Vegas Excursion

Last weekend there was no church, so we decided to take a quick jaunt down to Vegas. We are planning a mass family vacation for Rian's side of the family later on this year, and we've chosen Vegas as the destination. We thought this little jaunt might be a good time to do some activity and accommodation scoping.

And let's be honest -- Rian and I never need much of an excuse to run down to Vegas. We haven't been since Oliver was born, and we couldn't wait to show him the sites.

When we got up the morning of our trip, we told Oliver we were going to Vegas. "Gaygus?" he repeated, quizzically. He had no idea what he was in for. The moment we pulled into the city and Oliver saw the enormous colorful buildings he exclaimed "GAYGUS!" excitedly. He knew that this must be where we were headed.


We decided to have dinner at P.F. Chang's. This is Oliver and Rian by the big wooden horse, while we were waiting for our table.


Oliver and Rian on a little walk.


Oliver LOVED the noodles, and went after them with great gusto.





Next we went on a walk through the beautiful Bellagio.


There are beautiful glass-blown sculptures on the ceiling of the lobby. Oliver found them very fascinating.


Right inside the hotel there is a gorgeous conservatory with flowers and fountains galore.






This fountain had leaping streams of water. Rian was obsessed with catching one of the streams of water mid-leap. He managed to do so, and I figured I better validate his efforts by including the picture on the blog.


Oliver and I looking at the weird sideways disembodied head statue.


The most beautiful chandelier in the world.


Oliver in a multi-mirrored box.


At the big aquarium tanks in Caesar's Palace.


Couldn't resist taking a picture of the eBay slot machines we saw while passing through one of the casinos.


At the Mandalay Bay aquarium.


The Luxor.


Oliver and Rian in front of The Luxor. You can see them, so tiny in the left corner. Look how huge it is! Everything in Vegas is just out of control.


Oliver drumming with his chopsticks at The Noodle Shop.


Funny face.


Him and those noodles...

I regret that we didn't get more pictures of our adventures there. I think we may be going back to do more "research" next week...if so, I'll be sure to have the camera at the ready so I may more fully document Vegas Excursion, version two.

Ever since arriving home, Oliver has asked us several times a day to go back to "Gaygus". Seems like he really liked it. He is related to Rian and I, after all. :)

Oliver and Mommy

Pictures of Oliver and I together are rare, as I'm generally the photographer. The sunlight was coming through our big living room windows perfectly this afternoon, so I decided to try to grab a couple.

This was all I could get, but it's better than nothing, heh.


I just LOVE the look on his face, lol! Priceless.

Pizza Adventures

We made pizza this evening for dinner. Oliver was WAY into the making of the dough {well...mostly into the playing with the flour, you know how it goes}. I caught a couple of cute shots:


He was so "busy" he couldn't even look up at me for a picture.


Yep, that shirt USED to be black.


Enjoy the fruits...erm...pizza of his labors.


Messy face!

Family Pictures - November 2008

We had Opie from OpieFoto do some family pictures in November. We shot on location at the Salt Lake City Library. It was a fun location and she did a wonderful job. I just remembered that we forgot to post them! So without further adieu...


Best family picture we have so far.


Oliver and mom reading.


Completely candid. Oliver had fallen and hurt himself, and came to me for comfort.


Commanding his loyal subjects.


He makes my freaking heart melt.


I love the architecture in this shot.


Coolest family picture ever. Opie is SUPER talented.


Oliver with daddy.


Another amazing shot.


Mommy and Oliver.


King of the castle.

We love Opie, and plan on using her for family pictures again later this year!

Candids - July 2008 - February 2009

An Apology: I want to start by saying that I am totally aware it has been about 8 months since I last updated Oliver's blog. Let me tell you, he is one busy active crazy toddler! Between him and work, I just haven't had much time to do anything else.

A little update: Oliver is growing like an absolute weed. He has pretty much outgrown his 3T size clothes, and we've started buying him 4T size jammies. He will be 2 on April 30th, and I just can't believe how quickly time has gone. He says hundreds of words at this point, as well as some little sentences. We have many entertaining conversations on a daily basis. Here are a couple for your enjoyment:

Mom: Oliver, guess what time it is?
Oliver: What?
Mom: Nap time!
Oliver: WRONG!
Mom: Well then, what time IS it?
Oliver: Time for dance!

Mom: *sitting on the couch, looking through a raw foods cookbook*
Oliver: *climbs onto mom's lap, usurps the book, and starts flipping pensively through the pages*
Oliver: *looks up at mom and nods conclusively* "Hippies."

Some of his favorite things include animals of all kinds {although he's especially into fish and sea life lately, such as the octopus "opitus"}, books, cars {he likes to point out "cool cars" while we're out}, Elmo, Blue's Clues, babies, climbing, balls, cooking in his little kitchen, and Henrietta Pussycat {his best friend}. He loves to go to nursery where he gets to play with his little friends. He recently handmade Valentines for all of his friends and family. {Let me tell you, that was a mess of glue, paper, and markers, but in the end it was very fun and rewarding.} His favorite things to eat are Indian food, sushi {ishishi!}, spaghetti, and pizza. When asked what he wants to eat, he will nearly always say "ishishi!"

Here are some random candid shots from July 2008 through February 2009.


Reading with Aunt Jas.


Chilling in his little chair with a big cup of H2O.




Cooking "vegetable soup" on the couch.




Infesting the cupboard under daddy's desk.


Finally zonked out at Grandpa Mikey's after a fitful night.


Mmm cookies! {"tookies"}


Devouring a plumb. Definitely a "shirt off" endeavor.


Playing at Grandma Weaver's with cousin Jacob.


With his great friend, the empty glue stick, which he carried around for several weeks.


He's got the music in him.


Cooking in his toybox.




Oliver loves Jesus.


He always wants to kiss this picture in our hallway when we walk past.


Zonked out on daddy.


He likes to pull all of his books off his shelves and bury himself.


He will happily sit and read for an hour, which is a dang long time for a little guy!


Tucking his monkey and baby in for a nap.




One day he was being too quiet. I looked out into the living room to see that he'd grabbed one of my novels off the shelf and had crawled up into the reading chair, with his snack of a cut-up apple placed carefully beside him.