Go baby go!

This post is mostly for Jamie. He's away in Omaha for a month (again...) doing a pediatrics rotation. Since he's gone, he misses some of the daily going-ons around the house. This is what happened today...pretty exciting stuff around these parts!

A few pics from my day

I'm sorry, but I can't help but chuckle every time I look at this picture of Marlee. She recently discovered that the hole in her nose is a perfect fit for her finger, so this has become a new favorite pastime for her. I obviously try to discourage her from sticking her finger in her nose, but I kinda think it's weirdly cute. At least she hasn't tried digging for gold (yet), for now she's just satisfied using her nose as a garage for her finger.

This is a scene from earlier tonight. Can these two get any cuter? Tonight was just one of those simple, lovely nights. We grilled some steaks, and then went on a walk in the field outside our door looking for pheasants. Yes, this is Nebraska and that's what we do. We walk through fields looking to scare up pheasants, and then go tip cows when they're sleeping. Try it sometime.

This is our current appearance. Talk about a happening Friday night! I'm sitting in my robe blogging (obv) while Jamie watches the Jazz on some *cough* very legitimate website. Typical scene in the house of Olsen.

This little girl had a birthday

Well, Marlee up and decided it was time to turn one on Sunday. It's bittersweet. I miss my sweet little baby but love the fun, spunky, and sometimes mischievous little lady Marlee is becoming. I'm so grateful for this little girl who made me a mama, and find myself loving her more and more each day.

For her birthday we invited just a few family and friends over to help us celebrate. I did a rainbow themed party, and was actually kind of impressed with how her cake turned out (mind you, when it comes to domestics and all things crafty/creative, I usually flop).

The rainbow fruit spread

Blowing out the candle

Enjoying her piece of cake

Since she's the lady of the hour, I'll write a little about Marlee at 1 year.

-She loves food (a girl after her mama's heart). Some of her favorites include avacados, pears, and chicken. She gets super jealous when she spots someone eating something she doesn't have in front of her.
-She's (almost) completely weaned. She still nurses once in the morning, but to be honest, it's because I'm just too lazy to open the fridge and pour her milk when I first wake up (well, I suppose if I'm being completely honest, I still enjoy the extra calories I burn nursing, so I hesitate a little to give that up). However, the days of mama milkshakes will be over very soon.
-She loves her Papa more than her Mama. I have accepted this fact, and I'm okay with it. In fact, I don't blame her, her Papa's a pretty good man.
-After suffering through numerous "sick" months during the winter that disrupted her sleep (darn germy daycare), she's finally turned back into the champion sleeper she once was
-She's not walking yet, but she'll sometimes stand up on her own in the middle of the room.
-Her favorite activity includes emptying any cupboard, bag, or drawer that gets in her way.
-She has 8 teeth and gives the best cheesy smiles

-When it's time to pray she folds her arms for about 2-3 seconds (we're still working on this one...), but it's pretty much the cutest thing ever.
-She loves other kids, and squeals with delight each time she sees one. This makes me feel a little better about dropping her off at daycare when I work.


Anyway, we love our Miss Marlee dearly, and are relieved she survived her first year with us as parents (quite a feat!). Here's to many more adventures!

One day...

One day, I'll do a better job of updating our blog. But it's easy to procrastinate when taking care of this...

Most of my time is spent cleaning up after this...

And this...

And trying to keep her hands out of this...

One day, I'll stop taking pictures like this...

 Look at those sexy sweat-pant buns! There's some major VPL (visible panty line) going on;)

One day, my husband and I will be mature enough to stop performing silly "Christmas talents"  such as this...

Acting out a scene from the life of the Olsen family pet George (RIP). This picture in particular captures George's pre-bathroom ritual

And one day, I hope to get over my addiction to food like this...

But for now, I'm just going to enjoy this...

One man's trash.....

