“A fair is a veritable smorgasbord…"

"…Each night, when the lights go out it can be found on the ground all around…”

Just realized that heading is yet another Charlotte’s Web reference. I don’t know how many of you have any Charlotte’s Web lines on your blog, but I have managed to incorporate them on many occasions. It’s a talent.

Friday afternoon we headed up to the state fair! For some reason I always have to talk myself into wanting to go to the fair, even though once I’m there I always love it. I always dread the parking, the hoards of people and their cigarette smoke. I think the roots of those feelings are from childhood, being the kid who got sick on every ride. While I do still have a hatred for rides at the fair, honestly who can get enough of the funnel cakes and elephant ears? Deep fried twinkies and corn on the cob? Among other attractions that keep me coming back for more are the knock-off purses, the proud farmers and their blue ribbon livestock, the unbelievable number of mullets in sight. People watching can be the most entertaining at the state fair. I’m always amazed at how many people are STILL rocking the mullet Joe Dirt style. Do they not know? Or do they know and just not care? Each year the state fair seems to be a mullet convention where they gather in from all corners of the state.

We had fun looking at all the animals, and I’ll admit that a tender chord was struck as we watched this enormous sow laying there in the hay with her seven piglets nursing. On a side note, aren’t pigs the strangest animals? Those hideous snouts? Those curly tails? That pink skin and wiry hair that almost looks like the hair on an old man’s back? They sortof give me the creeps, but watching that mama with her babies was probably one of the cutest/grossest things I’ve ever seen. There she was, exhausted and weary. And those little stinkin piglets were so rough with her! It hurt me to watch them nurse. We shared a moment, when her eye caught mine. A single tear dropped down my face, and one down hers as well. She felt the compassion I had for her. I walked away feeling grateful that I only had to give birth to one baby at a time, grateful to be only nursing my one little gem at a time, and grateful that I only have the capacity to nurse two, at most at a time, not 7. And grateful that I wouldn’t one day be Tiny Tim’s Christmas ham. My lot is not a difficult one.

On Saturday we went to the BYU football game! Lucy had her second babysitting experience of her life, with Grandma Christensen. Though I did miss her horribly and thought about her every other 2 seconds, I was pretty proud of myself for not calling the ma-in-law constantly. In fact, I sent her only two texts the whole time we were gone. When we got home she was safe and sound as expected and they spent a wonderful afternoon together, as did Jason and me. Thank you Linda! Oh and P.S. She has been smiling- like really smiling-the last couple weeks, (I'm referring to Lucia... not my mother in law in case you were wondering) the morning hours are her finest. It has nearly been more than I can bear. She nearly gets pummeled everytime she does it. (You fellow mothas know how the cuteness of your children trigger the pummeling tendency). As for the game, who saw that unbelievable spanking coming? NO ONE!! I started to feel sorry for UCLA, blah… how hard would it be to keep running in and off the field when the score is 59-zip in the middle of the third quarter? Those fumbles made me sad for them, too. Talk about kicking yourself when you're down! I really couldn’t believe my eyes. Poor chaps. While I did feel bad for the guys, the elation of the win definitely won out on the emotion spectrum! Jason reminded me last night that the Oregon Ducks head coach said two years ago (after we spanked them at the Vegas bowl) that BYU would at best be mediocre as a PAC-10 team. Mediocre? Ya think?? Ooooh the Utah game should be interesting this year!! GO COUGS!!