Holland's Fifth Month in Instagrams

In conjunction with this post, here is Holland's fifth month in Instagram photos. {These are not in the right order because I am lazy!} 

Holland tried rice cereal a few times this month--she's not a fan.

Holland played with her egg toys from Mimo lots. 

Hanging out in the airport with Dad after flying back to Idaho from a fun AZ trip.

Holland spent time with her cousins in AZ.

Christmas with AZ cousins. Holland is lucky to have lots of adorable cousins! 

Holland met her Aunt Helena's boyfriend Cory at AZ Christmas.

AZ Christmas stockings!

AZ Christmas morning

Holland waiting at the airport to meet her Uncle Angus for the first time. 

He was away serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Bulgaria for the past two years! 

Holland with Uncle Angus. He wasn't quite sure how to hold a baby as this is his first time meeting all six of his nieces and nephews with two more on the way!

Holland just adores her cousin Madison!

Gram and Granddad Ashby and Aunt Teal came for a visit and we all headed up to Sun Valley for a fun day in the snow! 

Christmas morning in Idaho! 

We went to see reindeer {they really are somewhere back there} and Holland slept the whole time.

Holland dressed up for Christmas Sunday and then proceeded to wear this outfit for the next three Sundays as well. And I made her a fancy new Christmas bow!

Another fun Christmas morning face!

This is a still shot from a video of Holland fake coughing and talking to herself. Also, she inherited her long tongue from me. Everything else is from Race!

Holland, Madison, and Aunt Teal in their matching red onesie jammies!

Holland grew up in a day! I don't know why but she just looks so grown up to me in this picture!

 I love it though!

Holland made lots of funny faces. Her personality is just showing itself so much these days!

More rice cereal trying! It looks like she really likes it but she doesn't--that's why it's all over her face!

Holland wore lots of cute outfits and jammies. Jammies might just be my favorite baby clothes! 

Holland turned five months old!

I love taking photos of this cute girl! She brings me pure joy! I am so grateful for a phone that I can take photos with because I want to remember every fun stage with my cute girly! 

Oh Christmas Tree! {Two Years}

I wasn't into blogging much at all last year so I didn't post pictures of our Christmas tree. So I figured I would put some of those up before putting up pictures of this year's tree!

Enjoy one of my favorite non-traditional Christmas songs while you enjoy a little bit of a picture overload!! 

December 2010 

{Our first Christmas together}

Now on to this year's Christmas tree decorating adventures! 

I LOVE this time of year! :]

And I love our new camera! I am still not very good at taking pictures but Race is having tons of fun with it! {It was more for him than anything!} 

We have a couple of traditions for decorating our tree {and I know you all want to hear all about them so here goes!}:

1. We buy/make one new ornament per year. 

2. We always put the star on last. 

3. We always listen to Christmas music on the record player. 

&

4. We always take lots of pictures!

What are some of your Christmas-tree-decorating traditions?

And do you have a favorite ornament? 

P.S. I used MyMemories Scrapbook Software for all the collages above and you can still use the coupon code from this post to get some awesome deals! Check 'em out! 

Happy December Everyone!! 

Sierra Trading Post Coupons

Almost Forgetting

So I found out why you are supposed to put up the pictures every couple of days. It's because it is so hard to remember which picture is from which day. I think I have it figured out though so here goes some catching up!

 January 9, 2011

So I have been having a really hard time remembering to take pictures every day until late at night. So this first picture is a boring one of our living room. The picture shows that we moved our futon back a few feet. We did this so we could play the move without having to sit on the couch or be super backed up against it. We also played games with our family that night and it was nice to have more room in the living room instead of lots of useless room in the kitchen. Haha.

 January 10, 2011

Another day where I forgot to take a picture til bedtime. Obviously we were in bed when we remembered to take a picture. So here's a picture of Race and I cuddling up in bed. Also,we were hiding zits with the blanket. Haha.

