Arkansas Visit

Olivia and I had a wonderful time in Arkansas!! We were only supposed to be there 5 days, but we ended up staying for 10 because we didn't want to leave. I only took my small camera (which I still can't find the cord for), so I didn't take many pictures. The ones I'm posting are from my cell phone, so please excuse the quality!

We spent the majority of our trip just spending time with family. We arrived on Wednesday and had a few visitors stop by Wednesday and Thursday and Thursday night was Olivia's first trip to the ballpark (for Mason's game). She loved it!


On Friday, when mom got home from work, she kept Olivia and I went to Amy's house. We spent about 8 hours making Olivia's birthday cake and cupcakes for her party, as well as decorating cookies to send home with the guests.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but here is the cake we (mostly Amy) made:


Olivia's birthday party was on Saturday. It was SO much fun!! About 25 people came to celebrate with us. I don't have any pictures (they are on the camera with the missing cord). We had sandwiches, fruit, chips and dips, as well as the desserts Amy and I made. Thank you to everyone who came and made the day special for us!

The rest of our visit was very laid back. It was so hot that we could only go outside early in the morning or late in the evening. Olivia spent a lot of time like this:

Her walking improved so much while we were there. When we went to Mason's first ballgame, I didn't let her down on the concrete for fear of her falling. By the last game, she was walking around the entire complex and having the best time. I know that would have made my dad happy!

With cousin Abby at the ballpark:

Exhausted:

Olivia (and I) had such a great time! Her favorite part of the day, by far, was first thing in the morning. As soon as she would wake up, my mom would take her and they would go outside. If she didn't want to go to my mom first thing (which was very rare), mom could ask her if she wanted to go outside and she would get so excited and go right to her. I'm not sure which one of them enjoyed the time more! :) My mom will also want everyone to know that Olivia wanted to go to her instead of me on multiple occasions. Ha! I'm so thankful that she loves her Gram so much!

And, I can't finish this post without thanking Amy. When I started talking about staying a few extra days, I looked into changing our flight. It was going to be quite expensive, so that was out of the question. Amy immediately offered to drive us halfway if Jon would be willing to meet us. So, THANK YOU Amy (and Jon!) for making it possible for us to stay a little longer!!

It was great to see everyone again and we are already looking forward to the next visit!