Christmas Party!

We decided at the last minute to host a Christmas party at our house this year. We had a going away/Christmas/birthday party in Denver before we moved and we really had fun. Having just moved here, we were a little hesitant (would anyone really come? we don't know that many people. it's really last minute. etc.) We decided 2 weeks ago to send out an evite to our neighbors and new friends from church.

We got the house cleaned, asked people to bring desserts and appetizers and set the time for 4-6 (after Addy's nap and before Addy's bedtime).

Little did we know that so many people would be able to come! We had 30 adults and 26 kids, lots of desserts and lots of chaos! Our new house isn't that big, and of those 26 kids, all but 1 were under 10! Oh boy. The kids found every toy Addy owns, every sweet treat available and made themselves right at home while their parents attempted conversation while keeping an eye on the sugar loaded kids.

A PhD student Brad has been meeting with weekly from Beijing named Daniel, was able to come and he likened the scene to the Beijing subway. Have you ever seen those UTube videos?! Well, he wasn't far off. It was hot, crowded and loud!

We we really did have a great time and it was nice to briefly connect to each person that came. What an answer to prayer that we already have made friends with so many neighbors and couples from church. Addy had a ball with all the 'big kids' and she did a great job sharing all her toys. Of course, it was so busy that I forgot to take pictures so use your imagination. . .

This was the living room before the party. Now fit 50+ people here, in our little kitchen and (luckily!) in our basement!

Most people stayed the whole time and when 6 rolled around, they all cleared out for other parties, concerts or dinner. Our house looked like a bomb of cake, brownies, sweets and treats had gone off! (thankfully most of the toys got picked up by the kids/parents!) Brad took Daniel home (and took Addy with him) and I got to work cleaning. After a good floor scrubbing, everything looked ship shape.

After putting Addy to bed, Brad and I sat down with hot chocolate and opened some Christmas presents. We opened all our gifts and realized that most of the presents weren't for us but for Addy Paddy. We saved those for her to open today.

Today after church, Addy got to open her presents. The first one she spent a long time playing with and after the 2nd or 3rd present she just started going back for more. It didn't take long for her to figure out there was something cool in each of those pretty packages. Hopefully she'll figure out that not every pretty package is for her. :) Thank you to all of you who sent gifts! Addy loves them!

Addy with her rainbow glockenspiel from Great Grandpa Hulsbos. She loves music and the instruments he sent were a big hit!

Addy opening her new puzzles. Thanks Aunt Bev & Uncle Tom!

Merry Christmas to everyone and thanks to those of you who came to our Christmas party! We'll be back at at it next year!

When we returned from Gunnison for Thanksgiving, we found our house quite covered in snow. Fortunately a neighbor used his snow blower on our driveway to clear a way to the garage, but it was a lot of snow. When we were gone SLC had record cold temperatures along with a few crazy snow storms.

The day after we arrived home, it snowed all day and night and these photos are from that storm. Addy did get to go out and play again but it was much colder and the snow was a bit wetter. She didn't last very long before she just looked cold and on the verge of miserable. Brad wondered if it was worth bundling up for 20 minutes to stay outside for 10. :)

20 week ultrasound. . . it's a

Baby! :) The Dr. assured Addy that it isn't a puppy. I think she was a bit disappointed. Baby Slease looked great on the ultrasound and is growing right on track with the expected due date (April 26). I've been feeling the baby move for over a month now (over a month earlier than with Addy) and Brad has also been able to feel our little gymnast lately too. This little one is quite a mover, just like Addy was. Addy likes 'baby in the tummy' and she really likes poking my bellybutton back in. It's really sticking out already. Strange. I did go back and look, though, and I'm about the same measurements with this baby as I was with Addy. I feel so much more comfortable with this pregnancy though. I think my stomach muscles aren't protesting the stretch quite as much. :)

I've been more sporadic doing postings because I'm busy chasing a toddler around these days. We've been battling colds since September (every time I take Addy to the Kids Club at 24HourFitness, she gets a cold and passes it to us) and so going outside has not really been an option. That's been annoying to say the least. I've learned my lesson though and I'm cancelling our Kids Club membership. I'm not paying $15 a month anymore to get colds.

