Recap of 2010

I started this at the beginning of January, but I just sat down and took the time to finish it. It took me longer than I thought it would, but I’m glad I finished it. I enjoyed going back through the year and seeing all the fun things we did in 2010.

January:
Stephen, Christopher, and I flew to Salt Lake City, Utah, to visit Stephen’s biological father and grandparents. We also got to visit Park City, Utah. I loved the mountains!
We participated in the baby dedication at First Baptist Church.

Feburary:
Christopher tried his first solid food. (green beans!)
Christopher turned six months old. (sniff sniff)
After being home with Christopher for the first six months of his life, I returned to work. (SNIFF SNIFF SNIFF!)

March:
I didn’t blog much, and I think we mainly worked. Nothing extremely special happened in March.

April:
Christopher started crawling and turned 8 months old! He started looking less like a baby this month.
Stephen and I made our first big purchase together as a married couple – a 2008 Pontiac G6.

May:
We attended Aunt B’s graduation ceremony.
My favorite brother turned 21.
Strawberries were in season. Exhibit A and Exhibit B.

June:
Sweet, sweet summer arrived.
I turned into my mother found a new love for working in the yard!
Christopher made the front page news.
Christopher started WALKING!
I quit my job at Walmart and prepared to go back to college!

July:
I took two summer college classes at HSU and put a lot of miles on our car!
Operation Holly Bush Removal took place and my front porch was transformed!

August:
I finished up my summer classes at HSU and received an “A” in both classes!
Nana got a pool!
I threw Stephen a surprise birthday party.
Christopher turned ONE YEAR OLD and we had his Birthday Party!
I started the Fall Semester of college at HSU.

September:
College football started and Christopher and I cheered for the Hogs!
I had major test anxiety over my first Accounting exam, then aced it.
Christopher had his first haircut.
Stephen and I went to Branson, Missouri for our 2-year anniversary.

October:
I turned twenty-five years young.
Christopher continued to grow and be way too stinking cute.
Christopher was a monkey for Halloween.
School continued on at full-speed. (Read: not much happened, including blogging.)

November:
I started the Couch to 5K program.
Thanksgiving Break finally arrived.
I took sweet fall photographs.

December:
We went to the local Christmas Parade and fireworks show/Park Lights ceremony.
We visited the Christmas Train & Santa.
The fall 2010 semester ended. (Four A’s and a B in Accounting!)
We celebrated Christmas with our families.

2010 was a GREAT year for us! The highlights were Christopher turning one and me returning to college. I can’t wait to see what 2011 brings us!

soooo tired.

i have been so busy lately, i haven't had much time to blog. lots to talk about, but i am just not feeling creative, talkative, etc etc... so it's been hard to sit down and talk about what's been going on. i've been really tired, working full time, and alternating workin out at curves and walking. it wear a pregnant lady out.

one big thing is that we had an ultrasound done last tuesday, and everything looks good :) we have ONE baby with a healthy heartbeat! big sigh of relief there. =) according to my calcuations, i should have been about 9 weeks at the time of my ultrasound, but i only measured 7 weeks 4 days, so right now i am somewhere between 8.5 and 10 weeks. exciting!

i have been sick in the mornings, but not real bad, just nauseous until i get cereal in my system. i am a little sensitive to greasy foods so i have been trying to stay away from fried things. =( so sad.

another big thing is that we are trading in my 03 mustang convertible for an 01 chevy impala, and we will no long have a car payment! the impala is really nice, 4 door, leather, sunroof, really nice and taken care of (it was my mom's.) PLUS, it gets great mileage, like low 30s in town, mid 30s highway. so we are really blessed to have such AMAZING parents who are taking such good care of us during our newlywed years. =) we are having a crib and high chair given to us by friends, so that is a huge help too. i am really excited to start working on the nursery room, but first we are going to have to clean it out first. (since moving in it has become our junk room.) i am excited about getting together with my mom and deciding on paint colors, borders, all that fun stuff.

we will be getting a new camera soon, so hopefully i will be able to take pictures of the house (i am finally getting it all pulled together, although i have been procrastinating taking down my Christmas trees. i'll be so sad.) and will be able to show some pics of my house. i almost have my picture paid off at kathy's, so i will have that up on the wall SOON!

until next time!

i'm old!

so, yesterday was my twenty-third birthday. it was a pretty good day; it was rainy and dreary here, so we really didnt do much other than run to walmart and freds to return a few items. the night before my wonderful friends from work threw me a surprise party (many thanks to tabatha for her part on pulling that one together!)

stephen and i had planned on going to hot springs to do a little shopping for the cruise, play some put-put at pirates cove, and eat at central park on bath house row, but the weather kept us from doing so. that's ok, we're going to go back in a few weeks and go to garvan gardens when the leaves are changing. B-E-A-utiful!

i'm sitting here in my cold house (we need to get the gas turned on tomorrow) playing poker on myspace. stephen and i are both addicted right now. i am about to take a hot shower and get some food ready for stephen's lunch break. then maybe i'll attempt to straighten the house. i am so ready to be out of the moving in/just got married stage so that my house will be neat and tidy all of the time!

i just let the crazy dogs in, and they're going wild. worse than children, i tell ya!

so this is my life...

my name is stephanie olmstead -- formerly stephanie speer -- and i am a newlywed living in mena, arkansas. i was born and raised here, but my husband is from forth worth, texas. i currently work for walmart, but that is definitely not a long-term job for me. (i hate it, haha.) my wonderful, amazing, loving, perfect husband - stephen - works for walmart as well, and he hates it too. we are both looking forward to finishing college and starting *real* jobs.

we have three children... or rather, dogs. baxter is a silky terrier, kodi is an american eskimo, and zoe is a yorkshire terrier puppy who was my wedding gift. we are definitely dog people. =) we love game nights, movie nights, and casino nights -- those don't happen often though. we love just relaxing at home with each other. we love to travel, and can't wait for our honeymoon -- a cruise in just a few short weeks!

i'm planning on using this blog to record my newlywed years -- our hopes, dreams, wishes, and aspirations. our low spots, difficult times, trials and tribulations. i hope to faithfully write about our new life together, entertaining the blogging world with stories and photographs. wish me luck.