Welcome to our World

Once again the 3 of us journeyed to Shepherd Valley for a fantastic Harvest Fair.  They had pony rides, hay rides, a giant sand pile with buried treasure, a scarecrow with lots of pockets children could take a toy out of, all kinds of crafts for kids of various ages, booths, fresh squeezed lemonade & apple cider, homemade pie, and best of all the Michaelmas play. The weather was wonderful, and Kaelah like always loved spending the day outside.  Below is a picture I thought Dan edited nicely.  Props to my wonderful hubby & iPhoto.  (: The Michaelmas play consisted of a smoke breathing dragon that the children (as farmers, knights, smiths, gnomes etc.) were able to tame through their faith, team work, sacrifice, and virtue.  I simply adore Waldorf education.

... and some other fun things from the past few weeks. Kaelah took her first solo steps almost a month ago but was quite camera shy about it until this week. She would actually sit down when she heard the beep of the camcorder being turned on! My favorite part of this video is the monster coming out of the castle & licking a knight. (:

Today was such a beautiful day to visit a farm! You can see Kaelah wanted nothing to do with picture taking -- she was too busy looking at the animals, playing in the corn, & walking around the tree houses! The farm has horses, ponies, pigs, chickens, goats, sheep, peacocks, a mule, llama & huge turtle. (Her favorite animals were the goats again, just like at the County Fair.) We tried to let her have a pony ride but Kaelah was NOT okay with that idea. (The 2 other little girls named Kayla were fine with it.) Even other mothers have commented on Kaelah's cautious observation. Of course, the longer we were there the more adventurous she became. Denver Zoo, eat your heart out! (: P.S. Dan was the photographer with his iPhone. We were sure to recharge the Nikon battery, but failed to put the thing back in the camera!

There can be very short periods of time that change you as a person and influence you every single day. Yesterday I was thinking about... well, what day it was... & what happened in NYC 7 years ago.  I was headed to the airport (so I could become a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the next day) when I heard the news. Today is the 7th anniversary of me entering the Missionary Training Center.  I was lucky enough to have a baby shower at my house for a dear friend.  During our par-tay  we came upon the topic of how old we all were.  One of the women is turning 30 next month & was talking about how 30 is the new 20.  I replied that I felt sooo much younger when I was 20 then I do as a new 28-year-old.  She responded that she felt better now than she did at 20.  My extreme surprise led her do ask, "Why do you think that is?" Oh, I know exactly what the change was!  My mission!  Our conversation was long b/c she had never met someone who had s...

No, I'm not praising myself here, but I do like her name.  (:  I finally have some hope that this election might actually be a competition after all.  I must admit that at first I was wondering if McCain picked Palin simply for the female factor.  But as I hear her speak I can't help but admire just how darn feisty this woman is!  Thank you, Sarah Palin!  I've been telling people I didn't want to vote for either candidate & complaining about our 2 party system, but now I might actually enjoy filling in a little square this year.  You'll have my vote, Sarah!

Happy Labor Day everybody! While Danny barbecued the chicken & I picked all the ripe vegetables I could find, Kaelah sampled the tomatoes for us.  (:

Sing the song now.... Does the new NFL commercial with the Manning brothers stick in your head as much as it does in mine? Kaelah likes to do things on her own!  And you may NOT help her unless you have her permission.  And yes, if you ask her if she wants help, she will tell you 'yes' or 'no' and you better follow what she says... or else you will definitely hear a shreak. In the following pictures, Kaelah likes to turn the pages of her books, she likes to put the lens cap back on the camera if you try to take her picture... and it's undisputed that she can do yoga better than mommy too.  (:

Another year has come and gone -- my first full year as a mommy!  Danny took my parents and I out to Tortugas, a Caribbean restaurant I had wanted to try for months.  Here's a picture of us where we ate in the courtyard, but the building you see is actually the post office.  Whoops.  Dan also made me a birthday cake that we could eat with ice cream on my actual birthday (a Sunday).  You'll notice in both of these pictures I actually get to hold Kaelah.  She's turned into a real full throttle momma's girl lately.  Dan blames it on her new favorite library book ("Dog" is still her favorite all-time) called "Baby Happy, Baby Sad."  In the book the Dad is the one that puts the baby to sleep (just like Dan does) and it says, "Baby Sad."  Of course, it also says "Baby Happy" when the dad gets the baby out of the crib in the morning....

This summer we've been hearing & seeing the ice cream truck go by on Sundays.  For some odd reason I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted Kaelah & our family get a treat from the ice cream man but didn't want to spend money on the Sabbath.  Well, last Saturday (Aug. 23) the ice cream truck stopped right in front of our house!  The kids you see in the picture live a few houses down & they're family is so neat... but I was so excited to take a picture of Kaelah by the truck I didn't even notice it was them until I imported the pictures!  lol.