county fair take two

Here are a few more pictures from the county fair. The first few were taken on Thursday when we went without Nate and Tia, who were otherwise occupied. The weather on Thursday was awful. The wind picked up right as we got there and blew all kinds of dust and grit into our faces. Colin had a little bit of drool on his chin, and in the time it took us to walk from one building to another the drool had turned black with dirt. Gross. When I got home my legs were covered in nasty gritty yucky dirt. That's what I get for putting on lotion right before we left. Saturday it was cloudy for a while, and then the sun peeked out and warmed things up.

Colin liked looking at the small animals—chickens, bunnies, and the sort. I think he liked those because they weren't as loud.

When I put him down to look at the sheep up close he chose to play with the wood shavings.

This is the mini horse that was in the baby animal petting area. The kids thought it was so cool that they could touch it.

Little Sara Lu checking out the alpacas. She was really good about chillin' in her stroller.

Here's an example of some of the finest fruits and vegetables Utah County has to offer.

Not such an attractive picture of me, but the kids are cute.

Apparently Bryant was super excited about something on that table. I wish I could tell you what that was, but I can't.

Here are Saturday's pictures.

Colin started out a little timid.

But then he got to pet a sheep up-close-and-personal-like, and that seemed to help. Nate ran into a family he knows from work. The daughter was showing her lambs that day.

Kaylee thought the fair stunk. Or at least the sheep and cow building did.

Kaylee was kind enough to pose in front of the pink tractor for me.

Colin went straight for the wheels, of course. He was in wheel heaven.

Then we found the little tractors for kids to ride on. Colin didn't really know what to do with himself up on the tractor. He couldn't reach the wheels when he was sitting in the seat.

I love this picture.

It took a while, but the other kids finally found us and took a turn riding the tractors.

And that was our trip to the county fair. I'm going to get my act together this year and submit all kinds of victuals and handmade goods next year. Really. I might even raise a steer for the beef show.

county fair equals disappointment

I think I was trying to get a picture of Colin's birthday shirt when I took these. He was happy, but not cooperative.

His open-mouth face makes me laugh.

We ventured down to Spanish Fork twice for the Utah County Fair. It wasn't great. It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't what I expected it to be. The kids had fun looking at the animals and visiting the educational booths. The adults were impressed by the 4H building and all the different types of entries. We might even try entering some stuff next year. Here are some pictures from the Thursday adventure. On Saturday I took picture's with Sam's camera, so you'll have to stay tuned for those.

Here's Papa showing Colin the pigs.

The pigs were huge! Enjoy the bum shot of this one. It was the only pig who was doing something other than sleeping.

The sheep were getting sheared and hosed down for the show.

On Thursday we got to see part of the beef show, which consisted of the first and second categories of steer. Colin said "Mooo" as the cows went by, and then he clapped for each one. It was pretty cute. I had to hold him though, because when he sat by himself the noise of the cows and sheep scared him.

There was a small area that had baby animals that the kids could get close to and pet. Here's Colin with a couple of his cousins.

I liked the alpacas because they looked goofy.

Colin won a pair of sunglasses from the no smoking people.

I think that in this video we were trying to get Colin to show off his hide and seek skills. I didn't preview the video, so I hope that's what it is.

Colin was really entertained by Nate prancing around in the kitchen. I think Nate was flicking water in his face.

I've had some fun cooking new things recently. I made a blueberry cream cheese pie, stuffed french toast with strawberry sauce, pot roast (okay, that's not new, it was just good), blueberry zucchini bread (which was awesome), blueberry cheesecake bars, and that's all I can remember right now. Can you tell what fruits are in season? I continue to grow larger and more self conscious, so I have yet to take a picture of my growing belly to post. Maybe I'll post one next year. Nate continues to work at Gunthers and occasionally in the yard. We went to a wedding reception for a fake cousin and a graduation luncheon for a real cousin this week. There was delicious food at each event. I like how everything I type that doesn't concern Colin does concern food. Can you tell I'm pregnant? Food has become my favorite thing.

5 freakin' years

Yesterday was our 5th anniversary. As Nate would say, it feels like we've been married forever. I think he means that in a good way. We spent the evening baby free (thanks Granny!) enjoying a free gift certificate meal at Olive Garden and attending ward temple night. Some kindly strangers took this picture for us at the temple.

Yay for being married!

Happy Birthday Donovan!

Today is my nephew Donovan's 2nd birthday. I didn't think he would appreciate a phone call so much, so I thought we'd put a picture of him up so he can at least look at himself. I figure that Colin likes to do that, so Donovan probably would too.

