National 4-H Week 2013!!

National 4-H Week 2013!!
Favorite 4-H tagline? "A lot of groups go out there and talk about -- we go out there and actually do it."
Favorite 4-H aspect? All the friends you make, near and far :)

This last week was National 4-H Week, and so each morning on Facebook I posted a 4-H flashback picture each day, and thought I would share them and their stories here as well. (Some of them didn't end up on FB, in case you followed the link from there and are thinking you don't recognize some pictures.)

Day 1: Asotin County Fair 2009; John and I are good friends with kids who show in Asotin County, and they convinced us to visit their fair that April. It was totally worth it to hang out and help our friends, and I'll never forget the excitement of being involved in a fair other than our own! It was fun because it's not as big as the Kittitas County Fair, and much more laid back :)

Day 2: Utashington delegations at National 4-H Conference 2009; This trip is by far my #1 favorite as far as national trips go! The six of us Washington delegates bonded and got to know each other better, but we also really got to know five awesome kids from Utah, and by the end of the week the rest of the delegates were calling us Utashington, rather than Utah and Washington. I've returned to N4-HC a couple of times, and one thing I tell my delegates is to enjoy their time as a delegate, because no matter how many times they go back for one reason or another, their time as a delegate will rank #1.

Day 3: Fairs 2007 and 2008; I worked my butt off for eight years working with my pigs each summer, practicing, walking, making sure they were going to make weight. All my hard work finally paid off just before senior year and before my first year of college...in 2007 I managed to put my pig's nose on a line drawn in the dirt and keep it there without letting cousin Tyler and his pig edge me out. Trust me, it was a battle for a minute until I elbowed the pig out of the way -- Ty still got reserve, but I kept him from getting grand two years in a row :)

Come 2008 two weeks before fair I was begging my doctor to let me put off ankle surgery until after fair so I could show my own pigs for the last time. I am sooo thankful he okayed it because Thursday during market was the most exciting day at fair for me, ever. Until the previous year, I'd never made a call back for market, so watching pigs leave the ring one by one was a little nerve wracking, but knowing I had made it that far was mind blowing. My heart was pounding like crazy, and when they accidentally brought me the grand rather than reserve trophy, oh man, it was an amazing feeling. Even when the judges said, oops, grabbed the wrong one, I wasn't disappointed because I raised one of the top two pigs at the fair that year!! If it hadn't been for some help that year, I never would have survived!

 Day 4: Ready....aaaaaaannnnnnddddd break! Lol, this photo takes us to revisit our 2013 KYG Capitol and Temple of Justice tours. We needed a plan, but the only way to get all of the girls to concentrate was to call for a huddle. There was a great plan on paper, but it was a bit tricky to execute without actually having been on campus yet, which brings us to this shot from Clinton. It makes me laugh every time though because both of the guys on our team weren't in the huddle, and it was just us girls :)

Day 5: This one takes us back in time even further (in fact, I can't even put a date stamp on it) to when Ethan was training his utility goats for packing and driving. He got all of the credit in the show ring, but I helped a lot in the beginning with each of his goats, just as our parents did. This shot doesn't include one of his goats, but instead one he trained for someone else. If I remember correctly that goat was a stubborn one too! We now have one of the original drivers left (Daisy), two original packers (Daisy and Butter) and the three boys who came later mostly for packing, although they did some driving (Hoss and Joe below with the wagon). 

Day 6: Traveling with my kids! I've been chaperoning some state events for a couple of years, Teen Rally, Conference, KYG technically I suppose, but this summer was the first time I've traveled cross country as a chaperone. These couple of pictures are of my CWF girls and then their Sparrow project as it unfolds this fall.

Day 7: These celebrate quite a few of the conferences I've attended, delegate or chaperone, near or far, old friends or making new. Either way, they've all been fantastic experiences!! In no particular order...

National Congress!! Atlanta, GA...playing baseball with a hackie sack, rolled up cardboard, and using the building support beams as bases makes for a once in a lifetime experience.

The 'original' County Teen Reps, Brianne, Jessica and I...we're still close friends :)

Leanne and me at our first 'real' chaperoning experience at a Teen Rally

The originals reunite!! Couldn't tell you how many years later...five maybe?

Teen Conference 2012!!

Leanne, Baby Eli and me at TC 2012 :)

And an oldie but goodie....one of those fun things that used to happen all the time at 4-H events, but don't anymore because all us cool kids are grown up ;)

NW Teen Rally :)