September has flown by...here are a few recaps

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Things have gotten pretty busy around here with school and church callings. The beginning of September was really fun because my mom, dad, and sister Karlie came up here to ID. Karlie is a freshmen here at BYU-I and my parents were getting her all settled in. While they were here we celebrated mine and Andrews birthday. We went to a local steak house close by and had some yummy steak and homemade cheesecake. Below are just some out of order pictures from then until now. On Andrew's actual birthday we went to Yellowstone again, but that post will have to come later.

It was super fun though and perfect weather.

Jane is loving all her new treats that she can eat now.

Sometimes Zoey tries to help give her some....

Just some more yummy treats

I got my first ticket a couple weeks ago...I was on my way to Karlie's apartment and came to a red light. I decided to go right to avoid the long wait and I turned onto a fairly wide residential street (wide enough to have turning lanes.) I assumed the speed limit was 25 and got pulled over for going 33. I then found out it was a school zone (with no school in sight) so I got a ticket. Oh well, first for everything right? I had been thinking recently about when my first ticket would be. Not that I am a crazy driver. I don't purposely speed ever but I figured at some point I would probably have some bad luck. Well, it came sooner than I was expecting but for some reason I wasn't nervous at all when I saw the sirens...not quite sure what that means but I was glad I naturally remained calm through it all. Just a side note...if you noticed on the ticket that I was fined for expired insurance, our insurance wasn't really expired, we just didn't have the updated card in the car. It was easily fixed by taking a copy into the courthouse. So, I figured out you don't really need any proof of anything really because 1)they can look up your license with your name and birthday 2) they can look up your registration with your plate number and 3) you can just take your insurance in to prove you have it and they take the fee right off. I didn't have any of the things they asked for and he told me I was "supposed" to carry them but they really can't punish me for not having them (unless your insurance is really expired.) Good to know :)

She obviously doesn't appreciate the phrase "beauty is pain" :) I started doing Zoey's hair in sponge rollers occasionally to try and avoid having to do it in the morning. I got a new calling in church that makes it hard for me to get my girls ready in the morning. Zoey's hair can be cute but only if I take the time to do it, otherwise it's just really bad bed head. Since I've done it in curlers, I've figured out that I can't have her sleep in them or they don't last (she pulls them out) so I put them in when the hairs almost dry and leave them in during the day. It's pretty cute; I'll have to get a picture.

Eating Daddy's yummy cheesecake.

Eating at the yummy steakhouse in Rigby.

The birthday boy and girl.

Zoey singing Happy Birthday to her Daddy (ignore my annoying voice that appears so much louder in the video than I ever remember singing)

I'm not Crazy...yet

Sometimes I feel like I am literally going crazy! Luckily there are a few resources/remedies/resorts that have kept me from going completely wacky.

Over the years some of these things have changed, while others have continued to provide me with a good dose of sanity.

Back in high school I thought things were tough. This is what I "thought" kept me from going crazy...

AIM was huge when I was in high school. I don't know how many hours I completely wasted chatting with friends on AIM. Back then I thought I couldn't live without it.

SCHOOLS OUT! The high school I went to had a minimum day every Wednesday. We got out at like 12:30 or something great like that. It was SO nice to get a break like that in the middle of the week. I am a huge fan of reduced Wednesdays. They kept me going when the week just kept dragging on. For a while I had piano lessons on Wed. right after school. I was friends with my piano teacher's daughter and their whole family. I would ride home with them and we would always have a feast because by then we were STARVING. Those were good days :) I also enjoyed every minute of summer when school was OUT!

El Pollo Loco. Although at the time I lived at home, I didn't realize this place kept me going I definitely realize it now! This place is so yummy. They do have one in UT which I've been to, but since we are in ID now I really do miss it.

Friends. Just like any typical teenager, I loved having and hanging out with friends. While most of these friends don't really have a part in my life anymore, there are a few that I will always miss no matter what. I am blessed to have met some wonderful people in high school. As an adult/mom/wife it's super hard for me to find friends and then find time to hang out. Because of this, I have realized how important friends are. I am grateful for the friends I do have even if it's only like one... jk I have a couple more than that :)

Church. This has been a steady source of relief for the turmoil that life brings. Back in high school, I loved going to mutual, girls camp, church on Sunday, and seminary even if it did start at...6 in the morning! How in the world did I ever do that?!?!? Now as a mom, I love being able to go to church not only to have some adult time but to be spiritually fed. I also like that Zoey gets to be around other kids in nursery and I get to dress my girls up.

