Going Home

On Saturday Olivia and I made a quick trip to Idaho for a family reunion with my Mom's family. We got to spend much of the day at my Grandma and Grandpa's house and it warmed my heart. Growing up we spent a lot of time at my grandparent's exploring the barn, swimming in the ditch, jumping on the tramp, picking apples from the trees, reading under the weeping willow tree... I could go on and on. My parents moved from the little town where I grew up when I was a senior in high school and have moved a number of times since, so my grandparent's house is where I come "home". It is the place where I have roots- the place where I can take Liv and tell her this is where your mom grew up. On Saturday I did just that -we picked raspberries in the garden, we feed the horses, Uncle Dennis showed Olivia the baby calf, Liv played with second cousins just her age, and I enjoyed every minute of it. There is nothing better than going home.

Uncle Dennis showing Liv how to ride the baby calf- she wasn't too sure about it.

Olivia and Lena (Lena is my cousin's daughter and about three weeks older than Olivia).

Liv watching the baby cow eat his corn.

Feeding the horses with Dann and Lena ...

We had planned to go boating and waterskiing during the day on Saturday, but the weather did not cooperate so we went to the zoo instead...

Liv with her cousins Lena and Kirsten at the zoo. Kirsten is about three months younger than Liv and is my cousins daughter. She is a lucky girl to have so many cousins her age.

$2 Tuesday (and other stuff from this week)

During the month of August Thanksgiving Point is having $2 Tuesday for the most of their attractions. I have been wanting to take Olivia to see the farm animals all summer so tonight we headed north and took advantage of the reduced entrance fee. At first she wasn't too sure about the whole thing, but then she fed goats, petted the horses, and quacked at the ducks.

Olivia likes to "help" me while I am cooking. Lately I have been letting her stand on a chair while I am cooking and help me mix things. On Sunday I was making some scrambled eggs for breakfast and she kept trying to eat lick the fork she was mixing with. I remembered reading somewhere that pudding was a good thing for toddlers to help with, so I pulled out some instant chocolate pudding and let her have at it. By the time she was done I had pudding everywhere.

I got the rest of Olivia's 18 month photo shoot pictures tonight. I love how they turned out. Too many fun ones to choose from. I found Carli on a random blog that I was stalking one night and I have been so impressed with her work.

At her 18 month check up on Friday she weighed 25.2 pounds and was 32 inches tall- both in the 75% range. She is talking up a storm and has become quite the parrot. I have already learned that I have to be very careful about what I say around her. She started nursery on Sunday which was a little sad for me, but will make church so much easier. Some of her favorite things at 18 months:

• Elmo
• Singing songs - five little money's jumping on the bed, five little monkey's swinging in a tree, popcorn popping, the wheels on the bus,
• reading books
• popcorn and avocados (these are the two things that I know I will always get her to eat)
• blankets (I think blankets became the new security item when I took away the pacifier in July)
• Mommy

18 months

Miss Olivia turned 18 months on Tuesday. She is no longer my little baby, but an adorable toddler that keeps me on my toes. I wish I could freeze her at this age for just a little while - she is so much fun and makes me laugh every day.

Here is a sneak peak of her 18 month photo shoot... check out more of Carli's work at http://blog.devmemphoto.com/.

Camping

We got to spend this weekend with my family camping in Spencer, Idaho. Camping is a little more challenging with an 18 month old (and even more so with an 18 month old, a two year old, and a one year old), but Olivia had a great time. She wasn't too sure about the four wheeler, but loved the dirt and playing with cousins Emma and Taylor.

Liv was helping grandma give Emma and Taylor a ride in the stroller.

Brittany came up with some fun "Minute to Win it" games that we played on Saturday afternoon. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time...

Emma joining in the festivities

Chelsey, Jenny, and Mom trying to pull Kleenexes out with one hand

Scott and Tyson trying to make the water bottles stand on end.

Taylor turned 1 on July 23- we had a little birthday celebration for her at camp.

Liv loves her Aunt Chelsey. Here they are at the pond. This was right before a crazy thunder shower that Chelsey, Mom, Brittany, and Jon got caught in on the four wheelers.

Emma picking flowers.

Liv ate way too much sugar... so did I.

While Taylor would fall asleep on the four wheeler, Liv would scream. Uncle Matt took her on a ride the first day we were there and you could hear her screaming over the four wheeler. She did a little better the next day when daddy took both her and mommy for a ride, but wasn't sold on the idea-maybe next year.