Picture (not so) Perfect

I took Olivia to Kiddie Kandid's the other day for attempt #1 at getting her 1-year picture taken. It was not pretty. She wouldn't crack a smile. Not one. They brought out that clown-colored tickler thing (it looks like a duster) - her bottom lip came out and she started backing up to get away from it. The girl kept poking her with it. I have to wonder about the girls that work there. Do they really know what they are doing? I'm thinking NO! The girl tries for a couple minutes to get her to smile and then she starts calling for reinforcements who half-heartedly try, and then they all just begin staring at me and asking stupid questions like, "is she like this all the time?", "is she tired?", "is she hungry?" Yep, I brought my personality deprived, sluggishly tired, starved child in for pictures. Bring it on! Not learning my lesson, I showed up again today. She did do better than the other day but whenever she would get excited, her little hands would go flying up to her face. The photographer took three shots. Finally I just told her I would pick from those three and call it good. We may as well document it like it is.

Here are the pics of my little stinker- they are kind of microscopic but the best I can do. She is so cute and I wanted so badly for her to show all her teeth. The 3rd one is probably the best. You can see her bottom teeth but not the top.

Crisis Averted

Tonight Taylor came in the house screaming as though he had an arm lobbed off. I still can't tell you what happened to the kid but I can tell you this- he was hurt and not a kiss from mommy or a popsicle from daddy was going to solve the crisis. Through his death screams, we could only make out one word. "BANDAID". Really, what's up with that? Don't they really just make things worse, kind of soggy-like? I think they are gross but in the world of a 4-year-old, they are a necessity. He had cut the inside of his mouth with his teeth so Dave says "Taylor, we can't put a bandaid inside your mouth" which was met with more traumatized screaming. Generally when there is no blood to be found, I spend 10 minutes talking him out of a bandaid (it's the principle of the thing) but I felt bad for him because there really was blood- it just wasn't in a bandaidable (is that a word?) spot. This is what we settled on:

I'm thinking he looks a little Hitler-esque- not a good look on anyone but it silenced the death scream. So tonight we send out 'kudos' to the makers of Bandaids everywhere. Thanks for making my life just a little quieter!

WICKED

I've found in my life that what Dave wants, Dave gets. It occasionally works to my advantage. That said, we had a fun weekend going to Columbus, Ohio to see the Broadway Musical WICKED. We went to Denver last month to see it for the first time and LOVED it. Dave hadn't listened to the music much before then so after we saw it the first time, he tuned in and decided we needed to see it again. It was a great perfomance. Now we just have to decide where to see it next!

Stars and Stripes FOREVER

What says 4th of July more than chessy clothes-matching family fun? We began our 4th of July festivities still at Palisade State Park. We spent half the day there on the lake, packed up and headed home. We went to a bbq over at my Grandma Jensen's house and then stuck around for a neighborhood firework display. Dave went to the Real soccer game. Alright, who am I kidding here, I really just want to shamelessly post more pics of my kids. What's a girl to do when her kids are just so darn cute? Oh, and I'll throw in a family picture too, just for kicks...

The fam

All of my children looking in the same direction (sort of) at the same time- this is worth documenting! I just won't tell you how many pictures we had to take to get here...

Whaaaat? Taylor and Sara holding hands and looking... content? This is a miracle.

I'm not sure about Taylor's facial expression on this one but it's still cute!

It's unreal the attitude that comes along with a face so sweet. I'm attributing the attitude to her being 2 years old and crossing my fingers!




I just want to eat this baby up- she is so cute!

Climb aboard the "Chancho Yoda"

We had a fun Fourth of July week. We took the kids camping to Palisade State Park- it's down by Manti. It turned out to be such a fun time. We camped right on the edge of a tiny little reservoir- there was a swim beach and the water was warm. We purchased a new raft and steered Taylor in the right direction of giving it a proper name- "Chancho Yoda"- the name of the puppy he somehow thinks (and couldn't be more wrong) we will be acquiring in the near future. Everything was smooth sailing, though I wasn't too thrilled over the skunk sneaking through our garbage in the middle of the night- it wouldn't have been so bad if our tent zipper wasn't broken- I was sure I was going to be sharing a bed with a skunk. My parents and Alan and Kristina came along. It made for a good time! We highly recommend this place for a fun family campout.

Dave, Alan, Kristina, Taylor and Sara went on a hike on the mountain behind our camp and took this picture of the lake

Dave, Natalie, Taylor and Sara aboard the "Chancho Yoda"

Our little diva didn't miss a beat making sure she came camping with her Disney princess flashlight in tow- and check out her "camping hair".

Taylor likes to be and do everything just like dad- hiking included. He made it to the top of the mountain( okay, really a hill) like a champ! He got a new headlamp for the trip which was plastered to his head as soon as it appeared the sun might be setting- he especially liked that it was a normal flashlight and had a red light too.

Livvy basically smashed food everywhere making our camp an ant haven- if she wasn't smashing food, she was eating dirt and loving every second of it.

Deseret Peak Hike

Just in case any of you are interested in things other than kids, here is a few pictures of my hike last weekend up Deseret Peak. My hiking buddies are Natalie's bros and sister- Mark, Alan, and Kristina.

It was a great climb. Fantastic!! My first trip to the Stansbury Mountains. I strongly recomend it to any one.










Here's me on the saddle










Here we are on the summit


Here is a view of the mountain massive from about half way through the meadow area.

Happy Birthday Livvy!

I've been inspired (aka: badgered by Nat2 to the point of insanity) to actually start blogging! And no, Nat2 isn't my alter ego, just my sister-in-law, Natalie, who is married to my brother Russell. It is to her that I owe this blog to.

Yesterday was Olivia's First Birthday. It was so fun. I love a good party! Well, I should say, I love to throw a good party, a great party, in fact. So although she is only 1, I went all out with decorations and such. Why? Because I can! She wasn't too thrilled with her party hat- it only lasted for about 4 pictures. She'll thank me later. I was having a hard time coming up with a good cake idea and then I remembered a cute cake my friend Raylene made for her daughter's first birthday a couple years ago- it is perfect for Livvy because she loves the bath. The crowning glory of the entire day was that my bathtub cake actually turned out cute. I was worried when both cakes fell into three pieces while I was trying to get them out of the pan. But with a little luck and a lot of frosting, I was able to salvage it and glue us together a rubber ducky tub cake. And here's the proof...

Every birthday girl (and boy) needs her own cake so this is the cake I made for her to dig her little paws into:

Here she is eating her cake. She was slightly timid about putting her hands into it at first, kind of like, "is someone going to start yelling?" but then she got going and had a great time. There's nothing like squishy birthday cake oozing between your fingers!

It was a great day! I feel so blessed to have Olivia in our family. She is so sweet and loving.

Here are a few of her tricks:

- clapping (she knows the word clap and claps on demand- very cute)

- stands up from the middle of the floor ( she has done this for months)

- says "uh oh"

- professional stair climber (only up, not down)

- she walks a couple steps here and there- we need to work on the balance thing