Little Old Man

I found this picture of Nolan and it cracked me up when I first saw it. He looks like a little old man. This was almost 4 years ago...he's grown sooo much!

Fall Festival

Grandma Bubbles and I were in the Penn Valley Fall Festival this year! We had a good ol time. It was kind of a hot day, but every now and then a breeze would blow our way, which felt REALLY good! It wasn't a crazy busy type of festival, but since this was both of our first times at doing this, it gave us a chance to get our feet wet and get an idea of how this works before we get into bigger festivals/craft fairs etc. It was fun when we got customers. :) I think we both learned a lot and have a better idea of what to do and what not to do next time. I had several items for sell, which included my hairbows, clippies, headbands, flower button magnets, crocheted hats, hair flowers, etc. My sister sent me a package of several of her handmade hair accessories too. It was nice to have a variety of things because you never know what people will be attracted to. I was a little surprised at some of the things that sold and what didn't sell. All in all it went well!
So, I have this idea...I would love to be in more of these type of things. Some of the entrance fees for a booth are kind of high, so in order to make it worth it, it'd be nice to have a variety of things for sell, preferably handcrafted items. Since, I can only make so many things myself, I would love to help sell any of YOUR handcrafted items as well. I'm checking to see if I can get this a part of "Kids Dream" to help make tax purposes easier, but if they say it's okay, I think I'll give this a try. If any of my readers would be interested or know of anyone who would be interested at consigning their items through "Kids Dream," let me know. There will be a few rules, which I'm still working out in my head, but here are a few so far. There will be a 20% mark-up at whatever price you choose to sell your item at, so keep that in mind (I keep 20%, you get the other portion). Also, there will be a reasonable entrance fee for each crafter depending on the size and amount of your item to help pay for booth space and handling of your item. Also, each person needs to make a list of each item they give me, so I can keep track of what sells easier. Anyways, those are a few of the rules...what do you think? Does anyone know of anyone who might be interested? This can also include your kids who want to sell things they make. After all, this is "Kids Dream." The profit that comes from this will help pay for my kids missions, college, weddings, etc. :)

Potty Time!

Time to bring out the potty! "HUH? ALREADY," you ask? That's what I said. Well, the last month or so, Annika has been showing the first signs of being ready to potty train. She recognizes when she has "gone" and comes to me tugging on her diaper and says, "geek." :) At first, it was when she had gone poopies and more recently when she's gone pee. Also, recently, she can't stand to be in her dirty diaper. I'm not so sure we're really ready for this, and I know "they say" if you start them before they're ready, it'll just take longer. BUT, we can still set up the potty and see what happens. I tried putting just the top part on the normal potty. She didn't like sitting on it much. Than, I put it on the little potty. I told her, "ok, go poopies." I took that little video and after a couple of minutes, she put down her paper and said, "geek." I checked, and sure enough, she went poopies, which she normally never does except standing up. Only problem is, I hadn't taken off her diaper. But, that's ok. So, she knows what the potty is for now. :) Next time, we'll do it with the diaper off.

7-year Anniversary

Well, Saturday was Adam and my 7-year wedding Anniversary. In some ways, it feels like it's flown by, but in many ways it feels like much longer. I feel like such a lucky girl to be married to such a wonderful guy!

We celebrated our anniversary on Friday, since that was the evening Adam was able to get off work. Adam's mom took the kids to her house for a sleepover and we headed to San Francisco around 4:00 p.m. I don't like San Francisco traffic, but Adam knows his way around pretty well. San Francisco is a fun place to visit, but I would NEVER EVER want to live there. There are some pretty crazy people there. At one point when we were driving, a mini cooper was in the lane to the right of us. He seemed to think he owned the road. He tried to pull a left u-turn by cutting us off, which made Adam have to slam on the brake and then honked the horn at him. The man completely stopped his car, to which made us slam on the brake even harder. Then he got out and tried to have a conversation in the middle of the road about how he was right and we were wrong before getting back in his car and continuing on with his u-turn. We were a little in shock, which is probably a good thing. Otherwise, Adam may have gotten out of the car and who knows what would have happened, but I'm pretty sure this little fella would have scurried back in his mini cooper. :P

One of the things I dislike the most about visiting San Francisco is having to pay to park. I don't want to pay money to park. I think it's dumb. Well, we got to San Francisco around 6:45. Adam thought it would be funny to take a picture by the fence he jumped over when he broke his leg a couple of years ago. As you can see, it is really not too tall of a fence...

Well, we went to see how much it would cost to park in here and it was going to cost $20! No way! We left. We found a place right close to it that was free parking after 7:00 pm. Score!




W


This was a cool store made for left-handed people. Both Adam and I are left handed. It was fun to look around to see what sort of stuff they had.





