State Shooting Sports

Courtney shooting her compound archery bow

Jeremy shooting his air pistol

Jeremy shooting his .22 pistol

Courtney shooting her .22 pistol


The kids had another successful year at the State Shooting Sports match. It was a little hectic, but all worth it. Jeremy had Prom on Friday night and then they boarded a bus at 1 am Sat. morning to head to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City. They got back about 3 am Sunday morning and a good friend of ours picked Jeremy up along with his own son and headed to Pierre, 3 hours away, to compete in the match (Courtney and I were already in Pierre, we left after the Prom Grand March and got to Pierre about midnight Friday night). Jeremy got to Pierre about 6 am Sunday morning and slept for about an hour and 20 minutes at our hotel before having to get up to shoot his .22 pistol and air pistol. Courtney shot archery and her .22 pistol on Saturday and then air pistol on Sunday. I didn't know if Jeremy would do very well, having had very little sleep, but he shot his personal best and even qualified in .22 pistol for the National Shooting Sports match to be held in June. I am so proud of him! I am really proud of Courtney too, she moved up to senior division this year, which is a lot harder and did very well for her first year.

Prom

My son and his prom date on Friday night. His date's name is Karianne, she is a foreign exchange student from Norway. He looked so grown up and she was adorable. (click on photo for bigger view)

Contact Dilemma

Last Saturday I got my first pair of contacts. After watching a brief video and then putting the contacts in and taking them out and then putting them in again (taking several attempts and a lot of time), I was on my way home. I had my daughter with me and we giggled through the whole thing. I felt like a clumsy, uncoordinated person (and Courtney informed me that I looked like one too). I thought maybe this process would get easier (there has been one day that I did get them in with only a few attempts) but most days it takes me FOREVER to get the darn things in. One of my friends (this would be you Laurie) has a terrible time getting her contacts in so she wears her glasses most of the time (aren't you glad I shared that with everyone Laurie). She and I have had many good laughs over this but I have vowed never to make fun of her again (only about the contacts) now that I have been through it. Anyway, does it get easier or should I go back to wearing my glasses???

Pop Concert

The High School Jazz Band and High School and Middle School Choirs put on a 70's Pop Concert last night. It was soooo good. Some sang solos, some sang in groups. Most of them dressed in 70's attire. The music brought back lots of memories. Some of the songs were:
-Country Roads by John Denver
-You Light Up My Life by Debbie Boone
-Love Will Keep Us Together by Captain &Tennille
-You Can't Hurry Love by The Supremes
-RESPECT by Aretha Franklin
-Dancing Queen by ABBA
There were many more but just thought I would list a few. The Jazz Band also played. I love listening to the Jazz Band. Courtney had a trumpet solo in Night Train and she NAILED IT! She has practiced it a lot so it was nice to see her do so well. She loves her trumpet!

Flooded

Saturday and Sunday we had another storm front that went through, dropping several inches of rain upon us and some hail too. The good news is that we did get our wheat planted on Thursday and Friday but it will be awhile before we get back into the field to get the corn and soybeans planted. My father-in-law's pasture just south of his house is totally under water. He usually has some of it under water in the spring but this year it looks like a lake. Hopefully God will bless us with some sunshine this week so we can get back to planting and so the cows and calves (and hubby) will be happier too.

School Play

Our high school is putting on their annual play this weekend. This year the play is "Trouble in Tumbleweed" by Tim Kelly. We went last night and are going again tonight (both kids are in the play, Courtney is doing hair and make-up and has a non-speaking part and Jeremy has many lines). I was not in the play when I was in high school, did not even try out but wish I would have. They are having a lot of fun hanging out with their friends and have put a lot of time into it which you can tell because it was really good. It's fun to see the talent that our local youth have in drama!

Pearly Whites

Jeremy now has his pearly white smile back again.

For those of you not familiar with the story, he knocked 4 teeth loose during basketball practice in December. The one on top was basically just hanging there and the 3 on the bottom were pushed in flat. He collided head on at full speed with one of his teammates. Thanks to the wonderful work of Dr. Ryan Arnold positioning them back in place (and putting in several stitches) and many months of recovery, Jeremy got the wire and brackets off today! Dr. Arnold was able to save them all (although one died and he had to have a root canal done on it and possible 3 or 4 more due to the trauma). We are just thankful that he got to keep all of his original teeth. Jeremy is such a good kid, he hardly complained at all during the whole ordeal, which I am sure was pretty painful (it looked like it at times anyway)!

