Olive's First Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are blessed beyond measure with incredible families and friends. We had thanksgiving dinner at Dano and Honey's house with Pop, Auntie M and Uncle Isaac. Playing with daddy!

Dano (with his Santa beard) and Honey

Olive and Pop relaxing after dinner.

Olive and Gigi

Not every girl has their own personal giant to play with, but Olive does!! Her Uncle Isaac is so much fun!

Auntie M and Uncle Isaac think Olive is one special little lady.

We have so many things to be thankful for! Thanks Dano and Honey for the yummy Thanksgiving dinner. Olive can't wait to enjoy it next year.

Thankful Thursday-Wrigley

"Seeds of discouragement can not grow in a grateful heart."

I will never forget the day when I was at school and Stephen called and said, "I found something I really want, can I have it?" When I asked what it was, his simple reply "A four month old golden retriever". Little did I know those words would change our lives for the better! I of course wanted to see her before he bought her, so I drove to Newalla to meet him. As soon as I pulled into the driveway, this precious little golden ball of energy came bounding over to my car. I knew instantly she was our dog. Stephen paid for her and informed me that her name would be Wrigley, because that was the only suitable name. Wanting it to be a little more girly, I suggested Lou for her middle name, (after Lou Pinella, of course). Stephen was on his way to Shawnee, so I put our new puppy in the car and we headed toward Norman. About 10 minutes out of Newalla, she started whining. I thought she was just a little nervous. Then she puked EVERYWHERE!! All over my console, my seat and all over me. Because I didn't have a leash, I couldn't pull over to clean it up. So I drove the rest of the 40 minute drive covered in dog vomit. Not the happiest moment of my life. The good news was that it must have made Wrigley feel a lot better because she instantly went to sleep. That was the first of many accidents we had to deal with over the first few months.

Baby Wrigley Lou
She experienced Halloween the very next night and she was not exactly thrilled about the door bell ringing all evening. Those who know Wrigley know that she is a little odd. She has some very interesting quirks, and Halloween was the first time she really showed her true colors. She barked at all of the trick or treaters and then would take off running down the hall to hide. The next month, Stephen had hip surgery and was out of commission for a while. Wrigley stayed by his side the entire time. I would come home from school and she would be curled up next to him on the couch, just keeping him company. This was during an extremly hard time for us, so having Wrigley there with him was just what he needed. I truly believe that Wrigley helped us survive this season of our lives. Her ability to always be there and not say a word, just give a lick was perfect. When the rest of our lives were spinning out of control, Wrigley always made us feel better. She and Stephen became very close during this time and they are still best buddies.

She is such an important part of our family, that she attends all family holidays. Last Christmas, she was the one who announced that we were having a baby. Although my dad initially thought we were getting another dog, he quickly figured it out. She was very helpful during my pregnancy and would always try to help when I was sick. One night I was laying in the bathroom floor crying and she came in and laid down beside me and put her head on my belly. She has that ability to always make us feel better.

Lots of people make fun of us because we celebrate Wrigley's birthday. But we think she deserves it. This year we celebrated a day early because our sweet friend Eleanor was scheduled to enter the world on the day, do I was driving to Ft. Worth. Here are a few pics of her 2nd birthday.

We worried for weeks about how Wrigley would react to Olive when we took her home for the first time. A couple of sniffs and then she was ready to play ball. She has been a very good big sister. She acts pitiful a lot of the time, like she isn't getting enough attention. But other than that she has been perfect!

We love you Wrigley!!

1974

1974-
*Jaws and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre appeared in theatres.
*The UPC label was used for the first time.
*Hank Aaron beat Babe Ruth's home run record by hitting his 715th homer.
*President Nixon resigns.
*The average price of a new house was $34,900.
*A gallon of gas cost 55 cents.
The best thing that happened in 1974...Stephen Link was born!

We celebrated Saturday night with dinner at Coaches and cake at home. Here are a few pics of Olive helping her Daddy blow put the candles. (We didn't have birthday candles, so an orange tea light did the trick!)

Happy Birthday Stevie!!

Olive's Week of Firsts

Olive had a big week of firsts!

She rode in Daddy's truck for the first time.

She went to Miss Terry's for the first time. And she loves it there! We are so thankful to have found a great place for her to go during the day. She spent the afternoons there this week and we will slowly increase her time.

She turned the page of a book for the first time!

She got her first singing book from Aunt Sharon and Uncle Lanny. Thank you for "Funny Pup". She thinks it is so funny when it barks and giggles.

She watched football in her own special chair for the first time.

Wow! What a week! We are looking forward to many more firsts.

Happy Birthday Stephen!

Today is Stephen's 35th birthday! We have all had such a busy, crazy week that we didn't even have the energy to celebrate. Poor guy! We will do something special tomorrow. Happy Birthday Stephen! We love you the most!!

Thankful Thursday--Aunts, Uncles and Guncles

"Seeds of discouragement can not grow in a grateful heart."

