The Fair 2011

The Fair was soooo much fun this year! Dave got unlimited Fair tickets for his birthday this year so we were able to go a few times! Lucy was old enough to really enjoy it! And I was not 8 months pregnant like last year so I fared better too!

We started out visiting the horses. Lucy was crushed when she found out she couldn't ride the horses there, but tried to suffice with an imaginary ride! She takes horses seriously!

Well, yeehaw! She made it look so fun...Dave and Levi wanted to join too!
We let Lucy choose one ride because we were kind of on a budget. She chose the spider swing! When she watched it go around and made her selection there was tons of kids aboard, but when she got on, she was the only kid in line! I thought that would make her sad, because it sure looked lonely, but she smiled so big and put her hands up anyway. Just having fun in her own little world, thrilled that she got to ride something!

At night the lights were really beautiful! Even though the kids were tired, nobody was about to close their eyes and miss out on any magical fair moments. Here is the kids looking up at the lights and rides! Pure amazement, huh?


Got some big smiles in there too!

Levi was getting really tired, but he only opened his eyes wider. Yup turns out we have another live wire in the family...seriously though... sleep is so overrated! Maybe one of our kids won't mind putting his head down when he is tired like Dave... I look forward to this child with very dear emotions, but for now I just enjoy the party!
Here was our view of the fair from where we parked...so beautiful, huh? Very worth the walk up the hill with the stroller, plus we saved 10 bucks!


I went back for more fun on another day and entered Levi in the diaper derby. I had high hopes since I won the diaper derby at the Del Mar Fair 26 years ago. I thought maybe it was in the genes... ...but Levi just started socializing with another cute baby, backed off the line, disqualified himself, shattered his mother's dreams, but still got the 3rd place ribbon, because only 2 babies actually came in and Levi did turn around and make it the whole way across and come in third. He is fast, but I guess we didn't train hard enough! Levi wasn't impressed with his ribbon!



On the other hand, Lucy had a magnificent time! Papa let her go on the trampoline!

I have never seen a happier 3 minutes! Pure bliss!


And then if that wasn't good enough, he topped it off with a pony ride! She has been asking to ride a horse for months now! All of Lucy's dreams came true in one magical day!

I expected to hear how thrilling the ride was, but when she got off she asked me "When do I get to run on a horse?" One step at a time there cowgirl!

What a fun time! Thank you so much for the tickets Mom and Dad! We had a blast!

Ode to October: Post 1

So many wonderful things happened this October, but I neglected to post anything. I would say it was because we were moving and such, but let's be honest, I always have an excuse. Hey, I always get to the good stuff.

Anyway shoot back to October 2.

My parents came to town so that my Dad could go to his mission reunion and attend conference which he has never done before. It just happened to be the same weekend as my Birthday, so they completely spoiled me!

The weekend was so jam packed that I will only tell you about Friday morning in this post!

Me and my mom took Lucy bowling. This was actually her second time, her first time being the week before with David, but this was my first time watching her.

I never thought it would be so much fun to take a two year old bowling, but it was really really cute. Lucy was so excited about rolling her ball and cheered whenever she knocked pins over (which was pretty common since we had bumpers up) Check out the joy!





"Heaby Mommy Heaby. Help" I kept making her carry the bowling ball just because I love the way she says "Heavy!" Is that mean? It was only six pounds.



What a fun way to start an amazing Birthday Weekend. I truly think this was my best birthday ever and this was only the beginning of 3 days worth of fun! Okay not as cool as the time my Dad took me on a biplane ( I was turning ten, I think and my whole goal in life was to fly.)

Lucy's First Movie

We tried to take Lucy to see her first Movie, "Up" (about an old man who launched his house with millions of balloons) on September 5th, as an added Birthday Bonus, but it was sold out! I even took a picture of her outside the theater with Nana (who visited us to celebrate Lucy's Birthday) to signify the great event, before we found out we weren't going! Oh well, it is still a cute shot.
We took Lucy later that week on September 9th. She didn't really know the difference I guess. She loved the movie, and I was surprised how good she was.


