Life as a family of FOUR :)

Here's an update on our lives since Addie was born!  Let me first just say that having two kids is the best. In the words of the young Michael Scott, "I wanna be married and have 100 kids so I can have 100 friends, and no one can say no to being my friend." Haha Ok so the last part of that quote is weird, but seriously having kids is like making yourself little best friends! Let me spotlight Luke for a little bit- we'll call it his birthday tribute :) first off he's hilarious and loves all the same things I do... (well a lot of things). He loves to play hard all day outside and never gets tired or wants to go inside and be lame. He also loves to cook- he made banana bread, pudding, and a salad with me this week. He loves "being cozy" at night while we cuddle up and watch Disney movies and he loves to swim and he loves going to parades and festivals and he loves holidays. He also loves to listen to music- not my choice of selection right now (the cougar fight song, wheels on the bus, a song about gummy bears, and gangnam style)- but at least he loves to jam out and, we'll get there eventually. And he loves to eat Popsicles- speaking of popsicles, he melts my heart like a popsicle like every other minute of the day. Yesterday, we were at the park and Luke says, "Mom, you're my best buddy". And then after I taught him how to roll down hills, he goes "mommy lay down on grass with Lukie?" And told me to watch the football practice going on and look at the clouds. haha this seriously came out of nowhere- he's never laid down in the grass to look at clouds.  He's probably reading a book on "how to shmooz your mom to get presents" because that little scene could have come straight out of a movie it was too perfect . I seriously have a buddy to do just about everything with besides girl things, but now I have Addie to do those things! We can watch girl movies,dance, do our nails... the possibilities are endless! Add more kids to the equations and we could have our own sports teams and be the coolest gang on the block! haha ok that was half way a joke and I promise I won't be creepy like Regina's mom on Mean Girls. Anywho, life is good! Updates on Addie- she's such a good baby! As long as she's fed, clean, and not gassy she just chills and smiles all the time! She loves looking at lights and being held. She loves taking baths and going on walks and running errands- I say that because she just sleeps the whole time instead of crying lol.

pumpkin patch

Every time we tell him to smile...

Luke just had his second birthday- He's been sick for like 3 months now, so we just had a family party for him. He's obsessed with Cars, so I made him a Mater cake, Gma and gpa Dean got him one of those little cars to drive in, Gma and Gpa Ogletree got him a Cars playset and the real Cars movie. He LOVED it! He started getting emotional as he was opening his presents from being so happy. He made us sing Happy Birthday to him at least 5 or 6 times along with relighting the candles and blowing them out. He ate a strict diet of the "Elves 4 main food groups" , and got his jump on at Lowe's Extreme Air Sports. Now he's already made his list for Santa Clause and is convinced that it's coming next week. funny side story- Luke asked me a few days ago "mom, what's Jesus bringing Lukie for Christmas?" Woops- Got that reversed! We're going to have to work on the true meaning of Christmas...

Last weekend was General Conference and while the men were at the Priesthood session, we went to Hee Haw Farms! We had so much fun playing farm games, riding a giant slide, going on a hayride, and hanging out with the farm animals!  Well kids are calling, so i will update with pictures of the farm soon!

As I have said before, this is seriously Luke's smile just for pictures...

Grandma Dean (Jr?)'s visit to Utah!!

With the uncertainty of where we were going to live and when the baby was coming, and possible job opportunities, we waited too long to get a cheap ticket and there was a pretty big chance my mom wouldn't be able to come help with the baby for at least a month! Luckily the day after Addie was born a cheap (well cheaper) flight ticket became available, and my mom was able to come the next day!! We are still grateful for the opportunity to have her help, care, and wonderful presence around for that week of adjusting to two kids and remembering how to take care of a newborn again! I was definitely a lot more relaxed with baby number two and had a super quick, easy recovery, so Addie and I came along on the little outings Grandma took Luke on! We went to the park, the splash pad and toy store at the Riverwoods, Lowe's Extreme Airsports, and Provo Beach Resort! She also helped out with all of Addie's Dr. appts (we had to get her poor heel pricked 4 different times for Jaundice :( ), took care of Addie in the morning so we could sleep in and even some nights, cooked up some delicious dinners, and helped get us ready to take care of our new family by ourselves! The week flew by SO fast, as as you can tell from the picture below, I wasn't quite ready to send her home. I'm so grateful for my AMAZING, beautiful, loving, caring, selfless mother who is always there to help when I need her!

