Just Desserts. Fair Edition. Lesson Learned.

So, I get a kick out of entering things in our local county fair. It's not anything earth-shattering. And I'm not in it for the premium money. But I like to see how a "judge" -- someone with some expertise in the field -- rates my item. And I smile if I happen to get one of the "big" ribbons.

In the days when I used to do tole painting, I would enter my painted projects. Sometimes only one or two items but sometimes I'd max out with the 5-item limit for the department. Since then, tole painting has gone out of favor. Now, instead of having its own large department at the fair, it's only a sub-class of the art department. What a fall from glory!! Ha!

Lately, I just enter something in the Foods department: a jar of raspberry jam, and whatever I feel like baking for it. Sometimes, I've gathered a few blooms from the yard for the flowers department.

And Emma likes to enter things. She takes her projects from Kids College classes, and enters those. And she likes to bake for the fair as well.

This year, we got in and baked several items. Emma made cookies, and her very first pie:

An apple pie, with a crust from scratch, and canned pie filling.

I made some white bread, baking powder biscuits, two kinds of cookies, and also a pie. I'd seen some cool ideas for decorative pie crusts on Pinterest, and thought it would make a great fair entry. Mine was a cherry pie, with that same crust recipe, and frozen cherries.

Emma's pie turned out great!

Let's just say that my pie looked best before baking. And even then, I didn't get the look I'd envisioned.

But the kicker was the #piefail that happened on the way to the fairgrounds. I'm pretty sure it happened as I parked. When I opened the back of the rig, there was cherry juice from my pie ALL OVER. It went right over the edge of the pie pan, over the edge of the tray it was in, and all over the floor. Fortunately, a few months ago, Todd got a bedliner for the rear of our Yukon XL. So, while no carpet got juiced, like the canals of Venice -- everything still flowed all through the grid pattern of the rubberized mat.

I should have stopped RIGHT THERE at that point, and not entered the pie. I should have taken that baby right back home again. I should not have entered it in the fair.

Did I consider that option at all?

No, I did not.

Although it had already spilled a good amount of cherry juice in the back of the Yukon, when I went to set down the pie on the table for entering it, .... it spilled juice onto their tablecloth. When they picked it up to put a paper plate under the pie pan .... it spilled. When they picked it up again to put it on the shelf in the cooler .... it spilled again. This could not be good. Emma told me it should get a blue ribbon just for being juicy. Ha!!!!

There's always a lot of excited anticipation before we get to see the judging results. Emma can't wait, and I bet she gets it from me.  But about the time that judging was happening, I was having serious second thoughts about that pie. In my head, I was imagining the conversation among the baking judges, as they looked at my pie:

Judge 1: Hmm. Well, that is ...... interesting.

Judge 2: [snorts in contempt]

Judge 3: Oh, how cute! She used her EasyBake Oven!

Judge 2: Wait. Is this supposed to be a yellow tag-Child's entry? Surely this isn't an *adult's* pie, right? Right??

Judge 1: Nope, white tag. We have to judge it as an adult.

Judge 3: Well, she totally *tried*.

Judge 2: How about a yellow "Participation" ribbon?

Since we have our store's booth at the fair, I spent a lot of time there, especially on the first 2 days of the fair. It also gave me the chance to check on our results first thing. When I'd told my siblings about my guess at a yellow Participation ribbon, they kind of laughed it off. Um, ... I was serious.

And so were the judges:

😂😜😂😂😂

If it weren't so hilarious, it'd be pathetic!!

Thankfully, our other entries did better.

Emma's Dreamsicle Cookies got a blue ribbon, and her apple pie did as well!

In fact, her pie got third overall for the Fair Board's awards, so she won an extra $5 for it. Not bad at all for a first-timer!

In case you think I'm broken-hearted about that pie, no worries. My other entries did just fine:

The raspberry crumble bar cookies did fine -- thank you, Barefoot Contessa!

The homemade bread did, too:

It rose a little wonky, which is at least one reason why I think it didn't get any of the bigger awards offered for the breads. But it was still blue-ribbon worthy. Makes me wonder what else they're looking for, beyond the basics?

