MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Now that we are coming to the end of another wonderful year we take a moment to reflect on the events of the passing year. We have been blessed greatly by our Heavenly Father and I love this time of year that we get the chance to really focus on our Savior and his birth.

Kyle has been busy at school, as well as working at the temple doing security part-time (he loves it). He has also had the opportunity to finally open our Eve Cellular T-Mobile Store where he works full-time. He is working hard so that I can be home with our daughter. He's also got a new calling as a counselor in the Elders Quorum. He is a very hardworking busy man and a wonderful Father. I'm thankful for all he does.

Christina has been adjusting the life as a Mother. It definitely is very different when you yourself isn't the most important concern in life anymore. The birth of our daughter went great and I've recovered fully from the aftermath of my first pregnancy. I can say proudly that I've lost all the pregnancy weight (Thanks to nursing and Palates). I took a years leave of absent for the school district to take care of Simone. It's been wonderful to stay at home and raise our daughter. I've had the same calling for the past year and a half as the relief society pianist. And just got release as a ward missionary a little before I had Simone. Motherhood keeps me very busy and I'm loving every minute of it.

Simone is growing like a weed. It surprises me at how much she has grown. She is 7 months and she is about 20lbs and 25in long. She is crawling everywhere, well she can crawl everywhere but sometimes she'll just cry til someone picks her up and take her where she wants to go. She LOVES food. She gets so upset when we all sit down to eat and she's not! Even if she's been feed!! She is a mamma's girl but by the end of the day she gets sick of me and love hanging out with daddy when he comes home from work. We've been very blessed with a beautiful and healthy daughter.

Our year has brought many great changes and we are loving it all, even in this struggling time we just have to, as Elder Wirthlin put it best, "Come what may and love it". Find time for laughter, and remember our purpose here on earth is to work together to make it back to our mansions is Heaven in the presence of our loving Heavenly Father and Savior. Hope every one's year is filled with the love of our Savior and the presence of friends and family.

OUR LITTLE PUMPKIN!

I have to say we have the cutest little pumpkin ever! Thanks to my Mom, who made this adorable little Halloween outfit. I thought since I was a pumpkin for my first Halloween that it would be cute if Símone was a pumpkin also. Of course she totally out beats me when it comes to cuteness. We had a blasted as proud parents taking Símone out to her first experience of Trick or Treating. The Thursday before Halloween we went to the Trunk or Treat for our ward and everyone thought she was the cutest! It was so fun and could tell Símone was having a fun too. for Halloween all the nieces, nephews and cousins all got together to have a little Halloween party, the kids played the spooky dance freeze, and they bobbed for apples, and showed off their costumes.

Mommy and her little pumpkin!

Tayvion's attempt to bob for apples! He was afraid to put his face in the water. What a cutie!

Elijah's successful attempt to bob for an apple.

Crazy kids dancing and playing the spooky freeze dance off. These kids can dance!

Kaiden in his cute spidey costume!

Tayvion in his dragon costume! Doesn't he look like he is having a blast. You can't get him to stand still to get a good picture of him for nothing... Turkey!

IN LOVING MEMORY...

Yesterday marked the 2 year anniversary of my Dad's death. To many, this is something not to be celebrated, but when you are blessed with the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation I think that give us enough to be happy about. It was nice to spend the day remembering my father, things that make me smile, and thing that make me cry! I have a wonderful father, he is amazing! He was strict at times, but as I've grown older I have come to realize it was all out of love. And find myself doing the same things that at one time in my life I hated seeing my father do. We got together as a family and and went out to dinner. My Dad's favorite thing was to be together with his family, so I think he would approve of the way we spent the evening. We also took the opportunity to share our testimony with each other. That was the last thing he said to us before he left this earth. I'm grateful for the Plan of Happiness, and for the sealing powers in the temple. What a blessing it is to know that our family is forever.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE!!!

I just want to say Happy Birthday to my hubby, he turned 23 on October 1st. It was fun to have time to ourselves as we got to go out to dinner and a movie, which has been the second real date we've been on since Símone was born. It was a great day and I enjoyed pampering him for the day! I just wanted to share with you 5 things I love about my husband on his special day...

1. I love it when he comes home and the first thing he does is give me and Símone a big hug and kiss like he hasn't seen us in years.

2. I love the way he give Símone her bath, it take him like 20 minutes, and he thoroughly cleans every bit of her baby rolls.

3. I love the goofy faces he makes when he imitates people, they are one of a kind faces, and they look nothing like the person he's imitating! Seriously!

4. I love that he honors his priesthood. It truly blesses our lives!

5. I love that he is a hard worker, a good father, and a wonderful husband. I couldn't ask for anything better.

Happy Birthday Babe!!!

WATCH ME GROW!

Well it has been almost 4 months, and Símone is growing like a weed. I can't believe how fast she is growing. It seems like yesterday we were in the hospital waiting her arrival. And now she is sitting up, sleeping through the night(Yippee), smiling, laughing, and talking. She is such a joy in our life and we feel so blessed to be parent of such a beautiful child. We just wanted to share some picture of her so you can see our little girl grow.....

