Utah Trip

This weekend we went to Utah for our niece's baby blessing. Andrew's sister Jessica came out for a visit, and it was so much fun to see her. We gave Teresa a break and took the kids to the Hogal Zoo. Olivia liked it alot more than the last time she went, although alot of the animals still scared her. They have a life size T-Rex that moves and roars and she just about had a heartattack. Her whole body would tense up and she would scream everytime it would roar. After the zoo we went to Sonic for Happy Hour and got limeaides and slushes, our favorite : )

Olivia picked up a new ride while in Utah. She thought she would give us a break and drive home for us. We got alot of weird looks as we drove home with this on our car. It looks like a real car now with all the bugs on the front


My cake I was so proud of. I made it for our Girls Camp Dessert Auction. It was so much fun to make!

Our most recent project is coming along. It is going to be so nice to have a garage! A place to put all of our stuff. Olivia loves being out there and helping her Dad.

One Sunday afternoon Andrew went to take a nap and I was reading my book and noticed Olivia had wandered off somewhere in the house. No biggie, she can go and play and leave me be. After not seeing her for about half an hour, I thought I'd better go and check on her. I walked down the hall and noticed her door was closed. I opened the door and found this. She must have been really tired or bored. She didn't cry at all, just grabbed her blanket and layed down for a snooze.

Our little boy is now 23 weeks along and starting to get big. I'm really starting to get the pregnant belly instead of the I just look like I've gained weight belly. Seeing our niece Amelia who is 2 months reminded me of how small they are. And I am not looking forward to my jealous Olivia meeting her new brother. I held Amelia for a couple of minutes this weekend and Olivia freaked! I'm sure if she could talk she would have said, "Hey! I'm the baby!" So we will see how it goes in October.

A Day at the Park

It was a warm sunny day so we decided to go to the park with our friends. I can't believe how big my little girl is getting. She walked around the park by herself, climbed up the stairs by herself, went down slides by herself...she is getting too big! We had alot of fun though. There was a nice Lasse dog that Olivia kept pointing at and saying "Da-eee"

It's Been A While

Here is a little update since I haven't blogged since Olivia's Birthday. Liv is getting really big and is starting to say a few things (well she says ALOT, just not in English). She says "Uh-Oh" when something falls or she throws something she's not supposed to. She will repeat "Thank You" if you say it to her (most of the time). We are working on what does a ducky say and what does a bear say, and she gets it about 25% of the time. I can't believe how big she is getting and how independent she is. When it's time to go I will tell her to get her shoes and she tries to put them on herself. Once shoes and coats are on, she grabs the diaper bag and starts grunting and dragging the bag to the door. The other day I walked into the bathroom and she had found a small set of fingernail clippers (they were closed) and she was putting them on her toes like she was clipping her nails. She is also facinated her with belly button and isn't afraid to show it to anyone. In February we made a trip up to Washington with our friends the Jenkins. We had a blast. We went skiing and snowboarding twice, went to downtown Seattle, the girls went to a free Gymboree class that they LOVED, we went swimming, and had alot of fun just visiting with the fam. It was a really fun trip.

Bathtime with Dad

Downtown Seattle

At the top of Alpental

Elena and Liv playing with "Betty White"
Look at those chompers! 4 teeth now

One Year

I can't believe my little girl is already one year old. It has gone by so fast! It has definitely been a new experience being a mom and having someone else besides Andrew and me. She has changed our lives so much. Here are some of my favorite moments from this year:
1. Seeing you for the first time
2. Your first real smile
3. Your blessing day
4. The first time you slept through the night without your Lamby Swing
5. When we were watching a sad movie and it looked like you were crying, so we laughed and said you were crying and you instantly made a noise that sounded exactly like "No I'm Not!"
6. Your first steps with Aunt Jessica in Minnesota
7. The first time I was away from you for a while and you were excited to see me, the same way you are always excited to see your dad when he gets home (I was always jealous of your dad for that)
8. Rockin’ out to Reggae Got Soul
9. All the times you snuggled with me
10. All the times you laughed with me

Happy Birthday Olivia! I love you!

Olivia's New Home

I am a big fan of homemade toys, so is Olivia. When a present for Andrews birthday came, it was a rectangular box, so I propped it up and it was Olivia's tunnel. When Andrew and I paid off our cars we celebrated by buying a Bar-B-Que Grill, and that box was huge. So I had an idea. I cut a square out and hooked Olivia's tunnel up to it. Then I cut out a couple of windows and Olivia had a new home...but it was still under construction. The local carpet company had those free carpet samples that they use in preschools, so we carpeted her floor. Then Andrew made a real roof so She would stop hitting her head on one of the flaps that hung down. And since it is the Christmas season, she of course had to decorate. She loves it in there. She will drag toys in and push other ones out to make room. She is alot like her dad and that house is her "garage time", where she can be alone but knows that mom is right there.

Fall's over, but it was fun.

First leaves (next year we expect this should be a picture of Olivia's first raking the entire yard all by herself)

Fort Snelling, Minnesota

Grandpa's House and secret hiding places.

Apple Orchard. Olivia wasn't much help with the pick your own apples.

The Smith clan

Smith clan at St. Paul temple

Minneapolis Airport (they made Olivia pick up her own bags)

Boat ride in Grandpa's backyard

Trunk or treat's best decorated car, you had to skee to see how many treats you get (thanks to the trash pile for supplying the materials to build it)

Ward winning costumes

A little of everything

Olivia and I got back from Lake Powell about a week ago. Andrew stayed home and worked and I ditched him as always. We had lots of fun and Liv loved the boat rides.

Olivia playing with Elmo

I think summer is finally over. It has stopped being in the 90's this week and has been raining off and on. Our chickens don't really like the rain. Mosher's "hair" cracked me up because it looked like a girl who spent alot of time on her hair and then went out in the rain haha. Poor Mosher. Our chickens have finally started being useful though. For about a month we only had one chicken laying an egg a day. But now I think 4 out of the 7 are laying because yesterday I found 4 eggs and today I found 3.

Olivia never fails to make us laugh. Today she has been slapping her head over and over again...I don't really know what she is doing, but whatever haha. Well that's some updates on what has been going on in the last little bit.