2 Year Pictures

Maggie had a really hard day getting her pictures taken. She was either grumpy or having a really shy day.


I was watching Mary this day and the lady kept saying, "Don't let your sister get in the chair." It wasn't worth it for me to correct her... and then she started taking pictures with "sis". I thought they turned out cute!


So these are her 2 year pictures... Not the greatest. But we did get 2 that turned out ok. I will be sending them out to family soon.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

We are eating dinner. Scott asks me to think about where I want to go to dinner for my birthday. Dallin says, "Will you be taller than him when you grow?" I say, "Taller than who?" Dallin says, "Daddy." I say, "No I am done growing." Dallin says, "You're not done growing older."

UGH! I love my boy!

State Fair

We went to the state fair last night. It was so much fun! Of course I was SO excited to eat a corn dog that I totally forgot to take a picture of it AGAIN!!! Oh well.

I love this Elvis version of Old Mac Donald. Listen to what happens to the animals!

We went to see the pigs. Aren't these babies just adorable???
And we went to see the sheep. Or were these the goats? I can't remember.... We did see both... and I am a city girl....Here is where I was SO excited! Look at all this food!!! I totally want to develop this talent!! My garden did OK this year. I actually got cantaloupe and watermelon to grow. But I want to be a great farmer!

There was a table full of vegetables that people made things out of... This was a cute elephant!

BEEF~~ Yes - I thought of my FORMER roomie last night. We were leaving the Dairy building full of the milkin' cows and heading to the Beef building full of the eatin' cows! My roomie's nickname is Beef. I love her!

This was in the milkin' cows building... All I can say after having been a lactating cow is OUCH~ It was definitely milkin' time! Yowch!
Dallin really liked the cows...
Maggie thought she did. She started to pet her? him? it? Then it moved it's head and she was NOT stickin' around!
There was a 6 foot tall cow. Crazy! It made me nervous when it moved too.
See those people in the background? They were in our old church congregation when we first got married! I didn't even notice they were there until I was editing the picture! Funny! Nate and Lisa would be the only ones to recognize them (of those who read the blog) We had seen them earlier in another exhibit... I just didn't realize they were in the cows with us!

And we saw bunnies. They were so darn cute!!
This isn't the best picture of my kids petting the bunny - but I just can't get over something in the picture... Do you see it? them? milkin' time???
HOLY TOLEDO!

Sorry - that was rude....

I thought this was a cute picture! Steff calls our kids the step-children because we are over there so often. So I thought this was appropriate!

What an exhausting day at the fair! We loved it!!!
Anyone for pork 'n beans or hamburger medium rare??!!!?? I love Elvis!!

Devil Woman

So my sweet little thing that I wrote about last week on her birthday. My sweet sweet child. She is SO lucky she is darling! It saves her life every single day!

I had anticipated today being a study day for me. I just need to get through another chapter of my schooling. So this morning, Dallin has joy school so I thought, Cool - 2 hours.... I can bang through a lot in 2 hours.

Do you want to see what I have been banging through today?

She found another permanent marker while I was showering.

Yesterday or the day before she found the blue nail polish and actually got it open and spilled it on the tile and wood floor.

She is a little scrounge now that she is off the bottle. She will find food anywhere....
She is a little Houdini. We duct tape her diaper and she still gets it off at night. Luckily I check on her before I go to bed and can put it back on her.

I have been chasing after her all morning and don't feel like I can even keep up with her. Every time I clean up one mess I turn around and there is another one! She tried to feed the cat this morning.
But she seriously is the cutest bug in the world. She has been getting her winter coat when we leave to get in the van lately. It's adorable!

Just loves getting a purse, hat and sunglasses and saying Bye Bye. Sometimes she will go into the garage, sometime the basement, sometimes a bedroom...
So I just can't be mad... But here it is, 1:50 pm and I haven't even cracked open my Terminology book. Oh well - I guess it's just a day in the life of our home!

Cooler!!!!

Today Dallin made plans with his little friend Sam to watch Star Wars Episode 1 tomorrow. So tonight we were singing the "Dallin" song - which is basically what Dallin did today and what he is excited to do tomorrow sung to a made up tune. I put in there that he STARTS PRE-SCHOOL again tomorrow. His last year before kindergarten... UGH!! And that he will be watching Star Wars with Sam.

This is our conversation afterwards:

D - I am going to bring my movie to Sam's to watch it.

Me - I don't think you need to. I think he has it too.

D - But mine is cooler.

Me - It's the same movie. It's just as cool.

He thinks about this for at least 15 seconds. I almost got up to leave and he says, "No - mine is REALLY COOLER!!!"

I just thought it was hilarious!!!!! I love my boy!!!

