Mesa County Fair 2008

I took the girls, plus Chloe's friend Allysa to the fair yesterday afternoon. We stopped in to see some of the exhibits, but they weren't very patient so I didn't get to look around much. My pickled asparagus got second. Hopefully I'll be able to go back and enjoy it more when I don't have the big girls. :o) We also got to see the goats, sheep, llamas and some pigs -in fact, we saw an escape pig, which is always funny to watch (and a rather common occurrence.) I showed Chloe some of the 4-H exhibits, trying to get her interested for starting it in January.

After that, we paid an exorbitant amount of money for the girls to ride the fair rides. I can't believe what it costs to do that these days! But whatever, it's once a year and it's fun.

Here are the pics.

Sno-cones! We ran into Andrew's sisters while we were all eating sno-cones with red syrup - even Cora had some red all over her face as evidence. Oops.

Lucky Duck - they each won a pirate sword.

This was their favorite game. They had guns and got to pretend to shoot. There were several parents who wouldn't allow this one. I guess I'm not a good mom. LOL


So Chloe was actually pretty much terrified to go on anything at first. She got into the Fun House, got about half way up, and started bawling. She's "scared of high climates", she says. The guy that worked there had to go rescue her and bring her down.

The she saw the Bees and the Rockets. She didn't want to go on them. "They go too fast. They look to bumpy." I had to BEG the child to get on the honeybee ride. And of course, then she had fun.

Unfortunately, it didn't always work out so well. Allysa convinced her to climb up the enormous ladder and go down the bumpy slide. Chloe got up there, sat down on her mat, and then froze. And then started screaming. The poor guy at the top of the slide spoke not a word of English and didn't know what to do. So I had to ask some random lady to please watch my baby to be sure no one stole her while I raced up the stairs to get my poor kid. She wouldn't even go down with me. We had to stop all the other kids from going up the stairs while we made our way alllll the way back down. Silly girl. Mind you, she's been on all of these rides every year since she was two, and has always loved them. She's just going through a phase, I guess... I hope.

But she did love the "Miracle Round" and they went on it five times or more.



Cora was especially good, just hung out in her stroller the whole time with a bottle of juice and some crackers. One guy asked if I'd like to take her on the merry-go-round, so I did. She thought that was the neatest thing. She was adorable - her little lips pursed into a perfect "o" of excitement, and she kept singing "oooooooooo" along with the music. She held on to the bar like a big girl for a minute, then would let go and start clapping and giggling. Sadly, I have no picture, because I had to hold her and no one else was with us.



I finally had to put gas in my van in order to get to the Fairgrounds and home. It was the second time since Father's Day. My goal is 15 in one year, so I have 13 more to go. Not bad, but cutting it close already.

It finally really rained last night. It was the first decent rain we've had since I put my garden in this spring. It was lovely - thunder and lightening all around, rain pouring down. Love that. But of course, Chloe was scared of the thunder, so she was up with me until after 10:00, until I decided just to go to bed. Ah well, at least my garden got to enjoy it.

One quick pic of Cora finger painting the other day, just cuz she's cute:

I lead a boring life...

I sure haven't done anything exciting lately! It's been so quiet around here. We've been staying home a lot, mostly because we really have nowhere to go. It's been good for working toward my goal to use no more than 15 tanks of gas in a year though - I've filled up once since Father's Day and still have 3/4 of a tank left.

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Had my first filling at the dentist on Friday. Amazingly, I went 25 years without a cavity. Now, after almost 9 years of not going to the dentist, I have two. It wasn't as bad as I expected. I was terrified. I was almost in tears. I was certain the pain would be unbearable. (This from a girl who has a baby in her living room....) Anyhow, it wasn't nearly so bad, and I survived. Ran into my father in law while I was there, though didn't talk to him much. The hygienists are funny - they are so desperate to gossip about my in laws! They ask some funny questions. This time they said they were glad I married Andrew, he needed it. What is that supposed to mean? LOL But it was sweet.

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I taught my friend Jessica how to knit. She loves it, and I'm so glad. I teach people regularly, but most realize they just don't enjoy it much. I've been waiting for someone to get sucked in like I have, and I'm glad it's Jess. She was over for four hours yesterday with her two kids and we just knitted the day away and let them play. Her little girl plays SO good with Chloe - they go outside, and we don't hear from them again unless one of them needs to go potty or they get hungry. I love it. With other kids, it seems one or the other is always tattling or pouting or arguing. So having Allysa over to play is a breath of fresh air.

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I'm already making Christmas knitting plans. The turquoise chenille "Beachcomber" sweater is coming along, the back is finished and the front half-done. That will be Cora's Christmas sweater. Chloe picked a pattern out of the same book, a simple pullover with ruffles on the sleeves, to be made out of a soft blue chenille yarn I have yet to purchase. That will be her Christmas sweater. Have I mentioned her new love of the color blue? A month ago, "blue is for boys". Now? It's all she wants in everything. Blue popsicles, blue clothes, blue toys, blue markers. Which is a problem considering everything she owns is pink, her last favorite color.

In addition to the girls' Christmas sweaters, and a sweater I'm working on for myself in the meantime, I have plans for Andrew's gift, my mom, and three friends. I'm going to be busy knitting Christmas gifts until December, more than likely! Can you believe it's already half-way here? Where on earth does the time go?

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Speaking of, Cora will be 11 months old on Tuesday. We need to get started planning her first birthday party. The other day she stood up in the middle of the room without holding on to anything. She stood there, looked around, realized what she was doing, and promptly sat right back down. I can't believe how fast she's doing all this stuff! Chloe didn't walk until she was 18 or 19 months, and I rather liked it that way. :oP

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I suppose that's all I have to write about for now. Honestly, we're pretty boring around here lately. We're getting ready to go camping, leaving tomorrow and coming back Wednesday. Hopefully I'll have some good pictures to post after that.