2012: A Photographic Review

{2012 In Review | January 2012 - Upper Left; December 2012 - Lower Right}

2012 has come & gone, but before it's forgotten I wanted to put together a post with some of my favorite photos from the year. Above is photo collage featuring a favorite memory/event/highlight from each month starting with January in the upper left and reading left to right from top to bottom ending with December in the lower right.

Here's a little key:

Jan: Mexico!
Feb: Back To NDSU  
Mar: Little Bro's Big Win  
April: First 5k
May: Eric Church  
June: Cattle Shows
July: MJP Lut Wins!
Aug: Mashed Potatoes On A Stick & Fairs  
Sept: Blakeman Turns 1
Oct: Harvest
Nov: Breaking Cattle  
Dec: Homemade Christmas

Did you catch all that?

If not, here's a really quick month-by-month breakdown:

January: January brought my first every warm weather vacation and I loved every second of it. Free drinks, beach reading & a tan? Can a girl ask for anything better? I will take one every January.

{Perfect trip to Riveria Maya. You can read about it here.}

February: The highlight of February was that it was simply normal. Despite a quick work trip to the Gaylord Opryland hotel (which I will admit is completely ridiculous in its own right) in Nashville, I did a lot of relaxing, a little bit of crocheting and wasted a lot of hours watching Gossip Girl. Plus, we made a super fun trip back to our alma matter and I watched one of my favorites win Little I champion.

March: March brought amazingly warm weather so I decided to train for that what seemed like a marathon 5K I vowed to run. I also spent a lot of hours in the barn with my husband and we made a trip to SDSU to watch my little brother dominate the Little I sho.

April: A lot of things happened in April but none of them hold a candle to my first 5k. I was the girl who hated, maybe even despised, running and I did it. 3.1 miles conquered. It was a great feeling.

May: May is my birthday month so it was bound to be fabulous. We celebrated with an awesome trip to Church on a Thursday (Eric Church, friends!), a few trips to Twins game, a weekend trip to the lake and a lot of family time.

June: I could describe June with two words. Cattle. Shows. Luckily I got to spend a lot of time with the four people below and good cattle which made all of the sweat & disgustingness worth it. Another highlight? I donated my hair to someone who needed it more than me. Check that one off my 101 in 1001 list.

{Maynard, Jason, Matt & Mark - my summer travel companions.}

July: Would you even be surprised if I said July brought even more cattle shows? This resulted in NO blogging and a lot of road time, but the purple banner from Louisville and a new maroon jacket for my little brother made the road trips completely worth it.

{MJP Lut & the Purfeerst family}

 August: August was a bittersweet month for the May family. We had a lot of lasts. The last 4-H steer in the cooler, the last Dakota County 4-H beef show, the last championship drive as a nervous sibling and the last Minnesota State Fair auction. It was a fun run and we came a long way from that skinny dairy steer Andy May showed nearly 20 years ago. August was also the month we packed Jason up and sent him off to Kansas...and didn't anything hear from him for 2 and a half weeks.

By the way, the picture in the center square of the collage at the top of the page is my favorite photo of the year. I am so lucky to have all of them.

September: September flew by. We spent the month breaking calves and harvesting corn - a definite snapshot of the rest of my life. It was also a learning month for me. I learned how to rip (think tractor & field work), how to weigh corn and what it meant to officially be a farm wife. (You can read more about that here.)

October:  October 2012 will forever go down in the record books. Last year I was worried that everyone would be harvesting corn on my wedding day; in 2012, our last kernel was tucked safely in the bin on October 7th. Regardless of how unheard of it was, it meant I got my husband back, which was a definitely plus.

November: November marked one year as husband and wife for Mark & I. Our first year made me a firm believer in the power of marriage - you may have the very best relationship, but I promise, it will even get better when you say "I do" and I love that.

{christmas favorites | tree, skiing & mittens}

December: And then there was December. Could you agree that December was a completely exhausting month? Maybe we should blame it on my Type A personality that vowed to make everyone I know a homemade Christmas gift (there will definitely be a blog about how this might not have been the best idea) or that my kitchen became a mitten-making factory for a few weeks or that I am obsessive-compulsive when it comes to wrapping paper?