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Couldn't keep his pants up at the splash pad

Trying to keep the tears in for a goodbye picture- and our only picture of the two of us for the week

Couldn't do it...

December 2012!

So my goal was to post an update of every month, but I'm already behind 3 months and can't even remember what we did in November so we'll just skip over to December... December was another AMAZING month full of holiday festivities and excitement! Since this was about 2 months ago the description of events are going to be super brief!

1. Birthdays! December 1st was my sister in law Cassidy's birthday, and December 7th was my birthday! For Cassie's birthday we ate a delicious meal of her choice: chicken salad sandwiches and Caeser salad! Good choice :) For my birthday, our plan was to go to Salt Lake on the night of my birthday to see the lights at Temple Square and go to the Cheesecake Factory (courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Cook :) ), but Brandon ended having to take a test until late that night, so since we didn't have time to go all the way to Salt Lake, Brandon took me shopping for clothes and then we went to Smashburger! That would've been perfect right there, but Brandon insisted we move our original plans to the next night- so we did! Brando made me breakfast that morning, and then around 4 we took off for Salt Lake! It was freezing, so our temple square walk was real quick. The best part was, we asked this guy to take a picture for us with our phones, and it turns out he was a professional photographer who takes pictures for random people for free! Score! Of course the Cheesecake factory made the whole trip worth it as well, despite the 2 hour wait! I forgot just how amazing their food is, and it was SO cozy with the city atmosphere and the snow! It was really too good to be true!

2.Bethany's wedding- I love weddings! Especially when it's your sister in law's! It was so nice to see all of our extended family, visit the temple, eat delicious food, and enjoy a night of dancing! We had a whole week of excitement making decorations, meeting Will's family, having Bethany's bridal shower, going to the luncheon at Maceroni Grill! Bethany looked absolutely stunning and everything went great!!

3. San Diego Poinsettia Bowl!! This was by far the best bowl game I've ever been to! We were entertained above and beyond what I ever expected! We got there on Sunday evening, where we had a wonderful dinner at the hotel and then had free time for the rest of the night. Oh but the place ride was an event in itself for me... haha so much food! You got a box lunch from Honeybaked Hame before getting on the plan, and then were greeted at your seat with a whole bag full of treats and drinks! Then every 15 minutes you had the flight attendents bringing around more snacks and drinks! What more could you ask for... anyways, after dinner at the hotel, we took a walk along the pier, to this park, where people were all gathered to watch this parade of Christmas decorated yachts and boats on the bay! It was great!

On Monday, they took us to Sea World, which was a ton of fun with Luke. He couldn't get enough of the Sea lions and dolphins. Fun day! Me and Luke crashed that night after nonstop fun from 12-6! THat night we also went to Joe's Crab shack on the bay to celebrate Kelsey Yeck's birthday.

The next day we went to the San Diego zoo! That place was amazing! We got to take a bus tour around the whole place which was fun and saved us from some of the walking.  Brandon got all of the animals to come out by throwing peice of granola bars into their cages

On Wednesday we had a kick off luncheon for the bowl game on board the USS Midway! It was so fun to eat on the ship, and suprisingly Luke was good through all of it (with a lot of help from the Larks and Spencer Hadley) which was a huge relief because children weren't invited to this event and Brandon got to sit at the main table as a team captain (without Luke and I lol) Thank heavens for good friends! Afterwards, they let you tour the ship which was really fun. 

Thursday was the game- It was fun to meet up with my inlaws again and to cheer Brandon on for his last BYU game. He played great and the Cougars won, which was the perfect ending for such a great week! I loved all the family time we had and the chance to get away to beautful San Diego! It's been such an amazing experience being a part of the BYU football program through Brandon. I'm really going to miss everything about it- going to practices, wives club activities, supporting Brandon at the games, the coaches and administration, all of the randon events, banquets and yummy food (haha), watching Brandon progress and do great at what he loves, and so much more!!

