County fair

Another county fair has come and gone. Whew! We really enjoy and look forward to fair week but it is sooooo time consuming and it just about wears us all out by the time it's done!

All four pigs made weight this year so we had pigs in both Mini Jr. Livestock and regular Jr. Livestock. We did opt not to do showmanship this year so we had a few less events to participate in, and more importantly, to sit through! 

All the pigs/kids did well. 

Soren's pig, Jane, took 4th place in her section. He got a large blue ribbon. She sold for $2.25 a lb.

Sadie's pig, Nelly, earned a red ribbon. This didn't surprise us because she was thinner and lighter than the other pigs. She sold for $2.25 a lb as well.

Hannah's pig, Bessie, took 3rd place in her section. She was thisclose to being in the Star Class(championship round). She sold for $2.75 a lb.

Cambria's pig, Maximus, took 2nd place in his section and went on to Star Class. A first for us. He sold for $2.50 a lb. She ended up with a large purple ribbon.

The little boys had a blast jumping and sliding and jousting in the bouncy houses and standing in line for hours to get a balloon animal or sword or gun, and looking at the chickens, rabbits, and ducks.

Hannah and I spent quite a bit of time helping with Cheer/drill fundraising, selling concessions. Curtis did concessions and monitored the bouncy houses as fundraisers for football and track. Cambria sold concessions to help raise money for track/XC.

Then there were movie nights, game nights, and rodeos and concerts. It was a full, busy 9 days!! Good thing we have a year to rest up before the next one!

Good things:

Cooler weather for the fair...

Sadie getting a blue ribbon for her crocheted bear purse...

Not having to go feed pigs 2x a day anymore....

Sadie(looking good in her white shirt and 4H patch!) and Tilly

Zoe C., Ane, and Cambria 

Cambria and Maximus (black pig in the center)

Trying to get Maximus to move around the arena

What a nice looking pig!

Hannah and Bessie

Notice she has her left hand behind her back? She was the only one who tried to look serious about this...

Sadie and Nelly, the spotted Wonder!

Sadie didn't too badly for her first time in the arena.

Use that candy cane pig stick!

Keep the pig moving!!

Sadie jousting with a friend while Charles did laps

My cute littlest boy! James, age 2 1/2

Sadie and Soren going at it. This was the biggest hit with the kids.

Way to go Charles! You got her!

Sort of a mismatch....

Taking out those brotherly quarrels the fun way! 

Utah vs. BYU?

Charles, age 4 1/2

Soren, age 7 1/2

James, age 2 1/2 & Hannah 14

Charles getting brave on the BIG slide.

Soren showing off his blue ribbon. Somehow I failed to get a picture of him with his pig.  :(

I was blind but now I see...

When I took Hannah in for her physical for Cheer/Drill the PA mentioned that she ought to see the eye dr. I was not surprised since Curtis and I have both needed and worn corrective lenses since we were young. We went to Blanding to have Dr. Kirk check her eyes and we found out that she has astigmatism. She won't need to wear glasses all the time but they will definitely help her in school and watching games and movies and driving(when that time comes).

Hannah in her really cool new 'glasses'! Just kidding.

Actually, she found a pair that she really likes that are cute on her (they were almost all cute on her) and in 7-10 days she will be seeing better than she's seen in a long time.

Edited-Hannah's new eyewear. Very cute!!

Good Things: Modern technology that allows us to correct our eyesight...

Rain!...

Health Insurance to help cover the cost of medical expenses....

Answered prayers....

We are always in a drought in SE Utah, it seems. In my memories it seems as if we always had to be careful with our water usage. I remember being baptized in orange well water in 1975. I remember people putting bricks in their toilet tanks to use less water. I remember being allowed to use one square of toilet paper and not flushing until 3-5 people had used the toilet. I remember that praying for 'moisture' has always been encouraged and done.

This year has been no exception. We have had a very dry year, unfortunately for the farmers. But in early to mid July the monsoons started rolling in every afternoon. We have had fairly good amounts of 'moisture'. But on Saturday and again today our prayers for 'moisture' were answered in astonishing ways. We have had significant amounts of rainfall and because we've had good rains previously the ground is saturated so today we got some pretty good runoff.

Today the water poured down Pinyon drive, across Abajo Dr and down our driveway. Most of it went to the SW, across the driveway, washing it out in places, creating gullies and then flowed off the west end. But some of it went down through the chicken coop and south through the ponderosas and off the hill. And some of it was diverted to the north end of our house, flooding flower beds and the doorstep on the NE side of the house.

I ventured out to snap some pictures and the mud about took me down.

The kids of course had to get out and dance and play in it, since its such a rare  occurrence here. We feel so thankful!

Good Things:

A house to keep me dry...

