Utah County Fair

I've always loved going to the County Fair. When I was 8, I started showing lambs at The Weber County Fair (or, as Camille called it, The Plain City Fair). This was a big deal. We usually started getting our lambs ready as soon as we were out of school for the summer. In order to get the lambs tame, once a day we would get them on a leash and walk them all around Plain City. We got many curious stares from people driving by. Imagine what you would say if you saw 4 kids walking around with lambs on the leash instead of a dog! It was always sort of embarrassing but something we always had to do. All summer we would walk them, wash them, shear them, and take care of them. We would even have a mock competition-Mom was always the judge. It sounds like a lot of work, which it was, but I think Dad did most of the hard work. Thanks, Dad! The fair was always held in August and we would hang out in the animal barns playing cards all day. We always had lots of fun that week! We would show our lambs and sell them at the auction and earn a nice little sum of money to be put away for college. Needless to say, from the time I was 8 until I graduated from high school, I spent a lot of time at the fair.

I also worked for the Weber County Fair during the 2 summers before I got married. It was a completely different experience but it was a really fun summer job! Since I got married, I haven't been back to the fair-Justin and I have always had something going on or we haven't wanted to make the hour drive there and back...

So I've missed attending the fairs. I noticed that Utah County was having a fair and that it was FREE admission-even better! So we decided to take Molly-she'd at least like seeing the animals even if the rest of it was dull. Eric and Heidi met us there-we let the kids ride on some rides, ate some scones, saw the animals, and watched the rodeo. We had lots of fun! Here are the highlights:

Merry-go-roundRiding in the boats with TianaThe lambsDriving a couple of tractorsAt the rodeo with Eric, Lucas, and TianaEating a scone, yum!Dancing to the music at the rodeo Definitely not as big as the Weber County Fair, but still fun!

Olympic Recap

Justin and I are at a loss of what to do at night, now that the Olympics are over. We watched them every night that we were home. I love the Olympics (especially summer!) and look forward to them every 4 years. I get sucked right in to all the stories and the competition. I'm also amazed at some of the trials that many of the athletes have had to overcome. So here is a look back on our favorite moments in Beijing...these are in no particular order.

German gymnast, Oksana Chusovitina. She is around 32 or 33 years old! Originally a Russian gymnast she somewhat retired in the mid-90s. In 2002, she discovered that her son had leukemia. With help from the German gymnastics team, her son was able to be treated in Germany. She won a silver medal on the vault.The Men's Swimming 4x100 relay. Who didn't love that? After the French swimmers had said they were going to "smash" the American's, Jason Lezak passed the Frenchman at the very end of the race. I was sure they were getting 2nd and then out of nowhere, at the very end, Lezak was able to pull ahead. Justin and I were a little embarrassed to find ourselves jumping up and down, yelling at the TV. Admit it, most of you were doing the same thing! The celebration after the race was pretty funny, too.Dara Torres...41, I think? A lot of people thought that she shouldn't have been part of the team because of her age. I say that she earned it! I was happy to see her take home 2 silver medals.Eric Shanteau, US Swimmer. He didn't medal or anything but just being there was an accomplishment for him. He was diagnosed with cancer just one week before the Olympic Trials. But he swam and qualified for the team and went to the Olympics. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson taking gold and silver in the All-Around competition. The first time ever that American Women have taken gold and silver in this competition.Of course, the biggest story of the games...Michael Phelps winning 8 medals, making him the Olympian with the most gold medals. Pretty amazing athlete, I think.Shawn Johnson taking gold on beam. I was happy to see her finally get a gold medal after all her silvers.Jonathon Horton, US Gymnast, took silver on high bar.I also loved watching the Men's gymnastics team celebrate after winning the bronze in the team competition. They really weren't supposed to do that well after losing their top 2 competitors to injury. You would have thought they had won the gold the way they were celebrating!Natalie du Toit, South African open water swimmer. This race is hard! It's a 2 hours swim in open water (not a pool). That sounds hard regardless but would be especially hard if you only had one leg!Justin and I laughed every time we saw the replay of the Men's 400 meter race. David Neville diving across the finish line to win the bronze. And then collapsing at the end. Way to go!And finally, the US Men's volleyball team winning gold. The coach's father-in-law had been stabbed to death at the beginning of the games in a random attack. I was very happy to see them win on the last day.Hope you all watched! It was fun!

BIG Thanks!!!

While Justin and I were on our vacation (see sidebar for link), Molly stayed at my mom and dad's in Plain City. She had tons of fun and from what my parents said, she was a perfect little angel. She slept until at least 9 if not later every morning, took 3 hour naps, and ate everything they put on her plate. Wow! Grandma's just know how to make all of that happen, I guess. I got all of these pictures from my mom...

As all of you know, Grandma's house has the best toys. My mom turned one of our old rooms into a playroom. She got all the old cabbage patch dolls and the doll furniture out of the attic and cleaned them up. Molly loves all of the dolls and I'm sure she did her fare share of rocking them.She also got to see Gavin on his last day of their visit. I hope she didn't torment him!It looks like she had fun playing in the baby swing. She probably can't even remember hers! Having a picnic with Abby. Mmm, it looks like pizza.Mom and Dad took her and her cousins to the Plain City circus. They had elephants and tigers at the park all day and the show later in the afternoon.Molly had her first boat-ride. I was a little sad that I was missing this but she had a blast!She had fun playing in the sandand in the tube with her cousins.I'm sure she was spoiled rotten, but I guess that's what grandparents are for! Molly is so lucky to have 2 sets of awesome grandparents that are continually showering her with love. Justin and I never had to worry about Molly the whole time we were gone. Of course we missed her but we knew she was having a blast! So THANKS Mom and Dad! We love you and so does Molly!

