State Fair 2012

We love the State Fair! Devin was able to take half the day off so we could head up to the State Fair early.  The kids were so excited.  There are so many fun things to see and do, and best of all they get to see Pam.  We love Devin's aunt Pam.  The kids were so happy to just walk around holding Pam's hands.  They sure love her.
Our first important stop was at the little Farm Country for kids. Nicholas loved feeding the pigs.

Devin gave his yearly how to milk a cow lesson.

They picked some apples.

Planted some seeds.  This year both kids picked carrots to plant.

Too bad real carrots don't grow this fast!

After all that hard work the kids took a short break.

Then it was time to fill up the tractors with gas and go for a ride.

Time to take care of the sheep.  I am so excited for them to go out to California to see my Grandpa's REAL sheep in a few weeks.

They had a great time. They look so cute!

Maybe they will be future farmers. :)

We had a good talk about taking turns doing fun things.  So after we did something fun for the kids, it was Mommy's turn to pick.  Off to the quilts!  My sister-in-law Marthe had two quilts this year.  I love this one.  It is amazing!  Her quilt is the one in back that says, "Never Forget."  The picture doesn't show very well, but it is made up of tons of little squares.  And yes that is a blue ribbon hanging on her quilt.

After the quilts the kids got to choose again.  We were off to see the animals.  We looked at lots of sheep, cows, horses, pigs, goats, chickens, and the favorite was the bunnies.

Next it was Daddy's turn to pick.  We looked at the tractors of course.

And rode the wiggle cars.

Then it was Pam's turn to pick.  A miracle happened this year.  Our kids actually looked at all the photos without freaking out or melting down.  It is so much fun to look at all the pictures.  Nicholas loved being with Pam.  He just wanted her to hold him the whole time. 

As we were walking to dinner we past a booth that was set up by the Marines.  If you did a certain amount of pull ups or just hung from the bar for a set amount of time you won a prize.  I do pull ups most every day.  I don't do a lot.  I have found that cold turkey I can't do very many, but after a good hard run I can do six.  Weird.  So I knew that I wouldn't be able to do very many, but I gave it a try. I am sure that there are many people who can do more pull ups that me, but I got a free hat, that is all that matters.

We have gotten smart over the years when it comes to food at the fair.  Rather than paying an arm and a leg for the food, we just bring sandwiches.  Then we can get a yummy fair treat later.
Once we ate our dinner it was Anna and Nicholas's turn to pick again.  We were off to the horses.
Our kids LOVE riding horses.

I am glad that the kids get a really nice long ride at the fair.  It is a long enough ride that I always find myself saying, "Ok, are we done yet?"

After the horses it was time for Mommy and Daddy to pick.  We were off to the big yellow slide.
Anna went on the slide last year and loved it.  We were not sure how Nicholas would take it.  He had a great time.  We even went down the slide twice.  We discovered that the boys go much faster than the girls.  Perhaps it has to do with the fact that they weight much more than the girls.

We then broke with tradition and got ice cream sundaes instead of funnel cake.  We were able to enjoy our sundaes while watching the diving show.  It reminded me a little bit of the movie Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken.  Too bad there weren't any horses jumping into the tank, that would have been really cool.  Even though there weren't any horses, the divers were really fun to watch.

Anna and Nicholas were amazed and sat there with their eyes glued on the divers the whole time.

Too bad I didn't get a picture of the two funny old ladies sitting behind us.  The were so funny to listen to as the were worried about the divers.

The fair this year was wonderful!!!  Our kids had a great time.  Not a single melt down!!!  We are so glad that we get to go to the fair every year with Pam.  Our kids love her and the fair is such a fun place to go with Pam.

See you next year Utah State Fair!

Mobile Moments August

The Baldwin family had tons of fun in the month of August.
Nicholas and I had a fun time checking out the new JoAnn store in American Fork.  Yeah for not having to drive to Orem to go to JoAnns!

Anna and Nicholas like to play trains.  This is one of those games that usually ends in tears. I will let you guess what usually ends up happening.

To change up our afternoon reading time I brought out my Big Books.  Anna thought they were great.  Funny that the books are as big as she is.

Anna was playing store one day and just had to stop.  "Mommy, I can't go to the store without making a list."  Not a lot of window shopping going around at our house.  You get what is on the list and get out of there.

Quilt class has begun again.  Here are the blocks for the first month.

Nicholas loves trains.  He could play with Anna's Geo Trax all day long.

Nicholas is a fashion boy.  He really does have an opinion when it comes to what he wears each day.  He is really into shoes.  Whenever he gets a chance he likes to try on shoes.  He likes Anna's church shoes the best.

Daddy's shoes are not too bad either.

Here is a view of our sad little garden. Our beans did great.  You can see the thick wall of beans.  The rest of the garden well,...there is always next year.

We bought a new dresser set to match our bed.  Anna and Nicholas loved helping Devin put them together.

I am really impressed at how well Nicholas can use a screw driver.  Who knew?!  It must be a boy thing.

