Love-A-Fair North Carolina

I've really enjoyed living in North Carolina these past few months.  In fact, I didn't even have to have my three nights of tears after a move like I usually do! (I think Daniel and my move to Scotland over the summer helped with that--our first three nights there were rough) But last night sealed the deal-- North Carolina is a GREAT state.  What would make me say this??  THE STATE FAIR!

I got off work 20 minutes early and Daniel and I headed to Raleigh.  We got to the fair grounds about 30 minutes later (with minimal traffic), parked for free, walked in through gate 8, and wow!! The rides, food, colorful lights, crafts, people, and animals were all accounted for.  Daniel and I just walked around soaking in the atmosphere while we waited for his family to arrive.

That time was not wasted. We got free hush puppies (fried cornmeal batter) and we walked through a little demonstration of how the cornmeal is made.   We also visited two craft tents, one in which we saw a number of displays made of Lego's! Including a circus, costume shop, angry birds tree, and cathedral (to name a few).

I even got a really cool picture with this giant, antique hot dog!

Incredible. I could have spent a long time in that tent just looking at all of the random entries of the State Fair, but Sally, Jennie, Martin, and baby Kelten arrived and we were off to find the real fair treasure:  food.

Daniel and I decided to go with the ever famous turkey leg.  It was smoky, tender, and delicious.  Not to mention salty-- which I loved.  We devoured it... with the help of everybody but we still didn't eat the whole thing! (Brace yourself for the next picture... it's barbaric)

Here is Daniel, with his turkey leg, in front of a sign that has all the other types of food provided at the fair.

Yupp, you read correctly...fried oreos, fried pickles, fried twinkies (which will always hold a special place in my heart haha), fried pecan pies, fried bubble gum (ew), fried KOOLAID (for crying out loud people! really?!) and the list goes on.  Jennie bought some fried pickles which were great, Sally bough some grilled corn and that was good, and then we headed to the holy food stands.

This entire row of food stands was run by local and state churches.  Their slogan, "Serving God one ham biscuit at a time."  Daniel and I loved that.  There was even a man (I assume a Pastor) singing songs about how they love serving the Lord with biscuits. Needless to say the Lord was served three times as Martin, Sally, and Jennie bought the holy ham biscuits.  I sampled, they were good.

We tried some homemade rootbeer and Daniel was given a free corn dog for sporting his Chelsea jersey! COOL.  We almost turned it down because we were so stuffed, but then we thought, really? Turn down free food?  We just couldn't do that.

After all that food, we just meandered around looking through different tents full of displays.  We looked at award winning quilts, cookies, cakes, table settings, dresses, houses made of cardboard, watermelons, pumpkins, other veggies, animals etc.   I've posted pictures of the table settings and the "Best of Show/ 1st place" cake.  I loved the cakes.  The bead work on the moccasins was immaculate.  WOW.  And you can't go to the state fair with out getting a picture with the biggest pumpkin (and watermelons too I guess)!

We also took pictures of the animals.  I loved the piglets trying to feed. They weren't the brightest animals though.  The little guy closest to the camera couldn't latch on and kept moving down the nipple line until eventually he was sucking his mother's toe.... haha idiot.

Then we ate more food: free samples of beef jerky, peanuts, peanut butter, maple butter, hot sauce, cake, cookies, etc. I of course bought a giant fair pickle (only 50 cents!) and before we knew it it was time for..... dun-da-da-dah.... THE PIG RACES.

We got a funnel cake for the show and rushed to the track. At this point in the night it was pouring down rain, but nothing could damper our spirits.  (Another positive of North Carolina.  WARM RAIN).  At the track, we ran into Daniel's classmate Allie.  Pleasant surprises all night long :-)

The races began and Daniel was selected to be the the official "Hammy Hamilton" cheerleader and by gum that little pig ran his heart out and won! His prize, cheese puffs. Daniel's, a shiny blue ribbon with a pig on it and a Christian cross.  We loved it. Just enjoy these videos...

(Dad, I thought of you the whole time.  You would have LOVED this... the whole fair actually. haha)

That's right.  Not only did we watch pigs race, but we watched goats, indian runner ducks, and pot bellied pigs run (did you see the little guy stop to take a wizz in the pot bellied pig race? ha). So fun! 

After the races, we went and looked at the "art gallery."  There are some pretty talented people in North Carolina.  While we strolled the rows and rows of photography and paintings we munched on a fried oreo.  To my surprise, it was good and soft in texture.  

We finished the night with a great fireworks show.  Could a Tuesday night have gone any better??  My only complaint was that after all that fair food and walking, I actually felt pregnant! BUT then again, so did Daniel haha.

We decided that no matter where we end up, our kids are going to be encouraged to enter the state fair.  It's such a great place and I feel like you can enter anything.  I think I'm going to enter something next year... I don't know what yet, but I just feel like it's an experience I should have in life and where better to do that than in NORTH CAROLINA?!

Wish you could have been there!

Molasses Festival, Octoberfest, and AUTUMN

The last couple of weekends, Daniel and I got to spend some time with his Mom in Hickory, NC.  We always love going there because it always feels like a vacation.

We left right after I got off work on Friday and got there at about 8:30pm.  We played "Ticket to Ride" (a board game that Daniel really likes) and then I went to bed.  Saturday morning, Daniel and I got up at 8:30am and went yard saleing to find some stuff for our little baby.  I was really disappointed because we didn't find anything.

At 10:00am, we went to the Molasses Festival at Simms. Daniel was really excited because... HE GOT TO WEAR HIS KILT! He had a number of people come up to him and talk to him about it--including a young boy who asked him if he was wearing "undergarments" haha 

The Molasses Festival had a little bit of everything... Scottish games, grits making, bands, clogging, camels, shops, food, tractor parades and of course molasses making.  It was lovely. 

