County Fair

Talmage is an excellent teacher and has very talented students. Each year he encourages his students to enter their drawings into the County Fair. Every year we go to the fair to see how many ribbons his students receive but also to enjoy the fair. Each year is a little different. One year it was so hot we didn't stay very long. Talmage gives me a hard time because we only stayed for 30 minutes. To my defense...it was 108 that day so walking around in the sun was NOT my idea of a good time. Last year only Talmage and Grant went. They had a fun time and stayed in Sacramento that night so they could fly out EARLY the next morning to go to his brother Taylor's wedding. Kenzie and I stayed home because I was pregnant with Tyler and couldn't fly that close to my due date. This year turned out to be a very pleasant year. It was hot but only reached about 95? There was a welcomed breeze that would blow that made it even more enjoyable. The kids had a fun time so we of course had a fun time.
We stopped in at the petting zoo.
We checked in on how well Talmage's students did.
Then we watched the "Dog Splash" show.
The kids planted pumkin seeds.
We watched the Farm Follies little show. It was hot for the animals so they gave a half-hearted performance.
We walked around the livestock area to see the sheep, pigs, and cows. Tyler really gets excited when he sees animals.There was a cute little farm area for the kids to do things that are done on a farm...feed the horses and pigs, milk the cow, wash the clothes and hang them to dry, gather eggs from the chickens, dig up a potato, pick a carrot from the garden, pick an apple from the tree. Then they took all of their items to sell at the Farmers Market. After selling their items they were paid $5 play money. Then they went "shopping" for a toy with their "money." It was a fun thing for the kids.
We watched a kids Tractor Pull competition.
Talmage and the kids got us some Cotton Candy which made it "taste" like a fair.
Then we watched the cute little pig races.
We were heading towards the gate to leave when we heard they were taking sign ups for the kids tractor pull. Grant wanted to participate so here is his valiant effort to complete the tractor pull. He was pulling 50 pounds in the trailer so that made it a little heavy.


After leaving the fair we went to "The Panda Store" aka Panda Express, for dinner. We were all a little hungry.
On our way home we stopped at the park in Riverbank. The kids had a fun time playing and it was a nice evening until a bug supposedly touched Kenzie's toe. She doesn't tolerate pain OR bugs well. Tyler was also getting restless from being held or in the stroller all day so we knew it was time to go. A great day though!

A vacation?

I feel like I haven't been home much lately but I can't quite say we went on a vacation. Most of my days have been spent out at my parents house. I've helped my mom with a couple weddings. It has been such a fun little job for me. I love helping with weddings. Brides are always so beautiful and it's such a fun occasion. Our latest wedding of Ashley and Jimmy... She was absolutely breathtaking. I've been helping my mom narrow down pictures from the weddings and play in photoshop with a few of the pictures. So much fun and something I could (and do) spend HOURS doing.

Then last week my brother Tim was at football camp at BYU so my mom thought it would be fun to paint and redo his room to look like a boys room. Tim's room was my old room. I only lived in that room for two years of high school and a couple summers during college but my Barbies have been well displayed on the shelves since we moved into that house in 1996. The room was vacant for many years once Jenn and I got married, over 7 years ago, but would see visitors during the holidays and on occasion during the summer visits. I'm not sure why it took so long, but finally Kevin moved into that room. He didn't complain about the Barbies. He said he didn't care since he didn't spend much time in the room anyway. I didn't know where I would put all of my Barbies so if he was okay with them in the room on the shelves, then I was okay. When Kevin left on his mission Tim moved into that room. He too said he wasn't bothered by the Barbies...for the same reason. The time he spent in that room he was usually sleeping so it didn't matter. It was time to update the look though, so we spent MANY hours on several days cleaning, organizing, dusting, painting, etc. Talmage was so good to help us. It was much easier and faster for he and my dad to move the furniture than my mom and I. The room looks great! I don't have pictures, but it looks good. The Barbies finally came down and have found a nice temporary place in our garage. We also cleaned out the boys' old room. I wish I would have counted but I'm pretty sure I found:

30 pocket knives
5 lighters
2 bottles of lighter fluid
2 sets of walkie-talkies
interesting samples of welded metal
a few wooden projects like a birdhouse and a tool box
a pellet gun
two other guns
an old little skateboard
candy (still in the wrapper)
wrappers (without the candy)
5 socks that didn't have a mate
BYU meal cards from Football camp last year and the year before
3 Cub Scout books (I only have 2 brothers)
and that's just naming what I could remember...

First of all...it's amazing the house didn't burn down. But what a contrast between the "Barbie" room and the "BOY" room. So much to look forward to with boys. I have a feeling my boys will be a little different than my brothers. Fast forward 12-14 years...what will I find in my boys' room???

It's finally GREEN

We've lived in our house for almost 7 months...hard to believe it's been that long! I'm sure most homeowners have an on-going list of projects to work on and things that are needed. At least I know I have a list of things I want to do and things that I want for our house. It's just time and money. Both of which are not in abundant surplus. But we finally completed one of the BIG things on our list. We now have grass in our backyard. It's been a long process since Talmage has been so busy with school and scouting and taking classes. But here are pictures... The "before" any work. Just weeds.
Before my brother Kevin left on his mission he came and helped us bring in fill dirt and rotor-till the backyard. He was so much help! I was disappointed that he left before we finished because he was so helpful.
It should have been ready for the sod but we had been having a problem with a sprinkler that Talmage hadn't figured out yet. We also needed to add some compost or fertilizer before the sod. SO after getting the sprinkler fixed we were ready for the fertilizer and rotor tilling again.
Nice to have family that can help! Talmage got some fertilizer from my uncle Don's chicken ranch. Then my dad and brother Tim helped spread the fertilizer and till it one more time.

We were lucky enough to get some extra recruits. My cousins Kacey and Robert came to help lay the sod. That was especially nice because my dad and Tim had appointments to get their hair cut.

And the final result. I love the green. We still need to figure out what to plant in the border but at least we have the grass. The "after."