Circus Parade

Last Thursday Livi and I took frontrunner down to the Gateway for the Circus Parade. It was really short, but a lot of fun. They had a few floats with the performers, some clowns, and of course the elephants! Olivia cried when it was over because she wanted to see more. Next year we will have to get tickets and take her to the actual circus.

The train ride home was a little crazy with tired cranky kids.

Here are some cute pics we've taken recently:

Livi "texting"

She love to wear my sunglasses. I think she looks better in them than I do.

Cooking with mom. She loves to help.

Carousel at Peach Days in Brigham City

Aquarium

About a week ago Livi and I along with a couple of friends decided to head to Sandy to check out the aquarium. I didn't really know whether or not she would be into it, but I thought we'd give it a try and she loved it. They have really neat tanks filled with all kinds of amazing fish. They also have an open pond thing where you can pet the stingrays - I did it, but was kind of a chicken about it, they were a little slimey. They had other exhibits with turtles, spiders, frogs, and all sorts of creatures. It was kinda hard to get good pictures in the aquarium with the dim light and the kids wanting to run around like crazies.

Olivia, Eli & Carter. I can't remember what was in this tank, but its the only time the three of them stood in the same spot long enough for me to get a picture.

Very cool tank with sharks in it. Olivia loved this one.

Eli & Livi checking out the cool yellow fish that looked like a piece of coral.

Dance Party

Lately Dallas & Olivia have been having dance parties. Dallas will plug his ipod into the stereo and blast the music and the two of them will have a dance party. She loves it! Now she will grab his hand and walk him over to the stereo, put his and on it and say dance. She is too cute! It is so much fun to watch her dance. Here's a short clip of video from the dance party before bed the other night. Please ignore my shrill voice narrating. Does anyone else hate the sound of their own voice on recordings?

Westwood California

In the middle of July we traveled to Northern California to visit my Grandpa Cowan's hometown of Westwood and visit with all of the California Relatives. The Westwood/Lake Almanor area of California is such a small town, but incredibly beautiful with a lot of fun adventures to be had.

This is my favorite picture. Grandma and Livi enjoying an afternoon snack of popcorn.


Grandma and Uncle Charles enjoying the amazing view from the deck of the cabin.

We rented a house right on the shore of Lake Almanor and Olivia had a blast playing in the dirt and throwing rocks in the water. Olivia is so busy and letting her play on the beach required my full attention so I didn't get around to taking very many pictures. We can't wait to go back!!

I thought her expression here was so funny.

Dallas and Ryan trying to figure out how to windsurf.

Mom & Karson taking the kayak out for a spin.

Dallas & my dad attempting to windsurf. I think you might need wind in order to windsurf, but what do I know.

Girls Camp

In June I attended Girls Camp with my YW. Those of you who know me know that I am not a camper so the thought of going to camp where there are no flushing toilets and no showers did not have me jumping for joy. I love my YW and we had such a blast. The mosquitoes were insane and it rained every day we were up there, but I think our girls had a great time and were able to feel the spirit. Due to the rainy weather I didn't have my camera out often, but here are the few pictures I did take.


We loved having Brother Later at camp. He is a perpetual Scouter and felt a little uncomfortable surrounded by girls, but we won him over and ended up giving him a pedicure before camp was over. I think I will be in big trouble if word gets out that I posted these pics on my blog.

Hello Again

Wow, has it really been two months since I've updated my blog? I don't really know what's kept me from keeping this up to date, but hopefully I can get back on track. We've been having a fun summer playing in the kiddie pool and also hitting the local pools. I went to girls camp, we celebrated the fourth, and we went to California so I'll try to post about all of those things soon and get all caught up. I hope all you are having a great summer too!

Help

I am so tired of fighting a loosing battle every night so I am turning to you fellow bloggers for help. Every night around 8:30 most passerbys can hear this battle ragging on inside our home. Some of you might have worried about the safety for those of us inside because to hear the screaming coming from our house you would immediately jump to conclusions and assume we were being tortured by some evil villan. But truth be told, the screaming usually only generates from one small person and the battle can be summed up in one simple word. Toothbrush!

Olivia absolutely hates having her teeth brushed and I am so sick of fighting her every night. I have tried everything I can think of to get her to cooperate. I have tried a couple of different toothbrushes, I have tried getting my toothbrush and letting her brush my teeth while I brush hers, I've tried letting her take a turn and then trying to take my turn, I've tried letting her hold the toothbrush while I move it over her teeth. This girl is stubborn and all attemps generally conclude with me trying to hold her hands and pin her head and barely managing to brush her teeth while she screams her head off and thrashes around.

I surely can't be the only one who has a child with an absolute hatred of teeth brushing. We don't really battle on anything else, but where this is a matter of health and hygiene I can't let her win. Any suggestions? I'm getting desperate.


Also, Olivia is now 16 months old, but I wanted to take a moment and post the measurements from her 15 month check up.

Weight - 23.6 lbs (56th percentile)

Length - 32 inches (88th percentile)

Now Hiring

Olivia Hamblin's Stroller Wash is looking for a few new employees!

Qualifications:

Must be under the age of 8

Enjoy working outdoors

Must wear sunscreen & love to play in the water

Naptime afterwards is a requirement

Experience with stroller detailing a must!