We are thakful for aunts, uncles and guncles. Olive is so blessed with a loving Auntie M, Uncle Isaac and Guncle Chris and Guncle Shawn! They all think she is pretty special and take the word "spoil" to a new level!

Auntie M, Olive and Mommy after a fun afternoon of shopping!

Auntie M with Uncle Isaac looking on adoringly.

Uncle Isaac with Olive in the hospital. He couldn't believe how little she was!

Guncle Chris and Guncle Shawn drove over from Branson to see her when she got home.

She is also blessed to have many great aunts and uncles who adore her, as well as lots of second cousins. We are all so grateful to have such a loving family around us!

Thankful Thursday

"Seeds of discouragement can not grow in a grateful heart."

In the spirit of gratitude, I am going to post something we are thankful for every Thursday. Thankful Thursday will be a place for us to reflect on all of the blessings God has given us and there are many!

Today we are thankful for grandparents. Olive is very blessed to be surrounded by people who love her! She has the most adoring Pop, Dano and Honey that a girl could ask for. It helps that she is the first grandchild on both sides! We all know that Grammy Tami would have been over the moon for her and that she watches over Olive daily. This is Pop meeting Olive in the hospital. He will soon be our neighbor, so she can saddle up Wrigley and ride down to see him anytime she wants to. He says he will give her candy, cheetos and coke whenever she wants them to help her stay fat until she is thirty! This is Pop and Stephen's clever plan for keeping the boys away. :)

Dano and Honey come for weekly Sunday visits. Sometimes they sneak in a few weekday visits too. Dano custom made the bench/toy chest that is in Olive's room and her closet. Honey likes to rock little miss and often times she ends up peacefully asleep on Honey's chest.

We are also grateful that my Granny, "GiGi" can be a part of Olive's life! She loves to come to visit with her "little angel".

Stephen and I were also both blessed with incredible grandparents. Stephen's Grandpa Link passed away when Stephen's dad was a teenager, so Stephen never had the opportunity to know him. But apparently, Stephen is a whole lot like his Grandpa Link. He resembles him and shares many character traits. Stephen's Grandma would tell him all the time, "you remind me so much of your Grandpa". His Grandma married Grandpa Bishop many years later and he is the Grandpa that Stephen grew up knowing. Grandma Bishop was the sweetest lady on the face of the planet. She had unbelievable strength and had made the most of every situation. She and Stephen had a very close relationship until the day she was taken to heaven.

Grandpa and Grandma Link's wedding picture.

Grandpa and Grandma Bishop

Here is my favorite picture of Stephen with Grandma.

I was blessed to have amazing grandparents as well. My Mama and Papa, Granny and Grandaddy all lived in Texas when were growing up, so we didn't get to see them as much as we would have liked. But when we got to visit, we loved it! Granny and Grandaddy lived on a farm and we loved getting to play "farmer". Mica would always help Grandaddy feed the cows. Mama and Papa's house had the most beautiful backyard thanks to my Papa's green thumb and we would play for hours in the "secret garden". My Mama and Grandaddy have both gone to heaven. My Papa is still living in Levelland and we are hoping to take Olive to meet him sometime soon. My Granny now lives with my parents, and we are so thankful she gets to be a part of Olive's life.

Stephen and I with Papa. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of my Mama on my comptuer. I will have to work on this.

Granny and Grandaddy at our wedding.

We are so blessed!

Shake, Rattle and Roll!

Olive LOVES her hand and foot rattles. It is so funny to watch her shake her arms and kick like crazy! When she notices her feet it is even more exciting.

Yesterday afternoon, it was so beautiful outside, so we decided to take Olive and Wrigley to the park. We loaded up the stroller and walked down to the park in our neighborhood. Apparently, everyone in the neighborhood had the same idea! There were kids and dogs everywhere! We chose to go into the Jackson playground instead of the park. Olive loved laying on her blanket in the shade of a beautiful oak tree. Wrigley couldn't have been more excited about running around like a crazy dog and sniffing everything. She was worn out by the time we got home. Olive lasted about two minutes in her stroller on the way home until she crashed. All in all, we had a great family afternoon. If the weather stays like this, we may get to play outside on Christmas! Here are a few pictures of our afternoon at the park.

Telling Dad all about the trees.

It was a little windy and the blanket kept blowing on her head, which she thought was funny!

Grammy Tami's Special Rocker

Olive sat in her rocking chair by herself for the first time today. We rock her to sleep in it often. This rocker is very special because it belonged to Stephen's Mom, who we have lovingly named "Grammy Tami". This is the rocking chair she rocked Stephen and his brother in when they were little. This chair was the first piece of furniture Stephen's parents bought when they got married. We had it recovered to match Olive's room, but we left the wood. You can tell it was well used!

Here is a picture of what it looked like originally

Chris holding Baby Stephen

Here it is now with little Miss Olive in it.