The State Fair of Texas

Craig received free tickets to the State Fair through his work. The kids had a half day of school yesterday, so off we went.



There were metal states on the ground and we found Texas. Craig told Preston and Kaitlyn to go stand where they thought we lived. It seems like they think we don't live in the same place. Ha!

One of the big draws at the State Fair is the big Texas/OU game. Craig is a huge Longhorns fan (I went to UTEP so I'm a Miners fan-Go Miners!) and happily posed by the team's semi.

We saw a couple shows: Amazing Dobermans and the BMX Stunt Show.

Here is the mascot of the State Fair, Big Tex. At regular intervals, he talks to the crowd.

Here are the police on horseback!

We also got to watch the Starlight Parade.

Our favorite part is always the auto show. The kids loved sitting in the different cars.

We got our picture taken courtesy of Chrysler.


This is a truck that had scenes from 9/11 painted on the sides.

Yes, this is a pool table.

There was also some interesting people watching. You've heard of the site People of Walmart. Well, there needs to be a site called People of State Fairs! These pics are blurry because I had to take them quickly so I wouldn't be caught. lol

There's a guy with green on his head. It's a light-up mohawk. His friend had a pink flamingo hat.

See the red on the girls heads walking away? It's actually their bright pink hair. And no, they weren't wigs. As I was taking the pic, this guy walks by with a green, stocking hat on! Perfect timing!!!

Since this is Texas, it's still pretty warm here and everyone wanted to show off their skin.

As we were leaving the auto show, we made it outside just in time to see the Illumination Sensation. It's a choreographed water and fireworks show.

The big concert last night was JB and Moonshine Band. Never heard of them, but people seemed to enjoy them.

It's all fun n games until someone gets hurt. Preston got in a fight with a tree. He was running backwards, turned his head, and the tree attacked him. I took him to the bathroom to clean off his face. He has a small cut above his eye and scrapes all around. Of course, the way he was crying, you'd think is eye was falling out. Have you ever had one of those moments where your child decides to let everyone know their pain and cry at the top of their lungs in a public place? You know they are just going overboard with their crying, but nothing will calm them down. Then everyone around thinks you, the parent, are just tormenting the child beyond belief but yet they don't offer to help and stare instead. Yeah, it was one of those moments.

But after a good night's sleep, Preston woke up in a great mood, with evidence of the tree fight still on his face. :( I'm so glad his school pictures were last week!

So, we didn't eat any fried food. There was plenty of it: fried bubble gum, fried lemonade, fried chicken skin, etc. But we just couldn't bring ourself to eat any of it. It didn't look very appetizing. We just had cotton candy and ice cream.

It was a fun night, but we realized it's not something we would want to do every year. Every few years of the State Fair is about all we can take. Plus, I don't think Preston wants to come home scraped up again.

The Audition

In my previous post, I briefly mentioned that I was performing in a show. I performed with the Regal Opera Co. on Sept. 16 and 18. Yes, I know it's been a few weeks since then and I'm just now blogging about it. It took me a full week to recover from the show and I feel like I've been playing catch up since then. So, here you go now.

Pam Cochrane is the director/founder of Regal. She writes original pieces usually for the Fall production. This time it was "The Audition: or The Next American Opera Idol". Taking a cue from TV, we have 3 judges and audition our songs in front of them. Now, not all of the songs were arias. In fact, I do not consider myself an opera singer. I prefer musical theater and jazz. Thankfully, there was a mix of arias, musicals, and even a country song! It was a great show and a phenomenal cast. By far, this was the best cast I've ever worked with and I miss every single one of them. There was no bickering, no divas (I've worked with divas before and they are a pain!), lots of laughter, and we felt like a big family. Sigh. I really miss them and hope to work with all of them again.

So, here is a small glimpse of the show. People like to know what happens backstage and why we have such an early call time before the show starts. There's a lot going on: make-up, hair, warm-ups, run throughs, and usually we 'circle up'. That is usually our serious time together, encouraging one another, and praying before each show. I cherish those times.

This is Anicia, our great stage director, applying make-up to one of the men, Steve. I have worked with Anicia since 2004 in several shows. She even let me perform in "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" while I was pregnant with Preston! She is the best and I love every time I get to do a show with her.

Gina does the hair for those that need help. She attached my hair piece for the last show we did. She also performs and has a great Soprano voice.

Stephanie is curling her own hair. There are always curling irons, straighteners, make-up trays, jewelry, etc. laying all over.

Backstage snack: a caramel rice cake. I can't ever eat big meals before a show. I've always been like that. So usually after every show, I'm STARVING!!! One of the cast members brought these and we snacked on them between Act I and Act II.

The rest of the pictures were taken by a photographer that donates her time. She does a great job!

