Washington County Fair

Last week was a great week!  It was time for the Washington County Fair.  I love going to the fair to watch all the animal shows, to watch the rodeo, to see all the photos and crafts locals have made for contests, and see the latest western fashion that people are sportin' these days {which seemed to be daisy dukes and cowboy boots}.

The week started off with the Fair Parade in downtown Brenham on Saturday.  For the past several years I have riden on the "Past Queens" float because I was fair queen in 1999.  This year I rode on the float with my sidekick Brazos {and my mom since she organized all the ladies for the float}.  My little buckaroo was a rootin' tootin' cowboy!

Later that evening we went to the fair grounds to watch the crowning of the fair queen.  Tatum Westerfeld was the winner and she was the first fair queen to win to be sponsored by the local Anchor Club!

Brazos was much more interested in the rocks and dirt on the ground.

The actual fair started on Wednesday.  Brazos went to the fair with my mom that morning while I went to my monthly doctor's appointment.  Later I met them there and we watched the pig show and lamb show.  We walked through the Country Creations building to see how mine and my mom's photo's did in the photo contest.  I got two blue ribbons and a red ribbon.  I alos got a blue ribbon on my scrapbook.  My mom's photo got Grand Champion!

Pointing to his grandma's Grand Champion photo...it's of him!

He found more dirt to play in, too.

We went back on Thursday evening and walked through the tractors.  Brazos enjoys sitting on tractors and lawn mowers.

You can't go to a county fair without eating an ear of corn!

We went back on Friday afternoon, too.  I helped work at the commercial steer auction and we watched the rodeo.  Brazos even had to steal the camera and take himself a self-portrait.  I think he loves the fair just as much as his mommy!



Paula Deen

Today my mom, Curtis {a friend from church}, and I went to The Metroploitan Cooking and Entertaining Show in Houston at the Relient Hall.  There were over 100 exhibitor booths featuring all kinds of food products and kitchen wear, but the main attraction was PAULA DEEN!  Yes, we saw Paula Deen and it's a good thing that the event was called the "cooking and entertaining" show because we saw almost NO cooking and ALL entertaining!  Paula Deen was a hoot!

Before Paula Deen came out we heard a few stories from Heloise who is the author of "Helpful Hints from Heloise".  I had no idea who she was, but I'm guessing she is on a food show because lots of people were very excited to see her.

Then it was time for Paula Deen!  She came out with a crutch and she said, "Hi yall!  I bet yall are thinkin' that I'm hurt because of this cane I'm carryin', but I'm just fine.  A good friend of mine from Houston who makes beautiful wooden spoons said that he made me somethin' new.  He delivered it to me right before the show and this is it.  It's a boot saver!"  

Of course we didn't know what a boot saver was so she demonstrated for us. "You know how little boys can use the bathroom outside and pee all the way across the house.  Well for older men, they can't reach across the house anymore.  So this contraption here helps the men make sure they don't pee on their boots.  They just lean on it right here and flop it out, place it on this little slide, and go!  Maybe my husband Michael and can demonstrate for us.  Come on out Michael!"  He was a bit embarassed by the way she introduced him, but he quickly joined in the jokes and was a great addition to the show!

Demonstrating the Boot Saver

Paula Deen and her husband Michael
wondering what she's going to say next.

Paula introduced us to all her friends that were at the show including her hair dresser and her make-up artist.  Her husband called them "magicians."  Paula didn't think that was too funny, even though she told storied about how she didn't dress up or put on make-up the entire summer and she thought she was a "hot momma" after they were finished with her.  She called her hair dresser "precious" and that she calls him one of her sons.  {On a sweet note, she said that you don't have to give birth to someone to love them like your own.}

She had several sons along...including her body guard who was a black man.  She brought him up on stage but he was not happy about being up there.  She kept telling him, "Oh, come on! I'm not going to embarass you.  I won't tell them about that time you had diarrear at the restaurant.  And come give the audience a big ole' smile.  He has gorgeous teeth.  He used to have all these gold teeth, but he got them fixed and has Paula Deen teeth!"  He refused to smile and turned and walked off the stage.  Paula's husband Michael chimed in and said, "He's the black sheep of the family!"

Paula Deen's hairdresser and make-up artist in the audience

She laughed the entire time!