Addy and her favorite past time.

Addy has changed quite a bit since Thanksgiving. When we got home, she started playing with her 2 teddy bears like they were babies. She puts them to bed, tucks them in with a little pink blanket she has and she rocks, hugs, cuddles and kisses them. It is so cute! She has also gotten a lot more outgoing and she waves to everyone and wants to explore anyplace she can get her feet on the ground. She loves books and wants to read them all the time, even during diaper changes. She also developed a fear recently. . . the printer! She freaks out when it prints something and even when we show it to her, she's really upset about it. Weired

Here is Addy with 'Colorado Bear.' Thanks Anneliese, she loves this bear!

Addy still doesn't really have any words yet, but she has mutated some signs for things like milk, please, all done, up, banana, water and food. We recognize what she's trying to tell us but they're Addy speak so no one else would. She doesn't seem to mind that they're not right because she knows we understand her. I guess she figures that's the point. :)

We did decorate for Christmas when we got home from Gunnison after Thanksgiving (although something got messed up with our photos!) and we're really enjoying the lights and decorations. So far Addy is doing really well with 'no touch, just look' at the Christmas tree and decorations. She has a few she can play with but mostly she just points to the angel on top and waves. :) I'm hoping she maintains her manners at Aunt Susu's house at Christmas time!

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and safe travels to where ever you are celebrating!

Thanksgiving Trip

Here's our slideshow of our Thanksgiving trip to Gunnison.

We left UT the Saturday before Thanksgiving (just as it was starting to storm) at 4am only to find out that in Addy's new snazzy forward facing carseat the oncoming traffic makes it nearly impossible for her to fall back asleep in the dark. As soon as it got light she did fall back asleep for a short nap. It was a long 8 hours. :)

Gunnison was beautiful but COLD! It was much colder (mostly negative temps!) than usual at this time of year and it snowed at least 3/4 of the time we were there so the sun wasn't out to help warm things up a bit. (We did, however miss a crazy cold snap in SLC and nearly a foot of snow!)

Our pictures show our time with family (Grandma & Grandpa Bursch, Auntie Jenny, Great Grandpa Hulsbos, Great, Great Aunt Evie, Great Uncle David & Great Aunt Mary, and cousins Danny & Kaitlin), a few glorious sunny days in Crested Butte and Gunni, and of course, Addy. You might also notice a herd of elk. We saw this 100+ herd just across the street from my parents' place.

Addy had fun playing with everyone and she learned to play the keyboard and guitar, to twirl and worked on her singing. She loves music and attention.

The drive home was more smooth as we rigged up a headlight shield for Addy between the front seats. Our car was so loaded up with stuff that Brad wouldn't have been able to see out the back window anyway. :) A much more enjoyable 8 hours.

We had a great time. Enjoy.

Catching up

Looking at our blog, I see it's been a while since I last updated. I thought I'd catch you up a bit. It seems like It's been a busy month but without looking at my calendar, I have no idea what we did except for last week.

Early in November, we had an overnight visitor. Our friends were having their 10 year anniversary and having recently moved to UT, they were really only able to pull off an overnight in Park City (funny how at this point, even one night away sounds great!). Their 4 year old, Morgan, spent the night with us and while we were really tired after her visit, it was really fun.

Brad did all sorts of cooking projects with Morgan, we went to the park to run around, and of course, Morgan played constantly with Addy. Morgan adores Addy and did a great job teaching her how to share and how to play WITH someone. It was so cute! It was daylight savings weekend so sleep (for Addy!) was a little weird but Morgan went with the flow and did really great even though Addy woke her up REALLY early Sunday morning.

Below is a short slideshow of the visit.

