Olivia Eats a Turkey

We have had a great couple of weeks since we last blogged!

Olivia loved Thanksgiving.  It combines some of her favorite things: stirring, hanging out with her peeps, and EATING!  Here she is with the Garlick girls and their matching aprons.  Get back to cooking, time's a wasting.

While at Nana and Papa's she was able to do some more of her favorite things like watching tv with Papa.  She will spontaneously crawl onto his lap while gesturing and babbling at the tv until Papa turns on Yo Gabba Gabba. 

She also enjoyed sitting on Henry.  He's got to learn to crawl faster!

Here Olivia is eating her Thanksgiving feast.  She pounded down the food and we barely heard a peep out of her.  She couldn't get enough!

After hanging out with family and stuffing ourselves silly, we headed out on a road trip to Las Vegas.  It was Olivia's biggest road trip yet and we were a little anxious how she would fare.  However, we hooked up a double screened dvd player, and she looked like this for the majority of the trip.  Fittingly, she watched Cars for part of it!

Just off the strip with the kids.  Don't be fooled by Bob's smiling face, Las Vegas is not equipped for children!  We were only there a day or so, but we had a hard time finding kid-friendly activities.

We did stop by the local mall and there was a Santa and elf-ette dance routine going on.  Olivia couldn't get enough of it.  She wouldn't even look at the camera!

And now for the reason for our trip, a Yo Gabba Gabba Live concert!  They came to Salt Lake a few weeks ago, but Bob was out of town, and he really wanted to attend. 

Basically, the show was like a baby rave.  Olivia was startled at first by the bright lights and loud music, but quickly became enthralled.  During intermission, she babbled at Bob and promptly ran back inside after a bathroom break.  (The bathroom break was for Bob; Olivia wears a diaper and every moment is a potential bathroom break.)

It was a crazy crazy concert, Olivia had a blast, and we're definitely going back!  We picked up some merch there, a few t-shirts, and Olivia's new favorite item: a Brobee backpack.

We thought she would like putting stuff inside him, but she would rather just carry him around on her back.

It makes her even more unsteady than normal, but she looks so adorable toddling around with her new backpack.  It makes her seem so old, wearing a backpack, even though it's just a glorified stuffed animal.

She wears it while reading books, sitting in her old Bumbo chair (which she is currently in love with).

And she likes to wear it as soon as she wakes up from her nap, even if she's too grumpy to have pictures taken of her...

...and will throw a fit if you do take a picture of her.

Now that she's toddling around, she loves going to the park.

Swings are still her favorite, but the slide comes in a close second.

She climbs up to the top of the slide...

... and hurls herself forward, assuming that someone will catch her.  Thanks, Daddy!

Olivia walks like a baby zombie, especially when wearing shoes.  It's very cute and not very steady.

Other park hobbies are climbing on and through things.

A standard finding on your phone if you leave it unattended around Olivia, pictures she's taken!  We especially enjoy this creepy self-portrait.  

Olivia is so much fun right now.  We love the walking, though she's getting into more trouble than ever.  This is what most of our photos look like.  She's just too busy to stay still.

Olivia's Second Halloween!

Olivia loved Halloween this year!  It blew our minds to think that this is her second Halloween and she is about to start celebrating her second of all the holidays!  She's getting so big.

We had to dress Henry and Olivia up in matching outfits, so here they are addressing the quintessential question; which came first, the chicken or the egg?  

We went to Aunts Anna and Arla's Halloween Extravaganza and Olivia loved it.

Olivia and Bob painted a pumpkin together (she can't be trusted with knives for carving).  Bob thought that it would be funny to draw a smile on her stomach, she disagreed. 

Ta da!  The finished pumpkin is lovely and terrifying!

The kids' painted pumpkins and the adults' carved pumpkins on display.  How spooky!

Halloween day, before the festivities.

