I'm becoming a woman

So I've decided that being a stay at home dad is turning me into a woman. I spent more time crying yesterday than I have in a long time.

First I wrote an email to the widow of a dear friend that died in a bike accident back in June. My family all knew him, but I may have known him best. He was a great man and an amazing friend. He was the one that introduced me to fly fishing as well as just being an inspiration in general. I spent many great days backpacking with him in the Uintahs, and I will always miss him.

I saw his wife on Facebook yesterday and I just really felt like I needed to email her. I pretty much cried the whole time I was writing the email, but it was worth it.

Then I got more information about the application process for the Air Force that was really frustrating and is going to make it even harder to get it all done. So I stopped and said a prayer and cried through that whole thing. On a side note, we got our prayers answered this morning as the paperwork moved to the next level this morning which has taken two and a half months, so we are keeping the hope that it will happen. Any prayers that anybody can spare would be greatly appreciated.

Then I watched a really great movie that I recorded over the weekend called Pride. It is about an all black swim team from Philadelphia and the racial struggle they faced. Again, I cried through most of the end of the movie. I love a good sports movie, and the deeper meaning just added to it.

Then I got an amazing present from my Grandma Drechsel. She recorded and wrote up some of her great spiritual experiences from her amazing life. I read through it last night, and once again I cried even more.

Essentially what I am saying is that I was a cry baby yesterday, but most of it was good crying. Here's to hoping everything works out quickly enough.

ONE year old!

Guess who turned one this week. Olivia! She is such a big girl now and I can't believe how fast one year goes by. We have had so much fun with her. She started walking at ten months. She now runs everywhere and loves to climb on everything. She loves sitting up on the cough and the love sac! She does not take a bottle anymore and no more formula as of this week. Yeah saving money is always nice. She talks all the time but mostly gibberish. She loves to wave Hi and Bye bye to anyone by her. She likes to give us slobbery kisses which I love. She is starting to be more cuddly which I am loving since she never has been when she was a newborn. She is so easy to put to sleep and sleeps from seven till seven thirty in the morning. She giggles at anything you do and makes the cutest faces. I am writing this all down so I can remember the things at this time she is doing. We are so happy she is in our lifes. As for Dave and I we are moving into a new apartment soon so we are going to start packing away. Livy and I started a mommy and me swimming class and I love it she has so much fun and is the loudest child in the class. I feel bad for the teacher but what can I say she likes to speak her mind all the time. Dave is off to drill this weekend and is going to the Texas Rangers vs. Red Sox and I am so mad that I couldn't go since that is my team. All I can say is the Red Sox better beat them now that I couldn't go just to get him back.

Oregon Trip

Here is a slideshow of about half the pictures we took from our trip to Oregon. If you would like the link to all of them just let us know.

We had a great time up there with Amanda's family. It was very hard to leave the 60 degree weather to come back to the 100's. It was just so beautiful there.

We spent our first night in Portland to break up the trip a little, and then drove out to the coast on Sunday afternoon. We took our time driving since we couldn't check in until later. We stumbled upon the Evergreen air and space museum which is where the Spruce Goose is on display. It was unreal how huge it was. There were also a bunch of other cool planes, and even a couple of old tanks.

We also stopped at a little produce market and the fruit was amazing. The rest of the family showed up later that night.

On Monday we all went to the Oregon Coast aquarium which was a lot of fun. The kids loved all of the different fish and seals and sea lions. They also had a whole section devoted to wierd looking fish that was very cool.

On Tuesday we went to Sea Lion Caves which was really amazing. There is a huge natural cave that is full of sea lions and seals. There are hundreds of them in there sitting around. It was unreal how big the cave was, and how many animals there were in it. There was also a lookout point where you can see even more of them lounging outside on the rocks and swimming around. It sounded like a large motorboat or something because they were barking so loud.

If I remember right this was also the first time we saw the whales off of our balcony. The condos were right on the ocean, and the whales kept swimming back and forth the whole time we were there. The kids loved seeing them spout the water up.

On Wednesday we went out on a boat to see the whales closer, which proved to be quite the adventure. As luck would have it we picked the only time all week that it rained to go out on the ocean. It was a pretty bumpy ride and everyone got off the boat a little tipsy and wet. Except for our lovely daughter. She decided to let the rocking boat put her soundly asleep. We did get to see the whales a little closer which was fun, and no one threw up, so that was good.

Thursday morning was my absolute favorite part as we got to spend a couple of hours taking pictures. I got to wear long pants and everything! We had beautiful weather, and I would expect the pictures turned out great. We will post some once we get them from the photographer.

After the pictures we took Livy to the beach where she got to play in the sand and water for the first time all by herself. We went once when she was a baby, but she mostly got helpd that time. She was definitely not afraid of the water at all. I would pick her up when a wave came a little too high and when I set her down she would just chase the wave back out into the ocean. She also got covered in sand which was a lot of fun.

Friday we all got packed up and started our journies home. We drove back to Portland where we would spend the night before flying back on Saturday. We had a nice time in the city going to lunch and dinner and looking at a couple of shops. It is such a clean city that had a very friendly feel to it. We also drove up the Columbia River a little ways and went to some different waterfalls that were very beautiful.

