I wish, more than anything...

I wish to go to the festival and the ball!  If you know what I'm quoting, you get two points... unless you're in my family... then if you don't know, shame, shame. 

A few weeks ago, this guy told me he thought we should get all dressed up and go out one of these days.  Lucky for me, the Air Force Ball happened to be coming up and a friend and her husband were going... after a week of scrounging up the uniform requirements for Ethan we realized we could go, so I went in search for a dress.  

This is my hot hubby on the way to his friend's house to pick up the last little piece for his uniform.  We owe a bunch of people for all the sharing that they did with him!

Said friend, even snapped a picture of the happy couple on their way to the ball.

The ball was held in one of the B-1 Hangars.  This was our view during dinner.  Quite spectacular.  There were some new (to us) traditions we took part in.  The dinner was good. There were some good speakers and the key speaker was really great.  He was a protege of the Tuskegee Airmen.  His speech was very uplifting and positive.

And then there was dancing.  Our friends snapped this shot of us before we got too crazy on the dance floor.  Actually, the dj was pretty horrible.  We only made it to the dance floor a handful of times.  But we had a fabulous time nonetheless.  I sure love this guy.

Unfortunately when we got home, things were quite as well taken care of as I'd hoped.  I think I needed a babysitter for my babysitter.  It kind of put a damper on the night, but the kids were all safe and sound and asleep... so it wasn't too bad, I guess.

I just got the best news about this date yesterday... tickets were quite expensive and when Ethan went to pay for them this past week, he was told that the tickets we ended up with were donated, so we didn't have to pay!  It makes me feel even more fondness for this night at the ball with my love.

West Texas State Fair

We love to go to the fair every year.  This year we added a level of excitement as we all entered things in various competitions.  

The big boys all entered some food that they made by themselves.  Bryant made Cowboy Cookies, Jonas made No Bake Cookies and Levi made Peanut Butter Fudge.  We were super excited when we found Levi's 3rd Place ribbon!  He won $4!  That's almost as much as it cost to make the candy! :) 

Bryant was pretty upset that he didn't win anything and that they didn't even put his cookies on display.  They only display 1st-6th place.  It was a bummer.  I'm pretty sure he got over it.  I entered a bunch of different things and placed in just about everything I entered.  I ended up with around $55 in prizes!  I was pretty excited. I shared a dollar with Jonas and Bryant since their cookies were winners to me. 

We decided this year we would let the kids choose 3 rides each.  I think in the past we've only done 1 ride, so this was a pretty exciting event. I know, we're cheap. :)  First we walked through the see all that we could see and make wise choices with our tickets...

Our first ride was the Bumper Cars.  Bryant and Jonas got their own cars and Levi and I got to share.   It was a bumpy ride!

As one of his rides, Levi chose the Octopus.  As we were getting on, another lady wanted to ride too, but they don't allow single riders, so Jonas rode with her.  The guy gave me his ticket back since he was being a nice kid and doing the lady a favor.  But, of course, now we had a problem, Jonas was going to get to ride 4 rides and everyone else only got 3!  Oh no!  I'll let you imagine the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth...

Levi was quite upset that he didn't get to ride this little train with Eliza.  She looked like such a big girl riding the train all by herself.  She is growing up so much, its ridiculous.

Bryant and Ethan rode this crazy spinning hammer type ride (I can't remember what it was called).  Ethan told me after that part of his harness totally did not work.  He was just bracing himself in when they went upside down.  Talk about a thrill ride!

For Eliza's last ride she went on the Spinning Bear.  She chose her big brother to ride with her and they had a fun time going round and round.

Once all our tickets had been used up, we started looking for something to eat.  Again, we walked through all our choices before we could decide.  Unfortunately along the way, one of the thousands of bees at the fair... and one of the hundreds that had been chasing Eliza got into her shirt and stung her.  It was quite a traumatic event for her... any everyone around her listening to her screaming.  

A nice lady stopped us and gave us some chewed up tobacco to put on the sting to make it feel better.  Ew.  But very kind.  We stopped at the fire men's ice cream stand to see if they had any bandaids, they called in the medic and he got her all fixed up.  She calmed down, but anytime she saw any kind of flying insect she totally freaked out.

Ethan treated the kids to Frito Pie (which they love!) and me to a burger (which I love!)  Then he really splurged and bought a funnel cake for us all to share.  A fair is a veritable smorgasborg, orgagasborg!

And our final stop for the night was the 4-H Petting Zoo.  Most of the pictures turned out really blury, but the kids had a super fun time feeding the animals.  They had sheep, goats, pygmy goats (Bryant and Eliza's favorite), pigs, cows, a donkey, an ostrich, a big tortoise, and I don't know what else.  Its usually the only thing we do at the fair, so they were excited that they got to finish the night off with a bang!

Funny story, I didn't take Bolton into the petting zoo area.  There are just too many people for me, so we stayed out and I got him out of the stroller to walk around.  There was pavement in one area and then going toward the animals it became a dirt surface.  One time when he walked across that threshold, he noticed the difference and bent down to touch it.  He felt the dirt with his hands, then got down on his hands and knees, and finally he just went for it and slid onto his belly making sure to get as much of his body in the dirt as possible.  It was hilarious!  That boy loves the dirt!  Honestly, he just loves being outside.  He didn't fuss even one time being strapped into the stroller the entire we were at the fair.

Seeing as this is our last year here (at least that's the plan), I think we went out with a bang as far as the fair is concerned.  It was a super fun event this year!  Hope our next town has one... the kids are dying for a second chance on those cookies!

