10 Things You May Not Know About This Little 18 Month Old

Yesterday was Olivia's first big step into the social world, she went to nursery. It is amazing how pathetic Jaron and I were about this whole going into nursery thing! After we dropped Liv off, we reluctantly walked away and were told by a passerby that if we went into the kitchen we could peek through a little crack and look into the nursery. We hurriedly engaged in our spiying and saw little Liv sitting there, looking like a tiny little thing compared to all the big toddlers around her. She seriously looked so small compared to all those kids! After about five minutes of fussing over who got to peek through the hole, we decided we should probably head to Sunday school. We reconvened after sunday school and commenced the spying. There she was just sitting in the little chair listening to the singing time lady and the other kids sing songs. She looked happy, and so little.

About 8 months ago when Liv started walking, I was counting down the days until she would go into nursery and I would get to enjoy Sunday school and relief society in peace again. And let me tell you it was wonderful. Sunday school felt like a date with Jaron as we listened to an amazing lesson on Charity given by Brother Stout. And Relief Society was uplifting as well. But really it was a bitter sweet day for me. I really can't believe that our baby is in nursery. She's really not a baby anymore. Every once in awhile before she goes to sleep I still try to rock her, because I just want her to be my baby forever.

I feel like many of my friends and family don't really have the chance now to know Liv and get to see her personality as her little spirit develops more and more. So I thought I would share some FYI's about Liv with those of you who don't get to see her often.

FYI #1: One of Olivia's favorite things in this world is animals. She adores dogs. Every dog she sees, be it pit bull or Weiner dog, she heads straight for their big face to give it a kiss. She also loves birds, bugs, and fish a lot. I think she is so astute and observant of the world around her. Just like her Dad, she notices the tiniest movement and can spot things that are really far away. The other day she noticed the moon and pointed to it and started jabbering, like she was the first to discover it and she was so excited to show me what she found in the sky.

FYI #2: Olivia is so joyful and energetic. She loves waving at people and has all of our neighbors smitten with her charm and joyfulness.

FYI #3: Olivia can say several words: more, Mom, Dad, Paco, Jane, Jesus, Amen, nose, eye, toe, No No, thop (stop), doe (don't), and of coarse tankoo (thankyou) and hi.

FYI #4: Olivia loves trying on new clothes/food/trash/jewelry. I'll explain. Pretty much anything can be worn in her eyes. Usually the common place she tries to put things whether its a piece of chewed up candy, a necklace of mine, a new shirt, or a wrapper, it belongs under her neck or on her back. Lots of times she also just likes to throw things down her back. Its hilarious to watch her go through the items in my purse throwing things behind her back as if she's frantically searching for something (which she is, gum).

FYI #5: Olivia still has no hair.

FYI #6: But she's beautiful anyway.

FYI #7: Olivia is a tough kid. She rarely cries when she falls down or hurts herself. If she does cry its not because she's hurt, its because she is annoyed at the dirt on her hands and wants it off.

FYI #8: (Note: This doesn't need to be said, because everyone from acquaintance to BFF and sister knows this) Olivia is the best squealer I know. If you have talked on the phone to me, been to church with us, or just been around Olivia at all, you know that she has a very high squeal. Today for the first time I asked her if she could please not do that and that Mom and Dad were getting headache's and "Could you please not scream anymore?" and she simply nodded and didn't scream the whole rest of the car ride home which was another hour or so, so that is really saying something. I thought to myself, is this all it takes, a little reasoning is all she needs! Finally a solution.

FYI #9: Olivia loves to play house wife with me. One of her favorite games is pretending like she is making soup out of her Noah's Arc animals. She often brings my little towel, apron that Pepper made for me, to me because she wants to put it on and just wear it around the house while she plays with her toys. Every morning when I wake up and make the bed she stands by me and hands me every pillow so that I can put it on the bed. And every time I move the wet laundry into the dryer she rushes to my side to let me hand it to her so that she can then plop it in the dryer. She takes such satisfaction in helping me.

