Pirate Day

I left last Saturday for a 7 day trip. I try to avoid these long trips but sometimes I just can’t. I’m an organizer so I try to have everything planned before I leave so the kids can continue to function without me. I put together crock pot meals for my Cowboy to start and I have all the favorite clothes washed up and a post on the fridge of what days need what- like Thursday is library day. 

Then on Monday I get the email that Friday is pirate day at school. Ugh- Pirate Day- really of all the days to have while I’m traveling! Cowboy could pull off princess day or school spirit day or even a specific color day (last week was strips- he could have done that) but not a complicated costume experience like pirates...

I talked to the crew on Tuesday and we discussed our options.  Miss O said she was fine with not dressing up like a pirate.  Miss R said she didn’t even like pirates.  So, I felt better with the whole experience and didn’t even bring it up to Cowboy. I checked again with the girls on Wednesday night and same story.  Yesterday I made the decision to grab an earlier flight and get home Thursday night instead of Friday night. Well the good Lord had other plans and we ended up missing my connecting into home last night.

To divert here- I was traveling with my cousin Kelli and a woman on our plane started to experience seizures and Kelli being a nurse was able to be with the woman while we had to make an emergency landing in Madison, Wisconsin. I had been shocked how easy we were able to switch our flights to a whole day earlier and now I why- we needed to be on the flight for Kelli to provide her gift to this woman. Thank God for his interference, Kelli was amazing and I believe made a difference for this woman and certainly the passengers of the plane.  

So, that all means no pirate costumes at school on Friday.  Now I’m sure my girls are not the only ones who were not dressed like pirates and they weren’t sad. But certainly this traveling mom feels bummed that I failed and no eye patches left my house. 

I have no pictures of my beautiful kids from Friday morning (forgot to ask Cowboy to take them).   But they probably fit in just fine - hair not combed, dirty wrinkled clothes and bad attitudes- Cowboy has been in charge for a week.  Maybe he is good at pirate costumes...

What My Mommy Does

A while back I was sitting at my spot at the kitchen table with my laptop and phone.  Which is pretty much my normal work routine. I had never stopped to think about how my kids perceive my work until this particular day.

My youngest was dashing through the kitchen with a friend she had over to play. She stops. Turns to her friend and points at me and says "That's my mom working- all she does everyday is type on her computer and talk on the phone." I look up from my computer to see her friend look me up and down with a puzzled face, shrug her shoulders and run off.

It got me to thinking- what is my job title? When people ask me what I do it is hard to explain. I often give people a long stare and an even longer explanation of the current project I'm working on to somehow justify that I'm a skilled production person. So, how can I expect my kids to know my job if I don't even know how to explain my job.
I'm a:
Mom
Wife
Housekeeper (that we should fire)
Social media freelancer
Entrepreneur
Volunteer
Board Member
Quilt Shop Partner -( check out www.quilterscornersd.com)
Economic Development Coordinator
Skilled Farm Assistant  (that is highly undervalued)

So, how do I wrap that all into one cool job title? I've thought and thought and just can't come up with anything. Freelancer just doesn't have the cool ring to it that encompasses my career.

My kids understand what their dad does- he's a farmer. He has the cool title that explains it all. He puts on his suit everyday- which is his winter coveralls this time of year and leaves the house at 8:00 am every morning.  He comes home from his job every night about the same time and he can tell them what he did that day and they understand it.  When people ask them they can say my dad is a farmer with pride!

So, it certainly has become evident to me that I probably won't be asked to come and speak at school career day.  But hopefully someday my children will look back and see that I made the career choices I did to spend time with them and make the moments matter to them count. Maybe that's all the job title I need.

When I Grow Up...

Last week Miss R graduated from Kindergarden.

It's a big event in a young person's life and marking it with a party is very appropriate.

Something weird with my computer- but you get the picture

In our small community there is only one class of Kindergarden but Miss R's is a healthy size of 22 busy little people.  Miss Hammond & Miss Ogle have done an amazing job of keeping everyone moving in the same direction and everyone is moving onto 1st grade!

Let me just start off by saying Miss R wore an amazing outfit- I personally think it made it in the TOP 5 on her Kindergarden fashionista list. It had sparkles, flounce and matching flip flops. Plus it was a good hair day.

