOOOOOO AAANNNIIIIEEEEE!!"

Annie finally got the guts to do it!

"yay!"

she ended up loving it and went a few more times too!

Derek was last... his wave was HUGE!!! ha ha ha

the funniest part of the whole day was when kristina and i thought it would be a good idea to ride the boomerang together on a double tube. it was TERRIFYING!!! and the whole time i was screaming, "this was so stupid!" and 1 other choice word! the next morning we started cracking up because we both had really stiff necks! anyway, it was a great time. Nancy and Jace were there with us too.

(We missed you, Becks.)

Omaha Reunion

2010-08-10T16:08:00.000-07:00


Annie and Lex ready for our 5 hour drive up to Salt Lake City. We made it up there around 6pm, picked up Grandma Helen and went to IV for dinner... of course! Wednesday we did a little school shopping and then headed to Heber City to see the Goates' new home. It was wonderful seeing all of them.


Lex and Mills

remember this guy?!?! Shauna and I wondered if the ackwardness would start up yet, but not even close. they acted like they've seen each other everyday!! Annie's grown just a little bit!! Alex has some catching up to do!!

derek and alex talking about "the jazz" After spending a couple hours in Heber we headed back to salt lake. the smiths, evers (minus mitch), the goates, and us met up at Cafe Rio for dinner.

Samantha, Ben, Kambryn, Jantsen, Creighton

Shauna, Rich, and Amelia

Allie (don't worry Mitch.... it was no fun at all!)

Kyle and Janel

Alex, Jackson, Katelyn, Annie, Easton, Alexis, Shauna

after dinner we went to "Classic" to play and meet up with a bunch of other people. it was a blast. litterally! we all got in the "blaster zone" together and shot each other with foam balls and got all hot and sweaty!! It was so fun to see everyone! I didn't do a very good job with the camera, and i ended up not getting a picture of Katelyn's age group or Lexi's age group. Next time!!!

Isaac Taylor, Lexi Hopkinson, Annie and Alex

Shauna and Janel... i think they must have just shot derek in the face!!!

we are going to have some amazing pictures for their wedding video!! (seriously...)


Creighton Evers, Gavin Hopkinson, Jackson Evers, Ben, Samantha, Riley and Ben Taylor

First Day of 2nd Grade

2010-08-10T14:38:00.000-07:00

First Day of 4th Grade

2010-08-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 31st

2010-08-02T07:48:00.000-07:00

so what do we do on a saturday evening when we're bored? go to lake powell... duh! i know pictures of us at lake powell are all that has been posted. but really that's all we ever do!! hopefully i'll have a different variety of pictures to post once school starts!

derek had the camera this trip. i'm not sure if he was going for a picture of the scenery or if he was coveting the boat... probably a little bit of both!!!

Grandma/pa Sullivan Fun Time

2010-08-02T06:50:00.000-07:00

where else, but at Lake Powell!

grandma is good at being silly with the girls, and grandpa was having fun with the camera!

i love this picture of my mom's hands. (can you see the little fish she caught?!)

nothing like swimming to wear the kids out!

Elea Drew

2010-08-02T06:38:00.000-07:00

we've been able to spend lots of time with jeff, kristina, and elea this summer. lex and lea are just like sisters. they love each other but they fight like crazy too! love this little stinker!

Grandpa Sullivan and the Girls

2010-08-02T06:32:00.000-07:00

Annie, Elea, Samantha, Katelyn, Grandpa, and Alexis

oh, and uncle jeff, too!!

Love Living by Lake Powell

2010-07-15T14:05:00.000-07:00

"the chains" is a place where you can hike down the sandstone to coves where the water isn't very deep. it's only about 5 minutes from our house so we go there a lot. the kids love it. last week we had 4 of our nieces come and stay with us and we had a ton of fun. we took them to "the chains" a few times and to lone rock beach. since we have moved to page we have taken our girls to these 2 places and least twice a week. it's a beautiful place and we love it! the first couple of times we took our girls to the lake they wouldn't stop asking about fish and sharks and they were acting scared to get in the water. now they just jump right in. even the 2 little girls are comfortable in the lake!

the things i do to entertain my girlies...

2010-07-15T13:34:00.000-07:00

we had gone grocery shopping and were back home for a snack of chocolate and powdered doughnuts. well, katelyn told me i had chocolate on my tooth, so i grabbed a powered doughnut and rubbed it all over my face and turned to her and said "where?!" she burst out laughing and then all the girls had to go a little crazy with the powered doughnuts!!

Katelyn's 9! (June 8th, but better late than never!)

2010-07-15T13:21:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATELYN!!!

i can't believe my oldest is 9! it's difficult for me to let my girls do things that older girls do, so it was a big step for katelyn to be allowed to shave her legs! she stopped wearing shorts awile ago and it's because kids at school were commenting on her hairy legs! (for the record that comes from derek's side of the family...) she was pretty excited about it.

katelyn requested waffles with cool whip and strawberries for breakfast.

she also got a blue ipod shuffle and mario galaxy 2 for the wii. (i'm not sure what blue or green thing she had eaten before opening presents!)

later we had homemade ice cream cake... not sure where the pictures of that are?!

this was katelyn when she was 4. she has grown up to be a great girl. she knows right from wrong and usually chooses wisely! she loves helping out with her little sisters. she likes when we give her big girl responsibilities. she's a goofball, and very boy crazy. i have to say she is pretty much a lot like her momma!
WE LOVE OUR KATIE KATE!!!

sam, lex & lea

2010-06-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

a couple of moments from our time in st. george.

Yay! Then again maybe not. then agian...

