Hog Shows, Bomb Threats and a Mess of Confusion…

Once the steer show was finished we arrived home after 10pm, ate supper, got everything ready for the next morning, tucked everyone into bed, talked to an excited Sawyer and finally fell into bed ourselves, it was way past midnight.  Thankfully, Mark ended up taking the older kids back into the fairgrounds by 6:30 am to do another full day of showing hogs while I stayed home and let the very tired little boys get a little extra sleep.  I started thinking that maybe I got the better end of that deal until I had to get the very tired little boys up, dressed, fed and out the door!  By this time I knew it was going to be a very.long.day.!  I apologise to anyone around us these last couple of days, as I am pretty sure that as one little boy would quit crying another would start due to no naps, no shedule, and  very little sleep combined with very long days.  However, we did make it to the hog show to watch Maddie show Sizzle.  She too did a very good job pushing, leading and showing her pig.

Maddie and Sizzle...

 

 

Sizzle was sort of a naughty little piggy for showmanship and was more interested in fighting with the other pigs!  Maddie still received a blue for her efforts and calm demeanor and was very happy with that.  Then we waited for the market class.  Maddie’s was in the second market class which had just came out and the kids were busy showing their pigs when a sheriff walked up to the announcers stand and asked for everyone’s attention. 

At first I thought maybe they found a lost kid or maybe someone was lost, but…he ended up asking everyone in the barn to calmly stand up and leave the area as they had found a breifcase laying in a suspicious spot and they were considering it a bomb threat!  Oh my!  Now trying to find all 7 kids!

Thankfully Maddie was showing and the majority of the kids were sitting around the arena watching their sister.  I yelled at Mark that I had the little kids and that he needed to grab Maddie out from behind the fencing surrounding the show ring and that we would meet up outside.  Sawyer was not with us, but at a very mature 16, I was not really too concerned at that point about where Sawyer was and knew he would be sensible.  As we headed out the door though I noticed Garrett was not with us.   Panic!  I handed a sleeping Zayne off to Tori and told her to take the rest of the kids with my mom and Mark’s dad to a safe area and that I was going to go find Garrett.  We had a couple of “friends” sitting with us that decided that right then would be a good time for them to get going and came up to tell me good bye.  I said that was great but that Garrett was missing and I would really appreciate their help in finding him.  They told me that they were sure he had to be out there somewhere.and.left.!  What?????  Who leaves in a mass of confusion when a 7 year old kid is missing?  (I am generally pretty laid back but this I just don’t understand.)

At this point I still had not met up with Mark and decided to go back into the building to look for Garrett.  The whole time I am thinking  this can not be for real and then immediately thought but that’s what everyone thinks before something bad happens?  Right?  So as everyone was pouring out of the building I was trying to get back in.  Thankfully everyone stayed calm and collected.  When I got inside, the building was pretty empty and I was told I needed to get out, so back out I went.  At this point I was more worried about the possibility of someone snatching him-which is always one of my big fears at busy crowded spots like that anyway.  You parents out there know what I am talking about and know that feeling in the pit of your stomach if you have ever lost one of your children.  A minute feels like hours.  I walked back and forth through the crowd calling his name and finally found him!  He said when he heard that there was a bomb in the building he just ran out as fast as he could.  Poor kid can you imagine what he was thinking the whole time?

Comotion...

After that we all met back up and still had not seen Sawyer and decided to go find him-at this point momma bird was wanting all the chicks back in the nest! ;0)  IYKWIM?  So Mark and I walked all around the building, which is not small, asking all of his friends if they had seen him.  No such luck.  What in the world?    We knew he would probably guess something was up if he walked back to an empty barn and were not too worried about him being in the building.  So after going all the way around the building and not finding Sawyer and checking on the other kids I went to where all the food stands were and found him with a big ole burger.  He didn’t even know what was going on!

Once they deemed the briefcase safe (it only had a fairbook in it)  Maddie was able to finish up her market class.  At this point I was juggling a cranky Zayne boy and Mark was dealing with a cranky Teigen  we and we were not able to devote even part of our attention on Maddie.  After I kinda had Zayne settled I looked out in the ring and could only see Sizzle with no Maddie.  “Where in the world did she go?”  I pointed Sizzle out to Mark and asked him, then the judge started calling her number, 95?  95?  95?  “Where is she?”  I think I was about ready to have a nervous breakdown!  I looked up at my mom when she yelled at me and she pointed toward a corner with a whole bunch of pigs in it and yelled and said she was on the ground.  Mark dropped Teigen and we both ran over there.  Poor Maddie was standing there bawling and one of the ring helpers was talking to her.  He sort of turned her around and pointed out her pig to her and she hobbled over and finished the class.  One of the other ring helpers told me she ended up getting stuck between three pigs fighting and the fence, was then knocked down and was trampled up on.   She ended up with a big purple bruise on her hip and was pretty scratched up down her leg.  She ended up receiving a blue ribbon, which at that point she didn’t even care about!  Earlier she had been giving some thought to maybe doing a lamb next year, I think this event helped settle that decision!  Today she is still pretty sore but she’s such a trooper and did such a good job yesterday even with all the comotion!

 

Moving Sizzle...

 

Showing Sizzle...

Today we are all wore out physically and I am wore out emotionally as well,  I think we are all glad that fair is about done for the year!  Especiallly me!  I am so proud of how well my kids did and how they handled themselves.  I thought it was really neat that the judge commented aloud how he appreciated how calm  and relaxed of showmen the kids were.  Today we have a bunch of laundry to get caught up in and need to get ready for Family Camp this weekend, which ought to be a wonderful time of fellowship.  Just what is needed after this long, drawn out week.  Sawyer and Tori are also going to be on separate pig wrestling teams tomorrow, which ought to be lots of fun for the kids to participate in as well as watch.

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