Too Old for Parties

It's sad. I now have a 14-year old, and he's too old for parties.

Being the party-planning mom that I am, I began asking Logan months ago what he wanted to do for his birthday party this year. None of my suggestions were enticing him, and he wasn't coming up with anything on his own. (His sister picks her next party theme the day after her birthday.) So in frustration during another brainstorming session I suggested that we just forget a party and David and I would take him to dinner and a movie. Finally I got some excitement from an idea! So that's what we did.

On the Saturday night before Logan's birthday we had Stauney babysit and we took him out. He picked Marie Callendar's for dinner (so he could get pie with dinner). With an entire menu to choose from, anything he wanted, no price limit for a change, what does Logan get to eat? A hamburger. Teenagers. Then we went to see The Fly Boys. This was an independent movie filmed in St. George that I had heard about on the KSL Movie Show. (Two pre-teen boys stow away in an airplane owned by a mob boss.) It was only in select theaters for a certain amount of time. There were only David, Logan and myself and one other couple with 2 kids in the entire theater for the movie. WE LOVED IT! Everyone else was missing out. It was funny, adventureous, exciting, and heartwarming, and I highly recommend it to those over 13. It was PG-13 for some language and intense excitement that had me screaming in the theater.

The next day was Sunday, and Logan's birthday. He was ordained to the office of a Teacher at church that day. Logan picked lasagna for dinner, and a cheesecake for his birthday cake which I bought at Sam's Club. We ate, he opened presents, we ate cake, and that was it! No balloons, no cute party plates, no invitations, no custom cake masterpiece. I really didn't have much to do for his birthday except make dinner. I think I liked it! Logan was perfectly content, we had a great time spending some time with just Logan, and the other kids are thinking that dinner and a movie with mom and dad might be funner than a party. But, being the party-planning mom that I am, I won't encourage it, until they get too old for parties too.

Top Nine List

I seem to always be about a month behind on my posts. We went to the Utah State Fair in September, but I just have to post this.

First, I have to give you a little goat lesson. As we sit in the barn for the goat shows at the State Fair, multitudes of students, groups and families come through to see the animals. We soon found out, the first time there, that many don't know anything about farm animals. We always get asked questions about the goats, but one question we get 98% of the time, "What happened to their ears." The LaMancha breed of goats have little stubby ears. It actually looks like they have none. And most questions and comments revolve around their ears - or lack of.

Here's a picture of a LaMancha.

Most people think of Nubians, with Roman noses and long floppy ears, when they think of goats, and probably don't even realize that there are other breeds.

Anyway, enough goat lesson, here's what I wanted to post:

The Top Nine List of Funny Comments We Heard About Goats While Sitting at the Utah State Fair.
(Sorry, I only had nine, not ten.)

#9 - Abt. 15 year-old girl: "I have to take pictures of all their butts! They're so weird."

#8 - Abt. 9 year-old boy spots brown LaMancha across the barn: "Hey look! They have a llama."

#7 - Abt. 6 year-old girl: "Mommy, do these lay eggs?"

#6 - Abt. 15 year-old boy: "Hey, a Billy Goat!"
Owner: "That ain't no Billy Goat. Look underneath her, see the udder?"
15 y.o.b.: Looks confused at word 'udder'. "But it has little horns."
Owner: "They all have horns."

#5 - Grown man: "So, are these the goats?"

#4 - Mentally challenged man points to a blank white banner hanging from the ceiling and says confidently, "See that? It says 'goats'." Other mentally challenged adults in group look at banner, nod approvingly, and walk away. Only one man stays behind and looks at blank banner confused. Steps around to look at other side of blank banner. Finally shrugs his shoulders and walks off to join the others.

#3 - Abt. 10 year-old boy to his classmates looking at a LaMancha: "Yep, they cut the ears off. They use animal parts to make things."

#2 - Abt. 8 year-old girl referring to the teats: "See those? You have to touch those and push them up in to get milk out of them. They do it to cows too."
Her classmate's response: "Eww!"

#1 - Grown man with wife and four young children: Confidently, "The boys have ears, the girls don't."


Logan and Stauney raise Oberhasli's. Here's a picture of them at the State Fair. They did really well in the 4-H show with Logan getting 4th and Stauney getting 1st in their age groups in Showmanship. Then Stauney's goat Penelope got 2nd place Jr. Kid, and Logan's goat got 2nd place Dry Yearling, and Jr. Reserve Champion.
In the open show Penelope got 1st place Jr. Kid, and Ruby got 3rd place Dry Yearling. I won't go into detail of what that all means, but it's really good!
(Stauney is actually showing Clover in this picture, and if you read my previous goat posts of why she no longer owns Clover, I'll just add that despite her recent cosmetic surgery for which we dubbed her 'FrankenClover', she hilariously won 1st place in the same show she got disqualified in last year!)

And finally, I had to show a picture of these awesome tigers that were in a show at the fair. They are from the Marcan Tiger Preserve Tigers of India show. They were so beautiful!

The State Fair is a lot of work and effort, but very entertaining and rewarding in the end.