Right after the game, Brandon signed with an agent, and ever since then, he's started his training for the next level!! I'm excited to see what lies ahead of us, whether it's more football, law school,... who knows!!


4. DISNEYLAND! The day after the game, we drove to Disneyland with Brandon's family. Brandon stayed at the hotel, because he was pretty tired after his big game, but Luke, my inlaws, and I enjoyed an amaxing funfilled day at the happiest place on earth. After already going to the zoo and Sea world that week, I wasn't too hyped up about disneyland, but was quickly reminded as soon as we stepped through the entrance that this place was in a league of it's own. Luke agreed. We had to stop at every little display and attraction so he could watch and admire! I love how every street is like walking through a different dream! They go all out to make every detail look so real and magical!!




5. Bethany's reception in California- the day after Disneyland we drove to Ojai (sp?) for the 2nd wedding reception. Will comes from such a charming little town!! They also had amazing tacos and delicious pies which just completed the package and made the 10 hour drive all worth it :)

6. We got home the Saturday night before Christmas, so with our two days left for seasonal activities, we looked at Christmas lights, went Christmas shopping, had our scone dinner, reenacted the Nativity story, and watched some Chirstmas movies! We spent the night with Brandon's family and had a wonderful Christmas day with them! It was fun to have a child that can get kind of excited about Christmas festivities!! He loved opening his presents- but we just let him open a few gifts and saved the rest for him to open each day after Christmas- smartest thing we've ever done! The best part of the day was probably talking to all of our missionaries. Hunter looked GREAT- just glowing and looking so happy!! It was kind of overwhelming thinking of questions to ask, but it was great to catch up halfway in person! Right after talking with him, we got to talk with Maddie and Kenzie!! we got like 30 minutes with each of them to themselves and then came together for a big family chat!! They were so fun to talk to and they looked amazing as well!! They're all going to come back as total studs!!!

7. Unfortunately I can't really remember what happened between Christmas and New years, but we had a rockin new years party with all the Ogletree clan!! We just ate delicious food and played games and toasted at the New Years!! It was a great time to reflect on all the great events and blessings we've experienced this year!

I think that's it!  Hopefully I can get updates for January soon so I don't get too behind and forget everything!!

Addie Jane Ogletree

Here's a little rundown on the weeks surrounding Addie's birth-

Because Luke's delivery went so well, I tried to do everything the same with this pregnancy, and it pretty much worked! The Saturday before she was due, the boys and I hiked Stewart Falls to try and get things movin! I hiked the Y with my brother, Hunter, the Saturday before I had Luke.

 Luke thinks its funny to pick his nose when someone takes a picture

 I walked, did the elliptical,  and did Zumba the next week, hoping she'd come just a few days early! Then on Wednesday night while we were watching a movie my water broke at 10:50! Three days before my due date, during the night- just like Luke! Except this time Brando was there for all the hospital prep excitement.  I had a feeling all day she was coming soon- I cleaned the house, tried to pre-register at the hospital, started getting a hospital bag together, and was making plans with my mother-in-law on what we would do with Luke when I started going into labor. Brandon's grandma also called the day before and asked how I felt about the baby coming tomorrow... I was seriously guessing about what time I'd start feeling pains or my water would break that night when it just came! Anywho we met up with my in-laws and they took Luke and off to the hospital we went!

Our last family picture before the baby- dropping Luke off with Grandma and Grandpa

 I didn't have any major labor pains until about 3 AM. I wanted to wait to get my epidural until I got uncomfortable enough that the needle wouldn't bother me which was around 5 AM- at that point I was at about a 6 or 7. Then probably around 6:15 AM we started pushing! We got her out in 3 contractions (like 5 to 10 min) and everything went safe and smoothly!! I couldn't believe how easy that was- even better than my last delivery which I thought was perfect! We got her out in half the time and I never had to be induced with Pitocin. And she didn't have a cone head or hematoma. She came out 6lbs 15oz and 19.5 in tall. Once again it took us 2 days of long discussion and deep thinking to decide on a name, but we're super happy with our decision. We named her Addie Jane Ogletree after her two AMAZING grandmas. These women have so important, caring, and influential in our lives- we couldn't pass up the opportunity to name one of our children after them! I can't even begin to describe how happy and blessed I feel to have my little family of four!!  Each one of them is a match made in Heaven for me-  I get so excited every time I think about all of the amazing times we're going to have and spending the rest of eternity with them-and hopefully an additional 4 ;) !!

