Los Angeles County Fair

The fair has been going on all month. We hadn't really been planning to go, but this past Friday we desperately needed to get out and do something, and the fair seemed to be the best of all our ideas. It turned out to be even better than we imagined. It was a bit of a drive out to the fairplex in Pomona, but that let Madeleine have a nap so she had lots of energy for all the activities.

Spencer took her on the "Euro-Slide" first. (She deliberately chose the pink lane.) They both loved it! It was so great that I had to take her on it next so I could experience the joy of it for myself! (Again in the pink lane.) A little later we found the kids' area and the slide she could go on all by herself. If you are able to click on that pic and zoom way in, you may be able to see the look of absolute terror on her face. She may be tall enough to do some rides herself, but still not really ready.

There were not a ton of rides she was able to do, but there were certainly enough. Including the roller coaster she and I did together and the Rockin' Tug she almost did by herself. At the last second we got a little concerned that without someone next to her she would be sliding around too much, so the nice carnie let me jump on. When looking at this picture she told me that was the ride she went on with her "friends," because by the time I got on she had already made friends with the boys sitting next to her.

Ian enjoyed the fair from the stroller, most of the time. Occasionally we let him out to walk around a bit, but he is definitely too small to appreciate it like Madeleine did. He was so tired that I would not have been surprised if he slept through the whole thing. But he stayed awake and relatively happy the entire time.

Well, she did it...

Madeleine chopped off some of her hair. It's very sad, I know. I really don't think it was intentional. She was cutting paper on the floor and her hair wasn't pulled back and the next thing we knew, there was a chunk of her hair on the ground. So here's our cute girl with her new, much shorter, hairstyle.

P.S. Yes, I am a bad mom because I was not supervising close enough while she was using scissors.

Happy Anniversary to us!

On September 16, 2000, Spencer and I were married in the Billings, Montana temple. The last seven years have been great and I have no doubt that we have many, many more wonderful years to come!

Madeleine's first day of Preschool

Just before leaving for school, Madeleine stood still for a moment for this shot. (not that exciting, I know, but I had to get one, right?) She was so excited about her new school clothes--and you better believe the skirts are TOP favorites! Really, I don't know why I even bothered to buy pants. She'll never want to wear them. Don't worry, I'll force her to.

I made her stand still for one more picture once we got to school. She had been talking about the dress-up clothes ever since we went to her school for the open house last week. Notice in the mirror behind her she is holding the dress she planned to put on. Also, you see how she is not looking at the camera? There was another girl in her class doing some painting. That obviously caught Maddie's eye. There were so many fun things to do that she ended up not playing dress-up at all!

I dropped her off at 12:30 and she was not at all sad to see me go. Like I said, so many fun things to do! How could she possibly think about missing me and Ian? She was glad when we came back for her at 3:00. Her first day was a little rough. It all involved a little hair pulling (M's hair), a little sand throwing into faces (M's and another girl who started it) and a girl (M) getting pushed off a tricycle. Is this normal? I guess when you have a bunch of 3 year olds together you are in for some excitement.

How did I spend my free 2 1/2 hours? Ian and I made a leisurely trip to Costco. It at least felt leisurely since I only had one kid with me. I may attempt a trip to a clothing store on Thursday. That should be a breeze with just Ian!

Now for a brief Ian spotlight, check out the belly on that one! That little walker toy makes a great stroller for dad to push the kids in!

I guess this picture isn't too exciting. What kid wouldn't love being behind the wheel when they normally face the rear of the car?

Next we have me and that handsome little guy after the BYU football fireside (which was GREAT, by the way) in Glendale the night before the BYU-UCLA game. Sad that BYU lost, but they put up a real good fight against the 12th ranked team in college football. I guess I forgot to take a picture of Spencer and me at the game. oops. Anyway, we were there, it was fun, BYU lost, it took us over an hour to get out of the parking. Stupid Rose Bowl. Back to Ian.

Now, what I really need here is a video to demonstrate this talent of Ian's, but instead I just have this picture. Sorry. When I feed him, I'll say, "Open up," and he opens his mouth like this, which is way wider than is necessary to get a bite of food, and says,"aaa." Not, "aah," but the short 'a' sound, as in 'cat'. It's so cute! At first, I thought it was a fluke so I had to make him do it over and over again.

Now, so everything is equal, a couple more of Madeleine. Spencer hooked her up with the headphones and The Beatles while she colored one day. And below, he gave her a shoulder ride after the fireside because we parked half a mile from the stake center.

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day weekend, we packed up (nearly everything we own) to go camping with friends and family in Morro Bay. We had two campsites next to each other right on the beach. We wondered what the weather would be like up there on the Central Coast of California, but we were not disappointed. The weather was gorgeous! Sunny and 75-80 the whole time! Colder at night of course, but that's what a campfire is for!

On Sunday, we drove up the coast a little ways and stopped to see the Elephant Seals bathing themselves in the sun.

This is pretty much how Ian looked all weekend. There was no stopping him from eating all the sand and charcoal and wood chips and rocks. Basically, if it was on the ground, he would find it to put it in his mouth. There wasn't any sense in trying to wipe off his sand goatee since it would reappear in moments anyway.

Spencer is proudly posing behind this dutch oven cornbread. It was pretty delicious. He was very proud to be in on the extremely successful dutch oven cooking!

Madeleine and her cousin Avery riding the "horses," as they called them. I think they were shower posts at one time. Notice Madeleine's poses in almost all the pictures of her.

Keaton, Avery and Madeleine splashing around on the beach. Some other beach-goers dug this fun trench. I'm pretty sure the kids invited themselves to play in it.

Another great pose, Maddie.

Where does she get this?

The whole gang: Spencer and Rachel Rands family, Chris and Julie Roberts family, Lin and Melanie Wilde family, and Curtis and Amy Rands family.

Just before we started our drive back home, we stopped for lunch at The Flying Dutchman. Madeleine really liked the "big pirate with the treasure." It looks like he's got his hook right into her head. Don't worry, she escaped unharmed.

Now, time to unpack. Ugh. Anyone want to come help?