The Museum of Creative Discovering

I think that sounds more fun than Creative Discovery Museum... but that's just me :)

Nikon D5000

I have no clue how to use it, but just snapped these pics yesterday and today... pretty good for just pointing and shooting with no settings figured out yet!

Olivia-isms

"Olivia, hold your raisins upright so they won't spill!"
"OK MOMMY!!!" as she lifts them up and holds them on top of her head.

After washing her hands:
"Did you dry your hands good?"
"Yep!! I died my hans and my yips too!" (lips)

"Wat's wrong Mommy?"
"Oh, I'm just feeling kind of sad." (I was just having one of those down days)
"Ohhh, you're sad cause Maw-Maw left today??" (To go out of town)
"Umm.. yeah Olivia, that's probably it."
"Aww Mommy. It be ok. Maw Maw will be back soon!"

And as I type this she's "talking" on her play princess phone to Bec-cah... asking when she's coming home.

Window

Zoo

I am really slacking in blog postings lately, but I have been lazy and enjoying summer!

Monday morning we took Olivia to the Chattanooga Zoo and she was so excited!! All the way down there she kept talking about elephants! I had to break it to her that our zoo does not have elephants... So she immediately started talking about how she was going to see snakes!!

Umm... ew.

But as you can see >>> she loved them!

She loved going in the choo choo train and looking at the cougar :)

Us with the snow leapord :) That was neat! All those are just big kitties, riiight??

Olivia with the chimps.

The red panda... by far my favorite. So cool. I just wanted to hug it - but I'm pretty sure it would've attacked.

We had a great time at the zoo and Olivia loved getting to run around and lead the way everywhere. I can't wait to take her back!!

A Pink Dress

So do you know that the color pink just isn't in this year?? We (as in Ben's family) decided to do a pink themed night where we all wear pink and get our family pics done with a white background on our cruise. I have looked EVERYWHERE for a pink dress. Originally I thought we were all supposed to be in light pink so when I found an adorable hot pink dress on sale at Dillards, I turned it down and didn't get it. THEN I found out it was all shades of pink, but the dress was long gone when I went back to look. I looked all over Hamilton Place (at least 10 different stores) and went various other places around the mall. No luck.

So I went home and looked on Victoria's Secret where I found a semi-cute pink dress that was on sale for $49 but it was going to end up costing 70+ to rush ship it here. Thanks, but no thanks. It also looked more like something you'd wear to a BBQ or a beach party... not so much a cruise casual dinner.

SO I FINALLY thought to search Macy's online since we don't have one near here. AND I found a magenta pink dress that I personally think is just adorable. & it will be something I can wear again to weddings, etc.

You can see it here: http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=364305&CategoryID=45781

I couldn't save the pic to upload it here, but it is very cute! & I think it will be good for the picture :) Finally. A huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

But ya know, doesn't that ALWAYS happen? They always have it when you don't need it. But when you need it, they don't have it.

4th of July 2009

For the 4th, we went to Ben's parents house for lunch and grilled chicken, shrimp, and ribs with corn & potato salad. It was SO yummy and I was definitely stuffed afterwards!! After lunch we watched a movie while Olivia took a nap.

For dinner, we headed down to the annual 4th of July Lakesite picnic and saw lots of friends and neighbors we rarely see! Everyone was very surprised to see that O wasn't quite the baby she was last year! The BBQ and food was wonderful, as usual!

Olivia especially enjoyed this yummy cupcake!

After dinner, we went home and hung out before going back to the park for fireworks. We had a fun little photo shoot and then lit some sparklers.

Olivia held her first sparkler!! She was VERY serious about it and wouldn't even smile haha! She doesn't look like she's having very much fun but she kept asking for more and laughing in between lit ones!


This was her face when she saw the first couple big fireworks of the night at the Lakesite park... she liked them, but I don't think she liked all the noise they made.

Some of the great fireworks we saw!! Afterwards, we went home and set off some fireworks Ben had picked up in Rhea Co. O was VERY interested in what they were doing up on the road!! We did some more sparklers and headed to bed close to midnight!! It was a long but fun day!!

Trip to Knoxville

Wednesday I made the trip to Knoxville with O, by myself! I was a little nervous since I've never driven that far just with her. She fell asleep just as we got on Hwy 27 and slept all the way to Rockwood so that was great, because we were just going to Harriman! So she woke up within 10 minutes of us being there.

We stopped in Harriman to see cousins Austin and Addison and to take their mom, Cindy some of Olivia's baby gear since they are having a baby boy in September. They had so much fun playing together and got along GREAT! Sometimes Olivia wants to follow Addison around and play with whatever she has and do exactly whatever she is doing, and I'm sure that annoys Addison! I know it would me LOL But they did great!! I was so glad :)
After we played in Harriman for awhile we headed to Farragut to Jeremy & Lesleigh's house. Wednesday night we went out to eat at a Mexican place that was VERY yummy!! And filling! I couldn't hardly eat half of what they brought me... luckily O and I were sharing a plate!

Thursday Lesleigh was off work, so we got to hang out and play and swim.

We went to McAllister's for lunch and then hit up Target's dollar aisle haha! The girls were VERY excited! And they were having a huge shoe sale so I got Olivia 2 pairs (1 for $4, the other for $5) and a pair of shorts for $1.50 and a skort for $2.80. So I did good!!

Thursday night we had pizza and hung out with the girls...

We asked them where they were going since they were all packed up & had their heels on and they go, "Disney World!! Bye! See ya!" Oh of course! Where else would I expect from O'Dell children???

Friday morning I had both girls cause Jeremy & Lesleigh both had to be at work, so we played outside a lot, and then watched a movie and played babies until Aunt Allie and Bethany got there to hang with Emily and swim... we headed home then and Olivia slept from Farragut to South Dayton!! So I think it was a successful trip!