Happenings in August

We started August by updating our homestudy. Since we moved into a new house we had to have another one. It went well, and now all of our certification is current.

We went to Raspberry Days with AG and her mom J. It's always a lot of fun to go to Raspberry Days. The craft fair always has a lot of cute stuff. I always want to buy most of it. I did buy some cute fall decorations though. : )

We took little A on her first pony ride. We were a bit nervous about how she'd like it because she is pretty timid with new things, but she loved it! She kept giggling and squealing and bouncing up and down.

We had a lot of fun visiting with AG and J. They had just gotten back from a trip to Florida, and it was fun to hear all about it. We also had raspberry shakes and visited my mom in her store.

We had a fun family play one night. Little A showed Daddy how she could climb the steps all by herself, and we played with bubbles. She had a lot of fun trying to pop them. We've tried bubbles a couple of times before, but this was the first time she actually liked them.

A finally walked on her own!!!! We are SO happy about this! She will only walk between Allan and I or from me to the couch, but this is a HUGE step! Hooray!!!

It's funny because she has amazing balance and rarely stumbles. She can stop, change direction, and when she's feeling brave she can even run and skip! If she wasn't so scared of falling down she would really give me a run for my money.

We have always told her that if she walked to the computer by herself then we would let her type on it. She was THRILLED to finally have a turn typing on the computer.

We had a family day at the fair. The county fair where we live is free. We watched some of the rodeo, saw all the animals, listened to some of the entertainment they had there, walked through all of the booths,

and let little A ride her first ride.  She thought the ride was boring. It went REALLY slow. My cousin T rode with her because she was the only one small enough to ride it. She was really bored too. A decided she would stand up and jump up and down to make it more fun.

A made a new friend every place we went: my cousins L and T, a baby about her age, a little old lady who she decided had to have hugs, a little girl about 8 (they had a grand old time watching the chicks), and a little boy who was sitting on one of the horses in the stable.

Some of Allan's family came up for a quick visit and he took them on a tour of the mine he works at. He really loves his work and enjoys showing his family what he does. He took A and I on a tour a couple of days ago. I love seeing where he works and hearing him talk about it. He is always very excited about what is going on.

We finally got a water softener. Our water is really, really hard. It tested at a 30! We've already had to replace 2 toilets because of the hard water, and the sprinkler system is kind of plugged up from it. We have a lot of work to do on that. Also, the dishwasher died last night and from the looks of it the hard water corroded some of the insides. Awesome. Allan installed it and did a great job. Hopefully it will save our plumbing.

This is what happens whenever I use the phone (imagine the screaming and complaining that goes along with it). After about 20 seconds of that she tackles me. Quite literally. She dives into my arms, or onto my legs if I am standing, and flails about while she complains. It can be frustrating, but quite honestly I usually laugh because it's so funny.

Speaking of laughing at misbehavior.

I went to change the laundry the other day while A was playing. She usually follows me, but she must have thought that I had gone to use the bathroom. I came back from changing the laundry and heard her pounding on the toilet. I usually leave the bathroom doors shut all day, but I had forgotten to shut the door to the master bathroom. I walked in, laughed, ran to get the camera, and took this picture. It cracks me up that she looks so guilty! Then I picked her up and said, "A, that is not a good thing to do. It's naughty to roll the toilet paper off like that......but (snicker) it was really funny too (followed by more laughing)"  She didn't know what to think about my response. When I told Allan he shook his head and said "Our kids are never going to get it". Ha!

The cute outfit in this picture is from A's birth family. We love them so much! You can also see A's favorite book about the potty on the side there. She was reading it. 

Little A had her first E.L. Fudge cookie. She loved it and cried when I put the cookies away.

I bought some little barrettes for A's hair because her hair is long enough now that it is in her eyes, but she really hates ponytails of any kind. I was hoping that I could just sweep it back in a barrette, but no such luck. She pulls them out and eats them.

Little A has also discovered that using the stair railing to walk is a lot of fun.