Anyway, besides the stress, December was the best. I learned how to ski, spent a lot of time with friends, was able to see my crazy family a lot and had a really gorgeous red & green house for a few weeks. There is nothing better in my opinion.

And now it's  January 10th. If the last 10 days are any indication of what's to come in 2013, it will be full of both challenges and blessings. And hopefully a lot more photos that capture more fantastic memories. :)

XoXo,

Here's To 2013

As we welcome in 2013 (with friends and remnants of last night's fun littered all over our house), it seems impossible not to log on to the sorely forgotten Cows, Corn & Country Girls and reminisce on a really great, nearly perfect 2012.

We were blessed. 

There are no other words that do 2012 justice.

We are blessed to have each other and our families who drive us to do better and love deeper. We are blessed to have friends that are there to celebrate our greatest accomplishments and build us back up when we need their support. We are lucky to have jobs that remind us that life requires work and dedication, but also provide us with the means to try new things, splurge every once and while and live comfortably. We are blessed to have a happy little home that afforded us the opportunity to explore a new community, find a dive of a bar that we love and enjoy Sunday morning coffee shops and quirky dinner dates. And we were blessed to have a year that allowed us to fall in love with each other and life even more than we thought possible.

{love him}

And I fully expect 2013 to be even better.

Hopefully it will bring a vacation of a lifetime so we can finally check that honeymoon off our to-do list and if we all cross our fingers (are you crossing them?!), maybe by early summer I will be looking out our window at cows on pasture and be spending my nights checking for heat and weeding the garden. (Doesn't that sound amazing!?) Oh and another potential game changer will be a legitimate craft room where I can maybe finish a quilt or two.

2013 will likely bring a lot of cattle shows and road trips to watch our little brothers and family accomplish big things and we will spend a lot of Saturdays celebrating the weddings of our friends. We will hopefully babysit our niece and nephew a little more, have more nights relaxing with our families and find reasons to laugh until we cry. And hopefully, in between the adventures, we finally find our purposes professionally and continue to grow in our careers.

There is no doubt that there will be challenges. I hope and pray that everyone I love and everyone that they love stays safe, happy and healthy, but I know that won't always be the case, so hopefully Mark and I can find trust in God and find peace in even the most heart-breaking moments. 

2012 ended with some unnecessary tragedies. My heart hurt for my friends, family and even complete strangers too many times in December. If nothing else it reminded me to love each and every person in my life to the fullest, to wear my seatbelt and stay focused on the road and cherish the life I have. Every moment is a gift.

Like every year, I hope to read a few more books, make a few new friends, reconnect with old friends, continue blogging and get high-school skinny again. Those resolutions are oldies but goodies and somehow make the list every year. Hopefully I can actually accomplish a few in 2013 (especially the high-school skinny & blogging...). But I also have a few big dreams for the year ahead. Big, scary ones. And I can't wait.

So here's to you, 2013. Let's make it a good one. I plan to love every minute.

XoXo,

Sayonara Harvest 2012

Exciting news!

The last kernel of corn has been tucked away in the bin, the combine is in the shop for year-end maintenance and my husband was home at 7 pm last night in time for supper (we had Buffalo Chicken Soup -- in honor of the Bison's homecoming win?! #BisoNation #undefeated).  

Harvest 2012 is officially over at Purfeerst Farm.

I know I said in Friday's post that it would probably be mid-week, but with the help of a few good days they were able to wrap everything up on Sunday afternoon. We even managed to slip in a quick birthday party on Saturday -- complete with a beer can cake -- for Jimmy, one of my favorite guys at the farm.

A little tidbit about Jimmy (besides his harvest birthday) is that PBR is his drink of choice. Yes, I realize it's a rare breed will that choose PBR every time, but Jimmy will. So, it only seemed fitting to make him a PBR cake. :)

{By far the easiest cake I have ever whipped up.}

Below is a picture of Saturday's crew -- some of the best people you could find. By the way, notice the hand behind Matt's head (far left, brown sweatshirt)? That's Wiggy, the one man in the world who has somehow avoided being in a picture his whole life. Maybe I will catch him next time...