 January 11, 2011

Here is a picture of Race and I playing Rook. This may be my new favorite game to play with Race. It is also one of his family's favorite games so it's about time that I learned how to play. I really enjoy playing two player but I am still a little scared to play with his family because they are SUPER INTENSE when they play. I'll be as intense eventually though. :] Also, this night I got really frustrated because it was another  night where I forgot to take a picture til we were in bed. Race recognized how upset I was and went and grabbed the Rook cards and did a full out photoshoot (I might put up more pictures another time). Anyway, it was really sweet of him and we played a couple rounds afterwords which was fun. It was a good way to end the night. Also, we are finding out they we are pretty big gamers. The past couple of weeks we have played Rook, Yahtzee, Apples to Apples, Scum, and a few other games with Teal (Race's sister), Ellie (Race's cousin), and Nick (Ellie's husband). It's lots of fun to play games. We just need to get some more so we can have lots of variety.

January 12, 2011

Finally, here is todays picture. When I got home from work tonight Race was still cleaning so I decided to play on our Play Station Move. So I played some archery, table tennis, and gladiator games before I decided to try Zumba for the first time. I tried it and I loved it! It was really fun and a good workout. It's not quite as good as a legit Zumba class but it is really really fun still and it still gets your heart pumping. So it will be my new favorite workout. I just need to get Race to do it with me!

Well, that's all for now. I hope to update more often so I don't get confused. And hopefully I will remember to take pictures before bedtime more often so they aren't too boring. If not I guess pictures of Race and I cuddling in bed aren't so bad because we sure do like to cuddle. :]

Holidays!!!

Pictures will follow after I get them off of my camera someday.

So, Emma and I went to her parents' place for Thanksgiving, and it was wonderful. I really enjoyed getting to relax, spend time with her family, and especially just be with Emma! We did black Friday, but nothing crazy- we picked up a few movies and a set of bath robes... We also drew names for giving gifts this Christmas, which is a tradition for Emma's family. When we got back to Flagstaff, we were really excited to pick out a real live Christmas tree, and decorate it for Family Home Evening. The experience was completed by the vinyl record player and Christmas albums we played. The whole house smells just like Christmas now!! I'm really excited about the holidays, and in no way do I regret that sizable iTunes download of Christmas music a few weeks ago.

Mostly, I'm just really excited for Emma and I to spend our first Christmas together. I set up my work schedule during winter break today, and I will actually have time to relax!! WOOHOO! Emma might not get to relax quite as much, but she will definitely be enjoying the cookies I crank out for the next month :)

Wedding&Christmas Bells :]

My brother is officially married! :]

And Christmas was woooonderful.
So that's what I will be blogging about. Sorry I'm little slow.
We'll begin with the wedding!

On Saturday, December 19th, 2009 my brother,
Jonathon E.B. Olmstead was sealed for time and all eternity to
Jaclyn Anne Francois in the Mesa Temple!
It's crrrazy having brothers get married.
Crazy and exciting of course.
Here are some pictures of the beautiful wedding and reception
Here's the happy couple right outside the temple:
Here are the handsome groomsmen:And the bridesmaids :] :
And here is my ENTIRE FAMILY (all eleven children and two in-laws) at the reception:Daaaang good looking people. :]
I love my family and it was so wonderful to see
my brother get sealed in the temple.
Both of my brothers and both of my sister-in-laws are wonderful examples to me and
I am so grateful for them.
I can not wait to follow in their footsteps and get married in the House of the Lord.

So only a few days after the wedding came another wonderful thing...
CHRISTMAS! :]
My family does not have very many consistent Christmas traditions because my parents like to mix things up every year. Some of the traditions I can remember doing over the years are:

• The Twelve Days of Christmas (they tricked us into thinking someone else was doing it for us). It ended with delicious cinnamon rolls brought to us on Christmas morning by my little brother.
  
• Some years we go to the church and my mom plays the piano or organ and we sing the Christmas songs from the hymn book.
• One year we had Christmas on Thanksgiving (as a surprise) so that we could focus more on the real meaning of Christmas as it came about.
  
• We make gingerbread houses almost every year.
• And we of course always read the Christmas story out of Luke 2 in the Bible.

I am grateful for these traditions and for the different things that my parents have tried over the years. It keeps things new and I love that they always keep us kids focused on Christ and serving others during this season.

