Cache County Fair 2017

We spent an awesome 4 Days at the Fair and had a great time!

Three of the kids chickens won blue ribbons and one Second place.

 We talked by Dad into entering some of his model airplanes in an exhibit and the collection won a blue ribbon!

 Daphne was determined for me to enter the stockings that took me forever and a day to cross stitch!

I won Grand Champion!

This will tell a great story down the generations! 

Kaleb's grasshopper that he welded won Grand Champion in 4H and is currently at the State Fair in Salt Lake City. Daphne's famous ribbon cookies won 2nd place and some of her artwork won First. Both Victoria and Kaleb won several first place ribbons and Grand Champions for their art work this year. It is always so exciting to walk through the exhibits and admire the talent that is in this little valley.

For 4H this year we had everyone put their dog posters along the fence so that the community can see them. It was a great idea! Plus the kids loved having their dogs showcased to the public.

 All year Victoria was twisting her brother's arm to come to 4H so that he could show Sammy.

Sam did awesome and really enjoyed doing it.
I think the dogs really like the attention....at least Henry and Sam do...and Victoria....and Kaleb!

 All the kids made their own Showmanship leashes this year.

They all turned out awesome.

Henry won Grand Champion in Showmanship and Sammy won Reserve (which is runner up to Grand Champion) They were the old men of the group being 9 and 10 years old.

 Unfortunately, Henry had some weird allergic reaction that started early in the week with swollen ear flaps. On the second day of the Fair he broke out in hives on his face, and his nose swelled up after only running one agility course. So he sacked out on a cooling mat and a portable fan to 

cool him down.

 We had to take him to an emergency vet appointment that cost an arm and a leg.

They put him on antibiotics, just in case, got a shot of steroid and allergy medicine. 

Poor guy was not comfortable and left Victoria without a dog to finish, so she got to choose a trainer dog to run. She ran Kora for the remainder of the Fair while Henry hung out at home recuperating.

Kora ran better for Victoria than for her owner Rachael!

It was kind of funny because she did so well for her. She had to give all the right voice commands and hand signals as well as keep up with her. It was a challenge.

 There were 24 kids this year. I loved that they had so much fun together. We brought a big ball that we play with our goats with. They were playing keep away from Trigger, one of the trainer dogs with K9 Unleashed. Trigger was so fast, I never did get a picture with him with the kids.

 Another trophy and ribbon to add to the collection!

 At some point through the course Sam is so happy he starts to prance.

 On one of the agility trials, Kaleb took a piece of pizza to coat his fingers with to entice Sam to run his best. It sure worked!
Sam will do anything for pepperoni!

 One of the fun things we do is set up a human obstacle course.

This kids had a blast doing it. They get really goofy and just laugh.

It's awesome!

 Sammy on the Move!

 This is a great 4H program. We couldn't ask for a better group!

 The kids always find ways to keep themselves busy.

Here Victoria and Brenden are trying to rope each other.

 This was the drive home on the second day at night.

It was an exhausting week for the dogs...for all of us....but so worth it!

Our Garden in Full Swing

 I love this time of year when our garden is in and becoming productive.

So far we have frozen 5 gallons of greenbeans,

50 + quart bags of corn,

about 15 quarts of canned pickles,

and have decreased our food bill by about 30 dollars in produce each week...

Maybe even more!

 Whenever I'm out in the yard, this guy, Lightning, comes out of nowhere to visit and hang around my feet. He's great at catching voles, mice, grasshoppers, dragon flies and pounces on just about anything from leaves to dried corn husks.

 My favorite!

 We have 8 ft corn again this year. Gotta plant the sunflowers....

 This year we have thrown grass clippings along the walk ways of the garden.

It has done an awesome job of keeping all those nasty weeds out.

 My gardening pal.

Thunder was in the corn earlier jumping up into the stalks to catch grasshoppers. 

It sounded like a deer was in the corn thrashing about....

nope, just a cat.

In fact, the deer have only been in the garden twice this year early in the summer.

What a relief to not have them mow the greenbeans down to the nubs.

Probably why we got 5 gallons this year!