The biscuits got a Best of Class ribbon:

(Judge's comment on the back said: "Some of the best B.P. biscuits I've ever eaten."

See?? All that practice and recipe-tweaking I did in the last year paid off! Especially when my old biscuits used to be hockey pucks.

And the Linzer Cookies got a Best of Show ribbon:

So after all of that nonsense ...... here's the kicker.

I took the new ribbons downstairs to my craft room. And I hung them up on my bulletin board there:

That's the new pink-and-white, and brown-and-gold ribbons on the left side. Along with that yellow Participation ribbon. The ones on the right are older, from other years at the fair, including a very old version of the Brown-and-Gold Best of Show ribbon (far right). I have a bunch more ribbons somewhere, probably in a storage bin, or something.

What is the absolutely hilarious part of this??
That old Best of Show ribbon on the right - comes from about 15 years ago. When I entered a homemade ...

CHERRY PIE
for the Fair!!!!!

😁😂😂😋😜

It's true.
Once upon a time, I made a cherry pie that wowed the judges.
THIS WAS NOT THAT YEAR!!!
Hahahahahaha!!!!!

I figure, that little yellow ribbon represents a lesson learned here.

I can do better.
Next time, I will.

P.S. Even though I cleaned it out that night, I'm pretty sure there's still more sticky-dried cherry juice in the back of my rig ...... 😂😂

19? Adventures

Psssst!! Summer is over. I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but there it is.

I know summer is over, because school has started. So, not by the calendar, but by the schedule ... that's how I know. So say so long to the carefree days of freedom, and everyone find their grindstone again.

Actually, I don't mind the scheduling. But when it's still summer weather outside, I feel like it should still be summer vacation. Oh well.

Emma made a list of "Summer Adventures" again. We started this two years ago, with 17 Adventures. Last year, she wanted to add another adventure, and make it "18 Adventures". (I can see where THAT'S going!) This year, she just titled her list, "Summer Adventures for 2019!!!", and then quietly went about, putting 23 items on her list. The stinker!

We didn't complete all the adventures, and I think we'll try for another one tomorrow, anyway. But we did get a lot of them done, and had some additional adventures, that weren't on the list. So I feel like we balanced it out. Here are a few shots to summarize our summer:

Not an "adventure" but she liked feeding Aunt Penny's horses. When she wasn't afraid of them nibbling her fingers.

We signed up Emma for softball camp at BYU, and she had a great time there:

Then Darcie took us on a campus tour. These turtles live at the duck pond.

Also while we were there, her newest niece (and Grandbaby #4) made her arrival. Miss Emma was very patient about waiting her turn to hold Baby Harlee.

And from two different occasions, Emma loved playing with Giselle - the oldest niece:

So, Darcie showed me the hiking trails at Hells Gate State Park, and we added that to our list of adventures. Does it count for more points if we did this adventure more than once?

Emma and I decided that we like this hike to Charlie's Peak the best. We thought that the Gunpowder Ridge trail should be re-named, "Powder Ridge" for the dustiness. And the Winchester Trail should be called, Wear-Long-Sleeves-And-Watch-Out-For-The-Thistles-That-Are-Taller-Than-Adults.

Darcie wasn't around for our hikes there, but Alyssa and her pups came along for one of them. It's way easier going uphill when the dog is half-dragging you.

(P.S. I don't wear makeup for early-morning hikes. The End.)

We wove the Huffaker Family Reunion in to the Summer Adventures List, because ... well, because we can. There were so many fun moments. This pool shot happened there. And then, we went four-wheeling:

We had planned to go back to the same fire tower as we had visited when camping here last year, but the road there was closed. So we did a little investigating, and went up some other trails. One was a super-fun, over-the-humps, narrow kind of trail. The other one (the next day) took us to a different fire tower:

132 steps to the top -- we came, we climbed, we saw amazing views (including the other fire tower!)

