and All Play

Once August was over, I felt like I could finally breathe again. We have taken full advantage of every non-scheduled moment and played. Labor Day weekend was a great way to start the fun. On Friday, Aug 31, despite a torrential downpour of rain, we suited up and went to the Irish Festival, which has become an annual tradition for us. It was at the Irish Fest 2 years ago that I finally felt like I might be able to survive living here in KC, and enjoy it. We had a blast! Due to the rain, there were not many people there but music was playing and vendors were selling Scotch Eggs and Meat Pasties. We found a dry place to sit under a big tent and revelled in the moment of relaxation and happiness (while sipping freshly squeezed lemonade, of course).

                   This is the best I could get in the dark:

On Labor Day, Sept 3, we went to the annual Pops in the Park concert. It's a free concert put on by the Kansas City Symphony. The weather wasn't too hot and the symphony played some of our favorite pieces. It was a perfect night!

Last weekend we kept the fun up by going to the Renaissance Festival. We spent 5 hours wandering through the huge village, partaking of medieval chamber music, people watching (people really have too much fun dressing up!) , trying on masks, watching jousting duels (to the death!) and learning how to shoot a crossbow. A seriously awesome way to spend the day!

Check out the royalty:

This is no little pansy fair, this is a real treat. The village is a permanent fixture with buildings, pavilions, gardens, fountains of running water all situated on meandering paths between tall trees. You can almost make yourself believe that you are really 600 years in the past, except that it's too clean and doesn't stink. But don't worry, they make up for that inside the bathrooms. No expense is spared to make sure you have an authentic experience. Nothing like the smell of roughage and sewer run-off and stepping over who-knows-what to really convince you that you are in a medieval village. ;)

Alexander had fun playing the carnival games, even winning me some "champion beads" in a crossbow game. I wore them proudly the rest of the day. His longbow skills need a little work though. ;)

                   Winning me some champion beads :)

                   A serious longbow for a serious archer

                   Check out the burly man with his Thor's hammer

                   Training with a real weapon

                   The Victorious Crossbow Champion!

All Work

I think I spent all of August being exhausted. I had the two family weddings, Tanner & Karianne's and Bryce & BreeAnna's (sorry, I left my camera home so I have to get pics from my mom). I spent the majority of my time in Utah working my tail-end off. We flew for Tanner's but drove for Bryce's and when I got home, still dreary eyed from the 19 hr drive, everyone asked how my vacation was. I unashamedly announced that I had had no vacation.

The next week on August 28, I undertook my first real Relief Society activity since getting the calling to RS 2nd counselor. We conducted a Sisterly Swap, where sisters donated stuff they no longer needed and took stuff that they did need. For refreshments I created a Popcorn Bar complete with 5 different flavors of popcorn: regular Butter & Salt, Cinnamon & Sugar, Kettle Corn, Masala Curry, and Rosemary Parmesan. It looked and tasted amazing! (PS, I'm addicted to popcorn!)

The very next night, on August 29 & 30, I presented a training course entitled "Intro to Becoming an Event Planner". I spent 6 hours discussing the ins and outs of the business and found myself absurdly missing it. Successfully presenting that course was probably one of the most amazing experiences of my life, by the way. It was another reminder that I can do hard things and that I did actually know what I was doing when I was planning events. The entire time I felt the Holy Ghost there, reminding me of experiences, tips and details that I had forgotten in the years since running my business. I only had 21 slides and no notes. The attendees gave me flying colors and are planning on enrolling in my next course, "Successful Event Planning". It will be 16 hours of intense details and will be held in October. To be honest, despite my previous success, I'm terrified.

The course description I was given:

Thankfully, August is over :)