And we're back....

About a week ago I left with Olivia and my Dad to go back to Utah too see my niece Vivianne be blessed at Church and also just to SEE Vivianne since I had yet to meet her. My Mom was already there, had been there for about 3 weeks so she could see the birth and then help Katie with 2 babies afterwards. Sadly I am a big idiot and forgot to bring my memory card along so I do not have any pictures of the Utah part of the trip or any pictures of little Vivi. My brother in law Ian was kind enough to let me have a few old memory cards he had laying around but I never got them into my camera in time to take any pictures....AKA I was too lazy to go get my camera out of the car. But we were really only there one day...not even really a whole day. We blew into town around 9pm got up for church at 8...came back to the house for a little luncheon and were back on the road Idaho bound by 5pm. I would have liked to stay longer, I know Katie wanted me there longer but taking a bus with Olivia from Provo Utah to Rigby Idaho later in the week sounded like a nightmare.

But enough about that....about Vivianne. It has yet to really be confirmed to me if her name is pronounced "Vivian" or "Vivi-anne"...it is spelled as Vivianne but I don't think it is meant to really hear the "anne", in it. Ask my mother "LeeAnne" and she will tell you it's Vivi-anne. Who knows? At any rate she is a teeny tiny little lady! I mean I know Olivia was at least a pound bigger than Vivianne at birth but really when I was handed this little niece of mine all I could think of was how truly miniature she is!!! All I could say is "I don't ever remember Olivia being this small"...to which my mother kindly reminded me, "That's because Olivia was NEVER this small". Yeah, yeah...we all know I had a fatty fat baby at 7 pounds 2 ounces when we left the hospital, and I'm pretty sure that in most standards that is considered normal or even small but in Nana's world...that was a BIG BABY!!!! Anyways Vivianne is so teenie and had little teenie features and a light dusting of strawberry blonde hair which more resembles the little fur most babies still have on their body when they are born. When she was born and I saw pictures of her I didn't see any resemblance to her big brother Liam but when I held her I could see her little mouth and nose and chin were almost identical.

It was crazy with a capitol "cuh" to hold her...I felt like she must be the world's tiniest baby! Probably because my own baby was thundering around at a whopping 30 pounds trying to boss poor Liam around. I think you also forget how kinda uneventful holding a newborn is...not that I didn't love holding her. But they really...don't...do...anything! Their eyelids flutter in and out of consciousness and occasionally they make little noises. I don't know what I was expecting...I guess maybe I was hoping she'd give me a big smile or laugh. I changed her diaper a few times and that you also forget about...how drawn in those legs are...it's like a struggle to get the diaper on...not to mention that they hate being naked and seem rather frantic during diaper changes. There was also a moment that Olivia was in the room while we were changing the baby into jammies and the poor baby was freaking out...flailing of arms, screams and wails and Olivia looked like she was starring in a horror movie! She started crying uncontrollably, asking me if the baby was sick or hurt and to please help the baby she is hurt mama. I think she thought Katie was torturing the baby, ha ha. But it took a good 10 minutes to calm Olivia down and assure her that her cousin Vivianne was just fine! I also thought Olivia would be more interested in Vivianne...but she was more interested in stealing Liam's toys and following Unky Ian around. I never knew she had such an affinity for Uncle Ian...not that she shouldn't...but she doesn't really know him that well. But she was his little shadow for a good while when we first arrived. Maybe because Ian kinda has similar features to Mitchell or to Olivia's Uncle Mike...I don't know? Anyways it was a quick visit filled with a lot of family I had not seen in a while and I do wish I could have stayed longer.

Next we headed to my brother Eric's house in Rigby Idaho. You know what's funny is that Rigby Idaho is practically Rexburg Idaho where I went to BYUI or Ricks College, as it was called back then, and I don't think I was particularly fond of the area when I was there. But I love going to Eric's house. I love all the animals you see just driving around the block, I love how there are rarely any fences in the yards, I love the water rushing down the canals that supply the water to all the neighboring farms. I don't know if I would ever want to live in the area again like I did for a year when I was a freshman in college...but I certainly enjoy visiting. It really is pretty in the summer and fall up there. Anyways Olivia was in heaven with all the cousins and random neighborhood kids that were always around. She would have spent the entire week in the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe if I let her. Poor Abe it was his birthday present and she commandeered the little vehicle for the majority of the trip! Good thing he knows how to share...she is...well learning I suppose.

Talk about a busy week!!! I don't know how Rochelle (my sis in law) does it! There is school and piano lessons and football practice and cub scouts and football games and zumba class. She is always go-go-going!!!! I would die, there would be days I'm sure I would just sit in the car and cry. Being a naturally pretty lazy person I can't imagine having every day filled with obligations and schedules of having to be here at this time or that time, not to mention making breakfast, lunch and dinner. There was one day that I took Olivia over to the elementary school to have lunch with Kamren, came home to give Olivia a nap, when she got up we went to watch football practice then hurried over to the church for cub scouts and then Rochelle had to run to the school for back to school night and asked me if I could get dinner going. We got home to the enchiladas that had been put in the oven before we left for football practice being ready and trying to get all the kids settled and at dinner and hopefully eating...I felt so confused I was so jumbled around mentally from the long day...and she does this EVERY DAY!!!!! Oh and then after bathing the little kids and putting them to bed we ran off to an hour and a half of Zumba class! Whoa!!!! WHOA!





Olivia had an awesome time going to Rigby Lake, Riding Cisco the horse 2 times, feeding the chickens, collecting eggs from the chickens, riding in the cozy coupe all over the driveway, coloring, playing with David's Mater Tooth cars (any car from 'Cars' is Mater Tooth), reading books she had never read before, going to the Rexburg DI whoop whoop, watching football practice, going to 4th grade to have lunch with Kamren, going to see the Winnie the Pooh movie, having pancakes for breakfast, going to Swan Valley for Square Ice Cream, Applebees, etc etc. And I had fun just "hanging out" with the family and getting to dress Abe everyday which apparently is something to be proud of!!!! And I did enjoy Zumba...even though I did feel like an idiot the whole time!

Thanks Eric, Rochelle, Robbie, Kamren, David, Abe, the chickens, Star the Cat and of course Cisco the horse!!!! Thanks for letting me sleep in your room boys!!! And thanks Katie and Ian for having me, thank-you Vivianne for being born!!!!!! Thanks Mom and Dad for driving me even though I complained just about 95% of the time on the way home...hey I was sick give me a break!!!!!

The END!!!!!!!