Grateful

I am so grateful for the wonderful comments on Holland's birth story {Part One, Part Two}. So many comments made me tear up as I read words of love and support and congratulations. There are so many things I am grateful for right now and I just thought I should take some time to write them down.

• As mentioned above I am grateful for my wonderful blog readers, and friends and family who have taken the time to read Holland's birth story and send words of love and encouragement. Those words mean so much to me. 
• I am grateful for my sweet husband who loves Miss Holland so much and takes care of her often so I can get some sleep. I love to watch him with his daughter as he sings to her, swaddles her, rocks her, changes her diapers, gives her kisses, etc. He is the best dad ever. I think being a dad was his main calling in life. He does it so incredibly well! I am also grateful Race is willing to do things like drive to Fry's in the middle of the night to satisfy my ice cream cravings even though I'm not pregnant anymore!
• I am so grateful to my parents. I don't know how we would have survived these first couple of weeks without them. My mom has called me at 5am multiple times when she has heard Holland crying just to see if we need her to take our little one for a couple hours so we can get some sleep. I just can't say no to that offer! My dad is so cute with Holland and has definitely spent a good amount of time rocking her to sleep in the mornings when she is convinced she doesn't need to sleep. My parents are the best!
• I am grateful to have won a free photo shoot from ten22 studio with our baby girl. We couldn't really afford newborn photos so when this opportunity arrived we were so excited! And we are so grateful to Rennai for taking photos for us! {Hopefully we will have them soon to show off to everyone! Until then you can check out the wall photos on her Facebook page for a sneak peek. And you should like her page while you're at it!}
• This may be silly but I am grateful for my iPhone and Instagram as these two things are the source of many adorable pictures of Holland Sailor! 
• I am grateful my body is healing quickly and I have not been in much pain at all since having my c-section. 
• I am grateful my body is doing what it needs to in order to feed my sweet baby girl. {Pregnancy, child birth, and all things related really do show you just how incredible our bodies are!}
• And last but not least, I am incredibly grateful for my beautiful daughter. I love being a mom. I love to hold my daughter close while I feed and comfort her, I love to look at her perfect little body that I was able to be a part of creating, and I love to watch as she experiences new things every day. Having a baby really is like having a little piece of Heaven. 

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful week and I hope that your weekend is wonderful as well! We are looking forward to seeing lots of family and blessing our daughter on Sunday! It should be quite the weekend! Thank you all for your love and support! And now for some pictures of our cute baby girl! 

Race and his Holland girl! 

Adorable outfit from Aunt Jasmine!

The cutest collage anyone ever did see! {Dress also from Aunt Jasmine!}

Holland's cute feet. And we love nursing! 

Our Little Goose with her Little Goose from her Aunt Nikki! 

Pretty Pretty Pictures

We just got our pictures back from our photo shoot with Lauren of Busy Bee Lauren that we did a month or so ago and I've been LOVING looking through them! :] So I thought I'd better share some of them on the blog! Also, if any of you need photos for any event you should definitely contact Lauren! She is very talented!

We did these pictures for our anniversary {kinda} and are really loving how they turned out. 

Being in love and being married is so much fun!
And I'll end this post with some major catch-up on the many things that I am grateful for this month!

11.23.11 I am grateful for fun surprises. Life always has little surprises and Wednesday was full of them! It was a good day! :]

11.24.11 I am grateful for Thanksgiving! It is seriously one of the best holidays and it is always so filled with love and gratitude. And good food of course!
11.25.11 I am grateful for Black Friday deals! {And that Race didn't get trampled while he was getting our brand new camera!}

11.26.11 I am grateful for naps. I took TONS of naps this weekend and it. was. wonderful! 

11.27.11 I am grateful for a car that gets us safely to and from our families' houses. 

11.28.11 I am grateful for a cute husband who I get to cuddle with all the time. He makes me super happy. Seriously, finding the little things that I am grateful for each day has made me realize how lucky I am to be married to such a wonderful man{child}!
11.29.11 I am grateful for our Christmas tree! {Pictures to come!}
11.30.11 I am grateful for the example that my husband is to me. :]

What are you grateful for today? 

And what do you think about getting pictures taken every year for your anniversary? 

{I am not sure if we'll carry on this tradition but it was definitely fun to do it this year!}

Major Catch-up! {Weekend.Gratitude.}

I've been missing for a while now! I've been playing catch-up in school and now it's time to play catch-up on the blog!

