I'm from Auburn...

For Mutual this week, we had the leaders dress up and hide in the mall and the kids had to wander around and find us. I decided to try to blend in...

Alright, so I'm not from the "West Side", we live in Southeast Auburn, and I grew up in South Visalia...so I should have thrown up South side...but I'm not actually gangster enough to know what that is...But I did blend in pretty well, although it took me forever to wash the black eyeshadow off!

He's Published!

Mat's first published work, The Scholastic 2010 Almanac for Kids, came out a few weeks ago. It was very exciting, he could hardly believe he was seeing it on the shelfs at Barnes and Noble! He worked with an amazing writer, Jackie Ball, on this project, through Scholastic. Basically, she would send him a word document with all the information and he put it together and decided what pictures he wanted (yes, he searched long and hard for all those images!). Each section is amazing, but our favorite is definitely the "Space" or possibly the "Pop Culture" section. It really is amazing to see this huge 272 page book that he made! And since he actually had to buy his own copy, you should buy one too (to make sure he gets to make a 2011 one!), here is the link...

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Scholastic-Almanac-For-Kids-2010-Edition/Scholastic/e/9780545160636/?itm=5&USRI=kids+almanac

Congratulations Mat!

Olivia Fall Pictures

Since we only stayed at the pumpkin patch for 3 1/2 minutes, we decided to take Olivia to a park by our house to get some more pictures...and keep her in the same outfit, because we really liked it. She also just went to the doctor for her 2 year check-up...

Weight: 25.8 lbs (25-50%)

Height: 33 in (25%)...which I guess will make her 5'6'' when she grows up (which will make her a few inches taller than 3 of my sisters)

Head Circ.: 48 cm (ridiculously huge...okay, greater than 75%)

Kitchen Remodel!

After two and half weeks of work, one week without a sink, and more sawdust than I had imagined...our kitchen is done!!!

Alright, let's be honest, Mat did much of the work...but I did offer him the tools he needed (although he had to start calling them plus and minus instead of Phillips and whatever the other one is called). We had a few hiccups, including a minor flooding in the kitchen...but overall, it went much better than I expected! We have so many people to thank...we owe Mat's sister Mandy and her husband Chris about seventeen bunches for taking Olivia two weekends in a row so that we could work without worrying about her turing the saw on! There is no way we could have done it without them...and they already have three kids under 4 (a miracle worker I tell you!) We owe Camille for taking Olivia a few more times during the week, including our 2 hour trip to Ikea (which turned into 4!) and to Mat's dad for hauling everything from that 4 hour trip back to our house. A big thank you to Brian for traveling down to help us prep the countertops and tile. This is the part Mat was most worried about and so it really helped to have someone there! Thanks to my mom for advice on the backsplash, and my dad for helping me find things in Lowes when I couldn't find anyone to ask (anyone else have that problem?). He spends a lot of time in Lowes, so I called and asked him where the wood glue was and he led me right to it!

Sink before...

Sink after...

Stove before...

Stove after...

A few other views...

But most of all...Matty, you were amazing! Because we bought everything from Ikea, we had to assemble it all on our own...because Ikea has stores all over the world, they don't write out their instructions (so they don't have to translate). Instead, they have weird pictures of what you're supposed to do...those pictures make no sense to me, I would have Mat decipher the picture or just wait until he had built one and copy it...I don't know how he was able to figure out those hieroglyphics, but he did and it reminded me once again how lucky I am to have his perspective in my life. So thanks Matty, you did a great job! And I don't think I'd even have the first one up if it weren't for you...and without me, who would have vacuumed?

Halloween!

Olivia was a painter this year for Halloween...I know, strange...how does one become a painter? Well after two other failed costume attempts (a cute little witch and fiesty kitten, both equally believable for Olivia), I had about given up. Then, on a random Tuesday she was wearing some overalls and I thought, hey, she looks like a painter...and so the costume (that she didn't know was a costume was born). She loved trick-or-treating and if people would bring the bowl to her level to take some candy she either kept taking candy until they moved the bowl away or after putting one in her bowl, she would ask for "that one". Luckily for us, her favorite candy is Smarties and Tootsie Rolls, which leaves the good stuff for us!