Here is our accompanist, Dean. He did not have any lines in the show, but made a ton of facial expressions and used some comedic skills on the piano. He was the best performer in the show!! In fact, as the curtain opens for Act I, Dean is caught eating at the piano! Hilarious!

We also had 3 judges. They all sang in the show as well.

We had a country song, "Ring of Fire". Patrick has one of the best Bass voices I know. In Act II, he also sings an aria.

Here is our first group number, "The Prayer". Very somber and serious.

I had some dialogue throughout the show.

I finally got to sing a duet! This is the biggest part I've had. Crystal and I sang "Marry The Man Today" from Guys and Dolls. I enjoyed singing this.

This is our group number for the end of Act I, "A Comedy Tonight" from A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.

Jazz hands!!!

These girls sang a song from the Mikado. Yes, this is the Charlie Angels pose at the end of their song.

Malcolm and Steve sang "You Can Do It" from The Producers. It was so funny.

Pam, the director/founder, sang a beautiful aria.

We're so happy because we're singing the final group number.

We have to make our kick line, minus the kicks!

This is our very last pose after the curtain call.

I had so many supportive friends that came to see the show and I will always be so appreciative for that. I received the loudest applause both nights and the cast was jealous of my fan club (not really). Now, it's back to my normal, busy laugh and on to the Christmas programs!

Monkey Business

This year we decided to have a joint birthday party for Kaitlyn and Preston. Preston's birthday is in June and Kaitlyn's birthday is in December. So, we wanted to pick a date in the middle. We picked September. During the weekend of my opera performance. My family was in town anyways so why not pile everything into just a couple days. Crazy? Yes! Busy weekend? Extremely!!! More on my performance another time. Back to the party.

Since Texas decided to break all sorts of heat-related records this summer, we needed to have the party inside, where it was cool and air-conditioned. There is a big bounce house place called Let's Jump not too far from our house. We bought a party package, invited lots of friends and family, and the kids were able to jump on tons of inflatables. I always like to have themes with any party I have so I chose the fitting monkey theme. For party favors, I looked on my new favorite site, Pinterest, and decided to make simple, homemade party favors.

First, we had to make homemade crayons. It is soooo simple to do. We gathered all the broken crayons we had, peeled the paper, and put them in muffin tins. I purchased muffin tins at the Dollar Store that will only be used for crafts. I also recruited some helpers.


I arranged the crayons in cool colors like gray/pink, orange/yellow, green/blue, etc.

Then just stick them in the oven and let them melt.

I let them cool for just a few minutes on the counter then stuck the tins in the freezer. After the crayons harden, they just pop right out of the tins. I did have a couple cracks in some of the crayons. I just put the crayons back in the tin and re-melted it. Here are just a few of them.

I also made notepads out of cardstock. I punched a hole in the corner and tied the pages together with twine. I found these monkey die cuts at a teacher's supply store and stuck them on the front.

After I made all the crayons, I place them in baggies. I put two crayons in each bag and placed a square of wax paper in between them. I stapled a cardstock seal at the top and made the little thank you note to go on it.

Here's a close-up of the note.

Very simple party favors and I hope all the kids enjoyed them.

Saturday couldn't get here fast enough for the party. Here's a look at the first room we were in. There were several inflatables and the kids could play as they pleased. Plus, it's a private room, which means only our party was in there at the time.

There goes Kaitlyn on the big slide.

There goes a line of their friends to slide too.

There goes...Craig?!?! Yes, Craig joined in all the fun too. At one point, I remember seeing a blue streak fly by me and jump into one of the obstacle courses. Now I know where to have his birthday party.

My twin sister enjoyed the slide as well. Okay, she's not my twin. Dominique is actually 6 years younger than me, but we have had lots of people say we look like twins.

See that person in blue at the edge of the slide? Can you guess who that is? Craig was scaring the kids as they would come down the slide. He also hid in one of the bounce houses and would scare the kids as they would come through. I think they all enjoyed it.

My sister was showing her son how to bounce on the ball. I think she just wanted to try it out.

See, he has no problem bouncing on the ball by himself!!!!

After spending 90 minutes total in 2 different jump rooms, it was time to go to the Party Room for cupcakes. Of course, I got the cupcakes at Kroger. I told them how I wanted the cupcakes designed and they did exactly as I requested. There's a plastic monkey face on the first set of cupcakes. The other cupcakes say 'Happy Birthday Preston' and 'Happy Birthday Kaitlyn'.

We all sang to Preston first.

Then, we sang to Kaitlyn.

Kaitlyn scarfed down her cupcake! I didn't get the picture in time.

Preston is really enjoying his cupcake.

The party ended and we headed home to open gifts.

Then, it was over! The kids had a great time and we really hope their friends did too. Kaitlyn and Preston say a great big THANK YOU to everyone that came and made their day very special.