2010-06-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

k, i'm going to make this really short. jeff has been trying to get a teaching job in cedar for a couple years. it just wasn't working out. when derek got the job in page he started looking at the teaching jobs there for jeff. long story short on may 6th we found out jeff got a job in page. we (derek and i) were SO STINKIN' EXCITED! so all of us (derek's siblings except for jace and nancy) went to texas roadhouse to celebrate. it's the first time we've all gone out i think. it was a good time!! anyway, come to find out jeff and kristina didn't feel too good about the job in page. derek and i were upset to say the least! we were just a little excited of the thought of them living SO CLOSE to us. and i was super excited to think that i would get to see elea every day and do her hair! but they knew what they were doing. jeff ended up getting the perfect job in st. george. so now when i say "we" i mean EVERYONE is very very happy for them!

Sweet Little Alexis

2010-06-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

Alexis is the cutest, sweetest, happiest, funniest little girl. She is growing up so fast! She loves to help out with the dishes or anything else you let her do. She'll try any food at least once. She loves the water. She LOVES her big sisters. She says "hi, grandma" to anyone that looks like a grandma. If you ask her why she is doing something she says, "cause". We all just love her to pieces!!! (She is 22 months old.)

derek, your FIRED!

2010-06-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

i can't leave this part of the story out... when derek told his bosses in kingman that he was leaving to take the job in Page they were not happy at all, and 1 of them fired derek on the spot. derek was MAD. i felt so bad for him and i'm not a fan of people being mean to my husband. my mom was in kingman visiting and we came up with this fabulous cake for him! it pretty much cracked us all up!! (he ended up not really being fired and he was man enough to keep working there for 2 more weeks even though he really didn't want to after being pretend fired!!)

Home Sweet Home

2010-06-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

so, things have been a bit crazy around here, and i'm sorry but this post is really for journaling purposes. i'm no good at remembering dates... so just work with me here!! about 8 weeks ago we stated packing up to move to Page, AZ. derek got the job as the city magistrate there. DEREK'S A JUDGE!!! it still cracks me up to say that. lucky for me my sister took the 2 little girls so packing went relatively smoothly. oh, and a nice girl in our kingman ward gave me more boxes than i knew what to do with so that was super awesome too. anyway, the morning of the move derek and spencer drove to Page with the Uhaul. They met derek's dad and brothers there and they put all of our stuff in a storage unit. that same morning jen and i finished cleaning up the house and loading the cars. then we drove to st. george. we stopped in vegas and met up with thomas for breakfast at mimi's cafe. which is the best place in the world to have breakfast! later that day we were all together in st. george. for the next 5 weeks the girls and i stayed in st. george and derek was in Page during the week working and would come to st. george for the weekends. it was brutal. i'm so glad derek doesn't have a job were he has to travel. anyway, we played with friends and cousins. MIRACULOUSLY avoided getting the flu. and pretty much just waited for time to pass so we would finally get settled in Page and all be together. i enrolled katelyn and annie into school in st. george for the last month of school which was the right choice!! 2 weeks ago we got the keys to the house and started moving in. about 8 men from our new ward came to help get all of our stuff out of the storage unit and into the house. it took about 5 days for all of the boxes to be emptied and all the pictures to be hung. the backyard is perfect. the house feels huge and roomy. our new neighbors are so friendly, and i'm amazed how many people have stopped by to meet us. WE LOVE LOVE LOVE LIVING BY LAKE POWELL!!!!! about every other day we take the girls swimming or hiking or both! i feel really blessed that we're here. things always seem to work out for us and i know it's not luck or just a coincidence. we are truly blessed.

i deserve it

2010-04-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

i have forever struggled with my body image... since about 5th grade. my first year of college i was in the best shape of my life (size 6 sometimes even a 4) and i thought i was fat. to make matters worse i thought everyone else thought i was fat too, and wouldn't like me because of it. with each pregnancy i've just gotten bigger and bigger. hating myself more each time, but not feeling like there's anything i could do about it. i love to workout and i workout hard. i've run 1/2 marathons and done resistance training and never lost more than a couple pounds. i would blame it on the food that i just can't resist. the tuesday after my birthday my life changed. i want to share it with everyone for a couple reasons. someday when my daughters read this (i hope to have my blog printed into a book) i want them to understand that being a girl in this world can be hard, but their not alone. i hope and pray they each love their bodies, but just in case one of them struggles like i did i need them to know i understand and they're not alone. next, i know i'm not the only one who has felt this way, so if i can help just one of you then it's all worth it!!! also, this will be a big part of my life so i feel like i should document it. and just to be clear...this isn't about "looking hot". don't get me wrong that's definitely and added bonus, but my real quest is to have a healthy body and to be comfortable in my own skin. to have my body match how i feel on the inside. (2 years ago i had my cholesterol tested and it came back on the cutoff line between normal and high.)

on march 9th i started a program called Live the Life by KristiApproved.com. i'm not going to go into the details of the program because it's a lot of information, but basically the program tells you exactly what to eat, when to eat it and has a detailed workout schedule. i have been eating so healthy and doing awesome workouts that have a specific purpose. i've lost 7.5 pounds, .5 inches in my waist, and 1 inch in my hips. besides the physical changes, the mental and emotional changes have surprised me even more. i have so much more energy. i'm happier. and the most amazing thing is i now know I DESERVE IT!!! i used to go to bed every night feeling guilty and angry at myself for not having more self control. now i go to bed every night so proud of myself! i 100% turn to sweets when i'm stressed. i already knew that before, but it became so obvious this past week. i had stuck to my eating plan perfectly until last wednesday. that day we were waiting to find out if derek got a job he interviewed for, which is a great job, but means we would be moving again... it was a very stressful day and i cheated and ate treats. the rest of the whole week was stressful and it was a rough week for me and my food plan. i gained .4 lbs. i now have a plan to deal with my stress differently. i realized that i would justify eating crappy because "i was stressed". but really... life is stressful. if i justify eating unhealthy because i'm stressed i will end up weighing 500 pounds!! ha ha

so the initial program is 12 weeks long. i am currently on week 5 and i will post before and after pictures after the 12 weeks is over.

