Sunny San Diego (without any sun).....

We went to San Diego for a few days this week. It was WONDERFUL! Though we did not see the sun ONCE while we were there and it was warmer in Utah....we still had many laughs and magic moments.

Oliver started his time in California with a solid nap as soon as we got into our rental car:

Here is Oliver at our Hotel. We stayed in La Jolla at the BEAUTIFUL Grande Colonial House.

Oliver in the courtyard:


Here we are at the beach, in the pacific ocean. Notice that we are the only ones foolish enough to do this on such a cold day.

Sweet boys:

Self portrait:

Here I am expressing my dissatisfaction in the lack of sunshine:

We had not planned on doing any of the local parks, but with the absence of the sun, we decided to go to the San Diego Zoo:

We chose the Zoo because Bryce told me the sweetest story about how he wanted to the San Diego Zoo SOOOO bad when he was little to see the Koala Bears.

Here he is with Oliver, finally realizing his dream:

And here are the boys again, completely worn out:

Another great thing we got to do was to see our friends Jud and Julie. They live in L.A. and drove down for a night. It was so great to see them....

And here is our only family photo from our trip.

It was an amazing trip! We are so lucky we got to go.

First horseback ride EVER....

Today we stopped by the stables in Midway to let Oliver play with the horses. At first, he was very stand-off-ish, as they were much bigger than the pictures in his books. Here he is, taking it all in:

But, eventually, we got him on one:

He was very brave and serious about the whole thing. It was pretty funny.

And then....he was worn out:

Thank you, Joe, for letting us introduce the boy to horses!

Criminal

Okay, okay. Let me preface this photo.

Oliver picked up Bryce's sunglasses.

He put them on.

He laughed and said "picture".

I laughed.

I made him stand against the wall and COULD NOT get him to change from this expression:

Until....I tickled him and he changed to this expression:

Is it just me or does he look like he is 16 and the first picture is his mugshot?

Hilarious.

Now for a little back yard fun.

Oliver continues to LOVE kicking balls.

Bryce made him pose like this, because, as he says, it is how EVERY soccer picture is posed:

Then, at some point after that shot, Oliver did this:



Can I just say, I love my boys?
Sweetest picture ever.

For Oliver's whole life (all 21 months) he has loved to play with any type of ball: soccer, football, baseball, basketball, wiffle ball....you get the drift. He is quite the little kicker.

So the other day, we put out our laundry basket to see if he could sink a few baskets. Well....looks like soccer may not be his ONLY sport:

ENJOY:

Barista boy...

I know that I have been the worlds worst blogger lately.....

We are all well. We've been working outside a lot and preparing the earth for our FIRST garden.

Here is a video that we recently shot of Oliver helping Bryce grind coffee beans.

The grinder is really loud and makes him laugh every time.

Enjoy.

PHX with the BFF's....

Okay....let me start with a disclaimer...I do not have any pics of the beloved Rebecca and Ezra because Crit burned me a CD of our weekend pics and conveniently omitted those. Rude. However, they were with us for the first 1/2 of our epic weekend in the sun. We needed a major thaw out, so we went to Arizona for some sun and BFF time.

Here is the lovely Mary. She is getting so big and grown up. She has the most amazing heart.

Here are Oliver and Mary in the hammock. Oliver is still totally smitten with her. He would just constantly say "May May (her nick name), play." "May may, mere" (come here)
They play really well together and have a great dynamic.

One of the fun things that we did was to take the kids to a train park. They had tons of play grounds and a merry-go-round and a small train to ride.

The thing that we did the most was hang out by the water in the desert.

We spent a lot of time with good food, good conversation and lots of laughs:

Oliver spent HOURS just splashing in the water and throwing rocks.

And then....in true "Mother of the year" fashion. I dropped my child into the frigid water.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I am not the most graceful person....especially when it comes to the difficult task known as "walking".
Well, I was walking in the river, holding my boy and I tripped a bit and dropped him, face first, in the cold water.

Oliver has a funny thing he does which is to say "Okay" as soon as he falls, no matter if he is okay or not. I think that it is because we always ask him if he is okay when he falls.

Here is the pic of him RIGHT after the fall....trying to smile. He totally said "okay" as soon as he could catch his breath from in taking a bit of water.

After the dunk, Oliver became quite cuddly because he was cold.

It was awesome!

