The Great Easter Dress

In my quest to be mom of the year, I created the 'dress of her dreams' for Miss R's Easter outfit.  The truth be known the reason I had to go to this effort was because Easter sneaked up on me.  I had started early enough, we went to the 'big' town 6 weeks ago and found a dress for Miss O, but just could never find anything for Miss R.

By the time I got around to ordering one for Miss R I still couldn't find anything online that I was excited about and I wasn't sure it would be shipped in time.  Remember I live in rural South Dakota and sometimes the pony express is slow. So last week I made a quick trip to the 'big' town to find a dress. I came home with this little perfect cotton candy pink tutu style dress. I thought she would love it.  Instead her comment was "this dress is (picture thumbs down and tongue stuck out), plain" UGH.




So, the next morning we headed to one of our favorite places in town the Quilt shop to get some enhancements for this plain dress.  Here is what we came up with: Pearl buttons, Pink buttons with little sparkles in the middle, a yard of pink roses and some thread to sew it all on.

For the next few days I worked on the plain dress and it came together really well. This was the smile we saw on her face yesterday morning.  Yes, a few buttons fell off, but overall it looked so good and she was thrilled. Another happy customer...

Morgan, Teigen's 4-H Show Heifer is a mom! 

That was big news at our house. We all had been waiting very patiently for this baby to arrive. Morgan had been staying in the barn and being fed 'special' feed and being treated very well in her last days of pregnancy. We almost were at hour by hour updates from all the family members who were dropping in to check on her. Finally the day arrived and after the kids got home from school we headed to the barn as a family to see the new addition.  For all you wondering it was a- BOY! Teigen was excited and Miss O "knew it was a boy" she claims.

Morgan is a good mom. There is nothing like hearing a cow talk to her calf with their low sounds they make. I love to listen to that and it always makes me smile. It amazes me how a cow instantly knows that she is responsible for taking care of her baby and goes to work getting them cleaned and stands waiting for the calf to get up and take their first drink of milk.

Within the first day a calf is born on the ranch we tag them, give them a shot-a vaccine for common diseases that calves may be exposed to and monitor both mom and baby to make sure that they are ok. Teigen wanted to be a part of all the details when it came to Morgan.  Here he is putting the number on the calf tag. You can see his little sister paying close attention to detail. She can't wait for this to be her someday! When it came down to it- we all agree that dad should be the one to put the tag in the calf's ear and give the shot. We sorted Morgan off from the calf, into another pen where she could still see the calf and in less then 15 seconds the old pro had it done and mom and baby were reunited. We all thought it was cute how the new baby looked with his new clean ear tag.

I think Morgan the mom is going to have some new lessons for Teigen to learn and I'm excited to see how those unfold- I'll keep you posted.

The Daytona 500

Sometimes I have to stop and just observe where I'm at in life.  That moment happened this weekend at the Daytona 500.  As I watched the rain come down on Sunday standing in the Furniture Row Racing shop I sat there thinking...how did we get here and more importantly WOW- this is sure fun! My Cowboy & I  are really excited about Furniture Row Racing  and the Farm American initiative they support. We have been working with them for over a year now and the program is just growing and growing and reaching more people with the story of where their food comes from. This passion My Cowboy & I have for reaching people with this message has taken us around the world and now to the Daytona 500. 

So here we are at...the Daytona 500.  We loved every minute of the experience! I wanted to share the highlights.

Any introduction to a track is going to the infield.  I tell you there is nothing more cool then going through a tunnel under the track.  Daytona's traffic tunnel is the smallest I've seen but made it even more fun.  We both walked the tunnel and in this picture we caught a ride on a golf cart. Just in case you're wondering the golf cart ride was better.  But I'm not complaining.

My Cowboy did something he has always wanted to do. We got to sign the start/finish line. It's really a cool experience.  You look at all the names and messages and think about all the different people there and what brings them together for this amazing sport.

Then we also got to watch the races.  We saw the truck race and the Nationwide race. I know some of you don't recognize My Cowboy without his cowboy hat on. Sometimes he goes in disguise in order to blend better. See here he looks like a normal race goer. One of the great things about working with a NASCAR team is that we got to watch this race on top of the hauler. For those non NASCAR fans the hauler is what hauls the car and tools. 

And then the rain came. We woke up Sunday morning hoping that the rain would miss the track but it didn't. And it rained and rained and rained some more...So what does NASCAR do when it rains. Not much they hang out in the shop and wait for it to stop. Unfortunately for us we couldn't get our flights changed and had to come home on Monday morning. I know, I know you think that's crazy! But we had other things to get back to and I think it gives us a good reason to go back next year!

Thanks Furniture Row Racing for a wonderful opportunity. I've turned into a huge race fan there is something about hearing those cars going around the track that makes me smile.  But most of all I'm thankful that Furniture Row Racing supports educating people about where their food comes from.  Follow them on Facebook! Keep track of what they're doing to support agriculture.

Nothing Says Happy Valentines Like a Semi Truck & Trailer

Valentines Day is not a big holiday in the Hadrick house. I'm really not crazy about flowers and certainly I knew that before we got married My Cowboy does not have a knack for giving gifts. But for what ever reason this year Teigen came to me in January (maybe because he saw the Holiday Stress train was still on the track) and said he wanted to make a semi truck and trailer for his valentines day box for school this year. And he kept hounding me- he had this vision in his head and he wanted it done. So 2 weeks ago, after many try's to redirect him I gave in and started thinking about how to build this.  Luckily we have not thrown out the Christmas boxes yet (See blog about Holiday Stress) so we had plenty of things to choose from. The last 3 days have been crazy with box decorating but I'm thrilled to say we delivered a semi with trailer in tack this morning to his classroom! It certainly will get the award for the largest box (Sorry Mrs H).  Although we had to compromise on the tarp feature- he wanted it to roll up just like a real grain trailer after he lost that battle he didn't even bring up the dumping action.