Devin likes to make these marshmallow, graham cracker, chocolate chip treats for the kids. Nicholas loves to eat them and makes a complete mess of himself in the process.

Anna and Nicholas like playing with their humidifiers.  The lids make great hats.

Anna really enjoys making cards.  I was really impressed that she wrote Happy Birthday all by herself. Way to go Anna!

The kids found my bucket of clothes pins.  Very fun!

While I was putting Nicholas down for his nap Anna decided that she needed to organize her alphabet books, they were all mixed up on the shelf and it was driving her nuts.  She did a great job putting them in order.

The kids like sitting in our chairs.  The chairs are quite comfortable.  Add a blanket and I bet it is even cozier.

Anna was a great helper with pinning the pattern for her Halloween costume.

It is getting cooler in the mornings, so it was time for new sweaters.  Nicholas loves putting his hood on.

We bought the kids new clothes for the winter.  The clothes look so big. I know by next fall they will be too small.  

At our Stake Yard Sale / Swap thing we scored some new puzzles for Anna.  She is getting really good at the more complex puzzles.

Our beans were amazing this year.  This is just what I picked off of one side of our fence.

Part one of Anna's Halloween costume done!  (Just the pants)

Anna woke up one morning and decided that she really wasn't ready to wake up, so she went back to sleep under Devin's desk.

Nicholas loves music and he loves to play the piano.  He is such a cute little piano man.

I pulled all my empty jars out, organized them, and inventoried how much food we have left from canning last year.  Pulled the good old Ball Blue Book out.  Ready to can like crazy for the next few months.

Devin watched the kids so I could go to Education Week.  Seriously it is my favorite thing to do!

Here come the beans!

Nicholas really enjoys doing puzzles.  He is so patient, much more so than a cute little girl in our house.

I got "marked" for the triathlon. I am glad that it didn't take too much scrubbing to get the numbers off after the race.

After getting dressed one day, Nicholas decided that he wanted to put his PJs back on.  It was quite challenging, mostly because he didn't take his other clothes off first.

Nicholas loves to cook.  Put him in an apron, give him some kitchen toys, and he is good for quite a while.

The cucumbers decided to join the harvest party with the beans.

To celebrate the first day of school...for everyone else...we went to the Splash Park with the Curtis family.  We love spending time with them.  Anna and Korver love playing together.  They are pretty cute together. :) Funny that Korver is a month older than Anna and at least a whole head taller.  They had a great time playing in the water and floating things down the river.

 Nicholas was in heaven!!!  He ran all over and had a great time.  This was the only picture I took of him because he was moving so fast I couldn't keep up with him.  I am excited to go to the Splash Park more next year.  I need to be less of a chicken taking my kids places.  They really have so much fun.

What do you notice that is strange about this plate?  How about all the lima beans?  Yes, Anna still loves lima beans and we happily give her all the lima beans from our plates and Nicholas doesn't mind giving up his either.

We went to the library and this was as far as the kids made it when we got home.  In the door, take your shoes off, and just sit down and start looking at books.  I sure do love having two cute little book worms in the house.

We finally took Anna to get her first real hair cut.  My neighbor Cami did a great job.  She let Anna watch Dora (which I never do because I think Dora is...well, I don't like Dora).  Anna was totally glued.  The trim looks great.  I really love Anna's long hair.

I don't know who was more excited for Anna's Preschool Open House. Anna had a great time meeting her teachers and seeing her classroom.  I had a wonderful time visiting with her teachers and well...let me tell you it is wonderful to finally be on the flip-side of the teaching world.  I LOVE IT!!!!

Orangesoda had a Lazy Ironman contest over the summer.  You just needed to do all the distances for an ironman over the course of the whole summer.  Because I was training for the triathlon this challenge was easy.  I am happy to say that I was the first female to earn the Lazy Ironman.  But most importantly, I beat Devin, Mahon, and Lance.  :)

I think Legos and Babysitter are synonyms.  I love watching Anna and Nicholas play Legos together.  They build some pretty amazing things.

Here Nicholas is again with his trains.  He loves Thomas, Percy, James, and all of Thomas's friends.

Nicholas isn't the only one who likes Thomas and Friends.  Anna decided that she could do her job faster if James helped her.  Who knew trains could be "really useful engines" by helping unload the dishwasher.

And then there were peaches, LOTS of peaches!

We have entered the wonderful world of Play Doh...that is until Nicholas thinks he should eat some.  At some point he will learn that Play Doh is not food.

And more cucumbers.

I cleaned out our bathroom closet one afternoon while Anna was playing at a friends house.  A clean closet does me about as much good as a Diet Coke or chocolate for some ladies.

Anna really likes her new jacket and hat.

One of Anna and Nicholas's jobs lately has been to pick up peaches.  This is a two part job.  They have to watch out the window all day to see if there are any peaches on the ground and then they have to run outside and pick them up.  We seriously do this at least three times a day.

August was great!  Now on to September's adventures.