First Hike

Last week Jason was gone on his second work trip since Harper's birth, and we were all going a little bit crazy. So we decided to go on an adventure up the canyon. The boys wanted to explore somewhere they had never been. So off we went to the Jardine Juniper trail. We didn't get very far with Finn walking, but as you can see from the photo below, he started out strong. ;)

Owen was ready to hike the entire thing! But instead, we walked about 200 yards.

Harper's first outdoorsy-outing.

It got pretty windy, and she was not a fan. But that will change. Oh yes, my little friend, you will love the great outdoors!

Finn's Birthday

Here is the birthday boy with his favorite guy:

And here he is with his favorite girl:

And here he is with the weirdest/coolest cake ever:

And here he is on his favorite present:

Aside from the way he acted in Stake Conference today, and how he acts every week in Sacrament Meeting, and the way he acts when I make him come inside the house when he wants to be outside, which is always, this kid is seriously the funniest, cutest little thing ever. He is the biggest cheeser, and has the funkiest dance moves. Happy birthday, Finn Elias! Our family would not be complete without you!

What's in a name?

I just wanted to share a little about our choice of names for this little girly. First of all, and this is probably the biggest reason: I just think it is beautiful. But there are a few other reasons we chose the name as well. We came back to this name, in fact, after abandoning it when some friends in the ward named their baby Harper a couple of months ago. We thought of the name independently, and a mutual friend alerted us to the fact that we wanted the same name. I felt really bad using her name, so we were considering some of these names: Violet, Estelle (Estee), Maeve, Clementine, Lola, etc. By the way, girl names are waaaayyyy harder than boy names because there are so many more choices! I always thought it would be so easy. Wrong. Especially because this is our one big shot at naming a girl... it had to be just right.

Anyway, we didn't name her until she was 5 days old, at which point Jason convinced me to just go with Harper since it is what I wanted all along. And really, how long will we be in the same ward as the other Harper? Right?

So- here are a few of the reasons I love Harper's name.

First, writer: Harper Lee.

By the way, these people are not in order of importance to me personally. I put Harper Lee in first because people always often ask if this is where we got the name. Because, you know, Jason has 2 degrees in English, so it might be natural to name her after a great author. (I have to say that I like the names Scout and Atticus too...) The answer is yes, in part.

Who wouldn't be honored to be named after the writer of the famed To Kill a Mockingbird, right? This book won the Pulitzer prize-winner and stayed on the best-seller list for 88 weeks is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Here is one review written in the Washington Post at the time the book was first published:

"A hundred pounds of sermons on tolerance, or an equal measure of invective deploring the lack of it, will weigh far less in the scale of enlightenment than a mere 18 ounces of new fiction bearing the title To Kill a Mockingbird."

What a shame that Harper Lee hasn't published anything since.

Maybe our Harper will be a writer, like Harper Lee, or like her Dad, and like her Gramma Linda.

The second reason I love the name Harper:

Artist Charley Harper.

Charley Harper may be my favorite artist. It's hard to say if that is 100% true, because I do have a lot of favorites. But he is definitely in the top 5 for me. I am so in love with his work. He died 2 years ago, which really saddens me because I would like to track him down and meet him. Here are some examples of his fabulous work. Someday Jason and I will live in a cool, crazy-modern home bedecked with work by Charley Harper. For now, Harper's room will be.

Now, seriously, look at this man's studio. It is a disaster. I KNOW I would like this guy.

I LOVE his work. It is amazing. AMAZING! A-MAZING!

Maybe our Harper will be an artist like Charley Harper, or her mama.

And last, but not least: Musician Ben Harper.

I want to know who of my readers loves Ben Harper. Have you heard of him? Check him out. You won't be sorry. He has collaborated with Mr. Jack Johnson lately, if that helps you feel the love.

