St. Croix

After getting back from Utah our last stop for the summer was St. Croix. Olivia is an airport security expert. She has her ticket ready to present to the TSA agent and she is very quick to get her shoes off and into the bin. However, at this particular airport our airport savvy 3 year old seemed to raise some red flags for the TSA agents and they pulled her aside for additional screening. I wish I could have taken a picture to capture Olivia's facial expression, although she was very cooperative during the pat down and additional screening she was extremely suspicious of the whole situation.

St. Croix was very beautiful. One thing we immediately realized is that there are a lot of little animals and bugs everywhere and there is no separation between outside and inside for them. There were very large millipedes all over the inside of the house as well as lizards. I thought Olivia would be scared of all the critters running around the house, but after her initial squeal when she saw a lizard run out in front of her, she wasn't the least bit concerned and even scooped a large bug out of the pool with her bare hands.

The house we were staying at had great views and a wonderful pool for Olivia.

Olivia loved having Matt throw her into the air. All in the same breath she kept saying, dad that was too scary for me, do that again!

We had a wonderful time at the beach. Matt and I decided this was the best beach either of us had ever been too. It was so beautiful, it was very clean, the sand was very soft, the water was warm and calm and for some reason we pretty much had it all to ourselves.

Our little gymnast loves to find "balance beams" whenever we are out and about. The palm trees served this purpose.

Whenever we had previously gone to the beach, Olivia hadn't wanted to go into the water. This time she loved the water. We ended up spending almost all of our time out in the ocean together. She kept wanting us to take her out further and further into the ocean.

We all had a wonderful time. If you ask Olivia she would tell you that she loved St. Croix. Not because of all the fun we had together, but because the house we were staying at had a large set of wooden dolls with magnetic clothes that she has absolutely fell in love with. Numerous times since we have been home, Olivia has asked "Can we please go back to that country with those dolls I love so much!"

Idaho

After our trip to Grand Junction we headed to Idaho to meet up with the extended Lambert family.

There was tons of fun to be had. After enjoying mulberry shakes Olivia took her turn at being spun around by grandpa. Grandpa soon realized Olivia's amazing ability of never becoming dizzy when being spun around and around and she didn't want him to stop.


The 3 girls had a lot of fun together. Olivia sure loves spending time with Ella and Vivi!
We looked for a creek for the girls to play around in, the creek ended up being ice cold so the playing was limited, but it was fun to walk around such a pretty area.

We took an excursion out to Yellowstone. We stopped to see this beautiful lake and some roaming buffalo.

Before we started heading back we stopped to see Old Faithful. Here the girls are patiently waiting to see the geyser go off.

The Lambert family vacation was a lot of fun!

Grand Junction

We had a very busy summer, during the last month we took 11 different flights. Our travels began with a trip to Grand Junction to visit Nana and Papa and meet up with my sisters and all of Olivia's cousins. Olivia had really been looking forward to seeing her cousins.

We took a day trip up to the mountains to go fishing. Olivia said she was excited to touch one of the worms, but had a quick change of heart when we opened the container of squirming worms.

Olivia tried her luck at catching a fish with her dad's help, but the fish weren't biting.

It sure was beautiful up there and despite the fact that no one caught any fish, everyone had a fun time.

All the girls taking a break together, enjoying the beautiful surroundings.

One of the highlights of this trip for Olivia was running outside in the middle of a rain storm. All the kids had so much fun getting soaked and chasing each other.

One night the kids attempted a sleep over all in the same bed. It was clear in about 5 seconds that this was never going to result in anyone falling asleep.

Olivia had so much fun spending time with family

...sharing an ice cream with Ruby

...taking a break from running through the sprinklers with Max and Scarlette

...and of course enjoying her time with Nana and Papa. Olivia now refers to Nana and Papa's house as the juice house. She just couldn't believe the never ending supply and wide variety of juice, she loved it.

Birthday Party

For her birthday party, Olivia pretty much wanted a repeat of last years party. She was very excited to count down the days until her party. Unfortunately we kept postponing it while we waited for one of her friends to get back into town. She was so patient as we we kept having to restart the countdown. The party ended up being a month after her real birthday, but she sure was thrilled when the day finally arrived.

We had a bean bag toss as one of the activities. Olivia really enjoyed that game, but was also eager for it to be over so she could turn it into an ice cream costume for herself.

While Olivia's friend put on the ice cream, Olivia ran over and licked her as if she really was an ice cream.

I hadn't planned on having a pinata at the party, but whenever Olivia would talk about her party she always mentioned a pinata so I decided to make her one.

The highlight of the party for Olivia and her friends was the parachute. We waved it up and down over their heads and they couldn't get enough. We probably could have done that the entire party and they would have been happy.

Although Olivia had to wait a while for her birthday party, she really had a fun time with her friends.

Booster Seat

A recent conversation that Olivia and I had:

"Mom do children sit in booster seats?"

"Yes"

"Do little boys sit in booster seats?"

"Yes"

"Do little girls sit in booster seats?"

