Clothes!

Here are a couple of pict. of Lauren wearing what she loves to wear best - NOTHING!

Why is it so hard to keep clothes on a three year old little girl? It drives me crazy that Lauren loves to run around the house in just her underwear! I always knew that we would have battles over clothing SOMEDAY. I guess I just always assumed it would be closer to those teenage years. No matter what I pick for her to wear in the morning, she doesn't want to wear it. This doesn't always bother me but days we are rushed or going somewhere where I would like her to look presentable, it drives me CRAZY! She has nice, cute clothes but for some reason if I let her pick what to wear she without fail will pick a shirt that we got for free somewhere, like the bank or the library and the shorts are usually a pair of cotton stretch shorts I got for $1 to wear to the pool or beach. But no matter what she wears, as soon as we get home she runs into her bedroom and takes off whatever she has on, and comes running back out in her underwear ready to play. The funniest is when we have friends over to play - she will put her clothes on but as soon as they go home, she has stripped back down to her underwear! I guess I should be thankful she at least keeps her clothes on while others are in our home.

Ode to 1st's

The Pappajohn Business Building where Dave has his office and teaches.

Well, it is finally that time of year again in Iowa. Today is the first day of school. But it is not the first day of school for my daughter, it is the first day of school for my husband. That is right, we are still students and still in school! (We are almost done though - just 2 more years)! I want to post a pict. of my student off to his first day of school for the new school year but since Dave no longer actually takes classes (he just teaches them while he researches and writes) he didn't get dressed up for school this morning. But tomorrow he teaches so he will be up and looking very nice for his students so I will get a pict. of him and post it so you can all see my student on his first day!

So Dave setting off on another school year got me thinking of firsts - first car, first car accident (I am sure my parents wish they could forget that), first dates, first kisses, first kids, first homes. Firsts can be a lot of fun (granted, some not so fun, but mostly fun). So I thought I would share some of my stories of some of my firsts and if it gets you thinking, then you can share some of yours on your blogs!

First Date - Okay, I'll admit I wasn't even 16 when I went on my first date! I had been asked to the Homecoming Dance at school and since I would be 16 the next week my parents agreed to let me go. Honestly, it was just okay. I didn't really like the guy but of course I didn't really care at the time because it was a DATE and I was finally allowed to go on one! So, no exciting romance story there.

First Car - My first car was actually my brother's car. In my family you got a new car when you came home from your mission so my parents just bought my older brother his new car a few months early and they let me drive it until he came home. It was a Pontiac Firebird though and I loved it because it was small and my only other options were a big truck or suburban! My parents did actually buy me and my younger sister a car to share when we went off to BYU together (it was a Pontiac GrandAm - I think my parents were really into Pontiacs for awhile there).

First Car Accident - My first accident was in the school parking lot! It was actually a really small accident but still embarassing! I was driving our huge truck (my brother must have been home from his mission) and I backed up into a small car. Of course my big truck was just fine but the small car had a few dents that needed to be fixed! Luckily I have a very nice, understanding Dad who didn't even get mad when I called him at work crying. All he wanted to know was if I was okay (I hope I have that same patience with my own kids)!

First Kiss - I know, this is the one you really want to know about. Well, I'll tell you about my first kiss with Dave. It is actually kind of funny. We were both at BYU and had been dating for a bit but he hadn't kissed me yet. Well, being a typical apartment full of girls at BYU we had all these rules with each other such as - When a boy held your hand - you had to buy candy for your roomates. When a boy kissed you - you had to buy ice cream for your roomates. When you got engaged - you had to buy pizza for your roomates! So, needless to say my roomates wanted their treats so they got really good at asking if any of these big events had happened yet. Well, the night he finally kissed me Dave and I had been out on a nice date and at the end of the evening he walked me up to my door (I lived on the 3rd floor of a 3 story bldg.) And he finally did it - he kissed me goodnight. So he turns to walk down the stairs and I walk into my apt. which was full of ALL my roomates and a bunch of their friends who were watching a movie. So I try to slip through everyone to get to my room but one of my roomates looks at me and asks - "So, did he kiss you tonight or what?" So, I shake my head yes and of course, they all start SCREAMING! I was so embarrased because I was sure Dave could hear them - he was still walking down the stairs to his car. I didn't ask him for awhile but I finally got the nerve up to ask him about it later and he admitted that yes, he had heard all my roomates screaming as he was leaving and figured I had told them about the kiss. I am sure he thought we were dorks but oh well - he still married me in the end!

