Sorry most of these were taken with the camera phone but I still wanted a post to remember the occasion.
Sawyer with his steer Dodge at the "Unwind"
Oreo
Cookies
Rodeo
Sawyer looks thrilled?
Garrett and Teigen with Oreo
Maddie with Cookies
Tori with Rodeo
What a bad time to have a broken camera!
Sawyer and his Steer~Dodge~
Mark was able to get some shots with his phone camera though and a video clip of him winning Reserve. We’ll share later!
Last night's winter sunset
Hopefully back! Finally at 17 weeks pregnant I think I am finally turning the corner to feeling better. The pit that was in the bottom of my stomach has finally left and I no longer feel like I need to sleep every waking hour of the day! I have always just bounced back at about 13 weeks so for me the extra month being sick was somewhat discouraging and I was afraid I might feel this way for the entire pregnancy. For the last few weeks I have also been able to feel little flutters and kicks of this new person inside of me, which is always so exciting and makes everything so much more bearable. Next week I start my weekly progesterone shots to help ward off PROM (premature rupture of membranes) and I will be about my half way point since I seem to deliver a bit early each time. I can’t believe how fast it all seems to be going by, but October and November were pretty much a fog to me so maybe that’s why it seem so fleeting? I can hardly believe that Christmas is only 2 weeks away!
This week has been spent shoveling out of “two months of mom not feeling good” and getting back into a normal schedule (whatever that is or was) and a getting a good deep clean on the house. We were even blessed by a sweet lady from church dropping by and delivering a wonderful beef stew with rolls and cookies. The best part was that she surprised me with a beautiful shawl that she had croshayed from our sheep’s yarn! It is really gorgeous and I feel very spoiled! I will get a picture of it up sometime soon.
Sawyer picked up his fair steer for this coming year-he’s a bit wild and they had quite the time getting him to the scale for weigh in Saturday. But everyone lived and he is settling in quite nice now.
That’s about all that has been happening around here, other than trying to stay warm! Hope your week is going well!
After the lamb show was finished up we were able to go home for a couple of hours and catch a much needed nap and then we were back to the fairgrounds before 5pm to watch Sawyer and Royal in the steer show. Sawyer worked so hard this year and we all spent many-an-hour worrying over this critter, from whether or not he would make weight to how wild he was going to be at the show. They both did so well!
Sawyer before the show watching the Senior group go...
Finally, in the ring...
I'm not sure who was more nervous at this point?
Talking to the judge...
Lining up...
The market class...
Awaiting the judge's decision...
All finished up and talking to Papa...
Wow! This was such a great experience for Sawyer! Showing an animal is so dependant upon that animal that it can really make things interesting for the show-person. If the animal is having an off night due to being in a strange place with lots of different/loud noises, different tasting water that they don’t like, lots of different people, different schedules, being around new animals, etc it can really be a challenge. However, Royal worked so well with Sawyer Tuesday night and for showmanship Sawyer and Royal were called back to the finals which completely surprised Sawyer. He said he never dreamed of being called back. The judge complemented Sawyer on how well fitted and cleaned Royal was, on on how knowledgeable Sawyer was and how much he appreciated Sawyer’s calm demeanor. In showmanship they only awarded grand and reserve, which he did not win but placed in the top 6 and Sawyer was very pleased with that! For market Sawyer was also called back for the final rounds and placed 9th out of the 34 steers there and received a purple ribbon for being one of the top 12! He did so good and worked extremely hard. We are so proud of him! He too is hooked on showing and is looking forward to next year.
Today we spent the day getting ready. It’s the day where you hurry up and wait. This was Zayne before lunch today…
Tired and cranky little boys...
Maddie's pig being weighed in...
Scrubbing her pig...
Tori washing her lamb...
Hanging out with her lamb...
Slick shearing....
Sawyer waiting his turn at the scale...
Sawyer's friend showing him how to fit his steer...
A little shave...
Tori and Romeo
Royal all ready!
He walks like a poodle on a string...sort of!
~*~
He needs to work a bit more on setting him up...
Notice the smile?...
On Sunday Sawyer took him to the fair grounds to have his hooves trimmed and to get him weighed. He weighed in at 1115 lbs so he will definitely make weight, which is a huge relief to all of us. :0) Sawyer is now actually looking forward to fair!
Royal's Rampage...
He went on a bit of a rampage today…
Royal chasing the sheep...
Maybe we need to use Royal next time we round up sheep…
Finally caught and being lead properly...
On Tuesday we all filed into our van and headed east of the valley to our first stop on our groups 4H project tour. Once there a small portable scale was unloaded and people got busy trying to convince an ornery pig to jump into this scale. Once that was accomplished and a weight was determined we talked about what should happen to finish the animal in the next 50 days to get it to it’s ideal weight of 240 to 260lbs. Then we all jumped back into our cars and drove off to the next house to weigh the next animal. This is how the evening went and we all had a most enjoyable time. It was really neat to see how everyone’s projects where going and finishing out and I think the kids even learned quite a bit! We seen quite a few lambs, a couple pigs and only two steers. We even had a nice break for some treats half way through.
A pretty canola field that we passed by...
Mark was even able to show me a few of the fields he is helping manage, like the above canola field.
Our house was the last one on the stop and of course the first thing our kids had to show everyone were the baby goats that got lots of oohs and aahs! Then the weighing started…
Sawyer and Maddie trying to push her hogs up into the scale...
Maddie’s pigs were none to cooperative and didn’t like being told where to go and let us know by their extremely loud squeals.
Oops! He decided that the scale was not the place for him...
After a bit of convincing and help from one of the dads both pigs where weighed…
Mr Krantz determining the weight...
Tori and Romeo waiting their turn...
Romeo being weighed...
Well Royal isn’t quite a cow, but I didn’t think steer kisses sounded as good! Anyway Royal is Sawyer’s fair steer and is a very friendly critter, always looking for scratches and treats. He ought to prove to be quite an experience for Sawyer. Since entering 4-H Sawyer has only taken hogs to the fair and this year he thought he could handle the extra challenge and extra cost of a steer. He’s quickly finding out that his steer will require a lot more one-on-one than his pig and that he has to be able to move fast, cause when a steer steps on your foot it leaves a much larger bruise! Royal ought to be bomb proof (hopefully)by fair with all the activity going on up at the barn, right now Dugur sleeps just outside his stall in the barn, the kids are constantly running back and forth to check for lambs and can tend to be noisey and the goats, sheep and roosters just add to the chorus of noise up there. Our gate at the moment is part of a livestock panel (it’s the only thing tall enough to keep the goats out) that is floppy and sproingy and Royal isn’t bothered by any of it. So hopefully no run-away steers at the fair! Do you remember the old Fischer Price barns that when the door opened it mooed? He sounds JUST like that, it’s too funny. Anyway here’s a picture Sawyer took the other day of Royal…
Any one want a smooch?
Egg Count:
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