Cadance is 2

It seems like this day has been over our shoulder for the last two months.  We've been telling people she's almost two for several months, and  in so many ways Cadance is such a two-year-old.

I wanted to make sure we had a fun day and for her to sense that this is a special day.  I have no idea if it worked, but she seemed to be happy about most of what we did.

We started out the morning with some pancakes.  Cadance loves pancakes.  She was most of the way through her third when we finally stopped eating.  She was so stuffed.

For a good majority of the morning we played with balloons.  I was going to tape a few balloons on the back of her chair in the kitchen, but that didn't happen, and then Cadance found the bag  of balloons in the living and got really excited, and it was all down hill from there.  These two balloons were just the beginning.  Our living room was filled.

We went to story time at the library, which is one of Cadance's favorite things to do.  Then, we went and got noodles for lunch, which is one of her favorite things to eat.  She's even getting pretty good at a fork :)

After Steve came home they had some fun coloring.

Then, it was on to the presents.  I don't remember Cadance being so good at this.  She opened them like an old pro.

Her favorite gift we got her were sunglasses.  She had them on most of the evening.  It was funny because she kept pushing them up so she could see and then couldn't get them back on her face so she would ask me to put them on, etc.  It would have been annoying if she didn't look so stinking cute in them.

We ended the night with cake and ice cream.  I don't know where this tradition came from, but thank you.  It's a good one.  Watch the video and you can that Cadance also likes this tradition.

Face Painting

A few weeks ago the fam went to a church fair and Cadance got her face painted for the first time.  She was surprising interested and very patient while we waited in line.  It took like 10 minutes, which sometimes feels like an eternity, but she was just excited to get to the front of the line for her turn.

Look at how still she sat on my lap.  She barely moved.

And don't you love the sun that she chose.  She knew exactly what she wanted when she looked at the paper.

After she finished her we realized why she was acting so well- she thought she was going to paint.  Poor kid. I felt so bad as she screamed "paint" while we walked away.  At least she still liked the sun!

The Camping Trip

Last week we were off to Shenandoah National Park thanks to Steve taking a few days off work.  We were super excited about the trip.  Cadance had no idea what was going on, but in the days prior to the trip learned the word camping because we were talking about it so much.

Here are some photos of the trip

Cadance "napping" on day one

The camp site

I bought Cadance this purple pail for the trip and she pretty much had it with her at all times

Hiking to South River

Pretty red leaf

Cadance deciding she no longer wanted to hike to South River

View from Skyline Drive- the main road in the park

Beautiful Fall tree

Beautiful Fall tree #2

The second hike of the day ended at this waterfall

We stayed 2 nights and then left Friday morning.  On the way home we stopped at Carter Mountain Orchard.  They have pick your own apples, which I think made it to the top of the favorite things I've done since moving to Richmond list.

Cadance was mostly excited about the ones on the ground, but we convinced her to get some on the trees

Steve helping Cadance get an apple

Enjoying an apple right off the tree- delicious!

Cadance the Artist Take 2

We, by we I mean Cadance, call it "Running in Pink."  At least that's what I thought she kept yelling while she was painting.  It was a good morning.

Funny Conversations

It's official.  We've reached the funny conversation stage.  Sure, Cadance has been babbling funny things for the last couple of months, but now she's responding with something besides "no" and "mmm hmm."  Check out this conversation we had in the car today:

Cadance: Yummy bear.  Yummy bear.  Yummy bear
Me: Cadance, you have a yummy bear?
Cadance: Mmm hmm.
Me: What does he taste like?
Cadance: Bum.

Hilarious :)

The Trip

I'm pretty sure anyone who reads this also follows me on facebook, so you know that I'm really good at dumping mass amounts of pictures for people to see soon after any adventure we have.

Anyone who actually wants to know what any of those pictures mean, or who don't want to sift through 100+ pictures have to wait a little bit- sorry.

We started the vacation in Provo, UT.  I was able to meet up with some old roommates, which was quite an adventure because we now have 7 children among the 4 of us.  All my pictures didn't turn out well- sorry.

Although we didn't spend any time on campus per se, we did take Cadance to the duck pond.  She was thrilled to say the least.  I stood very close the entire time because I honestly thought she might fall, or jump in.

Of course, the whole purpose of going to Provo was to get Bradley "settled in."  He started his freshman year last week.  Cadance was excited to see her uncle again.

She was also excited to meet her uncle Nathan, who has been serving a mission for the last 2 years.

After the stop in Provo, we made the trip up to Idaho where we picked up my brother

and his wife

and we headed to Montana to spend two days in Yellowstone disconnected with a trip to Idaho for Church on Sunday.

For anyone who hasn't been to Yellowstone, it is quite amazing.

It's amazing because it has things like

Really cool tree roots

elk,

and moose. Although it would have been cooler if it was a male moose.

It also has buffalo

views such as this

and this, 

and rocks that look like elephants.

Day one adventures

First was a waterfall

then some geothermic things

and these super cool trees that sucked up the sulfur from the ground.  

 Then it was on to Old Faithful (who has apparently gotten slower with age)

Cadance mostly just wanted to walk around.

We hung out by the shore of the lake for a little bit

And then we went to another waterfall.  This one was cool because the sun was starting to set and they were doing a controlled burn

so the sun reflected on the water like this and it was really pretty.

Day two adventures

Lots of driving in the car

We saw some more geothermic spots

where Cadance was mostly excited about being able to climb stairs.  Or, where she was really excited that she had correctly identified stairs.

There was this huge section called Mammoth Hot Springs.  I think if we had known what was coming we would have planned more time here.  It was crazy cool.  The rock was white and formed beautiful cascades and formations (like the elephant above)

We also went to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  It made us start wondering, after the Grand Canyon, what is the next biggest canyon in the states?

 We hung out on at this super cool cliff called Sheep Eater.  Yes, I did climb up.  Yes, I did do this while holding Cadance.  (there was a back way up)

Cadance was really excited about the "rocks."  Again, I'm not sure if she really liked climbing on them or if she was really excited that she knew the word for them.

 For me, the highlight of day two was the very end.  Thank you Dad for making us go!

If I took the time to look it up I could tell you the name, but it was another geothermic spot.  This one had the most beautiful colors.  The pictures are okay, but of course nothing compared to real life.

This is the run off from a pool into a river.

This is the pool.  Just look at that blue!  I wanted to bottle it.

Another pool that had a rainbow effect.

And that was it for Yellowstone.  It was a place, like so many, that I wish I lived close to so that I could take many day trips and explore everything.  But, that's not going to happen, so I'm very glad I was able to take advantage and see it.  We were exhausted each day, but it was so worth it!