After Morgan's visit, Addy caught a cold at one of her childcare situations (gym, MOPS, Bible study, church) and decided to share with with all of us. Usually Brad doesn't get colds but so far this season it was all of our 2nd. Brad got it the worst and even had to work from home for 3 days! He never does that. He and Addy are still working on getting over the cough part of the cold and it stinks dealing with respiratory stuff when it's so cold out. We've been a bit cooped up! Ahh!

That's all I can really figure we did in November besides our fun Thanksgiving outing. More to come. . .

Halloween

In Utah, if a holiday (besides Christmas) falls on a Sunday, it is celebrated on Saturday. So, Halloween was Saturday night here and the streets were full of trick-or-treaters! Unlike past years where we turned off the lights on the house and went to bed early with no candy in the house, this year we were stocked with candy and a costume for Addy and we were ready for the masses. (We did get one batch of trick-or-treaters on Sunday night who criticized me for having my porch light on without any candy to give out but apparently they didn't read the newspaper that said Halloween was on SATURDAY!)

Anyway, some neighbors and their kids came by in costumes while we were eating dinner and Addy saw them in their costumes and went and got her costume and bucket out of the basket by the door and started grunting at me to put it on her. Hmm. Different than last year when she screamed bloody murder when we put the costume on her. I guess 6 weeks old was a little young. :)


Getting her into her costume turned out to be a little tricky because Addy has a long torso and short legs so her costume was a bit tight getting over her head. Forget zipping it up all the way. :)

She was ready to rock and roll even before we were!

She loved her giraffe costume and wanted to wear it all evening even when we were stalling because it started raining.

Finally, because it was getting late, we decided to brave the rain anyway. Addy doesn't mind rain and she was ready!

We stopped at the Clark's next door first and Addy scored a full size Snicker's bar! She thought that was so fun to put in and take out of her bucket. She didn't notice that it disappeared later either!

We visited a few other houses and Addy just loved all the treasures in her bucket. She had no idea they were edible. . . and she still doesn't.

She played around the house for a while in her costume, not wanting to take it off or go to bed. Wow. She loved her costume!

Sunday at church they had a fall fest thing where the different kids rooms were themes and the kids were supposed to dress up. Luckily the nursery was the zoo. Whew! Addy looked like the baby giraffe in the nursery and she wore the costume the whole church service and for another 45 minutes after while she hugged and played with everyone in the cafe. I think she liked everyone telling her how cute she looked.

Halloween was really fun this year. We enjoyed seeing Addy having so much fun with her costume. I guess it's always been about the kids and we're just starting to get to enjoy that.

Apple Butter!

Well, we did it again! We made our family apple butter last Saturday. This year we decided to scale down though and we only made 3 dozen instead of 6 dozen jars. :) It felt fairly manageable but it was still a crazy day trying to juggle Addy and apple butter.

Luckily part of the time we were making the apple butter, it was lunch time so Addy was confined to her high-chair and she could see all the activity in the kitchen. She seemed to like the front row seat.

Really, Brad does most of the work in the process. :) I get it ready, make sure all the parts are moving smoothly and he cooks, purees, stirs and fills jars. I just do the boiling water bath and peel all the apples ahead of time. This year it was great to only do 16lbs of apples.

Addy takes after her Daddy so all day long she wanted to go outside. She has really gotten into walks and just sitting on the sidewalk playing with leaves and sticks. Seriously, she can do this for a LONG time! During apple butter making, Addy pounded on the storm door, pointed to outside and played with her ball. She was a good sport and we made up for it by trick-or-treating with her Saturday night (more on that later).

Here's the end of our first batch. I actually forgot to take a picture of the finished project because Addy was napping and we ended up crashing on the couch as soon as the kitchen was clean!

Then it was time for the big Halloween event (after Brad got a wild hair to make chicken and dumplings from a cook's illustrated recipe. . . ).

Where did fall go?

We've had lots of rainy/gray days lately and it's actually been pretty cold (Brad will wear flip flops at any temperature so his attire is not a good gauge!). Addy has gotten some good practice getting bundled and going for walks in the cold and rain. She likes her new boots and her coat is pretty snazzy too. The gloves are pretty worthless though. . .

