Fun at the Fair 2008

We went to the Utah State Fair yesterday. We went last year and had so much fun we knew that this year would be even better. The highlight was watching Gwen on the pony rides. She really had a blast. She kept bouncing forward in the saddle to urge the pony to go faster - his name was Thunder, but since he was tied to a pole he couldn't really respond. Jonathan got her to pet him and she blew him kisses when her ride was over. I'm so thankful that she doesn't have allergies like some of her cousins. It means she can have fun and I don't have to stress out about what our night will be like later.

We also got to see all the different animals and I even got her to pet most of them. She was a little scared to touch them so she's slowly reach her little finger out and barely touch them before pulling it back quickly. After a few times of that if the animal was still within reach she'd leave her finger on them for a moment longer, telling me "see, Momma." She's really very brave but also practical. I mean, she's never been that close to most of those animals and she didn't know how they'd react to her.

Gwen riding Thunder the pony. This was her second pony ride of the summer, soon we'll take her to ride Bailey - Aunt Megan's tower of a horse. I think she's ready.Petting the dwarf goats. I thought they were babies, turns out they're full grown just little. They were washing the cows off. Gwen had to stay and watch them for like 10 minutes. I was bored, if you can't tell, but Gwen loved watching the cow bath. It was fun when they were done because they walked right by us. Cows sure are big that close.Petting the sheep. This big guy was so calm and just begging for attention. He'd baa at everyone walking by until they stopped and petted him. He was really soft too.We took advantage of this pig's nap time to feel her rubbery snout. It's so fun to touch, if you haven't felt a pig's snout before you have to next time you get the chance.They had the same kid farmer activities as last year. It was better this year since Gwen actually understood more about it. She kept trying to feed the pretend animals her crops that she'd gathered though. I had to follow her and pick up the tomato and apple that she kept feeding to the pretend sheep and hens. See, I'm sneaking them back into her basket.At the end of the activity you get to give all the things you gathered at all the different stations to one of the volunteers and they give you a dollar to take to the store. Gwen was so excited about this part. She likes to take my wallet and steal all my "monies"(my bills and credit cards), so she was happy when I told her it was a money and she could go buy something with it.She picked fruit snacks to buy with her dollar. We were so surprised. She's so big this year. Going to the fair is worth the price of admission just for this part and the animal part. I wouldn't recommend it to those with kids with allergies though. There's a lot of animals and dust.They were getting ready to start the horse show up again while we were there. We took Gwen and let her pet some of the horses up close, but she really loved sitting on her bench watching them in the ring. If Aunt Megan ever shows her horse again we'll definitely be there.

Jami's Birthday and Bike Fun

Here's a random picture of my little baghead baby. This is how she entertained us this morning while Daddy was making breakfast and Mommy was relaxing on the couch.

This week was my niece Jami's first birthday. I love the first birthday because the kid doesn't really get it but they have fun anyway. Jami was no exception. She loved diving into her own birthday cake and ending up wearing more than eating it. She also had fun opening presents and then watching the older kids yank them away and play with them. It pretty much ended up being a big kid brawl in the middle of the living room while we all watched and took pictures. Jami didn't seem too upset about it and was having fun with all the big kids. Gwen loved following her favorite big kid, Noah, around and was doing a good job of holding her own against him in the big toy war. Heidi's back yard and kiddy slide was also a big hit for Gwen.
Noah sure is daring going down the slide on his feet. I few moments later Gwen tried it but failed.There's Jami, the birthday girl in the stripes as Noah and Gwen fight over her new choo choo.
Gwen helping Grandma Buckholts open one of Jami's Elmo presents. I thought Gwen would have a hard time giving that one back, but she did okay.

Today, our ward primary had a bike ride with the bishop activity. As a primary teacher, (now the 6 and 7 year olds instead of the 3 and 4 year olds, yay!) I felt I should probably show up since I didn't have anything better to do this morning. Plus, Gwen loved getting to ride her new birthday tricycle with all the big kids. She still doesn't have the peddle part down so we had to take turns pushing her along, but it was lots of fun for her.

Bike riding can really wear out a 2-year-old. We only went about a block and that was enough. Then we got to drink bottled water and eat rice crispy treats.

My Happy Birthday Girl

My little baby turned 2 yesterday. She's really not a baby anymore and I usually think of her more as a toddler than a baby now. It helps that we're going to have a real baby in 6 more months. For her birthday, we went to Wheeler Farm. We had dinner and ice cream and melted cupcakes. Gwen got to open her presents and we went and saw all the farm animals. Gwen mostly loved having Sam and Noah (her cousins) around to play with. He spent all evening trying to hold hands with Noah and sit next to Sam. She sure loves them.

All Gwen had for dinner was three glasses of Sprite. Oh well, we had a good lunch at Sweet Tomatoes earlier that afternoon so I wasn't too worried about her little tummy.The three musketeers found this wriggly bench and had fun sitting on it together. We didn't show it to them or anything. They found it themselves and I caught this great picture of them laughing about it.The Bells got Gwen a great Elmo Karaoke machine. It plays some of her favorite songs like "Elmo's World", "The Wheels on the Bus", and "If You're Happy and You Know It." She played with it all evening and wouldn't put it down to open her other presents. We had to hide it from her so we could get her to get ready for bed that night too. It's a big hit.Heidi reminded me that I'm going to have to buy a new stroller when the new baby gets here. The two seater that Heidi has was also a big hit for Gwen. She kicked Sam out of her seat and made Heidi push her all over the farm. I liked it too because then I didn't have to carry her. Hey, she's the Birthday Girl, right?

