Little Miss

I thought I would share some of this little girl's cuteness from the past two weeks. :)  Katie's vocabulary is growing so fast.  One day when I went to take her picture, she said "Cheese!" and made a face.  Ollie and I don't ask her to say cheese, so I am not sure where she learned it, haha.  She has been saying a lot of new words.  Katie says guys, please, thanks, and has recently learned the sound that a sheep makes.  She is working on what a duck says (she loves her rubber duckies and her stuffed animal duckie from Easter last year), but it often comes out more like a tiger.  She LOVES the show Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, which is based off of the show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.  She is always so excited to watch it in the morning.   She has also been wanting to bring her purse whenever we "go" somewhere now.  If I say "Katie, do you want to go?"  She says "Go!" Then, she brings me her shoes, socks, and coat.  :) 

Katie came with us to go wedding dress shopping for my cousin's fiance, who is a friend of mine.  Katie soon noticed the girl standing on the pedestal got a lot of attention. :)  She wanted to join in the fun!

After Jenny said "yes to the dress," we went back to my cousin's apartment to play some video games.  Katie was chased by my cousin and loved it!

Here is Katie ready to "go" run some errands with her purse in tow.  This was the first day she did this, and the first time she said "Cheese!" for the camera. :)

We are moving....!

We are moving to Orem in a few weeks!  Ollie applied for a part-time live-in maintenance job at an apartment complex, and he got the job!  (No worries, he will still be working at RC Willey.)  The money that he earns goes straight to paying for our rent, which is awesome!  Another surprise is that he knows the Apartment Managers- the husband is the older brother of Ollie's best friend from St. Louis.  We will be living right next door to them.  The apartment has two bedrooms, a private utility room with washer and dryer hookups, and it will have a dishwasher.  (Also awesome, Ollie was able to get a really good deal on a new dryer, and he found a free washer in great shape!)  The RC Willey stores in Provo and Orem are closing and being replaced with a new store in Orem, so living in Orem just makes sense.

If we do a good job, we will have the opportunity to become the Apartment Managers next summer when the other couple moves out-of-state for schooling.  Then, we would have free rent, and we would be paid on top of that for the work that we would do.  This would allow me to stay at home to take care of Katie and help earn some money for our little family.

We are really excited for this new opportunity, and it is a real blessing in our lives.  It fits perfectly in with our future plans.  Heavenly Father really does know what we need.

Mama

Katie just started saying mama yesterday, and it melts my heart every time that I hear it.  Yesterday, it was only when she was upset and wanted me.  But today, she said it just because she wanted to see me, and she army crawled right on over.  She is such a sweet little girl, and her little personality is really starting to shine through.  She has such a happy and friendly disposition (most of the time), and she is learning new things every day.  Ollie and I are pretty lucky to have this precious little girl in our lives!

Align

Ollie noticed that Katie was trying to point with her pointer finger.  To encourage this, he started saying "Align," trying to get her to put her finger to his finger.  She has been doing this for the past several days, and it is so cute!  She gets really excited whenever she does it, and we clap for her.

She is also starting to try to wave whenever we say "Hi."  She is still figuring it out, but Katie will probably have it mastered soon.

Katie is still army crawling, but she gets up on all fours more frequently, so traditional crawling could start happening any day.  Let me tell you though, she can really move with those little arms of hers, and her favorite place to explore....the kitchen.

Family Walk

We decided to go on a little family walk this evening along the Provo River.  I got Katie all ready for the walk, complete with a sunhat and shades.  Katie and I watched Ollie as he fished.  He is becoming quite the fisherman, having already caught a few fish this season.  Even though I am not a big fish fan, I am proud of him.  And if we are ever in survival mode, I know Ollie can catch us some fish.  (If I was starving, I would suffer through the texture and smell.)  Anyway, here is little miss Katie!  I cannot believe she is 7 months old!

Rice Cereal, Not Rice Krispies

Our little girl has had her first taste of rice cereal the last few days.  She tried it for the first time on Friday, which is the day she turned five months old.  (When Ollie heard that we were going to get to feed her some rice cereal, he was like, "Okay, we will pick up some Rice Krispies on the way home."  I had to let him know that it was not that kind of rice cereal.)  Katie is still getting the hang of this new type of food.  When Grandma and Grandpa Lewis came to visit for my birthday, grandpa and daddy gave some mashed potatoes to Katie.  She seemed to like those okay, but rice cereal has been a bit different.  The first day required a walk afterwards to calm her down.  The next two days have been better.  Hopefully, she will get a bit more of it in her mouth soon.  We are trying to make it exciting for her and have let her play with a spoon to get used to it.  Here are some pictures of day two with rice cereal.