Some things we love about Donovan:

The way he holds his food when he eats, the endless amount of energy he has, how good he has gotten at talking, the way he jumps and jumps and jumps, how nice he is to babies, how much he loves his cousins, his stinkin' adorable face!

photography

Check out my friend Triana's website. She's having a photo session giveaway, and she's super talented. But you probably don't want to enter, because then I'll have less of a chance of winning!

Triana Ord Photography

Recipe Sunday—Nate Ate Zucchini Edition

That's right. I prepared zucchini from our garden for dinner tonight and Nate ate it without complaint! Can I get an amen?! My brother, mother, son, and friend Paul each went back for more. Here's the recipe for anyone who is interested.

Zucchini Mozzarella Medley

3 c. sliced zucchini

1 c. sliced onion (I just sprinkled on a little onion powder because I didn't want to cut up any onion.)

1 clove garlic, minced (This was the first time I had ever actually had a clove of garlic in my house and minced it on my own. It was awesome.)

1 tbs. olive oil

1/2 tsp. basil

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tomato, cut into 12 wedges (I just threw in some halved cherry tomatoes because that's what I had from the garden.)

4 oz. mozzarella (I just threw on some cheese, kind of a lot of cheese, because I thought Nate would like it better that way.)

Sauté vegetables and seasonings in oil in large skillet until crisp/tender (about 5 minutes). Gently stir in tomatoes. Sprinkle with cheese. Remove from heat. Serve after cheese melts.

I might make this again tomorrow. We kind of have a truckload of zucchinis. And did I mention that Nate actually ate some of this?

los gatos están muriendo en la calle

My brother Grant is a Marine, and he left on Sunday for San Diego. He will be training there for about 3 months before he goes overseas to Afghanistan. We took a picture of him and Colin together so we could prove to Colin later that he did like Grant once upon a time. (Just in case he forgets in the next year.) Aren't they so cute and matchy in their green shirts?

Colin really likes this old Begera stuffed animal that used to belong to my brother Seth. He tickles his face with the tail and wrestles with it on the floor. He also likes to carry it around with him.

The other day he was dragging it over his shoulder all around the house. Naturally his CareBear was in his other hand.

Colin looked so cute one day that I couldn't resist taking pictures of him. He was very smiley and cooperative. He even almost sat still for a couple of them.

He might have been talking to me in this one. Or maybe he was about to eat that Mr. Potato Head piece.

He's such a cheeser!

Colin fell asleep with his bum right up against the crib railing, but then I peeked in at him and found him like this.

One of Colin's new favorite games is crawling up on the big bed in his room. He's getting really good at doing it all by himself.

He doesn't really look it in this picture, but he's quite proud of himself when he makes it up there.

Here's a video of Colin being a naughty little monkey. I kept trying to put obstacles in his way so he couldn't get into the stuff on my nightstand, but he kept figuring out ways to get there. You'll notice he shakes his head at the beginning because he knows he's not supposed to be doing what he's doing. But then he just does it anyway.

I went to the doctor this week for my monthly checkup and everything is going well. The baby seems to be growing fine, and I am also growing fine. I have to take the dreaded glucose test when I go in next month, and I really hope I pass this time. Last time I had to take the 3 hour one too, and it about killed me. Not much new has happened this week. Nate's moved some of the dirt from the driveway to the flower beds around the house. Colin and I have played at home most days. Nate went to work most days. We (finally) bought Colin a highchair. I bought some tulle so I can try my hand at making tutus. Wish me luck on that one.

swatting a fly

So I was feeding Colin breakfast this morning and there was an annoying fly buzzing around the kitchen. I guess it looked funny when I swatted at it, because Colin cracked up. After a few minutes of him laughing I finally thought to get the camera out.

my card blog

Check out my card blog, won't you? It's been updated and looks super good, though I say so myself. I'm still working on getting/changing fonts, so there will be more updates in the near future. And I'm open to suggestions for other types of cards/designs that people might want/need. Any ideas?

Also, tell your friends about my card blog, won't you? I could really use the moneys that it has the potential to provide me.

K Leigh Cards!

kaput

The big news during the last two weeks—my computer died. Yep, died. The hard drive crashed and burned and broke my heart. Mr. Computer Man (Nate) tried his best to fix it, but it was beyond his abilities, which are substantial indeed. (Mainly because my computer is a Mac and Nate's a PC man.) (And apparently iMac hard drives are impossible for any mortal human to remove without destroying the entire computer.) We finally took it to a repair shop and they told us what we already knew—the hard drive was shot. However many dollars later my computer was back safe at home with a brand new hard drive. The only problem was that all of my pictures and videos and design projects from the past 3 years were on the old hard drive! We weren't sure if we were going to be able to recover anything on our own, and the cost for having someone else do it is ridiculous. Nate has been working on recovering what he can, and so far it looks like I have all of our pictures. We're still working on finding missing fonts and things for my projects, but I think overall everything is okay. I had a few panic attacks over the whole thing, but now it's all okay.

