First Year 4-H'er

Where do I even begin. I mean, let's face it...I'm a FAIR GEEK. I've loved the 4-H fair from my very first year in 4-H. It's a family tradition. We've already discussed the whole eat crow/showing pigs/showing cows/showing pigs/showing.............chickens? Who knows what next year holds, to be honest. But this year. This year is a GEM of a memory that we will not soon forget.

In typical fair fashion....it rained alot. Was hotter than you know where. Some tempers lost (thankfully, they were found again). Some kids who avoided THEIR chores by winning their parents over with "but I was helping my friend clean their pens out". We each had at least one of our favorite must have fair foods. We walked the building in the peak of the day to catch some A/C. We saw every exhibit offered on the grounds at least 4 times, and our favorite ones 5 times.

In new fair fashion....we camped. We had tack and animals and a place at the grounds to call "home base". Our kids used "phones" of their own to communicate with us. (This was glorious, FYI). We had a show day and a kid in the auction for the first time. (this was weird). I cried on auction night (while child did not cry). We both felt more pride than we knew was even possible on show day. (What do you know, hard work really DOES pay off!)

So we spent what felt like the better part of the week before the Fair, at the grounds -- between prep, my responsibility as an AA member, moving the camper up, taking tack up and prepping our pen and then Friday being the first day of the Fair. But, there was a great entertainer, Levi Riggs Friday night AND Fireworks. Worth it.

 Saturday we moved the calves in, and tension was high -- Jason isn't a fan of NOT knowing what's going on, and he leans pretty heavy on me to support hm when he doesn't know -- which is great until I also do not know how things work and life gets a little sticky. Add in a 3 year old who wasn't listening, cows who were in a new place and extra frisky, pouring rain and standing water -- SATURDAY WAS FUN! BUT, once things started to settle down -- we made it. We even took time to go find Emmalyn's mini-4-H poster, which she did fantastic on!

By Saturday evening, we were all smiles and we swished through the next few days relatively unscathed. Minus the occasional "where are our kids, and why is Colton not concerned about his own project" comments....we did fine. By Tuesday we enjoyed watching our friends in the swine show, but also worked to get our own animals prepped and ready for show.

 Show day. Also, Keaton's 4th birthday. NBD. We've got this. Thankfully, Grandma Mandy & Grandpa Kent stole Keaton for a "special night" so that we could focus on Colton and the cows Wednesday morning. The struggle was that Tuesday evening, Rizzo started to bloat, and we were nervous he would a.) die or b.) die. So that was fun added stress, but thankfully, after Jason showed some oil down his throat, he started to unwind a bit and chill out. Jason was convinced that since he was uncomfortable he'd be a real pistol for Colton -- not to mention the nights of baseball over 4-H were starting to loom and we were nervous everyone (cows and kids and adults) would all behave on showday. We chose to just stay out of it, and let Colton take the reigns - he was confident and excited and things went perfectly!! Keaton and Mamps & Paps showed up just before we started prepping Candy for the Heifer show, and joined in the fun. This little cowboy was on cloud nine being the birthday boy on Colton's showday -- what a treat for a little brother!

 Colton took Candy out to show, and was just awesome. He was in the class with only one other Maintainer Heifer, and he came in 2nd, but received Reserve Champion Maintainer Heifer. He could not have smiled any larger. Neither could we. Candy behaved, Colton was confident -- SO. MUCH. FUN.

Talk about a confidence booster going into the Steer show! At this point, we didn't even care how we did -- the morning took the cake. Little did we know, a proud parent moment would almost outshine the banner moment of the morning. Colton helped prep Rizzo and led him into the ring with ease. Rizzo was a total champ and so well behaved.

And then the unexpected happened. One of the other steers got away, and though this usually happens year after year, when your 9 year old child is in the ring with a 4-1500lb steers, you get a stitch nervous. Not Colton.

The video is hard to see -- but when the steer got away, the ring help tried to step in and get ahold of it. No luck. As it circled past the last calf, which kicked at the loose calf, Colton reaches down, grabs the halter of the loose calf and not only holds Rizzo perfectly still, grabs ahold of the loose calf too, and just totally manhandles the situation. At age 9. Jason and I both just kind of laughed like, "What the heck just happened? What a stud" and the kid behind us goes, "that kid is going to be the talk of the fair -- that was awesome!"  He, again, grinned so big.

Emmalyn even tried her hand at showing with the help of our babysitter/friend Kamrin. She did a great job walking this little calf into the arena and keeping her still throughout the mini-lead show!

I cannot say enough --  WHAT.A. GREAT. DAY. My heart was overflowing with pride and then we celebrated with family and friends at the camper that our littlest sweetie was now FOUR. Super day.

Thursday was spent cleaning up, moving out, and getting things ready for the auction. We all dreaded this, though, perhaps Colton and I more than anyone. He tried to be tough, and had a pretty good breakdown considering R

izzo leaving that afternoon, but he held himself together in the show arena. A true showman. He sold Rizzo, said his goodbyes and off he went. I'm pretty sure I bawled the whole way home -- perhaps not because Rizzo was gone (though we hated to lose him) but perhaps because it meant that was a wrap on a really, really, really great week.

Colton and Emmalyn, I hope you always know how proud of you your Dad and I are. You were great kids, hard workers, respectful and responsible. You were excellent showman/sports in the arena and super friends to all the new kids you met throughout the week. Perhaps THIS is why the White County Fair is so near and dear to my heart. For memories like these that will never be erased! I can't wait to show cows pigs chickens sheep  cows next year!