M.I.A.

Wow, I just realized it's been 2 months since our last post! Oops. We have been busy. Here are a few highlights:

1. Christmas with mom, dad, Kelley, Brian, Alexander, and Lil- eating scandinavian almond cookies, shopping, eating dad's salsa, visiting, eating ham, taking family pictures, and eating more ham and almond cookies... need I say more?

2. We bought a house- hooray! The best part about it, although there are many good things about it, is that we got a REALLY great deal on it, which is an accomplishment in Heber. It is a brand new home that wasn't finished. For the past month, we have been putting in flooring, hanging light fixtures, installing toilets and sinks, painting, pouring concrete, and building a back deck. We are now forever indebted to the following individuals for helping us to complete it: Mama and Papa Winterton the Jack and Jill of all trades, Jim the plumber, Matt the electrician, Ed and Bill the concrete guys, Shane the carpenter, and Taycen the vacuumer, along with many others. We feel VERY blessed and know that Heavenly Father has helped us to find such a wonderful place. Amongst the many blessings of having a house, a few of our favorites are:
* A garage- neither Anthony or I have ever had a garage (or at least one in which you could fit a car) in our lives so we are very excited about not having to clean off our cars in the morning.
* A dishwasher- a luxury that we both have dreamed about for the past two years. This is actually a lifetime first for Rode as well.
* A bathtub big enough for Rode- this is a really big feat since he is 6' 3, all muscle :)
* Not just one closet, but two closets in our bedroom, and each one is double in size of our previous one closet. I don't think we have enough clothes combined to fill one of them, let alone two. Surely I will find something to put into the other one.
The list could go on and on, but suffice it to say we are feeling very blessed.

3. Olivia is becoming quite the little girl. She is eating food, sitting by herself (until she falls over and can't get herself back up), and drinking from a sippy. Notice none of those accomplishments involve moving, mostly just eating. She seems to have no interest in rolling, scooting, or crawling, especially if it involves being on her stomach. She will scoot herself into the corner of her crib when she is mad, but that is only on her back. The people at Home Depot just love her- we have been making an appearance there on a regular basis lately. I knew I had been too often when employees started coming up and saying "Hello Olivia, how are you?" She also loves Gunner, Heather and Denver's dog (we are living in there one room basement right now). She puts her hands out so that he can lick them and doesn't seemed the least bit irritated when he kisses her face from chin to forehead. Hopefully this will help to prevent any fear of dogs, like her cousin Xander who spent the better part of his vacation in Utah on Heather's couch because he was afraid of Gunner.

Hmm, well I would say that is about it for our family's happenings as of late. I will post pics of the new house and Liv as soon as things settle down a bit.