We headed up north to trick-or-treat with Brian and Britni and girls and Olivia loved having people just her size to go with (although she was still the slowest).

Here are the spoils of the night, this might just be the happiest day of Olivia's life.

Earlier in the day we went to a pumpkin patch (I know, we should have gone earlier...but we've had a busy month!). It was pouring rain so we stayed for approximately 5 minutes, luckily got some cute pictures and then headed home.

p.s. Katelyn...this outfit was specifically picked out to meet your approval and to make you want to come see us as soon as possible...how's 18 days?

She's Had a Birthday...

Shout Hooray! Miss Olivia turned 2 this week...I can't believe how the time has flown, although she has seemed like a 2 year old for awhile now. She is such a good girl (most of the time) and always keeps us entertained. She was VERY excited for her birthday, much more than I anticipated. She would even pick toys up in the store and bring it to me "for my birthday". We started the festivities on Sunday with a McInelly family party...the star of the party was the cake made by Mat.

She is very into Curious George right now and she loved this cake! I am so grateful for an amazing husband that took time off from remodeling the kitchen (pictures to come) to decorate a birthday cake...can it really get any better than that?

Look at that face, I don't think it can!

She blew out the candles, kind of...we're pretty sure she got a little close and may have burned her lip...she was scared of candles the other two times she was supposed to blow them out. (As you may see in the background, it was also Uncle Jared's (Mat's brother) birthday...his birthday is 2 days after Olivia...and as you can also tell from the picture, he doesn't mind sharing his special day.

Or this face...so I really wanted a strawberry cake which seemed fine until we realized (on our way to the party that we were going to cut into "George" and that it was a blood red cake, oh well, it was almost Halloween! (And no kids seemed concerned)...and if you didn't know, if you close your eyes, your mouth can fit more into it...

After cake came presents, which she and all the other cousins were very excited for!

The next day Jared and Camille generously offered their house so we could again party for Olivia. She and 7 of her closest friends had a great time...

They danced...(I was obviously having a great time as well...)

Played the piano (with that many keys, it is still really hard to share...)

Rolled out sugar cookies,

And then got to decorate them

Or eat the decorations (and unfortunately a little flour)...a huge shout out to Britni and girls who drove an hour in the blinding, make your car hydroplane rain of Washington all to come to Olivia's party...thank you!!

Overall, we had a busy birthday season and hopefully everyone involved had a great time. We are so grateful for all the presents, well wishes, and trips to Auburn to help us celebrate! Olivia really is an amazing kid. She is very smart (except for her colors...we're still working on those), loves her friends and family (especially her cousins), loves to dance and sing, and loves to tickle or be tickled. We already thinks she's really funny (for example, after she "blew" out her candles, all the kids were asking for cake and ice cream and she held up her hand and said, "Just give me two minutes.") We hope she'll make a good big sister...we know she will eventually! We can't wait to see what she becomes, this amazing little spirit that we know we have this huge responsibility of taking care of. In the Visiting Teaching message this month, President Hinckley said, "Never forget that these little ones are the sons and daughters of God and that yours is a custodial relationship to them, that He was a parent before you were parents and that He has not relinquished His parental rights or interest in these His little ones." It made me realize how important she is, not just to Mat and I, but to our Heavenly Father, she has a specific purpose for this life, a "rendezvous" that we can help her accomplish. Even at 2, I can see that amazing things are ahead of her and can't wait to have a front row seat at all she does! We love you Olivia!!

Surprise, we found out...

it's a BOY! We are so excited and a little shocked, but really excited! Mat came with me to the doctor today and we talked her into doing an ultrasound, and there he was...it makes it all seem real!! We have loved the name Hudson for awhile, so here he is making his blogging debut,

Hudson McInelly!