Thanksgiving Point

October 9th we decided to go up to Thanksgiving Point and take advantage of our Thanksgiving Point passes, Ethan not having school on Thursdays, and the beautiful fall weather. October 9th turned out to be one of the best family outings we have had in the year of 2014!

We started the day by going to Thanksgiving Point gardens.

All the fall colors were in full bloom and gorgeous, but I can't wait to go in the Spring when all the flowers will be in bloom. Its going to be amazing! 

We stopped to literally smell a LOT of flowers.

And then we did a lot of running around and playing at the waterfalls

This path is really cool. Its actually on top of the waterfalls. Very beautiful

Okay seriously?! Kelsey sometimes you just are too awesome for words

The whole garden area was beautiful. I can't wait to go back.

After the gardens we went to the Thanksgiving Point Farm which was hands down the best stop of the whole trip. It was basically a giant petting zoo with free pony rides so obviously Kelsey was in heaven. The lines for the pony rides were a little longer than a two year old could handle, so Ethan and I took turns stand in line while the other person wandered around petting animals with Kelsey. Okay now on to the pony rides.

The whole time we were in line, Kelsey would run over and check to see if it was her turn and kept trying to climb the fence to ride the ponies. She just couldn't understand why she had to wait. We totally talked it up because we knew she would love it, but it was really hard to wait. We FINALLY got to go (like 20 minutes later) and it finally occurred to her that she was literally going to have to SIT on the ponies. Like I think she knew that but didn't think about it you know. Anyway this was her face for like a whole minute while other kids were getting adjusted.

No smiling, no waving, no talking, no BREATHING! Our little animal lover was a little unsure about what was going down. It was seriously awesome. 

The first time aroused the circle, she wouldn't let go of my hand but after one time around, when she got the feel for it and saw what was happening, all her animal love came flooding back to her and she took matters into her own hands. She was petting the horse, trying to give him kisses, and my personal favorite, trying to make him go faster!!!!!

I was in love! Kelsey loved what was happening so much. Naturally when it was time to go we had to give the pony a kiss along with the other three horses that we passed on our way out of the gate. This was followed by a major tantrum because we had to wait in line again and couldn't immediately ride the ponies. We only rode the ponies twice but I promise we will be back again to ride them. Maybe we'll go on a rainy day when the lines don't exist and we can just ride and ride and ride! Why can't we just have a pony in our yard?

This was when she sat down on the pony the second time. A complete 180 from the first time around.

 

Our kiss goodbye

 

After a few hours we decided it was time for our picnic lunch. Kelsey very reluctantly said goodbye to the animals, but I know she was hungry because she ate her whole sandwich and an apple and pretzels and gummy bears! She hasn't eaten that good since she was born!! 

Lunch was followed by  squish me daddy time. 

I'm telling you, nothing could go wrong on Oct 9th. Everyone was so happy! It was perfect.

Our last and final stop of the day was at the new Children's Museum. We have gone to a lot of really cool Children's Museums this summer but I gotta say that Thanksgiving Point really stepped it up! It was pretty darn awesome. The first time Kelsey and I went I couldn't really take her in the tree house part because I kept not being able to bend at the right times, but with Ethan's help we were able to play in the tree house and Kelsey had the best time of her life.She was a champ at the rope ladders.

 

We also showed Dad the cool water portion of the museum which was once again a major success

 

 I seriously haven't had this much fun with my family in ages. It was literally a perfect day. Kelsey behaved perfectly, the events went flawlessly, and it was just fun! I love my family so much.
Kelsey did finally give into a nap on the way home but not until Orem. She looked like this for most of the drive.

She got soaked at the museum aka no pants

Some Favorite Memories

I love order but sometimes I just can't let these pictures pass. Here's to random pictures that sum up our afternoons

I LOVE this outfit so much. I hope she never grows out of it

 

 

Kelsey got her pants super wet and so she was wearing just a diaper. I took a nap and I woke up to Kelsey saying "Mom I got dressed." I woke up and she was wearing this!

Kelsey LOVES to cook. Its super cute but every time she hears me in the kitchen she grabs her stool and as many measuring cups as she can. "I make too" she always tells me. I hope it never changes

Kelsey loves her dad so much

Mom doesn't get a lot of snuggle time so I'm really glad that Ethan got this picture

Kelsey and I often take walks up to BYU and just walk around to waste time. Last time we went she wouldn't leave the house without her purse. She walked around campus like this for like an hour. It was like the cutest thing in the whole wide world.

Nothing special, I just love the tippy toe thing

This is what conference looked like at our house

Kelsey loves her best friend Ralphie! They like never fight and are always happy. I just love it when we can capture the happiness.

The other day we went on campus with Elisa and Ralphie. We showed them the BYU river and then met Ralph at the Wilk because they were all going to eat lunch together. We all separated while the Johnson's ate lunch but ended up running into them again. Ralphie kindly shared his pizza with Kelsey and Kelsey kindly devoured the entire thing! She acted like she had never seen food! It was hilarious.

We also went to the JFSB fountain

Hands almost touching :)

Going in for the hand hold....

and the reaction! She is definitely my daughter!

 

And this is what you get when you scream yourself to sleep.

Jakers

On October 7th Kelsey and I went to Jakers Pumpkin Patch with MBASA. We met up with the Johnson's and had a great time kicking off the autumn celebrations!

Kelsey LOVES animals.  Like kiss dirty pigs, pick up all dogs, hold birds, ride kangaroos loves animals. I don't know where she gets it from because honestly I realized that I like to see animals but definitely not touch them and Ethan could seriously do away with all animals. Anyway, we spent most of our time at the petting zoo. The whole time I was just dying because I was convinced that a goat was going to eat her cute little baby fingers but of course everything was fine and she loved it.

