Happy Birthday Dear Olivia,

We started celebrating last week with a little birthday party for my girl. On Sunday we had a family party at Grandma Christensen’s house. Today when I woke Olivia up and told her today was her real birthday, I don’t think she believed me.

To celebrate we took Olivia and Calvin to the zoo (per O’s request). After an exciting afternoon there, we came home and had just enough time to relax for a few minutes and then all of Olivia’s neighbor friends came over to wish her Happy Birthday and eat ice cream and cake.

Mmmm. Olivia. You are my happy thought.

Olivia having cake (and sharing with Cal) at Grandma’s House

At the Zoo

Cal is such a cutie.

Blowing out the candles on her 3rd Cake

We love those Sorensen Girls

Rick and Lena

Three year olds jumping off the chest.

Four Year Olds jumping off the chest.

Today I was looking for my Quran, and came across my Tao Te Ching, in which I found a love note from Wyatt circa 2002, and in my Analects of Confucious I found a picture of my darling room-mate, Amanda Sue, whom I haven’t seen since circa 2003. I put things in my books. And I love finding them later. Once I found a $50 in my Complete Works of Shakespeare (I have multiple copies, thus I hadn’t opened that particular copy in several years).

I didn’t find my Quran (at least not the one in English). But when I do I intend to write an entire treatise on the mistreatment of the Islamic religion in American politics. Am I a nerd?

So, I had a dream . . . to have my family pictures taken in an apple orchard. I did research. It seemed all the apple orchards in Utah lived in either Logan (way up north) or southern Utah county (way down south). Finally I asked my brother-in-law where an orchard closer by was. He said there was one right behind his house (awesome!); still in Utah county, but not nearly as far down as Payson (where the other orchards I found were).

So I conned my super-photo-hero neighbor Rick into meeting us in Pleasant Grove for a semi-criminal photo session.

Here are the results. E-mail Rick and you too can have fabulous family photos.

I know these two are the same. Which do you like better and why?