A Fair Is a Veritable Smorgasbord

Mmmm-hmmmm! Shane, Brianna, and I might agree with Templeton on that. But we didn't pig-out (or rat-out) too badly when we paid the $7 admission fee and entered the western Idaho state fair last week. I mean, we limited ourselves to 3 food purchases and two drinks shared amongst the three of us during our 5-1/2 hours in the hot Idaho sunshine. One powdered sugar-coated funnel cake, one Idaho ice cream baked potato (no potato involved, it's all ice cream and toppings), one order of sweet potato fries, a lemonade and a rootbeer sufficiently tickled our fancy and our tastebuds, making us virtually oblivious to all the corndog, cotton candy, and barbecued this-and-that aromas that wafted through the fair air. We rode a disappointingly slugish ferris wheel and the satisfyingly terrifying Evolution, or what's called the washing machine in China. I tell you what, if it had lasted much longer I think we might have needed that washing machine!

Next came the shows. A CSI mad science show, and the African acrobats were both fairly good...well, it was the fair, after all. We ambled through the exhibitions for awhile, just trying to kill time until the hypnottist's show. Feeling a little bored, I suggested we take a vote to see if we should wait it out, or just call it a day and go on home. Two votes for leaving, one vote for staying. So, of course, we stayed. Even though Shane and Brianna wer out-voted, they ended up being glad because the show was so crazy funny. And, no, we didn't permit ourselves to be hypnotized, we just laughed at those who did...a whole lot.

We also had the pleasure of having Iris, and her children, Lydia, Matthew, and Michael, spend a few nights with us on their way down and back from taking Lydia to begin her adventures at BYU. We really enjoyed the visit, and wish Lydia well! After looking at the fossils they brought home with them from Blaine's stash, a trip to Utah looks pretty appealing to us as well. Fossils or pine nuts, what will it take to budge Dan!

Shane and I, and Sage, went to the Twin Falls temple dedication broadcast on Sunday, at our stake center. President Monson quoted Jacob Marley from Dickens's "Christmas Carol" in his remarks. I am hunting for the quote right now so that I can close on an inspiring note. And, ta-dda, here it is! Shane found it for me.

“It is required of every man, that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world—oh, woe is me!—and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!”

I love President Monson, but right now, I'm not especially loving this quote. I think I like this one better, actually, but of course, not for the temple dedication.

"I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world. Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!”