We had a lot of fun on the trip, with lots of swimming in the pool, and playing with cousins, and aunts and uncles. It is always so sad to leave at the end, especially when you don't know when you will get together again. I think everyone had a great time, and we look forward to other trips in the future.

I want my grandma back!

So my grandma Lynn came down to watch me while daddy was finishing his training up in Ft. Worth. We had so much fun playing together, reading books, and walking around. She is so much more fun than mommy and daddy. I wanted to sneak into her suitcase but daddy caught me and wouldn't let me go.

I am still having fun with daddy and mommy though. I do all kinds of stuff to drive them nuts. They put all my books on the book shelf, and I just pull them right back off. Then I will go over to the trash can and start pulling stuff out. Daddy got so frustrated with me he broke the lid trying to stop me, which only makes it easier for me.

I am loving walking all over the place, and I can even climb up and down the Lovesac now.

It is so hot here right now and I am so excited to play with all of my cousins in Oregon next week. I hear that it is nice and cool and pretty there. We are going to have so much fun.

Here are a couple of pictures from when Grandma came, I hope she comes back soon.

Trip to see daddy!

So I know we have neglected posting for a while but we will try to be better at it. Olivia and I are up in Fort Worth visiting Dave right now. Yesterday night livy and I got to go to our first rangers game. The ball park is a really cool site to see. It definitely helped that the game was a good one. Olivia was really good. We also got season tickets so we were right behind home plate on Row 13 they were sweet seats.

Today we woke up and went to go to the science museum in Fort Worth but it is closed for reconstruction so we decided to go to the Fort Worth Zoo. We really like this zoo it is a nice one and they have this really good mexican grille there. We have so pictures we will post of it. Livy liked looking at the different animals and then taking a nap in her stroller. It is so blood hot outside though that at 2 we had to leave to come back to air conditioning. I am going to post a lot of pictures of other events to.

While Dave has been gone this past week Olivia has been staying at some friends house and was such a good girl. The second friend she stayed with she has a little boy olivias age and apparently if she had both of them on her lap they didn't like it so they would shove each other. They would follow each other around. Then he grabbed her hand you will see in the picture. She got a really cute picture of her to that I will post. Tomorrow Livy and I will go back to pick up Grandma Lynn for the week we are very excited to have her stay with us. Dave is enjoying training for the military right now and staying busy. That is our update for right now!

Update!

So my allergies have been crazy here and finally went to an allergist to find outwhat I am allergic to and if I stay here I will have allergies year round just like my mother thanks a lot. So I definitely know we will only be here at least until dave is done with school and get out of here because it is no fun. I like Texas but not enough to be feeling like I have a cold all the time. I have been crazy busy at work and will be getting even more busy but that just means job security for me which is always good with this economy. We have enjoyed our little girl a lot she is taking a few steps by herself from me to Dave a lot. She loves to talk a ton and makes plenty of noises in church. She loves going swimming and splashing around but definitely does not like going on her back. She is such an angel baby and feel so blessed to have her in my life. I also feel blessed to have a great husband who is on base right now this weekend he is so proud to serve our country and love that about him. I am also glad that his contract is almost over this year. Here is some pictures and some stuff we have been up to.

Livy posing for the camera!

The pizza was bigger than her face but she loves it!

This was on the riverwalk in San Anontio!

This was behind the Capitol in Austin livy loves the backpack!

So much going on

I must first apologize for my negligence in writing. It is somewhat hypocritical of me because I gave my sister-in-law crap about not posting, but I haven't posted in forever. I think we all just think our lives are boring compared to others. Forgive me if this ends up being long, but it has been awhile.

I started school again on Friday and I am liking it so far. It is an online university, and it has been super easy so far. The first class you have to take is just basic internet stuff and where to find the tools you need to get through the program.

It would take more time than I care to spend typing to explain how the program works, so if you want to know more details let me know. In short, there are 40 assesments I have to complete, and I was lucky enough to have 13 of them taken care of with transfer credit. I am hoping to move through things quickly, because it is all self paced and the sooner I am done the sooner I can get to where I want to be: coaching.

Now on to the stuff you guys really want, what is going on with Olivia. She went swimming for real for the first time which was exciting because the water was still pretty cold.

She loved splashing in the water so much. She always loves to kick and splash in the tub too.

Livy is climbing all over everything now. The other day she was climbing on the printer to try and play with the blinds and she fell into her bumbo. It was hilarious because she couldn't get herself out.

Livy is the coolest baby around and she likes to flaunt it.

She also will eat just about anything you put in front of her. This is one of her favorites, smoked turkey from Rudy's. It was even funnier when we gave her some BBQ sauce that was a little spicy and she was trying to wipe it off her tongue.

Grandma Hardman came and visited us for Easter and we had a good time going to Sea World and playing with her.

Aunt Mary is here with us now and she has been such a great help. Livy loves following her all over the apartment, and especially pulling her hair. I really can't say enough about how grateful I am for my little sister and the help she has been already. We have been able to get so much more done thanks to her. She has discovered what it means to have allergies, and she has been such a good sport about it. She is the greatest.

She is such a little goofball and we love every minute with her. For whatever reason, she LOVES being upside down. If you tip her back once she will keep throwing her head back to do it again. I am so lucky that I get to spend so much time with her. It is amazing how much joy she brings to us everyday.