Thanksgiving Vacation [Family Blog]

Wow, it’s been over nine months since the last post. Oops. It’s like we had a baby or something…
Kreed is now 10 months. Holy cow!! Does time get faster with each kid? He is a crawling and climbing machine and wants to walk with help but isn’t to keen on the walking solo concept. He babbles a lot and loves to stick out his tongue, furrow his brow, pucker his lips, and all other kinds of facial experimentations. He is tough and is already impressive holding his own when playing with Olivia.

Olivia turned TWO in October. She is so energetic and talkative these days. It is such a hoot to be her mom! She loves entertaining, being the center of attention but still holds some reservations around those she doesn’t know well. I know everyone says it’s the “terrible two’s” (and true there are some terrible things about it: tantrums!) but all in all, this is my favorite age so far. She is such a sweetheart and I love seeing her imagination grow and talking with her. She makes me smile and laugh every day.

Two Thursdays ago, I drove the six or seven hours alone with the kids to my parents house. Olivia didn’t nap once and kept me pleasant company the whole way! My kids are awesome. We drove through snow, rain, fog, and hail. It was pretty exciting. Even Kreed handled the long ride like a champ even though we only stopped once.

We got to play with cousin Chloe and Grandma a lot. Olivia and Chloe did amazing. They would bable to each other and share toys. Two 2 year-old girls don’t usually do that. We went to the shark reef and had a blast. Even Kreed loved to be against the glass trying to catch the fish. We played outside in Grandpa’s amazing backyard a lot (after the first three days of straight rain that is). Olivia did “Grandma’s School” and impressed me with her listening and following direction skills. She was quick to answer questions and loved listening to a book and learning about triangles. Olivia and Kreed liked riding the train and playing at the mall too.

I was very excited that I came when I did because I also got to babysit my cousin’s three kids when they flew in from South Dakota for a day. I loved visiting with my cousin Josh and his wife Jordelle. It made me homesick for Rexburg and the extended family we were around there.

I loved being around my family in Henderson: playing games, eating good food, and telling stories. We met up with James in Toquerville for Thanksgiving and had some amazing food. Olivia got a fan club right away comprising of Valentine’s and Crappa’s and at one point she was playing Hungry Hippo with six teens and adults around/with her. We made a dirty snowman in the back yard. I loved going out to lunch with the girls (if only Nikki were still in Utah…) and getting to know my future sister-in-law better.

I can’t find a lot of my pictures, especially from Toquerville. Hopefully I can track down where I saved those. It was a blast and the kids handled the new rooms and people like champs. It was such a great vacation!

Here are just some random pictures from the last nine months.