FYI # 10: Olivia loves music. Whenever Jaron and I turn on music, which is often, Olivia bops her little head and stomps her little fat legs. Its so cute.

Oh the list could go on, but I just have to say that I love this little Gracie girl. She is such a joy and light to my life. I'm so grateful for her!

Tomorrow she has her 18 month check up. She has to get the four standard 18-month shots, plus four more that our last doctor forgot to do! So that is 8 shots in total! Say a little prayer she will live through it, or that I will live through it, which ever the case may be.

Exploring the Northwest Pacific Coast

Click on the sideshow to view the pictures in a larger format

This weekend Jaron, Olivia, and I met up with our friends the Crosdales and went camping on the west coast. Our first campsite was at Long beach, Washington (about three hours away) and our second was Manzanita, Oregon (about an hour and a half south of our first spot).

It really was one of the funnest camp outs of all time! This entry is going to be a little detailed for Brown Family Adventure historic purposes, so feel free to skip to the pictures. Here we go:

Day 1: Jaron got off work at 1:00, so we arrived in Long beach about 4:30. After establishing our camp site and checking in, we jumped in our swimsuits and headed off for the beach. It was 90 degrees, so the cold water felt so good! The coolest part about long beach is that you can drive on the beach right next to the beautiful water! It was so fun. While Olivia and I played on the sand, Jaron atempted to surf in a really cruddy spot. Olivia loved the ocean. She sometimes would be playing discreetly int the sand and the tide would suddenly come up and knock her off her feet. At first she was shocked, but then she would giggle and point to the water. It think she secretly liked it. Apparently it was pretty bad surf, because twenty minutes later Jaron was back on shore playing with Olivia and me. We had so much fun playing in the water and just runnin around on the beach.

The Crosdale's arrived that night around 8:00 pm. After some roasted hot dogs, smors, and lots of laughter we were off to bed.

Day 2: I woke up so happy, because Olivia slept so good all night long!! Yay, thus we knew that camping could be done with her after all! After some delicious donuts and pineapple we packed up camp and headed off to the Oregon coast. We made a quick stop at long beach to have a little mario cart style race with Rick and Eva on the beach. It was so fun! Jaron and Rick were anxious to paddle out so with out further adieu they embarked into the waves while Eva, Paco, Liv, and I hung out on the beach. After a few hours, Olivia was getting tired. Have no fear we had the tad pole! So we set it up and while she took a nap, Rick and Eva were kind enough to hang out so that I could try out my new mothers day present, a beautiful wet suit!!

Jaron and I surfed for about an hour together. He basically just pushed me into waves. It was soo fun! My wet suit kept me so warm, and it made the cold pacific coast, not so scary. We stayed to the inside and the waves were perfect for me. Nice and small, just how I like them. :) Really this was the funnest part of the trip for me. Thanks to Rick and Eva for watching Liv, it really felt like a little surfing date. It was so fun. I only wish we had pictures!! Oh wait no I don't because that would mean a picture of me in a wet suite. Yuck!

:)

After all our surfing fun, we laid on the beach for a little while and warmed up. Next we were off to find our next sleep place. We found a beautiful campsite just a few minutes away from Oswald west, where we enjoyed the biggest hot dogs I've ever seen in my life, some warm chili, salad, and smors. Sunday morning, bright and early, we woke up and were on our way back home to real life.

The Oregon coast is absolutely gorgeous! I can't wait to get back there. We've made a goal to go camping at least once a month this summer! Anyone want to come??

Spa Night with my Ladies

There are so many things that I love about where we decided to live in Seattle, but I just want to tell you about my number one favorite thing about where we live: our ward! It's so great. There are about ten or twelve girls that are all about my age. Some are married and have a few kids, and some are married with out kids. They are all such fun girls! And I really love em! Anyway, once a month we have been getting together to do something fun, and to have a break from our kids. The first month we had fun just getting to know each other while we made marble magnets, the second month it was a recipe swap, and this month it was a Spa night. So far I think this was the best activity yet!