Provo River Parkway

We've been wanting to try the Provo River Parkway all summer and we finally got around to it last week. It's just a trail along the Provo River where you can jog, ride bikes, walk, rollerblade, skateboard, or just whatever you feel like. We hooked up Molly's stroller to Justin's bike,put on our helmets,and off we went.

I was surprised at how much cooler it was in the canyon. It felt great! We had a great time and plan on going back soon.

Molly also had lots of fun. We thought she looked so cute with her hat and her sunglasses on. Halfway through our ride, Justin looked back to check on her and her hat was clear down on her eyes. Oops! We love that her stroller is big enough to fit lots of toys and books to keep her occupied!

John Mayer and Jack Johnson

Back in March or April Justin was checking out the schedule for summer concerts at USANA Amphitheater. Well, it came down to these two artists and he had a dilemma-he couldn't decide which one to go to! So he ended up buying tickets to both and I tagged along with him.

The first concert was John Mayer. Brett Dennon and Colbie Caillat opened for him. I was pretty excited about this because I love all three. Here we are waiting for it to begin.They handed out these bubbles. I thought that they were going to have the audience start blowing bubbles when Colbie sang "Bubbly" but I was wrong. Upon closer inspection, they read "Smoking Blows." I think they handed them out at the wrong concert-the John Mayer concert didn't have nearly as much smoke as did Jack Johnson's.

My favorite song of the night was "Free Falling" by John Mayer. This is originally a Tom Petty song that I'm sure you're all familiar with. I've added it to my playlist on my sidebar. Check it out, it's pretty good.

Then on Monday we went to Jack Johnson. Here we are waiting for it to get started.We had fun both nights but I would definitely say that John Mayer was the better performer. He's an amazing guitar player. I am now a huge John Mayer fan.

Molly stayed with Grandma April both nights. A big thanks to Grandma for watching her especially since we got home so late both nights. Thanks!

P.S. For those of you who have never heard of any of these performers, I have songs by all of them on my playlist. Check it out, they're pretty good!

23 months

I can't believe that Molly is going to be 2 next month! Where has the time gone? As always, she's so much fun and learning tons and tons. Here are a few things she's up to...

Molly loves, loves, loves corn on the cob. I guess it's fun to eat (not to mention delicious). If we put corn on the cob on her plate, she won't eat anything else. She'll eat hers all gone and then want Daddy's and then Mommy's...Molly is obsessed with seatbelts. She plays with her high chair seatbelt all day. Whenever she gets put into her carseat or her stroller she wants to buckle her seatbelt "all by myself." She actually does really good now-in her carseat she can usually get all three buckles done by herself.She is now in the stage where she wants to do everything "by myself" and throws a fit if one of us does it for her. You can see from this picture that she is very good at putting her shoes on by herself. Yes, they are on the wrong feet. She usually has her shoes on the wrong feet nowadays...And last, a few weeks ago, Molly kept bringing us clothes that she wanted to wear. Since it is summer I had dressed her that morning in levi shorts and a T-shirt. Well, she brought us a sweatshirt and 2 pairs of sweats and insisted on putting them on. So we did the layered look-she looked like a marshmallow! And the funny thing is, she kept them on all day and wouldn't let us take them off! I bet she was roasting with 3 pairs of pants on and 2 shirts on a hot summer day!(The purple pants are not meant as capris-I think they are size 6-9 months. She has gotten a little too tall for them!)

Molly still loves to sing and she sings all day long sometimes. Some of her favorite songs are "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," "I Am a Child of God," and "ABC's." My favorite is when she hears the songs on the radio or a toy and sings a long. Too cute!

Take Me Out To the Ball Game!

It's not summer without baseball...so a couple of weeks ago we met the rest of the Moyes crew at a Bee's game in Salt Lake.

Molly and Daddy waiting to get in the stadium.Grandpa's Girl
Molly spent most of the time either sitting with Grandpa or walking up and down the stairs.Justin had all the kids laughing.He even had Abby laughing and playing with him. Abby's so cute-she's always been a little shy but lately she's been showing her personality more and more. We love it! And I think this is one of my favorite pictures. Abby and Molly, who are so much alike.Molly thought the game was fascinating.They have a free train for kids so Mom and I headed over there sometime in the 4th inning. I think we stood in line for 2 or 3 innings! But not to worry, while we were waiting, the kids found ways to entertain themselves.Mmm, ice cream.Justin got teased for bringing his mitt but it paid off when he caught a ball! No one was teasing him after that!Chloe and I were certainly glad he caught it! Chloe was practically on his lap and I was right next to him-it was heading for our heads and frankly, I had stopped paying attention to the game long before that. Molly thought her Daddy was pretty cool for catching a ball. She always loves a game of catch.We had a great time. It was a great way to spend our one last shin-dig with Jeff, Ali, and Gavin before they headed back to Kentucky. And the Bee's even won!