Long Weekend!

Wow, where do I begin??!! It was a long but fun weekend. We were in Pierre for the State Shooting Sports Match.

Getting to Pierre....it's normally about a 3 hour drive but took us about 4 hours to get there. I drove through some pretty nasty stuff. It was snowing so hard at times and the wind was blowing so we had poor visibility for the first hour and a half of our drive. We also had to keep stopping to clean off the windshield wipers...they kept accumulating ice and would not keep the windshield clear.

The kids shot pretty good....even above their average on their air pistols. Their .22 pistol shooting was not the greatest as they shot right after we got to Pierre and it was cold and the wind was blowing pretty bad. Oh well, that's the chance you take when you shoot outdoors. They both did pretty good on their archery shooting. Jeremy was pretty tired after his last archery as he shot 310 arrows over the weekend with his 8 archery events.

We finished the weekend by taking the kids out to a 3-D archery shoot. Neither my sister or I had ever watching a 3-D shoot.....we had a blast watching the kids! It amazed us how they could shoot the animal targets so well. They did soooo good and had a lot of fun! We a great weekend.

State Match

We are heading off to the South Dakota State Shooting Sports Match!

We have 31 kids from our county going. They will be shooting air pistols, CMP, bb guns, .22 pistols, .22 rifles and 8 categories of archery.

My sister and I are heading out together and are both instructors so besides taking care of our own kids, we have several other kids to "help". It is going to be a crazy busy weekend!!! And to top it all off....it is sleeting right now and the roads are terribly icy. 3 of the disciplines are shot outdoors so it could be miserable doing those.

The kids always have a great time as this is the highlight of several months of hard work and practice! Plus, Courtney says there are lots of "hot" guys there. Lord help me!

Banana Relay Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the Banana Relay.Jeremy eating the banana. Our good friend Jackie (in the black sweatshirt) just happened to be his "watcher". Each athlete in this race had one. She had to make sure he ate the whole banana before he could run to the finish line.
Almost done!

The ended up with 2nd place in the banana relay.

Banana Relays

Today is the Banana Relay track meet here at Hamlin. They have been doing this track meet for as long as I can remember. They call it the Banana Relay because our throwers (shot put and discus) do not get to run many (if any) relays so they have the throwers run the relay. At the end of the relay, the last runner on the relay team has to eat a banana so the winning relay team is determined by the first one to cross the line AND finish the banana. Each team usually consists of 2 boys and 2 girls. This year both of my kids will be in it.....Courtney will hand the banana off to Jeremy, who is the last runner and gets to eat the banana! I am excited and am hoping to get a few pictures of it! I'm just hoping that he does NOT choke....literally!

Shooting Sports Practice

We had our last "official" practice for Shooting Sports yesterday (we will practice 3 evenings this week yet). The State Meet is this coming weekend. The kids have worked really hard....every Sunday afternoon for the last 4 months. Almost all the kids involved have qualified in at least one discipline. Jeremy is shooting 10 disciplines and Courtney is shooting 5 and they both will shoot an archery 3-D this weekend too.

Jeremy and Courtney did very well at the Watoma Relay Track Meet last Friday. Courtney placed 1st in shot put and 2nd with one of her relay teams. Jeremy placed 3rd in discus and 4th in shot put. It was a fun meet....lots of records broken. They have another track meet tomorrow and one on Saturday that they will both miss to shoot at the State Shooting Sports Match.

I am trying to get ready for Jeremy's graduation on May 10. If any of you have any awesome ideas or tips to make it more enjoyable or fun (or easier on Mom), please feel free to leave me your ideas! I have the buns ordered...pork loins ordered....mints ordered....cake ordered....beans bought....chips bought....bbq sauce bought....pickles bought....and my mother in law is making the potato salad. Still need to get the beverages bought. I am trying to make this as simple as possible so I can enjoy the day.

Calf Pulling

We had to pull a calf yesterday. The momma was in labor for hours and not progressing so Chad and I came to the rescue! Putting the chains on the feet of the calf.
The head is out.
Just a little more.
It's out!
Waiting for the momma to come clean him off.

