Thanksgiving Poing Farm

Today, Anna and I went to the Thanksgiving Point Farm.  They have $2 Tuesdays all August long and we wanted to take advantage of that before it was over.  We were joined by my friend, Lydia and her daughter, Kaylee and my sister-in-law, Kate and her two boys, Jared & Billy.

Anna was a little wary of all the animals.  I managed to get her close to a cow and a horse in the beginning, but after that, she wanted to stay at least 4 feet away from everything.  For such a daring, adventurous baby, she's a little wary of animals.

Her favorite parts seemed to be looking at the baby chicks and playing in the play area about seeds and plants.  She also liked looking at all the plants that were growing.  I hope that means she'll enjoy working in the garden next year!

After two hours of looking around, we had lunch under the tree.  It must have been the farm air, because Anna snarfed down her sandwich, a banana, and a graham cracker sandwich.  She really enjoyed the graham cracker sandwich!

New Update

I thought I'd just put a little post up to let you all know what's going on here at the Wheeler house lately.

Steve and I are joining the 21st century a little more fully.  We broke down and got smartphones with texting.  I know we've be hesitant about the texting, but Steve uses it a lot with bishopric stuff.  We also got a blue-ray player and are trying out Netflix and HuluPlus.  We're trying to decide if we should just turn off the cable and go with one or both of these.  The nice thing would be that we would have more control over what we are bringing into the home and we could watch the things we want to watch, when we want to.

We all just got over being sick last week.  Anna was sick Monday  through Wednesday, I was sick Thursday and Steve was sick Friday.  Luckily, it was a relatively short lived illness and we are all feeling better.  I was concerned for a while that Steve and I wouldn't be able to go on our date to see Harry Potter on Saturday.  We both enjoyed it, even though we had to go to West Jordan to find a matinee.

On Friday, I had a company come to professionally clean our living/dining room carpets.  Steve stayed home (he wasn't feeling well anyway) and I took Anna to the children's museum in Salt Lake.  We went with my friend, Lydia, and her daughter Kaylee.  It was a lot of fun.  There is so much to see and do.  Anna particularly liked the farm area with the big horse and the shopping market.  She also played in a kid-sized car and with a bunch of balls.  We were both exhausted by the time we got home that afternoon.

Other than that, life is pretty normal.

Washington Adventure

Steve, Anna, and I went to Washington to visit my family the past two weeks.  The main purpose was to support my sister, Allison, as she took out her endowments.  She is the last of my siblings to go to the temple, so we all came to be with her.

Because it's been a while since we were all together, we spent a lot of time together.  We played badminton, ate a LOT of food, and talked...talked...talked.



One day, we took the kids to a raspberry picking farm in Carnation, an hour drive.  The kids had so much fun picking berries and eating them, too.  Mom wanted ten pounds, so I concentrated on picking while Steve and Anna wandered.  We wanted to play at the carnival there, but it was a little expensive and we didn't have a lot of time.









The temple was great.  Being in the Celestial room together was wonderful and being there with my parents, siblings and husband made it all the more special.  My dad was so proud, I thought he would explode.  Steve had to leave for Utah right after the temple.

On Monday, Anna and I went with Mom & Dad and Alli to Pike's Place Market.  Anna loved looking at all the interesting people and items for sale.  Alli and I took a little side trip and saw the gum wall.  It was kind of cool, but also kinda disgusting.

Thursday, we went swimming at Mom & Dad's HOA pool with Steph, Trav, and their kids.  Anna started out not really liking the water, but she warmed up to it by the end.  She liked splashing around.

 Saturday was busy for us.  In the morning, we all went down to the Puyallup farmer's market.  So much fun!  I love looking at all the plants, crafts, and food.  It was a good thing we were there with the stroller or Mom wouldn't have been able to carry everything.  She and Dad got jalapenos, peaches, berries, corn, cherries, and a watermelon.  I got Anna a green bell pepper.  She loves them!  I do it at the grocery store, too, to keep her happy while I'm shopping.

Later, we all went to Northwest Trek.  I haven't been there since elementary school.  We saw a cougar, fox, grizzly, turkey vulture, barn owls, and a snowy owl (I did a report on snowy owls in grade school and remember being so excited then to see one in person).  We also took the tram tour of the herbivores.  They were out on display for us.  We saw moose, elk, caribou, deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, swans, Canada geese, and Great Blue Herons.  Some of them were right next to the tram.  I could have reached out and touched them.  Anna liked seeing the animals up close.  However, when there were no animals, she was up and down and all around.  Thank goodness for Pop and Nana.  They took her for some of the time to give me a break.