This morning we woke up to a few inches of snow covering our yard and luckily not on our driveway or sidewalk. :) No shoveling yet. Addy and I decided to venture outside to play. It was Addy's first time to play in the snow and I think she liked it. She didn't seem to mind the funny snow suit either! Again, the gloves. . . worthless!

Sand toys worked great in the snow!

What a mug! She loves the cold!
This was Addy's first shot at eating snow. She watched me do it and then. .

Hmm. I don't think she liked it! What a fun little change in the weather. I prefer snow over rain any day!

Moab!

Last week Brad took the entire week off from work and we took our first Utah roadtrip adventure to Moab. True to form, we did all kinds of research about where to stay in Moab and then 1 hour before we left (when I was not home!) Brad changed our reservation so we could stay at a super cool lodge on the Colorado River. I have to say it beat staying right off the highway hands down! We were 14 miles outside of Moab in a quiet canyon and the lodge had horses, a winery and great brownie sundaes. :) We did get one each night we were there as a treat for having to be 'lights out' at 7pm for Addy to go to sleep.

We arrived in Moab Wednesday night and headed out after breakfast Thursday for Arches National Park. We 'hiked' to several arches from the famous Delicate arch to the more obscure ones that I can't remember the names of already. Addy got to do her first hike to Landscape arch and we got more oohs and aahs out of people than you've ever heard on a hike! I'm pretty sure she's the youngest hiker I've ever seen! She loved it and did really well!

Friday we headed out for Canyonlands National Park only to discover that it was raining and socked in with fog. We couldn't see anything but we drove all over the park looking for any break in the fog we could find. There was maybe one spot but Brad didn't' see it because he stayed in the car while Addy slept. :) Oh well. We did stop by Dead Horse Point State Park (only a few miles from Canyonlands) and there was a break in the fog there so we got to see the Colorado River below. Addy thought the rain was fun and she didn't mind getting a little wet. She wasn't too happy about falling into a red mud puddle right outside our hotel door though. :)

We packed up Saturday morning and decided to try Canyonlands one more time. Saturday morning was beautiful! We did get to see the canyon, the river and all the neat vistas. It was a pretty quick visit though because we knew we'd be on the road for 4 hours home.

What a great vacation!

Zoo & Walking

This week, Addy and I got to visit the SLC Hogle Zoo. We were able to meet some other young moms with kids just a little older than Addy to see the animals and spend time together. Addy was pretty excited to go to the zoo for the first time (am I a bad mom that she's 1+ and she's never been to the zoo?!). We looked at her animal book before going and talked about the animals she might see. She was jazzed as you can see.

This picture is near the end of our adventure with some kind of cat in the background. After the elephants Addy seemed to lose focus and just get really tired. Boy am I glad we got in free! Her stamina was short-lived! She seemed to like watching the monkeys, rhinos, elephants and gorillas though.

Can you believe how much she is changing? She hardly looks like a baby anymore! sniff, sniff!

Addy is 13 months old now and has about 1 1/2 months of walking practice. While she falls down a lot (she big time chipped her front tooth this week falling face first onto the concrete sidewalk!!!), she is getting better. She plays by herself in the living room like this video shows all the time. Her 88 cent ball is the best toy she has. This video is right after I put a ponytail in her hair and it was so funny to see her playing with it while sucking her thumb. It was like there was a magnet drawing her hand to her hair. :) This video shows her current walking skills. Enjoy!

Addy's Baby Dedication

Addy is 13 months old now and finally were able to dedicate her to the Lord at church last Sunday. Thanks to Grandpa Hulsbos (my grandpa), Addy had a beautiful dress to wear for the service! She looked like a princess if you ask me. And although her tights only lasted until the car ride home before they got a huge hole in the foot, she did tolerate them very well. I was impressed. Maybe it was because they were a bit baggy on her skinny little legs. :)

Here's us before church.

During the dedication Addy spent most of the time sucking her thumb and playing with her hair. She was very good though!

Here's Addy Paddy in her beautiful dress!

