Results are in....

The Beaverhead County Fair was held this past weekend and it was full of excitement and tears. I will have to post this in bulletin form since there was so much going on!

• Wednesday ~ We get home from school, they wash their lambs, we have 1 lamb (Zac who Beau will be showing) that has yet to be sheared. We go into town an hour after we get home from school and they weigh in the lambs. Blake's lamb, Larry the Cable Sheep, weighed in at 122, which is right where we thought he would be. The lambs have to weigh in at 100 otherwise you can't show him/her. Bailee's original lamb wasn't going to make weight so she had to take the lamb we bought for breeding. She had just made weight on Monday! Woohoo Bailee can show and we are all happy for her. Zac, which is the little lamb that was originally Bailee's weighed in at 89 lbs. He is just a little thing and we get to bring him home with us. We get the pens set up and go home to get rested up for the weekend.
  




• Thursday ~ Blake, Bailee and I leave for town at 6:45 since they have fed the lambs everyday of their lives at our place at 7. They feed, water and walk their lambs and we head home since we need to clean the house and get everything ready for the lamb show that evening. Cody's parents headed here for the weekend along with my mom, her friend and my sister and her family. We had some work to get done before all this company came and we pretty much leave for the weekend.

• Thursday Evening ~ We head in around 1 giving the kids enough time to get dressed, wash their sheep, spray paint and comb the legs. Those lamby's were so pretty! Beau was a little leery about going into the show ring but he did it almost like a pro! He got 2nd to last and received a rainbow participation ribbon which he is so proud of. Beau showed in the open class and after he was done it started with the 4-H market lambs. Bailee was in the first class and she did ok. She ended up with a red ribbon (the order goes purple, blue, red and white) She did awesome getting out there, her lamb just wasn't very good, and she was happy to be able to show her. Blake showed his lamb and received a blue ribbon. He was happy! After all the market classes showed it was on to showmanship. Market is where your animal would place for market, after its butchered and hanging on the rack how it looks, the muscle, how much fat etc...Showmanship is more about the person showing than the animal. That was interesting since Bailee was last in the class and Blake was Grand Champion! It was so exciting. The anticipation of that judge walking up to your kid and shaking his hand to let them know they are the winner was so intense. I cried! I was proud of him. Bailee cried cuz the judge pretty much made an example out of her and her lamb and she was embarrassed. It was really nothing to be embarrassed about, they line you up and the judge thought you had a choice as to which order you entered the show ring. My poor daughter was first and her lamb gave her a hard time the whole time she was in there. Bailee held it together and continued to show her little lamby and showed everyone what she was made of! She received the hard luck trophy for sticking with it!

• Friday ~ Back into town by 7. Bailee had concessions at 7:30 and Blake's poultry showmanship was at 9. That was interesting as the judge was like 30 minutes late. Blake did great! He was Reserve Grand Champion Showman! We were so excited for him. Bailee and him then had to do their cooking interviews. Bailee came away with a purple on her colossal cookies and a purple on her lemon bars. Blake came away with a purple for his colossal cookies (this was a recipe out of their manual for 4-H which they had to make something out of) and a purple for his pumpkin bread! They were both thrilled. Blake started his concession shift at 11:30 and worked all afternoon. Since Blake was Reserve Grand Champion he had to participate in the small animal round robin. He has to show a chicken, a cat and a bunny! He enjoyed that even though the cat was stuffed. Both the kids participated in the livestock judging that was also held. Could have they been any busier that day? Cody participated in the ranch sorting that evening. We finally got home at like 10. A long day!

• Saturday ~ Sale day! We go in again by 7 and do the drill. Go home for awhile, hang out and relax for a bit. We are back in town by 1 and get the sheep ready to go for the sale. Blake enters the sale ring and receives $8.75 per pound for his sheep. Bailee is the last lamb to sell and she receives $7 per pound. These prices are awesome even though Bailee realizes that since her lamb is so light that Blake has made quite a bit more than she has! Poor girl! Still that is more money than she started out with! We are excited that its over and we can go to the rodeo!

• Sunday ~ Back into town to feed the critters, we just stay in town since awards were that morning as well. Both my kids came away with their trophy's and they received their ribbons for livestock judging, Bailee walked away with a red while Blake received a purple. They also got ribbons for their posters they made for their pens. Very exciting awards ceremony considering it was time to ride rides after it was all over. 5 o clock rolls around, I have tired cranky kids. They feed their lambs for the last time, Blake gathers his chickens and cleans out his coop. Blake cries all the way home and Bailee just doesn't. I think she was glad not to have to do any more chores. I am sad since Blake is sad. I am still a little sad, Blake just gets so attached to his animals. My mom and her friend John bring pizza over for us all to eat and we get to visit in the quiet of the house knowing that fair is over.

• Monday ~ Bailee is in the parade and we get her there watch the parade, go get the water bucket and feeder we had to leave so the lambs had water through the night. Back come the tears since the lambs were gone and the kids know where they went. We go home, we clean up and veg the rest of the day! They sure didn't argue when I told them to go to bed last night.