September 2, 2008

This weekend was Labor Day Weekend! We did not have much planned as we wanted to save money and potty train Maia. However, neither of our expectations panned out.

Saturday, we went to the Farmer's Market. We spent a little less than our average $60 and got most of our produce for the week. The peaches we bought were phenomenol! Then, we were off to Wheeler Farm where Ben planned on walking around with Maia and Kona while Ashley donated blood at Red Cross. This was Ashley's first time donating blood and it took a little longer than she expected (< 1.5 hours). The actual blood draw took no time, but answering questions and waiting for an available seat took time. She thought ahead and brought Maia's cereal to munch on and left as soon as they finished. Ben and Maia had a less positive experience. The chickens had pecked each other bald, a rabbit was very sick, there were rats infesting the sheep pen and climbing all over the sheep, and there were dying ducks in the pond (they were actually twitching, possibly due to poisoning). They were very happy to see Ashley when she finally arrived. Ben took over the driving at that point and Ashley was still feeling a-ok, until she started reading the post-donating info. She suddenly became carsick. This never happens to her and we assumed it was from the lack of blood. She continued to get more and more nauseous. As we were about to pull onto our street, she groaned, "Uhhhh, I am going to pass out." And, she did. Well, it was more of a twitching, staring straight ahead kind of passout. Perhaps, she got into the same poison as the ducks? Anyway, she came too as Ben turned off the car. In the words of Ben, "it is a donation that you get to keep feeling all day long."

Sunday, we had a lazy, laundry morning. We put Maia into her tiny panties and tried the potty thing. She never made it, although, she would tell us about it afterward. And she peed on the floor about 7 times, so that is pretty good. We would just finish cleaning up one pee, when another started. Later, we met Pat and Ruth and their kids at Oktoberfest. You may be wondering, "but it is not October." You are correct, Oktoberfest in Utah starts in August and runs through October. It is Snowbird's way of getting people into the canyon before the ski season. We left feeling unimpressed. There was only one food vendor, normal,everyday beers, and no authentic or unauthentic german items to buy! We still had a nice time though. We ate brats and saukraut, watched the yodeling contest, and got a balloon for Maia. Not to mention that we got very lucky in our parking with the only valet spot available, YES! We then, went to Rick and Joan's house because Rick wanted to visit with Maia. They and fun playing and we tried to leave before the big storm came in.

Monday, we played Carcazone with Casey and Jennie all day. We had a lot of fun, but we need the expansions.