Trip to Estes Park

I got to fly out to Colorado to visit Teresa & Jesse Feb 20-25.  Thankfully Ken & Arlene came to visit during that time to help watch Emma while I was gone.  I had a great time in Estes Park despite the two snow storms I had to drive through to get to Nashville and Huntsville.  Huntsville never gets snow but decides to have two snow storms the two days I had to drive. But, due to stubbornness I made it both ways safely tacking on just an extra hour of drive time.  The first day in Estes, Teresa & I walked downtown and looked at all the shops while it snowed, snowed, snowed.  It was beautiful!  Sunday, we stayed at the YMCA of the Rockies and went swimming, roller skating, played pool, and wrested in sumo suits.  It was fun being a kid again!  We woke up the next morning to clear blue skies and a great view of the mountains.  Monday, I got a driving tour of Rocky Mountain National Park.  We snow-shoed to Alberta Falls where we enjoyed a picnic and a Stellar Jay watched us eat and then swooped in to enjoy the crumbs when we left.  Teresa & I then hiked to Bear Lake where Jesse picked us up.  We saw Elk, Deer, Coyotes, & Big Horn Sheep.  Tuesday we skiied at Loveland.  We were a little wobbly the first run, but quickly remembered how to ski.  It was a beautiful day to ski with sunny blue skies and great mountain views.  It was a great trip & I am so thankful for the opportunity to spend time with Teresa & Jesse & see where they live. 

Elk on side of road

YMCA of Rockies snowing

Morning at YMCA of Rockies

YMCA

Big Horn Sheep eating salt off road

Rocky Mt national park

Our friend the Steller Jay

snowshoeing

On the ski lift to the top of the mt

Top of the mt

Jan 2015

Went for a walk on the greenway close to our house where Emma loved to watch the horses

Emma is now 14 mos old. It is not as easy to get a good picture of Emma these days.  She is constantly moving or has her hands in her mouth due to more teeth on the way! I also lost a bunch of pictures of her on my old phone when I broke it, sad! Emma got tubes in her ears this month which has seemed to put her in a better mood lately.  The Dr said there was lots of fluid in both ears.  She is getting Speech and Physical Therapy to help her catch up. Her new favorite things to do are open and shut doors, dresser drawers, the entertainment center, try and touch the cats food & water, try to plug cords into the outlets.  She still loves books and wants us to read the same ones over and over again until we can't take it anymore.  We've started going to storytime at the library on Wednesdays where she enjoys listening and watching the other children. She goes to our neighbors house on Tues & Thurs where she plays with her friend Lily who is 9 mos old and her friend Maggie (the Chocolate Lab). 

Dec 2014

Emma just waiting to knock over the tower Uncle Jesse is building for her

 We drove to Lincoln for a week to celebrate Christmas with family.  Our drive to and from Lincoln were not the best as Emma was very fussy due to her molars coming through, but thank goodness for the portable DVD player which kept her chill for a while.  We were thankful for decent weather and no road delays which allowed us to make good time traveling. We enjoyed our time visiting family as always.  The trips home & time with family are so important to us considering we only get to do it twice each year. Emma loved having so many people to play with and chasing Sadie (grma & grpa's dog).  Sadie was good and tolerated Emma grabbing her face, paws, tail and stealing her toys.  Emma was more interested in Sadie's toys than her own.  2014 did not end the best as Andrew got the flu, Emma got another ear infection and has to get tubes, our washing machine needs to be replaced, and we came home to find our furnace broke needing to be replaced.  But, those are just small things that can be fixed.  God is good and takes care of us and we are very thankful for the many many blessings he pours out on our lives. 

Grma, Grpa, & Emma Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve 2014

Emma loved playing with Tessa!

"Watch me play this game Uncle Andrew" -Daniel

Visiting with great grandpa

All of the great grandkids at the Olson X-mas party

Emma slurping spaghetti at Olive Garden celebrating Aunt Teresa's birthday. 

November 2014

We had a lot of visitors the month of November.  Grandma & Grandpa stayed for a week & attended Emma's birthday party.  Emma enjoyed knocking down the block towers that grandpa built, playing volleyball with her balloons, and singing "twinkle twinkle little star" with grandma in front of the mirror.  Two days after grandma & grandpa left, Meme & Papa arrived and then Dustin, Heather, Tessa & Daniel.  Emma loved watching & playing with Tessa & Daniel & playing football in the backyard with everyone while Andrew carried her around.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with lots of yummy food, went to Sci-Quest ( children's science museum) with Tessa & Daniel, toured Andrew's lab, and walked the Tinsel Trail (trail of decorated Christmas Trees around Big Springs Park).  We enjoyed having company despite Emma being sick with Roseola, two ear infections, multiple Dr visits and a trip to the ER.  We went to the tree farm with Meme & Papa and picked out our Christmas tree on a beautiful day.  Emma likes to roll under the tree and pull at the pine needles and pull the tree skirt off, so do the cats!

playing cars with grandpa

the morning grma & grpa headed home after Emma had a rough night & ear was draining

Tessa working experiments with Andrew

Emma watching a game of Checkers, she liked playing with the pieces

Mario-cart time with Andrew and Daniel

playing at Sci-Quest

We found our tree

Timber!

Emma's one!

Emma turned one on Nov 13th.  She got to open a few presents on her birthday and was very excited about them and the paper.  On Friday Nov 14th grandma and grandpa came to visit.  She was very happy

to see them and got to open a few more presents from them.  On Saturday we had her birthday party.  We gave her a cupcake and at first she just poked at it.  I gave her some frosting off my finger and broke the cupcake into pieces and then she decided to try it.  Once she tried it, she liked it and kept going back for more.  Pretty soon she had chocolate all over her face, hands and up her nose. We have a chocolate lover! Emma was entertained watching all the people and playing with the other babies at her party.  She got lots of books for her birthday which is her favorite!

Emma 11-12 months

This month Emma had a lot of firsts. We took Emma to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens for the first time where we walked around and looked at all the scarecrows.  She loved playing with the leaves and trying to eat them.  She had her baby dedication at church.  Went to nursery for the first time and had a babysitter other than family.  Got her first cold, just a little runny nose and cough for a week.  Her and her friend Lilly dressed up like ladybugs for their first Halloween.  Emma and I went to the nursing home to visit the residents in her costume, they loved it!  Emma can now stack the rings and not just throw them, although she still does love to throw things!  She still loves to clap her hands and likes to grab a hold of our hands to make us clap too.  One of her favorite things to do each day is look through books.