 

Halloween afternoon our neighborhood threw a Halloween contest and parade.  Olivia wanted to be carried though, rather than walking in it.  Also present, Henry the EggHead, Cousin Logan as a tiger and a tiny Michael Jackson.

The 'Fawson Chicks' won the neighborhood Cutest Costume award.  We think that they earned it!

Of course, Nana had to have an awesome Halloween photoshoot with the kids! 

Olivia has mastered walking!  She toddles around everywhere now, happy to be able to carry things with her and move so fast.

She loves sitting in chairs.  This is her new favorite position; reclining in her little chair reading a book, drinking a sippy cup, or playing with the iPad.

 We're excited for Thanksgiving.  Great food, family visiting, and a trip to Yo Gabba Gabba Live!

Olivia is 13 months old!

Sorry we haven't posted for a while, we have been crazy busy, and time just got away from us!  Olivia keeps growing and learning everyday and it's so awesome to see.

Her eyes still haven't completely decided on a color, as you can sort of see in this picture.  Right now, they're sort of a teal color, but so pretty!

During our freak snow storms earlier this month, we decided to head out on a hike up by Brighton.  Olivia loved seeing the snow, we don't think she really remembered it from last year.

We then went up to Logan to celebrate Aunt Jocie's birthday.  Olivia loved rearranging the flowers and these chicks up at the cemetery.

Then we hiked through the snow to the memorial at the top of Beaver Mountain.  (All right, we drove most of the way, but there was a little bit of hiking!)

We made it!  No easy feat because Olivia insisted on stopping every few yards to play in the snow.

Making snow angels with Papa, she had a blast.

Olivia hung out with some of Aunt Jocie's friends, but she had to be bribed by animal crackers to sit there.

Then the weather warmed back up, oddly enough.

The whole family went out on a bike ride to celebrate Cassandra's birthday, and after the kids stopped fighting, they loved it!

We also went to a family party and Olivia got to pick out her own pumpkin!

These pictures don't quite capture it, but Olivia absolutely loves swinging.  She squeals with delight and laughs her head off, and actually likes to be pushed pretty hard.  We've been hitting the parks while we still can.

We did a photoshoot with Nana for Henry's six-month birthday (he's so old!) in an orchard recently.  Olivia was looking so cute, she decided to crash the shoot and pose for Nana.

 Henry and Olivia are best friends.  They have 'inside jokes' where one of them does something and then they both burst out laughing.  Henry especially loves it when Olivia splashes him in the tub, and seems not to mind all the water in his face.

Olivia has a kitchen now, and she loves cooking for people.  She stirs things in pots and then offers the spoon to you, and you have to 'eat the soup.'  

Olivia is babbling like crazy.  She has a whole bunch of words under her command now.  Sometimes at night, she talks to Henry (they share a room).  When she says it, it comes out like 'Lenly.'  She also loves to greet people by saying 'Hi Olivia,' which she pronounces 'Olilyla.'

On a recommendation from a friend, we've been putting Olivia in dresses to encourage her to walk more, and it's been working!  She gets annoyed by the skirt interfering with her crawling and she will walk or at least walk in downward-facing dog.  She is so proud of herself for her walking; she'll stand up on her own and then yell at everyone to watch her and then she'll walk eight steps or so and laugh uproariously as she stumbles into someone's arms.  Ta da!

This is her favorite cart to push around.  Sometimes she will climb in it like this and demand she be pushed around like a princess.  She loves it.

She's up to lots of other fun things.  She has mastered the art of no, complete with shaking her head.  No to going to bed, no to eating certain things, no to whatever isn't currently going great in her life.  We also turned her carseat forward-facing, and she thinks she's the queen of the car.  She demands certain music and heaven-forbid anyone drink or eat anything without sharing it with her!  She's an absolute angel, and we couldn't ask for a sweeter girl.  She is incredibly affectionate, always dishing out kisses and hugs and cuddling with her stuffed animals and blankets.  She has become obsessed with climbing onto chairs and sitting like a big girl.