What really caught my attention at the event was this simple display of each child in Miss R's class holding a sign to complete this sentence:

7 out of the 10 boys in her class want to be farmers.  Wow, I'd say that is a pretty good percentage of future farmers in our community! I was a little surprised at that many kids who see their future in farming but on the other hand -- Proud that so many of our kids see themselves walking in their mom and dad's footsteps to carry on the tradition of raising food.  It would have been fun to dream about being a baseball player,  race car driver, police man, hunter-- all popular boy jobs.  But no, instead they want to be FARMERS! 

I can't wait to see how these kids grow and become their dream. 

Now for Miss R- the sign she is holding-  Ballerina. 

I was surprised by this, since for over a year now she has talked about being a Doctor. She goes into complete detail every time she talks about it; explaining that she wants to help people and make them better. When I questioned her about her profession change she said that she'll "make her final decision when she's 18"

...stay tuned, it could get interesting.

Happy Birthday Miss R

Today my baby turns 6.  It's with great pride that I say Happy Birthday to my beautiful spunky little girl.
Here's what I hope for you in the next 6 years to come and more beyond that:
1. Laugh- you see funny in everything and I never want that to stop
2. Keep your style. If you notice in this picture she has on her pink sparkle boots- there's always room for sparkle according to Miss R.
3. Sing- Although it drives us all crazy at times we love your songs and I always want to hear that voice.

One more thing to record for prosperity... Yesterday Miss R had a few friends out to the house for her birthday party.  Cowboy is required to help with these functions to help me pull off my crazy birthday party's (since the epic Miss O party of '11).  Cowboy didn't grow up with sisters so he really has no idea what he is getting into having two girls, but more and more layers unfold all the time.  At the point yesterday when all 6 of the girls at my house started into a Pep Cheer they had learned at cheer camp, I looked over at Cowboy to watch his face.  The girls all in unison where standing in the living room doing their cheer. His look was of amazement and concern and it just made me laugh! --Cowboy this is just a glimpse of what the high school years will be!  Everyone Wish Him Luck.

Midnight Ride to the E.R.

I knew that Cowboy wasn't waking me up at 4:30 am to visit about my day.  This time of year I don't get to see Cowboy much, he's night calving so when he's in the house during the day- he sleeps.

Nope at 4:30 am the conversation will start like this: "Can You Come Help Me?"  Which can mean one of two things:
1) I need help outside with a cow calving
2) I'm bleeding

Unfortunately for me it was #2 last night.

Cowboy had went out to night check around 3:30 am and was helping a new mom 'with the finer points of motherhood' as he put it. Somehow in the process of holding the calf up close to her for it to nurse she showed him.  He got kicked in the head and tore his lip open.

Now a conversation I've had many times in my tenure with Cowboy is the "Should I go to the Emergency Room?" Which usually means if we are having that conversation the answer is YES! But second and third opinions are always welcomed.

Cowboy had woke me up for that opinion.  Now something you need to know about me is that I don't like blood.  Up until I met Cowboy I had only been to the emergency room once in my life- and it was to take some people who wreaked a pickup down the road from the ranch.  In the first two years I was dating Cowboy I went to the emergency room 3 times! Once right before we got married (that's another post).

Although I don't like blood I can usually hold myself together until we make it to the Emergency Room. Each time I have taken him in the staff and Doctor always ask me if I'm ok before tending to him! I must be a sight because he is the one usually bleeding.

It only took one glance with sleep still in my eyes at the cut for me to know an Emergency Room visit was his next stop.  We're so fortunate in our little community on the prairie to have an amazing hospital with staff that stitched him right up! He was in and out in a little over an hour.

He was home and dressed to go back outside to try again with the new mother before 6 am.  No rest for the tired or hurt when baby calves need to eat.

Let's hope that's our only visit to the E.R. this calving season. But, I fear we are just getting started...

NASCAR Made My Marriage Stronger

NASCAR has made my marriage stronger...
There's a statement that millions of rednecks wish their wives would say... but in our case it is true.

My Cowboy Loves Sports.  He knows all the players names, stats, and can spot an athlete in an airport 5 gates away.

I Enjoy Sports- I know most of the rules to football, baseball, basketball and like to watch them.
But never could get into it like Cowboy.  I never see myself having a fantasy football team.