Oh and another update? I learned to drive the ripper this weekend. It was the real test of my farm wife potential. I admit, I didn't pass with flying colors, but I didn't fail because I did do it solo for about 3 hours on Saturday night. And that might ask me back if they need me...maybe.

Mark's Grandma (second from the right, behind me) has been ripping all of her life. She's currently in her 80s and still does the bulk of the ripping on the farm.  

Everyone calls her Rippin' Rosie. 

She's one of the sweetest ladies you will meet and somewhat of a legend. I wasn't lucky enough to get to know and enjoy all of my grandparents in my life, but I am extremely lucky for the one I have always had (you can read about her here) and the two I gained. Hopefully one day I leave half of the legacy behind that they will.

{Here's a look at "ripping." Basically, we are breaking up the soil to prepare it for next spring.}

XoXo,

H54F - Harvest 2012 Style

It's Friday, so why not celebrate?

I am linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk for this week's H54F, but I decided to add a little twist and celebrate all the little things that I am learning to appreciate as a new farm wife.

Numero Uno? Mark Purfeerst. (and every other farmer!)

This farming job is hard work and he is such a trooper, even though I am pretty sure he is completely, and overwhelmingly, exhausted.

Let me paint the picture. This week we are setting up a cow to flush (so we can collect embryos from her), so even though he may not roll in to bed until 2 in the morning after trucking grain all night, he still is up and out the door by 6:00 (in the morning, mind you) so he can make it back to the farm to give shots (just shots of hormones to convince her body to cycle -- pretty much like how it works in humans). After shots and feeding, he drives back to our house, showers, gets ready for work where he puts in 8 hours, runs home, changes clothes and heads back out to the farm.

And his schedule has been dauntingly similar for the last four weeks. But I couldn't be more impressed with how he is handling it. Now, I won't hold back the reality. Has he been a little crabby every once & awhile? Yes. Have I been a occasionally annoyed (even though I am trying desperately not to be. Cut me slack please, I am still learning.) that I have been momentarily put in charge of every single chore in our life like bills, laundry, groceries, food, cleaning, ect.? Yes. Do I miss having someone at home with me to go check on random noises and fix the light bulb that has been out in our garage for two weeks (I can't reach it!). Yes. 

{isn't he cute? BTW, don't mind his ugly shirt. It goes with his ugly hat & ugly pants.}

Nonetheless, all those things are to be expected and little things when we look at the big picture. The important thing is that we have 3,000+ acres of crop to get out and they need every able helping hand to do it. So Mark is doing whatever he can. Plus, a small percentage of that crop is ours and it's so exciting to see our year of planning and work pay off. 

I am proud of him. And, I can't forget to mention Jim, Jimmy, Ramone, Rosie and the rest of the guys at the farm and the thousands of other men & women out there doing the same thing. It takes long hours, but it's a rewarding job in the end.

Number Two | Going off the above, I am doubly thankful that harvest is almost over.

It's typically unheard of that we would have all the crop out of the field by the end of October, let alone October 10th, but rumor at the elevator is that we might be done as early as the middle of next week. 2012 has been such a crazy year.

{A load from from this week. Each semi holds 900-1000 bu.}

Now, by no means is the work over when the last kernel of corn is put in the bin. There is still grain to haul, fields to be dug and plenty of bookwork catch up on. However, we will be back to "normal" hours, where six hours of sleep and supper at the dinner table are possible.

Three? Huband/Wife Time.

Last Saturday, I got really lucky. I won free Twins tickets AND we weren't super busy at the farm, so my husband got to come with me. It was so fun to just hang out and enjoy one of the last beautiful fall days. Plus, we thought Mark would have to head back to the farm after the game, but they shut down early, so we got the rest of the night to just enjoy. We stopped at a pumpkin patch and picked out two BIG, beautiful pumpkins (plus a few white ones for inside decor), enjoyed a treat at the new frozen yogurt shop in town and then plopped our butts on the couch and relaxed. It was heavenly.

4. A New Barn Coat (I need to add a little fashion in here!)

Yesterday, Mother Nature decided to let loose the chilly weather. 80 and sunny on Wednesday -- cloudy, windy and 40 on Thursday. It was enough to make any girl crabby, but I like to make the best out of all situations and decided it was the PERFECT time to pull out my new cute barn coat.