First I'll update you all on my wonderful weekend! Friday was my youngest brother's birthday! He turned 12. I called him that morning to wish him a happy birthday and then I got 'roped into' visiting my family. I wasn't really roped into it though. My brother mentioned it and I knew that it would mean a lot to him if I came so I threw some stuff together and headed down to the valley. Unfortunately Race didn't get to come with me because we also had family coming to visit us in Flagstaff.

Friday night we celebrated my brother's 12th birthday and it was lots of fun. ALL of my siblings {except for my brother who is on a mission} were there with their spouses and cute babies. We ate yummy food, opened presents, ate delicious yogurt pie, and just enjoyed each others' company. It was a perfect evening.

Saturday was spent thrift shopping, getting some Christmas shopping done, and hanging out with family some more. I got to see my brother and sister-in-law's new house and it made me SUPER house hungry! I didn't even know that "house hunger" existed! But now I can't wait to get into a real home someday!

Sunday was spent going to church, hanging out with one of my cute nephews in the hallway, and being in the room while my brother received the Aaronic Priesthood. The Spirit in the room was AMAZING. And it is so crazy to think that Solomon was the last of the eight Olmstead boys to receive the priesthood! Sunday was a good day. :] It was followed by making pizzas for dinner and then driving back up to Flagstaff.

The weekend was a lot of fun but I really missed Race and he really missed me. It was funny because normally he does okay if I am gone for a couple of days but this time around he called me and left cute messages where he just kept saying how much he missed me and kept asking when I was going to be home. It was funny. I was so excited to see him and Sunday evening was spent enjoying lots of snuggles!

The birthday boy!

Edmond makes cute faces {when he's getting his diaper changed}!

Helena and I like to cuddle on the couch. Even when no one else is on it with us. 

Now for some things that I've been grateful for recently:

11.17.11 Sisters & Sisters-in-law

11.18.11 Celebrations with the family! {Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, etc.}

11.19.11 Thrifting! I haven't been thrifting in a long time {especially since Flagstaff's thrift stores are kind of expensive and they don't have sales very often} so it was fun to go with my mum and sister-in-law for a little bit. My mom bought me a skirt and two shirts! For under $10! It was fun! 

11.20.11 I am so grateful for my brothers and their willingness to live righteously so that they can hold the Priesthood. It was amazing cramming my family in a little tiny room while my dad gave my brother the Priesthood. 

11.21.11 I am grateful for surprise date nights from my husband. We went and saw Breaking Dawn after making ourselves some dinner at home. This was the first time I had been to the movies in a while and I had forgotten how fun it is to cuddle up in a dark movie theater, eat some popcorn, talk about the previews, and giggle about silly things in the movie. It was also fun to play each other in Scrabble on my phone before the movie started! I was totally beating Race. :] Otherwise I might not have mentioned how fun it was to play! 

11.22.11 Today I am grateful that I got two tests out of the way! 

How were all of your weekends? What did you do? And what are you grateful for today? 

Guest Post: Brooke of Silver Lining

I'm super excited to introduce you to Brooke of Silver Lining! I posted on her blog last week {check it out here} and now she's taking over my blog! Brooke is awesome! Her blog is all about finding the silver lining in everything that she does and let me tell you--she's a pro at it! So go and check it out after you read her amazing post here! {I didn't give her any direction or ideas for this post but she came up with something AWESOME!} 


READ ON!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Hey there!

I'm Brooke. I blog over at Silver Lining. Emma asked me to guest post today {yes, ok, fine, if you insist, just to be gracious, not like I'm super honored or anything}. I'd love to ramble on and on in this post about my everyday life, being a newlywed, and the small things that make life so full of silver linings.

But I do that all the time at my blog. Instead, I thought I'd be concise today. So I'm doing 6-word memoirs.

Have you guys heard of six-word memoirs? 

Basically, Ernest Hemingway was once asked to write a six-word short story. This is what he came up with:

For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Stories don't have to be long. They don't have to be fancy or filled with big words. Either do blog posts. So here are some 6-word memoirs I came up with on the spot. Enjoy!

Me:

One cavity, one speeding ticket, summer freckles.

Husband:

Saving the world with hand-eye coordination.

Us:

Snuggling trumps to-do lists, no exceptions.

