52 Dates: #15 - Clark County Fair

Thursday night we drove to Logandale for the Clark County Fair.  We had a great time perusing the booths and displays, eating fair food (which always smells way better than it tastes) and listening to the snippets of hilarious conversations all around us.  Let's be honest, the fair is ripe with weirdos and prime for people watching!  Some of my favorite overheard conversations were:

1) An angry gray-haired woman shouting to her husband across a booth about the how she would not give her business to one particular food stand because, "The stupid people at the Texas Twister wouldn't stop talking!"

2) Walking past a stage where a "Cinderella Pageant" was being held for teenage girls and hearing the announcer read with blaring patriotic music in the background, "Our next contestant would like to be known for the purity of her heart and will be performing a recitation of The Declaration of Independence!"

3) The red-eyed, red-faced guy totally sloshed in front of a drink stand shouting at the top of his lungs, "WE'VE GOT BEEEEEEEEEEEER HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!"  When Burke laughed and complimented him on his original form of advertising he puffed right up and nodded, "Damn straight."  Cracked me up.

4) The comment from the guy at our food stand who commanded us to keep having kids, since there were "too many people around here who should not be having kids."

Many, many laughs.

Burke and I aren't big ride people, but it was fun to walk through the crowds and enjoy the pretty pastel colors on the tents and rides.  As we were winding down, we remembered that the Hughes cousins had entered pigs at the fair and we went searching for the livestock pavilion to see if we could find them.  Suddenly, as we turned the corner from the rides, little Charity Hughes (Burke's cousin Payton's 4 year old daughter) was walking towards us.  She came and gave us hugs and when we asked where her Mom was she promised her mom knew right where she was and tried to slip around us to the rides.  I asked her to show us where her family was, so she turned around and led us through a labyrinth of buildings and pig pens until we found them.  I was shocked at how far she had come on her own as we later learned she had been determined to go on more rides, whether her parents liked it or not!  Payton had just noticed that Charity was gone and was starting to panic when we showed up with her - talk about perfect timing.  I shudder to think what could happen to a lost little four-year-old girl wandering the fair at night.  So grateful Heavenly Father put us in the right place at the right time.

Here's cute Garrett (Payton's son who is always so sweet with Daphne) with his massive pig.  I don't know if any of you folks have been around this many animals before, but I sure had not.  I couldn't get over how big the pigs were and the whole concept of being able to tell which was a better breed than the other by jaw shape and other features - they all looked basically the same to me!  Did you know that pigs only roll in mud because they don't sweat and they have to cool themselves down?  Neither did I.  Burke also taught me that pigs are actually one of the cleanest animals you can own as they will always go to the bathroom in the same corner their entire life and prefer a clean pen to a messy one.  Who knew!

Daphne and I were absolutely thrilled with all the baby animals to observe.  I had never seen a baby goat before and let me tell you, they are stinkin' cute!  Plus, after seeing the bunnies, I wanted to get one of those fluffy fur balls for Daphne so bad!  When I get in one of these kicks ("Let's get a puppy!") Burke always reminds me of all the aspects of taking care of a pet and I remember how grossed out I am by animal fur in my house, on the same floor my baby is crawling on.  Ew.  No thanks.  We will visit people with pets instead. :)

It was a great date night and the 30 minute drive home passed in a flash as we chatted the whole way home.  Stay tuned for the story of how Burke got scammed by the Carnies!