So Paula was supposed to show us how to make bacon wrapped chicken, macaroni and cheese, and apple pound cake.  She didn't show us how to make a darn thing!  Her husband and another cook prepared the food behind her while she talked the entire time.  Every now and then she would say to the two cooking, "Yall catch us up on what yall are doing, but I'm going to keep on talking."  Her husband would roll his eyes because he couldn't get a word in and say a single thing about the food.  While making the macaroni she turned and looked at the dish and said, "Did yall bake it?  It doensn't look like the time I made it before.  Where's the cheese?!"  Michael said, "I put all the cheese in it."  Well, Paula thought it needed more cheese, so Michael asked her sarcastically, "Do you want to tell us how to make it?"  and Paula bluntly said, "No!"  Then she turned to us and said, "Yall can watch me up to three times a day on tv and hear me talk about how to make food.  I just want to talk to you today.  Any of you can make these dishes, just follow the recipe."

Micheal also had a few more stories to share.  Here's one:  The night before they had went to a restaurant and the waitress had a very low top on with big bossoms.  Michael leaned over and told Paula that every time the waitress comes by he wants to ask her for some milk.  So the the next time the waitress walked by Paula told the waitress what Michael had said!  He was shocked and said that it was a secret, and she told him, "Well, you didn't tell me it was a secret!"  As the waitress continued to check on them she would ask, "Can I get you anything...tea, water, rolls, ketchup, or MILK!"

Here's another story he told:  While in Savannah, their hometown, Michael and Paula were in a small store and lady walked up to Paula and said, "Oh we just love having you in our town!"  Paula said "thank you" and asked her to go talk to Michael while she finished shopping.  So the lady found Michael and told him, "We just love your momma!"  Paula looked over and found Michael laughing histarically with this lady so she went over to check it out.  Michael had told her what the lady had said, so Paula turned back around and went to go find the lady and asked her, "What on earth do you mean - his momma?!"

Throughout the entire show, Michael kept telling her, "Yes, momaa."  And he said that he tried to get the grandkids to start calling her "Big Momma."  Near the end of the show Paula was getting furious with his comments and just turned around and told to "shut the hell up!"  She said it was funny the first twelve times, but now it's getting on her nerves.

In the end Paula said that she believes God will forgive her of wicked sense of humor because she believes that God loves to her laugh, and if you laugh along with her then he loves that sound to.  It was an evening full of laughs so God should have been pleased!

Gorgeous cupcakes from an exhibitor in the lobby

The Past Few Weeks

I often debate to myself whether I should post pictures on Facebook, on the blog, or not at all.  So today the blog won.  Here's a few pictures of Brazos from the past few weeks.

After eating a powdered donut

At swim lessons with his teacher

Sitting with daddy downtown

3 months pregnant

Out to dinner with his friend, Jake

Feeding himself blueberry sauce

Wearing daddy's work boots

Happy to use his new seat belt covers

A serious reader

Cowboy Brazos ready for the fair!

Books

So the two mommies that I have spent the most time with from my MOPS group like to read, and occassionally they will talk about the books they've read recently.  I couldn't exactly add to the conversation because I don't normally read just for fun. 

I didn't even read the books I was supposed to read in high school unless we read them together in class.  Well, I do remember reading one outside of school which was for my biology class called "The Hot Zone."  I read it all in one weekend while sitting outside on the toolbox of my mom's old grey truck.  And actually which I was at the book store this past week, I noticed that "The Hot Zone" is still on the reading list.  I know I read parts of "Jurassic Park", but I relied alot on my friends hoping they had read it, which Kate normally did and she would tell me the jist of what happened.  Thank you, Kate.  I know that wasn't very nice of me.  Please forgive me.  Of course I had seen the movie, but our teacher was very good at picking questions that had nothing to do with the movie, and as a teacher, I would do the same thing.  Well, I might give one question from the movie just to give those nonreaders a few points and not a total zero as a grade.