My first day home...

Me with Grandma and Grandpa...

Me with Grandma...

My first Bath....

Mommy playing with the camera... took this cool picture of me sleeping

Mommy and Me in my Snugli... She loves that thing especially when we go shopping!

I love those beautiful green eyes.... She's so strong too!

Me and My cousin Kaiden (2 and 1/2 weeks apart)

Smile and say Cheese!!

My cute little ladybug princess sleeping like an angel! Shhh!!!

This is the funnest part about being a mother watching your children grow, and seeing their little personalities develop. I can tell already she is going to be a strong little woman having to keep up with her boy cousins!

Oler Family Reunion

This past week we attended the Oler Family reunion. This is my mother's side of the family. Most of her brothers and sisters and their families attended. When I say most, 8 out of her 10 brothers and sisters were there. Yes, my mother came from a typical Mormon family. The reunion was held at Downata Hot Springs in Downing, Idaho.

My mother rented a van, and all us girls and the kids headed out a couple days early. Since my mom was in charge of this reunion, we needed to get there to make sure everything was in place. We had a pretty decent car ride with all the little ones, of course a 10 hour car ride turned in to a 2 day event, to with stops. We didn't think Kyle was going to be able to make it cause of work, but he surprised us when he showed up Friday night. And I was one happy girl. So was all the little cousin. A couple of my cousins were sad that they couldn't bring their dog saying that it was going to be boring and nothing to do, but turned to their mom and said, "Well, at least Kyle will be there to play with." Yeah, I think they like him more than me, sad eh! Kyle also got a standing recognition from my Aunt Lani. She told the family before we all left that she was very impressed by Kyle, and how he was such a good example to her sons, and that all the nieces need to find someone like Kyle to marry. Someone who honors his priesthood, and plays an active role as a father and husband to his family. I felt quite special that my extended family loves my husband so much.

The week mostly consisted of swimming, we also had a talent show, sports day, and a testimony meeting for sacrament. And on Sunday we had the opportunity to go to Shelley, Idaho to visit my Dads grave. We all had a blast, and it was fun hanging out with all the cousins, especially the ones we don't see very often. I think Simone enjoyed her first camping experience, she also got her first sunburn... poor child!

SIMONE LEE-ANN BLOOD

Símone Lee-Ann Blood arrived unexpectedly May 17th, 2008 at 1:15 AM. It all began Friday the 16th, I had just finish work and Kyle came to pick me up and we decided to go shopping at Sam's Club. While we were making our round and picking up a few necessary items... we got to the toilet paper section and all of a sudden I felt at slow gush of water. Of course, me being a first time mother I really had no idea what was going on. I just knew that I needed to get the heck out of the place before it started to look like I had peed my pants. So when we got home I was getting really anxious... thankfully I had pretty much everything already packed and ready for the hospital, so I took a shower and we headed off to Sunrise Children's Hospital. We checked into the Labor and Delivery triage at about 6pm, and the nurses got me ready and prepped for Labor and Delivery. My doctor then came in and checked to see what was going on with me. She checked my cervix and my bag ruptured! She looked and me and said, "We are having ourselves a baby!!!" At that moment reality hit me in the face... in just a couple more hours I would see this little person that has been living in my belly for 9 months! WOW! After I was prepped Kyle was allowed to come and join me. I think reality hit him then too, cause he turned to me and said, "I wonder what she is doing this very moment?" Of course the emotional me started to cry... thinking to myself that she was up in heaven right then saying her goodbyes to her grandfather, and other friends and family.

Well, so at about 7pm I was wheeled in the my actual labor room, and my mom and sister, Chanele, came to join us. We had a blast laughing then crying, filled bitter and sweet moments. Shortly after they finally put me on patocin to get the contractions going. Can I just say that a contraction is the most indescribable pain a women will ever feel. But I was a trooper and held out until about 10:30-11pm. I was finally 4 cm dilated and was allowed to get my epidural. The anesthesiologist came in and for the next 10 minute I sat there as still as could be (Any of you who have had baby's know that that is almost impossible when you are having a contraction). After about 20 min the epidural kicked in and even though I could still feel everything, it wasn't half as bad as it was before. I was able to relax and rest. My labor was progressing quite quickly. The next thing I knew I was 6 cm, the nurse decided to turn me and switch side... 10 minutes later she came back and and check me and I was 10 centimeters! I was getting so anxious, "This is it, I'm having this baby!" I pushed for about 45 min, and she came into this world at 1:15am weighing in at 5lbs. 8oz., and 18.5 inches long. She was so beautiful, she had this head full of hair and the cutest cry ever. It was the most wonderful experience ever, tears of joy filled my face, as I held her for the very first time.

It's amazing being a mother I love seeing our baby girl grow each day! Even though the pain was there, I would do it a again in a heart beat.