Piggin' Time

I know, I know...And I have absolutely no excuses for letting this go so long. It's kinda like dusting - I know it needs to be done, but it just takes so much effort! Not really though, I guess I just need to get focused!

Anyway, like the title says, it's "Piggin' Time!" Some of you may be asking exactly what that means, so here's the info and a few pics to go along with it:

This is the time of year when Cody (and us) get down and dirty with the Young County Livestock Show. Yes, I did say "us." Although I never dreamed I'd do it, in the past 4 years since Cody has been showing pigs, I've cleaned pins, shoveled poop, "slopped the hogs", and yes, even petted the cute little creatures. Now you have to understand that our pigs are "barn spoiled" so they aren't your everyday, run-of-the-mill pigs. Our pigs don't roll in the mud, often, and they don't sleep outside. They are pampered and have nice soft woodshavings to sleep on, heat lamps to sleep under, and four walls to keep the wind away. So I don't mind so much getting in there and helping out. I've even been known to walk them occassionally. Now this is something Jeff has been doing for years because he did this with Justin and Steven when they were in school, and now he's "enjoying" the experience all over again. Aren't the just the cutest! (I'm talking about my boys, not the pigs!!)

Cody and Dad, sharing a moment.

Anyway, Cody had 2 pigs again this year, Shaker and Blue. Shaker missed making the weight for the county show by 3 pounds, so now she'll be "meat in the freezer. Blue made it in though, got a 6th place ribbon, and made it into the sale. We didn't really sell him though because we're taking him to Fort Worth next week for the BIG show. (They don't really sell their animals. The people bid on the kids to help them get back some of the money they spent on their animals. You'd just have to be there...) So hopefully next week Cody and Blue will put on a good show for the judge and he can make some more money for his college fund. Then Blue will load up on the truck and be "meat" in somebody else's freezer.

Cody at the premium sale on Saturday, but not with one of our pigs.

Thanks Mom and Dad for coming to spend the weekend with us! We enjoyed having Nana and Pawpaw here for support, and someone to go shopping with (mostly me on that one!!) Mom and I actually spent more time in the car Saturday than we did shopping. WOW! Cody is so lucky to have you guys here and so are we. We did miss having Justin, Angela, Sydney, Jeffrey, Jami, Jaden, Jaxon, Joey and Leslye here though, and so did the pigs. They seem to do so much better when they have their fans here. Maybe next year...

So, if you find yourself with nothing to do next Friday...drive on up to Fort Worth, to the Will Rogers Stadium, and come watch a very handsome young man show-off his very clean and well-behaved pig. Who knows, we might even get some shopping in then too!!!

It's All About the Bling...

Since we didn't think that Friday, the day before Halloween, the kids would be hyper enough, the kids as well as the staff decided to dress up. Once again, the first grade teachers had to wear our tiarras, since we are the "princesses" of the elementary school. So here we are, the "Bling Queens"...


Not only did we wear our tiarras, but we were glittery from head to toe, literally!

We had glitter in our hair, on our eyelids, on our lips, on our faces, and on our clothes. Our sashes were glittery as were the words "BLING QUEEN". We had rhinestone words and princess stickers on our shirts and jeans. We had glitter bows on our flip-flops. We even painted our fingernails and toenails with glitter polish! EVERYWHERE we went we left a trail of glitter. By the end of the day I told Jeff that I thought I had "glitter inhalation!" I think that was a little too much bling, even for me. Hopefully next year we can do a little less of the bling. I do have to say thought that we were the best looking adults in the building that day!!

Oh yeah, my kids looked great too!!!!

Hope you and your had a very wonderful and spook-filled Halloween!!

Take me to the Fair!!!

No, we didn't see Oprah, but yes, we did have a funnel cake, and it was so goooooood!!!

We also tried the fried butter, but it's really just a little bit of butter, wrapped in a biscuit and the biscuit is fried. It was ok, but I wouldn't eat it again. Saving my money next time for some cotton candy!

If you haven't guessed by now, we took Cody to the state fair Monday since we didn't have school. There were so many people there, but we had a great time! We got there at 10:00 a.m., didn't leave until after 6:00 p.m. and walked about 7 miles!! (I think we got our activity points for the day. I know this because I wore my pedometer!!)

Here are just a few of the things that went on that day:

Cody checked out the Air Force plane. Cody goofed around on a scooter.

We rode the sky-tram and that was pretty cool!!!

A bird landed on Cody's arm and took his money, then gave it back, then took it again, then gave it back, and so on.... He was actually supposed to take the money and put it in the box, but I guess he thought Cody needed to hang on to it. The bird did finally decide to keep it after about 6 tries. That was neat!

And this bird almost took my head off as he was flying back to the stage. That is almost a little too up close and personal for me! It was an amazing bird though.

We really did have a fun day, and I can't wait until next year to do it all over again! Well, maybe not the fried butter part, but maybe some fried cookie dough instead!!!!

