Fair Time

With the coming of Fall comes the Utah State Fair. The aroma of cotton candy, popcorn and delicious corn dogs permeate the air. How I so looked forward to the fair every year, helping out my then Uncle Sam in his BBQ restaurant, riding the rides, going from vendor to vendor getting ice cream, and grab-bags...and oh how things so drastically change as the years go by. As soon as we entered the gates there was a fun activity for the kids to participate in that was put on by the FFA (Future Farmers of America) they got to put on their apron, get their basket and fill it with all of kinds of vegetables to then feed the cows, so they could milk the cows and then get on their John Deere tractor and take the milk to town to sell. What fun right? WRONG! So what do you get when it's 99 blistering degrees outside, a few thousand people herded into one spot, and what seems to be a million, excited little kids all hurried with excitement to try the same activities at one time??? One pissed off mother. That's right I encountered what can only be described as a complete psycho path. I realize that it's not okay for a child to be pushy no matter how innocent the crime is, manners come first! In our home manners are taught and practiced on a daily basis it's hard work constantly reminding our kids to chew with their mouths closed, don't interrupt when someone else is talking and so on...however there are three kids and when we take them out for fun I like to take the camera along and take a lot of pictures to capture the moments. So Hunter I guess was getting a pushy with another kid in his excitement to participate in the farm activity, being as there are three kids I didn't notice that Hunter was pushing this other child, had I or Gavin seen this act we most certainly would have put a stop to it, pulled Hunter back and made him wait his turn. So this psycho path I referred to earlier was another mother who was frustrated with the way my son had been pushy with her son, I understand this it would have bugged me also, however being the mature adult that I am, realize that there is a way to handle such a situation, this woman did not. This woman had the "goll" if you will to turn around get on my sons level look him in the eye and tell him that he was "a rude little boy" well I did notice this. I immediately walked up to her, (calmly) tapped her lightly on the shoulder and asked her "What's the problem?" she unleashed this great fury on me that reminded me a bit of when I used to fight with my brothers when we were younger, you know when you still talk and act like a toddler instead of using your "big words." She first started off with "Don't you F******** touch me again you B***** or I'll punch you in the face, your son is pushing my three year old" Me "Okay, I'm sorry he was pushed, I didn't see my son push your son, but regardless you don't talk to a child that way, if there's a problem talk to the parent!" Her "F** You B*** I'll punch you" Her Husband "knock it, off let's go" I'm sure that her husband was completely mortified as soon as I had calmed myself enough to look back up they were out of sight. I'm sure her son had he known better would have been quite impressed that his mom was such a tough cookie.

So despite the rough start we had to what was supposed to be a fun night out, ended up being just that a great time out with the family at the fair. Will we go back next year? I'm leaning towards....Hell No!

Back To School

It's that time of year again Summer is coming to an end and Fall is rapidly approaching. Back to school and it's an exciting year we have two kids starting Kindergarten. Madi and Hunter have so been looking forward to starting their "new big-kid school" and were well prepared thanks to their daycare / preschool they've been attending. Here are some pics of their first days.

Happy Fourth of July

This Fourth of July weekend was all about the kids, as most of our weekends with them are. We had a nice three-day weekend which is always nice so we kick started our weekend on Friday with more pictures. We weren't pleased with the close-ups of the kids from the first photo shoot, so Gav and I took them into the studio to get those taken.

Ice Age Dinosaurs has been previewed now for about a year and Hunter has known about it for a year, so he has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this movie for an entire year, and I know he's known about it because I was asked on many, many occasions, "mom are we going to go see the ice age dinosaurs today? Not today Hunter it's not in the movie theatres yet we have to wait." My fault for telling him about it so soon.

Then we were off to the water park in Herriman the kids love it there, and it's free so that's an added bonus for us.

Saturday we got to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Duckworth, we all went to the Riverton carnival. It was a good time there were a ton of rides there the kids were so excited to ride on them, and they were really digging the popcorn, lemonade and cotton candy!! After rest time we went to Grandma and Grandpa Trivett's house for a BBQ and some kiddie fireworks. The night ended at the West Jordan Park with a great fire work show, although waiting an hour and a half for the show to start was less than a good time. We arrived at night fall about 9 pm, the show didn't start until 11! We were so done by the end of the night.

Don't Say Cheese!!

My counsin Alyssa started to do photography so I suggested to her that she take some pics. of our family to get some experience. We wanted to do the pictures in a fun atmosphere we ended up going with Park City on Park Ave. It was such a pretty day although a little chilly, the shoot started out pretty good the kids were having fun and laughing...then about fifteen minutes later they were so done! They did not want to look at the camera, they didn't want to smile, we were trying so hard to keep their spirits up and show them it was fun but they were not going for it at all. We didn't get a lot of pictures with all of them smiling which was frustrating but we tried. So here is the finished product, I really hate pictures of myself I look like the biggest goof ball.

The Dawn of a New Family.

Gavin and I have decided to start a blog as a memory keepsake as well as for our children. Our children Hunter, Madison and Aspen (in chronilogical order) have recently had birthdays. Aspen's birthday is May 10 we celebrated her birthday on May 9 in our backyard with family and friends and had a wonderful time, she couldn't open her birthday presents fast enough. She absolutely loves to sing and play dress-up I have the pictures to prove it! I attempted to make some "butterfly" birthday cupcakes thanks to the imagination of Ms. Martha Stewart unfortunately I don't share her same talent but I tried.

As for Hunter and Madi (as we so casually call her) we had a shared birthday party for those two as their birthdays are only two weeks apart and they both turned five years old. Oh my the weather in Utah can be such a delight...can you sense the sarcasm? Originally their party was to be a Beach Party with a water bouncy castle, water guns, and most importantly sun screen. A day before the party we had to scrap that idea and go with the flow, we opted for a Choo-Choo train bouncy castle without the water it ended up working out awesome I was very happy with the end result. The kids had a great time with their friends and cousins Gavin and I decided to get Hunter and Madi scooters for their birthday Hunter was so excited, Madi on the other hand is still warming up to the idea. We had food galore, from licorice, cheetos, brownies, chips to way, way too much pizza. The weather held up for the most part throughout the day we bounced on the castle until about 8 pm that night, even Gavin had a good time with it. ;)

Now onto the next big event! Gavin and I became engaged in March of this year and will be devoting ourselves to each other for the rest our lives this September. A low key wedding is ideal for us we will say our vows at the Salt Lake court house onto a wedding celebration dinner at the Cottonwood Market Street Grill. Stay tuned for more details....