Our big day:

His black tux- something important happened?

Currently thinking:

Keep blogging or vacuum hairy spider?

And:

Elephant paradise involves antiquity and talcum.

And:

My bangs are growing out awkwardly.

Okay, I better stop before I get carried away with this :) Now it's your turn! Make up a 6-word memoir. The first thing that comes to mind. I dare you! Leave it in a comment, or else hop on over to my blog and tell me your memoir.

Thank you so much Emma for letting me invade your adorable blog! 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Brooke just seriously wowed me! I LOVE these six-word memoirs. But let's be honest, I haven't written one yet because I'm afraid it will suck. Brooke wrote so many wonderful ones though! I guess I can give it a try! 


Here goes {on what I'm doing RIGHT now}:
Christmas music fills me with joy.
No snuggle time- UGH video games! {Haha}
Nap time ruined my bedtime. Oops!


Well, there are a few for you! Now give it a go and then head over and check out Brooke's wonderful blog! {And share your six-word memoirs with her!}


Thanks for guest posting Brooke!!


P.S. Today I am grateful for WORDS. It's amazing what we can 
use our words for and how other peoples' words can change our lives. 


P.P.S. Check out my new blog button over to your right! 
It was made by Daryl of Roots, Wings, and Other Things. 
She is amazing at all things Blog Designing so you should check her out!

Fashion Guest Post: Autumn

I'm excited to have Autumn of Stay gold, Autumn posting on my blog today! Autumn is one of my swap sponsors and she is one of my wonderful blog friends! I absolutely adore her clothes, she takes gorgeous pictures, and her words are always inspiring. You can see her blog here, her button to your right, and another guest post by her here! Have fun viewing Autumn's very first {I'm pretty sure} outfit post!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Emma always has the cutest outfits and so I decided to try my hand at my very first fashion post.

 Cardigan - Macey's

Blue shirt - Sam's Club

Gray under shirt - Bella Bird at Walmart

Blue jeans - Levi's 524 skinny cut

Shoes - Walmart...from high school 

Headband - Provo farmer's market 

Belt - random store in Arkansas

Coat....yeah, I should have been wearing one.

Since beginning teaching I have found myself in a rut with my hair and clothes; this rut is called having to leave our apartment at 6:50 AM for work. Until I began blogging I thought people were born with innate talents of mixing and matching clothes.  What am I realizing?  Like every talent, some people are naturals, but we all have to practice.  For me?  I didn't really start practicing until I came to BYU. Someone once told me with my body type I shouldn't wear an empire waist anything- that person was silly and I have a beautiful empire-waist cut wedding dress in my closet.  Someone else once told me cargo pants would be slimming on me in middle school....what?! What I do know?  I try on a lot of different types of clothes and I'm often surprised at how they fit or lay.  I know that I often try a little too hard to blend in, but at the end of the day?  My husband thinks I'm pretty and that's really all that matters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I LOVE her outfit! Don't you?! And I agree that in the end if my husband thinks I'm pretty it really doesn't matter if I blend in. I love that! Thank you for this wonderful post Autumn! Can I borrow your outfit?!

P.S. Today I am grateful that I am more than halfway done with this semester. And way more than halfway done with college! One and a half more semesters!! 

ReBlog.

I guest posted over Brooke's blog Silver Lining last week. 
It was all about Winter Dressing and I 
just wanted to share it all with you. 
I added in where everything is from. Enjoy!! :]


Emma's Tips on Winter Dressing:
 I am fairly new to the whole winter dressing thing as I grew up in Chandler, AZ where it does not get cold. I moved to Flagstaff, AZ where it snows just about as much as it does in Utah. In fact, a couple of years ago it snowed more in Flagstaff than in anywhere else in the US {excluding Alaska}! That year was awesome. Our finals were cancelled! Anyway, I'm off topic! This year will be my fourth winter in my life so here are some little tips and tricks that I have learned on how to stay warm {in no particular order}!

Warm boots are a must have!
From left to right:
Land's End- $40{?}
Kohl's- $8
Kohl's- $15

Scarves! Wear them over or under your jackets and outfits. 

Either way they keep your neck nice and toasty warm!

Top Left: Old Navy- $5

Top Right: H&M- Scarf Swap!

Bottom Left: WalMart $3

Bottom Right: Old Navy- Gift!