After church we headed over to some friends house who moved to SLC about the same time as us from Texas. They are a great family and we had a wonderful lunch with them. Addy got to play with their 4 year old, Morgan, and she loved that!

While Addy and McKinley (their little girl who was dedicated as well) were napping, we enjoyed their dedication cake for them. :)

While the Dads watched the Cowboys game, the girls played very well together and even cuddled on the pillows together. How cute!

Here's Addy and Morgan checking out the fall pumpkins.

What a great day with friends and a great opportunity to hand Addy over to the Lord in front of our church community who also committed to pouring into our little one. Community is a blessing.

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Nope, that's not Addy. :) Meet Baby Slease #2. We are almost 12 weeks along and we just went to the midwife today for the first check-up. (Good grief has having Addy changed my organization and level of productivity?!) Baby Slease was showing off little fingers and giving us all sorts of angles to see. My midwife said it must be a boy because the little one was showing off! :)

I had a hard time choosing a practitioner to see, being new to SLC, but I finally decided, last week, on a midwife that delivers at the hospital our insurance covers. She is really nice and I think I will have a good experience delivering with her. She will act as a labor coach the whole time I'm at the hospital and I'll aim to do it naturally again, and she has a great bed-side manner.

Anyway, we're due around April 26. . . we'd appreciate your prayers as many of you know what it's like to have a little one and be carrying a little one. Ever since my stomach bug, I've felt a lot better (I was feeling nauseous and not liking food very much before that) and my energy is starting to come back.

Also, we'd appreciate your prayers about us adopting as well. Our thought is that we can begin the process of paperwork, etc, while pregnant, and then get on a waiting list while #2 is really little. We thought that might be a good timeline for us. Please pray that we'll be motivated and excited to figure out adopting in Utah and that we can find a Christian adoption community to get to know.

Thanks!

Just for starters. . . Bill, this is for you. These fat little guys have been pooping under our patio furniture for weeks. Ok, I rest my case. :)

It's been a few weeks of busyness again. Should I be surprised? It all started with a visit from Audrey (who I've been friends with since we were 6!) for a weekend (I'm pretty sure she was coming to see Addy!). We enjoyed mostly laying low, catching up and heading off for a day with just the two of us to explore the Temple Square and enjoy a yummy lunch. We had a great time.

When I took Audrey to the airport, I took Brad as well. Brad went to CA for 6 days for manager training school. As it turned out, the night he left, I spent throwing up all night. I figured it was food poisoning and that I'd never be able to have our yummy Minestrone soup recipe again. Not sure how I was going to take care of Addy, I called our neighbor, Sandy, to see if she could help. She had a busy day preparing for her a birthday party for her twin granddaughters, but she agreed to help as much as she could. As it turned out, her daughter's family had had the chucks earlier in the week (hmm. . . starting to think it wasn't food poisoning) and so she knew how awful I felt. She got me some gatorade and took Addy to her house between each of her naps and entertained her while baking cupcakes and making food for the granddaughters. It was amazing! I got to stay in bed only having to get up to put Addy down for naps. Sandy was a lifesaver! By the end of the day, my friend, Melissa had brought me soup, jello and more gatorade and I was starting to be able to stand up straight.

Right after I called Sandy, I called Brad to let him know what happened and as it turned out, he spent his first day of training school (in a suit!) running to the bathroom to throw up all day! (Pretty sure it wasn't food poisoning!) He had a rough week because he couldn't recover from it and he only got about 5 hours of sleep each night. Who knew I would end up with the better deal.

The bummer was that the day after Sandy watched Addy for me, she got the bug! She really made the sacrifice for me! Thank you Sandy! You know what's weird? Addy never got the bug. . . how strange is that!

Anyway, enough with that. . . the rest of the week with Brad gone was slow for me and crazy for him. He really enjoyed networking and picking the brains of Farmers' leadership. He was really glad to come home though so he could rest!

Before Brad got home, his mom, Lynn came to visit. We had a great time with her and Addy loved spending time with Grandma Lynn. She got a pretty pink pony from Lynn for her birthday and she loves the songs it plays. She's still trying to figure out how to ride it though.

