School Starting Already

This can't be already happening - school started 8-19-09. Too soon after a short summer. O.k. apparently when you are a Junior in high school mom is not allowed to take those 1st day of school pictures. Good thing the 8th & 6th graders will cooperate.

I'm worse than the kids - I don't want school to start!

Utah State

Sunday was a crazy day for me ~ my Mara Mae is now a Utah State Aggie. We dropped her off in Logan with another load of stuff. It was a pretty emotional day for her and all of us. She went to visit Grandma & Grandpa Stoor, Somsens (Zippy didn't think it was a good idea for Mara to move), and then Grandma & Grandpa Petersen. We ran to Logan and did a little shopping and then took her to campus. She got together with Darby and then we ran to Walmart on the way home.. The girls came and we said our teary goodbye standing by the cell phones in Walmart ~ what a bunch of dummies we are sometimes.
I promised Grandma P. a pix of her quilt in her dorm room:Here is the rest of her room ~ not tons of room, but pretty good storage:

I still can't believe my little girl is at college, but I'm confident she will to great. The tears will stop soon ~ right?? We talked a little today and tonight & she is so busy. She will be wonderful; it's her mom that might fall apart. LOL I guess I need to be introduced to this guy:

Go Aggies!!!!!

Purple Fingers are the Best!!

I just got off the mountain with my kids - I love it when the huckleberries are in season. Megan, Shelby & I went for a little while yesterday and hit the huckleberry patch I found late last fall on a 4-wheeler ride with Jim. Seth came with us tonight on Grandma's 4-wheeler. We left right behind Mara & Jim on their way to work. Maybe we shouldn't go on Sunday, but I get more quality time in with my kids than if we would have stayed home and they had their heads in the t.v. or computers. It is a beautiful spot on the mountain - I sat there tonight and looked down over the valley at my house and the trees around it. We live in a fantastic spot! We picked about 3/4 of a gallon in about an hour and a half. That doesn't sound like much unless you have picked huckleberries before. It was a very cold ride back - I'm just hoping the berries don't freeze tonight and we might get a chance to get a few more before they are done. We had a little fun with the ride home - I love hanging out on the mountain with my kids. I just with Mara & Jim could have come too. Jim took the camera to work or I would have some pictures to post. Maybe next time. Now what to do with all these berries - Yummy!!!

Swine Show - Caribou County Fair 2009

Caribou County Fair was last week and we are still trying to recover. Of course its all about the swine show for our family - right kids? I don't think any of them had their hearts in it this year, but we made them get out there anyway. I didn't ever think we would be able to show and sell all four pigs, but you wouldn't believe how much feed those pigs ate when we mixed it with powdered donuts for 2 weeks. The kids all worked hard on getting the pigs to make weight, but we didn't work so hard on driving them and it showed in the ring - Live and learn I quess. Seth, Megan, and Shelby have decided than they want to try their hand at a beef project again next year. I'm partial to the pigs, but they will decide. It was an extremely busy week and I'll have a another post, but this one is all about the Swine Show.

All three girls are showing in this picture. They all fell into the same class with our smaller pigs this year.

Seth and Jim listening to the judge.

My handsome guy in his FFA duds with "Keithy".

Megi showing her hog - she placed the highest of our kids in showmanship. She made it back to the championship round, but "Joey" didn't co-operate very well. He knew where the gate was and wanted to be back in the pen with his buddies.

Here is Shelby doing her best to show "Patsy" off to the judge.

Mara is answering the judges questions - hey Mara where is "Davey"?

Swine chairman after the sale ?!?>>**&$#@% :)

Aunt Lois with Grandma & Grandpa Petersen

Girls Camp

Megan headed to Girls Camp - just the week before fair. It was a little crazy for me to send her off and not be going too - I've gone for the past 7 years. We kept teasing her that she was going on "girls vacation" - not girls camp. They headed off to Island Park and stayed in Shawnae's cabin - spent time in Yellowstone, fishing, playing in the water, and if I know anything about girls camp - eating. Here are a few pictures that I stole off her camera:

My kids are "Genuine Hicks!!"

We are quite the family of Hicks - but we have fun. Here are videos of my kids at the fair - Seth, Megan, and Shelby entered the Pig Wrestling Competition. They didn't do too bad. O.K.~the object of the game is to catch the little pig and put him hind quarters first into the barrel in the middle of a muddy ring. Doesn't sound to hard right?? The ring is filled with mud - not real mud, but even more slick. The event ended up having the biggest turnout that I've ever seen on a Tuesday night in Grace. It was a blast to watch. Some of the teams really dressed up and some were completely covered in mud by the time they were finished. Shelby's team went first and didn't have any success at getting the pig, but had a great time.

Shelby's team ( Shelby, Sierra Stoor, Jessica & Bailey McCulloch):

Megan's team (A.K.A. The Snout Crushers) they placed 2nd in the Junior division - got a paycheck of $41 :

Seth's first attempt with the "Wayan Crew":

Seth's second attempt - they actually won - watch close it's quick!!! He actually got paid $107 for about 6 seconds of work :

Can you believe what crazy kids I have - Mara had a group of friends that I'm sure she would have been in the ring with if she hadn't had to work. It was great fun!

Wayan sunrise

I'm sitting here at work waiting for a truck to come in after 5 so I thought I would take a look at the pictures on the camera card. Mara shot these beatiful sunrise shots the other day just as she got home from work I think. It would have been around 6:30 a.m. I was wishing you could see the cut hayfield a little better and I would have entered it in the Farm Bureau photo contest today. I did get in the one of the pig sticking his tongue out at her! I think they are these shots are just beautiful.

Rowdy had to know what she was doing :)