Courtney Playing Outside

Here is a video of Courtney having a good time outside with her bike. She has been wanting a new bike for awhile. In the mean time she has to settle for the little rider.

Ducks

Courtney has an obession, of sorts, with ducks. When she was very small, her Grandpa Bollard took her to Sunset Park in Las Vegas to feed the ducks there. Now she asks him every time she talks to him if she can go feed the ducks with him. They even found ducks here the last time they were up for a visit. During this particular feeding, they saw ducklings with the mother duck. Courtney was so happy. She talked about it non stop for weeks. For some reason, she always associates ducks with her Grandpa.
We thought it was unlucky for us to have a a canal behind our house. We didn't think it would be too bad though. We also got a fence put up the backyard because of city code. So we thought we could live with it. Little did we know that it would bring hours of entertainment to Courtney.
We have a mother duck and ducklings that come by a few times a day. At first, Dave would yell to Courtney and she would come running to catch a glimpse. But one lucky day, the ducks were actually sleeping on the bank. When they woke up, they ate. Courtney thought it was the greatest thing in the world. I guess ducks really are pretty cute.
The one drawback was that last week we heard them quacking all night. Courtney would have loved it but she was sound asleep. We had a power outage for about 12 hours on one of the hottest days of the year. We opened the windows to try to get some relief, and all we heard was "quack, quack, quack." You have probably already guessed that we did not get much sleep that night.

Courtney's 3rd Birthday!

Ok, so this post is extremely late. For some reason I have had a hard time getting my posts up. Anyway, it was Courtney's birthday on Wednesday, June 13. I cannot believe that my baby is three. We ended up having a family party the Saturday before her birthday so that everyone could come and celebrate with us.



Courtney was so excited to get presents. This is the first real time that she has understood what was going on and she was very into it. She was extremely happy to have her two older cousins, Lauryn and Brayden, there with her. She also loves, and I mean really loves, her baby cousins, Cashe and Tyler, whom she affectionately calls, "Bubbas". I guess I should stop calling them that and call them by their real names.
As you can tell, someone has a fascination with Winnie the Pooh. For all those of you that think I'm a nut, I have to say that I too never wanted my child to be in love with Disney characters. I decided that my opinion doesn't count anymore and so she got her Pooh birthday. She had to have Pooh balloons, wrapping paper, and even Pooh presents.
She also had me take on the feat of making her a Pooh cake. If any of you are wondering, yes, it is just as cost effective to buy a cake, which I found out after I started to collect everything I needed for the cake. But, I find it satisfying to say that I made it, even though it took two days to make and about 10 trips to the store.

I wanted to do something for her on her actual birthday as well but she didn't quite get it. In our house we live around who's birthday is next. So when I told her that we were going to do whatever she wanted for her birthday, she looked at me very funny and said, "Shouldn't we go to Costco." I gotta love that. Then she preceded to ask if she was having a party, if her cousins were coming over, if she was getting more presents. I told her no. She scrunched up her nose and said, "It's not really my birthday Mom. It's Uncle Darron's and Uncle Brian's." I responded, "That's right, their birthdays are next." To which I got the reply, "Mom, you're silly because you always forget the birthdays." This was followed by much fake laughter from her. I guess we got off easy with only having to celebrate once. Thank you to everyone near and far who helped make her birthday special.

Fun with Grandma

Grandma Bollard was here for 4 days because of Boston's birth(see previous post). Courtney was, of course, so happy she could hardly stand it. Everyday we went out to do different things.

As you will be able to see from previous posts, Courtney and Dave are two peas in a pod. They love to open their mouths and eyes really big for pictures.
We definitely need to say a big "thank you" to grandma for all the fun. We she left Courtney said, "Why did grandma have to go? Cause I wanted her to stay for a long, long time. I just love her."

Boston is here!

