Expo week this year was fast and furious!! It all began the week before as the kids got all their projects ready. Being gone most of the summer means cramming a lot into just a few days. They worked so hard and sure don't need my help as much as they used to. As a matter of fact, other than some advice on what looked better, I didn't do much at all, except remind them to get it done!
Cady entered a record 16 things this year. In Baking II, she made apricot jam thumbprint cookies, banana nut bread, coffee cake and brownies. She wound up with all first places and will have to make them again in a few weeks for Miss Eva to take up to the State Fair:
For her Cake Decorating project, she had to bake and decorate a cake, using all edible objects, with no piping tips. My suggestion was to use Skittles and make some sort of decoration. She asked if she could make a beach theme with brown sugar and blue frosting, using Teddy Grahams as beach goers, towels cut out of fruit rollups, peach ring pool toys and Gobstopper beach balls. Oh, and can't forget the Swedish fish swimming in the water! She did an outstanding job and received a first on it, too:
The funny thing was, most of the other cakes entered used Skittles to make a design, so I am so glad she chose not to listen to me this time!
In Scrapbooking, she entered a one-page layout, a two-page layout and covered a binder with cute feather fabric to decorate a scrapbook album. She received 2 firsts and a 2nd:
She entered her Rifle project record form and received 2nd and made a poster showing her life timeline of shooting Archery and received 3rd:
In photography, she cleaned up with all 1st places with her 5 Favorite Photos, a news photo story, conversion to black and white and adding a vignette:
In Arts and Crafts, she decorated a bulletin board for her room and painted a picture of a sea star, and both received 3rd place (horrible picture - I apologize):
Colton entered 8 items. For Shooting sports, he entered a scrapbook page for shotgun (4th), a timeline for Archery (3rd), his record form for Rifle (2nd) and a poster for Muzzleloader (2nd):
In photography, he too cleaned up as he got all 1st places on his 5 Favorite Photos, black and white conversion, vignette addition and news story:
They each shot Archery and Rifle this year for the Shooting Sports competition. For Rifle, Colton shot 10 targets out of 15. Cady struggled a bit with her shooting but she hadn't had time to practice before the competition so we were proud of her for getting out there.
They both had an off day for Archery the next day, but it happens!
Then, on Friday, it was time to show Heifers! We got them there on Friday at noon and had to get them beautiful again:
Then it was time to get in their show whites and take them into the ring.
Chloe, Grant, Aiden and Cady ready to take their Class 3 heifers into the ring:
Here goes Cady and Willow:
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| Thanking the judge for his time |
Colton's and Moolah's turn:
The kids and the heifers did a great job in the ring, although they didn't do too well in placing. I was so proud of them, though! I told them prior to the show that this was a learning year. Boy did they win and get rich with all the knowledge and skills they have picked up! After they showed their heifers in each of their respective classes, it was time for the kids to be judged on their showmanship. Cady was up first, along with the rest of the Juniors:
I love this shot my friend, Dalene took of Cady and Willow:
Then Colton was up for Showmanship:
The judge had the Seniors switch heifers with the person next to them and Colton showed his friend, Anne's, heifer for a bit:
Can't tell you how proud I was of the kids. It was a lot to learn and they picked it all up and ran with it. They are so ready for Southern NM Fair to get here! Dairy heifers are a lot of work, but also a lot of fun and good for the kids.
After the show, they were tired and ready to go home, but there was still work to be done as they cleaned up all the shavings and packed and loaded everything up:
The next morning we were up bright and early and headed to the fairgrounds again for the rabbit show. First up was Cady's roaster, Winn:
It was so much fun to watch the judge in actin!
He started with about 20 rabbits - most of which looked the same (thank goodness for their ear tattoos!) - and felt them, looked at them and then moved them around from cage to cage. When it came down to the top 8, Winn was still in there!! He actually placed 4th, which was super exciting for her first year!
Then it was her stewer, Tigger's, turn. This time there were about 30 rabbits and again, he made the Top 8!! He placed 6th and the judge said really great things about him and expects great things from him at Southern:
It was then time for the Showmanship competition, which was the part she was most worried about. Showing a rabbit is actually a lot of hard work and there are many steps and many things you need to know. Cady tried to back out but we wouldn't let her and told her to use it as a learning experience. Well, she did phenomenal and you couldn't even tell that she was a first timer!!
Got to give props to Tigger, too, as he did very well when she flipped him and had him on his back!
A wonderful experience at her first Rabbit Show! She will be showing again both at El Paso County Fair and the Southern NM Fair. We will keep everyone posted!
Finally, on Saturday night, was a time to relax, celebrate, dance, and hang out with friends at the Dona Ana 4-H Family Night. Our family did work a bit at it, however, because Colton is on the Leadership Team and Bullseye was in charge of cooking the burgers.
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| Cady and Colton helping to cover tables. |
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| Colin and Kevin flipping burgers. |
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| Cady and Lela selling raffle tickets by the arm stretches. |
Highlight of the night was Cady being named the High Point Junior for Achievement Day and winning a buckle for the second straight year! Below's picture is courtesy of my friend, Teresa, and the little boy on the left is a good family friend, Denny, who won High Point Novice. Proud of them and all their hard work!!
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| Cady and Lela hanging out at Family Night. |
What a wonderful, yet busy time! It was worth all the hard work, tears, and time, however and we can't wait to do it again! We love being a 4-H and FFA family!!
