Lehi Days are here again!

Every year Lehi puts on a great show for the community. There are skits, contests, activities for the family, the Rodeo, and the yummy food. My favorite year was 2003 when Jared and his uncle took 3rd place in the calf dressing contest. (Jared got to put the bloomers on the calf himself!) This year, Daddy couldn't go with us because he was filming the Arizona Jr. Miss Pageant today. Instead we went with an entire group of family: Grandma (my mom) and Great Papa , and met Nana (Jared's mom), John (Jared's brother), Aunt Melanie (sister-in-law) and her girls, Razzie and Addison at the grounds. The kids enjoyed watching the rodeo and seeing all of the animals. Jadyn, Jenna, and Razzie were able to ride the ponies and have fun in the petting zoo. Everyone enjoyed the good food. I spent most of my time taking photos of the kids. By the time we left it was in warm for the 1st of March -in the 80's! Thank goodness for those Popsicles!

All of the little cousins on the tractor! Aren't they funny? Each one of them tried to find a "job" to do. Jadyn said she would sit in the front and tell all of the animals to move out of the way. Jenna just wanted to move the gear shift. Razzie was driving and Hyrum liked Great Papa telling him all about farming.

Jenna thought she was hot stuff 'driving' the tractor. It didn't even take her long to get used to the idea of climbing all over the machinery. (Unlike the horse ride that she did not love until right before it was over.)Hyrum even got in on some of the fun. Today combined two of his favorite things - being outdoors and being adored by lots of people.

Jadyn liked chasing chickens! She thought they were so "soft and nice to me" once she caught them. She even shared the chicken that she named "Cluck" with Razzie and Jenna. Jenna wasn't too excited about holding one but she didn't mind if Jadyn wanted to hold a chicken.

This was so much fun - the cousins petting a goat. Jenna still wasn't sure about it all, but she had two older examples encouraging her to just pet him! It was great to go to Lehi Days again this year. We really missed Daddy coming with us, but we still had a lot of fun!

Spontaneous Photography

After dinner tonight I sent the kids out to the back yard to play for a bit. The weather was beautiful and I even put Hyrum outside on a blanket so that he could watch his sisters run around. I went out to check on them a few minutes later and Hyrum looked so cute that I just had to take some pictures. It was that golden time of day - the perfect light for ambient photos. So, I grabbed the D200 (that I still don't know how to operate as well as I would like) and rushed back outside. I had some focusing issues, but the overall end product was great. I finished taking pictures in a few minutes (or 53 photos later) and could not wait to get the kids down tonight so that I could come in and see how they turned out. I am so glad that I took a few minutes to capture my son tonight. He is getting so big and looking older all of the time. I tend to take most of my pictures with the Canon Powershot - it is a quick and easy way to grab those little moments (plus I can carry it in my Mommy bag, I mean purse) without any fuss. Well tonight I just grabbed the nice camera and went for it. I didn't set up any shots, bring in backgrounds, or do anything fancy. It was just my adorable son on a blanket...I absolutely love how everything turned out! It just goes to show, I need to be a lot better about grabbing my Nikon.

Spontaneously Photographed Feet

OK - so Hyrum didn't always want to look into the camera and smile during my little photo shoot tonight. (not unlike most babies his age) That is why I got these shots... His little feet! The reason he does not have socks on is because he kicks them off about 30 times a day. His feet are always going. He kicks when he is happy. He kicks when he is upset. He kicks when he is eating, just hanging out, laying down, standing up, or fighting sleep. Even Jenna tries to put his socks back on his feet several times a day. I had to take some pictures of his active bare feet. It is just our Hyrum, the sockless wonder!

Oreos and Milk

Who doesn't love the perfect combination of Oreos and Milk? Apparently Jenna really likes the idea because all Mommy gave her was the milk. She managed to find the Oreos and was happily dunking and eating the cookies when I came to check on her. The black teeth made me laugh so I just had to take a picture. She wins the "Smile of the Day" award for her tasty grin. However, it appears that I need a better hiding place for the Oreos from now on.