Signs of Spring

The first track meet of the season for our high school was held yesterday. It was a little windy and got a little chilly towards the end but definitely a sign that spring if finally here. Our track team has struggled with numbers the last few years but there seemed to be a few more out this year which is great. They have also moved a few 7th graders up to compete which is good too, they seem pretty talented. Both of my kids participate, Jeremy in Shot Put and Discus and Courtney in Shot Put, Discus, 400 meter relay and the 800 meter relay. Hopefully the spring weather hangs around so we can enjoy the rest of the season without freezing!

Birthday Meme

I was tagged by Susan to do this, so here goes....

1. Go to Wikipedia and type in your birthdate only, without the year--mine is July 10.

2. List 3 events that happened that day:
-1821 United States takes possesion of it's newly-bought territory of
Florida from Spain
-1890 Wyoming is admitted as the 44th US state
-1978 World New Tonight premieres on ABC

3. List 2 important birthdays:
-1964 Urban Meyer (American football coach)
-1980 Jessica Simpson (American singer)

4. List one death:
-1989 Mel Blanc (voiced Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Barney
Rubble, etc) (b. 1908)

5. List a holiday or observance:
-Bahamas-Indepence Day

6. Tag 5 other bloggers:
-I open this up to anyone who would like to take the challenge

Wow, What a Weekend!

It was so beautiful this weekend! I spent most of my time outside, enjoying the nice weather while getting some much needed work done around the farm. Now today, I am finding myself way behind in the house.

The kids had Shooting Sports after church yesterday for a few hours, so we took a little break from the farm. They love shooting sports and I love watching them too. For those of you not familiar with shooting sports, it is a 4-H program (but you do not have to be in a traditional 4-H club to join) that teaches safety and precision in archery (8 divisions), bb gun, air pistol, .22 pistol, .22 rifle, CMP and shotgun. There is a State Match in a few weeks that you qualify for during the season (Jan-April). I am a certified instructor for archery and love helping out. Last year my son qualified for (and even place in) the National meet, which was a great experience. I would highly recommend this program for kids (ages 8-18).

Who Knew?

Who knew that in April, on the same day, you can fall in the MUD and be covered from head to toe (mud and manure) and get stuck in the SNOW on an ATV! I proved that it CAN happen!

I was goofing off with my son on the 4-wheelers, going through snow in the ditches and proved that I am not quite as talented as he is at this "game". He laughed pretty hard, having to turn around and come back to "rescue" me! About an hour later, after helping hubby move some things, I slipped and fell backwards off the 4-wheeler in the mud/manure. At least we still know how to have some fun and laughter around here!

Teenagers and Tanning

My 15 year old recently began going to a tanning bed. We were not for this at all since her grandpa has had several spots of skin cancer removed and has "suspicious" spots removed every 4 months when he goes to his specialist. My husband and I discussed it and finally caved after weeks of her begging. The main reason I caved was that some of her "friends" and alot of other kids in school were calling her names (albino). I hate that I caved for that reason and I hate that kids can be so cruel! She is alot like me and I know what it is like to be light skinned and made fun of for it. Anyway, the reason I am writing this it I want a little imput as to how you all feel on the subject of tanning and teenagers and tanning.

WORKING WITH WHAT YOU HAVE

With the recent April snow, we are finding out that we don't quite have the setup for calving during the cold and snow (hence the reason why years ago we changed our calving from March to April).

We are trying to work with what we have, which has been pretty trying on all of us, even the cows. We don't have the barn space so we have been pulling the calves from the cows right before dark and leaving the calves in the barn overnight. It doesn't take long before the cows know what you are up to and they are really starting to get testy! It's a good thing we only have 9 moms that we are dealing with right now. Chad gets mad at the cows (I know that because of the words that come out of his mouth during this time) but being a mom, I would put up a fight if someone were taking my baby from me too! For those of you that think we are being mean, the calves love it! As soon as we get them in the barn, they start running and jumping around and could care less that the moms are bellering like crazy. In the morning, they are all cozied up on the warm bed of straw that they slept on. This endeavor has been taking all 4 of us as of late and the kids have been real troopers about it. I think it's because there is just something special about this time of year with calving. Seeing the new life and how fun and spunky those little beings are. Now, if Mother Nature would cooperate with us just a little bit, we would have time to enjoy them even more!

Computer World, Here I Come!

Ok, I am going to try my hand at Blogging. I am terrible on the computer and my kids, ages 17 and 15, have to help me all the time. When I call them into the office, their first question is always "you don't need help with the computer, do you?"!!!!! So, have patience with me and give me a chance to learn the ups and downs of this thing! I have been looking at posts and even braved posting a few comments a few times but it looked so fun, I just had to give it a try!!