I've mentioned before my fascination with spray-painted art. I have no desire to learn how to do it, but I think it is amazing watching and seeing it done. These artists can whip out these beautiful pieces of art work within just a few minutes. I love them!







We decided to buy this one.



We had a good time and drove back to Adam's parents for the night.

Last One

Down to the last blue glass. Someone gave these blue glasses to us as a wedding gift. They came in a set of 12. It was one of the things we registered for at Bed Bath & Beyond. I've loved them! I remember when the first 1 or 2 broke, being a little sad. After that it was like, oops, there went another one. I think one time Adam managed to break 3 in one shot! That was when we were living in the one car garage. So, throughout the last ALMOST 7 years, we broke 9. Then two nights ago, I broke another one, doing some sort of balancing act. Then, last night, I broke another one. I'm not sure how it happened, but as I was washing dishes, I brought it up out of the water and it was broken. So, now there is one left before we are left with just "the boring glasses." I'm hoping it can last at least till Saturday, then we can officially say, we still had one more after 7 years. Adam joked that we should have some sort of ritual where we break the glass after. :P I think when the last one breaks, I might be tempted to buy another set. Then, we can see if we can make it another 7 years before they all break. :)

My Little First Grader!

Today was Nolan's first day of 1st grade! I can hardly believe it's already time to start another year of school! I have mixed feelings about all this, but all in all, it is kinda nice have a little more "quiet time" and one on one time with Annika. Plus, I sure get a lot more done! His school is from 8:00 a.m. - 2:10 p.m. On the other hand, it's kind of sad to see Annika wander around the house, playing, but not having her big brother to tag along after. She loves to do whatever Nolan is doing. If he's sitting on the couch reading, she'll go get her books and read along. If he's playing with his toys, she's within a foot of him playing with toys too. It's cute!

Anyways, Nolan's teacher this year is Mrs. Knapp, room #6. She's kind of an older lady, but Nolan seems to like her so far.

One of the biggest things I've been dreading most about school starting again is figuring out lunches for Nolan. He normally likes hot lunches, not just a sandwich every day. I like to send a lunch with him though, rather than him buying one at school. This year, we invested in a thermos for Nolan that's just the right size to fit in his lunch bag. Tonight, Nolan helped me make chicken noodle soup from scratch for dinner. He must of liked it since he ate two bowls of it. So, he can have the leftovers in his lunch tomorrow!

I took a few pictures before school, but Nolan was a little embarrassed of them because he wasn't smiling very happily. So, I told him if he let me take some better pictures of him, I wouldn't put those ones on here. Just in the last month or so, Nolan has had this thing with needing his top button on his collar shirts buttoned. Must be because his church shirts are. I tell him, normally you don't need to button that one, but he insists. Which is fine... but he usually spends a while trying to get that one buttoned, sometimes needing a little help. ANYWAYS...it hadn't been buttoned yet and he likes to look nice for pictures. Soooo, we got a little rushed and I decided just to get some better pictures after school. So, here they are. :)

Water Park

This video cools me off just watching it. The kids had a blast here!

More Pics

Bonnie took some pics too of the Santquin celebration day.

Can you believe she is 18 months old? I love her!

Welcome Jayden

Jayden was born today. 6 lbs. 19 in. He is such a cute little guy.
Nolan loved touching him and being right next to him no matter whose turn it was to hold him. :) He loves babies.

Utah

The kids and I drove up to Utah last Thursday. They both did really well on the drive. We only made a couple of short stops. Friday we went up to Heber Valley Camp where we had our McKnight Family Reunion. We stayed in these cabins.



Nolan playing in the sandbox.





Monday evening we went to enjoy some festivities put on by Santquin (the city/town where Bonnie's family lives). There was a parade. Nolan dressed up as a clown.





Getting in line for the bounce houses.





The kids went on a fun tractor train ride.



Annika had fun rearranging these cones.





Annika and her cousin Taylee were playing around with the costumes too.



We went to The Red Barn and enjoyed some yummy ice-cream.









Cheers!







Things are getting pretty exciting around here. My sister, Bonnie, went to the Hospital at 7:00 this morning to have her baby. She isn't due til the 10th, but when she went in for her weekly appointment on Monday, she had an ultrasound because there was some concern for how small she is, especially being her 4th baby. The placenta might not be functioning properly and when they took measurements, the baby was only 5 lbs. 5 oz. So, they thought it best to get the baby out sooner than later. So far, the latest news is things are coming along slowly, but surely. She isn't able to have an epidural this time because her blood count is too low. She was kind of prepared for this though, at least. So, maybe it's a good thing it's a small baby. We can't wait to meet this little guy very soon! Pictures to come soon!