The Magnitude of Mother's Day

As Mother's Day approached this year, I thought a lot about gifts I would be giving to my mother's as well as what I wanted from Erik. The more I pondered about the subject, the importance of Mother's Day grew tremendously. At first, it seemed like another slightly insignificant holiday but then I realized that it meant more to me than my birthday, and came a very close second to Christmas. Why? I did nothing to "deserve" my birthday, so what was so celebratory about that? Mother's Day, on the other hand, is so much more.

As ideas came into my mind that I could share with Erik to make gift-giving easier on him, the caliber I had set for the day became quite high. To me, Mother's Day encompasses everything I am. A mother is what I "do". It is my proudest accomplishment, my biggest trial, and what will grant me a stamp of 'success' or 'failure' at the end of the day. Yes, there are times where being a mother is mundane and unfulfilling, but the remaining 99% of the time, I am working my bum off to provide this world with the best little girl I can possibly mold. There are so many things I'd like her to achieve and my dreams for Claire are more ambitious than what I have ever dreamt for myself. So in essence, the gifts and accolades that surround Mother's Day should reflect every drop of sweat I have pored out to shape this wonderful being. Right? Boy, would that be the most amazing gift ever!

I thought about this subject so much that I started to feel a little disheartened about my own accomplishments and how it reflects on my Mother. I know she must have felt the same way about me. She probably had amazing dreams of what I would do with my life and who I would become. Did I let her down? I never became a concert pianist, an expert seamstress, or whatever it was that she aspired for me. As I reflect back on my childhood and think about all of the moments I griped about practicing the piano or working hard on my school assignments, I wish I could take it all back. I wish I could have made myself more dedicated and given myself the insight to know how hard my mother was working. She was simply trying to push me so that I would have every opportunity in the world and be the best me that I could be. Mom, I know I let you down at times and I guess all I can do now is try and make it up with my children. I hope I make you proud.

Who knows, maybe Claire will be a bilingual computer genius who plays first violin in the world's most prestigious philharmonic orchestra all while being a mother to her beautiful children, taking photos for National Geographic, and coming in first place at the Boston Marathon. HA!

So, did Erik provide me with a Mother's Day as marvelous as I deserved? Of course! There was still a little crying and temper tantrums thrown throughout the day, but I really felt the love, gratitude, and admiration in Erik's, Claire's, and even little Khloe's hearts. Plus Heavenly Father also gave me a little pat on the back towards the end the day. He really did, I promise! :)

Erik, thank you for all of your love and support. You are helping me become the best mother I can be to our baby girl and I couldn't do it without you by my side.

Mom, thank you for spending your entire life molding me into what I am today. Some dreams may not have come true, but you have given me the greatest gift one could give; the desire to be the BEST mother possible.

Claire, I hope that someday you realize how hard I've worked at being your mother. At times I may fail, but I only have the best intentions. You are my most prized possession and I will spend the rest of my life helping your dreams come true. I love you!

Colored by Claire - May 13, 2012

"As I Watch You Grow" 

poem by Kay Theese

         

Do you know how much you mean to me as you grow into what you will be? You came from within, from just beneath my heart, it's there you'll always be though your own life will now start. You're growing so fast it sends me awhirl, with misty eyes I ask, where's my little girl? I know sometimes to you I seem harsh and so unfair, but one day you will see, I taught you well because I care. The next few years will so quickly fly, with laughter and joy, mixed with a few tears to cry. As you begin your growth to womanhood, this fact you must know, you'll always be my source of pride, no matter where you go. You must stand up tall and proud, within you feel no fear, for all your dreams and goals, sit before you very near. With god's love in your heart and the world by its tail, you'll always be my winner, and victory will prevail. For you this poem was written, with help from above, to tell you in a rhythm of your Mother's heartfelt Love!

               Me and my girls on Mother's Day - 2011                Me and my girls on Mother's Day - 2012

Note: Claire's beautiful dress was hand-crafted by my Mother for me

when I was a little girl. It was a dream come true to have my baby girl where it as well.