Anyways, I decided to start reading and I have enjoyed it to my surprise!  I absolutely love Nicolas Sparks, which I loved from the moment I read "A Walk to Remember" way back when.  (Okay, so in college I did read a few books.)  I also read the "Notebook" before it became a movie.  It's pretty awesome to read a book and then see it come to life in a movie.  Other Nicolas Sparks books I read are "The Choice", "The Wedding", "The Lucky One", and part of "Message in a Bottle."  I only read part of it because one day at Texas A&M I had long wait in-between classes, so I went to the library and just sat and read until it was time to go to my next class.  I never saw that movie, because I assumed it was boring, but I may be wrong.  Oh, and I've also read "Nights in Rodunthe".  And all the ones that eventually became movies, I read them first long before the movie was out.  For a while I thought, "Oh this one is probably going to become a movie since I read it."

For the ones that haven't become movies, I try to imagine who I would cast as the actors and actresses for the characters.  For example, the book "The Lucky One" is about a marine who finds a picture on the ground of an American girl.  No one claims the photo so he keeps it in his pocket during his deployment.  He survives many combat attacks so his best friend Victor tells him that it must be his lucky charm, and that he needs to find the girl when he returns home to thank her for keeping him safe.  Well, a lot happens but he does go on a journey to try to find her.  So here are the characters:  The marine is Justin from Brothers and Sisters.  The girl in the picture is Rebecca from Brothers and Sisters.  Victor is Fez off of That 70s show.  There are other characters that I've assigned roles to, but I don't want to tell you too much in case you want to read the book.

Currently I am reading "Water for Elephants".  I haven't seen the movie, but I remember the previews which showed the movie to be very glamourus.  Well, the book doesn't start out so glamorous, and if the movie is anything like the book I would hope it's rated R for "racey"!  This auther leaves no details out.  But so far it is a really good story and easy to follow.  I'm excited and curious to see the movie after I finish reading it.  Lindsey Williams read it a few months ago and she told me it was really good and that I should read it, but I wasn't a reader a few months ago.  If only I had read it a few months ago we could have talked about at her party. 

So right now I read in my free time, when I should be cleaning the house or making party pacs for my mom. But the dishes can always wait, right?

Independence Day 2011

I love the 4th of July!  I enjoy the parades, food, and fireworks.  Ever since I was little my family has always attended the Round Top 4th of July Parade. 

I used to ride on the back of my grandpa's tractor, and once all my cousins and I made a float for the parade.  We were all dressed as cotton pickers and pulled by a tractor of course.  Matt and I met at the parade one year because he was asked to drive one of my grandpa's tractors in the parade.

And two years ago, Matt and I found out we were pregnant with Brazos on the 4th of July.

The past few years we have been riding in my father-in-law's antique cars.  Last year, Brazos was miserably hot.  We had to cover him in cold rags just keep him cool.  This year he did a lot better.  He looked out the window with mommy and waved at all the parade goers.  He even sat on daddy's lap and help drive for a while.

Now after the parade is a different story.  We had a grouchy boy on our hands that wanted to be independent and have nothing to do with grown-ups.  Actually, he was really grouchy in the morning because we gave him oatmeal and he wanted an orange.

Here's last year's parade:

Here's this year's parade:

Our nephew, Cody

Our nephew, Cullen at his first parade





On great-grandpa's tractor

In the evenings we like going to Washington on the Brazos for the fireworks show.  This year we saw the laser light show, which was just as good as fireworks and lasted about the same amount of time.  Brazos did okay, but he wanted to push his stroller instead of sit in it, and he didn't want to sit on the lawn to listen to the music before the laser light show.  We let him walk around until he noticed and girl with a hot dog.  We walked up to her and slowly got closer and closer hoping she would share.  So then we held him down and he threw a fit.  It was a bit embarassing, but luckily the music was loud enough that not many people could hear him.  He did great during the laser show.

Here's last year's Washington-on-the-Brazos:

Here's this year's Washington-on-the-Brazos:

Independence Hall

At the Brazos River Overlook

The wheel kept him occupied for a while during the music.

Swimming

This summer Brazos has been enjoying the water.  Of course he's only gone swimming in kiddi pools, but a little one has to start somewhere.  He's had fun swimming at friends' homes, a birthday party, and in our yard.  Next Tuesday he's going to the Blue Bell Aquatic Center for the first time with my Girl Scout troop.  That should be fun!  On July 11th he starts Water Babies class and we're excited!  He'll be in class with his friend, Natalie.  I wouldn't have signed him up, but I finally found a swimdress that I feel comfortable wearing in public, so it's all good.  Here's his swimming adventures:

Playing with Audrie

Swimming at Jake's birthday party

Playing with Daddy