Beach Time

Recently had a great visit with everyone's favorite Auntie Barbara and her grandson, Dominic.

While they were in Keuterville, we took a trip down to the beach and Glenn brought along his raft.

The beach time was fabulous.  Morgan and Dominic had so much fun together.

And these two always have fun together.

4-H Horse Show 2014

Another epic 4-H horse show this past weekend.  This beautiful girl did great.  She walked away from halter with a blue ribbon.  She should have done better, but she forgot to back her horse at the end of the pattern.  Next time. :)

She got Reserve Champion in bareback.  My fault.  She asked me if she could hold the reins the way she is in this picture.  That's wrong.  I felt awful.  Not only am I her mom, I'm also her 4-H leader.  I knew the correct answer, but my brain wasn't working.  She would have received Grand Champion, if it weren't for my mistake.  The judge told her so.  Thankfully, she's a gracious, kind, mature young lady and it wasn't a big deal to her.  It was kind of a big deal to me, but I'll get over it.

She made up for it by receiving Grand Champion in her age group for Western Equitation and Overall Grand Champion for all the age groups.  Woohoo!!

And then we hurried off to change her tack and clothes for English.  She did great there, too and received Reserve Champion.

And finally, after switching back to her western gear, she competed in the trail class.  She and her trusty stead, Jasper walked away with another Reserve Champion ribbon for trail.  A great ending to a great (long) fun day.  Proud of you kiddo!

Another Birthday

Morgan isn't the only one who had a birthday recently.  My brother's oldest had her "Sweet Sixteen" last week.
 

Emily is, in fact, a "sweet" sixteen.  Just like my own kiddos, she has grown up all too fast.  Happy birthday, beautiful girl.

Noelle Pikus-Pace

Morgan was so excited when he found out that Olympian Noelle Pikus-Pace was coming to little ol' Grangeville to share her inspirational story.  And this was happening on his birthday!

In case you're wondering why Noelle would want to come to Central Idaho:  her brother is a doctor in Cottonwood.  Morgan shared his classroom with Dr. Pikus' twin daughters so they had fun watching Noelle win her silver medal in the Skeleton race.

So, we had some cake and ice cream at Grandma's.

And some present opening, we went to listen to what Noelle Pikus-Pace had to say.  (He likes his new Vandal shirt, doesn't he?)

She was a great speaker.  Very inspiring and upbeat.  She went through a lot to get to the medal podium, and has such a positive outlook on life and the struggles that come with it.  She encouraged us to make a difference in the world and share our talents.

Morgan loved her talk and even got to ask a question during the Q and A.  It was a great end to his birthday.

Birthday Donut

Today's a big day.... Morgan has moved out of single digits.... he's now TEN years old!

We started out the morning at Aunt Paige and Uncle Tony's house because our favorite Auntie Barbara is visiting from California.  He was treated to a fresh donut when he rolled out of bed.

Complete with a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" and a candle.

Happy birthday, sweet boy!  Don't grow up too fast.

Sunday on the Salmon

We had a fun family trip to the Salmon River last Sunday, which is a whopping 20 minutes from our house.  A fun time was had by all.

These girls are two peas in a pod.  I've been pondering how nice it is that my kids all (mostly) get along so well.  Especially these two.  I'm so lucky.

And this is my selfie of my time on the beach.  How great is my life?  So great.

And, I should tell you, that I didn't actually get in the water.....  It's SOOO cold!  Even if it was 100 degrees outside.  I sat with my feet up on this tube and the seat of my beach chair barely skimming the water.  It was perfect.  Thankfully, my children are accustomed to my aversion to cold water and are satisfied to know that I will not be participating in the actual water sports.  It's a nice arrangement.

Egg-tastic!

 One of our (many) activities during Border Days this year, was to take Nicole over to help out with the "Street Sports."  That meant the rest of us got to participate in the famous egg toss.  They have this activity every day for three days.  They used 700 eggs the first day, over a thousand eggs the second day and 1,700 eggs on July 4th!!!  Us Americans do some crazy stuff to celebrate our independence!!

Glenn gave us pointers on how to catch the egg gently.  He made it look so easy...

Waiting for the fun to begin.

It was pretty high-stress.  And I wasn't the only one feeling the pressure.  Check out the lady in the lower right corner...!

Ah, the relief of throwing an egg and Ellea catching it!

And the pride of catching it without breakage!!

And the sadness when it finally breaks.  We didn't make it very far in the competition.  They make you do some crazy stuff like catch it one-handed, throw it behind your back and hike it like a football.  Ellea and I didn't make it that far - we could hardlly make it pass the basic toss - but we tried!

The Crowning

Love this picture, courtesy the Idaho County Free Press.  We weren't sitting where we could see her face when they made the announcement of which candidates were crowned royalty, so it's great to have a photo from this angle.

Words cannot express how my heart swells with pride for this girl.  She is the QUEEN of Border Days!

Parades

One of the requirements benefits of being a contestant for rodeo queen is riding in the parades.  Not just one parade.  Three parades.  One each day.

It was exhausting fun!!

Nicole's arm got tired from all the waving.  She's going to have to build up those muscles as she's got several parades to go to this year now that she's royalty!

The Queen and her Friends

Before our queen was crowned, she had a following.

During warm-ups before one of the rodeos, she started talking to these kiddos along the fence and they hung out for quite a while.

They had a good time.

And some serious talks! :)

Supportive Siblings

These kiddos were so supportive and excited for their sister last week.

This one was so nervous the day of the results, you would have thought she was trying out for royalty!

And this guy was jumping up and down for joy at the results!!

What a lucky girl she is.

What a lucky mom I am!

Introducing.....

Meet the newest Grangeville Border Days Rodeo Queen!

She is very excited, to say the least!

So are the rest of us.  We were on pins and needles all week waiting to find out the results.

Last year at Border Days, we thought maybe in a couple years she'd give it a go.  And here we are!  We might be a little crazy, but it should be fun!

New Cousin

We finally got to meet the newest member of the Poxleitner clan at the "Ten Club" party.

Little Kaitlyn is cute as a button.

She got to meet her cousin, Taylor, who's less than a year older than her.

These two will be best buds, I think.

And of course, Ellea managed to get her hands on Kaitlyn also.  She was a little unsure of us strangers, but every small child warms up to Ellea!