Sunny in St. George

*warning - very long post*

Almost 2 months ago, we took a mini vacation down to St. George with Erik's family. I've had to postpone writing this blog post because I used some of the pictures included below as Mother's Day gifts and I wanted them to be a surprise.

We stayed at the beautiful Entrada resort. The warm, 85 degree weather was perfect and Claire spent every second of the day running around with her cousins. This little girl was in toddler heaven. Our patio led out to a large, grass area/pond, which were home to hours of amusement by the little ones. Claire and her older cousin, Soren, ran around until we were tired of supervising and made them come inside. Claire was obsessed with the ducks and wanted to see them at all times. If she only saw one, she would ask where the others were. It was so nice of her to be concerned for their wellbeing. :)

Throughout the weekend, Claire got a lot better at putting up with Soren's shenanigans, like when he would try to give her hugs (below). They even got into a little mischief together and Erik had to fish our ball out of the pond. I know this is only the beginning.

(My favorite picture of the two of them! So funny and adorable!)

While Erik went golfing, Claire and I put on our running shoes and took a walk around the resort grounds. They were so pretty, but there was no one around to take our picture! You know me....I figured out a way and Claire was a good sport while I balanced the camera on any object I could find so that we would have pictures of our little outing. She even sat on a bench long enough (2 seconds) for me to take her picture in front of a small waterfall.



When we weren't outside, we had a blast hanging out in our room, which was connected to Vivian's room (Claire's youngest cousin). She loved going back and forth from room to room, but of course, she didn't take her eyes off of the ducks for too long. Last year, Claire was almost exactly Vivian's age and wasn't able to grasp how much fun duck-watching can be like she did this year. It's amazing how fast they grow!

Having the pond right outside our room gave us entertainment both day and night. The frog noises were so loud and with a flashlight and a good eye, you could see tons of them lining the shore. Soren was so excited and loved looking at all of them with his Uncle Erik. Since Claire is an avid animal lover, we figured she would want to join in on the fun, so I let Erik wake her up and show her what all of the commotion was about. I think she was still half asleep because she really couldn't have cared less.

We had perfect weather that weekend! Everytime we walked by the pool area, Claire wanted to join the others inside. She had so much fun splashing around, it definitely made me anxious for summer. I had fun as well, except for when a little terror child wouldn't stop spraying me with his water gun after I asked him to stop multiple times. I just love it when other mother's pretend to be ignorant to their child's actions.

It's funny how once you have a child, you no longer think about your own needs. The recurring thought in my mind was, "what would Claire have fun doing?". So, of course, that led us to the park. This little girl loves slides and is generally pretty fearless when it comes to the big ones. It's so nice when you find a park with shades over it so the slides don't get hot. I wish we had them here!

All of the kids had a blast! Erik and I even joined in on the fun and found a few interesting toys to play with around the park. The best one was what Erik is sitting in below. Seriously, if you stayed in long enough you'd probably throw up. It went around in circles so fast it was hard to stop yourself once you got going.

This resort had tons of activities. Erik and I played pickle ball together, which I hadn't played in years! It brought me back to my childhood days when our neighborhood would have pickle ball tournaments. Ahh, the good ol' days. There was also a beautiful golf course, which Erik played on with his Mom and Dad while we were at the pool and supervising naptime. I wish we would have had more time there to enjoy everything there was to offer.

Being a few weeks away from Easter, Erik's mom put together a quick Easter egg hunt for the kiddos. At first, Claire had no idea what to do. She'd pick up an egg and then look at me, like "now what?". It wasn't too long after that she dropped one of the eggs and it broke open. She saw the M&M and that was it. She'd pick up an egg and open it. There was no basket middleman in this equation.

