Utah trip. (Part 2)

We were able to take a little day trip up to Park City to visit aunt Tiffy.

(Her name is Tiffany but Olivia calls her aunt Tiffy, it's cute.)

Olivia just loves her and when we are home always says that she misses her aunt Tiffy.

We went to lunch at a cute cafe and were able to walk around down town exploring all the shops.

We even got ice cream cones, well Olivia got a sprinkled colored marshmallow on a stick but ended up thinking it was gross haha. I don't blame her!

Of course Olivia's absolute favorite thing is pop so grandma made sure to share hers since I wouldn't buy her her own :)

My cute baby trying to wait patiently for food!

I love this picture.

You can tell Olivia sure loves her aunt Tiffy.

She was so tired that she fell asleep in the car on the way home and let me tell you that is definitely rarer than rare.

Harrison taught Olivia how to play darts and she was dead serious about it.

I am a mean mom and even shot a round at her (about 6 in a row) and she was super brave and didn't cry or anything but just stood up and started chasing after me with her gun!

We had to be careful since Clara learned to pull herself up on the wagon to peep over the edge!

Uncle Winston definitely has the magic touch with sweet Clara.

It was one of those crazy nights and he put her to sleep for me.

Love my precious girl!

We spent some time putting together Emerson's birthday packages. 

I was quite pleased with my idea to put candy inside of balloons and then blow them up to put over all the presents!

It seriously took forever though.

Happy 20th birthday Emerson!

My mom and I were able to sneak away for a quick lunch and tea party at Dear Lizzy.

How cute is this set up?!

My parents bought Frozen and Olivia insisted on watching it at least once a day so that she could sing a long to all the songs with the twins and Harrison!

We went shopping at Fashion Place mall and met my cousin and aunt for lunch and then finished the rest of the afternoon off shopping some more with aunt Tiffy! I think my favorite purchase was a new bra from VS. Oh my goodness goodbye nursing bras!

(Oh and Olivia does not look too excited and that is because she is exhausted from running around the stores like a wild banshee for hours and hours!)

I am sad I didn't get a picture but Sophia and I were able to go to dinner and shop up at City Creek one evening and I found this cuter than heck hat at H&M.

I can not handle how cute Clara looks in it. 

Anyways,  my mom and I were going through scrapbooks and found a picture of me at her age and we are seriously identical. Minus the butt chin haha. But seriously it's kind of fun to have a mini me!

Me and sweet Clara.

Oh I also forgot to mention that Jill talked me in to dying my hair.

I have only done it once and did not like it so I swore I would never do it again.

Haha but I did. I just went a shade darker but I really like it, change can be a good thing sometimes!

Utah trip. (Part 1)

At the end of February my mom came up to get me and the girls to take us back to Utah.

With Michael so busy in school, both girls being sick most of the winter, and constant rain it was time for a much needed vacation.

We had an absolute blast of course.

That being said, it is going to take much more than just one post to document.

And so it begins.

Olivia is obsessed with all things dinosaur. (Super girly right?!)

And when Elizabeth found some dinosaurs that they could paint she was beyond thrilled.

This kept her busy for a shockingly long time considering her attention span usually is minutes at best.

Grandma has a nice big bath that is perfect for bathing both girls.

Bath time is definitely the best part of the day for them!

Jill taught me how to make homemade oreos.

I made sure to make plenty to send to my missionary brothers!

We were able to go on lots of walks with grandma.

Clara is always especially happy when sitting at the table because she knows food is near.

A few days after arriving Olivia got sick. Again.

Thankfully I had lots of help, and after a doctor run and some more asthma medication (I can't believe I forgot hers at home) she was back to normal!

One of the many selfies I sent to Michael throughout the trip.

Most of the times we went on walks we took Boston, and Olivia was always in charge of holding her leash.

On one of our walks (keep in mind that Olivia has been doing really well potty wise) Olivia took off running and disappeared in to our neighbor's yard. When we caught up to her we found her with her pants down. She said, "hi guys, I need to go pee". Haha. I quickly ran down to grab her and thankfully she hadn't peed yet. We told her that she can only go pee outside when there is no toilet around and that we were super close to home where she could go. We had many more instances of her dropping her pants in a variety of places including our back yard, the entry way rug, in the library closet on top of a tupperware and downstairs in my room on my new floral shirt. In those cases she actually peed. And why would she pee on my floral shirt? I have no idea...apparently she thought it was a garden or something.

I blame this on my mom because on one of our outtings my mom did take her outside because there was no bathroom close by and since then she seemed to have a hard time distinguishing where the appropriate place to go was. Luckily this didn't last more than a couple weeks ha.

Clara loved leaning on the sides of the wagon so that she could see everything.

Pizza Pie Cafe to celebrate Harrison's 11th birthday!

She obviously wasn't thrilled about me taking this picture but look at those poor little dry patches on those cheeks. 