Linea, who hosted, invited her sister, a licensed estetician to come do some waxing, for free! We had face waxing. We had salt rub leg, foot, and hand massages. We had toe nail painting and face masks. And most importantly, we had yummy treats!! It was such a fun night! I feel so spoiled to be friends with such neat girls, and so many of them!

Here are some pictures of our fun night!














Thanks to the esthetician we now enjoy hairless upper lips and nicely groomed eyebrows!

What Kind of Magic Spells Do you Use?

Olivia is getting her one year molers in, along with a few other teeth. The poor girl hasn't been happy for a whole week! I feel so bad for her. I wish I could just take the pain away. Well today I took some of the pain away by distracting her with a nice little outing outside. It even rained outside so I got to put her in her cute little rain jacket!

Uh oh, pain coming on again distract distract!

How bout some bubbles Liv?

She is signing "More?"
Sure Liv!! Anything that will make you happy!

Why is it that this bubble makes me want to start singing "I saw my baby, crying hard as babe could cry. . ." or "Power of the babe, what babe, the babe with the power, what power, the power of who do? You do?" or "What kind of magic spells do you use?" You've gotta love David Bowie in the Labrynth, its an all time classic in my family, and its almost as good as The Lady in White.

But really, what kind of magic spells do you use? When your baby is crying almost every minute that they are awake, because they are teething, and even the baby Tylenol doesn't help? Any suggestions. My bubbles are running out. . .

Note to Self:

If you decide to make a huge tray of Heavenly Hash Brownies again, eat a few and give the rest away at once! They are addictive brownies and will not escape your thoughts until they are out of your site once and for all.

P.S. I put the link to the recipe up here with this note of caution. Beware, heavenly hash brownies may cause negative side affects such as lack of will to do anything that does not involve putting that warm, squishy, melt of chocolaty marshmallow in your mouth. . . On that note friends, I bid you farewell I'm off to the Tupperware container now that I've made the first step of acknowledging my addiction I will congradulate myself with one more brownie, and then give them all away, I promise!

Master Jaron and our trip to Utah

I've just spent the last two weeks in Utah. It was hard coming back. I think I experienced a bit of domestic atrophy, because when I got back I realized I had completely forgotten how to cook, clean, do bills, and get up with Olivia in the morning. Mom couldn't you have just flown home with me??

We had such a a great trip! I flew out on the 19th of April and stayed until the 1st of May. Jaron came out for the 23rd to the 27th. The reason for our stop in Utah, was graduation. For which also we got to see the Brown's, and even got to see Pepper and Archie who flew home a few weeks early from New Zealand to be there. Thanks again Pepper and Archie for expediting your trip so we could hang out!

Here are some pic's along with a few details of the trip!

Guess who graduated?? Yup thats right, Jaron Brown. Man of the hour, every hour. Feel free to start referring to him as Master Jaron from here on out.

Sorry for the blurry picture, I think I was hollering "hurray" at the exact moment the shutter went down.

Quick tangent, check out this guy's beard. He was in the audience with us. Lucky us.

Moving on.

I think his smile says it all: "I don't' have to take a final ever again!!" ya Jaron!!

Jaron finally figured out how your supposed to wear the hood. . .

After graduation was over we had fun eating great food at a wonderful party my mom threw for Jaron, Jeremy Bowen, and Aaron Hatch. Her idea of simple turned out to be grilled salmon, barbeque ribs, and terriaki chicken. I won't even mention my idea of simple. Lets just say it involves bread and a toaster. It was such a great dinner. Thanks again Mom and David Daddy!

Also Pedicure's, special thanks to Momma Brown.

Olivia even took part too! It was so cute to see them massaging her little chubby calves and painting her chubby toes!
The few days we had with the Brown family went by way to fast and before we knew it we were saying goodbye! :( I hate goodbyes!

After I said goodbye to the Brown's I had fun spending some quality time with my family. We had fun mostly just hanging out and talking, but also enjoyed a picnic in the park, shopping, going out to eat, watching movies, and even going to the movies!! Which I never get to do now that babysitting is not as easy to get out here!! It was so fun.
We can't wait until July when we will be in Utah again!!