Boston Gallagher arrived on Saturday around 3:30 in the afternoon. He came nearly 4 weeks early but still weighed a good 6 lbs. 3 oz. He is a beautiful baby and he and mommy(Brooke) are doing well.
We all got to visit them in the hospital on Sunday and Courtney was so excited. I don't know if there is anything that can rival how much she loves babies. The funny thing was that she didn't want her grandma to hold the baby. Grandma is only allowed to hold her.
This is the fifth baby born between our two families this year and there is still one more due. I think Courtney just thinks everyone having babies is a normal part of life. It may be pretty shocking for her to find out that no one else in the family is pregnant, as of right now(there's still time though Darron and Kristen, haha).
I should mention also that numerous cousins on both sides of our families have had babies as well. I'm trying to count and have come up with the number 5 but it may be more. Plus there are a few more cousins having babies before the year is up. It's hard to keep up with them all.

Cooking Class!

Courtney loves to cook and bake with me. I have to admit that for a few years there(while she was a baby), I had forgotten how much I enjoy cooking and baking. Now that she is older and able to help, it's fun again. Thanks to her aunt Betsy, she is in possession of an easy bake oven. I don't know who named the thing but "easy" should not have been included. For those of you who don't know, everything is completely miniature. I bought a cake mix, as well as a cookie mix, hoping to let my daughter bake on her own. Little did I know that the pan you use to cook is about 5 inches in diameter, and you are supposed to bake three cookies in it at a time! It was way too frustrating for me but Courtney had a great time. We've put the easy bake oven away for now and I think we'll just use the regular oven, which is much easier for me.

A Day Out With Thomas

I know what most of you are thinking. Yes, Courtney is our daughter, not son. But lately she has had a fascination with "boy" things. She loves cars, trucks, trains, basketball, golf, and many more. I think it's mostly due to the fact that the poor girl has almost all cousins and friends her age that are boys. Don't get me wrong, I think it's fine. She still loves princesses more. Plus, she'll have plenty of time for that. Truth be told, I was quite a tomboy myself for most of my childhood. I turned out relatively normal. :)

It all started with my nephew having to go ride Thomas. The weekend of the ride, my brother came into town from Las Vegas. It turned into a whole family trip and was a lot of fun. Courtney was so excited when she saw Thomas. I could tell it was confusing for her though when she said(after riding on the train for 15 minutes), "Can I ride on Thomas now?" Oh boy! She didn't even realize that we were riding him. Still, she had a good time.
She loves to be with her cousins and grandparents more than anything, so that made it all the more fun for her.
Of course the first place she wanted to go after we got off the train was into the gift shop. Luckily, she is really good about looking and not wanting to get everything. I told Dave that we should get her the train track that they have at IKEA. It's only ten dollars!

Other highlights were going to the petting zoo(that was smaller than my master bedroom). It was fun though. The kids got to pet all kinds of cute little animals. Courtney also waited in line for about 15 minutes just to get a Thomas tatoo on her arm. She loves it and will be very sad when it's finally all washed off.

Our new house

Since we finally got the front yard landscaped and per the request of several people, I am posting some pics of our house. We have been really happy with it and I hope to stay here for several years. Dave seems to think that we should be moving every 3 to 5 years but I am hoping that doesn't happen. This area is so nice and our ward and neighbors are really great. Courtney loves playing outside with all of the kids. We have loved everyone around us. An added is bonus is that we have a babysitter that lives right next door to us(if that isn't a dream come true, I don't know what is).
I was even able to convince Dave that we needed to plant some flowers to make our yard look nice. We were able to get some planted and so far, they are still alive. There have definitely been some close calls to killing them but now we are very dilligent in our watering.
I also have to mention something that has nothing to do with our house. We are so thrilled to have the Utah Jazz in the western conference finals. I do not believe they can beat San Antonio but we're still rooting for them. Anyway, it has been a fun and exciting time for us here in Salt Lake. Go Jazz!

Courtney(of course!)

We got an idea from a friend, to straighten Courtney's hair one day. I really wanted to do it so that people could see how long her hair really is. I decided that she is really lucky to have curly hair because she has more cowlicks than I could count and her hair just goes kind of crazy anyway. Also, after her nap, the bottom was all curled up in ringlets again because she had sweat in her sleep a little. It was fun to do for one day but we'll just keep it curly for now.



