Arizona State Fair

We love the state fair! We rode the rides, ate cotton candy and lots of FRIED food, listened to a band play some groovy music, and looked at all the cool animals.

Hold on to your hats because this next part gets a little INTENSE.....First, we walked into the animal barn and a HUGE goat comes running straight at me! It knocks a big board next to me down and right onto my leg, scraping and bruising it. The men who were trying to capture the goat just couldn't get the job done so my mom and I corralled that thing for them! Then the kids were petting these cute little baby goats (so we thought), until they nibbled Gracie and Parker's fingers NEARLY biting them OFF! Next, I was standing near the giraffe cage and felt something near the top of my head, I looked up and this black, 3 FOOT long giraffe tongue was about to SWALLOW my head! Yes, I jumped back and let out a scream! Wouldn't you?! That's not all! Then Dennis was standing near the HUNGRY camel cage when we looked at my mom with her jaw to the ground and arms waving in the air, screaming, "DENNIS, DENNIS, WATCH OUT!" It was getting ready to EAT his hair. Yes, he did jump back and let out a scream! Wouldn't you?! Just as we thought we made our escape out of there all in one piece, a FEROCIOUS goat knocked the gate of the goat cage open. Who was standing there in the line of stampede? ME! Without hesitation I leaped to the rescue and shut that gate! Needless to say we barely made it out of that JUNGLE, I mean barn, ALIVE!

NOTE: I confess.....every word in red is an exaggeration, but all the rest is the honest truth! :)

Ridin' the roller coasters!

More fun rides!

Bumper Boats!

*************************** My personal favorite--The Big Slide!

The infamous Uncle De and Uncle John! Two of the most amazing people I know!

Ya gotta have cotton candy!****** Fried Zucchini! ****
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Look at that JUMBO corn dog and fries!

Awe, Grandma! *************** Pals! **********

The FINGER EATING baby goats!

The HUNGRY camel and The HUMAN HEAD EATING giraffe!

Gracie got her ears pierced!

My mom came in to town to hang with us for 10 days while Phil was gone! We had so much fun with her! She's the greatest! Here's what we were up to while she was here:

Phil has been holding his guns to make Gracie wait to get her ears pierced until she's older. Gracie has wanted them for so long and I've wanted her to get them too. I respected Phil's wishes for so long, but it was time to plead our case! I told him if he could give me even one really good reason why she shouldn't have it done then we wouldn't. He couldn't! So he gave us his blessing. :) We wanted to wait until Grandma came to visit so we could have a girls night out (and Parker too) and make it a memorable experience. Gracie was so excited to get it done, but when she sat in the chair she got a bit nervous. She almost backed out, but then an older lady named Treasure came over to Gracie and gave her a little pep talk. She touched Gracie's heart and told her that her little heart will let her do whatever it is that she wants to do. Thanks Treasure, it worked!

Here is Gracie getting ready......

Getting really nervous.....

She did it! Feeling a little pain though :( .........
(I actually cried too....sssshhhh)

Celebrating at the Cheesecake Factory!Later that night she said she was mad that she wasted all that time crying because she could have played at the mall playground longer. I guess we all learn from our experiences! :)

Parker's Preschool Field Trip

Parker had his first preschool field trip! They went to a farm and got to pick out a pumpkin, see some animals, walk through a hay maze and go on a hay ride. Parker had a lot of fun! It was SO HOT!

I love my husband!

It’s amazing how being apart for so long has really made me appreciate him so much more and realize how much I love him. He works so hard for our family and I know he gives 100% to us. He is spread so thin, but makes us feel like we are number one in his life. He is such a good, warm-hearted person. I love you Babe! Thanks for all you do for us!

Dear Dad......We miss you!

Dad,
Mom took us to a movie today and let us play around at the mall. We couldn't stop thinking about you and wishing that you were there with us! We miss you!

Love you lots,
Gracer and Park

Ducks eat spit.

Phil is in Utah right now for a month, doing a rotation in pathology. Lucky "duck"! We miss you Phil / Dad! Tonight I decided to take the kids to the library where they have a huge pond, to see the ducks and the fish. They have a sign up that says you can't feed the ducks bread anymore (okay, so I paraphrased the sign, but you get the point). So needless to say the kids were quite bummed. However, Parker had a brilliant idea (concocted by his father) that ducks eat spit! Phil will often take Parker there because he loves throwing rocks in the water (Parker loves it too :D ). I guess they call spitting to the ducks, father-son bonding time!

Gracie's Birthday Card to Nathan!

So Nathan is the boy that Gracie "loves." (He is the boy I wrote about in that previous post with the conversation we had with her.) Tomorrow is his birthday, so Gracie wanted to make him a card. You'll have to click on the one where she wrote the words in order to actually read it. She actually wanted to write twice this much, but I had to convince her to just hit the major points. After she wrote it, I asked her what all the dots were in between the words. She said it was so he'd know that was the space in between each word. She wrote Nathan's mom's name on the first picture. She's already workin' for his parents approval! :) She cracks me up! I typed out her words so you could understand it better.
With no further introduction......HERE IT IS!