I love Sparks!

It's no secret that I always wanted to end up back in my home town of Sparks, but there's nothing quite like being away for four years to really make you appreciate a place. There are so many things to do here. Seriously, you never run out with the mountains, river, lakes, and events, there is a myriad of choices. Last week (or maybe two weeks ago, but we won't talk about the blog slacking that's been going on) we went to a Reno Aces game. It was really fun, but the best part was watching Xiana. Apparently baseball is in her blood because she never stopped cheering the entire game. She squealed with delight whenever the mascot came near. She stood up and yelled, "hi guy" repetitively. Also, there was a few guys in front of us that were trying to distract the pitcher by yelling, "fooooourty eighhhhhht" in low voices which she immediately started mimicking. She bummed peanuts off of the guys behind us and managed to eat a couple dozen. She went strong until 10:30 when it ended. She was so exhausted and was laying her head on my lap while still clapping her hands. She has so much spirit.
Next comes the rib cook off. For those of you who don't know, this is the single most gluttonous event in the world. In fact, the paper said that over the weekend 2 tons of ribs are consumed in Sparks, NV. Pretty disgusting right? Well, it is if you look at it that way, but if you just go and try all kinds of ribs and sauces, you won't think it's disgusting until at least your 4th rack.
Nicholas loves this even so much that he and his family drove from the bay area, stayed the night, and then turned around and went right back. They are die hard!
In addition to all the ribs we consumed, we also needed snow cones, onion rings, funnel cakes, and fried zucchini.
So, Xiana is TINY and will probably not be tall enough to ride carnival rides until she is 12. Fortunately for us, as long as an adult rides with her, they aren't running a very tight ship at this particular carnival. Riding the dragon and spinning as fast as we could with all of Nic and Karla's kids and Xiana was probably the highlight of my day. We went so fast and I'm pretty sure not one of us stopped giggling and screaming the entire time.
An added bonus was that since I HAD to ride with her, nobody charged me for the rides (which is so awesome because I really wanted to go on them!)
Xiana is fearless and such a big girl. The whole time we rode she yelled, "hey guys, look at me, I flying!"
To finish off an eventful day, we had to let the kids play in the fountains...
Even if it was a little cold....
Jared doesn't seem to mind a bit...

except when he found himself in the middle of the fountains right when they turned on. There was a moment of panic, but never fear... daddy to the rescue!