Trip to Iowa...

We made the long voyage to visit my Mom & Dad in Iowa a little over a week ago. The drive went as well as we could have hoped even though it takes about 2 hours longer from Buffalo than it did from Denver. It was great to see my parents and the girls loved every minute.

We were able to attend the Iowa State Fair while in town. The girls really liked riding the bus (park-n-ride), seeing all the animals, and riding a few rides. I have lots of great memories of hanging out at the fair with my friends in high school...especially all of the people watching and eating that we did!

The food at the fair is incredible...everything from your regular corn dogs to deep fried butter (yes, a stick of butter) on a stick. We opted out of the butter novelty items, but had our fair share of artery-clogging delectables. :)

In addition to all of the regular livestock and show animals, there are quite a few novelty critters on display. The girls loved the ostrich!

There are also contests for the biggest (enter name of animal, vegetable, or fruit). The largest bull weighed nearly 3000lbs. and was unbelievably huge. However, I thought the smallest bull was by far cuter:

As we were browsing the FFA and 4-H animals, Sarah Palin's entourage came travelling down the same aisle. I'm not a huge fan, so Joe & I just pushed Maya & our gigantic double stroller out of everyone's way and stood to the side as they passed. My Mom & Dad had Gabi and were able to shake Sarah's hand. She apparently asked Gabi her name and told her she was a beautiful little girl. (Tell us something we don't already know! hee hee!)

The rest of the time we just hung out at the house, including eating lots of yummy food, playing, and doing sparklers! Joe & I were also able to do quite a bit of shopping for the house while Mom & Dad babysat, so that was nice.

On the way back, we stayed the night in Lincoln at my Grandma Dot's house. It was nice to spend some time with her and with my Auntie Virginia, Uncle Gary, and cousin Allie. My Uncle Gary and the girls hit it off for sure and there were lots of giggles throughout the evening. :)

I'm back to school now and wondering how I'm going to survive all of this. It seems like the minute I went back to work, everything else needs my attention (mostly our new house in progress). I should have planned that a little better....:) So far, the girls are doing great with the new schedule and I'm loving my new school. I could go on and on about how much better it is than my old one, but I don't want to make my teacher friends in Denver jealous (just kidding) and I also don't want to jinx it!!

Lots of love to you all, Joe, Tara, Gabi & Maya

Fair Week

The Johnson County Fair & Rodeo took place this week at the fairgrounds in Buffalo. Since agriculture is such a large part of this community, the fair is a big deal and super fun. Most of the livestock shows were during the week and the parade and rodeo were today. Joe was very involved with 4-H and FFA while he was growing up, so he enjoys attending as much as he can. The girls had a blast as well.

Here are some pictures from the parade this morning:



Cute little Wrangler butts (and yes, that is a camel walking by):


Patiently waiting for the parade to start:


We went to the Rodeo this afternoon. Even though it was during our usual naptime, the girls were stellar. Gabi loved the horses and Maya loved all the treats. :) It was also fun to listen to Papa Dave announce the rodeo.

Yummm.....cotton candy:

Maya's first experience with cotton candy...she was shoving it in in no time:

Gabi, Gio, Kate, & Ella ran in the kids foot race. They all did great, had fun, and received a $1 coin for their efforts. (The competitor in me thinks we need to work on Gabi's starting skills a little more....but there's lots of time for that!) ;-) The girls also entered some things in the fair. Gabi's radishes won Grand Champion! She was pretty excited about her big purple ribbon! They also entered wildflower arrangments. We spent some time one morning on a wildflower hunt and then they each "arranged" them in their rain boots. Maya's won First Premium and Gabi won Third Premium.

A proud Gabi in front of her arrangment:

Maya's arrangment:Gabi also baked some cookies with Grammy Joyce that won a ribbon (but I can't remember which one). They each made a dried flower arrangement with Grammy as well! This was my first experience with the whole exhibit deal, so I've got lots of ideas brewing for next year! This will be really fun as the girls get older!

Our garden is really starting to go crazy! We've picked radishes, lots of lettuce, swiss chard, cucumbers, zucchinis, beans, and peas so far. I've processed 7 frozen quart bags of swiss chard and 7 of green beans....and we're just getting started! The girls and I enjoy going to the garden most every day to see the changes and pick some goodies. They LOVE peas....especially Maya. She tells about everyone she meets, "I LOVE peas!" Here are some pictures of the girls shelling peas the other night: Gabi had a pretty good effort and about 1/4 cup in her bowl when we were done. Maya's was empty...somehow they ended up in her mouth instead.

Check out the http://www.wyomingishome.blogspot.com/ blog tomorrow evening (hopefully) when I'll have some pictures of the house up. It is coming along quite nicely. :)