Angie's 30th Birthday

2010-03-19T10:55:00.000-07:00

first derek said there were no plans for my birthday. my birthday happened to be on a sunday, so derek told me he was going to make dinner and that's about it. then he said we were going to st. george. then he surprised me and said he was dropping me off in vegas to stay with my sister for the weekend! so we go to vegas on friday and go to the district, where i'm supposed to be meeting up with my sister, and who's there??? NOT MY SISTER, BUT 2 OF MY "BFFs"!!! Allie and Shauna (we met during law school) both left their families behind to come spend the weekend with me. it was so amazing to me that they would do that!! the whole weekend was a blast... the best birthday ever. on friday i kept realizing who i was with and it would surprise me all over!!

"what the heck are you doing here?!?"

kevin drove down from st. george to pick up derek and the girls so we would have a car in vegas. so after kevin, derek, and the girls took off we went to see "Alice In Wonderland". before the movie we hit up a photo booth. seriously, i have never laughed so hard. i need to scan the pictures and post them, but really... they might not seem that funny to anyone else! the whole weekend we just acted like we were in jr. high!!! anyway, after the movie we went to eat at PF Changs and then we went to the hotel. (my awesome bro-in-law got our room comped so... THANKS SPENCER!) allie was a bit tired from the time change and stuff so she fell asleep first! she was all paranoid that we were going to do something to her!! the idea hadn't even crossed our minds until she said something!!

so... shauna got her hand wet and flicked water at allie!! allie looked up from under the covers and asked, "who brought a water gun?" obviously i was behind the camera, but i was laughing so hard i could barely take the picture! shauna mentioned freezing allie's bra, but come to find out allie was paranoid we really would, and she hid it! ha ha

after tormenting allie we busted out the shower cap! GOOD TIMES! shauna left the room so i put the shower cap on and when she came around the corner and saw me she fell on the floor laughing!! SO STUPID AND FUNNY!

one thing that i really miss is running with these ladies. they would wake up at the crack of dawn to run before husbands and kids were up and at it. luckily we all brought our (matching) running clothes (not on purpose) so saturday morning we ran together. it was awesome!

the running pics are kinda scary so i had to show the "after" pictures!!

after getting ready our first stop was Trader Joe's! then we had to go to Golden Spoon, at 11am!! then we went to target and bought some cute earrings. then we headed on over to Cafe Rio! Yes, this trip was a lot about where we wanted to eat!!

we should be in an advertisement!

after lunch we headed over to one of my other friend's bridal shower. it was great seeing a lot of people i haven't see for awhile... and i'm excited for the wedding!!

after the shower we headed down to the strip. we decided to park at the bellagio and walk down to the venetian. while driving we made a list of things we wanted to find, for example, people in costume. we found tons of those!! shauna looks perplexed, but really she's just a good actress... notice the silver man in the background?!? he want $ for a picture, so we had to get creative!

at the bellagio we checked out the beautiful botanical garden.

then we went and saw the Richard MacDonald gallery. if i had 10 grand to burn i would buy one of his sculptures... they are amazing.

we had to admire the ceiling in the lobby!

we tried to watch the fountains, but we didn't have very good timing. we did catch it one time, but then a guy with a golf ball size chunk of chewing tobacco in his mouth starting hitting on shauna so we took off!!

when we got to the venetian we just happened to come across Madame Tussauds wax museum. none of us had ever been so we decided to go spur of the moment. this is where the 13 year olds in us came out!! we had a blast taking pics with the "celebrities"!!!

ben affleck didn't look to hot, but this pic of allie is awesome!!!

shauna was trying to help britney be a bit more appropriate!

this is fair warning to our husbands...

this pic cracks me up... ( http://eversfamilyscoop.blogspot.com/2010/02/mean-spiderman.html )

best part of the tour! i <3 johnny!

after the wax museum we walked to the blue man group box office. we wanted to see a show, but the price needed to be right! we ended up getting GREAT seats for the cheaper price! THANKS ALLIE!!!

after getting our tickets we had just enough time to walk to the forum shops to eat dinner at the cheesecake factory. allie ordered the edamame appitizer. i'd never heard of it, but LOVED it!

we finished eating and walked back to the blue man group theater. it was such perfect timing. seriously, we didn't really have a plan when the day started, but everything worked out perfectly! i'd seen BMG before, but i love it and i was really excited to see it again. shauna and allie hadn't see it before so they just had to trust me! it's so random, but i think we all had a great time! shauna was wishing there was a "clean" place to go dancing... we got in a little bit during the show! ;)

waiting for the show to start... the anticipation was killing us!

after the show... got to see it to understand the white paper!

after the show the BMG guys came out to the lobby, so we got pictures AND a big fat...

