Fossil Fest 2011

Our town here is the fossil capital of ... WY? The US? Not quite sure. But it's a pretty big deal and they have a 3-day hoopla for the town.

Mr. Fantastic didn't reach the top on his first ascent. But that didn't stop him from trying until he got it! That boy is a monkey and scaled the wall better than some older than him!

Optimus Prime didn't do quite as well as his brother but he had a great time trying!

On Thursday is Family Fun Night at one of the parks. They have all kinds of booths - carnival games, face painting, a rock wall, a volleyball tournament for the adults, a beauty pagent for the girls, a super hero pagent for the boys and CHEAP food! (Love that!)  Grand Duchess didn't want to wait in line for the face painting, so a cupcake from the cupcake walk did the trick adequately enough.

On Friday we went to The Triangle and watched some dancers and family friendly performers in the evening. I didn't take any pictures because I was flying solo for the rest of the weekend and sometimes I just don't remember to grab the camera. A good friend of ours is in a band (with our stake president) and they performed that night, also. Mr. Fantastic's allergies started bugging him (and Thor was throwing handfuls of grass on complete strangers) so our stay was cut short.

On Saturday we enjoyed a parade down the main drag where the kids were all kinds of excited to get their monthly stash of candy. A good friend of mine sat with us and helped me keep the kids out of the center of the street. I think she is so pretty. :)
After the parade, we went home to get some lunch and then headed to the fairgrounds where the kids would be participating in their first rodeo. Some of the events for the kids were mutton bustin', goat ribbon pull, bareback bronc riding, goat tied down, mini bull riding, stick horse barrel races and then a bunch of horse events that we didn't stick around for.
I have video of each of the kids and am going to attempt to upload them here.

this one is Thor Mutton bustin'!

Here's Princess Monkey Eyes showing those sheep who's boss!

Here's Mr. Fantastic running to get one of three ribbons off of a calf. He's the one dressed in black.

Here is Optimus Prime on his way to becoming a professional bull rider. Not. He got stepped on within an inch of his groin.  But that boy cowboyed up and kept those tears at bay.

Later that afternoon we went back to The Triangle for the water fight. There are two bulldozers (frontloaders, whatever) that park at each end of the street. There's a cable between the two of them and a keg attached at the middle. Two teams of 4 line up on each end of the keg & grab the fire hoses. They have to spray the keg to the opposing team's side in order to win. All the onlookers get wet in the process from the spray off the keg & missed hits with the fire hose. I made the kids walk home because they were all so wet.  The little kids enjoyed drinking water straight from the hydrant. :)

After the water fight we went home and headed to the church for my Saturday night volleyball games. I always have a good time with that. Usually Popeye is home and handles the kids. But since he was at drill, they were allowed to join me and run amuck in the overflow room & stage.

Those poor kids were so tired that they barely had enough energy to get jammies on before heading to bed. Needless to say, no one had baths Saturday night and I sincerely apologize for any stink that may have been smelled during church services.

I got a new calling on Sunday. Popeye and I team teach the 14-15 year olds in Sunday School. So I was set apart for that after church and had a minor melt down in the Bishop's office when it was all over. He gave me an additional blessing after everyone cleared out. It was much needed and I'm so ever thankful for the power of the priesthood and my Heavenly Father's love for me.

I think that's about it. It was a pretty fun weekend!