Good, Clean (dirty) Fun

Ethan and I joined a group of friends from church to take part in the 1st Annual Mudslinger of A-Town. Its a 3 mile run/walk/obstacle course with a giant mud pit at the end. I told Ethan I would do it, if he would stay with me the whole time... he agreed and so this became our "date" for the week.

Here's our group... at the starting line they were asking people where they were from (as in what group or organization) we were really hoping they'd ask us so we could shout at the top of our voices that we were the Mormons! But they didn't... guess we should have dressed alike, the painted faces weren't enough.

Ah, it feels good to be on a date and to be clean...
So during the course of the run, we faced a balance beam, a wall to climb, a tire run, an inflatable slide, and hurdles. We had to pull a giant tire from point A to point B, roll some barrels across a field, army crawl under a huge net, and the main event... the mud pit... Ethan stayed with me the whole time, but when he saw that mud he took off. I guess he was excited.
What do you think? Does he look excited? He just went for it...
I was a little more timid...
... but got down and dirty in the end. As one of our friends said, "We're here for the mud!"
We crossed the finish line together, isn't it romantic?
Of course, the post wouldn't be complete without an after pose... we did it! It would have been more dramatic if we had worn white, but hopefully you the idea.

I thought it was funny that this is our shot after we'd "cleaned up" a bit. It was a super fun way to start the day. We had a great time! We may have to find a Mudslinger in our next town... where ever that will be. :)
Thanks Babe for sticking with me to the end!

Labor Day 2011 Part 2

You know, we have some really amazing friends. In fact, they are literally our family away from our family. The Bryners have shared birthdays and holidays with us for as long as we've been in Texas. We love them so much! They invited us over for a fun Labor Day BBQ and it was awesome!

The kids had all sorts of fun, enjoying the bearable temperatures (the first in months!) although they played so hard they look like it was 100+ degrees.

Levi got a bloody nose somehow, I can't seem to remember. I do know that Bishop B wasn't too happy with one of the kids who did it. As you can see it really slowed him down...
Acrobatics were done on the slide. Jill showing her amazing splitting ability.
Jonas the incredible head first boy.
Ooo. And Levi got in on the action, bloody tissue and all.
Miss Eliza sat on this chair and it toppled backward, she wasn't quite sure how to react... to laugh or cry. But my girl, stood up, put the chair back and tried again. She fell at least four times... luckily she figured out that she was OK to just laugh about it.
And success on the chair! Miranda is such a sweet little babysitter already. She walks around with Eliza or Bolton and helps them get things they need. She plays with them, holds them, reads to them. Too bad she's only 6 and I can't hire her!
Aw. Such a sweet duo. Sure love these girls! Isn't Brandi beautiful?
Laughter. The best medicine.
My bunch of monkeys.


And Bolton found the Cozy Coupe...
Lucas wasn't quite ready to share it...
... I guess he likes to be in the driver seat. :)
We had a perfect time! It was just what I needed and I loved spending time with my family away from family. Thanks Bryners for welcoming us and loving us! We love you!

Labor Day 2011 Part 1

Labor Day weekend is always a little bit of a downer for me. Its one of the only times of the year that I get really homesick. My family has a super fun weekend reunion and I really miss it and them.

This year, I tried to talk Ethan into driving all day one day, staying in UT for 2 days and then making the drive in a long day back to Texas... silly guy didn't even consider it. Instead, we planned a trip to San Antonio. We kept the kids home from school on Friday and started down. The first stops were to look at some trucks Ethan was thinking about buying. The kids were not excited about staying in the van while he test drove, so we let them out to play in the dirt. As you can see, we have a baby boy who really loves the dirt!

Harry Potter made an appearance. On a side note, Jonas asked me the other day if Harry Potter was invented when I was a kid, when I said no, he gasped, "REALLY?!?!" I don't know what was more surprising how old I was that Harry Potter wasn't invented, or that there was life before Harry Potter.
I know its the wrong angle, but you can see the joy even still. I love that baby.
Even the kids' hearts were in Utah...
After the test drive (and no purchase) we were blessed enough to go play with our sweet friends, the Sclaters. The girls were far outnumbered, including adults, 9 boys to 4 girls. The kids had SO. MUCH. FUN. I told Jenni and Rod that my kids were in HEAVEN and would probably cry when it was time to go.

The Sclaters spoiled us beyond belief! Pizza, licorice, popcorn, capri suns, dessert pizzas, chocolate kisses, chocolate milk, they even got up early to buy fresh doughnuts for breakfast. We flew threw those 3 boxes!

They even have boxing gear they got out so my boys could go at it. I didn't get any pictures of them, but Jenni did... you can see them here... Bolton was super excited to get his hands on the head gear.
He even tried it on...
"Ugh... I don't want it on!"
We stayed through the first half of the BYU game. Then Ethan said we should stay until they scored... but it was getting to be time to head out. We got as far as Boerne and Rod called and told us we should have left earlier, BYU had just taken the lead! Go Cougars.
Amazingly, the kids went to bed quite easily. There weren't any big fights with all those kids. The Sclaters were super generous (beyond what you've already read) and they watched all our kids so we could go to the temple together. It was a perfect little trip and we are all anxiously awaiting our next get together with our new friends... our place next time?

Thanks a million times over Sclaters! We loved every minute of our time together. You took the homesickness totally out of my system by making us feel right at home!