When Ralphie and Kelsey are together life is perfect. They love each other so much and are perfect for each other. I particularly love Ralphies little man voice. He calls me Cami but is always like "Hey Cami" in like a no big deal kind of way. I love it. I'm so glad the Johnson's live close again. We will be so sad to leave them in the Spring. They are the type of friends that we just want to live by our entire lives.

After the petting zoo we went to the corn maze, probably my favorite part.  The kids all get lost in the maze but you can see their heads the whole time so the parents just stand around watching them try to find the exit. Its hilarious!

And then of course there are THOSE  kids who can't find an exit so they create their own! I don't know who is more of a trouble maker: Ralphie or Kelsey!

After the corn maze, we went on a wagon ride around the pumpkins which was obviously awesome and then we finished by sliding down the corn slides.

Jakers ris really awesome but more awesome than Jakers is Autumn in general. Is there a better time of year? 

Waiting for Ralphie...

Found him!

We got a little hot and had to take a break. It was like 85 the day we went. It was awful.

Right at the end Kelsey ran over to the tractor pull and begged to go on it. I was feeling like an awesome mom so I decided to go with her. It was terrible for me (I got super sick) but Kelsey loved it! She really misses riding trains and such so this was a fun replacement.

Baby #2

We are so excited to finally be able to tell people about our new addition! GIRL number two is coming on February 21st and we couldn't be happier. I typically wait a bit longer than the average person to announce that I am pregnant but I just would hate to have to untell such exciting news. You just never know what can go wrong. I was getting past the point of being able to hide my belly though so word had to get out!!

This pregnancy was a bit tricky too with insurance and being in Chicago. While I was in Chicago I was horribly sick. Now when I sick horribly sick, some women may laugh because I never once lost my lunch. My body just doesn't do that, but most mornings I would just lie on the couch while Kelsey would watch HOURS of TV. I felt bad for the imbalance in our lives, but I couldn't move. It was awful. That's why we thought it was a boy. I just didn't remember feeling like that last time however last time I didn't even have a job let alone a two year old. Things were able to be quite different for me in the first trimester. Ethan was a saint and never once complained about the no dinner nights or the house looking like a complete DISASTER all the time. I was so sick that when I look at certain pictures from Chicago I just get this terrible feeling in my stomach that I can't shake! No fun. Any way, I ate a LOT of tomatoes and goldfish (cravings are weird) and was able to make it back to Utah somehow (having Diana come helped save my bacon too lets be honest!). 

Our insurance was funky in Chicago and so we weren't able to go to the doctors office until we got back to Utah. More specifically we couldn't see a doctor until we got to Provo. By the time I went it was September 3rd. I went in for the typical first time appointment, but my measurements were so funky that they couldn't tell when I was due. The doctor said I was measuring small on the outside but big on the inside. They tried to a do an ultrasound but the baby was already too big to fit in the screen so they couldn't measure the baby. I still had no news to share with anyone and so we didn't want to share. Luckily, that appointment did in fact give me proof that I was pregnant, let me hear the heart beat, and allowed me to set up my "20" week ultra sound.

On October 8th, Ethan and I went in to the "20" week check up to find out how far along I was, when I was due and what we were having! It was super exciting. We found out that I was due the 21st of February, that I was 21 weeks, and that is was a GIRL!!! We were so surprised about the girl part that we made her tell us again. We totally thought it was a boy and this was completely surprising to us. We couldn't be happier though. 

Kelsey still has no idea really whats going on. Sometimes she will ask for her baby sister but sometimes when we talk about it she looks at us like we are crazy people from mars. She did ask for a sister like Trey once and a baby like Ralphie another time so maybe its coming together. She loves babies though and always wants to hold the babies at church. I just wonder how she will act when our baby doesn't go "home." I mean what do you do right?!  

Ethan and I are so excited and so grateful that everything looks okay so far. Insurance has worked out perfectly too and we feel very blessed in that regard. I'm just glad we could figure things out so that we could have another baby. We have wanted this for so long. I do have to say however that we are not thrilled about picking another girls name. We have that feeling of, "we've already done this once and don't want to do it again" when it comes to names! We are struggling in that arena! 

So there are the dets for baby two that we have been dying to share! I was pregnant all of June July and August which made Chicago and traveling more of an adventure, but we still did so many fun things that we can't complain. Now that I am in my second trimester, I feel amazing. Sometimes (SOMETIMES!) I forget that I am pregnant because I feel so great, but then I go to like tie my shoes and its like "there it is!" Its amazing how quickly you really do grow the second time. I mean I already struggle to tie my shoes and get out of bed. I'm also having way more just over all uncomfortableness in my back, hips, and legs than I did last time. Its nothing that prevents me from running or taking care of Kelsey but its that over all feeling of just discomfort that I didn't really feel until 7 months. Basically all I am trying to say is that I love having kids, but I hate being pregnant. At least the sickness has gone away right?! 

Here's to February coming fast! 

Prayers

Kelsey has just recently started saying her own prayers without any help and it may be my favorite part of the whole day.

This is how her pray went today at lunch

Thank you for broccoli, thank you for macaroni, thank you for cold water, Amen

And then tonight her prayer sounded something like this

Thank you mommy, thank you for daddy, thank you for macaroni, thank you for the prophet, thank you for cold water, Thank you for Jesus, Amen

I started laughing out of the cuteness that I started crying. Like bawling. It was the cutest thing I have ever heard. So sincere and so adorable.