The Donut Shop (Montpelier, ID)

This is the Donut Shop - they also sell corn, hamburgers, smoked chicken and fresh cut fries;

but everybody knows this is where you can come to buy "fair donuts".

This booth is run by the cheerleaders, the cheer coaches, and the cheerleader's parents.

Linda got to visit this little hot edifice for 6-7 hours a day.

She alternated between the morning shift: 10 - 4:30 and the night shift: 4 - 10:30.

When a cheerleader had the night shift, a parent had to come to work with them!

Since Darin and Jakob went camping - that was me!

Linda worked the counter or the donut line - I worked the donut line.

For the donuts, we had 2 frying pans and 2 deep/commercial fryers.

During busy hours we were using them ALL.!

We went through cases and cases of powdered sugar for the glaze -

and over 17,000 refrigerator biscuits for the donuts!

I used to like these little guys - not so much anymore.....

Fair Parade and Entries in Montpelier

We had FAIR WEEK!!! We always love it when we are in town to participate!

We were pretty inspired by this giant-sized grocery cart ... you've got to understand we don't get a whole lot of variety in our parades - mostly trucks pulling flat beds, horses, and people walking.

Linda was able to march in her first parade as a Bear Lake High School Cheerleader!

She did really well on the dance they did (especially considering she had to learn it quickly, and on her own, because she was gone when the girls learned it in cheer camp).

Jakob went camping with the Young Men on the day of check-in; so, I confiscated all the pictures I could find and entered them! (He never lets me enter any of his art.) Anyway, this little beauty won the Best of Show! Hooray!

This one didn't win anything but a participant, but it is one of my favorite ones!

Jakob was mad that I entered this one because it was just one of his "really rough, quick sketches", but I think it is uproarious! Check out the little skateboard going down his throat!

All of these won a prize too! Yea Jakob!

Sarah had a whole box of stuff she had made throughout the year to enter. Now for you mothers who haven't had a lot of practice with entering fair items. You always look for a category with less competition to assign your entry to. For instance, Sarah made a little lighthouse out of a cup - I could have entered this under a miscellaneous craft, but there were thousands of kids entering under that category, so we put it under "garden decor"! Get it!

Sarah scored with about $30.00 prize money this year! The money is why she does this. She says that it is the only way a kid her age can make any money - and be appreciated for her creativity at the same time. I agree!

From left to right: Sarah's kite, Sarah's paper doll, and Linda's owl - Linda entered this guy, and the rabbit and octopus below. She got $7.00. She was good with that!

We loved visiting the different venues at the fair. We visited the dog show, some music shows, the hypnotist, the animals sheds on the grounds, and, THE DONUT SHOP (see next blog).

Island Park

Mom set up a super fun vacation for us at Island Park!

We got to stay in 2 really fun little cabins that Uncle Joel and Aunt Linda own.

They were in a beautiful area with their own private yard and outside eating area.

Because our family fit just right, we got a cabin all to ourselves!

(Actually, we adopted Stokton Smith to fill the bed that Linda was to have;

she couldn't come because she had missed a lot of cheer practice while she was in New Jersey.)

The girls LOVED the loft and Darin and I had a comfy bed on the main floor!

We went over to check out Big Springs and ran into a Ranger giving the "low down" on bears!

My family all loved the presentation and thought it was very interesting.

The Ranger was very well versed and actually pretty entertaining - as far as Rangers go.

What he didn't know was that there was a grizzly sneaking up right behind him!!!!

We had fun looking off Big Springs bridge and finding the BIG fish that peruse there. There weren't as many fish as we have seen on previous visits; we think they come back to Big Springs during certain times of the year to spawn.

We did, however see some great wildlife! This moose was grazing just downstream from the bridge.

There were many baby ducklings swimming about hoping for bread crumbs,

and an elusive muskrat munching on watercress.

We aren't sure who these guys are! They just showed up at the cabin one afternoon!

We visited the beautiful Mesa Falls! What a sight!

At the Mesa Falls Visitor Center there was a fun little nature center full of animal furs!

My kids thought they were wonderful ... especially Sarah!

Later, when we came out of the Visitors Center, Sarah spotted a mother bat, with her baby clutched to her belly, flying down from the rafters, to the grass. As we watched, the mother got nervous and left the baby, hanging on to this piece of grass, as she climbed down and hid among the base of the grasses. The baby just clung there. We left so the mother would not be afraid to climb back up and get it. It was SUPER tiny - We had never seen a mother and baby bat before!

Very COOL!

We took a short hike up to Johnny Sack's cabin. This cabin was hand hewn by a bachelor in the early 1900's. The man was only 4' 11" and lived with his dog. He did some of the most amazing contrast work with bark and wood I have ever seen. He made beds, chests, tables, and chairs all winter and then sold them to make his living. His cabin had amazing "log cabin" designs in the fir floor, light fixtures that had been made with up to 76 different pieces of wood. His designs were intricate and his skill was evident through the whole cabin. It is on the National Historical Registry now and people can go through and admire his work. By the way, his dog died in the winter, so he buried his beloved friend in the basement!

We didn't have time to raft the river, but the kids had lots of fun playing in it!

Jakob found a few killer-skipping-rocks too!

A man was there with his dog and Maggie Smith and Sarah had fun trying to make the dog return a stick to them. In the picture below the dog took it to the middle of them, and they both grabbed an end! It was beautiful country!

That evening we had a marvelous time going to the Mack's Inn Playhouse.

We didn't know Whitney was part of the cast until we arrived!

Surprise!

As we waited Emily and Jakob posed in the "cut-out"

while Megan and Sarah rested on the log fence.

The show was called "Home School Musical" a parody of "High School Musical".

It was really well done and absolutely hilarious! We are still laughing about it 4 days later!

During one scene they came into the audience and grabbed Darin by the arm and said

"We need you." They pulled him up on stage and had him join their "demonstration".

Anybody that knows Darin will know that he was REALLY hating it at this point

- he is not a "lime light" kind of personality.

Anyway, one of the actors said to Darin, "Give us the CHEER!" He had no idea what cheer they wanted, so he tried to play along and be a good sport by yelling, "Whoa Baby!" The actor, said, "Not that cheer!" and told him another one to say. It was funny. They asked his name and when he told them it was Darin, they said, "That will NEVER do!" and they made up a name that was more prominent from the Bible - and maybe referring to his stature a little - they called him "Goliath".

It was really funny and Darin was a good sport on his part.

We had a great time and have great memories from our trip to Island Park!