One of the funniest parts of the two Easter egg hunts we had that weekend was Claire's distain for the crackers she found inside some of the eggs. Beside the one picture below, she didn't want anything to do with the crackers. All she wanted were M&M's and marshmallows. Claire was not going to settle for anything but the good stuff. :)

Just before it was time to drive home, we drove to Snow Canyon and walked to a nearby sand dune. Erik and Steve (Erik's bro-in-law) were on stroller pushing duty while Erik's sister, Kari, lead us down the trail (she always has to be first in line ;)), I was on picture taking patrol, and Erik's Dad brought up the rear. It was a typical Olafsson family hiking equation.

At first thought, the scenery was no big deal to me. But then I remembered that Claire has never seen or felt sand before. It was a brand new experience for her and it instantly became very exciting. She loved running around, feeling the sand on her fingers and toes, and for some reason, liked scooting around on her bum. The feeling of sand going up your diaper must have been exhilerating I guess. :)

Upon arrival, we took a few family pictures before the fun really got started. This is a must, because wrangling up children who have been excitedly playing so they can pose for a picture is not ideal. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. Below is (I think) the first picture ever taken of just Erik and his sisters and their children. So cute!

Our long weekend quickly come to an end and Claire was pooped! Unlike last year, Claire slept fairly well in her pack-n-play, which we stashed in the bathroom (it was huge and there was no way she would have slept in the same room as us), but we were all ready to get back home to our nice comfy beds.

Easter Festivities

I wrote this Easter post last week and it somehow deleted itself.

All of my text...gone. So frustrating!

**************

This year, our Easter festivities started a couple of weeks prior to Easter Sunday so that I could take Claire's photo in her adorable Easter dress, we could all visit the Easter bunny, and I could stage a photo-op with Khloe and some bunny ears. I decided to do Claire's Easter portrait at Red Butte Gardens because I had a free admission ticket and I figured it would provide the perfect, flowery backdrop. That morning did not go too well. The grounds were brown with sticks everywhere, there were hardly any flowers, and Claire was a huge handful. I managed to find a couple of small areas that worked, but none as well as the spot I found right before we left. The winning photo (right) ended up being in front of the entrance and not even in the gardens. It was extremely windy and Claire's hair was a bit all over the place, but it still made for an adorable photo. I have to give a big 'thank you' to my Mom for helping me with the photo shoot. I really could not have done it without her. Thanks Mom!

Next up was Khloe. Our poor little thing was such a trooper. I made her lay on the floor for probably 10 minutes without moving until I got the perfect shot. Initially, I was having trouble with the bunny ears. I used them on Claire last year so they didn't exactly fit Khloe's tiny head. Since they kept falling down, I grabbed a chip clip and pinched her skin behind the ears to prevent them from sliding off. It worked great and little "Khlo" didn't even mind having her skin pinched with a clip. :)

Next was the Easter Bunny visit. We waited in line forever and it was torture. I watched as every Mom would sit their child down, the child would start screaming and the 15 minute process of trying to calm the child would begin....and the crying still wouldn't stop. Once we got to the front of the line, I plopped Claire on the bunny's lap, she of course starting screaming and I told the camera operator to roll with it. There was no turning back. She screamed until she was red in the face and I knew there was nothing I could do to get a smile. But, I didn't care. In these moments, the screaming pictures are just as adorable as the ones with perfect smiles. I loved it!

When Easter Sunday finally arrived, I was definitely not ready. Usually I am completely on the ball with this stuff, but we didn't even decorate eggs! Since I'm writing this post so many days after Easter I can tell you that I finally colored eggs a week after Easter and then 2 weeks after that I sat Claire down and let her put stickers on them...which didn't even stick! Not very exciting to say the least. Anyhow, after church and Claire's nap, everyone opened their Easter basket. Claire enjoyed her new books, Khloe sniffed away and found her yummy bones, and Erik was delighted to find a new shirt I had bought him from Banana Republic. J/K :)

Then it was off for a quick egg hunt outside. Claire had a few practice rounds during a family trip to St. George a few weeks prior so she knew exactly what to do. The M&M's were a big hit and she probably could have continued for hours. Lucky for her, another hunt was in the very near future.

