Worth Bragging About

I have a best friend, and well, she's the best!

She does amazing things for me. She goes above and beyond constantly. She trusts me and I trust her. She laughs with me and cries with me. She cries for me. She worries for me and prays for me. She lifts me up. She makes me happy. She is genuine. She takes care of me and Oliver in ways she may not even know. She is creative. She is smart. She is driven. She is beautiful. She facilitates friendships of others. She is an amazing friend.

Since our friendship began my life has been ever more full.

I love my best friend!

a HUGE accomplishment

In my real life of super-small-space-living my kitchen is not just a kitchen. It is my office, my laundry room, my pile collector, and pretty much my only real work space. While the piles on my counter are consistently changing they are consistently there. Driving! Me! Crazy!

So on Monday I decided to take on the huge task of pile consolidation, project completion, organizing and deep cleaning.

The finished product:


Just to give you an idea of how bad it was... Oliver's response to the clean counter was: "Where everything go? Put it back." Oh yes, my 2 year old found security in the mess. Luckily he's getting used to the clean-ness. Also, I filled the paper shredder 3 times - yikes!

And yes it still looks like the picture 2 days later. Let's see how long I can keep it up!

Breaking the SAND Barrier

We doubted this possibility. We wondered if he'd ever get over it. We laughed at how tight of a little ball he became upon encountering sand at Bear Lake and Newport Beach last year. I was so excited (and I also knew that Nate wouldn't believe me) that I just had to take pictures to prove it!

Oliver is no longer afraid of sand!

Oh yes. He got sand in his sandals, in his pockets, even had some thrown in his face!
And he only had 2 minor freak-outs.

He played in the sand box (with Jonah - if you haven't noticed the trend here Jonah is Oliver's best buddie) for a good half hour, or maybe even more.

And he loved it!

Catching Up: Winter Fun

In January Oliver discovered the fun that is painting! I got these wooden shapes at the craft store. When the paint dried I glued magnets to the back so he can play with them on the fridge - which he does quite a lot.

We had a lot of fun in February:

• We decorated Valentines Day cookies with friends at the church for Adventure Days. We spent Valentines Day delivering little Play-Doh valentines and visiting with friends - ending the day at Pete & Camille's for fabulous chocolate covered strawberries and fun games.
• Oliver and I went to tour the new fire station in our neighborhood. Oliver got to "drive" a fire truck and an ambulance. It was so much fun that I had to call my friend Kathy so she could bring Jonah over. Oliver loved when Jonah got there, because that meant that he got to do everything again! It was very exciting and actually quite cool!
• We went snow-shoeing, which I'm wishing we had gotten into earlier in the winter, it could have made for a faster funner winter. Oliver had a blast even though he got cold fingers - he loved running around in the snow, sliding down the snow banks, and he made his first real snow angel.