While Lynn was here, she treated us to a southern feast of sweet potatoes, onion rings, collard greens, chicken friend steak and banana cream pudding. Brad loves to cook new things so Lynn passed on a lot of her secrets to him.

These were seriously the best onion rings ever!
I had never had any of these dishes so I enjoyed the new flavors. Addy also enjoyed the sweet potatoes and banana pudding! She pegged Lynn as the giver of sweets! :)

During the week when Brad was at work, we spent time at the park. Addy is learning how to play on the playground and is really funny to watch.

She loves the swings!

Since Lynn's visit, we've started some exciting things at church. I started MOPS and a women's Bible study. Brad started a men's group and we are going to do a short married class. We'll see how this schedule holds up. Addy seems to come down with a cold each time I take her to the kids club at 24 hour fitness so it's hard to stick to a routine. Grr.

We're enjoying SLC and now that we're getting into fall, we should enjoy some pretty fall colors in our neighborhood and much cooler temperatures!

Happy fall!

Wow!

Ok, I'm embarrassed. . . it's been over a month since my last post. Clearly there's been a lot going on so I'll try to catch you up.

Since Addy started walking, she's had lot of bonks and bruises as she figures out how to get around. But really, she's getting pretty good at it and she has figured out how to change directions, and sometimes even tries to 'run.' It's been fun.

Gosh, almost a month ago, we had our friend Grace, from Denver, stop by on her month long road trip through the west. We enjoyed hearing about her travels and visited the farmer's market here with her.

A few days after that, we left for Gunnison to spend Labor Day and the following week with my parents and some old neighbors from da hood back in Denver. You'll see some cute families (Pat, Kesa, Olivea and Conor Sullivan and Scott, Brooke and Levi Kleski) as well as our cute Addy Paddy and Mom & Dad. Most of the pictures in our slide show (get some popcorn, this is almost a month's worth!) are from our time in Gunnison. Brad and Dad got to do a float trip down the river and they fished other streams, rivers and ponds as well. We saw lots of wildlife and we did a beautiful hike about 10 minutes from their house. (Just like her dad, Addy liked to soak her feet in a stream after a long hike like that.) Addy liked playing with our old toddler toys (from when I was little!) and she loved seeing Tig Kitty and helping in the garden. We also celebrated her first birthday with some cake and good company. She had some bites of cake off the spoon but wasn't too keen on picking it up with her fingers. The darn stuff just crumbled apart so she kept trying to give it to me. :) She opened presents (over a series of several days!) from family and friends and was pretty overwhelmed by all the new toys and books. She's a hoot.

Once we got back in town, we all came down with colds. . . you know, Addy's at that age where she's going to get it and if she does, we're doomed. Oh well. So much for getting into a routine. There's a lot you can't do when your kid is sick!

We started MOPS at church so I can continue to get to know other moms at our church, and we officially switched to regular milk in a sippy cup. I don't think Addy's tummy is too keen on milk so we've got quite a road ahead trying to figure it out.

Addy had her 12 month appointment at the Dr. and low and behold, still a string bean. :) She's 12% for weight and 85% for height. She's still only 18.5 lbs so we have a ways to go before she'll be facing forward in the carseat. Oh well. At least she doesn't seem to mind but we'd like some more leg room in the front seat!

We really are enjoying Salt Lake and our new neighborhood. Just Sunday night, I came down with a stomach bug and was up all night sick (with Brad out of town for the week, of course) and I was able to call a neighbor (who also happens to be the mother in law of our pastor) to watch Addy for me off and on all day Monday. It was a life saver and it was a neat demonstration of the way the Lord has provided for us here. What a life saver! I stayed in bed all day and recovered. (Brad wasn't so lucky. . . he came down with it Monday at his leadership training seminar in a suit and tie! He's having a hard time recovering because it's such a busy week for him and he can't rest! Not to mention he didn't start off on a great foot throwing up throughout the day at his conference! Ok, TMI Brad would say!)

