Harvest Festival

This last weekend was fairly nice weather and we decided to go back to Green Bluffs for the Harvest Festival.  Green Bluffs has a bunch of farms and we went to two different ones to enjoy the harvest festival activities.  The first one had lots of animals for people to see.

Whitney liked to shake the fence by the geese.  We tried to get Whitney to 'honk' like geese do, but I guess she thought that was too much like a car  and wouldn't say it.

This is the best picture we could get of Whitney feeding the mountain goats.  There were three goats and Whitney loved feeding them.  There was a big tree in the goat's pen and all the lower leaves had been chewed off by the goats, but Will was able to grab a couple of higher leaves.  We were careful to make sure her fingers weren't too close to the leaves edge so the goat couldn't nibble on her fingers.  The goats were interesting to watch; they like eating and eating.

Whitney loved the little ponies.  The ponies were the perfect size for Whitney, only about four feet tall or something.  I don't know if they get any bigger or what kind of little horses they were but they were very friendly.  Whitney liked petting the ponies; whenever we tried to leave the animal area, she kept trying to go back.  We will have to find a petting zoo or something else in Spokane so Whitney can touch more animals.

This is us in the hay maze for children.  Whitney walked around it for a little while, but then she seemed to get tired and just wanted to get out.  So we just climbed out the edge.  I did not know that hay is poky but I got a couple scratches on my legs just from climbing over the bales.

Three...Two...One...Blast off baby.  Whitney got to be part of the cannon as she stuck her head in the hole.  Will stuck his head in too to show Whitney how to do it, but I wasn't fast enough at getting a picture.  Oh well.  I think Whitney liked looking at the picture below her too much to look at the camera.

There was a big pumpkin patch where people could go in to select their own pumpkins.  I stayed out with the stroller because I didn't want to accidentally squish any pumpkins, but Will and Whitney walked around looking for a good pumpkin for us.  We just wanted a small one because it is actually cheaper to buy them at the store, but Whitney had a fun time finding a pumpkin.

I call it our Charlie Brown pumpkin because it is a bit misshapen and slightly funny looking, but it needed a loving home.  So we will give it that love, until we cut it with a sharp knife and pull out its insides.  Oh well.  Good thing pumpkins have no feelings.  Now we just need a good idea of something to carve.

We went to a huge seven acre corn maze at another farm.  It got really dark while we were in the maze and Whitney didn't like it very much.  I guess she is too young.  So we were in the maze for an hour and decided it was too hard, especially with a slightly grumpy toddler.  Luckily, we found a little side exit and were able to get out.  We will have to wait a couple of years before we try another corn maze.  But it was still fun.  Anyway, it was a great day.  And a fun harvest festival.

Homecoming Fun

Hello everybody!  This past week was homecoming for Eastern and we have never done anything for homecoming (not even when Will actually went to Eastern).  But I thought Whitney was old enough that she might enjoy some of the festivities.  And I think Whitney did have a fun time.

There were a couple of people walking around campus on stilts.  Whitney kept pointing and gawking at them, so she must have been shocked that somebody could be so tall.

There was a clown making balloon animals that wanted to make one for Whitney.  She looks grumpy in the picture, but she actually really liked her doggy balloon.  Of course, it only lasted a couple of days because Whitney bit it and twisted it until it broke and popped.  Oh well.  Whitney thought the clown was pretty cool.

And Whitney got her very first taste of cotton candy.  She LOVED it.  I wasn't sure how she would do with the cotton candy, but she was able to get little pieces off of it and she only got a little sticky. Thankfully, a baby wipe cleaned her up real quick.   It is hard to see Whitney's face, but I promise that it is there. 

This is Swoop.  He is the eagle mascot for Eastern.  And a bunch of cheerleaders who did some dances to pump people up.  Whitney kept pointing to the bird and saying 'tweet tweet'.  We ended up in the front of the crowd and WHitney was able to high five Swoop.  Not everyone can say they have done that.  Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of her doing that.  Oh well.  The rest of the day she kept saying 'big bird'.  It was fun.

Friday night was the homecoming parade.  I have never been to a parade at night; it was too dark to get any pictures of the cars and floats, so this is a picture right after the parade.  Whitney is trying to show off the pretty necklaces and the blue elephant she got at the parade.  The students at the parade thought she was cute, so she was given extra candy.  So we can use it as Halloween candy.