Edit: Based on a comment that the f word was in the "Cooler" song that I chose I changed it to "I'm a little teapot." Sorry about that!!!!

Sunflowers and Fungi

I planted sunflowers this year. I planted some short one, medium sized ones and giant ones! I was so excited to see how it turned out. Unfortunately we had a really windy storm before I got good pictures of them. So now they are facing the neighbors house and half of them are bent down. But here are a few pictures of them...

Then as I am taking this picture from underneath the tall sunflower I look down and notice something NOT so nice!
My friend Lasca's dad has his PhD in Botany or Horticulture or something planty... He is amazing with plants! SO we decided to put this in a bag for him to tell me what it was and if it was poisonous as I have a girl child that likes to eat dirt, grass, and various other non-food items...
It was NASTY!! And it stunk! And I didn't get pictures of it when we took it out. These are by myself and don't do this THING justice!

There were these clear soft egg shaped things underneath the grass that stunk to high heaven. She called me a little while after she left and (sadly I must admit this) told me that her dad said they were Rattlesnake eggs. And I believed her. For almost 30 seconds... But then I realized she was lying. THANK GOODNESS!!!! Because according to her story I had to dig up my whole yard because they multiplied!!! SHEESH! Anyhoo - these things are nasty. And stink. And reminded me of a one eyed one horned flying purple people eater!

Dearest Maggie...

I just can't believe that my baby is 2. I SO totally did not want to have a girl baby. I just didn't think it was what I wanted... But luckily I did get to have you! You decided to grace us with your presence a little early. About 12 days early. My mother was flying in to help get the house in order and meals in the freezer.

On Saturday night/Sunday morning at midnight I heard a gunshot. I went out to the front room to see if it was going to continue or not. I wanted to get Dallin out of the front bedroom if there was going to be more. As I was looking out the window I noticed that I was bleeding and called the doctor on call. They said it wasn't anything to worry about. So I tried to go back to bed. I just had a bad feeling.

Finally at 2:00 am we called a friend to come over to stay with Dallin while we drove the 30 minutes into Salt Lake to have the doctors check me out. I figured we would be back home by 5 am. We had a test run and the nurse said that we would probably be going home shortly. After the results came back she said, "Get comfortable! You are having a baby!"

Well - I wasn't having contractions. So after a few hours they gave me some medicine to start them. Then I had my epidural. And I gave myself PLENTY of drugs. At 8:57 am the doctor comes in (an on call one because it was Labor Day weekend and my doc was on vacation!). He starts putting on his gown and gloves. I am getting a little nervous at this point. I asked what was going on and he said I was having a baby. I started to panic. Labor was NOT easy with Dallin. I started going into details what the labor was like: pushed for 3 hours, contractions stopped, he wasn't breathing, he was a 1 on the APGAR, etc... The doctor looked at me and said, "Monica, I am putting on my gloves. That means you are having the baby right now. I promise you won't push for more than 5 minutes." WHAT???

I started to push. Since I had given myself PLENTY of epidural drugs I simply couldn't feel anything at the 1st push... Then the 2nd push. I yell, "AM I DOING ANYTHING AT ALL???" I hadn't gotten a good job or keep going or anything. They all say, "She's almost here." 9:02 am my cell phone rings. Scott asks if he should get it. NO!!!!! 9:03 am after my 3rd push you came out. Screaming. So I knew you were breathing. Scott actually got to cut the cord with you. They didn't let him with Dallin. When they put you on my tummy you weren't purple like D was. I was SO relieved!! You were so very tiny!

The cell phone call was from my mother who had just landed. So instead of going to my house to get it ready for a baby she came to the hospital to SEE the baby! I think she was thrilled.
You have had such a strong personality from the get go. You simply refused to eat. You were a few hours old and you would push me away, push a bottle away. You just wouldn't have it! You have been such a different child than Dallin was. Much harder for me to understand. To figure out. You have no fear, which scares me to death. You have such a brilliant smile and laugh! It just lights up everything around you! You love your big brother like no other. You try to do everything like him. Except that you enjoy eating dirt and he doesn't. I am still trying to figure that one out.I love your curls that bounce up and down when you prance around. Even though you won't let me brush them. I love your face when it lights up at something you find incredibly fun! Even when it means I have to clean up a huge mess. I love that you love to be outside and play. Even when I have to take you kicking and screaming from the park. I love your independence and stubbornness. Even when I KNOW I could help you get it done faster. I love your thoughtful/creative ways of getting something that you want. Even if it means I have to re-paint 2 rooms in my house. I love that you love me. Even when I am short tempered and cranky.

I love you my sweet girl. Just exactly as you are. Messy hair, face and clothes, independent, who cares what the world thinks Maggie!!