Catch-Up

Prepare yourself.........

I've been slacking, and have some serious catching up to do.

Overall, it was an excellent Christmas. :):) 

Here's a peek:

They're pretty proud of their seater enders. :):)

Stake Primary Christmas Breakfast

Oh yeah. That's a power tool. 

So excited to welcome this little nugget into the family.

And let it be known.

I was the first aunt to hold her!

Favorite aunt in the making. :):)

The original four... :)

Finally got all of us together...

we desperately needed one of these. 

And I guess when I said peek, I meant overload....

my bad. :)

Happy New Year!

Perspective

I must be a pretty obsessive person, because I have become consumed with something.......again.

Our Stake issued a challenge to do a little family history work and find a family member's name to take to the temple. This was the beginning of November. Since then, I have learned so much about my heritage. From my ancestors who lived long ago to my own grandparent's stories. 

Loving it!

Especially because I've been acutely reminded that I only have so much time to hear my grandparent's personally tell me their stories: their memories, their opinions. My only regret is that I didn't start before my Grandpa Oliver passed away... 

In the spirit of family history... here's a quick peek into my heritage. :)

My Mom:

My Mom's Mom:

My Mom's Dad:

My Dad:

(Gotta love those curls) :)

My Dad's Mom:

My Dad's Dad:

Apparently my grandpa didn't get pictures taken of him by himself when he was younger, but he's a little younger in this picture with my grandma.

And just for the fun of it....

Here is a picture of Nick's dad (blue suit) on a date with my aunt. 

(I needed to post this picture just so everyone can appreciate those stylish suits!)

And here is a picture of Nick's Aunt, Nick's Mom, my Aunt, my Mom. (plus one other neighbor) They were the baton twirlers in a local parade. :)

Gotta love coming from the same small town. :):)

Now I'm tempted to post a million pictures and tell their stories. (Nope, not obsessive at all) ;) But I'll hold off.... for now... 

..Mmm Childhood...

"A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men."

--Roald Dahl

Lady in.... Green?

A couple weekends ago, this pretty lady came to visit me in Salt Lake. 

If you are not familiar with Snap Chatting, please forgive the message and countdown in this picture. I couldn't help but screenshot it. It's a favorite of her! :):)

After experiencing an exciting night in cinderblock heaven...

Sorry about the bad pictures.. the lighting is about as impressive as the walls.

But I couldn't help myself. This captures the dance-filled, youtube-watching night we had before going dress shopping on Friday.

Anywaaaay...

As I was saying...

After a night in cinderblock heaven,

we hit the town with one goal in mind:

A dress for PREFERENCE!!

(Carbon County's version of homecoming...)

Pre-Shopping Glam Shots

Can you believe this girl is almost 17?!?!!?
I can't.
Taylor Bug is all grown up. :):)

And even though we can now share clothes, I am STILL the tallest girl in the Oliver family. And always will be. (Sorry Lex, you're not even in the running! ;))

I must be slouching a bit in the above pics BTW... it can't be fairly judged by them! ;)


Three malls and a bazillion dress stores later....

I'd say we were pretty successful.

It was so fun spending the weekend with her to find this dress.
And those shoes!!!! :)

I met my mom in Provo to drop off the diva, and we decided to see a movie before parting ways.

We were looking for a chick flick, and the only movie playing that remotely seemed to be within our desired genre was Austenland. It's based on a book written by a Utah author. I had read the book, and wasn't thrilled with the choice, but I'm so glad we went.

If you want a good laugh... see this movie!

We were cracking up the entire time.

Seriously.. the entire time.

Us and the rest of the woman-packed audience. There must have been a "no boys allowed" sign that we missed somewhere. There wasn't a deep chuckle to be heard!

It was such a FUN weekend.
I'm so glad this punk came to visit!



The very next weekend, I went to see her in her Broadway Review.
Poor gimp in her knee brace!
It sure made it easy to find her on stage though. :):)

And I am seriously impressed with the performing arts program at Carbon!

It was such a fun night!

We were singing songs from beloved musicals the rest of the weekend!

She's the one on the right: hot pink dress, shoulder pads...
oh yeah, that's her. :)

(Don't worry about the skewed picture... I struggle)


Two fun weekends.
One pretty awesome family.
Love them. :)