4-H Fair Time!!!

I love the summertime and one of the main events that I look forward to every year at this time is the County 4-H fair. 4-H and fairgoing have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. In fact, its been a part of my family for generations. My Pop-Pop grew up on, and then ran, a farm his entire life and he was in 4-H way back when he was a youngin' in the 1930s. My mom and Aunt Brenda were both very active in 4-H as well. I can remember, being probably only 5 or 6 years old, going to the Martin County fair where my grandparents lived and watching Pop-Pop's farm hands show their livestock. It seemed like so much fun and I couldn't wait for the day when I was old enough. Showing livestock was always my favorite part of 4-H. The excitement for next years fair always began in the previous fall when it was time to walk the fields with Pop-Pop to pick out my steers (thats a bull thats been castrated) for the next fair. It was always a tough chore to get them cared for before heading off to school (since I am NOT a morning person and back then it took me an hour to do my hair!) Even harder was the process of working with steers to make sure my tiny little body could control the 1500 pound animal at the end of my rope! Here are a couple of pictures of me in my first years of 4-H showing my dairy heifers...

Me with my first heifer, Audrey, Spring 1986


Showing Audrey in the 4-H show arena, July 1986



Frustrated with a heifer that wouldn't stop mooing!, July 1987


I could type on and on with my own 4-H stories, but the main reason for this blog is to brag about my nieces who continue the family 4-H legacy. Granted, they have no desire to show animals (although I think they might be interested in showing one of my cats next year!). But they definately work hard at their projects and, in my opinion, excel in all that they do. I am very proud of their hard work this year! Audra entered projects in foods, sewing for fun, and child development and Brooke did projects in fine arts and clothing. Being too old for 4-H, I live vicariously through my nieces, so their excitements and disappointments are mine as well. I am proud to say that this year Brooke received Reserve Champion for construction of her outfit! (someday we'll beat that Riley Larkin!!!). The girls got blue ribbons in all of their other projects, except for Audras cake, which was lopsided, and got a red ribbon. (it still tasted yummy, though!)

Here are some pictures of preparations for this years fair:

Brooke constructing her hoodie; sewing slowly drove her crazy!!


Audra puts the finishing touches on her monkey.


Audra finds out that just before naptime is NOT the best time to work on her child development project!


Brooke's finished outfit. Don't you just love the perfectly matching shoes??


Brooke's fashion revue competition.


Way to go Brooke and Audra!
Only 6 more years until Addison can be in 4-H!!

Until next blog,
Jen

60th birthday party

Hope you all enjoy my new layout...I was getting bored with the old one.

As stated in my previous post, Sunday was my mom's 60th birthday and we took her for a surprise party at a downtown Steakhouse. We were able to not only keep the location a secret, but also snuck in my Aunt Brenda (her sister) and family as a surprise too. It was a fun time. We did miss my cousin Amy who understandably could not attend as it was also her birthday on that very day! The room we had was the "wine cellar room" and was very neat. The room itself was just outside the actual wine cellar, with glass walls so you could see in it as you ate. We were also able to go in to the cellar and walk around; they had an $8,000 bottle of wine there!! Yikes! We also found out that this room was "Peyton Mannings room", since he frequently brought large parties to the restaurant and dined there. So, my brother was quite excited to be eating in the same room that Peyton had!
Here are some pics...

The party! Sorry Uncle Buck, I cut your head off! Buck, Brooksie, Addy, Audra, Keith, Cheryl (my mom), Brian, Uncle Larry, Aunt Brenda, Johnny (my cousin), Stephanie (my cousin-in-law):



Hmmm...what shall I order??


Happy Birthday to you...


Keith really loves the cake!


Addy with Nana's new lipgloss on from Aunt Brenda


(L-R) Audra, Mom, Brooksie, Buck


(L-R) Johnny, Stephanie, Mom, Aunt Brenda, Uncle Larry


(L-R) Addison, Mom, Keith, Jennifer, Brian (picture is blurry)


Uncle Buck sitting in Peytons chair


One last thing...I'm bragging...my Uncle Larry and Aunt Brenda are taking a strong lead in their couples golfing league...for what I believe is two weeks in a row! I don't really understand all the golfing jargon, but its pretty impressive considering my Aunt Brenda has had a strong aversion for playing any games for many years now! Way to go FAB and FUL!!!

Until next blog,
Jen

Happy 60th Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's 60th birthday! We're going somewhere tonite for dinner to celebrate, but since its a secret, I can't divulge the information yet! Here's a slide slow I put together...might be a little long for some, so I won't be offended if you don't watch it all. I wanted to put music to it, but this site doesn't let you insert your own music and theirs was no good. So, hum your favorite song while you watch it! Also, sometimes the alignment of the slide show and the frame are off; if that happens, just keep hitting the "refresh" button until it looks right.

Until next Blog,
Jen

Birthdays!

Since my last post we celebrated three birthdays: Audras, Aunt Beths, and Americas!! I can't believe my youngest niece is TWELVE!!!! Do you know how old that makes me???? Thats right!! 25!! We had a fun time at Chuck E. Cheese's...and thanks to some accidents on the part of the restaurant we got lots of extra balloons and an extra pizza! Here are some pics, as well as a movie of Uncle Buck that is currently the funniest thing in the world, according to Addy and Keith.





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Right after Audras bday was Aunt Beths (Brians sister). Her boyfriend, Kyle, and her friend, Dyan, threw a surprise party for her. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pics because that was also the weekend that Brian and I got the stomach flu. Thankfully she is coming back to visit this weekend, so hopefully no one will be throwing up and we can visit with her a little better! But I must say, I really think Aunt Beth is doing well with overcoming her "hates"(cats, vomit, and grasshoppers). She tolerates our cats and she barely even blinked when we mentioned that we were throwing up. Next thing you know, she'll be catching grasshoppers with Addison and Keith!

For our nations birthday, we did manage to see a local fireworks display on the 3rd of July. It was a little disapointing, since one firework was shot off every 3 minutes, on the average. The "finale" consisted of simply shooting off two fireworks at the same time, then a pregnant pause, followed by two more simultaneous fireworks. So, needless to say, the bombs WERE bursting in the air, but I'm assuming it wasn't exactly as it was back in 1776.
The celebration on the Fourth was fun; we attended our local kids parade where everyone was encouraged to enter the "decorate your wagon or bike in red,white, and blue" contest. So, Brian and I worked two late nights getting our wagon decorated. Oh, sure, the kids did help out a little bit; Addison stuck some stars and stickers on it while Keith twirled some pinwheels. But it certainly was more of a parental effort this year. Our work paid off though...we won "best decorated" and received a prize of...(drumroll, please!)...a pail full of red, white and blue CHOKABLE candy for the kids! Woo-hoo! We also supposedly got our picture in the paper but since we don't subscribe to it, I'm not sure how it came out!! Here are some pics....


Until next blog,
Jen