KISS!!!

the BMG music is great, so we got a picture with some of the band!

after the show we headed back to the car. i haven't mentioned out perfect the weather was. it was PERFECT... until we started walking to the car. it started sprinkling/raining. so we got to the car and stopped at BJs on our way to the hotel. we went to BJs so we could have a pizzookie for dessert. DELICIOUS... that's all i can say about it! while we in the restaurant it started POURING RAIN! like i said... things worked out so perfectly for us! anyway, after dessert we went to the hotel. we stayed up for a couple hours talking. the next morning we had to get up, get ready, and i had to take allie and shauna to the airport. *tear* i totally cried... i miss these girls a lot. they were my life line during law school.
i was dreading turning 30, but this weekend has a great way to kick off another year! THANK YOU ALLIE AND SHAUNA (AND OF COURSE DEREK)!!

so after the airport i headed up to st. george to pick up derek and my girls. derek's parents made a fabulous dinner and everyone came over for dinner. kevin made me a texas sheet cake (MY FAVORITE!) so... i had 2 peices! then we drove home. it really might be my favorite birthday ever!

George Carlin's View on Aging

2010-03-11T19:06:00.000-08:00

My dad sent this to me in an email.
it is so great! i'm getting ready to post about my

30th birthday and this is such a great intro!!

ENJOY!

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life! You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling.. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50, and your dreams are gone...

But! wait!! ! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50, and makeit to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that, it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80's, and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST 92.'

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

2010 Del Sol Ragnar

2010-03-10T14:06:00.000-08:00

the few friends i've made here in kingman all happen to be runners! funny how that happens. they've run a few ragnars together and had a team already made up for the del sol this year. i told them if they had someone drop out that i would love to do it. i kinda said that to be cool... not really thinking it would happen! well, it did! about 1 month before the race they asked me to be a part of the "kingman krazies"! i actually did pretty well with my training, and with a lot of tips from my friends, i feel like i raced well. i had to get up at 4:30 am on friday. our start time was at 8:30am and we had about a 2 hour drive to get there. the 12 of us loaded up in the cars and headed down to the start line. i was #2... luckily #1 was an 18 year old kid, jesse, who is super fast, like 6 minute miles fast. he took off from the start line and got us a HUGE lead! by the time he got to the exchange where i was waiting he was minutes ahead of anyone else. which was a great thing because i'm pretty slow! my first leg was 3.6 miles and had 2 pretty good sized hills. i got passed by 2 people and about 40 ft from the exchange a girl tried to pass me. i was having none of that so i started sprinting and handed off to our next runner before she could pass me!!! it was nice going 2nd because then i had a long time to rest before my 2 leg. my next leg was only 3 miles and it was flat. so i made the goal to run it at a 9:30 pace. i usually run about a 10:30 so it was a pretty lofty goal. when #1 handed off to me the sun had set, but it was still light out. about a mile into it was dark. i was keeping my 9:30 pace pretty good, and i had actually passed 2 people (ROADKILL!) then all of the sudden this chic passed me. i was SO mad. at night it's a rule that you have to wear reflective gear. so all of us runners had headlamps on and some sort of light in the back. this lady's light on her back was bright blue. it reminded me of that creepy anglerfish on "finding nemo". so i totally zoned onto that light and didn't even look at anything else. i refused to let this chic get

away from me. when i knew i had about 1/2 a mile left i kicked it into gear. i totally smoke that lady (kill #3) and made it to the exchange. my average pace for that leg of the race was 9:24! i am still totally pumped about that! then it was my turn to cheer on our team.

#3 (mike) is an amazing runner and after his 2nd leg he was done. he was slurring his words and really tired. we decided his champion food - poptarts - just wasn't cuttin' it!! luckily after eating some real food and getting some rest he was ready for his 3rd leg later the next day.

#4 - amy - had the scariest run on friday night. it was 7 miles, lots of hills, lots of traffic, no lights, and NO WHERE TO RUN. luckily she made it to the exchange safe and sound. unfortunately another person was hit by a car at this point and injured very badly. we were ahead of the accident and finished our legs of the race. we camped out at a high school parking lot. we chucked our sleeping bags on ground and tried to keep some sleep. this was at about 11:30 pm or maybe closer to midnight. we knew we needed to be up and ready for #1 to start running again around 4:30am. so we make it to the exchange and the volunteer at the exchange tells us there's been an accident and EVERYONE is coming to exchange 24.... right where we were standing waiting for our running to come in and for #1 to take off. long story short... we ended up having to wait until 7am to start running again (suck-o-meter through the roof) just to find out that we really could have just kept going. also, our team was so flippin' awesome we had past everyone who had earlier start times and where the 5th team from the finish line. after the race got delayed we realized that didn't even matter now because there where teams who didn't even run all the legs. anywho, we all were ready to go home because we were tired and the whole situation was just lame.

luckily #4 - dion - was not about to have a big old W (withdrawl) by his name and he made us finish!!! so at 7ish we walked #1 to the exchange and he was mad he had to wear all of his reflective gear and mad we lost our lead and we were all laughing hysterically at him!!! he took off running his 8 mile leg. i was dreading my turn. i had 4.2 miles STRAIGHT UP HILL i swear. at #1's 6th mile he started limping really bad. we didn't know what to do, so i jumped out of the van and took his place. i told everyone i'd just keep running until i was tired and then someone could switch me. i started thinking that i would like to be able to finish #1's miles and then do my whole leg. i kinda felt like i owed it to my team since they all had so many more miles than i did. so another long story short... i ran all 6.3 miles. that was another thing i was super proud of. i kind of started thinking "i'm a runner", "i deserve to be here". i have the tendency to sell myself short, and this race was very good for me. anyway,

#6 - lauren - was the last runner in our van. she is so quiet and sweet, but a fierce competitor. she smoked it on her last leg. about 100 yards from the end of her last exchange she past 5 people!! at the finish line we were all waiting for casie to come in. when she got to us we all ran together to cross the finish line! it was AWESOME! oh, and i got a cool shirt, and medal, and a sticker for my car... which i put on my back window the second i got home!!

