Ponies and piggies and bears, oh my!

They have this thing called Baby Animal Days in Cache Valley. The only way I know to describe it is like a circus attraction. You wouldn't believe the people that flock to this thing. My dad kept saying as we waited in the line of cars to get in, "this is like trying to get into Disneyland!" He wasn't exaggerating. Especially on a Saturday morning. Who knew that many people were interested in seeing a few baby farm animals?

Kevin was hunting with his brother that morning (and he and I went the day before with Sadie), so I ventured into the Saturday crowds with my parents and sister. And Sadie? She loved it. (Well, minus the monster tantrum she threw towards the end...)

I wasn't sure what she was going to think about riding a bouncy, live pony, but I should have known better. That daughter of mine is such a daredevil. She giggled and yelled "giddyup horsie!" the whole time. Didn't faze her a bit.

(Excuse the dorky look on my face. Apparently I'm great at pulling wide-eyed faces while walking in circles with a horse.)

And then, then we headed over to the tent where the bear cubs were. And there are not words in the English language to sufficiently describe the cuteness of these little guys. See for yourself:

Say it with me. Awww....! I mean, just look at those big brown eyes. Staring woefully at me, just asking, "won't you please take me home?"

And then, as if just being there - mere feet away, playing and climbing and scampering - wasn't enough, they whipped out this cuteness factor:

Yes, bottles. They were like furry little cuddly babies. Seriously. Can I take one home? Please?

Allright, allright... enough with the bears. I could have stayed there all day, but we eventually tore ourselves away to go explore the rest of the attractions. There were plenty of other baby animals to see (though not nearly as cute).

There were "piggies"....

(which apparently had to be examined very closely by Miss Sadie)

And cute little sleeping calves... 

And even big horses to stare at through the fence, to which Sadie said, "woah! big horsie!"

Of course, like any normal 2-year old, I think Sade would have been happy to just have the free space to run in. These next few pictures are of her doing one of my favorite things. She runs a ways off, turns around, and then bursts into giggles, starts running towards me, and yells "hug, mommy!"

When she gets to me, I sweep her up and, of course, give her a big ole hug. Like this:

(That's my mom. Not a blonder version of me. Obviously.)

There were also other adventures involved, including playing in the blow-up bounce house and riding the cool train:

(taken through the mesh siding - kind of cool the way it frames her like that)

We'll certainly miss the random stuff like this that goes on in Cache Valley if we leave. If they were to bring those bear cubs back every year, I might just consider making this a tradition!