Nature Walk

saturday family outing

 

beautiful nature walk at

cascade springs in heber

 

our family, claire's cousins, aunt kari, and farmor/farfar

 

fall colors were amazing

 

paths were stroller appropriate

(those are the best!)

 

great weather 

soren gave claire hugs

emma relaxed in her stroller

claire took a break from her stroller and walked with farfar

khloe got a drink from the cool, fresh water

 

 

claire saw a big caterpillar

got an 'okay' shot of me and my baby girl

claire had a blast running around the curvy walkways

 

 

picked some gorgeous leaves for claire

took some cute photos of her inspecting/smelling the leaves

a near perfect morning activity with the family

looking forward to our next fall excursion

(have no idea what that will be)

Fun at the Fair

Every year I like to drag Erik to the Utah State Fair for a fun night out as a family. I know it's not his idea of fun, but I love it and as Claire gets older, she loves it more and more too. This year, Claire and I headed out early to enjoy the sights before some of her cousins joined us later. We really enjoyed ourselves but by the time everyone had finally arrived, my feet hurt, I had a bad headache, and I was about done chasing Claire Bear around the park. Thank goodness Claire's Farmor and Farfar took over toddler duty upon their arrival (as did Erik).
 

 
Of course, we went in every animal barn possible. Claire even got to touch a lemur, pigeon, and many horses. While in the equestrian barn, Claire leaned through one of the stalls and gave a horse a big hug. I was very surprised as it was done without any encouragement or prodding. Guess she's getting used to the big guys.

Later we hit up the small kids farm where Claire was able to play pretend farmer. She gathered all of the necessary fruits and vegetables, brushed the sheep as instructed and turned her fake money in for a bag of crackers in the end. She was very serious about the entire thing.


After dinner, Claire and all of her cousins went on a train ride with Farmor and Farfar. Soren and Claire were so excited! Every time they would come around the turn their faces would light up as they waved intently to the rest of us standing nearby. In that moment alone, Claire's amusement made it all worth while.

Shortly before we headed home, we made one more pass through a couple of the animal barns. This time we were able to sit next to and touch a giant cow. I swear it weighed like 3,000 pounds. The sign said it was very gentle, but as I reached over to touch it's face, I was definitely nervous it was going to kill me with it's enormous horns.

It was yet another fun outing to the Utah State Fair. I can't wait to bring along our little baby boy and see it all again next year.

The Name Lives On

Erik are I are thrilled to announce we are having a baby boy!

 

We found out the incredible news on September 7th. Throughout my pregnancy, both of us had a little inkling it might be a boy, but we didn't want to get our hopes up. The ultrasound tech assured us there was absolutely no possibility of error on this one. Yay! Erik is the only boy on his side of the family so he really felt the pressure to keep the Olafsson name alive. To our amazement, it will live on.

Erik and I are both completely overjoyed to be having a son and can't wait to meet the little guy. Immediately following our appointment, we called my sisters and closest friends. I wanted to tell my parents so badly but had to wait a few days until we could reach them on Skype. As for Erik's family, we told them a couple of days later at our Sunday dinner. Erik and I (yes, Erik actually helped), made cupcakes with blue frosting on the inside and decorated the top with a question mark. They were supposed to bite into them to find out the gender, but it didn't work out exactly as planned. Erik's Mom unwrapped her cupcake and saw a little bit of blue frosting on the bottom of it and screamed "it's a boy!" before anyone could take a bite. Oh well. As far as Claire, she has no idea what is going on. When asked "where is Mommy's baby?" she says "Mommy's tummy", but that's as far as her knowledge goes. She'll probably pick up more of an understanding by the time her baby brother arrives in February.

 

Now onto my latest dilemma....

 

what the heck am I supposed to do with a boy?!

A Special Present

 
Claire has very few toys. Few, as in they all basically fit in one tiny cupboard in our living room. Erik and I don't like to waste our money on toys, especially ones that aren't educational, so Claire's gotten by with only a handful. Erik and I started talking and thought it was about time we bought Claire something really special, just for fun, and that she would absolutely love. Claire has always been jealous of other kid's cars, scooters, and anything battery powered, so Erik knew we couldn't go wrong with a 4-wheeler.
 
