Fair 2017

Fair was a success I think! We started Wednesday by checking the animals in to the fairgrounds and getting them weighed. I helped decorate a little with our 4-H club. Because I am sort of agile I climbed up on the stall doors and helped hang some fabric, burlap and corn stalks. Grandma and grandpa arrived and we ate some foil dinners.

Thursday was market showmanship. This is the part where the animal is judged. So basically if you fed your lamb the correct amount of hay/feed and walked it so it had great butt/leg muscles you would do well. Sometimes just the look of the lamb is what captures the judges attention. Brooke did very well in market showing. She was champion of her class and then received Reserve Grand Champion of all the lambs. This meant that she could pick her spot in the sale. Amanda also did well and was 3rd in her class. She ended up having the 4th best carcass by ultrasound.

When the kids were little we spent a lot of time at the fair walking around and listening to the shows and looking at exhibits and riding rides. This year we didn't do much of that. I went and sat in the Rodeo stands and watched some horse races one day. The kids sold rodeo programs for FFA and worked in the stalls cleaning.

Friday was showmanship. This is where the judge evaluates the kid and their handling of the animal. This year was a different judge. He didn't focus on the walking or setting up of the lambs. He solely focused on turns. The kids did well and learned some new things. Our little friend Shaylee won reserve champion in her class. She is a talented showman.

Kris watched both Thursday and Friday so he got more of a taste of what the kids do with their animals. Also Grandma Alice watched . She has never seen the kids do their lambs for judging either. Grandpa Jim is an old hand now and visits with all the sheep experts for further insight into the process.

After this was over we all breathed a sigh of relief... but still we had more to go. Saturday there was a parade that the kids rode a float in. I worked my tail off in the Lion's booth serving food and then we had the livestock auction.

Basically 175 kids present their animals to bidders and then sell them. Somehow our community is able to buy all of these animals. Companies, families and ranchers buy the animals and support the kids. It got me thinking about maybe we need to support a kid and buy one animal next year. Something to think about definitely. This auction takes 3-4 hours. It is long. After the auction there was a big concert in the arena. We left the teenagers to watch the concert and went home to watch the BYU/Utah Game.

Sunday the animals were loaded up and the kids got to muck out stalls and clean up. Mom and dad headed back to home.

Many loads of laundry then ensued.

This week a good friend of mine from childhood was coming through town with her parents to visit the area. She messaged me and we made a plan to meet up. Last night we had dinner. Kris grilled up some steaks and we had a nice meal together. It was fun to reminisce.

Since my last blog post there have been 2 big hurricanes, some earthquakes, and a bajillion forest fires. Some would say global warming, climate change... I'm going with ... 2nd coming. It's the end times baby.