Let me preface this by saying, I know barn coats don't normally get to be NEW or CUTE. But, I scored this one at Gap last year for $6.97 (and that was before my super crazy discount) for this sole purpose. Just because you're doing cattle chores, doesn't mean you can't be cute. And at less 10 bucks, who cares if it gets dirty?!

{Looking back, I should have bought 3 of them. Definitely. Maybe even 4?}

 A little fake fur helps class up any night at the barn, don't you agree?

#5 -- Lots of Learning
I've said it before and I will say it again. I am not an expert at farming. Give me cows and I could go on forever, but corn & soybeans? I am a little lost.

However, after a bit of a rude harvest awakening, I love every nugget of information that I am learning. 

By the way, I know what you are thinking. Rude awakening? You have been with Mark for 8 years. And you are right. But two of those years I was in high school, five of them I was gone in Fargo, and last year I was freaking out about a wedding. I was more concerned about invitations and flowers than if Mark was gone at the farm. I didn't quite know everything that went into it.

Back to the point, it's been great to actually understand what's going on and feel like I can help. I have been learning how to run the scale, what moisture we need to be at, why you can't harvest soybeans when it gets too cold, how the books work, what a bill of lading is, my husbands signal for when to stop the truck when loading roundbales, where certain corn gets delivered, how basis/puts/ect. work and so on. Next year, mark my words, I am even learning how to run the digger! :)

Am I an expert? No. Do I know more than I did four weeks ago. 1,000 times more. And that is a good feeling.

And because this is getting to be an extremely long H54F, I am ending it at that. :)

Have a great weekend, friends! And if you are in the same shoes as me, I would love to hear from you! What are you thankful for this week?

XoXo,

The Blogs I Never Wrote

I am sure it would be 100% appropriate to start this post with an introduction.

It could go something like, "Hi. My name is Jamie and I used to blog."

Or "Hey, I am that person who writes that blog that you stop by to read just to continously be disappointed that there is nothing new."

Or better yet, "Hi. I'm Jamie. I want to blog. I think in blogs. My mind has lists of things to blog about. I take pictures of random things to post on my blog. And then I never blog."

Yep, any of them would work.

HOWEVER, I am not posting any of that. 

I am just here to say that I solemnly swear that I am really going to give this 110% this time. Please hold me accountable.

Because here is the thing, I really honestly want to blog.

I wasn't kidding, my mind actually functions in 400-word blog posts. I drive home (on my ridiculously long drive) and write a post in my head summarizing my day. I see something at the mall and I draft up a mini-post ranting about the ridiculousness. I photograph everything I experience because I know how a picture is truly worth a thousand words.

It's how I function. I don't know if it's my education, my profession or just a weird quirk. Regardless, the result is that I have a whole library of blogs in my head that I didn't get to writing this summer.

Prime example, how did I manage not to write about the MN State Fair? I purposely took pictures of all the different food that I ate so I could share it with you. Case in point, the best food on a stick you will ever eat is below. I don't even want to know how many calories is in it. This was probably one of eight or ten servings I bought at the Great MN Get Together. And I wondered where my money went....

deep fried mashed potatoes.

Or, I don't know, maybe I should posted about the time my husband and I got to pose with a really big check and purple banner that we just won? That was a fun day. MJP Purfeerst Lut 104 (our Angus bull we have been showing this summer) had another great day in Minnesota and won Supreme Champion Bull at the Minnesota State Fair. Plus, added bonus, next year when we walk into the MN State Fair Cattle Barn we will be hanging from a HUGE banner with the rest of the Supreme Champions. Pretty darn cool.

we even had to drive to Wisconsin (no beer off sale in MN on Sunday) to get some celebratory beer!

I definitely should have wrote about our trip to Milwaukee, our week at the lake, or the Twins game we unsuccessfully scalped tickets at. And I wanted to rant for two weeks straight about how much I hated inserting my butt into my car seat just to sit in traffic for an hour and a half each way. But let's be real, there are a lot of things I could rant about, however they are probably better left unposted.

random date night at Target Field. Note to self: Don't let Mark be in charge of tickets.