One of Courtney's all time favorite presents was from her Uncle Craig. It is a purple, plush piggy bank. It makes a sound every time a coin is dropped in the slot. She loves to find money and put it in her bank. She has made a lot of money for an almost 3 year old! She doesn't like to empty it and cash it in though. She would rather have her piggy full of money.

She also has a new favorite pastime that must come from her father. She loves to play video games on the computer. Her games are actually educational, unlike her Dad's, but she loves them all the same. It amazes me that children so small and young have the ability to know what they're doing on a computer. She will sit down and play for about 30 minutes and does it all by herself. She is very proud of herself when she plays. She also told me that her Dad can't play on the computer anymore because it's always going to be her turn.

Fun in the Sun

I have to apologize for being such a slacker lately. I know that most of you can't live unless you know what's going on in our lives, so I'll have a couple of posts today. Mother's Day weekend, we had the chance to go to Las Vegas for a quick trip. Dave has an aunt that received her endowment and got sealed to her husband, so we had to be there for that. It was great to see them being sealed for eternity and being in the temple. We were also blessed to see both Trent and Sean with their wives in the temple, which was nice because we were only in town for one day. We always wish our trips could be longer so that we could visit everyone on our list.

After the temple ceremony, us girls were blessed to be able to go out and get pedicures as our Mother's Day presents. We loved it, of course, and enjoyed a little relaxation. It was so hot in Vegas that we decided it was a perfect day for swimming. Courtney has decided that she loves to swim, so it made the whole trip worth it for her.

We have been having some pretty nice weather in Utah since our trip and Courtney loves to play outside. She has finally learned how to pedal her small bike and loves to ride it around. The only problem is that she has the smallest bike in the neighborhood and doesn't like it. She's always asking for a new bike. The only problem now is that she wants a power wheel instead of a bike. A lot of the kids on our street own one and she doesn't want to be left out. Unfortunately for her, it's just the small bike for her for now. But it seems to be better than being inside.

How we hang!

I just thought I'd give everyone a sneak peek into our lives. They are definitely not as exciting as some others(Jamie) but we still enjoy our days. Courtney's new favorite thing is to shower with me in the morning. She used to be terrified of the shower but now she loves it. I think it has something to do with being able to squeegee the glass because if I forget and do it myself she comes apart. After she gets out and gets wrapped up in a towel, she runs downstairs to get her blanket and to finish watching whatever show was on.

She has gotten really good about wanting to get dressed but it's a little frustrating at times because she has a definite opinion of what she thinks she should wear.

She loves to help me clean. Let me make my quick plug for one of the best inventions ever(Audra has also attested to this). If you do not own a Swiffer Vac, you have to get one. It is the greatest for hard surface flooring. I can't believe how great it works. It's so much better than sweeping, where you inevitably miss dirt and lint. The great added bonus is that Dave likes to use it and so does Courtney. She will vacum until the charge wears out and it really does get clean with just my two year old working it. Dave and Courtney love to be silly! If anyone has seen the movie, The Holiday, you will get what they are doing in these pictures. If not, you have to see it. Not just to get our wackiness but also because it's honestly one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. I loved it. Anyway, in the movie a father turns himself into "Mr. Napkinhead". Dave and Courtney think it's great. And I love it too and finally got it on camera.

When Courtney is finally in bed at night, and I'm not watching Alias(our favorite show that we rent), I find time to quilt. This is my latest quilt that I made for my new nephew, Kash. Strange name I know, but not a misprint. Anyway, I had to share it with everyone.

Family and Easter

We were blessed to have my whole family in town for the Easter weekend. It's been quite a long time since all of the family was together and it was a lot of fun to catch up. It almost felt just like old times(except for the nine kids running around. Where did they come from?) Courtney loves her cousins and never wants to go home when they are here. She was also really excited for Easter. To our amazement, she wasn't the least bit scared of the Easter Bunny. It is a huge relief to us because we are planning on taking her to Disneyland this summer. Now we know it probably is a good idea.


I don't think any kid was more excited to hunt for eggs than her. She could not wait for Easter day to get here. We had a great Easter and hope you all did too.