And we floated the river in the afternoons, to rinse clean of trail dust, and to cool off:

Emma loved it. We drove up to the falls (21 miles, winding along the river), climbed on the huge rocks, and took pictures with the family there.

Loved seeing our far-flung family!

Cousins:

Not an "adventure", per se, but jumping on the trampoline with the sprinkler is always fun:

Some of Emma's chosen adventures clearly came from her recent experiences in 4th Grade. With the Rendezvous activity, she had made some homemade butter. So, the Adventures because Making Homemade Bread, and Making Homemade Butter. We were in a cook-things-one-the-grill-mode, so the bread was baked there:

And butter in the blender.

I wasn't up to doing that completely by hand!

While were were in Utah [again] in August, Brandon arranged for us to do an Escape Room, as a family group. This one was a Harry Potter-themed room, and we had fun puzzling out the clues:

(When I took that selfie, I had no idea that we were being photobombed by a skull, until I looked at the pictures later on my computer!)

Playing with the nieces and nephew.

Actually, dogpiling on Darcie:

Also not on the list ... Alyssa and I took Miss Em to Roaring Springs water park, while we were in Boise. The weather was perfect and we had a blast. This video is Alys and Emma going down one of the water slides. The pool at the bottom is 10' deep!

Back at home, water play is a little more tame, when we go visit Aunt Penny's house (and pool!)

Some of her other adventures included Geocaching (with Kids College), making raspberry jam with mom, our annual Shooting Star Sleepout (for the Perseids Meteor Shower), cooking lessons with mom, and more.

Some of the ones that we just didn't get to were making magnetic slime, sewing lessons with mom, an outdoor movie night, making paper, and making candles.

As I look back over it, and think about it, it was a good summer, and a busy summer. Did we go to amazing, faraway places? Well, no.
But it was a ton of fun, and she enjoyed it! I count it as a "win" in my book.

2019 Softball Camp and Grandbaby #4!

So, as I mentioned, Miss Harlee Alice Huffaker made her debut while Emma and I were in Utah for BYU Softball Camp this summer. I think it was really nice of Cecilia and Harlee to time that out for while I was in town!! Sure made it easy to see her while she was still brand new!

Softball camp was a lot of fun, and I think Emma learned a lot. I learned to not be too anxious to check in. Otherwise you just have to leave and come back when it's time for the camp to actually start. Ha!

That's Emma with Taylee, who coached Emma's group of girls. Back when Alys and Darcie used to go to this camp, it was only for older girls. This camp was set up for younger girls like Emma, as well as older girls.

I didn't watch the camp a lot during the day -- I was splitting my time to be with that new grandbaby. But I did come a little early for pick-up in the afternoons, to check out what was going on.

Emma felt she could have done better on the field, but she pushed herself and tried hard, (and got bonked on the head with a softball from a young catcher who wasn't paying attention!) ... and when it was all over, she said she wants to go again next year. 

So, the night before Harlee was born, we had a family trip to the nearby playground:

The call came in the wee hours of the morning, and Darcie stayed with the other kiddos while Brandon and Cecilia were at the hospital. I took the kids to the hospital to see their mom and new sister after I'd dropped Emma at softball camp for the day:

She's so pretty!!

It was challenging to get these excited kids to all smile and look at the camera at the same time:

Grandma and Emma with all of the littles:

And Aunt Darcie really rocks! Fortunately, it wasn't too hot, so she took them outside to do sidewalk chalk:

We also played "What Time is it, Mr. Fox?" and "Duck, Duck, Goose!"

They really love their Aunt Darcie!

Emma loves babies to no end, and she was really patient for her turn to hold this newest niece of hers:

Darcie had the lowdown on a new water splash pad, so on our last night there, we all went to check it out. It was still hot enough in the evening when we went .... almost. The kids got a little cold at the end. That's a good cue to know when it's time to leave!

Since Grandpa Todd didn't come for the softball camp trip, he missed seeing baby Harlee when she was this new. But we all came back 6 weeks later for her blessing day!

More Summer news to come. I'm all over it. Like white on rice.