Whitney wore pigtails for the first time today for church.  She looked so cute.  Unfortunately, Whitney liked pulling at her hair.  So we had to put the ponytails back in a couple of times.  The people at church thought she looked cute.  Maybe we can practice the pigtails and she will get use to not pulling at them.

It is a little hard to tell, but Whitney's face is covered in butter.  With our WIC checks, we have had a lot of fruits and vegetables lately.  So we have been eating corn on the cob, which Whitney loves.  I think she mostly likes the melted butter on the corn, but she ate a couple of real bites as well.

Whitney and Will like playing the gamecube.  And Whitney knows if her controller isn't really working.  So she and Will play supersmash bros. sometimes.  One day, Whitney got really tired while she was playing.  She almost fell asleep sitting up.  Now we have evidence that Whitney likes Nintendo.

  Finally, Whitney is becoming our big girl.  She tries to push her big stroller with her baby and the bear that aunt Erin knitted for her.  Unfortunately, she often gets the stroller stuck in corners and she needs our help getting her unstuck and she gets angry.  But she does like doing the pushing without any help.

So things are going great in Cheney.  We are getting excited for Halloween coming up soon.

Rainy Days

These past several days in Cheney have been quite rainy.  And it looks like it is going to be raining on and off for the next week, so we have been doing inside things.  Whitney is catching a bit of a cold, so I don't want to take her outside in the yucky weather.  But Whitney misses being outside and running around.

I don't know what the sad face is about.  Whitney was just fine.  And don't be mislead by the appearance of sunshine streaming through the window.  We have a big window in our living room and Whitney has learned how to climb from the heating vent to the window sill.  Sometimes she just seems to disappear and then we know she must be hiding behind the curtain.  We are trying to discourage the practice, for obvious safety reasons, but Whitney loves climbing.

My mom gave us a squash from their garden when they came to visit us for my birthday.  I have never eaten squash and wasn't sure what to do with it.

So I looked in one of our handy cookbooks and I found a beef and vegetable stew that looked promising.  Here Whitney gets a chance to do a little stirring; she always wants to be 'up' when we are cooking so she can look into the pots.  Will and I have both gotten use to holding her and cooking at the same time.  Whitney wasn't allowed to stir for very long though because she kept trying to take the wooden spoon out of the big pot which was just making a mess.

The stew turned out more like a thick soup, but it tasted pretty good.  So now I can add that to my list of things I can cook.  Am I the only one who has a standby of like 12 recipes that just get used over and over again?
Will gave me a teddy bear when we were newly married that has been sitting on my dresser drawers with some of my other special goodies I have collected over the years.  Whitney noticed this bear and has been wanting to play with it.  She calls it 'roar' because she knows that is what bears say.

I am still working on trying to get Whitney to smile for the camera.  It isn't like she is unhappy or anything, she just stares at the camera with a blank face.  But at least she is holding still, which doesn't happen all the time.  Often, our pictures look blurry or have half a head because Whitney is running towards or away from me.

It is a little hard to tell, but Whitney's shirt says "My smiles keep me out of trouble".  I think it is cute and probably a little too true.  When Whitney smiles, I just love her to pieces and remember how great it is to have a beautiful daughter - even though she sometimes tells me she is a boy and not a girl.

I hope this video works.  We are all doing well in Cheney.  We are hoping for the rain to end soon though so we can start taking walks outside again, but at least rain is better than snow.  Bye!

LOVE...and a bag clip

This past weekend was great with general conference.  I love hearing our prophet speak and the other church leaders.  I thought there were some really great talks.  But despite how much I loved conference and the spirit that was felt while watching, that wasn't my favorite thing that happened this weekend.  On Saturday, Whitney said "I love mom" for the first time.  That made me so happy.  I know that she doesn't really understand what she is saying, but I don't care, it just made my heart melt.  Will and I say that we love Whitney all the time, but she would never say 'love' when we prompted her to.  So now I owe my thanks to a bag clip.  Will and Whitney were playing with a bag clip and Will would say something in a funny voice and Whitney would sometimes repeat it, if she was in the mood.  Will said "I love mom" and then Whitney did.  And it sounded like she really said it.  I was so excited.  We tried to get her to say "I love mom" on camera, but we haven't had luck yet.  So we will keep working on it.  Maybe soon she will really understand what love means.  Anyway, no pictures for this post.  I just wanted to write that I love being a mom and watching Whitney grow.  It is just amazing.