Funny fact about Lucy, whether at home or at the theater Lucy's eyes water whenever she watches shows. She forgets to blink (I used to think she was crying). We have to remind her to blink the whole time. It is sweet.

It was a really cute show! Dave and I both cried just within the first 15 minutes, so you know it was good for both child and parent. It had a sweet message about enjoying life at every age!

I would recommend it whether you have children to take to it or not!

Arches Adventures- Days 1-2

Arches Adventures - Days 1-2

September 1st and 2nd

Happy Birthday Heidi! In Honor of you, we traveled South and went camping!

We decided in the afternoon on September 1st, we better go on a cool trip before Dave gets a job and may have a more complicated process to get time off.

So at 7:00 p.m. we made up our minds to leave right away. We threw everything in the car as fast as we could and were on the road by 7:30 p.m. Dave and I are just like that sometimes. Neither one of us really likes to plan very far in advance.

Since we left so late we stopped at Green River to camp. This was Lucy's first time sleeping in a tent so of course we documented it with a picture. She really loved the tent, although she didn't display that by sleeping very well in it.


Outside Arches National Park Visitor center Lucy found a friend that also had two ponies.


Our first stop along the trek, Park Avenue.

At this point, I looked at some map and thought we could hike to "Balanced Rock" from here. So we went on a hike, and luckily after only one mile we came to the road again and realized that "Balanced Rock" was miles away. I guess what they say about women reading maps might be true, at least for me. Dave hiked back and got the car for us. I was extremely impressed with Lucy, because she hiked the whole mile and absolutely refused to be carried. Even when we stopped to wait for Dave to get the car, she wanted to keep hiking.

Here are some pictures of our very awesome, short hike to the road that we drove on to get to "Balanced Rock":

Lucy going under a Lucy sized arch that we found



Dave and Lucy, with "The Three Gossips" in the Background



Here is the cool rock Lucy and I ate lunch underneath, while Dave fetched the car.

After getting in the car and driving 9 miles, we finally reached "Balanced Rock." I am sure glad we didn't try to keep hiking there!

Here is Dave and Lucy trying to blow "Balanced Rock" over

Pretty cool, huh?


And we don't look like we have been sweating out here or anything

Here is Lucy trying to balance her own rocks. These interested her much more than the random huge balanced rock above her head.


Ah, and here is the artist in me, capturing the real "Balanced Rock" with Lucy trying to balance her rock. I thought it was sweet.


Do you think Dave is strong enough to push it over?


Maybe with the help of Lucy he can. Lucy didn't understand what we were doing of course, but she really wanted to pretend to do whatever Daddy was doing too. I couldn't get her to line up perfectly, but she sure tried hard.


Here is one of the Window Arches. I thought it was pretty cool and worth a picture.


Here is the other Window Arch (I think).


Double Arches (This was one of my favorites!)



Dave asked some ladies, while video taping, "Where's the arches? Are they up here somewhere?" while we were standing underneath them. They were foreign and tried to explain to us that we were already there. We pretended to react as though we had no idea we were right underneath it. It was funny. Maybe if I get highly motivated sometime I will post the video.



Here is the view from up at the arch



Who's that hot silhouette?


It's me!


Here is the most famous "Delicate Arch"which is also on our license plate. We didn't hike to it because Lucy was asleep and it was supposedly a somewhat hard, 3 hour hike. Maybe next trip. It's not too bad of a shot, zoomed completely in with my camera.

After a long hot Day, we set up camp at Slide Rock campground in Moab. The campsites were pretty small and shabby, but they had a pool and that was all that mattered to Lucy. Even the freezing temperature didn't stop her. Here she is jumping in (one of her favorite pool pastimes).


Look at the love on those faces, even through chattering teeth.


What a perfect ending to a perfect day! We celebrated the evening by going to the grocery store and buying Green Machine Naked Juice, which we also discovered was one of Lucy's favorite things (as well as mine). The adventures aren't over yet! Stay tuned for Day 3 of our Arches Adventures tomorrow.