Allan hurt his foot. He had an x-ray done with the family doctor, but there was no fracture, so he was referred to a foot specialist. The foot specialist gave him some pain meds, and Allan had an allergic reaction to them and had to go to the ER. Then the foot specialist put him on crutches for a few days to see if rest would help it. It didn't. Then he had another x-ray, which also showed nothing. So, we decided to go to the chiropractor that I've been seeing for my hip. He adjusted Allan's foot and did a couple of other things to it including laser therapy, gave him some stretches and exercises to do, and told him to massage it with an ice cube. And that is helping! We also got him some new soles for his shoes and that has helped as well. Yeah! (A's hair in this pic is awesome. She originally had pigtails in, but in our 3 hour car ride she pulled them and the barrettes out.)

And this is just a really cute picture of my two favorite people. : )

The other day Allan and I picked little A up from nursery and found A holding onto the nursery leaders finger running circles around her! It made us laugh because that's pretty much what I do when I don't want to walk anymore. I stand still and let little A run around me, switching fingers half way around. She's already got the nursery trained up on the way she likes things. Ha!

Little A's hair is long enough to put almost all of it in a ponytail. She looks very grown up when I do it this way. Makes me a little sad.

One of A's new favorite games is walking with Daddy while Daddy is crawling. She thinks it is hilariously funny and skips and hops in excitement.

We finally got little A to crawl up the stairs! Until now she has insisted that she walk up them like everyone else does. When we went to visit Allan's family we insisted that she crawl. It was so funny. The first three or four times she complained the whole way up. Not really crying, but moaning and groaning complaints. Ha! But she finally got it and discovered that she liked the independence of climbing the stairs by herself. The following weekend we went to visit his family again (and go to see "Wicked") and we taught her how to scoot down on her bum. I tried to teach her to crawl backward at first but that was very confusing to her so we switched to scooting on her bum. By the end of the weekend she had it down pretty good! A few days later I was helping my mom at a home she was designing and A started scooting down the stairs while I was on the phone (I was standing in front of her so she wouldn't fall down). She figured out how to put her hands to the side to help her scoot without going too far forward and falling. She's getting those stairs figured out!

So, like I mentioned in the last paragraph, Allan and I went to see "Wicked". His mom and sister were good enough to watch A for us. We are so grateful for the date! I had seen "Wicked" before, but it was Allan's first time. He loved it. I loved it too. The cast was great, and the show is just so fun. We ate at Cheesecake Factory before the show, and that was also wonderful! It was so fun to be together, share something that I love, and have a chance to talk to one another.

That morning before our date we went to the Temple with Allan's family to do sealings. I love going to the Temple and especially love going with family. The Spirit was very strong. One of SG's good friends watched A for us. She did a great job, and we are so grateful that she was available!

My mom is an interior designer. She got to design two homes for the parade of homes this year! Unfortunately the builders only gave her 2 weeks notice, so it was a bit crazy. K6 and I helped her. I brought the pack-n-play hoping we could stick our kids in it for a while so we could get some work done. That lasted about 5 minutes. They had a lot of fun for those 5 minutes though. 

There were a few catastrophes in applying the design to the houses. One house had an extra skinny door, and we could only find one piece of furniture on hand at the local furniture store that would fit through it. It didn't really match, but my mom, and K3 who designs with my mom, made it work. The homes turned out beautiful, and they have gotten a lot of compliments.

My mom also helped direct a local play and we went to that. It was about some of the history of the town. It was a really cute play, and they did a really good job. Allan had to take A out about 30 min into the show, so he didn't really get to see it. We won't be taking A to another show for a while.

Allan and I took advantage of his day off and painted the rest of the upstairs moldings, and the doors, and some of the moldings in the basement! Yeah! A huge thank you to our friend who watched A all day so we could do that! We should be ready for carpet in the basement by October! Although, we probably still won't buy any for a while.

This cute girl really knows how to make a mess : )