Backpacking with Mom

Really I should be saying Backpacking with the Boys.

Kaleb and I have been talking about backpacking from Tony's Grove to Green Canyon since winter. I have just been wanting to get back into a place where there isn't much action going on. Really, I would love to hike deep into the mountain and then just sit for a day, listening to the birds and the breeze rustling through leaves.

Instead.....I kept up with the fast pace of the boys, hiking through the wilderness.

I have to chuckle at myself. I always walked fast when the kids were really little. They would be practically running their skinny little legs just to keep up. I told them that it's good exercise to walk fast. Well....now all of them are fast walkers, hikers, and now I am having to work harder just to keep up with them.

This is proof that I am a part of this adventure.

 We set off at 5pm on a Friday night after the boys got home from work and showered. 

It was a straight up incline to Naomi Point. These little kids and their Dad passed me up. But then again we had 35 pound packs on our backs.

 This looked like Whoville. 

I guess you could call these flowers. They actually looked like little old men with crazy hair. 

 I was taking pictures with my cell phone so they aren't super clear.

I didn't want to lug around the big camera. I've done that before and it is cumbersome.

 It felt so good to be outside at sundown.

My favorite time of day.

What do you want to do....

I don't know....

What do you want to do....

We could go to that rock......

 We ended up hiking in the dark down to High Creek Lake.

I was a little nervous because my night vision isn't as good as it used to be.

I had asked the boys if they were nervous that it was dark and when they responded with a look like

"what?" I knew that I didn't have to worry. If they aren't worried, I'm not worried.

They are way more experienced that me.

It was weird that me, their mother, was relying on my sons, ages 17 and 21 for security.

I trusted them and they never failed.

My sons are awesome!

 We woke up in this little valley with snow and the start of Spring in July.

Every square foot had wildflowers just about to bloom.

 Of course I was up earlier than the boys. The tents were drenched with dew.

It was crisp, damp, clean and absolutely beautiful.

 This guy is a well experienced coffee maker. Wish I drank coffee.

 We kept passing these Cairons. I think this one looks like a horse.

 The boys were so patient with me.

I was so excited about all the wildflowers. 

It was like being in a blooming wonderland.

 These purple stalks were sooo tall!

They came up to Jared's shoulder and he is 6ft 2in.

 I think a little mouse family lives in that hole.

It could be Tinkerbell.

 We were so tired. We had hiked 7 miles the first night, and then 8 miles the second day. 

I discovered my hiking boots aren't as good as I thought.

But Pizza for dinner with homemade dough was awesome!

 Kaleb made the meal plan and told me what to buy.

We had hamburger and veges the first night, scrambled egg (yes, we packed 6 eggs) burritos for breakfast, tuna for lunch, pizza for dinner and cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning breakfast.

 We even managed to get the top browned.

 As I was watching the boys pack up to head out I happened to notice that my Jared had all blue gear....his favorite color.

And Kaleb had all his gear in green....his favorite color.

It reminded me of when they were little and I would have color coded cups, toothbrushes, clothes etc...in their favorite colors. I guess some things you don't grow out of.

 Something went horribly wrong with our cinnamon rolls.

 We ended up making a big biscuit with cinnamon on top. It was good though.

 Something that we need to try again, maybe in the backyard though.

We hiked a total of 20 miles from Friday night to Saturday morning.

Kirk and the girls picked us up walking along side the road. 

I am so happy that I could spend time with my boys....really, I spent the weekend with men.

These guys can really know their stuff. Never once did they complain that I was too slow, or complain when I told them hold on a second, I need to rest a minute, or complain when I had to sit down and take off my shoes and socks to apply about 7 bandaids to three of my toes which I am sure that I will be losing my nails in the next month or so.

I enjoyed listening to their conversations and what their interests are in life...plans for the future.

It was a window into their young lives that I admire and love.

These guys are pretty amazing.

I trusted them when I had absolutely no idea where we were.

They even found me a couple heart rocks to add to my huge collection.

Spending three days, backpacking with a 35 pound pack, three bruised and blistered toes, hiking through wildflowers with my two sons was priceless.