It's over

...and I am SO GLAD!!!



State Fair is a fun time, but also incredibly hectic. Add to the mix, we had sold a steer calf to a girl in Medina County, and their steer show was Wednesday night.



So Todd loaded up the pig Tuesday night, got home about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, and I headed out with the kids and an incredibly packed full Durango to meet the camper rental dude by 8:15 a.m.



And then I had to feed said pig several times on Wednesday, and deal with weighing him in at the fair late Wednesday afternoon.



Todd did come down to the State Fair early Thursday a.m. where I was very happy to let him take over the feeding of "Tyler Jr." can you tell which kid named the pig??? Lol....

We started off showing Showmanship on Friday:

the "bling bling girls". What you don't see in this picture is their bling belts, which did sparkle quite a bit in the ring!

Waiting in the holding pen to enter the ring for showmanship. Not sure where she gets the intensity from...

Total seriousness....

Staring the judge down....the idea in showmanship is to keep your eye on the judge or on your pig...she has mastered that part very well.

Not sure where the chewing on her toungue came from....must be all the concentration!

She ended up 5th out of 23 kids in the 11 year old class. Which she was THRILLED with.

Then she had to show market on saturday where she didn't do so hot - 12th place. But....she had fun and enjoyed herself.

On Sunday was the Open Barrow Show. And we let Tyler show "Tyler Jr." in that class. He is going to be quite the showman I think when he is actually old enough to be in 4-h and have market animal projects.

He had fun...didn't place (they only place the top 5 in the Open class and there were 16 pigs in his class)....but he enjoyed it.

And Tyler Jr. was getting tired after 3 days of showing....so he wanted to get the heck out of that ring!

The market pigs are all terminal, so Tyler and Jessie had to say goodbye to him on Sunday afternoon. It was not easy for them but....as they both said, they have other animals at home that now they can devote their time to working with them!

And we get a break next year from showing at the State Fair!!!! It's an expensive week (when you include the cost of the pig and feeding said pig, plus your entry fees, camper rental, parking fees and gate entry fees not to mention your food and drinks), and Jessie and Tyler both said they would rather go to the Medina County Fair and show their heifers and steers in the Open Show.....so I think we are going to do that next year instead of the State Fair.

I'm sure we will go back to showing at the State Fair, but both of the kids want to wait until Tyler is actually in 4-H, and then take either their steers or their feeder calves to the State Fair. Which is a major bummer only from the standpoint that everything you haul down there (including the animals) you have to haul home at the end of the week. We shall see....

All in all? The trip was a success and we got home Sunday night in time to wash and dry her steer, wean all 7 calves, and the kids are busy halter breaking them - which they are doing a fantastic job with so far!

Just waiting on the trailer to load up tyler jr. To go to state fair.....

Cherry Vanilla

I FINALLY finished my Cherry Vanilla sweater. I don't know why it took me almost a year but....it is done and I love it!



I did have some very blond moments with this sweater...particularly with the lace pattern, which meant I riped it out and started over I think about 5 times. Of course though, once the light bulb finally went off in my head - I didn't need the pattern at all for the lace panels. And I should have made it a couple inches longer but....I was so ready to be done that I'm cool with it the length it is.




It's a little large - I knit the 36/38 but at the point where it meets in the front and closes with a hook and eye - I placed that part a little too low, and I'm thinking that perhaps I should have knit the 34/36 so it would have fit better in the shoulders and bust.




But I've worn it several times and I'm very, very happy with it! This pattern has a short and long version, and I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe, I'll make either the short version or a longer version here at some point.




Details:
Pattern: Cherry Vanilla by Thea Coleman of Baby Cocktails
Size: 36/38
Yarn: Berroco Comfort DK
Mods: none that I can remember......







For some reason, blogger is not letting me comment on any of your posts...it is saying i do not have an "active account"...any ideas why that is? I have IE 9.....thinking of switching to Google Chrome....any thoughts?

4-H still projects

Jessie got a little over ambitious this year with her still projects for 4-H. She knew she wanted to take a sewing project and the scrapbooking project, but she also wanted to do the photography level 1 project. She must be a little OCD like her mother (ahem....).


Todd's and my ONLY requirement was....all these projects had to be done before she left for 4-h camp on July 2nd. She got home on the 6th and judging was on the 12th. She didn't quite meet that deadline, but 3 hours of work last Sunday and she was done.


The actual judging was Tuesday night....


Loungewear - the fleece robe was what was judged. She got an "Excellent."