NASCAR changed the sport demographic in our house.  A few years ago we stated working with a NASCAR team.  Up until then we were what I call casual fans. We would sometimes watch the race on Sunday's.  And I knew who Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Let's face it- growing up in South Dakota the closest race track is Kansas City-573 miles away. There's just not a lot of talk about the Sprint Cup up north here.

Working with Furniture Row Racing opened our eyes to world of motor sports- mostly mine.   Finally I could talk intelligently about a driver, car, sponsor, etc with Cowboy. The piece of our relationship that had been missing, sports conversation! Who knew, that was one thing all these years that could add a little spice to our relationship.

Me & My Cowboy at the 2012 Daytona 500

So, we sat yesterday watching the Daytona 500 all a buzz about drivers, who's working with who and wondering when Danica would take out the front runners.

When Cowboy comes in for lunch today I'm sure we will have some recap of the big events and what we've heard.

Yep I'm proud to say I'm a NASCAR fan!

Soul Tour

I'm a girl that loves the praire.  I think one of the most beautiful things is looking out over a pasture of and seeing black cattle grazing in belly deep green grass. This time of year on the priarie can be brown and cold and I long to see some green and water in its liquid form.

Cowboy surprised me about a month ago staying that on our trip home from Memphis we could swing through California. No, our map isn't broke, in fact we've found that when you add more stops to your trip the tickets get cheeper.  So to save the group money we were working with we decided to stay a few nights in California visiting friends.

For this Great Plains Girl, seeing the ocean is always a treat. Growing up I didn't see the ocean until I was 19 and at the time I didn't think it was actually the ocean, just a body of water that maybe touched the ocean.  The west coast is one of my favorite places to visit because the rocks and views of the water are just amazing.


I call this trip the soul tour because it does my soul good to spend time with our friends and the ocean.
Cowboy took this picture of me watching the waves coming in.  We also took a lot of video, that I watch on my Apple TV so it feels like I'm still there! That should get me through the rest of the winter...


We also did some fun stuff.  There is nothing like crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.  Honest- I've crossed many a bridges.  I cross the Missouri River every time I go to see my parents and that bridge doesn't hold a candle to the Golden Gate!

I also got to wake up and spend my morning coffee time in a vineyard.  We're very fortunate to have great fiends in California that we love to visit and they take such good care of us.  There was plenty of laughter and WINE! Which is as you know another thing that makes me really happy.

I tossed this last picture in as a rare glimpse of Cowboy without his black hat. We look like locals here...

Thanks to our wonderful friends who made this trip so much fun for us.  We really appreciate it and can't wait for you to visit us!!

Hadrick Christmas Letter

This has been another busy year for the Hadricks! We started off our year like everyone should, taking a family trip to Disney World.  We had an amazing family trip and it really is a great place to spend a family vacation.

Cowboy & I are in the process of taking over the farm with our cousins. We have been dry, but harvest went well and actually turned out better then we thought it would. This winter has been fairly mild, so the cattle are looking well. We have a little snow on the ground so it helps hide the ugly brown of winter.

I continue to work for SDSU. I'm currently administering a grant, that I helped write. It was an idea that I had to take beginning beef producers through an intensive experience of looking at the industry.  I love the work I'm doing and it's been fun to see a dream come true.

We continued to travel the world with our speaking. This year we have been to 14 states (some more then once), 3 Canadian providences and Australia. It's been great to meet new friends and connect with old ones as we travel.

Teigen reached a decade this year. He loves to hunt, fish and help his dad on the farm. A highlight of the year including showing his 4-H heifer at the Western Jr. Livestock Show. Teigen is the 5th generation to show at WJLS and we love attending the show.  He plays sports, this year he started football, is in his second year of basketball and of course plays baseball.

Miss O is a first grader and loves school. She is a reader and a crafter. She is an active 4-H Cloverbud and asks almost once a month when she can be a full blow 4-Her.  She keeps us all in line and is always reminding me of thing I forget.

Miss R started her first year of school and our bouncy curly haired girl has grown into a great young lady. She is very creative and her favorite thing to do is make us all laugh.

We have been very blessed and I am very grateful for all that we have. My hope that for all my friends and family who read this post know that Cowboy and I wish you all the best.