    I have a confession. I have a secret passion that involves greed, scheming, metal bins and waste. It's called dumpster diving. Generally, I personally try to avoid the "diving" part, that's what my husband is for:) Anyway, my love of dumpster diving began innocently enough. When we lived in Des Moines, I noticed that whenever I saw a moving truck in the parking lot, the apartment dumpster would usually be overflowing with goods. I noticed a broom handle sticking out here, a picture frame peeking through there, but it took me a while to muster up the guts to take action. Well, on one said 'moving day' I noticed a perfectly good book shelf sitting next to the dumpster. Immediately, I began scheming (because heaven forbid anyone should see me taking the trash in instead of out). Finally, when it got dark outside, I grabbed my accomplice (Jamie) and pretended to take out the trash. After a few nervous glances to make sure no one was around, we grabbed that puppy and scurried inside as quickly as two people awkwardly carrying a book shelf while trying to appear nonchalant could.
    The bookshelf was just the beginning. Since that day (well over 2 years ago), I have rescued a swiffer sweeper, a vacuum, a ficus tree, an office chair, a body-length mirror, and an exersaucer from the trash (just to name a few). Now, every time I drive past the dumpsters at our complex, like magnets, my eyes are drawn to the metal treasure chests on wheels and I perform a quick scan to see if there are any precious gems beckoning me. My confidence has increased as well. I used to only go out at night and take Jamie with me, but slowly I began solo daytime diving. I guess you could say I've become a regular ol' dumper:)

*Although, I feel I should clarify that I've never actually crawled into a dumpster, I just grab the stuff placed outside it or within an arms reach (I don't care to catch a disease)*

    Anyway, I just want to bear testimony that one man's trash will probably end up becoming my treasure. Oh and here's a picture of something I didn't find in the trash....love that girl!

October Recaps

Yet another month has come and gone. Did you live it well? October was a fairly busy month in the house of Olsen. Here's a recap of the month's happenings:

Jamie finished his ER rotation and is now onto Internal Medicine. His poor little heart was torn in 2 when it was announced that NBA negotiations failed and there wouldn't most likely be a full season this year. Seriously, I think he was depressed after hearing the news. Said he, with tears welling up in his eyes and a quivering bottom lip, "The one year we actually have cable and I have some time to watch the games, the season gets delayed..." His sorrow was tangible. On the bright side, with all the extra time he'll have he can help me sort through old papers, organize closets, and re-arrange furniture. Oh joy!

October 12th I turned the big 2-5! Jamie made me breakfast and cooked me the most delicious sweet and sour chicken EVER for dinner! I'm salivating just thinking about it.

Nom nom nom

He also got me TWO birthday desserts! He sure knows that the way to this girl's heart is through her stomach!

The weekend after my birthday, Jamie and I headed to Des Moines to visit our friends we missed dearly. While in DSM we went to a pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, did a little shopping, visited our old ward, ate some delicious food, and stayed up too late visiting.  A good time was had by all.

Jamie's ghost pumpkin on the left and my "Halloween Bug" (aka-botched spider) to the right

The weekend after our Des Moines trip we headed to Sioux City, IA for stake conference. After the Saturday evening session they had an adult dance (and by adult dance I mean the Church's definition of an adult dance, not the world's....) Now, I remember going to stake dances as a youth, but this wasn't just your typical awkward Mormon dance. The awkwardness factor was taken up by about 10 notches because instead of a bunch of floundering teens moving about there were a bunch of skittish adults getting down to classics such as the "YMCA". Truly entertaining indeed.

The person on the right was certainly the "Belle of the Ball"... I was just his arm candy

Jamie and I also started playing racquetball at the YMCA on our date nights last month. I'm just learning, so I'm pretty much horrible at it, but it's a lot of fun and it's free so it fits right in with our budget. Plus, I love that my opponent lets me wink at him and give him an occasional pat on the tush:) And since no post is complete without mention of Marlee, I had to snap a picture of her on Halloween.

Yet, Even More Marlee......

I know I wrote a blubbery post before on how Marlee's growing so quickly, but my goodness, every time I blink this girl changes. Two Mondays ago she "turned" 7 months old. 7 months really isn't old at all, in fact, I probably have leftovers in the fridge at least that old (jk...I hope). But my oh my, it goes quickly. In celebration of reaching 7 months, Marlee decided to start crawling. Here's footage of one of her first crawls. Tear.

Yes, I know what you're thinking, and it's true: I am a bad mother. Not only do I whistle for my child's attention, I also let her get harmed in the making of the video. Don't worry though, she only suffered minor injuries and came out a much more skilled crawler because of it. Win-win. I suppose it's time to baby-proof the house now. Some of Marlee's favorite toys are the electrical cords you can see in the background.