Oh and don't even get me started on the P. Farms Corn Reports I missed. In short: It rained A LOT, it didn't rain for almost too long, then we got blessed and it rained again finally, but unfortunately the rest of corn country wasn't so lucky, so prices shot through the roof. This resulted in me checking corn prices every two hours so I could call my husband and convince him to sell some corn. In fact, I almost had Mark convinced that I should quit my day job and become a grain marketer. Then we remembered I have no idea how to do that. He went to school for that, not me. Fast forward a month, and now I never see my husband because we are trying to get that crop out of the field. I am officially a harvest widow.

Say hello to my husbands new home.

Lucky for you, my life as a new farm wife is something I definitely still have time to blog about. In fact, it's penciled in for this week.

And potentially the most important blog I missed is the exciting news about the new camera in my life that should make this blog 7,000 times better.

Yes, I fell victim to the beautiful things at National Camera Exchange. I am not ashamed.

However, that post is for Thursday.

And that's where I sign off.  See you tomorrow, same place, same time, for some inspiration. Lately, I have been lacking it.

Glad to be friends again!

Cattle Show Marathon

Where the heck have I been? 

Good question, friends, good question.

Tonight, is not the night to go into details. I just did a Jillian Micheals' tape and my worn out legs are making my think funny. However, it's not fair to keep everything a secret forever.

So, follow closely...

Basically, since my last post (over a month ago), I went to Grand Island, NE, to watch my little bro get a maroon jacket, hopped in the car and celebrated a wedding, hopped back in the car and went to Milwaukee to drink bad Miller Light and be spoiled by my favorite company, sent my husband road tripping to Kentucky, somehow managed to do enough laundry in the two short days he was gone to pack for my trip to Louisville for the NJAS, got distracted from any type of work once our bull won grand champion, drove 13 long hours home to get back in the car to go to a county fair (we are die-hards), got overly obsessed with decorating for a baby shower the next week, then had a "normal" week that involved breaking calves, judging practices and clipping cattle, which brings us to the best week of the summer, AKA the Dakota County Fair and lake week where I watched my baby brother show at his last county fair, drank too much of that darn beer garden beer and got necessary sun on my shoulders from a day of REAL vacation in the water.

Hello, longest run on sentence in the world.

And now I am here, catching up on life in general and savoring a #singlegirl night as April at A.Liz Adventures calls it. Mine included the Kardashians, working out and Reeses Pieces cereal.

And tomorrow? Tomorrow, I will be crossing my fingers & toes and waiting for a call from my husband about the Iowa State Fair Angus Bull Show.

Short & sweet: We have been all about #bannerchasing lately.

By the way, just in case you aren't on Twitter (follow me: @jamielmay) #bannerchasing is my new favorite hashtag. It's total Twitter lingo for the show jocks, sorry if you aren't on that bandwagon and sorry if I am inappropriately using hash tags in normal writing. Like I said, Jillian is making me loopy.

And if isn't over yet. 

Last week, was week 1 of 4 of our month-long fair stunt. This week is Iowa State Fair and Steele County Fair, next week is MN 4-H Show and the following is MN Open Class. 

Life is good? Yes.

By the way, before I leave you, one small request. Go check out the video my little brother put together about why he shows cattle and vote for it to help him win a $500 scholarship. Click here to watch the video and vote. 

The video with the most votes win, so we need your help -- plus, I think you will really like it. It helps explain our crazy life and why we turn on the cooler for our cattle before the air conditioner in our house in the summer. :)

Until next time (which will hopefully be sooner than later),

Food Always Tastes Better On Stick

Can you tell I am a Minnesota State Fair addict?

 

 

I think it's fair to say that "everything tastes better on a stick" is the MN state motto -- or at least our State Fair motto --and I usually agree.

In fact, my mouth is currently watering thinking about those mashed potatoes on a stick that I lived off of for two weeks of the summer last year. They were soooo good. Is it August 24th yet?

This summer, Mark & I have been digging quick & easy kabobs on the grill, which I might add is a much healthier meal on a stick than those tasty mashed potatoes. :)

Anyone else digging kabobs this summer?

