Iowa State Fair

"Our state fair is a great state fair, don't miss it, don't even delay..."
Anyone seen that musical? Anyone??

I'm really bad at taking pictures, so I don't have a ton here. This whole week has been a family fun week since James had a break between his internship and start of classes. It has been so great!! He cleans the house and entertains the kids and I mostly just lie on the couch and look useless. He's making me look bad. :)

Anyways- back to the fair. I haven't been to a fair since I was twelve, and this was huge and amazing and exhausting!! This first pic is Brooklyn hugging Clifford at the PBS kids booth, where the kids enjoyed listening to a great storytime.


Looking at the baby ducks. This was probably my favorite thing- they had baby turkeys, chicks, piglets, calves, goats, and I think that's it. I've had a cold for forever (or three weeks) and my sense of smell and taste might never come back. So thankfully, I couldn't smell any of the animals. However, I couldn't smell any of the yummy/fattening fair food either. :(


Brighton's favorite thing: This area where they dressed up as farmers, got to plant and pick pretend vegetables, collect eggs, milk a cow (all pretend), and ride a tractor. At the end they sold their wares at the market and got a $1 to spend at the store!! Pretty cool! :)

I wish I had taken more pictures. The weather was not so great- it kept sprinkling on and off all morning. By the end of the day my legs weren't working very well. I've been taking it easy since then, doing more laying on the couch. Next week James is back to school, and we're going to miss him!

Nauvoo

We went on a family vacation last weekend to Nauvoo. I think it was our first family vacation- we were all really excited to go. We got to stay in a hotel for the first time!! :)

James' parents live a few hours away from Nauvoo and they drove up to spend one of the days with us. This is J and his Dad trying out the stilts at the Pioneer Pastimes. Definitely a skill to work on. :)


Pioneer Pastimes was Brighton's favorite place. She loves to pretend and got completely into character as soon as she was dressed. They had a little schoolroom, a kitchen, place to wash your clothes, games to play- lots of fun stuff!! She told me that her house (the school room) was built after her father died, and the concerned look on her face here is the worry that she won't get to the sheep in time. It was her turn to take care of them. :)

The weekend we went was the last weekend the young performing missionaries were at Nauvoo (fun times, hey Bethany?!:) and so we went to as many shows as we could. Sunset by the Mississippi was a variety show with the senior and young missionaries, and so fun! There was a children's parade before the show, and the kids got to decorate hats and pick musical instruments to play.





Nauvoo closes down around 4, so we found a park to play at until dinner. The weather was so great! This really has been a fabulous summer. We only had one really hot/humid week, otherwise it's been really mild with a nice cool breeze. We're still loving it!!



Other favorites from Nauvoo: wagon rides, the traveling Brass Band, the temple, running into friends from KS and my sis-in-law Rebecca's parents (random!), the hotel pool, the bakery, the blacksmith shop, etc....

Barely Pregnant?!?!

After all those comments from my last post about looking barely pregnant, I thought I better set the record straight. Barely pregnant, my eye. (Brighton took this pic, by the way.)

I'm definitely feeling it this last month! Too much baby stuffed in too little space. But I'm trying not to be that cranky complaining pregnant lady. Even though someone always asks me how much longer I have whenever I go out in public. Every. Single. Time. So fun!

I also have the unique experience after Wymount of being the only preggo gal in the ward. Whereas in Utah I'd be one of twenty. :) I'm definitely a spectacle.

So, there you go. Me pregnant with #4 at almost 36 weeks. Meh. :)