Tights! I wear tights with everything! I even wear them under my jeans when it gets super cold. 

But they're much cuter when paired with a skirt or dress!

Top Left: Charlotte Russe- $3

Top Right: Old Navy- $2

Bottom Left: Target- $5

Bottom Left: Charlotte Russe- $3 

Cardigans & Sweaters {layers!}

Layer everything with a cardigan or sweater for extra warmth!

Top Left: Target $8

Top Right: Old Navy- $3

Bottom Left: Target- $4

Bottom Right: Target- $6

Cute coats! Every year I like to add a coat {or two} to my ever-growing collection. 

A cute coat on top of your outfit makes everything just that much classier!

{Other tips: Coats can make a boring outfit look super cute! And every year OldNavy has coat sales sometime before 

Christmas where almost all of their 

coats are 50% off. Look for those!! I am pretty sure they have that sale going on RIGHT NOW!}

Top Left: Old Navy- $10

Top Right: Target- $6

Bottom Left: Charlotte Russe- $10

Bottom Right: Newport Beach- $20

Hats/Earwarmers!

Keep those ears nice and cozy with a cute hat or some earwarmers. 

I just learned how to make earwarmers thanks to Pinterest! 

Top Left and Bottom Right: Made by my sister-in-law- GIFT!! 

Top Right and Bottom Left: Made by me from old t-shirts- FREE!!

Well, that's all I have for you today!

Dress warm and enjoy the winter!! :]

Today I am grateful for my adorable new blog design! {I seriously can't stop looking at it! Teehee!} 

What are you grateful for?
And what are your tips for staying warm during the winter?

Three Day Wondrous Weekend!

This weekend was just what I needed! I have been {and still am} sick all week and working and going to school has not been fun. So, relaxing and sleeping lots this weekend was absolutely wonderful! Some of my family came up to visit this weekend and that was super fun as well! Friday was spent sleeping in ridiculously late {read: 12:30 pm} and then waiting around for my family to get here. They got stuck in traffic for THREE hours! So a normally two and a half our drive ended up taking five and a half hours! I felt awful! But once they got here we had lots of fun! My dad came up with my brothers Enoch, Stuart, and Solomon and my youngest sister Gelsey. The boys spent most of the day playing various video games so Gelsey and I got to spend some quality time together shopping and then having a Girls' night where we made some earwarmers and did each others' makeup! It was lots of fun! {We also bought matching dresses for Gelsey, Helena, and I but we don't have a picture of those. I'm sure the dress will show up in an outfit post later this week!} While Race took a break from video games we made our second batch of Grandma's Fudge. Race's grandma makes this fudge every year and Race had never successfully made it until Thursday night. That first roll didn't last long so we made more on Friday. It is delicious! {I plan on posting a recipe!} Friday night was spent watching The Truman Show. I haven't seen that movie in a long time and I loved watching it again!

Gelsey looking fabulous with her makeup!

{Does anyone think that Gelsey and I could be twins 12 years apart?
We've been told that a lot.}

Race and I perfecting Grandma's delicious fudge!

Saturday was spent sleeping in again and then heading up to Snow Bowl {the ski resort in our area} to play in the snow. My siblings have grown up in Chandler, AZ so snow is always an exciting thing for them! I loved it too! We built two snowmen, had lots of snowball fights and ended up soaking wet. It was a blast! We grabbed some food on the way home and then relaxed for a few hours before they had to head back down to the valley.

After my family left I spent Saturday evening with Teal and Ellie {sister-in-law and cousin-in-law} watching some SUPER old Law and Order. Let's be honest, the new Law and Order {SVU} is way better. In the old show everyone just yells at each other a ton. It's weird. So after watching that I came home and started reading Matched on my Kindle. I'm LOVING it! I'm more than halfway through {because I stayed up much too late reading} and I can't wait to get the next book in the series!

Today was spent passed out in bed drugged up on Benadryl. I am still feeling a little bit groggy but I had to get on and write about my weekend and announce something exciting!! Okay, you probably all noticed but I have a new blog design! Thank you to the wonderful Daryl of Roots, Wings, and Other Things my blog is looking fabulous! And you all should go have Daryl design your blogs now! Daryl had a little sheet to fill out on how I wanted my blog to look. The only direction I really gave her was that I wanted something simple. And she came up with this beautiful creation that you see now! I am in love with it and can't stop checking it out! Haha. So, head on over to Daryl's blog and check out her amazing prices and then be amazed at how good she makes your blog look! Have fun!! :]

I took pictures of Race while he was getting ready for church. 