I have to tell you that Chad was not impressed at all that I was taking pictures of this whole process and not doing my usual "helping". But hey, I wanted you all to get a view of this......I think that birth is just a total miracle!

Track

The kids had their first track meet last Tuesday. I didn't get any pictures from that one and it was a very small meet, only 3 teams. I did remember to bring my camera yesterday for their 2nd meet so I took a few pictures. This was quite a large meet.....13 teams! Jeremy throwing shot put....he placed 4th.
Courtney throwing shot put....she placed 2nd.
Courtney again...shot put.
Jeremy throwing discus...he placed 6th. Courtney also placed 6th in discus but I forgot to take a picture of her throwing.
Courtney getting ready to run the Medley relay. She usually runs the 2nd leg of this relay but for some reason she started it yesterday. They placed 2nd in this relay. Courtney was also in the 400 relay and they did not place.

It was a really nice day for a track meet....a little windy but it was actually warm. A little different than not quite a week ago. Notice most of the snow is gone already!

School Play and Pop Concert

I found a few decent pics of the play......Jeremy is on the far right.

Willie Wonka (Alex) talking on the bridge....Jeremy sitting on the bridge.

The Seniors

Taylor, Courtney, Cassie and Larae.....they sang "Material Girl".

School Play

Our school play this year was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This years cast and crew worked really hard and put in lots of late nights, especially the last few weeks. All the hard work paid off....the play was awesome! Courtney did hair and make-up and Jeremy was Mr Teavee. I put Chad on the digital camera so I could take some 35mm shots with the big camera but he only took a few shots and they were blurry so sorry, no photos!!

The "Pop Concert" is tonight. Every year the choir puts this on (lots of solos, duets, and group songs)....and this year is 80's music...how cool is that??!! Courtney is singing "Material Girls" by Madonna with 3 other girls...they each have a solo part in the song too. Jeremy is singing a ZZ Top song (not sure which one) with the senior boys, that should be interesting! I am really looking forward to the concert tonight!

Long Day....Short Night

Chad and I had a really long day yesterday getting cows with calves up into the lot and bedding everything down for the storm. We are limited in space in the barn so we were trying to set up pens to utilize the space as best we could too. It got really nasty towards the end of our work and wouldn't you know that a few cows decided to calve in the nasty weather and it was absolutely miserable getting them to the barn LATE last night (or should I say this morning)! The kids didn't have school today but the poor things were up at 7:45 to come out and help us. A view of the deck this morning.

A view out the living room window.

The calves waiting to be let out this morning to be reunited with their mommas.....they were really hungry.

Not being very patient..... aren't' they cute??!!

Letting them back out with their mommas. Like the nice hind end shot of me that Courtney got??!!

Today was a little better....we only had 2 calves but the one momma was a stinker to get in. I got stuck 4 times, once where Chad had to pull my 4-wheeler out with the tractor and Courtney got stuck once and had to be pulled out with the tractor too. We laughed our butts off at each other....Chad on the other hand didn't think it was quite as funny. Hopefully tomorrow will be an better day! I am totally exhausted!

Cows and Calves

I took the camera out the last few days and took a few pictures of the cows and calves. This is actually Jeremy's cow with a calf that had only been born a few hours earlier.
Chad chasing a calf down with the 4-Wheeler to tag it.
Tagging a calf.
Another new baby!
Chasing one on foot (the mama had sent it outside the fence).
It was really foggy and there was frost on everything this morning....I thought it looked kinda pretty.

We had 8 new calves yesterday and 3 today. We are supposed to get some nasty weather the next few days which makes a lot more work for us and not so nice for the cows and the calves and really hard on the new babies. Hopefully we don't get near what they are predicting for us which is 6-12 inches of snow.

Calving

Our calving date officially arrived a few days ago. We had 5 babies early and have had 3 in the last 2 days now. I just love this time of the year....the new life, the grass becoming green, spending more time outdoors (and the temps are bearable) and just the "fresh" smell!

I love watching the new calves run around jumping and kicking. They are just so cute! I will try to take some pictures one of these days to post.

~

Jenny @ A Coach for Life is giving away a Steven Curtis Chapman CD....head on over and comment on her blog for a chance to win.