THE WHOLE TEAM!!

kip, mike, bill, amy, dion, laura, casie, lauren, jesse, daryl lynn, kathy, me

(van 1: jesse, me, mike, dion, amy, lauren & van 2: daryl lynn, kathy, laura, kip, bill, casie)

*suck-o-meter, summon your eagle powers, K2

all in a days... work?

2010-03-10T10:33:00.000-08:00

part of my job is to do hair. if i was smart i would've gone to school for this, but lucky for me there are "how to" blogs out there! lexi's had pigs a grand total of 3 times! she barely has enough hair for the 2 of them. you'll see in the next pics that she usually just has a mullet.

usually our hair doesn't get done and we're lucky to get out of our pjs!!

part of my daily job is keeping alexis SAFE. she has decided to take on climbing as one of her hobbies. it's lots of fun changing laundry and coming out to find her on the table or kitchen counters. so much fun that i bought a "horse corral". see the big "play pen" below in the background. that's where alexis goes when she gets in a climbing mood! before i rearranged the furniture it was right in the middle of the floor. derek got up in the night to check on the girls and about fell in it and commented that it was as big as a horse corral, thus it's name!!! i love this picture of samantha... she looks so grown up.

see? she climbs on EVERYTHING!

(oh, and see the mullet?)

twickstows

2010-03-10T10:10:00.000-08:00

the girls get home from school around 2:50pm. so on this particular day i wasn't surprised when i heard a knock on the door around that time. i was surprised, however, when i opened the door and this HUGE tumbleweed fell in on me!! i was thinking that it blew up and hit the door. then i started wondering where kate and ann were. so...

i went outside and this is what i found...

they were standing around the corner laughing at me!! they dragged the dumb thing home! they are such tricksters, or as annie would say, "twickstows"!!!

Happy 7th Birthday Annie!

2010-03-10T09:45:00.000-08:00

annie's birthday was February 13th. i felt like i had some serious birthday partying to do for annie this year, because i failed so miserably last year. annie's birthday last year would have been nonexistent if is wasn't for shauna, so i had to be sure and do her proud this year! i think we did ok!! the night before taylor and i decorated with streamers and balloons. the next morning after annie opened her presents we all loaded up and went to lake havasu city to go swimming at a indoor mini water park. then we picked up little caesar's for dinner. next we had strawberry shortcake... her favorite. i let her have 3 pieces and she thought she was in heaven!! since it was the night before valentine's day derek, myself, jenn and spencer went out on a date. that was probably the best part for annie. she LOVES hanging out with her cousins without grown ups... i'm not sure that's a good thing!!!

annie had 2 gift requests. she wanted a remote control car, and the New mario bros Wii. i don't think she realy thought she'd get either, so she was pretty excited to open up the "big" present! (thanks G & G Sullivan!)

she was even more excited when she opened up the next gift and is was the Wii game!! that game is SO fun! derek and i play it with the girls all the time and it's hilarious! (thank you Grandma Helen!)

annie got a game, some make-up and a Wii karaoke game with a microphone from G & G Oliverson.

jeff and kristina hooked annie up with a dry erase board and markers for her room. she's always writing on mine (drives me crazy!), so i knew she would love this!

the one thing annie was most excited about was the becks came to kingman!! it was a blast having all of us smashed into our little house! there were airbeds everywhere!!

they came friday night and annie was beside herself waiting for kamryn to get here! she kept asking me every 10 minutes if they were closer!! they are the best friends... and partners in crime! they are alway giggling and being silly (i'm affraid naughty might be part of the equation too!)

annie had a school project due the monday after her birthday. she had to build a robot... THANK GOODNESS jordyn was here to help her out with that! annie loved having jordyn help her, and it turned out really cute. i wish i would have thought to have a picture of annie and jordyn with the robot.

i really can't believe annie is 7. she has grown up to be a beautiful girl. she loves to have her back rubbed and her hands and arms tickled. she LOVES to cook and always asks to help with dinner. she's hilarious and loves to tease and be silly. she very tender hearted. she can be a bit dramatic, but usually if

you call her out on it she's get a mischievous grin (refer back to the teasing and being silly)!

i love this little girl so much, and i feel so lucky to have her as my daughter!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE BANANIE!

What you find on your kids' camera...

2010-03-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

January

2010-02-17T08:36:00.000-08:00

Samantha received a tea set from Grandma Sullivan for Christmas and every day she has it all set up so when Katelyn and Annie get home from school they have a tea party. It's a fun way for them to have their after school snack! Samantha has grown up a lot lately. She is talking much better, although I still have to translate for her especially if she's talking on the phone to someone! She is definitely a little stinker! If I don't keep Katelyn and Annie's room locked while they are at school it's guaranteed that Sami will sneak into their room and get into all their stuff!! She's my little buddy!

Derek and I spent a whole day putting together this puzzle. IT WAS HARD!!

Alexis Rae... she is such a sweetheart. She's always giving loves and showing off all her teeth with her open-mouthed grin! She is saying mamma, dadda, bye-bye, shoes, socks, doggie, more, and hi.

My friend, Christina, sent these to me because I was having a crappy week! I have such great friends!

Samantha showing off her Christmas dress. That's "her" pose (look again at the first picture)!!!

Katelyn and Annie have been busy with school. Somehow I didn't get too many pictures of them during the month of January....