CHOCOLATE! This has always been a stress reliever for me. I used to love candy bars with all the nuts and caramel, and still do but now I'm all about just plain chocolate with maybe some almonds and toffee (symphony bars YUM)

Bajio, Cafe Rio, and Costa Vida are all SUPER yummy. My love for these places started in college. They are all very popular around Provo and it quickly became a well-loved tradition for me and my roommates. Oh man, I am starving right now! My favorite is the sweet pork burrito. While Cafe Rio used to be my favorite of the three, I really think Costa Vida is the best now. They are all pretty identical as far as food selection and restaurant style.

Of course, this cute guy is always there for me. He sure knows how to get me laughing and we all know that laughter is the best medicine of all.

Andrew's mom bought this once and we both fell in LOVE. It is definitely a special treat around our house. Walmart sells them for around $2.50 and I can tell you it is well worth it! It's got strawberry cheesecake ice cream with real strawberries and graham cracker pie crust. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone that likes cheesecake.

What girl doesn't love to shop? Well, I do know a few, but anyways. Shopping is so much fun for me. I know it can be bad because it make me spend more than I want, but for special occasions I won't turn a trip down! My sister Karlie just came up here for college and I'm excited to have a shopping buddy :)

Tubby Time! I WISH this were my bathtub...maybe someday :) I love baths both for myself and for my kids. It's a great way to unwind when I've had a long day. I especially love giving the kids baths. Jane loves them and I can just fill the tub up with a few inches of warm water and she just crawls around and splashes. Zoey is old enough where I can fill the bath up, leave the door open and sit out on the couch and relax for sometimes more than 30 minutes! Don't worry, our apartment is teeny so it's basically like I'm in the same room.

I am a big fan of naptime! It's hard to actually get both girls down for naps at the same time, but even just one of the girls napping makes things much more calm. My girls aren't too crazy, but somehow I still get worn out. It's also great when they go to bed at night. As much as I love my girls when they're awake, it's just so nice to have alone time with Andrew once they've gone to bed.

Zoey really hasn't watched too much TV in her day. We didn't even have a TV for her to watch from until just a few months ago. We aren't a big TV family but we do love our movies. I have a hard time letting Zoey watch just anything, but Veggie Tales has made the cut for both me and Andrew. We only had one that Zoey would watch over and over, but my mom just bought Zoey "Sweat Pea Beauty; A Girl after God's own Heart....A Tale of True Beauty." She loves it and so do I. Especially when she's young, I want to try and keep her away from all the dumb cartoons teaching your kids false realities of what happiness is (isn't!) But, my real point is that Veggie Tales has really saved me many times. When I'm just too worn out to deal with Zoey's crankiness, I can usually pop a Veggie Tales in and she'll sit quiet for quite some time. It's been great.

This morning Jane woke up first. and I nursed her. She fell back asleep between me and Andrew for another couple hours. Then she woke again and Zoey followed shortly after. They both played for a few minutes on our bed (which has been much nicer with a king vs a queen.) Then Jane got fussy and Zoey started whining for milk. After 5-10 minutes of trying to ignore their fussiness, I got up and got Zoey a sippy cup of milk and Jane a 5oz bottle. I came back and gave it to both crying girls...immediately there was dead silence (except for the snorts and grunts from them chugging their milk as fast as they could.) That silence brings SUCH relief. Milk will do it every time which is why we LOVE OUR MILK! I have a great respect for those cows :)

Sorry this post was so long. Also a little random. I always think it's fun to find out different sides of people from their blogs so hopefully someone finds enjoyment in this.

If not, it was fun for me :)

My Little Pioneer Nancy Jane Olsen

Pioneer day was over a month ago, but I have been meaning to post these pictures. We didn't really do anything that day but I did dress Jane up in some old baby clothes that came from my grandparents house. Don't worry, they were washed and cleaned. Jane sure was cute in them. I think they were my grandpa's clothes that were made by his mom, my great grandma Isabelle. It's fun to have these clothes around.

