Keola and I were just talking about how we have not gone to a carnival in ages. Then in the last 5 months or so, since moving to Calvert County, we have now gone to 2, AND there's another one coming up at the end of September!!

Today we took Lillie to the Prince George's County Fair. We had a lot of fun. The carnival/fair itself was, at times a bit scary "looking", but Lillie had so much fun, and that's what matters.

Lillie's first choice was the carousel.

Next ride, the balloons
This was NOT the favorite of the day!! The hot air balloon ride started going around, then up and down a bit. THEN, the balloon "basket" started spinning around a little. Lillie was NOT very thrilled about that. By the middle of the ride, I saw her holding hands with Keola. It's a good thing he hopped on with her!!

Can you see a little trepidation on her face?!?

Once Lillie got off the balloons, she wanted something calm and steady. So, it was on to the train ride.

Daddy was such a good sport riding everything with his baby!

After surveying the rest of the rides, Lillie wanted to take a little rest. We got some cotton candy and played a game. Lillie threw darts at balloons and actually won herself a penguin. That's my girl!!

After we walked around a bit, Daddy decided to ask Lillie about THIS ride! I thought I took more pictures, but I guess I just took video, which we can't upload yet. This was a little bigger rollercoaster than the normal kiddie ride. There was actually a drop/dip, and a section where the cars were tilted a little on it's side. I wish I had a wide view picture. Anyway, Lillie survived and the only thing she didn't like was the cars tilting. Brave girl!

It was time to visit the farm animals. First stop, the neighborhood Llama.

Oooh, so soft sheep!

Sooo cute bunnies!

Moooo goes the calf

On the way back to the rides, we came across this odd looking man! Lillie was too scared to shake his hand, so Daddy had to go with her. Too bad Daddy became the resting shelf for the Tall Man!

We also walked passed this man who was making statues out of wood with his electric saw. Can you tell what it is??

We asked Lillie to pick one final ride and it was back to the carousel. Notice Daddy decided to actually HOP ON the horse, rather then just standing next to it!! Ride 'em Cowboy!!

What clowns!! Daddy is whooping it up and Lillie is putting on her princess pose.

I was talking with my visiting teacher last month and she mentioned she sews a lot of her daughter's clothes. I told her that I was impressed since I took a sewing class a few years back and wasn't the least bit interested after.

After we talked and she left, I began thinking, maybe I should try my hand at sewing again. The hardest thing with Lillie is the fact that she is so tall and trying to find dresses/skirts that are long enough and still fit her waist, is sometimes a challenge. Although, who am I kidding since Lillie's Nana has bought the majority of her wardrobe since we got Lillie!! Ok, I guess I don't really need an excuse for wanting to try a new project.

So I wanted to start small and simple. Here's the result.

The first skirt took only a day, so I thought, why not try one more that is slightly different. Lillie's nana sent her a skirt a little while ago that Lillie LOVES! It looked simple enough, so I gave it a try.

It's far from being store quality, but Lillie loves it and that's all that matters.

Keola and I have noticed a considerable change in the weather. I think summer is over and Fall is finally upon us.

Yeah for cooler weather!!

Along with nice weather, we have seen a difference in our landscape...deer sitings!

Here's a family of 3 that we've seen a couple of times.
Same family, different day

More deer

And yet more deer

And, yes, more deer!

Wait...more deer

You guessed it

The most remarkable thing about these pictures are that, other than the next 4, all the above pictures were taken on different days and different times!!!

These last 4 happened to be the very first time we saw deer outside, and of course the novelty of it all produced 4 pictures of the same deer having his lunch.

It's a good thing we have the zoom feature on our camera. These deer wouldn't have it any other way. At the slightest noise, they look up and take the running stance.

Recently, Lillie has been into playing playing in the front yard/driveway. She has a whole collection of rocks, seeds from the trees, and sticks. Most recently, she has been loving her umbrella. Lillie has seen people walking around outside when it's not raining and asks why. When she found out people not only use their umbrellas to keep them dry from rain, but also "cool" from the sun, that was it. She now loves playing out front with her umbrella to keep her cool. She is so funny because I often see her just roaming around outside, like a princess surveying her kingdom.

So, many moons ago, you might remember we took a trip to Kirtland, OH for youth conference. While we were there we took a detour to visit Boyd's Bears. Here's Miss Tinkerbell (Lillie's name for her), that Lillie made while there.

The night before, Lillie slept with her braids still in her hair, which she NEVER does because she doesn't like the feel of it. She must have been REALLY tired. Anyway, she got up the next morning, we took the braids out, and voila! a new do!
Here's the cute girl with her cow

HAPPY 4th of July!!

For the 4th, we celebrated by visiting the young women at girls camp!! Their camp started on Monday and ended this morning. Last night, we all headed up to the camp to meet with them and Keola and the stake president did a short fireside. Later we ate dinner and Lillie and I headed to a hotel to hang out while Keola attended a testimony meeting with the girls. The campsite was about 2 hours from home, so we decided to spend the night at a hotel closer to the campsite.

Here's Lillie ready to go with her backpack full of essentials...dolls.

The girls camp was close to the Pennsylvania border, so we decided to take a little detour this morning and visit Boyd's Bear Country. I first heard of Boyd's Bears from Keola's grandma who has a collection of these cute stuffed teddy bears. We heard their factory was in Pennsylvania, so we took the 25 min. detour to visit.

We pulled in and saw this massive, 4 story red barn. We were excited and so was Lillie. Can't you tell from the picture!! ha ha Somehow, Lillie had too much fun at girls camp and was VERY tired this morning (sorry no pictures of camp. I totally forgot to bring out the camera).

The Sakai's celebrating the 4th at bear country...Take 1

Take 2

We came across this section of decorated gourds (like a hula ipu). They were SO cute all painted up and decorated. Meet the Santa gourds.

Keola trying to get back to his roots

The gourd tree

The black cat gourds

I actually thought this was really pretty. They cut leaf shapes out of the gourd and had a light inside shining through. Here are some with the light on and some with the light off so that you can see the cutouts.

And last, but not least, the cats and dogs.

Lillie couldn't get over how big this snowman was. If you look closely, there's a band-aid on the nose. I guess the stitches ripped in the sewing.

Bears, bears, and...

MORE bears. All dressed in super cute outfits.

On one floor they had a puppy adoption center

They also had a baby bear nursery. I'm not sure what Keola was doing...you decide.

And best of all, Boyd's Super Duper Bear Factory. We couldn't resist when Lillie kept asking if she could take one home.

Lillie is not usually a stuffed animal kind of girl, but looking at them all day must have gotten to her. When she saw this cow, she couldn't part with her. Why a cow?? Not sure. She's never shown interest in cows before. Maybe it's the book Aunty Berta just sent her.

First step, get a hardhat and time card for your work day in the bear factory.

Step 2: Choose some magic "beans" to stuff your animal. Different colors represented things like friendship, love, courage, and laughter.

Step 3: Have the women help stuff the beans in the belly.

Pour all the beans in.
Then shake, shake, shake it in the belly.
Step 4: Find a cute outfitI'm not sure why we don't have a "finished" picture of Lillie with her doll, but she absolutely loves this cow...Miss Cow or more formally known as Miss Tinkerbell. We'll have to take more pictures of her with Miss Tinkerbell later.

After the 2 hour drive home, we relaxed, ate dinner, and watched the fireworks on TV. It was a nice relaxing 4th of July. I hope you all had a fun holiday!!