A few weeks later, Claire's special present finally came. We were so excited to give it to her. It felt like Christmas Eve; Erik and I were stationed in the office after Claire went to bed, putting together a giant present that she would open the following day. We paid special attention to getting the decals just right and then let it charge overnight. We couldn't wait! The following evening, Erik rushed home from work to give her our gift.
 
Erik rarely has the opportunity to give Claire gifts or do something that makes her extremely happy, so this was "Daddy's Special Present". Erik parked it in the garage and then opened it on the count of three. I felt like Claire was 16 and we were giving her a brand new car. :) Anyway, Claire was ecstatic. She ran into the garage, hopped on top of her new 4-wheeler, pushed the foot pedal, and ran the thing straight into the wall. Too funny! Her excitement could not be contained and we loved every second of it. For the next couple of hours, Erik helped Claire ride her special present up and down the driveway. She had a blast and we were overjoyed. Claire definitely has a new favorite toy: "peasant" (what she says when she requests to drive it).

Below is a short video of Claire on her "peasant". We frequently take her over to the local high school to ride on the track/field because then she can't run into anything. It's so cute! Enjoy!

 

 

Our Fall Bucket List

The Fall season in Utah is one of my favorites. I've always enjoyed stepping into my boots, wrapping a scarf around my neck, exploring the beautiful colors outdoors and drinking a hot cup of apple cider. Being a native Washingtonian, I would probably say everything about that beautiful state is perfect, however, I think that Utah may have it beat with this one. All of the deciduous trees around us make it such an incredible place to be this time of year.

To kick off one of my favorite seasons, I made a "Fall Bucket List". I've made one for Christmas the last couple of years and thanks to Pinterest, I was inspired to do one for Fall. I am really excited to start checking off the items we accomplish in these next few months and am sure they will bring me lots of warm fuzzies when I look back at the pictures.

Claire and I kicked off the season at This Is The Place with her cousins, Soren and Vivian. It's been years since I've been there and it is definitely a great spot to go with little kids. We started off the morning with a leisurely train ride which we all enjoyed. The weather was a little cooler and the scenery was beautiful.






Our first stop were the pony rides. Claire has been on many pony rides since she was born and she's always loved them. This time was a little different. She was very scared and cried the majority of the time she was on the saddle. Oddly enough, her cousin, Soren, who was terrified of horses in years past, enjoyed every second of it. Funny how little minds change over the years. 

 
Once off the pony, Claire was lovin' this place. The big hairy cow was definitely a sight to see. How strange! She also enjoyed the mini petting zoo and the two of them could not get enough of all of the animal poop laying around.

 
Next, we were off to pine for gold. Claire thought this was very amusing and couldn't wait to show her Daddy what she had found in the water. Too cute!

 

The highlight of Soren and Claire's day was by far the little train ride. They took multiple rides around the pond and had a blast. Soren thoroughly amused Claire with his very enthusiastic train noises. 

 

About five hours later, we finally headed home. Claire had so much fun hanging out with Soren and Vivian and I know she is just dying to go back. In fact, we are going to the state fair this weekend and she quickly reminded me that she wanted to go on a "little train" as she recalled from our afternoon at This Is The Place. Glad it was a memorable afternoon for us all!

Last Days of Summer

While growing up in Washington, the first day of school always followed Labor Day. Therefore, Labor Day weekend was always the "last hoorah" of summer. It still is strange for me to see how early school starts in Utah, but I guess my days of breaking out the fall scarves and buying freshly sharpened pencils shortly into September are behind me. Since Claire is not in school yet, Labor Day weekend was our "last hoorah" and was filled with fun, end of summer activities.

First, we ventured out to a new place - Manila Creek Pond located in Pleasant Grove. I read about the "beach" online and thought it looked like fun. Well, you can guess that the "beach" part of it wasn't too great, but we all had fun with the surroundings we were in anyway. Claire and I built "sandcastles" with our make-shift sand equipment. They included two Tupperware bowls and two large plastic spoons, which were all from our kitchen. Maybe next year I will finally buy some sand equipment, but for now, Claire didn't know the difference and had a blast anyway.

