State Fair

Ever since we moved to South Carolina, we have heard about the state fair. We've always wanted to go, but just couldn't afford it. Consequently, I was really excited to learn that opening day only costs $1. Not only that, but this year, kids 5 and under are free. So on Wednesday, we checked Baylie out of school early and headed to the fair.

As you can see from the historical sign (yes, I still love historical signs), the fair has been going on for 157 years. It was suspended for a time during the Civil War. It's been in the current location, right next to the football stadium, for over 100 years.

We got there before the gates even opened. It was great because it wasn't crowded for most of the time we were there. It was just starting to get crowded when we were leaving.

The first thing we saw when we walked in the gate was this. Wow! Fried butter? Fried Oreos? Fried Snickers? Fried cookie dough? Mercy! We just kept walking past this little booth.

I made the mistake of having us eat at the fair. So much for saving money by going on dollar day! Had I realized how much it would cost, we would have had lunch at home and then just had a snack at the fair. Oh well, live and learn.

Our first stop was the traditional home-grown section. (I have no idea what the official term is.) The kids were very impressed by the giant pumpkin.

They milked a cow.

The displays were beautiful.

We enjoyed the pig races. They were so cute!

And this little guy was a great swimmer.

We saw a fun show with frisbee catching dogs that also leaped into water.

For the first time ever, David thought the Gamecock mascot was cool.

We went to the petting zoo, but this little burro was trying to self serve.

The llama was very cute.

There was a frontier village. I took a picture of this hay baler for my dad.

Saw.

Buffalo coat. (I'd never seen one of these before.)

We let the kids ride two things each. Jalen chose the train. I tried to talk him out of it since he can ride the train for free at the zoo, but he was insistent. He was very excited to get to sit in the engine.

Baylie chose the bumper cars. She wasn't tall enough to ride by herself, so her daddy rode with her.

Jalen then started crying because he wanted to ride the bumper cars. He was not consoled by the fact that he had chosen to ride the train. In fact, later that night in his prayers, he said, "Bless that I didn't get to ride the ride that Baylie did."

For Baylie's second choice she rode the motorcycles.

Jalen chose the race cars. They were actually pretty fast. He loved it, but another kid was screaming.

After a long day (five hours) at the fair, the kids just wanted to sit and rest their feet.

It was a super fun day.

Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice

I think the hundreds of people who read my blog (that is, my mom and Morgan) know that I am a Mormon, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Twice a year we have a general conference where our prophet, 12 apostles and other authorities speak to us. It's always so uplifting and motivational.

President Monson (the prophet), Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, President Henry B. Eyering

Conference is divided into four two-hour blocks. That's a lot of time for a little kid. Over the past couple of years, the challenge has been to control the kids enough so that we can get even a little bit of wisdom from conference. This year, the kids did pretty good.

Before conference, we printed off bingo pages at lds.org and Baylie colored them. Then during conference, we used marshmallows to play bingo. Whoever got a bingo, got a prize at the end of the session.

In the end, the kids skipped the bingo and just ate the marshmallows.

Each child had little coloring packets, also  printed from lds.org (and a couple of other pages).

We  had little candy cups with the pictures of apostles on them. Every time an apostle spoke, we got to eat the candy in his cup.

We did some flannel board stories (thanks, Mousers).

Baylie was overjoyed to do extensive coloring. (Actually, that is her favorite thing to do.)

I spent the time knitting.

Jalen took this and instructed me on how I was supposed to pose.

We have a tradition in the Bayles family of eating waffles and whipped cream in between sessions on Sunday. (Most of the Bayles traditions involve food.)

David's concotion of peanut butter, honey, whipped cream, butter and peaches, was not quite as scrumptious as he had hoped.

Every conference we also go through our 72-hour emergency kits. The kids are getting old enough that we will probably change this to once a year. I was excited to see that Wal Mart now sells dehydrated meals, so I bought some of those for our kits.

We also whipped up some of these pumpkin snickerdoodles, which were AMAZING. I got the recipes from a great new blog - Six Sisters Stuff.

You can watch, listen to or read any given talk or the entire conference by going to THIS website.

For a couple of reasons, I couldn't take notes like I usually do, but here are a few things I jotted down.

• Elder Bednar - As we live the law of tithing, we often receive significant but subtle blessings that are not always what we expect and easily can be overlooked.
  
• Dieter F. Uchtdorf – Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith.
  
• Jeffrey R. Holland - If you do not take time to be well, you will definitely take time later to be ill. Broken minds can be healed just like broken bones and broken hearts can be healed. The rest of us can help by not being judgmental and by being kind.
  
• Gifford Nielsen - We need to match the enthusiasm of our prophet, leaders and full-time missionaries. This work is not going to go forward in the Lord’s intended way without us. (I may also start ending my sentences by saying “exclamation point!”)
  
• M. Russell Ballard - Reach out to one person between now and Christmas.

I love being a Mormon. It is the core of everything I do and to who I am. I love the spiritual boost I get from these semi-annual conferences.