Every year the kids get a ticket to the State Fair of Texas-

so we went on October 11th.

The last time we went was when we first moved here and

we were shocked then how much it costs, I don't know

why we thought it would be any different this time-

You basically need to take out a loan to be able to do all

that there is at this fair- it is the largest state fair in

all of America- and if you love fried food this is the

place for you- fried PB&J's, fried twinkies,

fried coke (??), and this years big hit....

fried butter- weird stuff.

We stuck with the world famous corny dogs.

Since it was all so much $ we just walked around

and looked at all the animals and auto shows-

it rained a lot but we all still had a good time.

***SUMMER 2009 ***

We had an awesome summer- we spent June in Texas

and thenheaded up to Utah to stay at my Mom's.

While we were in Utah we spent time with

friends and family-

My sister-in-law got married-

we celebrated my moms birthday,

hung out at the Evans, went to a family reunion

in Cascade, Idaho-

It was the first time in a really long time that my

whole family was together,

all of my Grams kids, grandkids and great-grandkids were there-

14 in all-

(my extended family is smaller than Rich's immediate family...crazy).

We had a great time and surprisingly we all got along-

we floated the river,did a zip line that was awesome

and hung out with distant relatives

that we hadn't seen since the 2007 reunion-

We all had a great time!!!

From there we went to our great-Aunt Glenis' and

Uncle Garths in Challis, Idaho-

We went site seeing with my Grandma Audrey all around that area,

went "back to my roots" as they say-

After that ,me, the kids and Jensen met up with the

in-laws at Bear Lake for some camping

and some fun in the sun (until Jensen got so sun

burned that she had golf ball sized blisters on her back, not so much fun).

The kids and I had a blast at Bear Lake- it was nice to hang out

with family that we don't get to see as much as we would like-

we went to an awesome cave, the kids went snipe hunting,

got super dirty and we sat around a campfire every night-

It was fabulous!

Our travels then took us to Pineview Lake to meet

up with the Evans/Hagman's

for some more camping and fun at the lake- it was pretty cold but

it cleared up for a little while so the kids could play

for a bit at the beach-

I had a great time hanging with my BFF and my second family

and it's fun to watch the next generation

of friends hang out with each other

(Meag's kids and my kids).

I was super happy that we got to make smores-

I hadn't done that in a long time and it's one of

my favorite things to do.

Once we got back to my mom's house

we stayed there for a couple days

and then we had to leave for home

so we could get the kids ready for school-

it was very bittersweet to leave- We love Texas but we miss

our loved ones up north.

When we finally got home, we had driven 6,387 miles-

what a fantastic summer- it will be one that we will never forget!!

(there will be more pics to come in a later post)

Meag and me at a get-together at her house

The kids roasting marshmallows- oh how I want a
smore right now!!!

I made Meag a perfect smore....I'm drooling just looking at it!!

The sun wasn't out for too long but they had fun swimming and

building sand castles while it was.

My Kids and Meagan's Kids

Kaston, Spencer, Hudson, Ireland & Grady

(and their cousin Marshall in the back)