Anyway, it's been busy but we're doing well. Sorry this is so long in coming. Enjoy the pictures!

FIRST STEPS!!!

Tonight Addy took her first steps without holding on to anything! She was playing with her toys and crawling all over us on the floor and then she stood up and stomped her foot on the ground. Then, a little later she did it again. Then she took a few steps and landed on my face. We got smart and pulled out the camera. This is the 3rd attempt at walking. We'll let you know when she gets better at it!

Camping!

Saturday we headed up to the mountains for Addy's first camping trip. We spent the morning packing up the gear and getting ready for the big adventure. Granted, we were only going for one night and our campsite was only about an hour away, but we had the car packed to the max!

Addy prepared for the trip by eating a piece of bark in her stroller right before we left the house. By the time we were in the car though, she was happy as a clam.

Our campsite was a 'walk-in-only' campsite (oops, read the fine print before you pay online!) so we had to haul our gear about 1/4 of a mile to our campsite. It wasn't a big deal, but we were glad to know that ahead of time so I could pack right. We set up camp and tried to put Addy down for a nap. The nap was a flop because there was a huge Hispanic party going on at the day-use site just down the way and they were rockin' out to amplified music.

We eventually gave up on Addy's nap and headed to Park City where it was a little cooler and we could drive around while Addy slept in the car.
By the time we got back to camp for dinner, the party was over and it was much quieter. :) We had dinner and got Addy ready for bed. She was not, however, ready for bed. She cried off and on for a while (sorry neighbors!) before falling asleep for a few hours.

Late in the evening she woke back up and was panicked. I had to sit in the tent 'shh-ing' her until she fell asleep. Good grief. By the time she fell asleep, Brad was already out and there I was thinking about my 'new' life as a mom. It made me smile that I didn't mind it too much. :)

Addy slept like a rock until about 6am and then a bit more 'shh-ing' kept her quiet until 6:30. Yeah for sleeping in. :) We had breakfast and got Addy ready for the day and then she conked out again in the stroller. Apparently she didn't get enough sleep the night before.

We decided to pack up camp while she was sleeping so we'd be ready to head out exploring when she woke up. We decided to drive to the part on the map that showed all the 13000+ ft mountains to see if there were more pine trees and if it was cooler. We found the area (while Addy slept more) but it didn't seem like you could actually drive into the mountain range. Hmm. We plan to head back there, just to be sure.

We stopped for lunch at Provo Falls and got Addy into the stream. It was super cold but she really enjoyed it and ended up dipping her bottom in the water as well!

It took us no time and all to get home from the falls and we decided that is what we like most about SLC. You can get into the mountains really fast!

We had a great time camping and plan to go again. We are optimistic about Addy learning to fall asleep on her own in the tent. . . we'll see.

Here's a little slide show of our trip.

SLC County Fair

On Friday night we had a spontaneous outing to the SLC County Fair. It was pretty far from our house and we had to fight suburban traffic to get there but once we did, we got our fill of carnies, flies and good ol' fashion white trash company. :) It reminded me of going to the fair growing up but my memories of the fair were slightly more classy than what we experienced Friday night.

Addy visited her first petting zoo and it was the craziest petting zoo I've ever seen! There were dozens of little goats running around trying to find food and then there were ponies, bunnies, camels and who knows what else just milling around all the little kids with handfuls of carrots. Did I mention there were lots of flies?! Addy thought it was great!

After the petting zoo we visited the 4H animals and Addy got to get up close and personal with cows, flies, pigs, flies, goats, flies, birds, flies, bunnies and more flies. Did I mention there were a lot of flies?

After the 4H animals, we watched the Racing Pigs. It was pretty funny to see fat little pigs running around a race track to get to their prize of a cookies and creme frozen yogurt at the end. Addy's eyes were as big as saucers seeing that!

This outing made me realize how much of a city kid Addy is. Her cousin Natalyn (who is just about 6 months older than her) lives out in Kansas and sees farm animals all the time. We need to get Addy out more. . .