One of the things we love about Salem is our constant soft skin!

Taking a ride in the laundry basket downstairs to begin the neverending folding process.

We were able to meet uncle Stephen (Fee fee) at Mcdonalds one day.

Olivia was super shy at first until at the very end she decided to just grab his hamburger and start eating it and then begin laughing uncontrollably for no reason at all.

What goes on in that little one's head is beyond me!

A full belly and a happy baby.

I failed to take pictures of our huge workout parties. But there were a lot. Winston got me going on the P90X ab ripper X. And Jill taught me lots of leg and butt workouts. We also ran sprints up and down our hill. It's time to tone up and get my body back to normal after little Clara! 

Still much much more to come.

February part 2.

I can't believe I am this far behind but it's time to catch up.

A lot has and still is going on in our little family.  Some of it is too personal to share right now but I do have a lot of things to post that are definitely worth documenting. 

So here we go.

We started potty training Olivia this month, and so far she is doing great! It seems like 3 1/2 may just be the perfect age for this business!

Loving her juicy pear.

Homemade apple sauce in the crock pot = tasty success and yummy smelling apartment! 

Snacktime!

This yummy Greek spinach feta chicken pocket is definitely a family favorite.

It is so easy. We add mushrooms to ours and take out the onions. 

Recipe found here.

Olivia loves climbing in to Clara's bath with her and playing.

Bathtime has to be a favorite over here.

Some days are just not the best of days and so all of us look forward to bedtime and starting fresh the next day. These two girls of mine are definitely ready for bed.

I may post a lot of pictures of Clara eating and that's because she literally is eating all day long.

Here she is enjoying some cheese.

Love my happy baby!

 Play time at the park with daddy!

It doesn't get cute than this shaggy toddler of ours!

One morning Michael and I walked into the family room and found these two little snugglers.

We had put Clara on the floor so apparently Olivia picked her up (with all her might) and put her on the couch next to her.

And here are a couple of my favorite videos this month.

Mine and Olivia's first date.

Michael and I have been wanting to each take a turn to take Olivia out on a date for some super fun one on one time.

I was the lucky one and got to start it off. 

She of course picked to go ride the merry go round. It's her absolute favorite thing right now.

And lucky for her she was also able to pick out a special present for successfully completing her potty training!

Yay Olivia!

It will be nice to finally start saving some money on diapers:)

She picked out a little barn of miniature horses.

Of course...she loves those horses!

And to finish off a lovely afternoon we stopped to get ice cream cones!

Michael is already planning his date with her and I am already planning my next one with her.

We just can't get enough of our sweet Olivia!

We sure love you baby girl!

Clara's 9 months.

Here are some things about you this month!

*You officially stopped nursing. I am not going to lie that was quite hard for me. But I just wasn't really producing anything. Since we were already down to one feeding, it was a super easy transition but that didn't make it any easier for me emotionally. Time has gone by much too quickly. You are a fabulous eater. You really will eat anything. And by anything, I mean anything and everything. Honestly, if I let you I think you would sit up in your little highchair all day and just eat. You are eating baby food a few times a day and then just really whatever else the rest of us are eating. You of course still love your bottles. Oh and juice you really like that!

*We set up your highchair right next to Olivia which has proved to be interesting in a couple different ways. Number one Olivia tries to feed you. Which is just a little concerning because she doesn't understand how small things need to be and what food are harder for you to eat with just your gums. Number two you are constantly reaching over and grabbing Olivia's hair, plate, spoon, fork, food, ect. 

*Now you still have no teeth! When Olivia was your age she had 3 teeth already! So as cute as your gummy smile is we are hoping for some teeth to help you along with eating.

*You can now sit up by yourself! Yay!

*You have really mastered scooting. So when we lay you on your stomach you will reach out both your little arms and pull forward all while wiggling those chubby little legs. It's super cute and you really can get anywhere you want by doing this.

*You have a little obsession with eating my hair. I have no idea why you like it so much but you just can't resist grabbing a handful and sucking on it whenever I hold you.

*You are such a happy baby and get super excited when anyone (especially mom, dad, and Olivia) give you attention. When you get excited you rock back and forth. Especially when your dad and I do a little chant that goes something like this (dee de dee de   doo do doo do, boo boo boo boo  bee be bee be. Haha it is hard to write down the tune of how we do it but your dad and I will never forget. Olivia tries to mimic us and you get just as excited when she does it. We especially like to do it when you are laying on your stomach because you just start banging your head up and down and it honestly makes you look exactly like a baby turtle!

*You love music just like daddy and Olivia. And love it when dad turns on music and dances with you.

Goodness sweet girl. We just love you so much and can not get enough of you. We love every moment we spend with you and look forward watching you continue to learn new things. We feel so blessed to have you in our family Clara Sophia.