My Birthday Celebration

My Birthday was on the 25th of August and it was a pretty good one. I got breakfast made for me and we also went out to lunch at Cafe Rio. Andrew took me shopping all day and of course I loved it. We were partly shopping for a new bed which ended up being my big birthday present but I also got some new jeans, shirts, and shoes. We ended up ordering a bed from Sams Club and we've slept on it for two nights now. Let's just say it's MUCH better than our old one. After a full day of shopping we came home and I got to blow out my birthday candles. I had Cold Stone cupcakes for my birthday cake and they were pretty yummy (the only part I didn't like was the chocolate shell that the cupcakes were made in....it just tasted like wax, oh well.) The next day Andrew's parents were driving through so we met them in Idaho Falls and they took me out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It. Was. Delicious! I got ribs and Andrew got steak and ribs. Their ribs really are so yummy; best I've had. The steak Andrew got was also SO good. Thank you to Nanny and Papa for the great dinner. After the dinner we went back to Nanny and Papa's hotel and went swimming. Both girls loved it and the water in the pool was nice and warm; best swimming I've had in a long time. Well, that about wraps up my wonderful birthday. Enjoy the pictures.

I wish we had easy access to a swimming pool, they really did love it.

Papa, Zoey, and Nanny at the restaurant.

All 24 candles on one cupcake. I'm getting up there....am I still in my early 20's?? I'd like to think so :)

This is a funny picture. I was eating my cupcake and looked over to find Zoey shoveling ice cream and frosting into Jane's mouth. Jane was just sitting there with her mouth WIDE open welcoming every bite. We had a good laugh :)

Can you tell she liked it?

My cute girls made my birthday so special. I love them.

A post for all you nursing mothers out there

I feel fine writing this blog for two reasons...1) my blog is private and 2) I'm 99.9% sure that all the people visiting my blog are female....what male blogs I mean, come on :)

So I'm having a problem with nursing my baby girl. I think almost every mom at some time or another goes through a problem with nursing. The problems I've faced have so far been fairly easy to handle and resolve.

My first encounter was with Zoey as a newborn. She would scream her head off if the milk didn't automatically come right in and would get so upset that it really took some work to actually get her to suck enough to actually make the milk come in. That was pretty hard now that I think of it.

Second big problem was Zoey not getting enough milk. Easily fixed with formula to compensate for what I lacked.

Third problem was when I stopped nursing Zoey. She had slowly gotten down to only nursing in the morning and it was such a little amount that she was done in 2 minutes. I figured I could stop at any point and be just fine. I had a calling in Young Womens and was going to girls camp for one night and two days. Zoey was 12 months and I figured it was the ideal time to stop. I went to girls camp early one morning (didn't nurse her that morning) and by night my milk had come in but no big deal. I slept on my stomach in my sleeping bag that night which may have contributed to the pain I felt. The next day I was full of milk but didn't really have a choice at this point. My ride wasn't leaving until after testimony meeting that night. By that time I was light headed, very dizzy, and was throwing up...a lot. The drive home was not very fun. I've never felt so out of it. We all figured I had mastitis and the only way to fix it was to nurse. As soon as I got home I woke Zoey up and nursed. I slept much better that night and nursed her for another month or so....I still can't remember how I eventually weaned her which is weird. Another fact I might add is I was pregnant with Jane through all of this which may or may not have contributed to anything.

When little Janey came along I was sure my nursing problem days were over. She seriously nursed for 20 straight minutes two minutes after she was born! This was unheard of for me as Zoey took weeks to get it all down. Jane has nursed very well up until now....I'm stumped on this one guys. She just won't have it anymore. It's more than just the "i'm distracted so I don't want to nurse." She nurses for about 30 seconds like normal, the milk comes in and she'll eat for a little while then all the sudden she jerks her head away and screams. I know she's not in pain, it's not that kind of scream. It's more of the "I'm so annoyed that you're forcing me to drink, let me GO." Weird. Now I know people have said that their babies just all of the sudden stop nursing. I imagine that's what's going on so I think I've made the decision to stop forcing her. My only problem now is how do I keep from getting mastitis? It was one of the worst experiences ever so I'm scared to wean if that's what it does to me! What's the best way to wean? I know I've done it once before but I try to think back on how I eventually did it and all I get is a bunch of blank nothings. Not sure where those brain cells went (scary!) I need some help from all you women out there.

Another note...it kind of makes me sad to stop nursing at only 7 months. I just assumed Jane was a born nurser. What makes them all the sudden hate it? It doesn't even provide any sort of comfort anymore. Is it me driving her away, the taste of the milk, or what? Something's gotta trigger it right?

Once Jane came along