So, thanks to everyone who came to our party. I'm so grateful that I have a happy and healthy little Gwen to love everyday. My life has so much more meaning and joy since she came into it. I can't imagine a moment without her.

Pictures of Lagoon

Here's the promised pictures from our evening out at Lagoon. Gwen and Daddy in line watching the Merry-Go-Round. She loved watching it but was scared when in was her turn to ride.

Waiting to get on the train. Gwen pointing to everyone passing the window and asking us "whatzis?". She keeps asking you until you can come up with an answer that satisfies her.

Her Nemo backpack. I think she was also inspired that I was wearing a backpack to carry around drinks and diapers and things.

It was impossible to get a picture of her smiling on the Merry-Go-Round, but I swear she really did like it this second time around. I think she's just concentrating on how big she is now.

Where to Begin?

So, over the last few weeks since I last posted not a whole lot has happened. Gwen added to her Terrible Two stage by now automatically answering "no" to any question or request.

Me: Do you want some Nemo fruit snacks?
Gwen: no.
Me: Umm, they're your favorite.
Gwen: *shaking head vigorously* NO!
Me: Say please?
Gwen: Pease.
Me: *gives her the snacks* You say "yes" when you want something.
Gwen: no.

It's just a little bit hard these days to figure out what she wants and what she doesn't. I can't wait for those verbal skills to kick in.

Also on the Gwen front, she has begun to pretend to go potty on the toilet. We bought her an Elmo (of course) potty seat and a step stool for our toilet because she wants to sit on it, oh, about a dozen times a day. She never does anything besides make grunting noises and wave bye-bye to her imaginary pee as we waste water flushing it each time. Trust me, she's no where close to actually accomplishing anything real on the toilet, but I like to humor her because her grunting is really pretty funny to see.

Oh, here's a head's up to my family blog readers: Gwen's 2nd Birthday party will be held Thursday, August 28th at 5:00 at Wheeler Farm. You'll get real invitations in the mail in a week or so, but I just wanted you to plan ahead. She likes pretend kitchen stuff, My Little Ponies, Elmo anything, stuffed animals, books, kid music, etc. typical 2-year-old things like that.

Jonathan starts school again in two weeks. He'll graduate in December with his Associates in History as long as he passes his classes - which he will if he wants to not die. He's currently applying for admission to the U of U and Weber State and depending on who offers the best scholarships or tuition assistance we'll decide where to go next spring. That may mean putting up with our tiny house for two more years or having to move and find a new house and jobs in Ogden. Although, I'd love a bigger place, I'm terrified to have to find another job and move again. Luckily, I know that things will work out the way they're supposed to and we'll end up where we need to be. That makes things a bit easier.

We went to Lagoon for my mom's stake Lagoon Day on Tuesday. We only stayed for a few hours which I thought was perfect but Jonathan wished we had more time. We did the free admission thingy and rode the merry-go-round twice and the train once. Gwen was terrified of the merry-go-round the first time, but was a pro by the second time. Even now, she'll stop and get my attention and slowly bend down then stand up and I'll ask her if she's pretending she's on the merry-go-round and she'll say "yeah." We let her pick out a toy there and she chose a "Nemo" backpack. Big surprise since she's also really into Nemo these days and was watching it on the drive there. She loves her backpack and wears it to the gym's daycare. We have pictures, I'll post them when I'm not busy at work like tonight. They'll be the last pictures I post for a while since Gwen also broke our camera the other night by throwing it on the kitchen floor.

First Appointment

Yesterday I had my first OB appointment for this pregnancy and everything is fine. We even got to hear the baby's heartbeat. That was so neat. It sounds like a little washing machine - which is normal if you haven't had the chance to hear a heartbeat by ultrasound. One thing I find amusing is that they give you all this free stuff like magazines and samples of prenatal pills etc. It just seems a little weird to me that you'd get free things for being pregnant. I understand that they're just trying to get you to buy their stuff and think that they can hook you with a free sample.

We've already picked out a name if the baby's a boy: Nathan Thomas Rail. We haven't been able to think of any girl names yet. We still have about 10 weeks before we get to do the ultrasound to find out the gender. I'd be happy with either, but a little boy would be different and I think that would be fun. I have seen how much wilder little boys can be so that would make it harder.

The "What's This?"

So, Heidi's Sam has a bad case of the toddler "Why's?" and at the same time Gwen has come down with her own version: the "What's this?". She constantly points to random things and asks "What's this?" only in her toddler speak it sounds like "Whaszis?" Today it started with her farm animal puzzle at 6:45 in the morning I might add. She held up each animal and quizzed Jonathan and me until we'd gone through them all about ten times each. That's how long it took to get her breakfast ready. Food slows down the questions but they still continued as she scooped out her yogurt with her fingers and separated the pieces of strawberry to ask "whaszis?" as she popped each one in her mouth. Luckily, Jonathan was feeling good enough to stay up with Gwen and I got to sneak back to bed for a few more hours. He took her shopping at the grocery store where he assured me that the "whaszis?" was in full effect as she pointed to everything in the store including the checkers and the people stocking the shelves. Thank goodness for Grandma who has spent all day with Gwen and the "whaszis?". I hope she doesn't end up catching it.