Adelaide Anne got to meet her cousin little Marion Elizabeth on her trip out to Grandma and Grandpa Oliver's house. Marion Elizabeth Seely is Mitch's sister and brother-in-law's little girl who is 5 weeks older than Adelaide. Marion is so petite and has the darkest chocolate brown eyes you have ever seen. Mitch and I got to tend her for awhile during our visit and she was a doll. She loves to such on her binkie even if you put it upside down in her mouth she'll contentedly suck away. You can tell when they were together that Marion definately had some age on Addie. You could see Marion was interested and aware of her cousin laying next to her and was trying to figure out in her head what was going on. She was a lot more spacially aware as well and loved to play with her soft bunny. Adelaide was happy to be there but really had no clue that anyone was laying next to here until Marion and her hand just happened to come together. Such cute cousins holding hands!!

I really loved having cousins my age when I was growing up. I'm so glad that Addie has a cousin so close in age too. I don't know how often they'll be able to see each other and interact but it will be fun to watch them grow.

Here's litte Addy holding up her head. She is so adorable. Ryan McAffee one of our friends said that we would think our baby was the coolest when she started holding up her head by herself, and he was sooo right. It's amazing, not that she wasn't cool before but, well just take a look for yourself and see if you don't ohh and aww.

I thought I'd share Uncle Colby's christmas devotional with you all. Okay so Swing, Swing, Swing isn't so Christmasy, but he sure can bang those drums. Look for Colby. He's the third one from the left hand side when they play the snare and the cymbals, then he's the fourth one from the left hand side when they are on the toms. I think he's the only one with a beard, anyway if you look for the dark beard you'll spot him. Love ya Colby and your little rump too!!

Her are a few pictures to help with your decision. None of these pictures are current accept Grandpa Olivers who recently celebrated the same birthday that he did in 1995. Happy Birthday Grandpa!! My votes for you!!

Mandy Oliver
Mitch Oliver

Colby Christiansen
Grandpa Oliver

Madison Oliver

Adelaide Anne, Cheryl Anne and Grandpa Christiansen after the blessing.

This little Anne girl even got to wear puffed sleeves!! What a coink-e- dink.

The colored blanket was made from remnant pieces from the infamous fabric closet of Adelaide's Great Grandma Ruby Hart.

This past Sunday Mitch gave Adelaide a name and a blessing along with my father and Bro. Paul Fawson of the bishopric in our home here in Wauwatosa. We decided to name her Adelaide Anne Oliver and Mitch gave her a wonderful blessing including health, missionary work, learning by and through the spirit and listening to it's promptings throughout her life. We chose the name Adelaide because of it's simple and old natured beauty. Anne with an "E" we chose after my mother Cheryl Anne Hart Christiansen. Anne with an "E" has a special connotation in our family and I'm sure in many other families who have enjoyed the Anne of Green Gables books and movies. Our little Anne girl is definately a kindred spirit and full of life, wonder and entertaining fun. We now get to enjoy two vivacious ladies with the same middle name, and hopefully Adelaide will look to both of her grandmothers and other significant ladies in remembrance of where she has come from and in acknowledgement of where she is going and what attributes could be attained from them. Margaret D. Nadauld wrote,"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind... We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith." These, and many more, are attributes that I beleive Addy can learn from the amazing examples of womanhood around her. There are many kindred spirits and many Anne girls, but there is only one special spirit in our lives named Adelaide Anne!!

Mitch, Adelaide and I are into the final 5 weeks of pregnancy and are beggining to count down to instead of up to the due date. At our last doctors visit Adelaide was still growing really well and my tummy measured the way that it should although I hadn't gained any weight since the last visit, my doctor thinks it's because I'm so active at work. I'm measuring a little over 34 centimeters which is about 13 inches and after this week I'm over the preterm hump and the prenatal team can pretty much guarantee a healthy baby girl after that. I've started feeling some Braxton Hicks contractions which are a little bit more uncomfortable than I expected them to be but I guess I wasn't expecting a bed of roses either. Mitch and I are still on the hunt for a crib. My coworker said that her friend has one that she's been trying to get rid of because she can't have any more kids, so it's a one kid used crib that we might get for free, which would be awesome, but were still holding our breaths on that one. Other than that we're all still doing fine and dandy. Mitch and I can actually feel Adelaide through my tummy now, accept we can't figure out if we're touching her little rump or the top of her head but it's cool to feel her so close anyway.