Things Lucy Says and other deep Wendy realizations

I have great news for those of you who are curious or who have toddlers that use profanity, I haven't heard Lucy use the f-word in about a month and a half, and even Heidi came to visit last week (because Heidi couldn't refrain from laughing, Lucy used to yell it at her over and over just to make her laugh). Hallelujah!

I told Lucy that "Daddy gave Mommy my ring at the temple and we got married" a while ago. Now whenever we pass a temple Lucy recalls "Daddy Mommy ring temple married!" and then while pointing at the angel Moroni she exclaims "Careful Guy" " Ball" "Fall Down" "Careful." She came up with that all on her own and it cracks me up! I guess she doesn't realize that angels can fly yet!

She says her own prays which are a bunch of babbling and then "amen." It makes my heart melt every day.

"her ago mama" when she gives you things "for here you go mama." It doesn't really matter what she gives you, you can't help but smile when she says that to you.

"pease" for "please,"

"I do it!" at least 30 times a day. In fact, last week she opened the car door, climbed into her carseat and buckled herself completely in, all on account of that phrase. Today she hiked at least 75 % of our hike to Stewart Falls and back (about a 4 hour hike with Lucy) while I carried the empty baby back pack.

"Mama's toy" when I told her the computer was not a toy (one of my new recent phrases for "you can't play with that")she pointed at it and questioned "Mama's toy?" It caught me pretty off guard. I finally said "yes, you are right. It's Mama's toy." Kind of makes you think a little bit about how much you are using the computer, huh?

"Hold non" instead of "Hold on" she says this all the time. Anytime you can possibly hold on to anything.

"I get ana pillow" for "I will get my pillow" We just got a her a Belle pillowcase and she won't go upstairs without it.

"Luff you" for "Love you." Now the days are all blurring and I can't remember if she said that for the first time yesterday or 2 days ago. The day before she said it for reals she faked me out by saying "Luff you Mama" I started rejoicing and then realized she was pointing at her "Mama, do you love me?" book. I was crushed. I thought that was her first spontaneous "I love you Mama," but it didn't take long. The next day when she said bye to me she also included "Luff you" without any prompting (she has been saying "Luff you" for a while, but only when we ask her to).

Yesterday she even said "Bye Swing. Luff You" which she most definitely does. We put her on the big kid swing these days and she says "High. Fast" and "und dawg" for underdog. If she is not being pushed way too high for me to feel okay about it, she is upset. But I will be the first to admit I encourage her adventurous spirit despite being worried about her sometimes. I really don't want her to be a fearful and worried child. I want her to enjoy life, even if it means she gets hurt sometimes. I finally figured out that kids get hurt all the time and that they are resilient if you let them be.

Dave just taught Lucy after she gets hurt to brush her hands, brush her knees, then shake it off and give a triumphant sigh. It has worked wonders (we are talking magic here people) and I feel great that we are teaching her to be strong and have a great attitude towards life. I want her to realize that sometimes hard things happen, but you just pick yourself up and then keep enjoying. My testimony has really grown lately that it is through pain we learn. When we have hard times, we learn things and we grow. When I find myself struggling, I have been trying to think "What can I learn from this?" I almost feel like as soon as you really get the message and grow, all of a sudden your trial is either gone, or you at least start to see some solutions. Sometimes you just have to have a little headache to appreciate how awesome your body is when it is functioning at full speed. (I had a headache last night and I seriously can't stop thinking how great I feel right now without one).