Once Claire had fully stuffed her face with M&M's, we rushed inside and hurried over to Erik's parent's house for a lovely Easter dinner. There was one big problem though. We walked in the door and I had completely forgot to put Claire back in her Easter dress. She was the only little one not in her outfit. Of course I wasn't going to let her be the odd ball wearing "normal clothes" and let her look strange in all the pictures, so I rushed home and grabbed her dress. Crisis adverted. :) Once we finished dinner, we headed outside for another egg hunt and some bubble popping. Claire had a blast!

Claire and her cousins looked so cute in their Easter outfits and I am SO glad I skipped eating my meal so that she could have her dress on in all of the pictures (totally OCD, I know). Celebrating special days with family is always fun and this was no exception. It was particularly enjoyable for me because my parents were able to join in on the fun. They will be leaving in a couple of months for another mission and we will all miss them dearly. Before I end, I also need to thank Erik for taking this darling picture of me and Claire in our Easter dresses. Getting Erik to take pictures is a challenge most of the time and not only did he utter no complaints about having to do it, he even managed to produce great results. Thanks Erik! A great picture is like a little piece of heaven to me. :)

Disappointment at the Gardens

The girls and I spent Arbor Day last week walking around the gardens; Red Butte Garden and the gardens at Thanksgiving Point for their annual Tulip Festival. Unfortunately, Claire brought along the terrible two's and it was a lot of work keeping it to a minimum while out at such crowded places. One minute she was happy as can be and the next minute she's pulling a full on temper tantrum in the middle of the sidewalk with tons of people walking by. Embarrassing to say the least. Claire momentarily enjoyed running through the paths of flowerbeds and upon getting up from a nearby swing, rang over and plucked a flower right out of the garden. I couldn't believe it! It was a matter of seconds and my little bundle of terror had ruined a small piece of the garden. Soon after, we went back to pick up our free tree they were giving out and they had literally just given away their last one! This was beginning to be quite a day.

After nap time, we headed over to the tulip festival. Not only was Claire a handful and continuing to disappoint me in every direction, the tulip festival was a complete disappointment. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful, but it was seriously hilarious that they called it a tulip festival. Growing up in Washington, this is what I call a tulip festival (right). I was expecting miles and miles upon miles of tulips. I even wore my rain boots figuring it would be muddy through the rows of tulips since it rained so hard the night before. Little did I know, it was actually a garden with a few tulips lining the pathway. Yes, it was pretty. But so not what I was expecting.

When we first got there, Claire enjoyed running around and even amazed me when she knew what to do when I asked her to smell the flowers. She thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of not being cooped up in her stroller and definitely took advantage of it. I was chasing her left and right!

Before we knew it, we were on to tantrum number 30 (exaggeration, but probably close). She kept trying to push her stroller and would get very mad when I would tell her we had to go in a different direction. I was so done with her that I was seconds away from just leaving her there with a stranger. What was supposed to be our perfect day wandering through the gardens, had turned into such a day of disappointment. I know that through it all, we both had moments of fun and Claire throwing tantrums while in such beautiful scenery definitely beats watching her scream in the confinement of our own house.

24 Hours of Utter Chaos

It all started last Wednesday night....

 

 

Claire fell on top of Khloe

Very bad news considering she is rehabbing from her surgery 3 weeks ago

Poor thing could only walk on 3 legs

I was so scared she'd need surgery again

 

 

Woke up at 7:30am to take her to the vet (way too early for me)

Sent 45 minutes waiting for the doctor

Got some good news though, she would be fine, phew

 

 

Rushed home to take a 5 minute shower

Dropped Claire off at her cousin's house for the day

Had a very important photo gig downtown with the governor

Knew I would do a good job, but I always get nervous

Spent 30 min. photographing oil/gas honchos with Gov. Herbert/Gov. Jindall (LA)

Kind of hope Governor Jindall becomes president someday

Could add "Presidential Photographer" to my list of credits :)

Had a worker take a quick shot with me and the govs.

