It was wonderful to attend church as {most} of a family in mom and dad's ward. They gave them a warm welcome. I'm always very grateful for those rare times when Kurt gets to sit with us and help manage the chaos.
After visiting, naps for some and a delicious dinner by Maren we took a family picture and said our good-byes. The Farnsworth were also headed home. Originally we had planned to leave on Monday but after talking about the details of our week for fair I felt like we needed to get home so we would be ready to tackle the week. We left West Jordan at 9pm arriving home at 3 am.
Selfie during sunday school {so naughty}
Uncle Sam's super cool scooter
Monday we tackled laundry and all things fair prep. For Austin that meant washing and combing Stiri, for the girls it meant creating, finishing and matting art to enter, for the boys making LEGO creations to enter.
That afternoon we went over to get the stalls ready and decorate with our 4H group. I had Braxton with us so we could go to flag football practice afterwards {Marti took the 3 girls swimming.}
Then we turned in all our creations to the Red Barn. The boys both turned in LEGO creations and the girls art. Ruth had 2 drawing and Emma had 5 {I decided at the last minute not to enter her painting of the light house when I saw a student from her class was turning in the same one! Long story short she wasn't happy with that decision but we worked through it. Phew!}
Tuesday afternoon we took Stiri to the fair. Austin spent the afternoon washing him. He might have used an entire bottle of cattle shampoo on him {Kurt told me later that it should have lasted a year.} Stiri was sparkling. Since Kurt was in town he was able to watch the boy's flag football game.
Here we Go! Ready for a new adventure!
She also got first on her color pencil drawing of "3 Sisters at the Fair" for the Fair Theme of "Sew It! Grow It! Show It!" This was one of my favorites. Her pastel sunflower got Second {the other 2 entries didn't not receive a ribbon.}
Ruth got 1st on her color pencil drawing of a blue elephant with black swirls. She was SO EXCITED! All week long, "I can't wait to get my ribbon!!" It was adorable. She also entered a watercolor sunset
Wednesday morning was weigh in. Stiri was the lightest steer weighing at 1090. That morning the other kids and I did meals on wheels in Vale. I always enjoy doing that. Its a great service for the kids to be involved in. They each took a turn delivering at each house. They each had 2 turns and at the last 2 house all of us went. What a great "Brighten Your Day" committee we can be. Lucy really got into it, "Can I go to the next house? I just really want to."
That evening Austin had his first time showing Stiri. It was an unjudged kind of practice round. It was a good experience and prep for the judging to come the following days.
Just hanging out with my best steer.
A large part of the fair is the FOOD. Kurt gave Austin some food money for the week. So did Grandma Renae and Grandma Cindy. He checked out the prices of everything and planned out his food menu accordingly. I thought for sure he was going to spend it all. Grivin Hall and the Dairy Shed were he's favorite eateries. The kids and I were on a daily snow cone diet. Jane LOVED them! The first time she had them she just dug her hands in and didn't stop until she was done. What a crazy kid!
Thursday Austin showed for Market judging. The steers were put into groups according to weight. Austin's class went first as the lightest group. He did a better job showing than the previous day. And he won his class! This meant he got a blue ribbon {and $4} and had to show again with all the other 1st place winners. He ran over to me, threw the ribbon to me, "I got $4!!" and ran off {to buy a celebration ice cream cone no doubt!}
Talking with the judge
Flag football games that night had nice, cooler weather. It was very enjoyable and a tender mercy. Austin pulled a flag! Spencer caught a pass and ran it half way down the field before his flag was pulled. Its fun to watch {and cheer.}
Friday was showmanship judging. This is all about how you and your steer are presented and interact with each other. Austin was given lots of pointers from his parents, aunts, cousins, siblings, etc... It was definitely selective hearing. Again he made improvements and progress from his last showing. He didn't win his class but got a first place ribbon. As parents we were pleased with his progress and experience showing.
Watching/Supporting our boy
That afternoon we went swimming with the cousins including cousin Heather and her kids in Vale. Emma, Jane and I went to Alena Saunder's bridal shower afterwards.
Saturday was sale day. Amber Duncan came to babysit the kids. So I went to watch the sell without any distractions. Austin was really funny before his turn. Not nervous - he never was really - but goofy. "This is Stiri's last day on earth. Going on the truck tomorrow and then you're dead. I'm not sad!! HAHAHA"
Before the sale
Austin's steer sold for $4.10 a pound! Ruf Execativation, Global Reality, Hawley's Meat Pack and Romans Ranches all went in together to buy it. Austin earned $4,375 for his savings account. I was overwhelmed with the amount he earned. My heart was so full of gratitude for the entire experience of learning to work, caring for an animal, presenting in front of people and saving money for his college/mission. I appreciate other's efforts to support my boy. It was very overwhelming feeling of gratitude. What a amazing opportunity this has been.
I'm glad my heart has changed towards fair. I saw so many good things for my kids this week. I'm glad I could embrace a positive attitude and have a good week. In my mind there is only ONE reason why it was a successful week for me and that is because of Kurt. He took over and did fair. He made himself available for Austin for all of it. I know I would be singing a different tune right now without his help. I am soooo grateful. As a complete fair novice and a mother of lots of young kids fair was an overwhelming and quite daunting task. Kurt, thank you so much for being so wonderful and supportive. I LOVE YOU!
Notes from Kurt:
A few things I learned about Austin this week:
He does have some competitiveness in him, when I asked him what his favorite part was he told me "Winning first place in my market class". I was surprised! He is so easy going about everything that I didn't think it mattered to him. When I dug a little deeper into this competitive spirit he told me that he likes to win at Monopoly too.
He likes money and learned the value of it. We never really discussed that he would win a little bit of money when he got his ribbons or that he would sell his steer for a lot of money and that he would get to put it into savings. I told him I would give him $10 a day to eat with. He went up and down the food court until he found the cheapest place to buy food. He never ran out of money so I was proud of him for never asking for more. After he won his first class and won 4 more dollars he went straight tot he food court and bought another hamburger. It was all about fair food for him, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. They sell the steers by the pound. As soon as he got his steer tied back up after the sale he came out of the stall asking if anyone had a calculator, he was ready to know an exact dollar amount. This years sale was incredibly high. It would have taken me 4 years of steers to bank as much as he did in one year. An incredible jump start to save for his mission and college. What a blessing. I think after that Rachel is convinced that all of our kids need to take steers to the fair, no more of this talk of hogs or sheep. What we earned from Austins steer our business spent in supporting other kids, what goes around comes around.
He did well in helping other kids and receiving help from them. A big shout out to the Siddoway kids that taught him how to fit his steer for the show, they were great to give him advice and congratulate him on his accomplishments. Their parents were also great leaders, just great people to be around.
We gave Austin a lot of independence at the fair, it was a new experience and he is getting old enough to make decisions on his own. It was rewarding to stand back and watch as a parent as he figured a lot of things out on his own.
The fair was fun. I got to do a lot of stuff by myself. I washed Stiri by myself and I showed by myself. I wasn't nervous to show the first time but a little nervous before the second show {but not during} My favorite part was showing and getting to the championship class in market. I learned everything I did there because I didn't know how to do it. Dad taught me. I also learned that I'm stronger than I thought. I wasn't really sad that Stiri got sold. Next year I plan to feed my steer more. I'm glad I showed a steer at the fair because it helped me become more confident and work harder.
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