Wednesday, September 17, 2014

We love the fair

I love the fair! This year I took the kids by myself on a Wednesday afternoon and it was great. It wasn't crowded at all and I didn't feel like I was dodging people everywhere. I told Emmy she could pick one treat, and she picked an ice cream cone.

They had a little animal nursery with baby cows, goats, pigs, and chicks. These chicks were only like a day old and they also had an incubator with eggs that were actually hatching. We saw a chick trying to come out of its egg. Emmy loved watching the chicks. At one point, I asked her if she was ready to go see something else and she said she wanted to stay for a few more minutes to watch the chicks.

They also had the best fair exhibit of all time: Little Helpers on the Farm. The kids got to put on an apron and get a bucket, and then they had to do all sorts of farm chores. They had to gather grain for the cows.

Then feed the cow.

And milk it and gather the milk in their bucket.

They had to pick an apple, plant a seed, and then dig up the vegetable of the seed they planted. Then put all the produce in their bucket.

They had to brush a sheep and gather some eggs from the chicken coop. (All of this was fake of course, but so cute.) Then they had to "sell" their produce/milk/eggs to the grocery store, and got a dollar. Then they could use their dollar to buy a treat at the store.

It seriously was so cute. They also had a little craft room where Emmy made a sheep. It really was the best fair exhibit I've ever seen.

We saw the livestock and the prize-winning produce and had some food on a stick and saw the butter cow and watched some bees making honey. I bought some of the honey, and it was delicious! I opted for the chicken and waffles on a stick for my fair food item, and it was kind of disappointing. I should have just gone with the corndog. Oh well!

It was great though, and I really do love the fair. I haven't been for a few years, so it was nice that the kids are finally old enough to somewhat enjoy it!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Fall cleaning

So my goal for the month of August was to get my basement cleaned out and organized. I didn't finish, but I've been chipping away at it. I've found some really funny stuff that I don't know why I've hung onto for all these years. I am such a packrat!

Example #1: My crappy keychain collection. Seriously most of these are pure junk.


Example #2: Random art projects from elementary/middle/high school. This was only one of them. I'm keeping a few, but I really don't need a whole box full.

Example #3: Random stuff from Young Womens. Again, I'm keeping some of it for sentimental reasons, but I seriously had a boat load of stuff. I've mostly condensed it down to one box.

Example #4 (not pictured): An entire box full of notes that my friends had sent me in high school and letters that my cousins/friends had written me. Some of these were really funny to read. I kept some of them, but really I don't need 500 letters from my cousin Melissa telling me about how cute the same guy is. Haha!

I'm really trying to get this stuff organized because if we end up having to move, I really don't need to drag 5 boxes worth of junk across the country!

Preschool

Emmy FINALLY started preschool this week! And of course, she did not want to go, or let me take a picture of her, or anything.
She sulked the whole way there (5 houses down the street).

And then cried when she had to get out of the stroller and go with Miss Heather.

But then when I picked her up, she was sitting on the porch nicely with all the other kids, and she told me that she had fun.

She had homework on the first day! She was excited to show it to me and show me the treat she had gotten because it was someone's birthday.

This was her homework. My favorite is that she said she wants to be a mom and a Primary teacher when she grows up. And that her favorite animal was a penguin. (Random!)

Anyway, she said she had a good time. And of course, this morning when it was time to go again, we repeated the scene from Monday. This time she didn't cry, but she did whine all morning about not wanting to go. I really hope she grows out of this separation anxiety soon so she can enjoy all the fun things about preschool!

Soccer

On a whim I signed Emmy up for soccer this year. It may have been the biggest mistake of 2014. I really felt like she needed to do something, so I asked her if she'd rather do soccer or gymnastics. She said, "Well, I like to kick stuff, so I want to do soccer." So I proceeded to look into it. Riverton soccer had already started, so that was out. Then I looked at South Jordan. They hadn't started yet, but they were full. I told Emmy she might have to do gymnastics instead. Then I called the guy in charge just to make sure it was full, and he said they had just barely had a cancellation in the 4 year old group, so we could have the spot. So I signed her up. Then like 30 minutes later, Emmy said, "I just want to play soccer at home."

And ever since she has been saying that she doesn't want to go to soccer. We took her to pick out some soccer shorts and socks to get her excited about it, and she was excited about the stuff, she just still didn't want to go.

She had her first practice/game on Saturday, and she refused to do anything unless I was holding her hand. So the coach said it was ok if I stayed with her and I felt like an idiot running up and down the field!

She has her second practice tomorrow so hopefully it goes better!

Ogden Temple Open House

We had the chance to take Emmy to the Ogden Temple open house last week. I was really excited to make this a special experience for Emmy. We left Zach with a babysitter so she could have her own special day with Mom and Dad.

And she was a stinker! She kept trying to run away and touch stuff that she wasn't supposed to. It didn't help that we had to wait forever to even get in even though we had reservations. But I still hope she felt the Spirit and the importance of the temple.


Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Goodbye Summer

We have been in denial that summer is coming to and end and living up these last few warm days. We spent a few last days at the pool before it closed for the season.

Emmy has LOVED swimming this year and has gotten so much braver. She will willingly dunk her head now, thanks to swimming lessons. And she loves to practice everything she learned in her lessons. Zach just loves wandering around and splashing. His favorite thing to do is to run out of the pool, go touch the lounge chairs and come back in.

Emmy also insisted on teaching Grandma Lively how to swim. She told Emmy that she didn't know how to swim, and Emmy asked every day for a month if Grandma could come to the pool with us so she could teach her how to swim.

I don't know what this was, but Emmy had lined up all her animals to watch a show with her and Daddy.

We also went out to Herriman Beach with Scott and family. We forgot the sand toys, which was a major bummer, but we still had fun!






Emily just loves any excuse to get together with Rivers. And when it involves throwing sand and eating treats, it's just that much better!

We have had a fun summer! I don't want the cold to come!