The Utah County Fair

I will say that I had a good time with the kids this morning, but the Utah County fair is not like the Jefferson Co 4-H fair. I have to say, I am proud  to be a Hoosier with a little cowgirl at heart. In Indiana, there may be less crafts and art projects, but there are a heck of a lot more animals at the fair. I guess provo/orem is not the agricultural hub of the west, so it is ok. I did miss those smelly pigs and other large livestock like we see in Indiana, even the small animal barn was just over a handful of birds, rabbits and Guinea pigs today.
 Nonetheless, it was a great time. They had a petting zoo and the kids held rabbits; we were able to see some sheep being shown and judged, and we saw some girls with their horses doing some competitive drills in the arena. In the craft barn, there was a massive display of Lego's. It was something that the kids looked at for at least a half hour.  There was also some nice art, photography, and quilts on display.
 We had snocones and enjoyed the company of my frined Michelle and 3 of her kids.

Lego land

 We apparently missed the pig wrestling last night and the demolition derby is sold out. Maybe I can talk Steve into the rodeo this weekend. I love the rodeo...and elephant ears- oh the homemade donuts at the 4-H fair in Madison are the best.

Trafalga- ok, we'll go

Only a few more days of summer for the kids. I like the schedule of school, but I really love that we didn't have a lot of have-to's in the summer. Sleeping in until 7:45am, errands, playing at the park, some late nights....ahh, summertime.
 I told the kids to tell me what they wanted to do. Zac, as he routinely does, suggested Trafalga- it has an arcade, mini golf, some rides, etc. I usually refuse to do that alone. Jenna suggested Seven Peaks, a water park that I briefly lost Trevor at last year, and quickly said, never mind when I gave her a look like, "yeah right!" That is not something to do alone with independent children. Both suggestions are good ones however. I bought a pass in May that covers both of those venues, so it is "free" to go either place. So I said, "what the hay, let's go to Trafalga!"
 It was a great morning there. Not too hot, not too crowded.  The kids were awesome. Gage was pretty low key in his stroller and was entertained by watching and drinking his drink, which helped immensely. I enjoyed myself and loved seeing my kids have fun.

Not a big fan of the pirate ship

Poor TR did not cry, but was sooo scared. He may never try that again.

jenna loved the drop-down thing

Gage, not interested in riding, but liked watching

Pee in the potty now

I think he's got it!

Trevor is going to preschool in September. The prereqisite is that he is potty trained. Uhhhhh. So we started potty training the day before I registered him.
On day 1, he wasn't getting it at all. He peed his pants a lot, but pooped on the potty.  He didn't know how to make himself "go pee". We spent a good deal of time in the bathroom. We got a potty that sits on the floor, a potty watch to sing to him when it was time to pee, made a potty chart, bought wonderful juice, and offered bribes (hand-picked treats by Trev from Target) for encouragement- still nada.
 Day 2, he still hadn't gone on the potty, although we spent a better part of the morning in the bathroom. Finally at 11am, we went outside. He got in the hammock to relax, and he certainly relaxed! Ugg. At 1 pm, I took him to the preschool to meet his teacher. He peed on her floor. Mortified? Steve says the upshot for her is that we paid her a good bit to clean up that pee (it was the registration money, and yes, I did offer repetaedly to get the Resolve, but she refused.)
Day 3- still no pee. In fact, I was gone for 4 hours in the morning, and he still had on the same undies as that morning- but no reported pee. He was holding it, despite drinking plenty. Steve got home a bit early from work and "encouraged" him. I had lost some hope and put a pull-up on him after he flooded the bathroom with toliet water as he attempted to flush his undies when he stated that he "needed privavcies" to pee. Thank you, Steve. He finally peed that afternoon. Since then, he has done really great! 1 or 2 accidents, mostly associated with #2 now, is all we have had. He did great at church, and when we are out and about. He has "conquered the stream". I really think that once he felt himself pee, he recognized what he needed to do. Kids are funny. Yay Trevor!

Cleaning up pee

Flooded bathroom after 7 minutes of privacy

My successful boy. He is so proud when he pees in the potty- and he is cute in those little unders. No more diapers, Trevor!

Madagascar3

Dinner and a movie

Last weekend, we were feeling the squeeze that Summer is nearly over for the kids, and there are a few things that we thought we would do together that never happened, so we decided to go see Madagascar 3, as promised earlier in the summer. (They just don't forget these things). Prior to the movie, we ate a Culver's. The kids did great. They are getting older, and life is easier.
The movie was awesome! I laughed...we all laughed. The kids loved it. Gage did get a little restless, and Steve went to the back and watched the movie with him in the back row after a diaper change. Other than that, it was very enjoyable. Trevor did great too. They were quoting the movie and talking about it on the way home. It is a good one. An added bonus was the popcorn and drinks are a dollar at this theater- woohoo. It was a date at the movies for 6 for under $30.

Favorite movie lines: "You have both made and ruined my day."
"I am an emotional whoopee cushion, that you just like to sit on."
"You have a very hairy back; I like that in a woman."

Gage's first movie.

Spa Party

Jenna turned 9 on Tuesday, July 31st

 We had Krispy Creme's for breakfast, and then she opened the gift from mom, and Carrie (and Buddy and the boys), it was full of new clothes! She loved them all. In fact, she put the dress on within an hour of opening the gift. She wore it all day. It worked out perferct because Grandma Julene bought her a full length mirror that she could see herself in. (She has windexed that mirror a dozen times).
Aunt Lissa came by with a geat gift that Santa failed on for 2 straight years- a doll house. Wow! That was a hit.

She wanted a party, of course, and so it was decided. She had a Spa party with 5 girls. She carefully thought of those that she would like to attend, and was thrilled that they all could make it. They started with foot soaks, then lotion. They chose the color and painted their toe nails or I helped. After that, they decorated flip flops with the ribbon of ther choice. (They were cuter than the fabric ones, but I think that the fabric strips hold on better to the thong part of the flip flop, and are more comfortable on their feet- thanks anyway, pinterest). While some were finishing shoes, they basked in the idea of being pampered and applied gel packs to their eyes.
We then had pizza and leomande as per Jenna's request. I had the girls sprinkle/decorate the cake for Jenna, and they sang to her.

Jenna opened presents, and it was done. Jenna has some pretty great friends. I was almost as excited as her to have them over. It is fun to be a girl.
I originally thought that I may need help with the pedicures, so I asked a few different young women from church to help, but none were available, it just so happened that my friend, Tiff was in town, so she and her daughter Elaina came down. That worked out great. I got to see Tiff. She helped me, and Elaina got to be a part of the party. Jenna likes Elaina.
After the girls left, Jenna wanted to spend her birthday money from my dad and Regina and buy a build-a-bear. None of my kids have ever done Build-a Bear. Well, it was a perefct time. Tiff and Elaina came along. Jenna picked out the bear she wanted and picked her clothes, she even had them put in a beating heart. She named her and printed a birth certificate. Her name is Flower. It was great timing because the store was slow at that time of the week and day. The girl who works there was sweet and made it a great experience for Jenna.

After Build a Bear we played at Claire's, then headed home. I think that Jenna  had a great birthday.