As most of you know Mitch was accepted into Marquette Dental School last fall. The two of us have been waiting out the humid summer here for the moment when he would start school and it has finally arrived. Isn't he so cute in his business casual! (It'll be another couple of weeks before they get their scrubs to wear) In comparison to some of his nephews school pictures that we've had sent to us and seen he's not as adorable but still handsome on his first day of school. All he needs now is a school bus behind him. Mitch was inducted into the school of dentistry last week during the White Coat Ceremony where he took an oath to uphold ethical standards and humane responsibilities along with 79 of his classmates. 9 out of these including Mitch are LDS and he's gotten to know all of them and a lot of his other classmates as well. Mitch is the only student from Utah State but he's so bubbbly that he makes friends easily.






Here he is receiving his white coat and officially becoming a dental professional.

THE DENTAL STUDENT'S OATH

"As I begin my clinical education for the profession of Dentistry, I pledge the following:

To uphold the highest standards of professionalism by demonstrating compassion, empathy, and sound judgement in the treatment of my patients and in my interactions with colleagues. I will remember that I am working with human beings first and foremost.

To demonstrate excellent leadership through my interactions with my patients, my fellow students, and my community. I will gracefully accept leadership opportunities presented to me.

To uphold the highest of prefessional ethics by doing what is right and just in my interactions with patients, classmates, and the community at large. I will remember that dental education and the practice of dentistry is a privelege and not an entitlement.

My dedication to this education and career will be exemplified in my commitment to learning all that I can, treating my patients with kindness, and always maintaining honor and integrity.

I promise to maintain the dignity of this profession by promoting the principles of patient autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice and veracity.

All this I pledge with pride as I pursue the education that will lead to the honor of entering into the profession of dentistry."

Mitch has been harvesting away this past week from his little garden on our balcony. We received 3 puny plants from our ward out here in Milwaukee one of our first weeks to church and I thought there was no hope for the little guys. Mitch thought better and has shown me that it's not always the sturdy plant that reaps the rewards. Our little cucumber plant has really produced, Mitch has picked 5 cucumbers off it's vines so far and the plant barely takes up the space of its small planter box. Here you see him proudly displaying the first cucumber that it produced. You can see Mitch definately has a green thumb. I think he inherited it From Grandpa and Grandma Oliver.
He's also got two tomato plants that are starting to ripen now. The little cherry tomatoes are turning red and he was able to pick some and put them in our salad last night, I'm not a tomato fan at all but I drenched one in ranch and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Mitch was just glad that I ate one at all. He also has some larger tomatoes but they are not turning red yet. We have big plans for our little garden next year. We'd like to plant some peas, pole beans, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers. Our first attempt at a garden last year ended miserably with one or two bell peppers and some late tomatoes, but this year Mitch has made unprecedented strides in his garden abilities and hopes to bring more yummy food into the home next summer.

Mitch and I are firm believers in self reliance thanks to all the teachings of our parents and the church, hopefully we'll be able to be more self reliant in the years to come. If you're interested in some good articles and information on self reliance or food storage try these links.

After a few weeks of the weather being muggy and hot the air finally started to cool off and people are already saying that fall is coming and it's not even mid August yet. Compared to Utah though it is a lot cooler. Mitch and I decided to make the most of the cool weather so we got up early on Friday morning and went to the Wisconsin State Fair. The fairgrounds are only minutes away from our new house so it was a quick trip both ways. It was still really cool when we went and most of the things we saw were in the shade of a stadium. The fair didn't seem nearly as neat as it did when we were younger but we both had a really good time walking around and looking at all the crafts, animals, and things for sale. There were several barns with animals in them but not nearly as many as they have at the Western Idaho Fair it seemed like. I really missed seeing the Alpacas that Idaho usually has. They had rabbits, chickens, turkeys, cows, pigs and horses. Mitch and I even got to see them judge a breed of horse called Percherons, a type of draft horse used for heavy labor and towing. They were really beautiful. Mitch got friendly with some chicks in another barn and I had to put my foot down then. You can see him here with one of his girlfriends, he's so suave. The only thing we didn't get to do was have a famous Wisconsin Cream Puff. They make such a big deal out of these things that they even send them to the Brewers Baseball team at their away games so they can have a taste of the fair. OH Well, maybe next year we can share one with Adelaide at her first fair.

Just wanted to throw out a congrats to my big brother and my soon to be sister-in- law. I'm so excited to have another girlie in the family and Heather is a great one, especially for my brother. I'm so excited for you two and Mitch and I hope to see you soon when we fly out for your wedding. Love you tons!!

So this is the last week of classes and in one week Mitch and I will be traveling on our way across the U.S. of A to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.A little overwhelming but hopefully going to be a great adventure for us and our new family. Mitch will be attending Marquette University to become a dentist and is looking forward to progressing with his schooling. He graduates next weekend from Utah State University with a bachelor's degree in biology and therefore the move to Milwaukee for his graduate work. We'll be out there for four years while Mitch finishes and so that means our first child will be born out there too!! Mitch went out for his interview before he was accepted and his description and pictures of Milwaukee were bleak and flat, there are no mountains, but there's a little bit of pretty in everything right. Milwaukee is right on the shore of lake Michigan and this picture above captures not only the shoreline but the city skyline as well.