Oh, and Nate and I went to the Utah Shakespearean Festival in Cedar City on the 24th. It was our Christmas present to ourselves; we just had to wait until July to enjoy it. And for anyone who is thinking about going down and enjoying the festivities there—there are no festivities. I told Nate that they should rename it the Utah Shakespearean Play in the Evening, because that's all it was. I was under the impression that there would be entertaining things to do and see all day, so we arrived about 7 hours before the show started. We ate lunch, looked at the fine art exhibit (1 tiny room of pictures), walked around the SUU campus, browsed through the "gift shop," and then decided to go back to our hotel and watch a Redbox movie on the laptop. Don't get me wrong—we still had a good time. We were just disappointed in the festival aspect of the festival. We saw As You Like It and enjoyed it very much. The production was great, and the actors were professional. I love watching Shakespeare, so I really liked it. Nate tolerates watching Shakespeare, so he only regular liked it. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures to share from that weekend. Sorry.

As for Colin's latest and greatest tricks, he can finally clap. He still loves to dance, and his moves are getting more and more hilarious. He can sign please, thank you, more, eat, drink, all done, bath, and music. He makes the sounds for duck, cow, sheep, monkey, weasel, snake, elephant, dog. He can say Mama and Dada and Hot and Up and Hi and Bye-bye and Whoa/Wow, and he's working on No and Stop and Yes. He also loves to shake his head, and we're trying to get him to nod but he just moves his whole body up and down. That's all I can remember right now.

Okay, and now on to the pictures and videos!

Colin got a couple of cards with some birthday money from his Aunt Gina and Great-Granny Charles. I finally got him some presents with his cash a few weeks ago. He got a new shirt, a huge blue ball, and a brush. That's right, a brush. The boy loves to carry a brush around and brush his hair. Sometimes I think that having a girl won't be too much different than having Colin.

When we first brought the ball inside he kept trying to pick it up and carry it around with him. It was a little big, but he managed to do it.

He chased that ball around the house the rest of the afternoon.

The pretty boy with his pretty brush. Thanks Great-Granny and Gina!

I keep trying to get good videos of Colin dancing, but he prefers to try and grab the camera when I bring it out. I did manage to get these snippets when we were playing with the keyboard one Sunday before church. I hear that Colin's cousin Rachel used to dance like this with her keyboard too.

One of Colin's favorite new games is playing with his plate when he's done eating. He rubs it all over his head. I have a drawer in the kitchen filled with miscellaneous tupperware for Colin to play in, and he likes to put a container over his face and walk around the kitchen singing. I haven't successfully caught that part on video yet, but here he is playing with a plate.

I attached a little bear cuff thing to Colin's leg and let him try to get it off himself. Hilarity ensued.

I was trying to get Colin to sit still in the chair so I could take a picture of him to show off how much cuter he gets every day—but Colin didn't want to cooperate. He wanted me to spin the ceiling fan (which is broken and won't go on it's own). I don't know what it is with that kid, but he is obsessed with the ceiling fan. He loves to watch it.

This is the "best" picture I got, and it's kind of funny looking.

Nate has been working hard the last few weeks getting the east and west sides of our house ready for grass. He's hauled dirt around, hoed weeds, dug trenches, and put in new sprinklers. His dad has been a big help. I don't have any pictures yet, but I'll put some in when it's all finished. Anyway, Nate was out working yesterday, and then he came inside for a snack. Colin found him sitting on the floor in the kitchen and decided to share his trail mix.

I left a rag on the counter to clean up with and he decided to help me out by doing it himself.

I left a laundry basket upside-down and Colin decided it would help him in his efforts to get into all the stuff he's not supposed to on my nightstand.

My naughty little boy can now reach anything in any drawer in the bathroom. He can also grab most of the stuff on the counter.

In other family news, I continue to grow bigger every day. I think I'm at the stage now where I look pregnant and not just chubby. I really dislike that in between time when you look like you've gained weight but people can't tell you're pregnant. Blah. Colin and I go for a walk every evening around the neighborhood. He loves it because he loves being outside, and I love it because it keeps him happy in that crucial half hour before bathtime and bedtime. Also, it's the only exercise I get during the day. (Unless you count me trying to get my fat self down on the floor to wipe up Colin's mess after every meal.)