Prom

Jeremy and Courtney attended Prom on Friday night. They both had a great night.

Chad and I went to the Grand March and saw many beautiful dresses and gorgeous young women and some fine looking young men in tuxes.Courtney....finally ready and posing for a few pictures while waiting for her date to arrive.
The back of her dress.
Outside on the deck....it was a gorgeous day for a Prom.
Courtney and her date-Manny (Manuel). He is a foreign exchange student from Germany. Doesn't he look handsome? He is such a sweetheart too!
Courtney and Manny in the Grand March.

Jeremy all dressed up!
Jeremy and his date Kesley in the Grand March.
Jeremy and Kesley. She looks gorgeous in her purple dress and it happens to be Jeremy's favorite color too.
Jeremy and Courtney. Don't they both look soooo happy??!!
Our family!

Venetian

The Venetian hotel has a canal that runs through the second story.

You can get a ride down the canal on a gondola. We were going to try to do this but didn't have enough time before the Blue Man Group.
Bummer....maybe next time. Chad and I on a bridge above the canal.
Laurie and me with a live statue at the Venetian.

Ok, this will be my last post on Vegas, I am probably boring you all to death by now. Can you tell that I thoroughly enjoyed myself and can't wait to go on another vacation (start thinking about the spot Laurie).

Prom is tonight, hopefully I will get some great pictures of that to share with you all. Both kids are really excited. I am picking Courtney up at school to get her hair done in Watertown and then to her Aunt Kristi's house so Kristi can do her make-up (thanks Kristi, you're a great aunt). Finally, back home to dress and get all the jewelry on (oh yeah, and probably stand in front of the mirror forever). Boys are so easy and have different priorities. Jeremy is going out to lunch with some friends (the HS gets out of school at noon) and then off to wash his car. He will probably roll in with about 5 minutes to get ready. So.....wish us luck on this hectic day and night.

Blue Man Group

We caught a show while in Vegas.....the Blue Man Group! We had VIP passes and got to go backstage and meet one of them and ask him questions after the show. It was an AWESOME show and I would highly recommend it. They are coming to SF shortly for all of you that are local....it is definitely something to see!!! Me, Crystal, Jim,Blue Man, Chad, Wayne and Laurie
Laurie and another one of the Blue Man Group out front.

(check out the security man's hair)
Me and one of the Blue Man Group out front.

~

We went to the Dan Marino restaurant at Hooters and ate Ribs the last night.
Wayne and Chad in a Hooter Cart. Look at those smiles on their faces!!!!

Hotel

We stayed at the New York- New York hotel while in Vegas. There was Roller Coaster right outside Wayne and Laurie's window. (Laurie you never did get to ride it!)
The Statue of Liberty out front.
Another view
Chad in front of the Hotel (this was on the last morning....does he look tired or what??!!)
Chad and me in front of the hotel.

It was a great hotel to stay in...it had a Coyote Ugly bar (very good drinks!), Pretzel Shop (we never did that either Laurie), Starbucks, numerous gift shops, ESPN Zone restaurant, an Irish Pub which we did eat at, and many other restaurants. It was huge! Laurie and I got lost a few times trying to find our rooms (of course remember we are just a couple of hicks from SD). Crystal and Jim left on Tuesday while Chad and Wayne were touring the Hoover Dam and I think they were a little apprehensive about leaving Laurie and me on our own.

Overall, it was a great hotel to stay in. We may go back again so does anybody else have any other hotel suggestions for us?

A little drinking in Vegas

Jim and Chad....notice Chad is drinking ice tea, Jim however is NOT!
Wayne....belly up to the daiquiri bar....I am waiting my turn.
I stole this drink from Crystal because I ordered something new that I really didn't like so I traded with Crystal. Not even sure what this is...maybe Crystal will comment and remind me.
My first jello shot....I had never even heard of a jello shot before this trip!
Laurie and I holding our HUGE daiquiris on Fremont Street.

I failed to get pictures of Chad or Crystal drinking but believe me, they both did as well!

We all decided I really need to get off the farm more and learn some of life's important things to offer.....like jello shots!