Friday Blog Hop

Wordless Wednesday

Pics from a recent trip to Arizona.

Join the Revolution

Check out the new 4-H campaign below.

Cows at School

We took 3 cows to the "bubbles" pre-school this week. It was so fun to watch the kids with the animals.

A Backseat Driver

For the past 2 months, I have been recovering from surgery. This has been a very slow and sometimes frustrating process. This surgery has been my 4th to correct complications from my C-sections.




So, I have learned at times I have to be a "back seat mom". No lifting kids, running with kids, or chasing kids. Even though I did get to watch them have fun in the sandbox and clip coupons. -She is an apprentice of Gal in the Middle.

National Character Counts Week!

October 17-23rd in National Character Counts week. A good time for all of us to have an "ethics physical". Just think about.....
Am I a good mom to my kids?
Do I treat my co-workers and family with respect?
Am I trying to protect the environment? Hmmm-well I am getting quite a collection of reusable grocery sacks:)
The list of ethical questions can go on and on!

Character Counts! is a great program that helps all of us think about ethics and character and what is means to be a person that strives to be an example of good character.

Celebrate National Youth Science Day

On October 6th, millions of the nation's young people will be sciencetists for the day. This year's experiment, 4-H2O, youth will learn about carbon dioxide and discover how we can reduce our envionmental impact on natural water sources.

Check out the experiment at 4-H.org/NYSD

Fun with Family

Here are some pics from our family outing this weekend. We were able to see the Budweiser clydesdales when they came through our town.

Animal Welfare

As I have blogged about before, I have a background in animal agriculture. I fell in love with horses at a young age, and my parents sacrificed alot so that I could show my horse "Sparkle" around the country. This love of horses led me to Purdue Univeristy to study animal science. I use my animal background (and my husbands as well) in my work as a 4-H Youth Development professional.


As a livestock producer, our family has a huge respect for animals and their welfare. So, I had no intention of blogging today until my husband sent me a really cool article about animal welfare vs animal rights. You can find it here.

And... I encourage everyone to be careful what you are giving money to when donating to animal causes.

HOP HOP HOP

Book Review: The Homecoming

Yesterday, while home with my sick little man" I finished "The Homecoming" a new relaese by author JoAnn Ross.

It was a super book with a good mix of mystery and romance and also part of a new series set on the West Coast. I have been reading her books for a long time and this is the best one yet! The only downside...the next book in the series will not be released until next summer.

Confessions of a Midwesterner

If you have ever lived in traveled through or visited the Midwest, you know it is called "The heart of it all", "The crossroads of America", the corn belt, the hog belt...well you get the picture.

Then there are also the staples to the Midwestern diet, bacon and sweet corn. I have lived in Indiana my entire life and can say with absolute certainty that I hate bacon and sweet corn. Never the less, it was still alot of fun to watch my family "shuck" the sweet corn we fixed for dinner this week.

Zumba: Super exercise Fun

I have been a dedicated exerciser for about 10 years. I do a variety of things in order to stay motivated. I walk, kick box, and do step aerobics. In the last year, I have also added Zumba to my work out routine. Zumba is aerobic dancing with a latin flavor, and it is so much fun that you do not even realize you are exercising until it is over; it is offered at fitness centers across the USA. So, if you are looking for something new to try or are new to exerise you mught find that Zumba is a good fit.

Splashin' Bucket Fun

This week we found a cool way to beat the heat without using a bunch of water. I filled 2 clean feed buckets with water (You can also use pans or buckets) and had water fun. We gave barbie a bath, tossed balls and blocks and the kids even climbed in the buckets. You can also do tosses with spounges if you have these available.

Favorite Bath Tub Reads for June

Here are my favorite picks of the books I have red this month:

"Water for Elephants" by Sara Greun

"Deeper Than The Dead" by Tami Hoag

"Step on a Crack" by James Paterson

The Huxtable Family Series by Mary Balough

4-H: My Story

I am a 4-H Youth Development professional in Southwestern Indiana, which means like most moms with careers outside the home my work days start really early and sometimes end late in the evening. My career often involves everyone in my family. My husband often helps at 4-H events and serves as a 4-H project judge during the 4-H Fair. My kids are often found at meetings with me or staying with my mom until I get finished with work.


Every year in over 3000 communities around the country, 4-H is highlighted at county fairs. Although 4-H is the largest youth serving organization in the United Stated (over 50 percent of our membership comes from residents of cities), we started as an agriculturally based program. Fortunately for our 4-H members and communities, agriculture still has a large presence in our programming. Animals are a wonderful teaching tool and research is showing 4-H livestock project members develop leadership, responsibility and caring as well as science skills when they participate in livestock related activities.

During a time when the livestock industry is being targeted with unwarranted criticism, I encourage everyone to talk to a 4-H member about their animal projects. I know in a few weeks I will be walking through the barns at our 4-H fair, and I know the one things I will see is a mutual caring and respect evident between the 4-H members and their animals.