What a very wonderful weekend!

Jeff and Cody started their holiday off bright and early on Saturday morning. (I decided that a little extra sleep was required for myself. :-) They were up at 7:00 a.m. and downtown to help set up the fire department's stuff to serve BBQ sandwiches as a fundraiser to all the hunter, and anyone else who was hungry. I believe they did quite well, and the money that was raised will go to buying toys for some of the children in Olney at Christmas.

We were sitting down to eat and Jeff and I decided it was time for a road trip! So we came home, called Justin, found out they weren't busy and told him we'd be there by suppertime. We loaded the camper and pulled it behind us because we thought camping would be a great way to spend the weekend too (and our bed is much more comfortable than the blow-up mattress they have!) We also thought Sydney might enjoy camping with us. She wasn't, but that was ok too.

Justin pulled up to the camper just after we got there, and things had to be put together quickly because the dove were flying and the sun was setting and there were shells that needed to be shot! So I went to Angela and Justin's house to get the best hug ever from Sydney and to hold that precious grandbaby!!! (For those of you who haven't heard...Jeffrey Alan Harvey was born on July 13th. He weighed 6 lbs. 2 oz, and was 19 inches long. I know I didn't post when he was born, or a week after, and believe me, I've heard all about that, but I figure better late than never, huh.) Anyway, he is just perfect in every way. He's almost 2 months old and as you can tell from the photos, he's growing "just like a Harvey."

He loves his Sassy!

He loves his Uncle Cody!!

He loves his Pops!!

Saturday was Angela's birthday, but since they were hunting we didn't do anything special. It was great just to get to sit and visit, just us girls, and Jeffrey. Sydney and I had fun playing too.

Sunday we went to Lubbock, took Angela out to lunch, and went to a flea market. Not much there, but we had a good time. And once we got home the birds must have been flying again, because the boys were off to hunt once more. This time they actually got some birds!! :-)

He loves his big sister!

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and got to spend it with the people you love. I'll do my best to be better at updating my blog, but I am by no means going to make any promises. Good thing this isn't my job!!

Jr. High - ALREADY?!?!?!?!

Well, I seem to have made it through Cody's first day of jr. high a little better than Jami made it through Jaden's first day of kindergarten, but it was still tough. I couldn't wait for school to be out so I could see my baby! (He won't like that, but oh well...) When he rounded the corner after school my heart leaped a little just seeing his smiling face.

For those of you who haven't seen Cody in a while he's almost as tall as I am! He was so excited about starting school today, and I just hope that excitement keeps up for the rest of the year...I hope it keeps up for the next 7 years!! He walked up and said, "Mom, I had an awesome day!!" I was very relieved, but I knew he would.

It's going to be hard not seeing him everyday, a few times a day, walking around in our halls or popping into my room for something, but growing up is a good thing. I know that Jeff and I have taught him well and have loved him so much that he's popping at the seams, as a lot of you in his life have also done. I also know he has a few very special "guardian angels" watching over him when we're not around. And...I also have my "spies" from church, or former babysitters who are teaching at the jr. high who have promised to keep an eye out for him too. Thanks Amanda for being his other mom!!

So, even though I have cried a lot the past week, I know that he's going to do really well and do great things in his life! Now...how do you think I'll be next year when he starts playing football??? Let's not even go there yet.......

All Stars...All over!!

Baseball season is FINALLY over, not that we were ready or anything. It's pretty much consumed our whole summer, but that's ok too. Cody made it on the all star team again, and after a lengthy discussion about the fact that it might go into our "Colorado time," he decided he'd rather play baseball than go to the mountains, so we did. They played a few tournaments and did really well. One Saturday these poor boys played 5 games, in 105 degree weather, and still managed to only lose the campionship by one run in the last inning. (Thanks Mom, Dad, and Granny for being here to support him!! You were lifesavers!!)

They did well during the all star run too. They won, then lost, then won again, then finally lost and we were done. (Thanks Uncle Joey for driving from Sville to watch him play, along with Nana and Pawpaw.) He had fun, but he's glad it's over, and we made it to Colorado after all, but I'll fill you in on that later.

Whew! What a whirlwind!

What a weekend!

I do believe a good time was had by all! We enjoyed spending last weekend in Arlington with my family. We may have been on vacation, but I don't think there was a lot of relaxing going on because we were too busy having fun.

Here's Jami Dawn. Guess the golf game was a little too traumatic.

Here are just a few pictures to give you an idea of what we did during the weekend.

We played a little golf, acted a little goofy, and posed for the cameras a lot!! We also went to the Rangers game (Rangers won!!!!) and it was more time for posin' and having a good time. We all oohed and awwwed over the fireworks after the game.

Thanks Jami and Leslie for planning the majority of our trip. And thanks for cutting the decision making down to a minimum. We had a great time! It is so wonderful to have a family that loves to spend time together and have fun wherever we go, whatever we do.