Maybe this will be okay...

Oooh, Mommy's iTouch, I want that instead of this cereal stuff.

dadadadadadadada

Katie seems to have a favorite saying lately, "dadadadadadada."  This just led to her saying, "dad, dada," which is what we have been saying to her in response.  Looking forward to hearing what else she has to say!

Nephews in Twos!

Jason and Heather are having a baby boy!  We are so happy for them!  That makes two new nephews this year.  Brandon and Breanne are having a baby boy in about a month!  I am sure Katie is excited for two new playmates to arrive as well!  Congratulations!  We love you all!

Teething

Oliver and I are pretty sure that Katie has started teething.  On the verge of being just four months old, she is an early teether.  I feel so sorry for her.  She has been running a fever and has been quite grumpy.  The worst part is that when she is the most upset, she will not use a teething ring, a cold washcloth, or one of her parents' fingers.  Her silapap drops are her only friend at this time, except the fact that she hates the stuff (her parents also hate cherry flavored medicine).  

In addition to teething woes, I am hopefully getting over an infection in my lungs that caused an awful thing called Pleurisy.  This is when the lining of your lungs becomes inflamed, causing horrible chest pain, similar to if you were having a heart attack.  The pain has been less common and less painful lately, which is a blessing.  But now, Oliver and I seem to have caught some other bug.  Lucky us...  But to cheer everyone in our home up, we bought Katie a jumper/activity center/walker, that she loves.  This has led to some big smiles.  Oliver and I also have the goal of making her laugh, but we have only succeeded a few times.  We hope to get her laughing more often soon.  She has quite the cute little giggle. :)

Katie Laughing For the First Time

A Surprise...To Drive

Oliver picked me up after work, and he said he had a surprise for me. He also told me that he almost decided to blindfold me with his tie, but he decided against it in the end. We went to eat at Diego’s, where they got the order wrong. Oliver tried to pay for the mistake, but they would not let him. I was really impressed with his determination to do the right thing.

Then, Oliver took me to the surprise part of the date. He took me to the football stadium parking lot and asked me if I was ready to drive stick. I had told him before that I could not drive one, and that I wanted to learn (his GTI had a manual transmission). I was not perfect at it, but I did not do a horrible job either; I only killed it like three or four times. Oliver was really reassuring and helpful about the whole thing. He said that I was doing better than anyone else he had taught before, and I wanted to ask if I was the only one he had ever taught.

We went back to my apartment. He told me that he had realized that morning one of the reasons that he liked me, that I made him want to be a better person; a sentiment which I returned. Then, he came in, and we watched the end of Hercules with my roommates, Liz and Sarah. After that, we watched the first half of Despicable Me, which was really cute. But sadly, we could not finish it together, because it was midnight, and Oliver had to leave. 

Virtual Meeting and Facebook Official

That night, Oliver came over. I made toffee bars and Parmesan pasta. We ate dinner together. Then, we went to my other brother’s house for Oliver to meet Jason and Heather. Everything went well, including Oliver being told a few embarrassing stories.

Oliver’s family kept texting him that they wanted to Skype that night so we went to my apartment and Skyped his family. I got to know them a bit; it was weird to meet someone for the first time virtually. Oliver and I talked afterwards. He said he was so lucky. He told me how impressed he was with my prayer the day before and how I meditated afterwards. Oliver said that he struggled to do that, and not everyone does that. He told me that I was wonderful, and that I didn’t even have to go on a mission. Oliver said I was great already. To this praise, I blushed, because I know I have a long way to go. We also spoke about meeting each other’s family and that we did great. I spoke to him about coming home to meet my whole family, and how excited I was for that. That night, Oliver requested to announce our relationship on Facebook. Yep, we were now Facebook official.

The Future In Sight

Oliver picked me up to go to his apartment to make hamburgers with his apartment and some other friends. On the way there, his parents were really excited to meet me, but then they decided because of the price and timing, that we should wait to go to Missouri together. While making hamburgers, Oliver told me about his conversation with his dad about me and our relationship. His dad had asked Oliver what he liked about me, and they discussed what he should be looking for. After eating, we went to the BYU football game together.

Before we headed back to my apartment, we had talked about a decision together. We decided to pray for guidance on what to do, and we made a decision based on the answer we received. We asked each other about goals and we decided on ways to improve our relationship in order to meet those goals. We decided to do more study dates, study the scriptures together, make time to talk about important topics, etc. That night, Oliver told me that I was wonderful and at that point, he thought that I was the one he was to spend his life with. We discussed how quickly things were going and how weird it was, that it felt right. We discussed how he had asked Heavenly Father if I was the one, and he received the answer to wait two or three months and ask again to receive an answer when he was ready for it. He also mentioned that he would like to go ring shopping at some point to get an idea of what I liked. We found out that we like the same kind of rings, with one stone and simple classic design. We then said goodnight.

