Olivia Leu is 6 MONTHS OLD!

Our sweet little Miss Olivia is already half a year old.

These past 6 months have just flown by and she has already grown and changed so much. Sometimes I miss our tiny little baby girl but I enjoy every minute with her and it's exciting to watch her learning.

At her 6 month check up she weighed 17 pounds & 1 ounce.

She has started eating baby food and still really likes sweet potatoes. She is undecided about pears and squash but she always watches us eat with great interest.

Her latest thing is sticking her cute little tongue out and making all sorts of conversation. She drools and slobbers everywhere and blows raspberries nonstop. She also moves her mouth like she is chewing a lot and once in awhile I get nervous that she's actually got something in there, but she never does.

We are waiting for her teeth to pop up, which I'm sure they'll make their appearance any day now. I'm just not quite ready for our baby to have teeth and it blows my mind that she will be 1 year old in 6 months.

She is fascinated with my hair and it's hard to get her to look at my face because she gets so distracted with my hair. She wants to pull it, touch it, put it in her mouth, and talk to it.

I keep telling the boys I'm just going to get her a wig for Christmas so she can pull on it all she wants. 

Weeks of Summer: Part 9

 Since Lagoon is only a few hours from Declo we decided on Monday that we would go for the day on Tuesday. We were a bit nervous since the weather had been so unpredictable and there was a high chance of thunderstorms, and it was pouring the closer we got to the park. But it was actually really nice because it wasn't crowded and there were hardly any lines. It wasn't unbearably hot, though it was pretty chilly the first few hours. But I would rather have that weather than stifling hot and sweating buckets while you wait in lines.

This is how Olivia spent most of the morning and early afternoon:

 

Jeff took Ethan & Kamden on some of the bigger rides, they were really adventurous this year and went on a lot of them.

 Kamden even dragged Jeff onto Samurai:

While they were doing that, Olivia & I watched Owen on some of the tamer rides. He always enjoys these little planes, and Bulgy the Whale is an all-time favorite. 

 

 He only rode the Carousel twice this year, though.

 We met back up for lunch and then went on rides together. 

These little Jeeps get a bit crazy on the corners, Owen didn't like them last year because of that but he had more fun on them this year.

 

 All 3 boys went on the Tilt-A-Whirl together and Owen did NOT care for that. He cried and screamed for quite awhile afterwords. 

Jeff, Ethan, & Kamden went on the big bumper cars right after that and Owen cried about how much he hated the Tilt-A-Whirl the whole time they were on the bumper cars.

He did like the Twirling Tea Cups, though.

 Ethan & Kamden went on this crazy dragon ride that goes super fast both forward and then backward. I have a feeling Owen wouldn't have cared much for that, either.

Olivia did spend some time out of her car seat once the sun came out and the day warmed up a bit.

 
And Owen took advantage of the empty car seat:

 Here are our 4 little loveys on the Lagoon Express:

 Jeff took the boys on Rattlesnake Rapids, then Ethan & Kamden went again solo:

It was a great day and I'm so glad we decided to go, despite the weather and adding an extra day to our time away from home.

We drove back to Declo and stayed the night, then headed home on Wednesday.

Weeks of Summer: Part 8

On August 12th we left for Eastern Idaho since Jeff was going to be working there. We stopped in Declo and had dinner at Jeff's parents' house and the boys decided they would rather stay the night there than travel to Pocatello to stay in the hotel. So Jeff, Olivia, and I went to Pocatello. The next afternoon I went back to Declo and picked the boys up after they went to the Burley parade. Then we went and picked Jeff up in Pocatello before we all went to Idaho Falls. Lots of driving!

We stayed Wednesday & Thursday night in the hotel there, we had planned on doing lots of swimming on Thursday but the boys all got chemical burns from the hot tub---not fun. So we improvised and had lots of fun hanging out in the hotel room and relaxing.

 

 Then we went to dinner and to the Idaho Falls Temple.

They have a visitors center there and we were able to watch a short video about how families can be together forever.

I'm so thankful for the knowledge that this is true.

 On Friday we ventured out and went on a walk, it had been raining off and on like crazy the past few days so it was nice to get some fresh air. We walked to a PetsMart store where we looked at all of the colorful fish, expensive kitties ($90 to adopt a cat!) some bright birds, hamsters, rats, a tarantula, a scorpion, and some lizards.

The boys tried desperately to convince me we needed to go home with at least one of the pets in the store, but we made it out the door without anyone extra.

 Then Jeff dropped us off in Declo so he could go to an appointment in Shoshone Falls that afternoon. We met him at the Fair when he got back in town and we were able to see more animals.

 And some tractors...

 Owen peeked through the fence at the cowgirls, but Grandma & Grandpa took Ethan & Owen to the rodeo the next night. 

Kamden opted for a quiet night in...after eating just about everything at the fair!