Christmas Sunday

Ash bought me a new Christmas tie for the season. It was covered with Christmas trees and had a singing button. Liv was fascinated by Daddy's tie, so I took off the "press here" sticker and gave it to her. She was actually more interested in eating the tie than pushing the music button. I think she may be more interested next Christmas.

Smile for your Rectal Exam

Poor little Olivia, she has been sick lately with a cold. It is hard to see her so sick and really not be able to do much for her. Her nose is constantly runny and she has a bad cough. Yet, even when you can tell she is feeling horrible, she tries to be smiley. She is a good sport. Well momma, has to be monitoring Liv's temperature, and says the best way to take it is rectally. I tell her to quit torturing the poor girl. Maybe it's me, but it sounds unpleasant. I snapped this picture when Mom was about to take her temperature; Liv sure seemed pretty happy for what was taking place. Look at mean old Momma just laughing before the procedure. I had to laugh when one of the times when Ash was taking her temperature Liv shot the thermometer back out. That's my girl.

Here Comes Santa Claus

Yesterday, Dec 17th, we had our Missoula 4th ward Christmas party. The food and company were both great. We also had an eventful Christmas program. The planners had invited all of the children to wear pajamas because the polar express would be delivering Santa! We were just excited to see what Olivia would think of the man in red and white. Let's see what happened...

Liv was almost the last in line to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. Momma placed her on his lap. "Hey Mom what's going on here, who is this guy?"

I think this reindeer may have been a bit scared of ole Santa Claus. I don't think she even lasted long enough to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. I was laughing as I was snapping the pictures, and Mom rushed to her rescue shortly after. She didn't like Santa, but she did like chewing on the Christmas bell he gave her.

6 Months Old Photos

Six months old. I can't believe how time has flown by. When I look back on her newborn photos she seems like a different baby.
The other day I was cleaning her room and Liv was being super cute so I decided we needed to do a photo shoot. And here it is. Enjoy.

Christmas Gift for Mommy

I only had a little work today to get ready to do my Idaho jobs tomorrow, so we decided to get some Christmas shopping done today. Of course the doodle monster was especially cute drawing lots of comments and stares from people at the stores. Little did she know that Mommy and Daddy were shopping for her. We would hand the toy to her to see if she liked it, and she would grab the toy for a second and suck on the packaging. I did have Olivia by myself for part of the day so Ashley could do her visiting teaching. Ashley accidentally took the diaper bag leaving me with a ticking time bomb. I was sure hoping that she didn't decide to drop a big deuce with Dad at Walmart. I bought a new pack of diapers just in case, but I still didn't have any wipes. We caught up with Mom at home so Liv could get a nap before we went shopping again. During lunch I snuck a stick of a Kit Kat to Olivia. Oh she was a happy... messy baby.

I was buying some gifts online later today. Ashley and Olivia were playing in the front room while I was finishing up. Ash was holding Olivia above her while she laid on the floor. Ashley was making noises like Olivia was grabbing her lips, but she sounded different. I laughed when I found that Liv had spit up all over Mom's face including in her mouth, yucky! Instead of grabbing the baby to help Mom, I did what any good husband and dad would do, and grabbed the camera.

Christmas Thief!

Have a Merry Doodle Christmas

Christmas Elf

Mom came home the other day from shopping only to find out that she had been served by a Christmas elf. That's right; the Christmas elf did the dishes. She looks quite guilty.

"Mom was just happy the note didn't read, "Christmas elf soiled her diaper for you".

Oh Christmas Tree!

The Jacobs were nice enough to get us a permit for a Christmas tree this year, so "we loaded up the ole dodge diesel and went tree huntin". Unfortunately we couldn't go on a weekend because I had to work, but we decided to try to beat the darkness Wednesday night, Dec 2nd. As you can see in the pictures, we didn't quite beat the dark. It gets dark here so early , and Briant got off of work around 4:30. We loaded up the two babies and drove up Miller Creek which is just south of Missoula on the East side of the river. We had to drive about 10 miles up the draw to reach national forest, but right when we passed through the fence, there was a huge Christmas tree patch. This was right about when a big cold weather spell started; It was probably only in the teens. I didn't know if Olivia would really like it because of the cold, but she was super excited and smiley. She was probably better in the cold than Momma. Let's just say by the time we found the right one, we all had Rudolf noses.



We put our tree trophy's in the back of the Dodge and drove to the Jacob's apartment. They made some soup for us for dinner.

What a Cute Doodle!

Look, one of those bears has her belly hanging out. It must be a pretty well fed bear.

Liv got this sweet ride from Grandma and Grandpa Hanni. She loves to get pushed around the apartment while she pushes the horn.

Helping Mom do the laundry.

Happy to be eating Mom's chapstick

She has now learned that she likes to pull off her bows and chew on them.

Ball Family

It is sure exciting that Taylor and Briannia now have little Blaklee. She seems to be growing. She looks so much like Taylor.

Jaxon has been wrestling at his school. Here he is holding a medal he won.

Taylor's brother Nate holding the Blakester.