December in a Nutshell

2010-02-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

The girls had a dance recital on 12-11-09. It's funny to me that all 4 of my girls can be SO different. Katelyn dances very well, but performing completely humiliates her. She has decided that she'll be sticking to sports! Annie is a good little dancer, but has way too much fun making people laugh. She was giggling and biting her nails during her performance! Samantha surprised us all... again! She did every step and then stood at the front of the stage bowing and waving when it was over! Grandma and Grandpa Oliverson came and watched. The next day we went to Lake Havasu City to go shopping and out to eat. Annie entertained herself by snapping photos while we were driving!

The weekend before Christmas we took a trip to St. George. The girls got in the hot tub and played with their cousins. Santa made a guest apperance to our family Christmas party. We also found out about an awesome place to go hiking really close to where Derek's mom and dad live. We went with the Becks and the kids had a great time together.

Grandma & Grandpa Sullivan and Uncle Thomas came to our house for Christmas. This picture is right before eating our Christmas Eve dinner. Not to shabby for just setting the camera timer and making a run for it!!!

Alexis is my little angel baby!! She is so happy and smiley and loving all of the time!

After dinner the MEN helped the girls make ginger bread houses. It took a little coaxing to get them to agree to it, but as you can tell they got into it!!!

My mom and I did dishes while the men and children built their masterpieces. We also got a little silly... we took most of those pictures with my mom's cell phone, but i can tell you they including a sparkling cider bottle, a brown paper bag, and us on the floor!!

Traditional Christmas Eve pjs.

Christmas Morning!!!! The suspense was killing them!!

We gave the girls a tramp this year. It has been the best thing ever!! I have to admit... it was for me just as much as it was for them!! Alexis will try to con anyone into taking her out and jumping with her!!

Jeff is really good about spending one on one time with each of the girls. He spent quite a bit of time with Samantha out on the tramp. Jeff, Kristina and Elea came to Kingman on Christmas Day.

Sullivan Family

December 27, 2009

(Again... not to shabby for setting the camera on a brick wall and making a run for it!!!)

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T08:09:00.000-08:00

random...

2009-11-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

sami was "trying" to get a treat from the cookie jar. it gave me some bad flashbacks from last Christmas...

starting in 3rd grade kids can run for student council. we were in KY the day the kids gave their speaches... we're pretty sure that's why kate didn't win. i would vote for her... wouldn't you?!?!

not sure why sami was in her swimsuit... but she's just too stinkin' cute!! off all my girls she is the most girlie... which is a complete surprise since she is the one most like her dad. hhhhmmmmmmm? (ha ha just kidding derek!!!)

this pic says it all!!!

alexis LOVES LOVES LOVES to eat. especially treats!!! she thoroughly enjoyed her chocolate pudding!!

lexi has figured out how to climb on and off the couch. it's kinda nice because i don't have to worry about her falling off!

sunday photo shoot!! not a typical sunday. we are usually running out the door with shoes in hand so we're not late. ya, we have church at 1pm! ha ha

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-04T10:01:00.000-08:00

diggin' out the pumpkin guts!

how i got stuck carving 3 pumpkins i'll never figure out...

they did turn out pretty cute though. the girls drew on paper what they wanted and then i used some not so good kniving skills to carve the pumpkins. katelyn's was a mummy and it looked awesome all lit up. i didn't get a pic of that though...

lexi was a butterfly/fairy... not sure, but i was so happy she left the headband on!! as you can see she's standing on her own! she CAN walk, but she basically refuses to do it. who knows?!

samantha was set on being snow white, but somehow i convinced her to be a witch. she loved acting scarey and completely forgot about snow white!!!

katelyn was a cowgirl and annie was a jailbird. they got tons of compliments on their costumes. good thing we had the becks' dance outfits to pick from!!!!

halloween was a success! we went to our ward's trunk o' treat. it was actually a tri-ward thing so there were tons of people. so much easier than walking through the neighborhood.

confessions

2009-10-27T11:15:00.001-07:00

i have been too obsessed with facebook and have completely neglected my blog. now, however many months later, i am regretting that stupid move. facebook is purely for my entertainment... but blogging actually records the happenings of my life, and more importantly my children's lives. so today i am recommitting myself to blogging!!

Trip to Cali

2009-08-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

so i finished hanging pictures/decor on thursday night and on friday morning we packed up and headed to long beach. it's about 4 hours from us. jeff and kristina met us there and we had a BLAST! i am already trying to figure out the next time we can go to the beach! friday we went to the beach for about an hour and then we went to dinner and walked around at the pier. the weather was so nice and everyone rode the ferris wheel.sorry, but there are seriously a million pics with this post!! saturday we spent 7 hours at huntington beach. my girls are awesome! they all loved the water and playing in the sand.
crazy uncle jeff getting ready to toss annie into a wave!

school was close to starting and katelyn and annie were really nervous. katelyn wouldn't talk to derek or me about it, but she poured her heart out to jeff when they were sitting on the beach together.

for some reason when i watched jeff and kristina leave with all their stuff it made me laugh so hard. they looked so dorky with the chairs on their backs!! ha ha it's making me laugh again just thinking about it!!! they were good sports and let me take a pic of them even though i was totally laughing at them!! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!
the kids were exhausted at the end of the day... lexi sleeping
sami sleeping!

when we ate dinner that night derek told our waiter that we were celebrating lexi's birthday so they brought out a HUGE pile of blue cotton candy. it was the best i've ever eaten!!