Al and Mae Capone

Oliver had asked me to his ward’s dance, where everyone was supposed to dress up as couples. We decided to dress up as Al and Mae Capone and got our costumes ready. Oliver came to pick me up and waited for me to finish getting ready. We took some photos and headed off for the dance. I told him that he looked handsome, and he told me that I looked really beautiful. Everyone said how “legit” we looked. While at the event, we ate dinner and danced. Once, while taking a break, he asked me if I would want to meet his parents. He said that he would like me to fly home with him for Christmas to meet them, and then he agreed to come home for Thanksgiving with me. We were both pretty excited. Then, we danced some more and cleaned up after the dance. We kept staring and smiling at each other.

Oliver and I went to his apartment to watch part of a movie with our group before it was midnight. I was in a dress so Oliver offered to let me change into some of his clothes to be more comfortable (which when I got home, I realized his clothes smelled like him). When we got back to my apartment, he unlocked my door, opened it for me, gave me a kiss on the forehead, and said goodnight.

Jamba Juice

Oliver surprised me with Jamba Juice after a very stressful day (which he didn't know about). He completely turned my day around. He ran off to do cleaning checks, giving me a kiss on the cheek as he left. 

Those Three Little Words...

I found a note on my bed when I got home from Oliver that was really sweet, signed “Love Oliver.”  I wrote him a note in Tagalog in reply with the English translation inside (just in case Google Translate did not do its job). We went grocery shopping, and I was touched when he asked my opinion on a few things like what kind of body wash to get. We went back to my apartment. He held my hand across the table while eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. My roommate, Melissa, came and put her hand on ours and said “Oh tender” (a common phrase in our apartment). While Oliver was leaving, he said that he loved my hair. Then, we said those three little words to each other, and he gave me a kiss goodnight. 

Meet the AhMus

My brother’s car would not start, so Oliver said he would come pick me up. We talked with my sister-in-law and the rest of Brandon’s family. On the way home, we talked about dating, marriage, family, teaching, etc. We discussed our family members, close and extended. Oliver invited me to go to a family event with him. We went back to my apartment so I could change. Then, we went to his Uncle Joseph and Aunt Cindy’s house. I met them and their children: Sam, Jacob, Noah, Adam, and Brita. Sam was being ordained as an elder. We also met Oliver’s cousin, Carly, who had lived with Oliver’s family for a while. It was great to meet some of his family, especially to see how close they all were.

Maybe.

               I was supposed to spend the weekend at my brother’s apartment in Salt Lake City. Oliver offered to drive me there, and my brother was going to drive me home. Oliver picked me up around 5:30pm to go to SLC, but we were going to go to the South Jordan Temple first. Jordan also had asked us to do a favor for him, so our first stop was at his parent’s house to pick some stuff up for him. Then, we went to the Jordan River Temple. It was beautiful; I loved the pretty stained glass windows. I was able to be confirmed and baptized by Oliver. On the second confirmation, Oliver forgot my last name. I said, “You lost my name, huh?”  He replied, “I didn’t lose it; I just misplaced it for a minute?”

We had a great time at the temple, and we sat and talked in the car afterwards about our experience. He told me that he really really likes me, and that he had a great time that night. He then told me that he thought I was so cute from the first time we played volleyball, even calling me the prettiest girl on the volleyball court. Then, he said that I got hit in the eye, but I was still pretty. He kissed my hand, and asked if I wanted to get something to eat.

We went to Wendy’s, my favorite place, and he could not believe when the total cost was just three dollars. Oliver again asked if we were dating. To which, I responded, “Maybe.”  He kept eating his food, seeming disappointed. I laughed, and said told him that in Ashley speak, that means “yes.”  He got really excited, and his face lit up. He told me if we made it past December, his parents were going to want to meet me, and that his dad would say to get her a ticket and fly her out there (there being Missouri). Oliver then dropped me off at my brother’s apartment, met and talked with Brandon, and gave me a kiss goodbye.

Jealous?

Oliver surprised me by dropping off Frosties, and I helped him memorize scriptures. When he left, he told me he had a date with another girl the next night. Later on, he told me that he did not want to go, but some family and friends had told him to make me jealous by going on a date with someone else. It did not make me jealous, and he told me that he did not have a good time; he just wanted to be with me.

Beauty and the Beast

We watched Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorite Disney movies, and we had a great time talking.