So I have to ask myself is this the beginning of raising the next Hadrick man who thinks romance is a Semi Truck & Trailer? Sadly I may have to admit defeat there and accept I can only do so much.  He will know how to do his own laundry and cook to survive but romance may be the one thing I won't get through to him.

Thank goodness that Miss O was up for my suggestion and she did the ever popular alligator with large teeth and in order to put the valentines in you have to reach into the mouth.  She loved it!

Miss R went the traditional preschool route and we completed the butterfly box in 15 minutes last night. I needed that since we didnt' start until 6:30 last night with that. If you look really close its 'antlers' as she called them are crossed.  She says that he'll be able to fly faster that way.

So, I'm feeling pretty good today. I've acquired some Mom of The Year stars on my chart- the race is still early and I'm sure I will fall behind.  But for today I'm still in the running!

Happy Valentines Day.

Our Favorite Animal

Last week Miss O had her school open house. The kids showed off their work and skills they had accumulated so far this year. One of the things the kids did was to draw a picture of their favorite pet and write something about what it does. In the Hadrick house we don't have pets. I'm an anti pet mom- let's face it I can bearly handle 3 kids let alone throwing an animal into the mix. My Cowboy and I agree and we're fine without a pet. But it's times like this that I feel for my kids because everyone else has a pet to talk about. But I was proud of Miss O she did what any good young cowgirl would do and drew this picture of "Baldy" her bucket calf and wrote a darn good supporting sentence with her picture.

She added important details like his white head - note that's why his name is 'baldy' since he has a white head and his white belly. She loved taking care of baldy last spring and summer. Every day she helped feed him and take care of his water needs. She felt an amazing sense of pride with this animal and I think it's really great how she loves to work on our farm and take care of animals.

I'm not sure if you know it or not but the Department of Labor has proposed rules regarding Child Labor laws that would restrict children under the age of 16 from working on a farm and ranch. The things that children will not be able to do is shocking for example kids will not be able to work with animals over 6 months of age- which would include 4-H show animals. They also could not build fence or operate any type of equipment from tractors to power tools.  I think how this will effect my family and our community. Our kids have pride working with us on the farm I don't want it to be illegal for me to have them help work cattle or harvest crops.  This will also effect our community- what are the kids who live in town and come out to spend summers working on ranches in our area going to do? So my call to action: Let the people in Washington DC know how this will effect you. I know I know - who contacts their legislators...you should. I want Miss O to be able to tell people her favorite animal is a cow because she is able to go out and work with them everyday.

For those of you still upset that we don't have a pet. Don't tell the kids but we're considering a dog more and more...you know something that we can hunt with.

Filling My Bucket

I've been running like crazy and I was telling some friends yesterday that my holiday stress was not left in January it followed me right into February. How dare it! This morning I get 4 hours in my home office and I can't tell you how excited I am to be catching up on things. I like to be home and unfortunately all my jobs are converging at once and I've been on the road way too much the last 30 days! This is times when I find my bucket empty.  

So for me to fill my bucket I have to get back to basics. Basics for me is spending time with my family. This morning I helped Miss O find the perfect outfit for her Kindergarden Open House. We were in a huge hurry today so no pic- I will try to share one later.  But believe me it was cool complete with sparkle furry boots, frilly pink skirt and silver accent belt. 

I also have spent the morning with Miss R. My bucket has been filled with smiles as she is always doing something funny.  Currently she's trying to hula hope with a necklace. It's never a dull moment with her around and I love it when she makes me laugh. 

For me filling my bucket includes filling other people's bucket.  This morning Miss Em dropped by to pick up the rockin cool boots I bought for her in Nashville. Miss Em helps take care of the kids when we travel and I wanted to get her something special. I was so thrilled that she was able to come over early and they fit!! She sent me this picture today of her wearing them.  

To finish filling my bucket I get to go with the beef producers I work with to Scottsbluff, Nebraska today. We're taking a quick trip down to look at some cattle they have in a feedlot. I love working with this group and although I have to be on the road again I'm excited about seeing everyone. 

Here's to hoping your bucket is full! 

Found My Holiday Stress

I was cruising into my kitchen the other morning and looked up on the wall to see this. Yep it's the end of January and I've still got the Merry Christmas art work hanging. How did this happen?

I vividly remember thinking at Christmas time, why are all these people stressing about the holidays.  I had everything under control throughout the Holiday season.  I had all my gifts wrapped early, stayed in my buying budget, did my holiday baking, hosted Christmas dinner, and pulled off a rockin gift presentation for our family trip to Disney. Well the holiday stress caught up with me- it's just a month late.

What happened- I forgot to look ahead to January and the crazy month I had. I've had a full travel schedule and a lot of different projects going on. I felt horrible that I cancelled the Cloverbud meeting this month, letting down 20 pre 4-H kids just crushed me.  I simply could not pull it together and it was hard to make the call. Thank goodness that January is over! I've looked ahead to February and it's much better. So, I'm optimistic I can get the Christmas decorations down before Easter.