Proud big brother :)

A successful Halloween season

Well I'd have to say that this was by far the best Halloween season ever!! I seriously live for holidays. My goal is to someday be the most festive household around and take part in as many holiday festivities  and have as many family traditions as possible. These are all of the fun things we did in the month of October!

1. 2 Halloween half marathons! I hope to be able to stay in shape to do this almost every year! I had so much much dressing up and running with hundreds of people in the spirit of Halloween! The first one I ran with one of my best friends, Sharsti! I dressed up as an 80's rocker and Sharsti went as a bee! This race was in Salt Lake city and started up in Emigration canyon. It was beautiful up there, but this was by far the hardest race, maybe even the hardest thing period that I have ever done lol The website said that this course was a gradual decline of 1,400 ft. but failed to mention the 3.5 miles of killer HILLS you had to climb. I went into thinking it would a cake walk like the last one I ran, but was glad to even finish! I was hoping to PR but finished around 1:52. I ended pretty bitter, as they didn't even have water bottles at the finish line. They had bags of animal crackers and pretzel just open on tables to take handfuls of and they ran out of most of their food 2 minutes after I finished. You had to wait in a line with a plastic cup to get water out of a water jug. Not cool...



Salt Lake Haunted Half

 The second one was in Provo. This one was just one week after the SLC race. I wasn't planning on running this one, but I was so upset that I didn't PR and didn't want to end on that bad note, SO I snuck into this race because it was like $70. Hopefully the wrong person doesn't read this and report me, but I really don't feel that bad because all I did was run- I didn't eat any of the food or take any of the race swag. All I stole was the good company and halloween atmosphere... I PRed by 15 seconds finishing at 1:48 exactly!

Provo Halloween Half

2. Jakers Pumpkin patch!  This was perfect for Luke! They had a sand box full of corn, a petting zoo, a mini corn maze, and hayrides all for free!

3. I decorated my window for a contest and made the house all cozy for fall! Although I didn't even place, I still had fun decorating our window for Halloween lol I made candy corns out of paper and hung them all over with jackolanterns, apple cider candles, and fall leaves. SO cozy! Brandon said I was acting like Cindy-Loo-Hoo's mom from the Grinch in their Christmas Decorating contest

4. Pumkin parade at the Riverwoods! We had so much fun with my sister in laws Natalie and Cassidy looking at pumkpin displays, taking a haunted carriage ride, playing carnival games, and stolling around the shops along with the headless horseman.

5.Jack-o-latterns! This year, I carved a ghost pumpkin. I even got Brando to help out a little bit!

6. Cornbelly's corn maze! I loved visiting Cornbelly's with my cute little family. We watched pig races, went down giant slides, rode a cow car tractor ride, duck races... so many fun things and I can't remember them all!

7. I got to watch all of my favorite Halloween classics... BeetleJuice , Halloweentown, Hocus pocus, Nightmare Before Christmas, Harry Potter, The Little Vampire...

8. Two Halloween parties! We went to our ward halloween party/chili cook off where we enjoyed delicious food, good company, and looking at all of the kids decked out in costumes. Our has TONS of kids Luke's age, so it was quite the show! Also went to a party with some of the married football couples! Everyone besides us had amazing costumes lol WE played a newly wed game, ate halloween candy and watched Hocus Pocus!

9. We dressed Luke up as a raccoon and went trick or treating! Luke really got into character  by growling at each door we knocked and ate the candy from their hands, wrapper and all!

10. This is Halloween, but we had 3 birthdays! Brittany, Natalie, and Brando!!! For Brittany's birthday, we went hikinh up rock canyon and got scalp treatments! For Natalie's birthday, we went out to eat at Olive Garden :) And for Brando's birthday, Brandon got to go to all 3 hours of church (Luke-free haha) and he got some new GOLF CLUBS from me and his family! My parent's also sponsered a western date night consisting of the movie Lonesome Dove and Texas Roadhouse.