Scrapbooking - another "Excellent"



Photography Level 1 - she got an "Outstanding". The judge was a photographer for one of our local papers, and she came out of the judging with Jessie and said to me..... "your daughter took some amazing photographs. I really hope you consider letting her put them in the Open Youth Photography division at the County Fair."



Needless to say, she was on cloud 9 the rest of the evening. When we got home, she picked out 4 pictures that she wants to exhibit at the county fair this year:




Tonight, they had a "Style Review Show" where she gets to model her robe and her scrapbook and find out if she received an Outstanding with either her robe or her scrapbook, and see if she made it to State Fair with any of her projects. I knew she would really love to go to State Fair, but I will dread it 100%.

We just got home - and she got an "Outstanding" with her scrapbooking and qualified for State Fair in both Photography and Scrapbooking. Wow. So we will be down in Columbus a lot. She will go down on the 28th for scrapbooking, the 30th for photography (which is also the day I have to work at our big conference - so Todd just may have to take her down there) and then the 3rd through the 7th (or is it the 8th - Sunday?) with her pig.

She is definitely on cloud 9 - although in true OCD form, she wants me to find out if she can edit either of her projects - she has thought of ways to make them "better."

Here we go.......

Summer......

It's been a busy summer here so far this year.....I don't see it changing, and I think I've finally got my rhythm and I'm cool with how hectic it seems at times:)








Tyler marched in the Memorial Day parade with his boy scout troop:








Jessie has spent countless hours bonding and working with Tank:

I'm not sure how she will deal with selling him in September, but....we'll cross that bridge in September I guess....

And she spends almost every evening walking her State Fair pigs.

This one ("Chasin") will more than likely not make it to State Fair....he is a little large right now....but he will taste good in our freezer!

And if your pig won't walk at first.....you simply get behind him and PUSH!

The first night was rather interesting, but "Tyler Jr." is learning the ropes and starting to walk pretty well for the kids.

We've since graduated to both kids out in the yard with both pigs. I haven't had a chance to take a picture of both of them out there together, but hopefully one of these nights. It's pretty comical, which is keeping things light around here.....

I do have some knitting and quilting projects finished up - hopefully I'll be back in a couple of days with some photos (if I can convince my photographer to take some decent shots!)

Have a good one!
Kris

2011 calves......

This year's calf crop is probably our best calf crop so far......



Which, technically, is not much of an accomplishment seeing as how last year was the first year we really tried to pay attention to who was in heat and who was not in heat so we could A.I. as many cows as we possibly could.....




And this year, we have 3 kids who will be showing our feeder calves at the fair.




It's made it interesting as far as the picking out of calves. Obviously, Jessie gets 1st pick. And this year, we let her determine which calf she will show. Todd, Jason and I gave her our opinions (which we did only after she asked for them) but ultimately, we let her make the choice.


She picked the blue roan calf. Todd and I are a little leery of him - not sure he can walk as good as the red calf (who you can sort of see in the 1st picture) but....it's time she start figuring out which calves are good and which calves are bad.....


Tyler's heifer (the white one - lucky) is growing and looking pretty good. We have been informed that he (and he alone) will be showing her this winter as a shorthorn heifer. On a good day (when he is not fighting with his sister) - he agrees that Jessie can show Lucky at the fair as one of her heifers.....we won't mention the bad days.....



I just keep looking at all that white... yes, she is SOLID white....not grey....not tan but WHITE...I think this is payback time for me from all the years of showing a white horse that my parents (and I) spent keeping him clean and stain free.....

5th grade graduation

The kids' last day of school was last Friday. And it was a very busy 2 days.

The 5th graders put on a talent show last Thursday. Can I just say how much I love this group of girls? 5 of them were on the basketball team together, and all 6 of them are just all around good girls who are good friends.

Then on Friday, they had the 5th grade graduation ceremony. Times have really changed since I went from elementary school to middle school. Back then it was a here-you-go-see-you-later. Now? It's all about the ceremony and awards.


They do make the 5th graders dress up - dresses for girls and khaki's/dress pants with button down or collared shirts for boys. Jessie finally picked this dress pattern, after 3 unsuccessful shopping trips:



We found the batik fabric at JoAnn's, and with a 40% off coupon, I think I ended up paying $6 or $7 for the dress. We won't mention that I procrastinated on doing the hem until Thursday night when we got home from Tyler's boy scout awards ceremony at 10:30.....nope, not I:)


All in all, both kids have had great years at our elementary school, and I'm sad to see her move on to the middle schoool. But - she has a great class of kids so I know all will be good next year:)

Now if I could just figure out where the years have gone that she is 11 already and headed off to middle school....I would be all set!