I love him. :] 

{He didn't love my nonstop picture taking though!}

Now tell me about your weekend! How did you spend your extra day off?

P.S. Grateful Catch-up!
Friday 11/11/11: I am grateful for all of the people who have fought/are fighting for my freedom.
{Also, I am grateful for the chance to make two awesome wishes!}
Saturday 11/12/11: I am grateful for carrying on family traditions. {Fudge is one of those traditions in Race's family and it makes it so much more exciting that we figured out how to make his Grandma's fudge!}
Today 11/13/11: I am grateful for my Kindle! I have been being lazy and reading all day and it is wonderful! I seriously think that everyone should own a Kindle. Even though I have to get my real book reading in occasionally I really do like the easiness of accessing books on a Kindle. And I love how many books you can get for free. It's wonderful!

I Love Me Some Fall Clothes!

Does anyone else just absolutely love fall style? I do. I love the colors and the warmth/comfiness that all fall clothes exude! Here is my favorite fall outfit so far this season! Also, my favorite way to do my hair this season is in this awesome sock bun! Check out this tutorial for help on making it look as awesome as mine! ;) 

{This is the most perfect spinning dress. AND it has pockets. Basically it's perfect in every way.}

Breakdown:

Shirt- Old Navy {$10}

Dress- Old Navy {$3}

Belt- Wet Seal {$0.99}

Tights- Charlotte Russe {$?}

Shoes- Target {$6ish}

Jacket{Ruffles are seen in second picture. Full jacket seen here}- Charlotte Russe {$10ish}

Grateful Catch-up!

Sunday: A home that can hold our huge family. {We had EVERYONE over to our itty bitty apartment for dinner after church on Sunday. It was crazy but we got everyone to fit and it was just so full of love. It was a good day!}

Monday: I was grateful for how gorgeous our campus is covered in snow. The first snowfall is always so magical!

Today: I am grateful for cute fall/winter clothes! I love the change up in outfits with every season. {Is it weird to be grateful for clothes??}

Well, have a wonderful Tuesday everyone! Come back tomorrow for a post about my crazy awesome weekend with our family!

Also, you should check out my outfit post over at Thrifty {Modest} Threads! 

And you should go to the Thrifty {Modest} Threads Facebook page and do some liking! 

Handwriting+Gratitude

I hope you can see these okay! This is my handwriting! 

The rest is written below so squint hard and read away! 

Also, today I am guest posting over at my real life friend Kylie's blog! You should go check it out and then read the rest of Kylie's blog. She has great date ideas, an adorable Etsy shop, and is just overall awesome! Also, that's where I'm talking about the things that I am grateful for today. Happy November everyone! 

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is a song I used to {goofily} sing all the time {with my best friend/sister-in-law}. In fact, we sang it in front of Race the first time I met Race. Haha. Good time! Anyway, later it turned into a phrase I doodled all over my notes in school. When I doodled it all over things it would make me think of all the things I am looking forward to in the future. Things that are "over the rainbow". This phrase has come to mean so much to me and has come to encompass all of my dreams and wishes.

Here are some of the things that I am looking forward to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow":

Graduating college {oh so close!}

Having more time {okay I don't know if this one ever really happens...someday!}
Raising cute babies!

Buying a house and making it our home.

Taking the time to teach our children the gospel.

Learning to SEW {totally working on this one now!}

Learning to cook healthy meals for my family {and ones that Race actually likes even though they're healthy}.

Buying a cute dog to be best friends with Race, me, and our children.

Going on vacations with Race and with our future children.

Making memories together {we are definitely already doing this}.

Being pregnant and wearing cute maternity clothes with a cute lil belly {Is this a weird one? Haha. Probably but since I haven't experienced it yet I can be excited for now}!

Going to a live temple session in Manti or Salt Lake City.

These are just some of the many wonderful things

I look forward to in our future. But for now I

will enjoy our simple, school filled lives.

Being married is a blast. There is so much

fun now and so much fun to look forward to.

What a wonderful time to be alive!

What do you all look forward to Somewhere Over the Rainbow? And what are you enjoying in your lives now?

Double Rainbow anyone?!