 
While Claire and I were playing in the rocky sand, Erik entertained Khloe nearby with her ball. I'm always glad when Khloe can join in on the fun even if it is a handful lugging her around with us. She always enjoys being outside and getting whatever exercise we give her.

 

After our time at the beach, we headed over to Novell Discovery Park, which was only a couple of miles away. It was supposed to be amazing and I guess it kind of was. There were tons of atypical things to play with at the park and lots of neat tunnels to run though. Claire had already had a long afternoon playing in the sun so she wasn't the happiest. Getting her fingers hurt by the bells multiple times didn't make things any better. After about 30 minutes, we decided it'd be best to head home for nap time.

 

 
Later that evening, we went to Erik's sister's house for s'mores in their backyard. This is something I always enjoy doing and the fact that we didn't have to take everything up a mountain to a fire pit was even better. Claire obviously didn't take to the roasting part, but we did catch her taking a bite out of almost every single marshmallow in the bag and then putting it back. Too funny!

I can't believe summer is actually over. In one sense, the heat has seemed to last way too long and I am ready for it to cool down, but summer activities are so much fun and we all love the long days and nights. I hope you all had as fun of a summer as we have. Now I can finally say "yay for Fall!".

Summer Randomness

This summer sure has been a blast. It's weird to think that it has

finally come to an end. Here is a look back at some of our

"2012 Olafsson Summer Randomness":

 

- Claire discovered bubble wrap -

this was a very exciting adventure for her

she was very upset when Mommy finally took it away

- Family trip to Hogle Zoo -

we finally got great views of the polar and grizzly bears

from this day forward, Claire began an obsession with polar bears swimming

we've had numerous conversations of how polar bears swim and

push off of the rocks with their feet

very exciting stuff for Claire Bear

 

- Endless mornings watching Signing Time -

Claire's one and only favorite show

for about a month, she insisted on me opening up

her blankie (spreading it out on the chair) so

she could lay there and watch it

 

- Ranae's (Claire's Farmor) surprise 60th birthday party -

Claire had tons of fun trying to give her cousins kisses

happy birthday Ranae

 

- 24th of July at Butlerville Days -

I waited in line forever so Claire could get her face painted

it ended up being the most ridiculous face painting job ever

about three seconds later the girl was finished

there were four globs of paint on Claire's face

it was supposed to be a butterfly

so annoyed!

 

- Many afternoons jumping on the couch -

this was another activity Claire discovered

she LOVES jumping from the coffee table to the couch

and always insists on someone watching her

 

- Sold Erik's truck -

exciting day for me (I don't like trucks)

not sure how Erik felt about it

it did get tons of use

 

- Claire amused herself by placing stickers on her bare belly -

wonder why she chose that body part

it entertained her for quite a while

 

We packed quite a bit into three short months. And these were the "non-eventful" (but also very fun) activities. Can't wait to see what Fall 2012 has in store for us!

 

* Ranae - you're birthday is not included in the "non-eventful" category. It's always special in our minds. *



Sun, Sand, & Smoke

A couple of weekends ago, our family spent Saturday at The Homestead Resort in Midway with Erik's parents. While Claire's Farmor and Farfar went golfing with Erik, Claire and I spent a relaxing day at the pool.

To give myself a little bit more freedom, I borrowed a life jacket for Claire and boy was it a lifesaver. I sat by the edge of the pool while Claire was in and out making stops at our lawn chair to grab a few snacks. Literally, each time she would walk over to our chair she would slip and fall. All I can say is thank goodness for the life jacket; it really padded her falls and prevented a much bigger crying spell from happening.

After about an hour at the pool, Claire and I enjoyed some yummy snacks and took pictures. I believe this was the very first time I let Claire take pictures with the camera all by herself. She kept wanting to put her finger over the lens so I had to hold it slightly so she would actually have an image to show and not a pink blur. She was so excited to see the pictures she took and I have to say, I was pretty shocked myself. She actually got a pretty decent picture of some flowers and even a decent head shot of me. My favorite is the one she took of her face. Hilarious! I know as she continues to get older, I'll be finding a lot more pictures like that when I turn on my camera.