First stories are a lot of fun but I won't bore you with anymore of mine today! But hopefully tomorrow I will have a new pict. of Dave off to his first day of teaching for the new school year!

Iowa State Fair!

We went to the Iowa State Fair this week. This was our second time to go and we had a lot of fun again. For those of you who have never lived in the Midwest, state fair's are pretty big stuff and Iowa's is the biggest of them all. It can be crazy even getting into the town where the fair is held. And if you can eat it on a stick, they have it there to eat. It is pretty crazy what they pass off as edible at a state fair. I was tempted to get a deep fried Oreo just to say I tried it but I really didn't need the calories so I decided to pass. We did have some great food though, saw a lot of animals, did a lot of walking, went on some fun rides, and saw/heard some cool stuff (the whistling contest was pretty fun but Dave was really bummed we missed the outhouse races). Here are some pict. of some of the fun things we saw/did.

Huge sand sculpture! We watched them sculpt it for a little bit.
Sand Sculpture.
Lauren trying out the Wiggle Racer. She loved it but I think she was still a little young for it!
Wiggle Racer!
See that brown head of hair right in the middle of the pict. (blue shirt) - that is presidential hopeful, John Edwards. He walked right by us but it took me a minute to get my camera out so we got the back of his head. So since we missed the Iowa Straw Pole and didn't get to see all the Republican candidates there, here is a Democratic candidate.

This was the biggest bull at the fair. The pict. really doesn't do it justice, it was huge. As you can see on the sign (above pict.) it was well over 3000 lbs.
Butter Art is something the Iowa State Fair is famous for. They always have the butter cow (pictured below) but this year they added a butter Harry Potter as well!
Butter Cow.
More Butter art!

Dave and Lauren having fun at the Fair!
I think Lauren's favorite part was petting the baby pigs! She just smiled and smiled.
Only in Iowa do you have a sand box of corn kernels instead of sand.
Lauren decided to dive right in and make a "Corn Angel"
Tricia and Lauren posing in the pig barn!

Wisconsin Dells

We just got back from a great trip to the Wisconsin Dells with all of Dave's family. We were able to rent a house and everyone was able to stay together for lots of playing. Lauren is the youngest cousin on that side of the family and all her older cousins are just great with her. She loves following them around and doing whatever they are doing. We went to two big waterparks/amusement parks while we were there and that is where most of the photo's were taken. One park had a big indoor and outdoor water park which was great. And Lauren even did some of the slides herself! We even put her on the little kid roller coaster and she loved it!

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At night we played a lot of card games and board games like Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, and Carcasonne. The house we stayed in was on a golf course with a club house with an indoor and outdoor pool we could use anytime so we had a lot of fun swimming there too. I of course got lots of good reading in and I was even able to go and get Eclipse the day it came out (only took going to a town 16 miles away after 3 other bookstores sold out the first hour they were open!) They had some great outlets for some fun shopping and we all went bowling one day. That was our first time ever taking Lauren bowling and she thought it was so fun. She didn't throw her ball hard enough one time though and it stopped about half way to the pins. After that the workers gave us a cool contraption (it kind of looked like a mini slide) that Lauren could push her ball down so it could go a little faster! And I was even able to go and see Hairspray one day with a bunch of family since Dave refused to watch it with me. I really liked it.

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So, now it is back to real life and back to work. I just signed Lauren up for dance again at the Uof I. She took it this summer and had a lot of fun. The Iowa State Fair is going this week and we are planning on going so we will get another day of fun playing in before school starts for Dave and he is teaching again. So stay posted for pict. in front of the Butter Cow and Butter Harry Potter!

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Big stuff! Doing a slide all by herself.

Another slide she did all by herself.

She was so proud of herself when she got to the bottom.

Clowning around with Dad.

Having fun on the kiddie roller coaster.

Picture time with the cousins!

Bowling with mom.

Nauvoo

Some of Dave's family came into town for a couple of days before we left on our Folsom family reunion so we went down to Nauvoo for a couple of days. The Nauvoo pageant was still going on and we got to take them to see it. It is a new pageant (just a few years old) and it is powerful to watch and remember how much the people there sacrificed. The only down side was all the mosquitoes! I put bug spray on 3 times in one day and I still got eaten alive. What can I say, they know I am very sweet!

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Family photo in Nauvoo

Dave and Lauren trying out the games children used to play in old Nauvoo.

At the end of the pageant all the lights go down on the stage and all the lights are turned on up by the Temple. It is really pretty to see the Nauvoo Temple lit up on the hill (my photo doesn't do it justice).