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. :)

Storybook Island

On our way home from camping, we stopped at Storybook Island in Rapid City. It is pretty much a huge park filled with statues of their favorite storybook characters to climb and ride on.

The girls had a blast!

Riding the train was probably their favorite:

Daddy & His Princesses:

Maya was bouncing up and down saying, "Giddy UP!":

We will definitely make this stop if we go through Rapid City again!

Camping Trip to Devils Tower & the Black Hills

We took a quick weekend trip to Devils Tower and then did some camping near Deadwood in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Joe and I both have fond memories of spending lots of time there with our parents when we were younger. We had such a fun weekend with Gabi & Maya that I think we'll be spending a lot of time there as they grow up, especially since it is only 2-3 hours away.

Gabi was sleeping as we were driving up to Devils Tower. When we got out of the car, I had her look up and she said, "WHOA....How are we going to get to the top of THAT?" I guess she is used to us saying, "Let's climb to the top!" when we are out hiking. This time, however, we just hiked AROUND the tower (about 1.5 miles).

We were able to see a lot of climbers coming down off the tower. Gabi kept saying she was going to climb it when she was older. I said that was fine as long as she didn't tell me before she did it. (Climbing terrifies me.) This is as high as she got that day:


This was the only picture that I took at our camping spot. There were daisies in bloom everywhere and lots of fun places to explore. The girls loved making s'mores and sleeping out under the stars.
We were also able to take Joe's Grandma Fern out to dinner as we went through Spearfish. :)

Love, Joe, Tara, Gabi & Maya

More Summer Fun

We've been having lots of fun around here! Most of the days have been in the low 80s, so we've been spending lots of time outside in the water and sunshine! The girls are getting tan and look like little Coppertone babies! :) Here are some of our recent adventures:

Heading out to run through a REALLY BIG sprinkler:


Camping out in the backyard:
On a hike near Mosier Gulch:

Enjoying popsicles by the pool:

Having fun on the Slip N Slide and Kate & Ella's house:

Peek-A-Boo Maya:

Hope you are all having a fun summer too!

Love, Joe, Tara, Gabi & Maya

Our Wildflowers...

We spent some time in the mountains today hiking, having a picnic, and enjoying the wildflowers. It was kinda cloudy, but we enjoyed a change from the last couple days of heat.

I love the above picture of Gabi, but leave it to Maya to put a silly spin on it. Maya also managed to get into some poison ivy while we were hiking. I washed her as soon as I could and I'm hoping she has my immunity to it. Time will tell I guess.

Happy Independence Day!

Lots of Love,

Joe, Tara, Gabi & Maya

Summer!

We've been busy enjoying summer around here. It seemed like it took forever to get here, but now it is in full swing. I shot these pictures of Maya last night in the freshly cut hay field by our house. There aren't many of Gabi because she was being uncooperative (imagine that)!


Sliding & Swimming:

Coloring in the Shade:

Funny Lunchtime:

Smoothie Mustache:

Thanks for checking in on us!

Joe, Tara, Gabi & Maya