Blackie

She did it!  Kaylee showed a 900 lb. heifer (and her mother didn't loose her mind in the process!)  To be honest, I was nervous up until the show started but as soon as she walked in the arena, I saw how calm she was and I got on task of video taping my girl!  Unfortunately, after 3+ hours of attempting to upload the video to blogger, it pooped out, so I only have pictures to share.

Look at those showmanship skills in action! 

Scratching the belly, eyes always on the judge.

Proud Papa with a very excited little girl!

Jesse of course had prepped her on several of the questions the judge might ask her like what breed she was showing and whether it was a boy or a girl.  As the judge made his way down the line, Jesse overheard him asking the kids what their cow's name was.  Jesse whispers to Kaylee that she'd better have a name for her cow, how 'bout Blackie?  (He's so original!)  So when the judge got to her, he asked her name, the cow's name, and the breed.  She sailed through it all like a pro!   Awesome job Kaylee!  You did GREAT!

4-H Fun

Nothing spells summer more than the 4-H Fair.  Growing up, the fair meant riding rides, playing games, and eating all the cotton candy, elephant ears, and snow cones I could eat in one week.  I'm not sure that I ever ventured over to the animal barns... come to think of it, where were the animal barns?  Ha!  My first summer down here was like culture shock... I don't think Jesse had ever ridden a ride at their county fair.  He even looked horrified when I suggested it.  To him, the fair is all about spending time in the animal barns, preferable the cattle barn.  I've come to appreciate and I really do enjoy our time spent in the animal barns, Jesse on the other hand won't budge when it comes to his opinion of the rides, and to be honest, I am a little nervous when it comes to letting the kids on some of those rides as well... I'd much rather they be parading around 800+ pound animals in the barns.  I-YIE-YIE!

As our kids are becoming more involved in 4-H, they are learning how much fun 4-H can be.  They love searching throught the Exhibit Buildings to find their projects and see what color ribbon they earned.  They also enjoy the animal barns, their favorite being the horse barn (Kaylee must have hijacked my camera last night because this morning as I was scrolling through my pictures, I found about 40 photos of a variety of horses.) 

Here's a couple pictures along with their projects/awards from this week.

Kaylee earned 2 blue ribbons for her Wallhanging and her Flower Book.

Jacob earned a ribbon for his tomato/pepper project.

(He's not old enough to participate in Pre-4H yet

so he participated in the Open Show Youth Exhibits.)

Kaylee showing her cousin Emma's goat in the Pre-4H Goat Show.

Kaylee with her medal from the Goat Show.

Stayed tune for another post in a couple of days.  Kaylee has a 900 lb. heifer she'll be showing Wednesday evening in the beef show.  Please pray for her safety and my sanity in the coming days... I get sick just thinking about it!

Wordless Wednesday

Ruff ruff!

As if life wasn't crazy enough at our house,
we decided to throw a puppy in the mix. 

The kids are so excited. 

Kaylee just wants to carry him around like a baby. (Imagine that.)

Jacob doesn't get why he won't fetch yet.

And Anden can't stop panting back at him.

Still deciding on a name...

but we're down to Mac, Bo, & Case.

Bailey (our chocolate lab) isn't quite sure what to think of him

and Matilda (our cat) has signed up for the witness protection program.

Fourth of July Fun

We had a fabulous 4th of July Holiday Weekend…

still recovering, which is why I’m just now getting stuff posted on the blog!

Spent Sunday with friends at a 4th of July party.

On Monday, we decided at the last minute to take the kids to Patoka Lake.

Jesse & the kids rode bikes, I pushed Anden in the stroller, then we had a picnic lunch, and swam all afternoon.  They loved it and are already asking when they can go back. 

For those of you who know Jesse, this will not surprise you… he hates the ocean. For starters there's not corn and soybeans at the beach so that's strike one.  He spent Spring Break of his Senior Year at Panama City, FL and said it stunk.  Literally he meant it smelled terrible… I’m thinking, you were raised on a hog farm… seriously, how bad could it have been? Then I convinced him on our honeymoon to go to the beach and (if you ask him) he had a near-death experience with a tiger shark… he says he was nearly attacked (keyword NEARLY), I say he was just bumped. Needless to say, he says he won’t go back.

So while at Patoka Lake this weekend, we witnessed a shark-sighting!

Here’s a picture to prove it!

It is real.  It was laying on the backside of the beach.  Someone must have brought it in thinking

they'd release it in the lake as a prank and it must not have made it.  How crazy is that!

Hopefully we'll still be able to get Jesse to go back to Patoka since it didn't try to gobble him up.  Ha!

Welcome Lily Catherine!!

Kaylee, Jacob, & Anden were so excited to get to meet their new baby cousin.

Lily Catherine was born on 7/2/10.

Congratulations Uncle Josh & Aunt Brooke! 

We are SO HAPPY for you guys!

Kaylee's holding her Godfather Josh to his promise of letting her come down and visit for a few hours

(all by herself I should add)

and help Aunt Brooke sometime in the next few weeks. 

That's all she talked about on the way home.

Jacob wasn't leaving before he got his little hands on her as well.

Even Anden couldn't wait to get in and see her.

He might have had a little jealously issues going on though when I was loving on her.