To demonstrate this principle on a much bigger note, let me recap an experience. Last Fall, I had been praying to be happy again. I felt like I used to be happy, but between sleep deprivation and adjusting to 24 hour Momhood I just couldn't get back on track. I knew that your attitude was entirely up to you and I kept thinking "okay, today I will be happy" but then I would feel so tired from lack of sleep and after taking Lucy to the park, reading her books, making her food, and cleaning, all I wanted to do was sleep and my good attitude would fade as I continued to try and take care of Lucy until bedtime. I finally decided with everything that I could muster, that I would force happiness and then, Lo and Behold, Lucy was hospitalized due to food poisoning (all this was taking place in South Korea). She didn't keep down any food for over a month. At first I was so upset that my whole happy attitude didn't work. I thought to myself "Look where trying to be happy got me? Huge trials. Lots of Misery! I should have never asked to be happy. At least it wasn't this bad" I felt so angry and so helpless to control any part of my life. But you know what actually happened looking back, I enjoy my days with Lucy so much more now. I am so thankful that she is alive and healthy and that she can eat and we can go anywhere we want. We can dance together and swing together and run together. Whenever I am having a bad day and Lucy skips her nap and I don't get "me time" and I am tempted to just being annoyed with my circumstances, I think back to that experience and I know that my day is absolutely and completely awesome compared to being stuck in a hospital with a suffering daughter. I start to feel grateful that she actually has the ability to go without a nap, rather than be so sick that she sleeps most of the day and night. And when I am tired, at least I get to lie down on a big comfy bed, instead of sharing a hospital cot with Lucy while trying to avoid laying on the IV tube. I have suddenly realized how it is possible to be grateful for your trials (I used to think the people who talked about being grateful for their trials were kind of nutty, but I really am one of those nuts now). Trials can wake you up. They can make you grateful. They can change your life for the better. They can actually give you exactly what you wanted. I wanted to be happy and the Lord answered my prayers. I didn't realize that my answer would actually come in the form of a trial. Sometimes your prayers can't be answered overnight. Sometimes it takes a change of heart and some new stretch you experiences to have what we want. I am happy now and I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers, although they may be in mysterious and difficult to understand ways. You could say "be careful what you pray for," but really as much as we try to avoid trials, how much more awesome are all of us because of the trials we have had to face. I mean if we had never had any trials, we would be as helpless and dependent as a baby. As much as we love babies, I am sure most of us are glad that we don't have a big overgrown body with the mental capabilities of a baby. The reason we aren't babies is because when were babies we had trials and we grew. We pushed ourselves to crawl so that we could reach something that we wanted. And we still face trials as we reach for the things that we want and hopefully we grow. If we don't grow, its just a miserable downward spiral that is probablly more painful than the challenges we face as we strive to become something great. Anyway, these are my latest insights on life. I didn't intend to write a novel about my experiences, this started as a post about Lucy. I guess I will have to go add a little bit to the title now. I must have had a lot more in my heart than I realized when I started typing. I better go before I start wishing trials on everyone and you all end up hating me!

Personality Check

Just wanted to jot down a few things about my girl for those who are Lucy obsessed.

Yesterday she counted from one to five without skipping any numbers all by herself. I couldn't believe it! I praised Lucy so much, she didn't know what to do. Later that day, with a little coaxing, she counted 4 airplanes or as Lucy says "awpane"s while pointing to each in her book. Usually she just says one, two, two two, as she points at them! My is she growing up!

A few weeks ago she started going up and down stairs without holding the handrails. I was impressed.

She is great on the big girl swing, and is pretty much done with the baby swings. She moves her body with the swing and even pumps her legs half the time. I guess if all you do at the park is swing for an hour you master it quickly. It usually takes quite a bit of excitement to get her to do anything else at the park. A normal day at the park consists of starting in the baby swing, moving to the big girl swing, swinging on Mama's lap, pushing Mama on the swing, then playing airplanes with our tummy's on the swing. At this point I am tired of swinging and try to convince her to go on the playset. We go up the stairs and then she just swings on the bar above the slide for about 3 minutes, finally decides to go down and then runs back to the swings. Pretty amazing considering she hated the $100 baby swing we bought for her as an infant! My favorite thing about the swings is the way Lucy says it "swwwwwwwing." She always draws the word out and then finishes it with excitement!

She has learned to say "No Thank You" which is very pleasant. The Pendergrass' dog, Timber, was licking her face this morning and she told her "No Thank You" while trying to cover her face. Priceless moment!

She sings something very similar to the ABC song, at least to the letter "p." She has "ABCDE " skip "f" to "g" and then comes "nenenenen" "P." It delights me when I hear her start singing that while playing by herself. I am glad there is someone who always wants to sing with me.