Nov 29th

Today is the last sunday in November. Ashley is putting the baby down for a nap after we had some quick food after church, (cereal and cold pizza). I am so grateful for my little girl. We have been thinking a lot lately about when Olivia was born with Brittany and Christian having their little girl this weekend, Lily Hazel Mayer. Olivia is so much fun for me. She was awake fairly early this morning in our bed. I just laid next to her while she played with my face. She was so smiley and happy.

She is enjoying Skyping more now as well. When we were talking with Ashley's family, she was reacting to Grandma and Grandpa Thomas on the computer a lot more today. We can see her developing everyday. Just before bed, we fed her baby food squash and rice cereal; she is wanting to feed herself more. I have a hard time feeding her without her grabbing the spoon and putting it in her mouth. Right as she was finishing the bowl of food, she gave us this face. Ashley informed me what it meant.

"Uh, I think, well I think, uh, ya, I'm pooping Daddy."

I don't change nearly as many diapers as Ashley, but I always seem to get the good ones. As I was plugging my nose and wiping, she decided to poop again on the changing table. With the addition of solids to her diet, she is sure stinky, of course cute stinky. She just looked at me and smiled.

We finished the evening with a bath before bed. She was playing with some of her toys in the water. She is really enjoying bath time. She likes to splash in the water, and unfortunately suck the water out of her bath rag. She can sit up on her own now with a hand ready to catch her just in case she falls. We were thinking that she should be able sit on her own really well by Christmas to open her presents.

Happy Thanksgiving

We don't have a huge place, but Ashley did a pretty good job of decorating for Thanksgiving. We cooked some of the meal and the Roberts cooked the other half. For being our second Thanksgiving dinner in one week it actually tasted really good. We did start dinner an hour late though, we blamed it on what the Roberts call "twin time".

What a cute little Thankgiving dress!

You can see Olivia flashing a gang sign here in the picture.

Mom and baby posed for a cute pic before dinner.

Baby and Daddy tag-teamed eating the dinner.

As I am posting these pictures, I can't help but feel gratitude for being blessed with such a wonderful little family. Olivia is such a happy and healthy baby. Ashley is such a wonderful mother and wife. I am also thankful for good friends in the Missoula area like the Roberts. It really helps to be surrounded by such good people, since we don't have family here. Most of all, I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven, who shows us love and mercy in so many ways. With Thanksgiving here, we are starting this holiday season. I hope we can remember the birth of our Saviour and the real reason to celebrate this time of year.

Happy Pre-Thanksgiving

This year, we had decided to have Thankgiving in Missoula with the Roberts; they can't really travel because of the twins. However, my family decided to have Thankgiving dinner on the Sunday before the actual day, so why not have two dinners? I also wanted to do a little deer and elk hunting during the last week of the season. We drove down on Saturday, just before a snow storm moved into the area.

This may have been Blaklee's first shoulder riding experience. She didn't know what to think about it.

From left to right: Blaklee, Olivia, Draker

"Dad, what do I do with my hands. All I can see is the back of your head?"

Doodle was especially cute for Thanksgiving dinner. She really liked the other kids and babies.

Getting Excited For Christmas!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!!!
This year was Liv's first Halloween and we had a blast. To celebrate we hung out with our friends at a Halloween party. The Piippo's had an early dinner of stew, spidery bread sticks, spooky smoking punch (we used dry ice), mummy dogs, scary doughnut eyeballs, and our orange chocolate cupcakes.
The Piippo's, Jacobs, and Jarnagins were all there. After dinner we headed out for trick-or-treating. We went early so we would be done before dark. Safer and warmer for the little ones. Brodie and I took Olivia up to a few doors and got a little bit of candy.
She was pretty cute in here pumpkin costume. After trick-or-treating we stopped by the Roberts to say hi and hang out for a little while since there twins are too little to go partying. By 9:30 Liv was exhausted and fussy so we ran home to put our tired little punkin to sleep.
Olivia did so great trick-or-treating. She enjoyed looking around and hanging out with all the little kids. She was so tired that during the trick-or-treating she fell asleep for awhile in her comfy and warm pumpkin costume.
Brodie was great too dressing up for Halloween and letting me put makeup on his face. We had a blast as a witch, scarecrow and little pumpkin. Happy Halloween!

Happy Fall

What's Better? Pudding or Playing with your Toes

Why not both?

It's Pumpkin Month

We made some caramel apples, hot cocoa, and homemade doughnuts with the Roberts and Kim & Clark Jacobs. Afterwards when we were talking, we realized that we all had a little sugar buzz. I don't think I have had a caramel apple for years; they were really good. Eric and I were in charge of making the doughnuts, only burning maybe a third of them.

Oct 18th, Stake Conference

We had stake conference today. Olivia did fairly good. Ashley had to take her out to feed her once. We saw the Dahl family who are in the Drummond ward. Chris Dahl and his boys meet us out steelhead fishing and go to Alaska fishing for kings with us most years. I had to laugh because Ashley noticed Chris trying to get my attention across the aisle first, but she thought he was pointing to the gentleman in front of us. Ashley poked the guy in front of us and he looked at Chris and us with a questioning look. Ashley felt really embarrassed. She hasn't met the Dahls and couldn't have known. Of course, after the meeting, we slightly made fun of her, just slightly.

Liv was sure smiley and happy after the meetings when we got home. The picture with her and Mamma is so cute.