"Ivy ride a bike sometimes."

A few months ago Ivy got it into her mind that she was going to get a bike.  We know this because she'd repeat, "Ivy ride a bike sometimes," over and over again.  We decided we'd introduce the "Santa" concept and she was on board to wait until Christmas, so Santa could bring her a bike. 

I looked on KSL for one since I don't think a tricycle needs to be very fancy and found one for $10!  We were on board to wait until Christmas to give it to her...until we actually saw it.  Then we had to give it to her the next day.  It was just too adorable.

It took her a few days but she can ride it like a champ.  Now she has started repeating, "Ivy ride a big bike sometimes."  I guess this one was just a stepping stone in the bike riding ambitions of our child.

The Fall Bucket List Part I

We've had a great fall season so far here in Utah.  Normally I don't really notice it being fall and then all of a sudden it's winter (and horrible), but this year we've made an extra effort to embrace fall for more than 2 days.

Here's what we did so far!  (Our list is long, so I'll have to do a follow-up post for the rest.)

1. Pizza picnic.  This was a repeat from my summer list, but it's actually nice enough to eat outside in the fall, so this was better served on this list. 

2. Make peach cobbler.  It was good but I'm still searching for the "best" recipe there.  Maybe I'll try another next September.  This is a lifelong quest at this rate.

3. Decorate the front porch.  Costco has gigantic mums for $13 each, and the red/orange variety is my new favorite.  Ivy was super excited to go get pumpkins also, and she didn't even mind that we got them at Walmart instead of a pumpkin patch. #cheap

4. Plant bulbs.  We only ended up planting 162 out of the 252 I bought.  Ha.  It was a lot either way.  I'm excited for spring and I just might charge people ridiculous amounts to see the West Jordan tulip festival.

5. Go up the canyon to see the leaves.  We went to Hidden Falls up Cottonwood Canyon.  At various points throughout the day Ivy said, "I don't like it" and also "Best day ever," so the jury is out on whether this was fun or not.

The State Fair

A few weeks back we went to the Utah State Fair.  It was...ok.  State fairs are just like they've always been with rides and animals and strange people.  The only modern innovation seems to be the number of things they've begun frying.  

Anyway, now that I'm a parent, I generally measure my outing success on the "well, it was something to do" scale, so it was a success in that regard.  

Ivy's favorite part was definitely the farm.  She was pretty concerned about all the loud noises and people (#sheltered), but when we saw all the animals she was happy.  She still talks about it, and will frequently say, "Remember we went to farm last night?"  (All things in the past happened "last night" for her.)

 Should I enter my zucchini in next years' produce competition?  I mean, I picked like 200 this year.  I may as well have a ribbon to show for it.

We had a good time at the fair.  I'm sure we won't be going back for a few years, but it was an entertaining night.