Ariana

For those of you who haven't gotten into Pablo and Cynthia's blog, here is a picture of Ariana. Isn't she cute?

P.s. I bought her the blanket in the first picture.

Friday excitement

So Katina has had to get used to working on Fridays again. Last year at her school, she only worked Monday thru Thursday. This year she has to work on Fridays also. Fridays are a short day and absolutely chaotic! Today was picture day, computer day, hearing test day, and the day before a three-day weekend. Her 6th grade class has 30 students, 5 of them with severe behavioral problems. She has even joked about becoming an alcoholic to deal with the stress of dealing with these yahoos.
A weird thing did happen today. They made an announcement over the intercom this morning asking any teachers with fans to bring them to the office. When I went down there to make copies, I found out that a fire extinguisher had fallen off the wall and exploded in a room full of 5th-graders. The teacher was covered with foam and all the backpacks, desks, and books were white. That class spent all day cleaning the room. The principal said it was his first time to see this happen in all his years of administration. It turns out that either the janitors of extinguisher company put the wrong screws in the wall holder. Look out for those extinguishers--they can be dangerous!

New Niece

Chris and I found out on Thursday that his sister had a baby girl on Wednesday night. Ariana weighed in at 6 lbs 14 oz and was 19 inches long. That means we had a niece and nephew born 5 days apart. We have not recieved a picture yet. When we do, we will post it. Another good way to see the baby is to follow the link on our blog to Cynthia and Pablo. They should be posting pictures soon.

New Baby and School Year

A couple of random things:
1. On Friday morning at 3:40 am (Eastern time), Chris's sister Elizabeth had her fifth child. Michael Preston weighed 8 pds. 13 oz. We talked to her on Saturday. They both should have got out of the hospital on Sunday. After the baby was born, it had a high temperature and his blood sugar level was high. He is doing fine now. We are excited, but probably won't get to see him for awhile.
2. School started today for Katina. She has a great class of 6th graders and most of the 5th graders are good. She is really excited to work to two veteran teachers who have a great classroom management system.

Temple Open House

On Saturday, Chris and I went up to Twin Falls for the temple open house. It was originally planned for my dad to come with my family, but he backed out at the last minute. Once we arrived in Twin, we met my mom, grandma, nephews, brother, and sister-in-law and went to the temple. It was beautiful! I hate to say this to my Rexburg friends, but we liked it better than the Rexburg temple. Afterwards, we went to IHOP for lunch, and I had one of the best cheeseburgers of my life. As soon as we walked out of the restaurant, we heard this horrible crashing noise. Two cars had collided head-on and it looked like someone was hurt. I called 911, but somebody had already reported it. We said goodbye to my family and Chris and I watched the EMTs for awhile. It turns out that at least three people were hurt, one of them looked serious. I really need to go into paramedicine because that was the highlight of the whole trip.

After we got bored at the wreck scene, Chris and I drove to the Twin Falls, which consists of Shoshone Falls and Payette Falls (I have no idea what the second falls is really called). We didn't want to pay $3 to drive close to the falls, so we just took pictures from the lookout. It was a good, but fast trip to Idaho.

Our Crazy Cat

Here are a few pictures of Sam. We recently put our table up for sale on KSL.com and were taking it apart. We turned around and found him sitting on the tabletop. Sam also loves plastic. He licks it anytime he can find it and will even pull it out of the garbage. While I was trying on my wedding dress(we are selling it too), he climbed into the garment bag. Last week Chris and I bought some chairs from Sam's Club and left the plastic covering in the living room for Sam to play with. Yesterday, while we were watching the Olympics, he climbed into it and slept there for an hour. He is definately an entertaining cat!

Fair Times

On Thursday afternoon, Chris and I left for Idaho to attend Merritt's (my nephew) fair. It was his first year showing a steer. I used to show a steer when I was in 4-H and FFA, so this brought back many memories. We got to my grandmother's house in Mackay where we stayed for two nights. On Saturday after the sale, we traveled to Challis where we spent the night with my parents and attended church on Sunday before we made the long trip back to Utah.

Because most people have been to fairs but have never seen a beef show, I will give an explanation of how they work. First of all a steer is a male that cannot reproduce. They are raised solely for their meat. In March, all steers are weighed in for an initial weight. The owners have about 4 months to tame them and get them to a good weight (at least 1000 pounds). They train them by putting a halter and lead rope on them and train them to lead and stop. This normally takes a lot of work. They also have to train them with a showstick. A showstick is a fancy name for a pole with a hook and pointer to make the steer stand perfectly square. They use the hook to pull feet forward and the pointer to push feet back. A steer should stand square so that it looks even.

There are two shows in a market beef show. The first one is showmanship. They have different four different categories depending on show experience. In this show the showman has to be watching the judge, controlling their animal, lining it up, following directions,and answerering questions about their project. It is a little nervewracking. The second show is quality, where the steer is judged on its quality of meat. They look at how balanced it looks, how they walk, and the thickness of its ribs. I used to judge cattle, but don't remember exactly how they judge them in this. Steers are placed in a class determined by their average daily gain. Each top two in four classes move on to the champainship round, where the top two are awarded. The next day, they have an auction of all the animals (sheep, hogs, and steers). People come from all over the state and bid on animals. On Sunday, when we are all asleep, the animals are butchered (some young 4-Hers don't know this). It can be a very traumtic experience selling your animal. I hope that explanation was not confusing and now you understand a little of how 4-H beef shows go.

Merritt got grandchampion showman in his showmanship class (there were only two showmen). He was still pretty excited. His steer was a baby and so gentle. Many people commented that they have never seen such a gentle steer. In his quality class, he got third. Overall, he sold 10th out of 16 steers. He sold his steer for $1.85 a pound, which means he earned roughly $22oo, plus any added money anybody gave him. Not bad for an 8 year old!

Here are some pictures of the fair. The one of Copper rearing up when he is getting washed is a great one(he hates getting his head washed). I am entering that into a contest. I think the one of Merritt and RJ being goofy is so cute!