Mitch and I are going to have a baby!! We're fourteen weeks into pregnancy and finally past the queasiness. We went in for our first doctors appointment at about 9 weeks and got these amazing ultrasounds taken of our "tiny peanut". It's pretty awesome how technology can put this image into your head and carry so much emotion with it. You can't really make out the baby quite yet in these but it's there. This first ultrasound has the heartbeat showing at the bottom as highs and lows and is pinpointed by the white line going from top to bottom of the screen. At nine weeks it was beating at a racing 196 beats a minute. My coworker says baby girls always have faster heartbeats than baby boys but that could just be hearsay. In the two pictures on the right you can see the egg sac as the round white circle and below that is the fetus. At our twelve month checkup we got to hear the heartbeat again, this time for longer than the first. It's 164 beats a minute was a little less than before but the doctor said that was good. Maybe she was picking up my heartbeat as well cause it was pounding just hearing that living child inside of me.
Our due date is October 21st which is the same month as my birthday and the same date as Mitch's birthday in June. Mitch wants a little girl, but I would really like a baby boy. We'll have to see at our twenty week visit what it's going to be.

This was our main reason in going down to Salt lake to visit Maribel Lobo, a lady that Mitch stayed with in San Ramon,Costa Rica on his mission. She was visiting friends in the U.S. and they had a party for her the weekend before she left. Several missionaries that she had served in her home were there to visit with her. Mitch stayed with her only a short time but he's such a friendly and nice person that she remembered him and they chatted the night away. She speaks very little English but I was able to pick out some words Mitch has been teaching me and so I didn't feel quite so out of the loop. They made Guillo Pinto which is a rice and bean dish that is absolutely fantastic. Mitch has made it for me since before we were married and I love it especially with a sauce they like called Salsa Lizano. It's a highly seasoned sauce made out of veggies that is really tasty. She told us missionaries don't stay in her home any more because she had a falling out with some picky sister missionaries that lived with her after the elders. It's pretty sad when converts fall away because of something someone else did. She seems very happy but how could she be as happy as she would be if someone had not offended her and she had the gospel back in her life. Mitch and I had an awesome time that night and were able to hear some amazing stories from the returned missionaries.

In our wonderings we went into the old meeting house there on temple square and talked with the sister missionaries. They knew tons of information about the building so we asked them about some of the intricate designs that were all around us. I noticed the stained glass windows and that some had different designs than others. The sisters told me that when the building was restored the same glass was used for the new windows that was in the original ones. Because they were fragments of glass the designs vary throughout the building because the same design could not be made over and over again without using newer glass. That's what I call recycling. Anyways the sisters also told us about the new adaptation they have on the proclamation to the family in the north visitors center so we decided we should go check it out next. Oh! also ya know that really tiny spiral staircase on the north side upper level of the meeting house, well I've always wondered what was up there and imagined a grand room that only special visitors could go to, or a hidden room of relief for the speakers before they give their talks a quiet space to calm their jitters. The sisters told us that there is only a small attic up there crammed with chairs and other thingamabobs. A little less romantic than I expected a spiral staircase to lead to but I suppose ya need an attic.

Mitch got me a new camera for my birthday last October and were just starting to figure out all the cool buttons that it has on it. A couple weekends ago we went to Salt Lake to go to the temple, but alas it was closed for cleaning so we got to wonder around temple square and use our camera to capture so many of the wonderful sights there. They had just finished up an organ recital in the tabernacle and the pipes were lit up with a fantastic purple background. unfortunately we didn't get to hear the organ but we got a pic before they turned the lights off. Pretty huh?

Happy New Year !! How wonderful it is to be into a new year and so soon. It seems like life has been in a full ahead charge since Mitch and I got married in October. It's been two months already can you believe it? We've settled into life in our little apartment quite well although the never dying issue of "which drawer do the utensils go in" is still a sore spot for us both! But we're keeping our tempers cooled by the frosty 60 degrees that our house is currently holding. It saves money and gives Mitch and I a little extra cuddling time, if only for warmths sake.Mitch and I start school again this Monday and we're both a little nervous. He'll settle right back into the old game, putting his nose to the grindstone and acing all of his classes of course. I'm a little more apprehensive on my ability to handle classes, a full time job and being a homemaker. Mitch has been especially helpful these past two weeks with cleaning and cooking. He's quite the chef and it makes life a little easier for me. Thanks to all who helped with the wedding and supported Mitch and I as we started our new life together. If you'd like to see our Wedding Album go to http://www.brianolsenphoto.info/OliverWedding/

Much love,
Mitch and Mands