My Lifesong: Iowa State Fair 2013

Just one short week ago, I was off having fun at the Iowa State Fair with my mom. I love the fair and I was so happy that I got to go again this year after having to miss a few years due to being a "grown up". The day went WAY too fast, but I think we got some of the important stuff crossed off our to-do list while we were there... We both agreed we could have spent several days there and still found enough to do, though!

We made it to the fairgrounds a little before noon and not even five seconds after walking in, we saw the Big Green Egg tent. I happen to be married to a so called "Egghead" who loves his Big Green Egg grill. So we took a gander around their tent and listened to the salespeople talk up the Egg and all of the Eggcessories before going on our way. They do have a lot to offer and I do love all that Trent cooks for us on our Egg, so it may or may not have convinced me a little more that we should upgrade our medium sized egg to a large... someday ;)

After stopping to fill out some forms to try to win a new car (fingers crossed!), we made our way to get some lunch and then find a seat at the Bill Riley Talent Show. My mom had a corn dog and lemonade. I had some cheese curds and a Dr. Pepper! Yum!

We watched a majority of the sprouts competition which included some singers, dancers, a piano player, and a hula hoop performer girl to name a few. We decided that if we wanted to make good use of the time we had that day, we'd better get on our way and miss out on the Senior Division performances.

After we left the Bill Riley Stage, we made our way to check out the livestock. We didn't stop to look at anything much, but got to see some pigs, cows, an ostrich and a llama among other things as we walked to the back to meet up with some people who were there from our area to show their cattle. And, of course, we took their picture as they were reading The Observer.

Cows

Our next stop was the Agriculture building. But on the way in we had to stop by the outside of the building to locate Grandma and Grandpa Jons' brick.

The view from the top of the stairs in the Ag Building

Probably my favorite thing about the Agriculture building is walking around the upper area and checking out the real live infomercials. Of course, the Quick n Brite stand was there. Unfortunately, we didn't feel like we had time to stop and listen to the schpeel (especially since I've heard it quite a few times before) but it sure does make me happy to think about standing there and watching it do its magic!

We DID stop and watch the end of the Vitamix show and got to have a sample of the smoothie they were making. Totally worth it! Someday when I'm grown up, I think I'll get one of those.

As we finished walking through the building, I figured out how tall I was...

...we saw the Butter Cow and the other Butter sculptures...

...and finished it up with some ice cream on our way out! (I LOVE ice cream!)

It was then time for us to head over to the Varied Industries building for our time slot volunteering to package meals for Meals from the Heartland.

We ended up at a table with 8 other women. At each table, the same process was done to package the meals. First a small pack of vitamins is put into a plastic bag, followed by a scoop of rice, one of soy flour, and a smaller one of dried vegetables. The bag is then weighed and sealed and then packaged, 36 bags to a box. The process was actually quite fun. It was easy and it was definitely something I would do again. I can imagine that it would be a lot of fun to do it with a group of 10 people you know and can just enjoy spending time with them while doing something for a good cause! During that one day, about 1,500 volunteers packaged 255,096 meals that will go to feed children throughout the Midwest as well as overseas.

The bins of the different stuff we put into the bags

After our volunteering was done, we made our way through the Varied Industries building, picking up a lot of catalogs and business cards and posters and sporting schedules... you know - the good stuff!

(I had to grab a flier for the Sam Clovis for U.S. Senate campaign from the Republicans' table. The guy at the table laughed at me when I took a picture of them but I just smiled back and said that Sam was my advisor in college and told him I thought Sam was awesome. He thought I was cool then... or something...)

By the time we got through all of the aisles of the Varied Industries building, it was about time for us to head to the concert. We made a quick trip to the car to drop off all our goodies from the day and then made one more stop for some supper before heading into the concert. For supper I had a corn dog this time and my mom had a tenderloin sandwich. Both good choices again!

Trent told me to have a turkey leg for him at the fair...
There was absolutely no room in my belly for that,
so I just took a picture of a sign instead :)
It's the thought that counts, right?

And then IT WAS TIME! Time to head into the Grandstand for the Jeremy Camp and Casting Crowns concert. We were lucky enough to be in row 5 and were able to experience the great concert from up close! And just like the rest of the day, the concert went way too fast! It was absolutely awesome, though. I can say without a doubt that they are two of my favorite artists and I could listen to their songs all day long. Their songs say so many things that I think relate directly to my life and have such great messages. Being there with thousands of other people, singing together and praising God and worshiping together really fills up my heart.

(Lots of pictures... I couldn't pick which ones to use, so you get to see them all!)

Both Jeremy Camp and Casting Crowns not only had great messages in their songs but they also spoke great messages to the crowd. Their encouragement to us all as Christians was absolutely uplifting and I honestly believe everyone had to have left there ready and pumped to spread the greatness of God through their words and actions.

Not only was it a great experience to have to be there with all those thousands of people, singing together and praising the Lord, it was a great experience to share with my mom. I'm so happy that I got to spend the day with her and top it off with the amazing concert. It was a perfect day! There really is nothing that compares to the Iowa State Fair!