After our time at the pool, we still had a few hours to burn so we hopped in the car and went searching for a playground. I literally was about to park the car when I looked back and Claire was sound asleep. Having no nap that day (it was now about 5pm) had really worn her out. So I did what any mother would do; I got some fries at the McDonald's drive through and sat in a parked car so she could sleep. It was so much fun. :) I sat there for a good thirty minutes in silence watching cars go by while she slept in the back seat. Gotta love being a Mom.

Once she woke up, I pushed Claire on the swings for what seemed like forever. She's really come to enjoy swings recently. She also played in the sand and of course went down the slides a few times. Afterwards, we found some baby goats to look at and Claire had to take a picture of them. Too funny!

By this point, I was really feeling sick from inhaling smoke from the nearby Fox Bay Fire. It had started around the time we drove up the canyon and the smoke had completely filled the sky. It even seemed to bother Claire a little bit; her eyes got red and she was constantly itching them. We found out later that the fire burned over 500 acres. You can see in the picture below of Erik golfing how hazy the sky looked. Yuck!

Around 8pm, the golfers had finally finished their round and it was time for dinner. Thank heavens! Claire and I had a long day outside (breathing in smoke the entire time) and we were ready to call it quits. Oddly enough, Erik said the smoke didn't bother him at all. Strange.

It was a very long day for Claire Bear but it was fun to spend the day as a family and also be able to do things we each enjoyed. By the time we got home and Claire was in bed it was almost 11pm. What a day!

9 Wonderful Years

almost a month ago

 

our 9th anniversary

 

spent the weekend without claire at zermatt

 

very relaxing

 

laid by the pool all day

 

went golfing

 

nice to have no responsibilities for two days

 

can't believe it's already been nine years

 

really can't believe next year will be the big 1-0

 

love you erik

Expecting #2

Erik and I are expecting baby number two! We are so excited and thrilled to be adding to our family. However, I am very anxious to be adding another munchkin and don't know how it's going to work with two of them to take care of. Everything about it is stressing me out. How in the world am I supposed to run errands or even get out of the house with two kids on different sleeping schedules? Will I ever breathe fresh air again? And where the heck is this baby supposed to sleep? We only have two bedrooms in this house. Guess he or she is going in a closet. :) I know I am blowing it totally out of proportion, but the new addition is seriously going to throw me for a loop. It's definitely going to be a whirlwind that's for sure.

To be honest, it almost doesn't feel like it's really happening. I feel like I'm just getting fat, tired, more zits, and have no energy to do anything. Unlike my last pregnancy, I often forget what is going on and really haven't paid much attention to the growing fetus inside of me. Claire takes every ounce of my attention and I never seem to remember to catch up on how big the baby is at that moment or what body part is currently developing. I couldn't even take the first "I'm Pregnant!" picture before the word "Pregnant" disappeared from the screen. When I finally got around to taking it, I had to digitally insert "Pregnant" onto the stick (good thing I still had it laying around). Shows you how lazy I have been these past few months. You'll also notice that I can't seem to take my belly pictures on time. I've missed the usual 4, 8, and 12 week marks. Oh well. :)

I am currently 17 weeks, and so far, this pregnancy has been very different from when I had Claire. Thankfully, I really haven't been sick. With Claire, I threw up constantly. This time around, I throw up bile in the morning when I brush my teeth and that's it (sorry TMI). Every now and then I feel nauseous later in the day, but all I have to do is pop a Zofran and almost two seconds later I feel great. Well, not great, but not nauseous. :) The other weird thing is that I haven't fully embraced my baby bump. I honestly don't know what it is, but I haven't been able to get myself to wear fitted shirts that show off my belly. At first I felt that I was showing way too quickly for how far along I was, but now I really have no excuse. Along that note, I could not believe how fast I started showing this time. I swear the week after I knew I was pregnant (and I knew right away because I was tracking everything), I felt so bloated and gross and thought I looked two months into it. It was so crazy how fast my body changed.

Last week, at my four month check up, we tried to find out the gender. Unfortunately, their ultrasound machine just wasn't good enough to decipher between the three parts the doctor could see. He told us he saw three parts but couldn't tell if they were three girl parts or three boy parts. :( We were so disappointed. Now we have to wait another week and a half for my official ultrasound (which actually is earlier than initially expected). Hopefully the legs will be spread! :)