 Band

 Molasses Making

 Grits Maker!

  Camel

Sally's clogging class had a performance and it was really fun to be there for that. 

  After the Molasses Festival, we went to the mountains and enjoyed AUTUMN! We did a 5 mile walk and the surroundings were breath taking...

 Introducing Baby Baird to Autumn :-)

After the walk, we went to Octoberfest in downtown Hickory. We ate festival food and listened to a steel drum band.  It was awesome.  BUT the best part was when Daniel went up to a BBQ stand to get some samples.  He walked up to this man, grabbed some samples and shortly after realized that he actually grabbed the samples from another guy who was deaf... not the sample lady! The poor man he couldn't even stop him!

It was hilarious.

Lawrence, Carrboro, & Baltimore!

The 36 hour drive from Salt Lake City to UNC- Chapel Hill was.... fun? We listened to a couple books on CD which we bought from the DI and were exactly what one would expect from a DI donated book. NOT great but we laughed at them and they did make the time go faster.

Luckily, the 36 hours was interrupted when we stopped in Lawrence, Kansas (18 hours away) and visited Ryan and Chelsea.  I wish I had taken pictures of this little vacation, but I didn't :-(.  We had a lot of fun though walking down Mass Street, walking around KU campus and visiting the museum, and looking at all the cool vintage shops in town.  It was also just nice to relax, watch movies, and once again--eat good food! haha.

When we got to NC, I immediately got a job which was a huge blessing.  We were still driving and when we were in TN I got a call offering me an interview for the next day.  I went to the interview and was offered the position the day after that.  I'm working as a receptionist at a private freshman dorm facility.  It's really laid back and I love my bosses/coworkers.  They are really great people and they crack me up. Plus, I get a free meal plan which is awesome.

Over Labor day weekend, Daniel and I got to go to BALTIMORE to visit Nate, April, and of course Edison and McKay. It's only a 5 hour drive! We had so much fun. Nate took us all out to a really nice crab lunch on the water and that was so great.  The whole meal was a social event and we had to work for our food which made us enjoy it all the more.

 Just waiting for our food.

 Edison's favorite part was the lemonade haha but he liked the crab meat too.

 When I say we ordered crab... we really did! and french fries and corn on the cob.  It was a real feast.

 Firstly, let me say how handsome I think Daniel is in this picture :-) and secondly, I don't usually like sea food, but this stuff was so fresh it was delicious.

After our lunch, we walked around downtown Baltimore.  We picked an interesting weekend because there was a literal race track going through the city with cars like this one zooming by constantly (well, behind a fence).  Edison got to sit in a real race car! You can see his little blond head peaking out.  He didn't like the racing though because it was too loud.  The only way I could get him to smile when we were watching it (he had his ears plugged the whole time) was when I mentioned that we would have a big pillow fight when we got back to the house. He loved that.

Jessi Warfield and her boyfriend Richie came down too!!  We went to dinner one night at the Hard Rock Cafe and just talked and laughed for about three house.  It was great. I love Jessi and it was so nice to finally meet Richard after I've been hearing about him for the past four years.  For those of you who don't know, Jessi and I have known each other since we were like 13 and we've managed to see each other every year despite the fact that we've lived on opposite sides of the country for the past 6.  It was so much fun.  I'll try and post pictures of that later.

And that's all the exciting stuff to date.  Well, for the most part.

We finally got our apartment living room decorated.....

 

 Daniel made this piece with his bare hands! All we need to do now is sand and paint.

So Yeah.

Scotland, a cross county move, and now on to our new adventure...

WE ARE HAVING A BABY!

AND IT'S A GIRL!  Surprise!

Back in Utah

Being back in Utah was great. 

We had an 80th Birthday Party for Grandpa Alexander and a family reunion.

 The party was cowboy themed and we had over 250 IBC rootbeers. Oh and yes, those are the flower arrangements that I had at my wedding haha

 Sarah and baby McKay.

 The man of the hour talking to Rinda!

 Cousins! I just thought this was too cute a picture not to post.

We also celebrated Daniel's 25th birthday!  Me and Chelsea made him Lemon Merenge pies.  His absolute favorite.  We even had homemade crust!  Daniel said he deserved it because he's been makin his own pies for the past few years. haha I don't know what my dad is doing in this picture, or better yet, what somebody is doing to him. But it was a great day and I love Edison (and Daniel)

 Edison tried to blow out the candles, but luckily Daniel stopped his hefty blow with a slotted spoon.....

We also got to go on a camping trip with Aunt Melanie, Uncle Kim, and their family.  We LOVED it.  We went rafting and ate like royalty.  It was the best. 

 This is Daniel rafting down what I believe is Lunch Counter.

 This is Daniel--no longer in the duckie after Lunch Counter. They flipped and FYI the water was FREEZING.

 Here is the rest of the crew coming down.  It really was just a momentous weekend.

As soon as we got back from camping, we went crawdad hunting with Cooper, Amy, Jillian, and a bunch of other folk.  It was a grand time.  We caught TONS of crawdads and had a real feast for dinner.  I still wanted a burger afterwords though.  

 During our Utah Trip, we also went to the county fair.  Daniel rode on a bull and looked mighty tough doing it... even though he didn't last for more than 3 seconds. haha

Being home with the family for almost a whole month was great.  We just hung out, watched movies, ate good food, and spent some quality time together before I left for my first big move with the hubsters to NORTH CAROLINA for gradschool.