Okay, now, here is the reason Ben Harper is so special to us. Jason proposed to me one golden evening in June 1999 to the Ben Harper tune "Gold to Me." While driving through the canyon one evening, on our way to dinner in Salt Lake, he pulled his red Jetta VR6 off the road at Sherwood Hills. He drove up an overgrown service road into a little clearing, full of late afternoon sunlight, stopped the car, started this song, walked around the car, got down on one knee, opened a ring box with shaking hands and asked me to marry him.

The song was perfect, and the lyrics apply as much to how we feel about our little girl as they did that day to me.

Here are some of the lyrics:

You look like gold to me, and I'm not too blind to see.
Oh, you look like gold.
Said, you look like gold.

And you make me want to sing with all the joy you bring.
Oh, you look like gold.
Oh, you look like gold.

Like the rays down from the sun when a new day has just begun.
You look like gold.
You look like gold.

And now, look here 'cause,
I've been fooled before,
But now I know,
I've made the mistake in the past,
But now, now I know the difference from gold,
from gold and brass.

Maybe our Harper will be a musician, like Ben Harper, or like her Daddy.

Harper's middle name comes from the most faithful, kind, generous, selfless, hard-working woman I have ever known: my mom, Katherine McCracken Olsen.

I pray that Harper Katherine is all of those things just like her Grandma Katherine.

I can't wait to see all the things our Harper will do and be.

Harper Katherine

I was reminded by my dear friend, Suzette, yesterday that not everyone in the world is on facebook, and some folks are still waiting patiently for pictures of this little miss. Here is the abbreviated version:

Harper Katherine Lambert was born April 29, 2010 (yes, almost a week past her due date... she took her sweet time!) at 2:58 a.m. (because apparently all our kids have to come in the middle of the night!) weighing 8 lbs. 4 ozs. (just like Finn, who was also born au natural) and about 20 " long. She has dark brown hair, mostly in the back (mullet baby), and is perfect in every way.

If you want more details, scroll to the bottom of this post and I will divulge more. But nothing too personal, for those of you who are squeamish. ;)




I can't believe how much she has changed in just over a week. She still looks kind of mad all the time, like she does in the above picture, but a little less so. I'd be mad too if I had 4 brothers constantly running around me shouting and being wild all the live-long day.

As you may or may not know, I felt great at the end of this pregnancy. The fun started wearing off, though, more and more every day that she was late. Finally, we got a good freak spring storm which I really think put me into labor. I started having some contractions after back to back soccer games for the boys, and started making preparations to head to the hospital that night. But, the contractions never got very strong, and I eventually fell asleep. The next morning they started back up again, but nothing got very serious until late that night. By 11:00 I knew it was the real deal. I called my little brother, Lee, to come stay with the kids, and woke Jason up.

We got to the hospital around midnight (I have to add in here that I was dilated to a 6 when we arrived, which was awesome. If I had only been at a 2 or something pathetic, it just would have been so depressing.), had my water broken around 2, and she was born 58 minutes and just a few (very painful) contractions later! Holy cow! It was so fast. It surprised everyone! I told Jason to call the nurse, and when she walked in I asked in a loud voice, "IS THAT A HEAD DOWN THERE OR WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!" The nurse walked in to check me and was suddenly flailing around, calling for the doctor, breaking the bed down, coaching me not to push, etc. The doctor walked in, and I pushed her out. It was crazy.

It was harder to get her out than it was with Finn, and I have some broken blood vessels in my face to prove it. But the recovery was seriously the best. By the time I left the hospital the next day, I didn't really even feel like I had had a baby. Well, not completely. You know. But really, it was great. I know I'm lucky, and you can all curse me now. But I always knew these wide hips were good for something.

We have loved having a baby girl around the house. Finn is so fascinated by her. And the rest of the boys took longer to warm up, but now they are loving her. They gather around her on my bed and talk to her, stroke her cheek or hair, laugh at her funny faces, and just basically think she's pretty cool.

I'm still in that phase where I don't even mind getting up in the night, because I look forward to seeing her and holding her every chance I can. I know those days are numbered because soon I will be a sleep-deprived zombie, but really. What in this world is better than the smell of a newborn baby or the softness of their little cheeks? Nothing.