Fair week 2012

Rich County Fair 2012

One of the flower bouquets I put in the fair.

Abby and Lenn shearing and getting Leap ready for fair.

Lenn and Bentley shearing and getting Shaggy ready for the big fair.  Bentley picked out Shaggy by himself and from day one he told me he was the best lamb and was going to win something.  Thinking that he had a great lamb he put a lot of time into Shaggy getting him to set up, stay put and press.

He had him so trained that he even ate set up. 

Abby and Leap in Jr. Showmanship.  The judge said she was the most natural showman in the ring.  Not bad for her first year.

Bentley and Abby in Showmanship.  Abby is in first right now and look at that grin.  She couldn't stop grinning because Bentley told her all summer that he was going to beat her and we teased him that Abby was going to beat him!! 
(There's no competition around here!)

Bentley giving his best to get in front of Abby.

The judge making his final decision.

Bentley Grand Champion Jr. Showman and Abby Reserve.  Great job! 

Abby with her back pack and ribbon.  She said "Mom, all that time really did pay off!".  This picture says it all about how she felt about it.  Bentley got an overnight bag and ribbon but the picture didn't turn out.

Abby showing off her poster.

Bentley's poster.

I love this picture because I could pretty much read her mind.  "It's okay Leap, I love you anyway."  Her lamb didn't do well in market so it crushed her a little.  We had a hard time getting this lamb healthy this summer.  I think it was healthy the last three weeks before fair so we knew he wouldn't do that great in the market class.  Abby did a great job showing him though.

The judge making his final decision in Bentley's market class.

Bentley takes 2nd, he was a little bummed.

Showing Shaggy.

Being a little bummed didn't last long though.  After his class was the champion drive and he took Reserve Champion Market Lamb.
Great job Bentley.



You wouldn't know he just got reserve champion lamb!  This is Bentley though...all business.  I was trying to get a group shot of everyone there to watch but I couldn't get every one to cooperate.  The ones there to watch Bentley and Abby were Grandma and Grandpa Johnson, Grandma Walker, Aunt Marjon and her boys and of course Lenn pacing as he watched!




Abby, and cousins waiting to go see how Abby's exhibits did.  She did a colored pencil coloring that went to state fair.  She got her free admission ticket in the mail.  She is pretty excited and wants to plan a trip down to the State Fair.

Thanks to Cal-Ranch for buying Shaggy.



Abby selling Leap. 

We had a great fair this year.  Bentley and Abby both did great and are ready to start on next year.  Abby says she loves showmanship but hates market!!  Bentley is really liking this showing sheep business.  They have both bought sheep to put with Lenn's show sheep herd, so that is really all that gets talked about at our house! 

A few summer highlights

Since I always get so far behind I have to do highlights once in awhile.

Here's a little taste of Summer 2012!



Bentley's faux hawk.  I think he combed it once so I finally just buzzed it all.  He is not one to do his hair!




Softball started off a little cold again!




Two of our angels! Staci and Holly.  Staci works for the medical company that has literally saved us so many times including making coming home possible.  Holly was Owen's first home health nurse, she would come work nights while we lived in SLC. 
We love them both.  We got to see them in June when Lenn and I talked on a parent panel at a conference at Primary Children's.  Owen's humidifier had died the night before so Staci met us with a new one and Holly watched Owen, Bentley and Abby while we were at the conference.  Two amazing ladies!



And Marquelle...she watched the kids while Lenn and I went to the temple for a sealing. 
She was Owen's first nurse in the NICU at Primary's.  Another amazing person!

Bentley and Abby at the Conference Center.



At temple square.



If you haven't heard...show sheep are a new part of our family.  I am not kidding either!
Bentley showing his ewe at a Jackpot.



More softball.  Abby loves softball, it's her favorite sport as of right now.

Bentley with a few more home runs this year.

Owen and Abby playing salon.  Abby was helping Owen throw sponge curlers and he loved it.

A few cousins.

Abby was one of the duck stamp winners and her picture was in the museum in Jackson for the summer.  Her picture is the top one.

A primary lesson for Owen, which he absolutely loves.  His sunbeam teacher still comes out every once in awhile to visit and give him a few lessons.  He loves her.

Make A Wish ~ Day 6

.........all good things must come to an end.  The end has come to Owen's magical wish trip.  We had a wonderful week, and as we packed up and got ready to go we were all a little sad to say good-bye to Cherry Creek and the Denver area. 
There aren't many pictures from this day because it was a little bit rushed once we got on the road.  We needed to meet the guy from Sonny's RV in Rawlins so he could drive the RV back to Casper.  I still can not get over their kindness and generosity!  We didn't make as good of time as I thought we could but we tried and enjoyed our journey home.
Once we got close to home we hit a storm and it was a down pour.  We got to unload the RV in a rainstorm but everyone was such good help that it went well.  I just felt bad putting Sonny's driver back on the road in that storm and late time of day.  A huge THANK YOU again to Sonny's RV.