This year as we read the Christmas story and sang Christmas songs in our living room I was filled with an overwhelming love and gratitude for the wonderful family that I have been blessed with. I was able to hear stories about the lives of my grandparents and I was able to hear their testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was able to see my parents and my siblings and some of my cousins and my aunt and uncle and my grandparents and feel the love that they have for me as well as the love that I have for each of them. Along with this I felt the love that my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for me. This love cannot be captured in words or pictures but I did take some pictures of that night so that at least I can look back on them and remember. Maybe the love, warmth, and comfort will translate through somehow...

Here are my grandparents and one of my cousins:

More family (we sit on the stairs a lot since we never have enough couch space):And some more family (we are happier than we look...I promise. Haha):

Well, that's about it. The next day was Christmas and it was quite fun as always. Opening presents took FOREVER cause we have so many people and we open one present at a time starting from the youngest and going to the oldest but by the end I think we all cheated a little bit and opened presents in secret...I did at least. Oops. ;)

Oh, one more tradition that I have with my two sisters, Helena and Gelsey is that for the past four years we have gotten matching or at least similar pajamas every year that we wear to bed on Christmas Eve. So here is our picture from this year of us in our super comfy and warm FOOTIES! :]

Home Sweet Home

I am home for the holidays and it is absolutely wonderful! :]

In the Bible Dictionary under the word temple it says:
"Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness."
Each and every time I go home I am reminded of this phrase as my parents have done such a wonderful job making our house a HOME.
Today I was sitting at our extra-long kitchen table that we've had forever
looking at our white board/bulletin board and noticing all the little things that have been stuck to it/written on it over the years: Family engagement pictures, pictures of new baby cousins, a picture of Jackie we've had up since before E.B.'s mission, a dollar bill, a picture collage Gelsey made when she was in kindergarten (or maybe it was Solomon), notes on the whiteboard, new cell phone numbers; just lots of random things that have little memories connected to them.
I love my family and being at home around them all the time despite all the chaos.
Over this break I decided that I am going to work on being "More Diligent and Concerned at Home" as Elder David A. Bednar challenged us this past October General Conference.
I am going to work on:
1. Expressing Love and Showing it.
2. Bearing Testimony and Living it.
and
3. Being Consistent.
There are lots of things to focus on during the Christmas season and
family is a very important one.
I hope that I can share my love and my testimony with my
family through this season and through the coming years.
I have been blessed with wonderful parents and siblings who do this for me and
I want to return the favor. :]

So far this Christmas season I have taken the kids to get their hair cuts for my brother's wedding this Saturday. This turned out.....not so great. Here are some before and after photos...the boys' hair honestly did not look very different. And my mom was not too happy about that. But I'm not a mom so I didn't know what to tell the hair cutting people. :/
So here's the before. I love how they are all sitting the same. Hahaha. And I told them to look mad. Gelsey did an acceptionally good job.

Here is the after picture.
Uhh yeah the boys' hair does not look different.
We might take them in to get it fixed before the wedding this weekend...
But Gelsey's is nice and cute and short though. :] Like mine! GO SHORT HAIR! Also over the break I have taken kids Christmas shopping. It is our first year doing Secret Santa with the whole family (now that the kids are all old enough to earn some money with chores and pick out presents mostly on their own) so I get to cart the kids around to all different stores to get this final shopping done. YAY! ;)
Today I made three double batches of chocolate chip cookies for the wedding luncheon dessert. Holy heck that was a lot of baking for me! (Roommates: I thought we baked a lot...this topped it all (at least for in one day) and I still have more to do. HELP!!! :/)
I have also been able to spend time with my Grandparents (they are here for a month and for my brother's wedding)
With having my grandparents here I get to here my Grandma play the piano and it is absolutely beautiful. I tried to upload a video but I couldn't figure it out. So I'll try again later.
Anyway, I have thoroughly enjoyed being home although I'm sure in about a month I'll be ready to head back up to Flagstaff with my wonderful roommates :]
To end here are some WONDERFUL pictures!

Here are the Olmstead girls (plus Jasmine and minus the sister-in-laws)
Here is one of Rachel and I at the temple lights. I was also able to see Katie Wilson, my friend Chris Brown, and I got to meet Katie and Rachel's friend Ryan, but I forgot to take more pictures. :( But here is one of Rachel making me look RIDICULOUSLY short!
And here is one of me trying to make Rachel look RIDICULOUSLY short. Haha. Did it work??
Well, that's all for now. There will be more very soon though because we have a WEDDING coming up! :]