last bit of UT

last few randoms from our trip...

having shakes at jcw's. i was taking a picture to show adam that this was a size SMALL, but olivia took that as an opportunity to grab what was rightfully hers, apparently.

we checked out some little shops that were new to the old stomping grounds...

had dinner on a cool night (i had to soak it up and stuff O into this totally unnecessary coat)....apparently she was spooked by something?

hitting the bottle before we go inside? pretty sure that is a toy and not a cup so i don't know what she's doing.

dinner at blue lemon with missy and jessie...children in tow.

checking out the noah's ark splash park at thanksgiving point...WELL worth my $3.

mmm..chlorine. delicious.

olivia with her BF brody

helping jessie throw a tea party bridal shower for her cousin martha. who is the hostess with the mostest????

and...we did a little shopping....

and lots of eating!!

saying goodbye to heather and molly...

and to auntie jessie. so sad!

discovery gateway

still feeling kind of overwhelmed with all my photos....but this works out because our trip to the discovery gateway childrens museum deserves a post of its own. i was obsessed with how much fun it was and how much stuff there was to do. and it didn't hurt that olivia was in heaven.

we did so many things.....

we played on big swans....

and got really annoyed when having our picture taken.

we put on a "where the wild things are" stage performance with our friends brody

and molly.

(apparently olivia was feeling plenty wild and did not need a costume.)

we went NUTS for all the buttons to push inside this real-life helicopter...

and could NOT be bothered for a photo.

there we go. cute little pilot.

(can you tell she was really busy in there?)

we did a nightly newscast...

"that was a good one, brody."

"goodnight folks. i think my co-anchor fell out of his chair." (not really)

we rode a horsie all by ourselves....

yee haw!

and went down slides headfirst...woah!!

we dressed up our baby friend in a dorky turtle costume so we could pretend we were boating in the sea...

bon voyage!

aaaand, we tried to jump ship when mom said it was time to go.

the end.

grouch patrol

olivia and i just returned from a fun week in utah, but i'm feeling too overwhelmed to blog about the entire trip right now. instead, here is a series of pictures i took on the trip that seem to have one thing in common. can you guess what it is?

hobbies

lately olivia has been loving a few things...

#1- yes, this would be the push car thing that we got her for her birthday in july that we still have not put together. i am feeling more pathetic than i thought i would as i type this. in our defense, we cannot find adam's drill anywhere and it is definitely a required tool in putting this bad boy together. and hey, she doesn't know what she's missing right? for now she thinks it's pretty fun to rock around in it and honk the horn. it's great seating for dora viewings, too.

catching some early morning 'toons

(no she doesn't have a lazy eye even though it looks like it in this picture...)

playing in her car this morning...

#2- she is also obsessed with puzzles. she is definitely known to be seen carrying a piece around for extended periods of time, as seen here.

#3- she has also taken up coloring. she has a special notebook for this activity, but apparently coloring in one of her books (on every page) is much more fun! it's pretty funny to watch her color...she leans over the paper really far and looks at what she's doing.. so either i do that sometimes and don't notice, or she's blind and needs to zero in a little on the important pictures she is drawing!

labor day fun

so on labor day morning, we decided to knock out some fun early and go to breakfast downtown and feed the ducks at the lake after. we were going to make it a party and ride the swan boats, but they didn't open till noon. oh well. olivia had never done the duck feeding thing, so it was pretty funny.

we unfortunately attracted lots of pigeons and other birds...whatever those are...lots of them

adam started getting nervous he was under attack.

"ummm, why would i give this delicious bread to these ducks??"

tasty!

checking out the swans that were too snobby for our white wheat.

needless to say olivia did not share one pinch of bread with the ducks...but she did enjoy eating hers while she watched all the wildlife adam was luring in with his. happy labor day!