The smell of rain...

A loving Father who hears and answers our prayers...

A river runs through it......

Its creating a Grand Canyon beneath 'Fred'

Carving washes in the driveway and creating gravel bars in my flower beds

It started to go into the garage! Thankfully the rain stopped about then.

Flood plain in the back yard. 

Our chickens have a sweet set up, including a pool!

the whole back yard was soggy and shimmering

SE corner of the back yard, another swimming hole.

waterfalls in the wood piles

We've never had flood irrigation before

I think there are plants under all that water...

Horseshoe falls in the driveway...

Where it all came from....down Pinyon and into our yard.

Too bad it didn't wash away all the junk in the yard.

And away it goes...

James and Charles

Cambria, James, Charles and Hannah

Molkahi

Just recording for posterity and history the manner in which James drinks his 'molkahi'. He always has to use his left hand to play with the hair on the crown of his head.

We love his Hawaiian word for milk. We love his hair twirling. We love just about everything about this boy! What a funny sweet boy!

Good Things:

One last baby boy to love....

No more bottles soon!

No more diapers soon!!

Jr livestock

This is our 3rd year doing Jr. Livestock. The first year Ford and Cambria did pigs through the FFA. They did all the care and feeding and we relied an awful lot on Mr. Walker to help since we as parents had no idea what to do. 

Last year Cambria, Hannah and Sadie all raised pigs. Cambria's didn't make weight so she showed Sadie's and Hannah showed hers, again through FFA.

This year all the girls and Soren wanted to raise a pig so we went through 4H. We've had the pigs since April and they are very good, nice pigs this year. They are all big enough this year as well, in fact some are almost too big!

One of the requirements for Jr. Livestock is doing a couple of hours of service at the fairgrounds. We went early on the Saturday morning when the fair began and spent time helping spread the wood shavings in the show arena, mucking out the steer stalls and pulling weeds. It was fun to watch them do a bit of work and realize it wouldn't kill them!

Jr. Livestock has been good for our family. It has helped the kids learn to care for animals. It has caused them to do hard things like doing showmanship when they'd rather not. It has made them stretch themselves a bit further than is  comfortable. Kind of hard to smile at the buyers when in the sale ring. :) It has been a source of income for them as well. I imagine we'll be involved for many years to come.

Sadie bucking a bale of wood shavings...

Hannah, raking the fluff around...

Cambria

Hannah and her trusty rake...

Soren trying to shovel it, which is like trying to shovel cotton balls.

Cambria, Soren and Sadie

Soren, Cambria, Sadie, and Hannah

Making ourselves useful, getting those service hours in...

Midday getaway...

looking across to the towers on Abajo Peak.  11,000 ft.

Summer in the Abajos. Best time of the year to be here. Curtis and I finally got away for a couple of hours and took the four wheeler ride I've been longing for. We drove up to the saddle again and on down the other side a ways. We wanted to see if the rain had brought out any more flowers and we were not disappointed! We took Subway sandwiches with us and had a little picnic at the Robertson Pasture trailhead. We had beautiful views, a nice lunch, and good conversation uninterrupted by kids. Win!

I think this needs to happen more often.

The beautiful wildflowers in an alpine meadow.

Robertson Pasture Trailhead. We had to race the rain back down the mt.

More wildflowers.

Oh, how I love going up the mt and getting into the cool aspens.
We have two four-wheelers but it's hard to have a conversation if I ride my own,
so I choose to ride with Curtis.  Not a hard choice!

Good Things:

A date with my sweetheart!

Beating the rainclouds to Monticello. Barely!

Being 5 minutes from the mts. 

Hamburger Rock

On this summer day I wanted to do something on our bucket list, to get out of the regular routine at home. I looked toward the mountains but the clouds up there discouraged me. Then I looked just to the north of the mountains and realized that clouds in that direction meant a good day to go to Canyonlands. So we quickly packed ourselves a picnic lunch of sorts and headed north. We decided to check out Hamburger Rock. I remember playing here a couple of times when I was a kid and thought that my kids would have a blast. It has changed a little, nicer picnic areas and a vault toilet, but the easy-to-climb-on rocks are still the same. We spent a couple of hours climbing, running and jumping before heading back up the mountain to home.

James, Soren, Sadie(hiding-surprise!), and Charles eating turkey, cheese, bread and veggies.

An easy place to climb on...

"This spot is just right for me!"-Soren

"King? of the World!"-Sadie

You want me to crawl in there?-James

"Think I'll just stand."

Sadie was a good help with the boys..keeping James in sight

Whether James wanted the help or not!

Sitting on the top with the Abajos in the background.

Sadie and James

Soren found his own rock

Running across the top as far as they can

a bit of shade is nice when the sun comes out.