Hours: Probably every day during the summer

Pay: Popsicles or Goldfish Crackers

Uniform: Swimsuit or less : )

Anyone interested in applying should apply in person at Olivia's House.

In case you were wondering, Olivia has and umbilical hernia so that's why her bellybutton looks so crazy.

Moab

In February my dear old dad turned fifty so for his fiftieth birthday present my sister and I went in on a condo in Moab and last weekend was the trip. It was a quick trip, but we had a great time and it was nice to spend some time together as a family. Olivia was a great little traveler.

I love this picture of Livi with her sunglasses on!

Hiking at Dead Horse Point

Mom & Dad

Olivia loved playing in the dirt. Getting dirt and sand out of her hair is no easy task. There was so much dirt in the tub that night after her bath.

Olivia had a pretty sweet set up in this backpack. I need someone to carry me around in one of these things. Thanks for carrying her mom.

On the way home we got a little bored and decided to have a contest to see who could fit the most Cheetos in their mouth. My brother-in-law won the competition with 21 Cheetos, my sister came in second with 20 Cheetos and I gave a disgraceful performance and was only able to fit 11 Cheetos in my mouth. Luckily my sister couldn't figure out how to work my camera so there are no mortifying pictures of my participation in the contest.

Mom's Helper

While doing yard work last week I noticed we had a lot of ants in the yard and I'm paranoid about them getting into the house. I needed to mop the floor this morning anyway, but I decided to side the fridge out from the wall and get any crumbs that might have gotten under there to keep any ants away. I knew I would need something to distract Olivia while I was cleaning behind the fridge so I grabbed the swifer and made it Livi size. She loved it! She had so much fun dunking her mop in the water and siding it around the floor. We ended up with a little extra water on the floor and some wet pants, but she had a great time and I was able to get my chores done. I love that she is so happy to help! I want to encourage her rather than just try and keep her out of the way.

Wicked Good Time

Last night Dallas and I were able to so see Wicked. It was a great show and so nice to have a date night! It is always so much fun to go to the theatre and I can't wait to take Olivia to shows when she's older. Thanks for babysitting Halley and thanks for the hook up with the promotional code so that we could buy tickets without standing in the freezing cold.

Confessions

My name is Sarah Hamblin and I'm a brand snob. Ok, now that its out there let me clarify that my snobbishness has nothing to do with clothing or stuff like that, but when I go to the grocery store I have to buy all the stupid brand name products. Well, I'm starting my treatment and recovery today. My wallet has been hurting significantly over the past year with the huge jump in food prices and adding Olivia to our family and time and time again I see news reports saying that the first trick in slashing your grocery bill is to buy the generic brands. Well, today was grocery shopping day and I was determined to buy the western family brand items. I must admit that it made a huge difference. Stupid stuff like canned tomatoes, paper towels and pop tarts were drastically cheaper. I probably saved about forty dollars buying the western family stuff. I don't know why or how I became such a brand snob, but I'm going to try and put and end to it. There are a few things that I think I will always have to buy the brand name like cereal (sorry, there aren't enough varieties of the bagged kind) hot dogs, and cheese. So, that's the end of my brand snobbishness (except for makeup, I don't think I can fix that one).

My other confession this week, deals with last night's dinner. As a kid finding out that Tuna Casserole would be on the dinner menu was devastating. No offense mom, but tuna casserole was just not a favorite of mine. So as an adult and in charge of dinner at my home I swore I would never make tuna casserole. Well, last night after seven years of marriage I made the dreaded tuna casserole. I was practically out of everything (hence the grocery shopping today) and I needed something somewhat fast because I had to leave in an hour for the young women activity. So upon searching through the cupboard I saw a can of cream of mushroom soup with the tuna casserole recipe suggestion on the back and because Olivia loves noodles and it would provide some protein I went for it. Dallas also had childhood trauma involving tuna casserole so he opted for the frozen pizza instead.

Now you have some insight into the craziness around here. I gotta go finish my yard work.

Olivia Update

Its been almost a month since Olivia's one year check up, but I thought I'd post her latest stats anyway.

Weight: 21 lbs. (50th percentile)

Length: 30 inches (79th percentile)

Olivia's favorite food right now are bananas, mandarin oranges, french fries, any type of pasta dish and ramen noodles. We've also been sneaking into the Easter candy early and she seems to be a fan of the robbin eggs - Grandpa Jones will be so proud.

She loves to try and run over the dogs with her doll stroller (she laughs and laughs while chasing them around).

She loves to help around the house - she wants her own duster when I dust and she pushes her stroller around next to me while I'm vacuuming (apparently the stroller can act as both a dog torture tool and a vacuum). I fixed our sink the other day and Olivia had to be right by my side peering underneath the sink and jabbering away in her own baby language.

Olivia can now say "mama" "dada" "all done" "ruff ruff" (when asked what a doggie says) and she will tell you "achoo" when you sneeze.

This girl loves to be outside and she screams whenever its time to come inside - thank goodness its getting warmer out there. She also screams when I try to brush her teeth, she always wants to do it herself. Olivia also has some awesome dance moves! She loves to dance around and especially loves dancing to Beyonce and Brittney Spears. I need to get some video of her dancing to post

I know these type of posts are kinda boring for the average reader, but for my own journaling purposes I wanted to make sure I wrote this type of stuff down.