Oliver picked some flowers and gave them to Crit....here is her face after getting the flowers:

Here is Mary in her fly-honey outfit. I loved it!

My boy:

Look at those cuddles:

Oliver was seriously the happiest baby in the sun.

I think that he inherited my genetic love for the heat:

So...I brought home a tired boy. Here is Oliver enjoying his fist dinner at home.

Yes, he is totally sleeping:

Thank you, Critti and Mary, Rebecca and Ezra for the epic weekend!

Goings on...

Well, we've been sick for about 3 weeks now (and by "we", I mean "oliver). It's been rough. I guess he is still considered contagious, but he is on the tail end of his latest illness (croup).

Well, in between coughing he's been on a mission.

He is trying to find his smile.

Right now when you say "Smile, Oliver", he does this:

OR this:

OR this:

All are charming and hilarious. We're having fun on this journey with him.

Here we are in the back yard today trying to enjoy what little sun there was:

Oh, my boys....how I love them.

We were all having fun UNTIL, it started. For those of you who do not know, I miss North Carolina. I love it. It is the most lovely state in the WORLD! :)

Don't worry, we have NO intention of moving ANY time soon.

HOWEVER...

I saw Bryce drawing a picture of Utah to show Oliver where we lived, so I drew a picture of NC to show him where we should live (*kidding*), and Bryce did THIS:

SO, I did THIS:

The war is on. NC vs. UT

Seeing as how NC has both an coast and mountains and islands and TREES, I cannot see HOW UT could pull ahead.

This will be our battle forever and ever, which is the greater state.

***

We got to see Ezra and Rebecca today, very briefly.

Oliver's sickness prevented us from too much hanging out.

We did let the boys be in close proximity for ONE quick shot.

Here are the future BFF's:

The boy is feeling much better:

We've been taking advantage of the warmer weather and getting outside a bit.

Here is Oliver enjoying the swing:

did anyone order any cheese....cause here it is:


We are so glad to be through with the RSV. Oliver had his 18mos appointment on Monday and got a clean bill of health. He is a healthy 28 pounds and our doctor was way impressed with how well he is talking.

R.S.V.....

This is the face of R.S.V. (respiratory syncytial virus).

.

And this:

.

And this:

For those of you who have not had the pleasure...RSV is a nasty illness in children (mostly). It can be fatal to the very little ones. Oliver seems to be on the tail end of it. It has been so rough. He has had labored coughing fits where he's struggled to breathe...sleepless nights....and enough snot to build a house (if one could build a house of snot...or if one wanted to).

The good news is that he is such a big and strong little boy that he has done as well as one could hope.

Wish us luck! We're not quite out of the woods yet!

Adam's visit...

So we had a real treat this weekend, several actually:

Daniel has moved in with us for a "while"...could be 2 weeks, 2 months, 2 minutes...

We are so excited to have him. He fits so nicely into our little family and is so sweet with Oliver.

Well...ADAM (one of my older brothers) brought Daniel to us and got to spend about 48 hours with us. We had a blast. I have to give a HUGE thank you to Jenny who stayed home with their FIVE lovely (and wild) kids. Thank you so much! We had some great times and missed the rest of your bunch.

Here we are picking them up at the airport:

When Adam and Daniel appeared, they saw this gentleman holding a "Davis" sign.

They thought for a moment that it was for them....sorry guys...I'm not that cool (or rich).

Before I move on...

can I mention that in the preceeding two photos,

my son looks like

"apathy boy".

Can you believe that face?

love him....

That night we went to the Tree Room (thank you, Lindsay, for watching the boy).

It was amazing, as always:

Here is Daniel, pretending to eat the butter.



Then, on Saturday, we went SKIING!!!
Adam had not been in over 8 years! It was epic!
Perfect weather, perfect amount of snow, perfect company:
(Thank you, Diane, for watching the boy AND Daniel)





Here we are at the summit:






Here is Adam:





We also had the additional treat of Reebs and Ezra spending Saturday night with us. It was so great to see her. Our boys are starting to notice each other now.

So, thanks to everyone who had to work harder this weekend so that I could hang out with my brother(s). It was so needed. Family just helps to center you and remind you of where you came from. I am so lucky to have the family that I have.

Daniel goes to a job "interview" tomorrow with Deseret Industries. We are hoping that he will start to volunteer there on a regular basis when he's in town. I'll let you all know how it goes.