on sunday derek woke up feeling terrible. so he dropped us off at the condo jeff and kris were staying in and he went to the ER. they brought their really nice camera so we went outside for a photo shoot. this is a new face lexi's been doing. she scrunches up her face and sniffs her nose really loud. it's hilarious and i'm really glad we got it in a pic!!

love love love love love love this pic of alexis! she is the happiest, sweetest little baby and this picture totally captures it.

so kristina and i always talk about how we always take all the pictures so we're never documented being at any "functions". since pictures were actually taken of us this trip i feel like i have to post them... as attractive as they all are!! ha ha ha

it was seriously such a good trip. i'm so glad we squeezed it in before school started and stuff.

moving in

2009-08-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

we're all settled. it's a great feeling. i actually just finished "organizing" the garage today. the day we moved in feels like 100 years ago... i can't believe it was just last week. anyway... i had come to kingman and found this house without derek. he was too busy studying for the bar exam and couldn't miss a day of studying. (i've already posted about that!) so, i was really excited for him to finally see what i found for us. jen, spencer, jeff, kristina, and marjean all helped us move. it was great to have to much help with all of our crap and the kids! all of us girls came straight to the house. the guys all had to go to our storage unit, load up the uhaul, and then drive the long way to kingman. you can't drive uhauls over the hoover dam. so i was ready with the camera when derek walked in the door.

the girls were pretty good sports while we moved everything in and put stuff away. i let them play with the camera and later when i looked at the pictures they had taken it totally cracked me up!!

(annie's bedding is cute, huh?!)

CRAZINESS aka our week up north

2009-08-10T08:24:00.000-07:00

It's been crazy around here, and i did a really bad job of taking pictures. July 28 derek and i flew to tucson, az. the 29th and 30th derek took the arizona bar. we find out in october if he passed. (i know he did great and i'm so glad it's all over!) on the 31st we packed up the family and drove to salt lake. that night we went to the Oquirrh Mt. Temple open house. it is BEAUTIFUL! i think it is my favorite temple (of the ones i've been in). it was awesome taking my girls in there and being able to answer their questions and stuff.we went with the Becks.
the night of the 31st i went up to allie's mom's house and spent the night. the next morning we (along with shauna and basically allie's whole family!!) got up early and ran 12 miles down cotton wood canyon. it was very steep and very painful!!! later that morning we all went to 7 peaks. it was us, the becks, the evers and the goates. we had a great time. spencer was awesome and traded work for tickets so we all got in free. it was a super fun, and exhausting weekend!!

above: alex, annie, samantha, ben (sorry everyone else... i never thought to get the camera out any other time...) i actually didn't see katelyn or annie most of the day. they are big enough now they wanted to go running around with their older cousins. it's kinda nice and kinda sad at the same time!!

above: sami and ben (i wish i had a video of sami playing in the wave pool. i've never seen a kid love the waves more than she did. it was awesome!)

below: alex and annie

(i see sisters marrying brothers in the distant future!!!)

on sunday the 2nd we hung out with derek grandma helen and just relaxed. on monday the 3rd we drove up to roosevelt to i could see my grandpa. i haven't seen him for 2 years, and 2 summers ago my grandma passed away. he's sick, so we only stayed for a day. it was great to see him though. he is a great man. derek and i are both so lucky to come from great families. i got to spend time with my cousins camille and mike, and davey and delsi. it was so fun to see them and get to know their kids a little better. on the 4th we drove back to salt lake and jeff and kristina came up from cedar. we met up at IV for dinner (our 3rd time! ha ha)

wednesday the 5th derek, jeff, and mitch went golfing. kristina and i took the kids over to allie's parents' house and we all swam. samantha LOVES LOVES LOVES swimming. i can't believe how much she loves it. that night i went out to lunch with one of my bestes friends, christina. i can't believe i didn't get a picture of us together...idiot! anyway, we were in the same ward in vegas when derek was a cop. then we moved away and they moved to sacremento. we NEVER get to see each other, but this week we just happened to both be visiting salt lake at the same time! it was awesome to see her and we laughed a lot that night!! (stupid secret ingredient in the slurpee)

thursday we all packed up to go to logan. before heading up there derek and i went to IKEA. we left our kitchen table in omaha (long story) but luckily the house we're renting has a huge island in the kitchen with a bar to sit up too. so we bought bar stools at IKEA. anyway, we went to logan and swam at the hotel that night. after derek and jeff left alexis and elea with kristina and i and took the other girls out to dinner. kristina and i hung out and watched the SYTYCD finale. which results i was very happy about!!

friday we got up and went to preston, idaho, for the oliverson reunion. the kids have a blast at the reunion. it was kinda lonely up there this year though because the becks and bundys couldn't make it (they have all the fun older cousins!!!). friday night kristina and i left to go back to provo. it was the first time we have had a "sleepover" without kids. we had a great time.

so that's been the craziness around here. today i'm shopping for things we need for the house and packing. tomorrow we're making the move to kingman. then on friday we're heading down to long beach, ca, for a weekend at the beach. then it'll be back to normal life. the girls will start school and we'll get into some kind of a routine!!

(who knows when i'll post again, so i have to say... tomorrow is our 9 year anniversary. 9 YEARS!!! i can't believe the things we've accomplished together. we have our ups and downs, but in the end we make an amazing team. we've been told we deserve each other!! i'm so glad. i'm also glad to know we get each other for eternity. oh, and like other anniversaries we'll be traveling and moving... it always seem to be the case!!!)

