Family Pictures (of sorts)

The last couple of weeks I've been trying to get family pictures and well, lets face it, I'm too lazy to have them actually done professionally, so here are some of our attempts.  I may just break down and have somebody do them for us - it would probably be worth the effort.

In these Olivia wasn't interested in taking pictures so we were trying to distract her, and then all we got was her rear end.

Here Olivia was cooperating but then wanted the camera - you see what happens when she doesn't get what she wants.

These ones seem to work the best, even though Olivia isn't even looking at the camera ... and this is why it would probably be worth it to actually get them done.

On an unrelated note, we finally bought Olivia some snow pants, so we all bundled up and went and played in the couple of inches of snow we got.  Olivia could play in it all day I think, she loves being outside!

Christmas Fun

This year for Christmas we went to Vernal to my parents for a couple of days and then came back to Salt Lake to have Christmas with the Norton side.  While in Vernal we pulled out a box of toys that was stored away, and I think I was more excited for them than Olivia was, but she did enjoy all the stuffed animals and I got to reclaim some of my old favorites.  

 Olivia woke up at 5 am on Christmas day so we played around until 6 before waking the others.  I dumped everything out of her stocking and the thing she was most excited about was her apple.  I put apples in our stockings because Olivia loves apples and while cleaning up Christmas I found bites in all 3 of our apples.

 Olivia was excited for Christmas, but she is still figuring out how presents and wrapping paper works.  For most of her presents she was more excited for the box then the present itself.  A couple of times she would open her present to just turn around and help the next person open their presents.  It was fun having a little helper.

 This is our Christmas loot.  Yep, we got Olivia a tunnel to crawl through and she loves it!

Here is our second Christmas with the Nortons.  Olivia was interested with Denny's dog toys more then with the presents, but she eventually got into it.  She got a tickle me Elmo, and while opening it she could see Elmo inside - that was the most excited she got with a gift - thanks grandma and grandpa.

Overall it was a fantastic Christmas!! We had lots of fun with family and loved sharing the Christmas spirit with each other.   Thanks everybody for a great Christmas :D

Videos to go with Random Update

Olivia cooking.

Olivia admiring our new Christmas tree.

Olivia being happy :D Nathan was jumping up and down and she thought it was absolutely hilarious.  

Random updates

 Olivia in the kitchen! This girl likes to "cook" and she is constantly getting into cabinets.  She will usually get a pan out and I'll hand her a spatula then she will stir the spatula around in the pan, taste it and say "mmmm".  Hopefully we have a chef in the making (because lets be honest, I'm not too fond of cooking myself).  We are giving her a little kitchenette set for Christmas, so we are giving her plenty of practice. 

 We actually bought a a Christmas tree this year (instead of our traditional cactus) and decorated it with popcorn and candy canes.  This probably goes without saying, but Olivia is fascinated by the Christmas tree.  This picture was taken a week ago and well, I think we are down 4 candy canes and the popcorn is a bit more scarce - I'm just hoping to have a hint of decorations by Christmas. 

 Olivia loves going outside which has been hard to deal with lately with the freezing temperatures but we manage to get out often.  When my dad dropped by one day he took Olivia outside to play in the snow.  He attempted to make a snowman, and what you see in the pictures was the result of that attempt.  We affectionately call him "Mr. Ogre".  When we came indoors after making Mr. Ogre, Olivia would continually run over to the window, peek through the blinds, and talk to our newly made friend.  Thanks dad :D

Olivia has just gotten over a sickness where she had horrible diarrhea and occasional vomiting for 2 weeks.  After a trip to the ER, some IV therapy, and 10 days of antibiotics - Olivia got an appetite is finally gaining weight!! I took this picture to show her little belly that keeps getting bigger.  I think we have even broken the 20 lb mark (yay for almost being able to put her forward facing in her carseat :D).  We are grateful that Olivia is feeling better - it makes everybody happy.

Let It Snow!!

And just like that it is winter! It snowed about an inch last night and Olivia woke up to a winter wonderland.  We bundled up and took our first snowy adventure.  She was very fascinated by the snow!  I usually dislike winter and snow, but I must admit that Olivia may make it more enjoyable this year :D

Fall Leaves

Now that Olivia prefers the bipedal stance we have been taking more walks around our townhomes, and due to recent change of weather we have had the pleasant opportunity of playing in the leaves - yay!!!  Here are some pics celebrating Fall.