I found out that Lucy is a fish. I am very sad to be leaving the beach ( I guess now is a good time to mention that we are moving back to Utah, I have been in denial and so I haven't posted anything about it, guess I had to confess sometime!), but I have realized that Lucy will survive anywhere as long as we have access to a pool. We have taken her to the pool a few times recently and she is obsessed. She has no fear. She will jump off the edge whether someone is there to catch her or not, which concerns me. She doesn't even have floaties, she just dunks under until someone helps her up. She loves to go underwater, which surprises me because half the time she gulps water and forgets to close her eyes, but then she just wants to do it again anyway. She kicks and paddles at the same time pretty well and never wants to get out. She even jumped off the diving board for the first time. She saw me diving and really wanted to try. Like mother like daughter I guess!

Anyway, she is a fun, sweet girl and I feel privledged to be her Mother. I am so happy that parenting has become a blast. It makes me laugh everyday and brings me more joy than I could have ever imagined. I have to admit, I was really worried parenting was going to be long and hard when she was a baby. I am thrilled that is not the case. I guess some babies just have different temperments and Lucy seems to like being a kid much better than being a baby. Well, whether she does or not, I sure enjoy it!

All By Myself!

Today's Milestone: Lucy puts socks and shoes on all by herself and struts in to show off a job well done!



I didn't realize she was getting so talented. I guess I need to back off a little. It is amazing what she can accomplish when I am not right there helping her with every move!

Oceanside Pier

My Dad and Sierra had their first "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" show on Saturday. Sierra is the Narrator (and sings most of the show) and my Dad is Jacob (he couldn't look more the part). They were incredible! I can't wait to see it again! Come check it out and you won't be disappointed! They have shows on Friday, April 24 @ 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 25, @ 2:00 p.m., and Saturday, May 2 @ 7:30 p.m. located at the Star Theater in Oceanside!

To celebrate the opening of the show my family and our good friend Frank, walked out to Ruby's Restaurant at the end of Oceanside Pier. It was the perfect warm day for it! Lucy got to experience Milkshakes and Cherry's for the first time, and now we can't feed her anything else! Anyway, we had a blast, but I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking!

Baby Meow Meow

Our Cat had kittens 1 week ago, Monday... and Lucy found them...

When the Cat had kittens one week ago Monday, I really wanted to show them to Lucy. She points out the Mommas and the babies when we read books about animals, so I knew she would be excited. We decided it would be better not to tell her about them until they were older. Well, Monday morning Lucy disappeared for a few minutes and my Dad went looking for her. He found her standing in the closet with the kittens, just watching. I'm guessing she must have followed the Mom. When she saw my Dad she told him as if she had just discovered gold "Baby, Meow Meow, Baby."

It has been nothing, but kittens since then. All she wants to do is see them all day. She has been dragging her stuffed kitty around and wants her kitty book read to her. If I take my eyes off of her for one second she is on her way to the baby kittens. We go visit about every hour and she points out the "Mommy" and "Babies." Then she counts them "two two two!" (there are really four, but Lucy can't do four yet, however on that note her counting has really improved, she now counts all by herself in this order "two, three, five, eight, nine, ten" and can say "one" if you beg) When they "Meow" she "Meows." When they roll, she rolls. When they sleep, she sleeps (only about 10 seconds, yeah I sure wish that really put her to sleep)When they have a drink, Lucy wants one too! I am amazed at how gentle she is with them. She seems to know that she can't be as rough as she is with their Mom. She treats them like they are little angels that were sent here just for her. When I let her hold them she is thrilled. When I try to hold one, she burst out into tears and reaches her arms toward me. She really thinks they are all hers. Usually she is pretty good about taking turns if I remind her that we have to take turns, but not when it comes to kittens. She has also included them in her goodnight routine. After we say goodnight to everyone in the family, she also has to go give the "babies" a goodnight kiss as well. Anyway, just a cute little experience with Lucy I wanted to share. Such precious moments!