"Yes"

"Do small inventors sit in booster seats?"

"I suppose so."

A True Fan

Matt and I don't really talk about BYU, but we have recently learned that when Olivia is left to her own thoughts, BYU is on her mind.

The other night I had put Olivia to sleep. I thought she had fallen asleep immediately because I didn't hear a single sound from her bedroom. About 40 minutes later all of sudden I heard very loud chanting, "BYU Cougars...BYU Cougars....BYU Cougars!"

I guess this shouldn't have come as such a surprise since the week before Olivia and I squeezed our way onto a crowded subway, it was crowded but very quiet. As we were riding under the East River, again I heard Olivia loudly chant, "BYU Cougars!!" again and again.

I think it is safe say someone is excited for football season to start.

Happy Pioneer Day

We have been on the east coast for 6 years now and have never had the opportunity to celebrate Pioneer Day. We decided to do our own celebration, which included having Olivia dress up as a pioneer to church.

Olivia enjoyed wearing her pioneer outfit and was anxious to hear pioneer stories and look at pioneer pictures. On the way home from church she asked me if little pioneer girls helped vacuum. I told her I was pretty sure they didn't.

Candy

Olivia has a very unusual relationship with candy. She talks about it all the time and gets very excited about it, but not in the same way most kids do.
A while ago she went to her friend's birthday party and she was given a sucker. She had a little bit of the sucker and than asked me to save it in my purse. About an hour later on the way home she all of a sudden shouted in a voice of great distress, "Mom why did I lick that sucker, now I'm going to get a cavity."

The most interesting aspect of her relationship with candy is that she's far more excited to make what she calls "candy soup," than eat the candy.
When making candy soup she follows a very specific process. She unwraps and collects the candy in a tupperware, then breaks it up into tiny pieces, and then heads to the sink to wash the candy and make candy soup.
The same process is followed each time, she takes it all quite seriously it is quite humerous to watch.

Olivia is 3!

These are a few things that characterize our little girl as she begins life as a 3 year old.

1. Olivia loves to be silly, play tricks on people and make people laugh. It is very important to her to make people laugh. When she is with her friends she puts on a one man comedy routine. She falls to the ground, runs into walls and makes up crazy languages all in an effort to get her friends to laugh, and she is usually very successful.

2. As a result of loving to read, Olivia has an extensive vocabulary. I frequently hear things like this:

- "I saw a dog go to the bathroom on the sidewalk, he was victorious!"

- After waking up one morning she said, "I feel very tired and lackadaisical."

- After walking into a public restroom she immediately stopped and said, "Mom this bathroom is vain and selfless."

3. She is fascinated by things that are gross and macabre. When we read her Bible stories we can never get past the story of Peter chopping off the soldiers ear, she wants us to read it again and again.

4. Imagination reigns supreme. Olivia can go weeks without touching a toy, she would rather play doll with pretend dolls and play restaurant without her toy pots and pans. Her absolute favorite activity right now is to play "holidays." We don't actually act out the holiday, we act out making decorations for each holiday...her favorites are Christmas and Valentines Day.

5. This little girl is obsessed with dresses. The first thing out of her mouth in the morning is, "Can I put on a dress?" She changes her outfit numerous times a day- each time into a different dress.

6. Olivia happens to be the sweetest little girl. She tries so hard to make us happy and show us her love. There isn't a day that passes that after Olivia is asleep Matt and I will comment to each other, "she tries so hard" and she really does try so hard to be kind and thoughtful.

Happy Birthday Olivia!

Olivia had a great birthday, she was lucky enough to have Grandma Mary, Grandpa, Joe and Emily come out for her birthday. Since her birthday was on Sunday this year, we thought we would celebrate on Saturday. Whenever we go to Central Park Olivia always loves to look at the horse and carriages so we thought this would be a fun birthday activity for her.

On the way to the carriages we ran into Elmo and Olivia wanted to say "hi!"




After Central Park we all headed home for a little party. Olivia selected a strawberry cake and lemon frosting for her birthday cake, but she was most excited about the rainbow jello and she wanted to be very involved when it was time to make it.







After the food she opened her presents.




Matt and I got roller skates and a helmet for her birthday. Whenever anyone would ask her what she wanted for her birthday that was always her answer. After opening the skates she put them on immediately. We have since found out she loves to ride her skates inside the apartment, but doesn't love riding them outside.



I'm not sure where she came up with this idea, but since this last winter every time we go down the cereal aisle, Olivia would stop at the Froot Loops box and tell us that was going to be her special birthday cereal. Sunday morning on her birthday she had a big bowl of Froot Loops and loved them.



Olivia enjoyed playing with Joe and Emily. She loved having them here, I don't think she wanted Emily to ever leave her side.



After church we had a birthday dinner. I had asked Olivia what she wanted for her special birthday dinner she requested mashed potatoes and carrots. I added pizza rolls, which I knew she loved, so it would be a little more of a meal.



Olivia absolutely loved having everyone here for her birthday, she was sad to see them leave.