Llama Fest

We went to the 15th annual Llama Festival in Spanish Fork this afternoon. It was quite an experience. It was held at the Hare Krishna temple. We met up with Grandma and Aunt Kelly.

There were llamas everywhere! We saw a big group of them run in a llama race. Some others were running in an obstacle course. We went into an enclosure where many of the llamas were either eating hay from bins or eating grains out of people's hands. Mabel and Stella walked up near one and just watched it. When it started moving around they seemed to get a little nervous. I picked the girls up so they could pet them. Stella gently patted the llama and quietly watched. Mabel giggled and patted the llama a little less than gently. Ok, so the llama flinched when she pet it. But it didn't run away immediately.

There was a small enclosure with a peacock, a pea hen, a cockatoo and a macaw. We watched the poor peacock run laps back and forth desperately searching for a way into the pea hens enclosure. It had been pacing for so long that it had actually made a smooth path in the dirt. The macaw was very interested in Mabel. It climbed off of it's perch and made it's way over to see her and stopped right in front of her. They just regarded each other for a little while. Mabel started giggling and wanted to touch it. Then the macaw screeched, "CAAA!" and that was enough for Mabel. It made her jump and cry. They parted on bad terms. But I think it was all just a big misunderstanding.

We ate vegan food inside the temple which tasted surprisingly good. Mabel really liked the cream of wheat. Stella had a couple of bites of that but opted instead for the cup of applesauce that I had brought along. Stella and daddy went upstairs to watch the people chanting "hare krishna, hare hare krishna krishna".

Both girls were completely tuckered out by the time we got home. Stella was practically begging to be laid down in her bed. And Mabel laid down without a single complaint. It was a good day.

berry picking

We went to Aunt Kelly's house today to water her garden and pick raspberries for her while she is away. She has a whole fence line full of raspberry bushes that were just exploding with ripe berries. When we first got there Stella went straight for the baby swing. I buckled her up and gave her a push and she was in heaven. She very nearly fell asleep in there. Mabel sat for a while in the little red car and practiced her steering techniques. After a while she came over to me and I gave her one of the raspberries I had just picked. It turns out she really likes raspberries! And she was especially happy that she could just pluck them off of the bush and pop them in her mouth. She very quickly learned how to tell a ripe berry from an unripe one. She sputtered and spit out the pale unripe berry and from then on only picked the bright red ones. She was picking and eating them faster than I could! She worked on the low branches while I picked from the high ones. We managed to bring home a couple of bags full of berries (and one belly full of them too!) Now we'll have to think of something delicious to make with them...

going for a hike

This town shuts down on Sundays, but as Bill says, they can't shut down the mountains. So today we're going to put the girls in the backpacks and go for a hike.

Happy 4th of July!

Grandma stayed over at our house on Friday night. She got to be roommates with Mabel and Stella and I think she really loved it. I think she even enjoyed being woken up in the middle of the night to rub a belly or two and sing some songs. And I throughly enjoyed the full nights sleep!

On Saturday we woke up and had breakfast and then walked down to University Ave to watch the 4th of July Parade. This parade is a pretty big event around here. Lots of people camped out on the grass by the street, setting up their tents as early as 3:00 the afternoon before. We watched floats with pretty girls waving, high school marching bands (even my alma mater!), horses, old fashioned cars and giant balloons go past. Mabel and Stella were fascinated! Stella got to pet a little dachshund that we were standing next to. She was so soft and gentle with it. I'll post pictures soon too.

temple open house

Friday was a day off for Bill and Grandma Pomeroy. Yay! Grandma drove up here with Justin early that morning and we met up after lunch. Kelly had made reservations for us to attend the open house of a new Mormon temple opening up in the southwest side of Salt Lake City. What a beautiful building! We were able to walk through and see the inside. We were all pretty amazed with the exquisite craftsmanship. It took about 30 minutes to walk through the whole building. Stella walked most of the way, holding hands with Emma, her favorite cousin. Both girls were remarkably well behaved.

I'll post pictures of them soon - check back a little later :)

all better

It must have been something that she ate. She is doing great now and was extremely hungry at dinner time. She ate lots and lots of rice and little steak bits.

sick again?

Mabel wasn't as hungry for breakfast this morning as she normally is. After laying around on the couch with me watching Sid the Science Kid, she threw up. I could recognize some of last nights carrots. Hmm. I wonder what's up. She's been really cuddly this morning. She threw up again not long after the first time. Now, she's on her third change of clothes and third diaper of the day and it's only 10 am. Hopefully she will improve as the day goes on.

just a walk

It was a fairly uneventful day today. Our big adventure was to walk up to the Cougar Copy center to have a document printed and scanned for Justin and then to the dry cleaners to have daddy's jacket cleaned and pressed. On our way to the dry cleaners we noticed that someone's sidewalk was getting watered with the sprinklers. We took a little detour and headed straight for them. After we walked through, both girls had a look of, "why???" on their faces. I think I successfully convinced them that it was a ton of fun to get wet and so we went through again. It was a hot day and the water felt really good.

fun in the sun

I took Mabel and Stella to Seven Peaks water park on Tuesday. They had so much fun! We went directly to the little tots section where the water is pretty shallow and they have a little jungle gym thing with a slide. Stella walked in at the shoreline and sat right down at the water's edge and splashed around with her hands. Mabel was the most daring. She waded right down in until the water reached her tush. She was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling. She walked around and around in the water splashing and grinning and making these adorable little chirpy noises.

I kind of wish that I had brought the camera so I could have taken pictures of them, but it was tough enough trying to keep tabs on the two of them without having to worry about that too. Mabel might have stayed in the water the entire time, but Stella kept wanting to get out and walk back to our towels to find her sippy cup and animal crackers. Stella also was very very interested in all of the other things that the water park had to offer, like much deeper water and much taller water slides. They did make friends with a little 14 month old girl named Ruby who had very delicious looking graham crackers. Ruby was intrigued with the goodies inside Mabel and Stella's snack cups. They just liked each other for their food.