Provo Canyon 1/2 Marathon (August 8, 2009)

2009-08-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

My fabulous friends in Omaha are all runners... and they got me running too. We all decided to sign up for the Provo 1/2 marathon. I did it so I knew an exact date i would see allie and shauna, and so i would stay motivated to run all summer. somehow i suckered kristina in to do it with me!! we had to get up at 4:30am on saturday morning. the first pic i took of us... kristina wasn't fully awake yet, and i was a bit to chipper for 5 in the morning! ha ha we started laughing so hard when we looked at it. so...

we had to do a retake. kristina wanted to make sure her eyes were opened! ha ha ha we really started laughing at this point. i bet everyone in the parking lot thought we were insane!

Kristina was awesome and ran the first mile with me, but i could tell she was slowing up for me so i said, "go for it. i want you to do your best." so she took off!! our goal was to a) finish and b) finish in 2:20:00. kristina finished in 1:59:00, and i finished in 2:19:00 and we both ran the whole thing without walking once. when i was finished i was thinking, "that sucked... i'm never doing that again!" but now i'm ready to sign up for another one. i want to do it faster and be in better shape so it's not as painful!!

after the race with my awesome seester!!
here's shauna and allie. i love these girls. they are my inspiration.

good heck!

2009-07-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

i keep trying to catch up... and end up getting farther behind! so i'm going to post something current and then finish posting past events when time permits!

derek's been so busy studying for the bar exam. i'm really glad we live in st. george. i actually was not excited about living here for the summer... it's just stressful living with other people, no matter how fabulous your in-laws are!!! but i've been a single mother this summer and it's been nice to have other family and friends around for me and the kids to go play with while derek's trapped in the library all day!

last week i started feeling anxious that we hadn't found a place to live in kingman yet. we thought about buying, but decided renting would be better for awhile. we want to get to know the area and derek's job before we take on a mortgage! anyway, i decided to take a trip down to kingman and look at rentals and hope. all weekend i was online and on the phone with property management companies getting a list of houses to go look at. i conned my sister-in-law, jen, to come with me, and we went just for the day. i had picked 8 houses from a list online that a property management company had sent me. we went to that office and my list went from 8 to 1 in about 5 seconds because all of the houses i wanted to see had recently been rented. we were about to leave with the the key to one house when another lady walked in and said there was a house they hadn't listed yet. it was a little out of my price range, but i decided to go see it just for fun. this house was awesome. the cleanest place i had ever see. the owner has it cleaned every 2 weeks when it's empty to keep it dust free etc.! anyway, it had 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, big closests and the family room and kitchen were huge. anyway, i really liked it. so jen and i went and looked at about 10 other houses... pretty much the only thing available in our price range and nothing was even close to the first house... and really, nothing else was even livable. it was just sad. there were a lot of nice rentals available, but they were too expensive. to i decided to make an offer on the first house for an amount that was in our price range... $2oo less than what the owner was asking, $100 under our rent limit. i took the offer/application into the office at 2:30pm and the lady who worked there told me she'd call me when she got the owner's answer. i was freaking out. it was our only option, but if the owner didn't accept the offer i didn't know where we were going to live. jen and i were starving so we went to eat and i kept asking her if we should just go home or drive around kingman and wait for her to call back. we went to a couple other management companies and kept seeing more and more crappy houses. i was dying waiting for the lady to call back, and kept wondering if we should just go home. at 4:40pm she finally called back and the owner had countered $100 more than my offer... which was in the limit of our rent amount!!!! and the owner usually doesn't let the house be held for longer than 5 days and he was willing to hold it until august for us. i was so excited! so they needed me to get a $50 money order for the background check etc... so we ran to walmart to get one. the other 2 times i've gone to kingman i've been too scared to go into walmart. i couldn't handle finding out the only place to shop in kingman was nasty. well, we had to go there so i walked in AND IT IS THE NICEST WALMART I HAVE EVER SEEN!!! ha ha ha ha ha seriously... my day couldn't have been better! i just feel so blessed that i was able to find a good place for us to live. i know i had help finding this place and i'm so thankful. i called my mom to tell her and she said, "things always turn out the way they are supposed to, but we acted surprised every time." it's so true! i'm just so happy, and i'm not dreading moving to kingman anymore... which is a fabulous feeling.

Derek & James

2009-07-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

Everywhere we go people always comment on our 4 girls. Then they ask if we are going to try to get Derek a boy! My knee-jerk response is always, "HECK NO!" (In the past week or so I've started warming up to the idea... don't know why??? FREAK!) Anyway, the point of this story is we have a nephew, James, and he is Derek's surrogate son for now! Anyone who knows Derek's family always tells James he looks like his Uncle Derek. Katleyn and James have been best buddies since birth, and really, they could be twins. Anyway, James had a golf tourney and Derek went to cheer him on and be his scorekeeper. It was cute, they were matching and they didn't do it on purpose!

Happy Father's Day

2009-07-07T14:52:00.000-07:00

It is getting silly how far behind I am on this dumb blog! Oh well, better late than never, right?!
Everyone came to The Oliversons for Father's Day. It was the same weekend as Katelyn's baptism, so I was lucky to have my mom and dad there that day too. It was beautiful weather, so we spent the evening outside visiting and playing musical chairs! Derek is the best dad. He is definitely a kid at heart, and the kids love playing with him. Everything's always more fun when Derek's involved!

Just a simple game of musical chairs...
Derek is a tad competive... and if you think he takes it easy on the kids you're kidding yourself!
In the end it was Derek and Taylor. EVERYONE was cheering for Taylor, and Derek was screaming like a girl everytime he ran around the chair. It was hilarious!
At the last second Derek, with his cat-like-reflexes, slipped between Taylor and the chair...
making Taylor fall to the ground and Derek won the game. All the kids rushed Derek and tackled him.