We are so grateful for everyone that made this trip possible!  It will always be a highlight in all of our memories.  Everything was wonderful!  I can't wait to pay this one forward!

I did forget to mention that throughout the week Owen was thanked many times for this wonderful trip mostly by Abby.  Out of the blue I would hear "thanks Owen for the trip!"

THANK YOU MAKE A WISH AND OUR SPONSOR AND EVERYONE ELSE WHO WAS BEHIND THE SCENES.  WE LOVE YOU!

Make A Wish ~ Day 5

Day 5...I really thought we would be ready to call it quits and be on our way home way before this.  Here we are on day 5 and everyone is just as excited as day 1.  I am a home body and I would have been okay to come home but we were having so much fun it was easy to stay.  Bentley wanted to stay at Cherry Creek forever! 

Bentley doing the "call me maybe" dance.  He and Abby love this
 and whenever the song comes on the dance begins. 

On our way the the Planetarium we passed the Butterfly Pavilion sign and thought we would stop because we had heard from several people that it was a must see.  We stopped and Abby and I went in to check prices and how much time it would take.  I told the lady at the desk what we were doing and she let us take a quick look to see if Owen would like it.  I am so glad she did that because I don't think Owen would have liked it so well.  The butterfly part was so hot and humid.  We ran through quickly and went back out to tell Lenn what we found out.  Abby wanted to go back and get a good look so she and I went back and paid and went through.  Bentley and Lenn were more than happy to sit with Owen while we did this!  We thought is was pretty cool.  The butterflies and flowers were beautiful.

They had an aquarium room and it was really neat and colorful but after being at the aquarium it seemed really small.  They also had an insect room, we didn't spend too much time in there after Abby saw people holding a tarantula!  She grabbed my arm and said 'let's go!'.

Our main purpose for the day was to go to a laser show at the Planetarium at the University of Colorado.  A friend had told us about laser shows so Make a Wish found one.  I am sure it was one of Owen's favorites on the trip.  He grinned from the time the stars came on in the dome until the whole show was over.  He loves lights so I am so glad we got to do this.

Outside the Planetarium.  Inside that dome in the background is where the show took place.

We saw that there was a Landry's restaurant so on the way back from the Planetarium we found one and stopped to eat.  The kids and I aren't huge seafood fans but we did it for name's sake.
(For those who don't know we have a little angel named Landry.) 
The manager was so nice he came out and took our picture in front of the sign and they sent us home with a menu.  I am sure the kids won't be going back to a seafood place anytime soon but I bet they won't forget going to Landry's.





Make A Wish ~ Day 4

Wednesday was our day to sightsee.  I wanted to make sure and see the temple.  Temples have such a special place in my heart and testimony.  Although the temple was beautiful and I am glad we went, it was HOT!  We decided for all of us to get out and walk around the grounds but the heat hit hard on this day.  We were only out about 45 minutes and Owen's vent decided it didn't like the heat at all.  It started giving us a low peep alarm, that means Owen is not getting the needed air.  We got him into the RV and hooked back up to power, I called the RT at primary's and Lenn gets a frozen bag of chicken nuggets for the vent.  Lenn put the chicken nuggets on the vent and while we were waiting for the RT to call me back, the vent quit alarming.  Thank goodness for Lenn and the frozen chicken nuggets!!!   

Needless to say, that was the first and last outing for Owen that day.  The rest of the sightseeing for him was done from a window in the RV.  I was okay with that too!



This the the bride area behind the temple, it was beautiful.  When we got to the temple we were told that is was closed, that was okay with us, we were there to walk around and it made parking easy for Lenn!  One of the workers told us about this area and the special thing about the circle that Bentley is standing on.  It was not planned but after building this area they noticed that if you stand on this circle and face the temple your voice sounds like you are speaking in a microphone.  Of course we had to try it out and yes it was true.

 



After the temple we headed to the Air force Academy.  This is the Cadet Chapel, it was amazing inside and out.  They have different rooms for different religions, they were beautiful.  Bentley and Abby both asked "where do the Mormons go?".  It was pretty funny, being raised in a predominately LDS community our kids don't realize that it isn't the main religion everywhere.

Lenn dreaming!!!

Lenn and Bentley were so bummed when this was as close to the field as they could get.

Abby and Bentley enjoying swim beach at Cherry Creek.

Owen's t-shirt.  It was probably a blessing it was hot because after two days playing hard he was able to rest most of this day.