Well I think that wraps up the festivities! Can't wait for the rest of this holiday season!

Late summer update!!

I hate when I get behind on blogging!!! I have a novel's worth of updates, but I'm going to condense it as much as possible. Let's start with the cutest and most lively part of our family: Luke. haha WOW Well in the last week he's cut 3 new teeth! That was a beast, but I'd rather just rip the bandaid off and get them all done at once. He can say mama, dada, and uh oh. He hates wearing clothes, so he spends most of his time in his diaper. He loves moving around. Right now his legs travel faster than his arms can keep up with so he's had a lot of face plants. He's so tough though- he just makes a pout face for a second, then moves on to his next plan of destruction. He loves pushing buttons- he turns on the playstation and the printer over and over and thinks he's like a little technician or something. He hates being fed- if you put something in his mouth, he'll spit it out and then put it back in himself, and he also thinks it's his job to feed other people. He also can clap his hands and raise the roof. Anytime people are clapping he thinks it's for him. For example, at Tyler's graduation, everytime the audience would clap, he looked around wondering why people were clapping for him and then start clapping for himself. He is ALMOST walking! He can stand by himself for like 10 seconds, but hasn't taken any steps yet. He's 31 inches long and weighs 17 lbs which puts him in the 98th percentile for height and the 9th percentile for weight. Brandon has been making a double batch of his protein shake for Luke, but he still can't seem to keep weight on. He's also a daddy's boy lately. He used to cry anytime I left the house or anytime brandon would even try to hold him, but how it's the opposite! He cries everytime brandon leaves in the morning and makes this cute excited noise when Brandon comes through the door. He loves falling asleep on dad and playing basketball with him. He's such a happy kid, loves playing with anyone, and is always making us laugh. And our favorite acheivement.. Luke can dunk! On his fisher price hoop of course, but how many babies can dunk a basketball before they can walk... haha enough bragging, but I am SO grateful we've been blessed with Luke in our lives. It's really unfair how many breathtaking moments of pure joy I get to experience on a daily basis with my little boy.

Brandon played awesome in his first and second game! It was well deserved after a summer and fall camp of hard work! It's going to be an awesome season! He was also voted as a team captain and you can his picture is on the city busses!

We've been super busy with all of our family's missionaries! Bethany, my sister-in-law came home from her mission in Brazil a couple of weeks ago. Kenzie, my other sister in law, left for her mission to independence missouri last week, and Maddie, my other sister-in-law, is leaving in a month for her mission to Costa Rica! For Bethany's first day home, we made an Ogletree family spa and pampered her with a facial, mani/pedi, delicious refreshments, hair styling, massage and  relaxing music for 18 months of hard work! It was so much to catch up with her and learn all about Brazil! She brought us all back delicious Brazilian candies and Brazilian soccer jerseys! That Sunday, Bethany gave a homecoming talk and Kenzie gave her farewell. Afterwards we had delicious mexican food with all of their friends and family! They both did amazing- such good examples to everyone! As we were dropping Kenzie off at the MTC, we ran into Hunter!! He was working as a host/escort to the new missionaries! He looked so good and was just glowing!!  We were so lucky to see him because he left for Mexico just a week a later! His first area he's  serving in is the poorest area of Veracruz!!! In his first letter he said that he's serving in this village up in the mountains where everyone lives in 2 room shacks and most people are very uneducated. He said you can't even knock doors, because they don't even have any!! You just kind of say hello into their open homes to start conversation! He's really excited to get work. In his first week, they've already had two baptisms! I can't wait to hear about all of his amazing experiences!!

I'm currently training for the Halloween Half marathon! Hopefully I actually do it though because I lost my running partner Brittany and it's not half as fun training alone! It sounds really fun though- everyone dresses up, so I think I might go as a yodeler! haha this was inspired by attending Swiss days a couple weeks ago!  I'm still teaching English to Koreans and loving it! My students are the sweetest people! And now I have a country to talk about when all of my family talks about the places where they served their missions lol Well I'll stop there before I have to start dividing this into chapters!