Deeper Than They Dead Book Review

I just finished Tami Hoag's newest book released earlier this year. It is an addictive, page turning suspense filled read. A bonsus is that it takes place in 1985; so it is a trip down memory lane for those of us that remember shoulder pads, life without cell phones, and big hair.

Introducing Daphne the Pig

Over the last few months, our little girl has joined her cousins in the show arena with pigs.

Our little girl is starting her journey as a "show woman" with Daphne the pig. As a former horse showman, I am thrilled that she is having the opportunity to show livestock (even thought I wish it was a horse). Showing Daphne will start her on a journey that includes a love and respect of animals and animal agriculture that the general public never gets to experience.

For fun and accurate information on animal agriculture visit the OARDC Blog.

The home made bird feeder

At a recent 4-H activity, we found a really cool way for kids to make their own bird feeder.

Step 1: Take a pine cone.
Step 2: Cover it with peanut butter and bird seed.
Step 3: Secure a string to the pine cone
Step 4: Hang your new bird feeder outside and enjoy.

My Versatile Blogger Blog

Many thanks to Going Jane and Gal in the Middle, my bffs, for passing on the Versatile Blogger Award to me. So, here are the rules of the award.
So here are the "rules" of the award:

1.Thank the person who gave you this award.
2.Share 7 things about yourself.
3.Pass the award on to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic.
4.Contact the bloggers you've picked at let them know about the award.

So, here we go with 7 things about me:
1. I try everyday to be the best person I can be and treat everyone with respect and love.
2. Being a mommy and a wife are 2 of the best things I have ever done.
3. I have an obsession for all things "Twilight" and cannot wait for June 30th which will bring Eclipse the next installment of the Twilight Saga.
4. I had both of my children by C section and have had complications resulting in several surgeries and visits to the doctor as a result of the C sections.
5. I married my special guy 14 months after I met him.
6. My current profession as well as my journey thought high school and college are a direct result of having the opportunity to ride and show horses while growing up.
7. My daughter is getting ready to show in her first pig show in a week.

15 bloggers to pass the award to is tough because I am so new to blogging, but here goes:
1. First to Going Jane. She is a very talented writer with lots of creativity and interests; so her blog does not disappoint. We have been friends for over 16 years; and she is so very dear to me.
2. Life would not be life with out Gal in the Middle She is also very creative and funny; so reading her blog has been fun. Especially since she has been posting recipes. Hmm. Maybe she will cook next time I am at her house.
3. Beyer Beware: Enough Said.
4. Purdue Extension Warrick County has a cool blog we try to keep up to date with breaking information for youth, families, and agriculture. (This is my work blog).
5. My co-worker has a great blog. You can visit her and her hubby at their berry patch at http://nickandaheld.blogspot.com/
6. Two Maids a Milking is a great look at life on a dairy farm with 2 moms on the go.
7. KJ Roberts blog has a book tour going on right now and she does the Class of 1993 proud.
8. A Latte' with Ott is a very neat site. I love her page design and her writing; I have been visiting her blog to get ideas for mine.
9. Tess Gerritsen is a favorite writer of mine; and she has a blog that she updates frequently. She is also getting ready to have a new TV show launched based on her books.

The Versatile Blogger Award

Wow! I have been given a versatile blogger award, and have tears in my eyes about the nice words Going Jane wrote about me on her blog. How cool is that? I will post another blog soon to fulfill my obligation as a versatile blogger :)

Diana Palmer

I love books, and I especially love books by Diana Palmer. I read and re-read her books. I love her romantic heros and the women in her stories. I love them so much that I have 2 stacks of Diana Palmer books in my closet that I pull out at whim to reread. I love other genre besides romance. In fact I just finished a great Iris Johansen thriller. But, I always come back to a good romance novel to lift my spirit. So, you can imagine my chagrin when Going Jane e-mailed me to let me know she is going to review the new Diana Palmer novel because she mentioned making a Diana Palmer purchase in her blog. What??????

So, the moral of this story is never underestimate the power of blogging.

Spring is.....

Spring is green grass, new flowers, crazy 4-H enrollment season, warmer temperatures, lots of playing outside and ......planting season.

At our house planting season is crazy. Cow man spends alot of time on the road "trucking" and selling seed. So, spring also means alot of late nights with kids missing daddy and me missing my special guy. But in a few months, everyone gets to reap the benefits of spring planting. We all get to see corn and beans growing and later get to eat products that would not be available to us if it were not for...Spring.

My Bubbles

We are a typical family living in rural Southwestern Indiana. My husband, who we can call cow man, and I have been married for almost 9 years. It took me awhile to agree to date him because I was not sure I wanted to date someone who loved cows! Here we are several years later with 2 kids, 4 cows, 1 dog, 2 cats and a pasture that may one day hold a horse.

My favortie time of day

The bath tub is the favorite part of my day. Sounds funny I know! The bath tub means bedtime for the kids and quiet time for Mommy.