Recap of 2013

January: Alyse goes back to work, and Olivia goes to the baby sitter. Lots of books are read and we enjoy time together.

February: Olivia's Blessing Day and Valentines Day

March: We ran a 5k and celebrated Easter

April: Watched conference, visited Dad at Maple Mountain Pharmacy's grand opening, and Olivia started sitting up.

May: Car wreck on our trip to Oregon. We visited Bob's family in Washington, we celebrate Mother's Day and Alyse says goodbye to the classroom.

June: Bob's birthday, graduation, and we got a job in Utah

July: 4th of July, Livy's first Lake Powell trip, and then celebrating the 24th in Mapleton.

August: A few vacations while Bob started his new job. Hales family reunion where Olivia and Mia meet for the first time, and another trip to Lake Powell.

September: We played a lot of games with friends, cheered on BYU, and said goodbye to Ayrika when she left for her mission.

October: Bob's parents and Dave, Kelsey, & Brody come to visit, Jensen was born, and Halloween.

November: We move to Mapleton, celebrate Olivia's First Birthday, and Thanksgiving.

December: Christmas and Alyse's Birthday

What a great year we had. I can't wait for 2014!

My 27th!

On my actual birthday, I went to Salt Lake with my sister Andrea. We helped set up for a wedding luncheon with my Aunt Shauna, and cousins Emily, JanaRae, Whitney, and Lauren. It was a fun and busy morning and afternoon. Bob was at work, so Olivia spent that time with Grandma Sue. I picked her up and we made it home for a nap by 3.

At 5:30 we took Olivia back over to Grandma Sue's so she could be watched again while we went to Bob's work party. I am sad I didn't take any pictures that night. We had the party at the pharmacy and had a wonderful meal of prime rib, ham, potatoes, and veggies. It was fun to meet and get to know some of Bob's coworkers a little better.

I enjoyed the phone calls and texts from our families throughout the day, but besides that there wasn't much time for any celebrating to happen.

Tonight we met my family at Spanish Fork's newest restaurant Hu Haut, which is a Mongolian Grill. We had a great dinner. Olivia tolerated sitting in the high chair and eating whatever we had created, regardless of the spice level. She also loved sucking on Dad's lemon.

Then we went back to my parents house for cake and ice cream.

Luckily I only had to blow out 3 candles. Which my Dad reminded me was because I am almost 30. (Just typing that was really weird. I still have 3 years!)

The BYU game couldn't be found on my parents cable so the boys went down stairs to watch a movie and the girls stayed upstairs to talk and take care of the babies.

Christmas

I woke up around 7:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. I went to the bathroom and grabbed my book, when I got back to bed Bob woke up. We decided to wake Olivia up. We grabbed our video camera, which didn't have a memory card in it, and woke her up. She was tired, but excited when we came into the living room. She liked her new rocking chair and as she looked at all of the items in her stockings she would say, "Oooo."

We opened presents, and she was kind of into it.

We got ready and made our way to my parents house for breakfast. Mom made a breakfast casserole and blueberry muffins, with fresh squeezed orange juice. Olivia loved the casserole.

After breakfast we went into the living room to see what Santa had brought Olivia and Jensen. They both hit the jackpot, including a rocking hippo. Grandma decided that the hippo will stay at her house. Olivia squealed in delight as she rocked back and forth. Grandma's rocker definitely out shined the rocking horse at home.

We opened presents and Olivia took a nap. While she was sleeping Ayrika called from her mission and it was so fun to talk to her and hear how she is doing.

Olivia woke up and played with her toys, and bugged Dan who was sleeping on the floor.

We packed up and went to see my Grandma Jayne in Orem and then Grandma and Grandpa Hales.

We came home and devoured the left over shrimp cocktails and tree appetizer from last night. Bob and Olivia took a nap while I read my book and tried to figure out my new camera.

Mom made dinner and we had ham, potatoes, broccoli, salad and cake. It was a small crowd for dinner since Andrea and Brent were with Brent's family.

We came home and talked with Bob's family over skype. We were sad that it wasn't possible to make a trip home this year because of Bob's work schedule. We hope to make it home when Brad comes home from his mission in a couple months.

We were spoiled by our wonderful families and loved spending our day with Olivia.  Merry Christmas!