Drove like a maniac to printing lab

Only had 45 minutes to get images printed, in frames, and to the hands of each attendee

I did it (only 7 guys had left before I got there...still a success)

 

 

Picked up Claire and drove home

Had 15 minutes before my Activity Days girls were to be at my house

Gave a great lesson on how we can grow our own testimonies

An hour later, my house was finally empty

Dinner, oh crap

I whipped up some quiche out of nowhere

Erik came home and we had a yummy dinner

Put Claire to bed

Thank heavens

 

 

Crashed on the couch

WHAT A DAY!

Simple Things Sunday

relaxing sunday afternoon

messy bedhead from a long nap

walking around the yard

teaching claire about dandelions

what could be better?

Stroll Around the Park

Earlier this week, us girls (me, Claire, and Khloe) took advantage of the gorgeous weather and literally spent all day outside. The first playground wasn't that much fun, because the slides were too "haw" (hot), but the second was partially shaded and Claire had a blast on the swings. After a yummy lunch on our patio and a long nap (for Claire), I decided we'd venture downtown and go to Memory Park. I get sick of going to the same places and this was a new one for Claire.

She loved it! Poor little Khloe had to stay in the stroller because of her knees, but Claire ran around for hours enjoying herself. She gave trees kisses (so strange and she'd never done that before), pointed out all of the airplanes to which she would say "bye bye bus" even though she knows the difference between airplanes and buses, played a little peek-a-boo, had a brief meltdown when I took away my chapstick that she stole out of my purse, played hide-and-go-seek (j/k), and got a quick portrait on the stairs. Claire couldn't get enough of all the dogs going for walks and swimming in the river, and she loved watching the people ride by on bikes. Everyone was exhausted by the time we made it home; even Khloe who enjoyed a nice stroll around the park in Claire's stroller. I guess the sun was the culprit for her. It added up to a perfect afternoon for all three of us.

Claire's First Loves

I have been wanting to photograph Claire with her baby and blankie for a while now and have never gotten around to it. She has loved her 'buckie' (blankie), which she used to call her 'nigh nigh', from day one. And her baby, which she got for Christmas, was an instant hit. She wants to take them everywhere. It's kind of cute how much she still insists on having them by her side. Her adorable bedhead ponytail, 'bawoon' (balloon) jammies, and eye-catching airplanes outside created the perfect shots. Claire's eyes are so incredibly blue, that I always wrestle with the idea of turning images black and white, but these were equally cute. Gotta love this girl!

Anything for Khloe

Our "first born" hurt her knees a couple of years ago and has never been the same. We ran her pretty hard one day and something happened which led to patella luxation. Ever since, her knees dislocate numerous times a day and she's never been able to play as hard as she once did because they (her knees) begin hurting and she'll start to limp. After numerous check-ups at the vet, her knees continued to get worse. A grade 3 (out of 4) according to her doctor. He told us surgery was inevitable and it would be best to have it done sooner rather than later. We could have opted for no surgery, but continued pain, arthritis, and a life of laying around all day with no playing would have been the only thing she knew. That is definitely not what we wanted for her.

Khloe went in for surgery last Monday and after a 4 hour operation, 10 staples in each knee, and an overnight stay at the animal hospital, she was finally home. The biggest difficulty has been not allowing her to walk. We are currently on day 12 of 14 where walking is an absolute NO. She had her pink bandages taken off on Monday and will go in next week to have the staples out. We've been told that she can take a few steps at that point, but that she isn't allowed to go on a walk for almost 2 months. Carrying her around from place to place has been difficult, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. We love Khloe so much and hope she will be pain free and be able to run forever in weeks to come. Anything for our "little Khlo"!