On quandaries.

Olivia gained an “and a half” to her 3 years a couple weeks back.  Three and a half.  I don’t know if it’s the tumultuous state of her current life or some growing pains associated with her specific age, probably a bit of both, but this age has presented some significant challenges for us. 

When she is happy, she is VERY happy, cute, and hilariously perceptive (like that time after she listened to my brother Cameron ramble on about who-knows-what [as he is wont to do, you know this if you’ve met him even once], she sighed to herself, then said, “You say weird things, Cameron.” we’re still quoting it to him every chance we get.  there are ample chances. ILY, cameron!). 

When she is mad/grouchy/frustrated/tired/hungry, things get ugly. 

Even when she isn’t any of those things, I still find myself asking her to speak kindly, ask me nicely, or please don’t yell at me, then I’m shipping her off to time out when she’s feeling really defiant.  I feel like I am wasting my vocal chords.  I feel like I spend half my day with my hands on my hips and my eyebrows raised, waiting for a ‘please’ or at least something better than, ‘GIIIIVEEE MEEE THAATTT RIGHT. NOW.!!!!!!!!!!*&^$*()&^$#!!!!’.  I feel like I spend three quarters of my interactions with Olivia trying to correct all these little things, and isn’t that sad?  

But aren’t I morally obligated to, like, do something about all that?  It is a quandary, is what I’m telling you.

(Likewise confusing: I have had three, yes three!, dreams about Jimmer Fredette.  He is always trying to date me!  And I’m like, “I’m sorry, guy.  My life is way too complicated for any of this nonsense.  You’ve got to leave me alone, I’m not interested!” and then he is always trying to kiss me, and I keep ending up dodging him at parties and running out of grocery stores.  WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN???)

So.  Now you know that parenting is kind of difficult and confusing sometimes (as is trying to escape a determined-to-date-and-kiss-you Jimmer Fredette).

I keep forgetting to charge my camera battery.  So here are a billion phone pics, instead.

Olivia discovered these old stencils hiding in one of my mom’s drawers recently.  She loves the stupid things.  And I love the additions she makes to them.  Please note, of her own volition and will, she drew two surprised faces, a happy face, and, my personal favorite, a sleeping face for her suns. AND they’re all holding hands.  I love this picture so much.

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I took my Chemistry final last Saturday.  My teacher told us we could write anything we could fit on an index card to take into the test with us since we learned approximately 18 thousand formulas.  I have never written so tiny.  Would you believe that I ran out of things to write, so I just started writing random sentences of things I already knew I knew (makes sense?) just to fill up the rest of the space?

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I just discovered how I did, by the way.  A 215 out of 220.  YES.  Another 4.0 semester, and how. (I do have 2 more classes still in progress, but they are really easy, and if I can’t get A’s in them, I might poke my eyes out.)

The other day Olivia asked for a cup of water while we were playing outside.  I got it for her, then she jumped onto this rock in the sunshine and declared herself “growin’ like a plant!” (sunshine+water, get it?)  Love her.

Olivia was super nice to let Rusty borrow her sparkly, pink, heart-shaped glasses on a sunny day.  Then they crawled under a table (on which the deflated pool was resting) and told us they needed some shade.

She was adamant that her rubber ducky should also be within her carseat straps.  We take safety seriously around these parts.

Frozen yogurt on her nose, and around her mouth, and on her cheeks.  She is a pretty baby, despite.

She refused, REFUSED, to wear shorts yesterday.  Oh, how she hated every pair of shorts in her wardrobe!  So she got herself a fancy skirt and looked like a little hippie love child for the rest of the day because both her tank and her skirt were enormous (the curse of 4T!).  I kind of loved it.

Playing in the mountains. 

I know that Utah has this reputation of being not that cool and everything?  But I love it here so much.  I love the mountains, the summer thunderstorms, the optimistic spring, the crisp autumn, and about half of winter.  And about a million other things, but it’d get pretty annoying if I tried to name them all.  I love Utah and I don’t care who knows it!