Carrotts

We didn't think any of these grew. But, we got 3 Teeny Carrotts

Sand in the City

We went down to check out the beginnings of the sand sculpture contest. It was interesting to see large scale sculpting at work. The yellow truck in the middle is a water truck.

Packing and wetting the sand

These guys were really far along - almost done carving
The next day...
This was one of our favorites - just thought it was cool

Hurkey always comes out on top for usWhat was left of West Music's piano - it got pretty wind blown

The first place winner

2nd Place - that's Perky (Herky's girl) at the Cancer Dance Marathon

Thomas Blanket

Aunt CC made Kurt a super cool blanket. He was so excited to get it! Luke loves it too - he is almost as obsessed with trains as Kurt is.

First Peek

Love at First Sight

Checking out who's on the blanket

Snugglin'

ICM

It's always fun to visit the Children's Museum - one night a month it's free! We met up with some friends and had a good time.

Luke spent most of the night driving the tractor. He wasn't in the mood for sharing it much.

Driving the wheelbarrows to gather the veggies.
Goin' Fishin...

...for his name

Syrup Ear

Pancakes for breakfast...

Iowa State Fair

We headed over to Des Moines for the fair to taste their fried foods and some of their 50 foods "on a stick." Yes, I said 50.

Here is one of the more random "on a sticks" - an egg (they were actually really gross)

Yes, that is what is says...we had a snickers.

No it's not a corndog (though we did have a hand dipped dog too), its the Snickers on a stick. Both boys also indulged on this and quite enjoyed it. What would you choose? We chose Twinkie - it was okay. A lot of "breading" with warm cream in the middle. We also had some fried veggies - green beans, zuccinni, mushroom, cauliflower, onion and some cheese curds. Healthy eats huh?

We really enjoyed the "Little Hands on the Farm" exhibit. Kurt really enjoyed himself. They planted a "seed" then harvested what they planted. Then they picked an apple,
Gathered an egg from the hens,
Got some corn and soy beans from the silos, then turned them into fuel for their tractors,
Milked a cow,
Then they turned in their harvest for $1 which they took to the grocery store and bought a snack. It was really fun!

Then the boys went fishing. They weren't able to catch one though. I think the fish in the pool had caught onto the game and weren't up for getting hooked just for a little bit.

Brandon loved the horticulture barn.

This pumpkin won 1st prize for it's ginormous size

These were the winning watermelons (for size)

There were lots of animals to see. Here was a calf trying to taste us...

...Luke didn't really like that

And if this post wasn't already long enough...here are some things we thought were funny

They carve huge statues out of butter. There was also a huge cow.

Aside from the billions of pigs we saw (including some that weighed over 1000 pounds), we thought this scene was amusing. Note the "pig pen" on the right...there were 4 or 5 pens full of people in the pig barn.

Funny shirt

Funny that his (daughter) totally caught Brandon taking a picture of the shirt...

Selling daughters? Even if she has a beer belly, that's a little mean don't you think? But it also clarified why there were people in the pig pens - they're for sale. This poor girl was over in pen #844 :)

Dancing?

Kurt was watching Little Ensteins and June said, "I love to dance. Do you like to dance?" And since Kurt answers all his cartoon friends he said, "No. I'm not a girl. I'm a boy."

Marshmallows

Using our mini BBQ to make smores...works very nicely. Now I just need some patio chairs so we can sit around it instead of squatting like cavemen

Delicious gooey goodness
Just diggin' the mallows - no chocolate necessary

Sunset on the Mississippi

After a temple trip we decided to stay and watch a show before we headed home. Both boys were very entertained by the missionaries performances. Here's Kurt - Captivated

Here's Luke - Clapping
And Kurt again, enjoying his "cattail"

Some "Vegetables" of our Labors

One of many tomatoes that are turning red finally

One of the two squash that grew

Storm Wall

This came across the sky fast! I opened my car door to try and get a better shot and I thought I was going to lose my door - it felt like the wind was going to rip it off. Kinda scary looking...