The Texas State Fair

Why is it that in Utah, we just call it the "State Fair," but here I have to say "The Texas State Fair."

Is it because I'm not a Texan or is that my inner Texan pride showing just a little bit?  Thoughts?  Native Texans, please feel free to enlighten me... what do you call the fair?

Anyway, we went to THE TEXAS STATE FAIR while Coleman and Sara were here...

Which means...

Dog shows and other animal watching:

Some strange animals...

And others you'd expect...

Are you kidding me??  Baby pigs all curled up together?!  I die.

 Fair food...

He's at the age where he is starting to reach for everything...
he was in tears when he couldn't hold the ice slushie

Fried Reese's with ice cream.  Mm hmm.

Coleman with his deep fried pumpkin pie.
Sara with her mashed sweet potatoe :)  But thats another story.

Free samples... (my favorite was the Texas toffee. Which we ended up purchasing... cooked by the Texas sun. Sold! Okay, mostly just sold because it was chocolate and delicious)

Mostly, though, just hanging out with family.  And big Tex.

Can't forget the people watching.  It's especially epic here.  I wish you could see her hair better.  It has a pretty design shaved into it.  But these were definitely the more normal people of all the people we saw.  I just haven't mastered the sneaky picture taking...

 This was a great way to spend our morning... We especially loved the massage chairs (not pictured).

"Carver Dan" has been carving pumpkins for 8 years

At the end of it, we had two very tired and hot babies (it was 95 degrees this day) and one mom who was very insistant that we were leaving immediately so the kids could sleep before they had public meltdowns... but I think it was still lots of fun.

Ruby scored this from a little boy walking past her...

Plus, it's fun to start establishing some of our family traditions in Texas...