I was going to post a recipe (which would be a first ever at CCC), but I really don't believe in recipes in general, and especially not for kabobs. Why? Because they are the tastiest when you're using up whatever is left in your fridge. And it really takes nothing more than some fresh veggies, wooden skewers, salt & pepper, a hot grill and some juicy pieces of steak (I used ribeye). No directions needed.

{Is there anything more delicious than fresh veggies?}

I started off with a plate full of fresh vegetables. I love anything with mushrooms and I am a new BIG fan of peppers, then add in some onions (and why not make them red onions so they are pretty and add more color?!) and tomatoes and you are set. Easy, peasy.

{I spoke too soon...veggies always are better when they are paired with beef.}

Just a friendly reminder, before you load of your skewers, don't forget Kabob 101. Soak your wooden skewers and THEN load them up with all your veggies and seasoned meat. Chicken or shrimp would probably be darn tasty additions, too.

{by the way, remember when we bought that new grill? It started a whole one time by itself...now it takes a match. Dang.}

And then enjoy some sunshine and wine while you grill. Or relax on the couch while your hubby grills. Whatever works. :)

{are you hungry yet?}

And viola...your done. Healthy, protein-packed, beautiful kabobs for supper.

{a little burned around the edges means they are perfectly done}

Are you a kabob pro? Share your secrets! What do you add to your skewers? I want to try some fruit, but just haven't got gutsy yet. Or actually, I haven't convinced myself that I know how to cut a pineapple yet (am I really 24 & I don't know to cut a pineapple!?).

Basically, I love summer & the simplicity of outdoor cooking. What's your favorite meal on the grill?

Enjoy yourself a #MeatyMonday!

High Five For Friday | June 15

I'm welcoming Friday with open arms this week.

Let's get real -- I welcome it every week with open arms -- I may or may not live for my weekends in the summer. Doesn't everyone?

My crazy, busy schedule has forced me to miss a few High Five For Fridays, but that just means I have a lot of stuff to celebrate this week. I am once again linking up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk for her H54F.

So in no particular order, here's my favorite things from the past week!

1. I got my second Birchbox in the mail and this time, I was completely impressed. I have a few more things to try before I give a review, but from my tests so far, I am back on the Birchbox bandwagon.

{are you a Birchbox subscriber? What did you get?}

2. I also discovered a FABULOUS iPhone app that can make a blah picture amazing in just seconds like below. I am working on a post for you on Tuesday that explains everything you need to know it, so make sure to stop back & visit. Really, how did people live without smart phones?

{slightly off subject, but I absolutely love a perfectly wrapped present & that adorable tape is my new BFF. Best part? I got it at Target.}

 

3. It's my last weekend with long hair! I can't wait to chop off these locks and hand them off to someone who needs them much more to me. I'll admit, I am a little nervous and wish I could keep my hair long for a little bit longer, but it always grows back, right? And, worst of all I have no idea what I am going to do. Any suggestions? I think I am going to try to go back to something similar to this picture, but I don't know how much hair I get to keep it, so we might be playing it by ear... :)

{I randomly went to a beauty school for this haircut. She easily cut off 10 inches, it took her 2 hours and she cut herself twice...it has to turn out better this time! :)}

4. We have another road trip planned for cattle shows this weekend - this time to northern Minnesota on Saturday and south to Iowa on Sunday. Oh the things we do...

{the second heifer in the lineup is my younger brother with my "wedding present." We call her Scarface.}

Make sure to check out yesterday's post for a review of last weekend's show. Plus, if you are new to agriculture, let alone crazy people who show cattle, I answered some of Katie's questions in the comments that might help clear things up for you!

5. And last but not least, I am excited that I finally washed my dry-clean only pile. H54F is about celebrating the little things, right? Well, I just added 10 super cute items back to my closet that have been MIA for months and for a girl who is trying to avoid the mall this month, it's the best I can do. :)

And one last shout out to Whitney @ The Observant Turtle - I am a featured sponsor today! Yeah! Stop over and give her some blogging love. She's great.

Happy Friday Friends!

Summer = Cattle Shows

For most people, summer means relaxing at the lake, barbequing with friends, ect. You know...activities that involve a cold beverage and a potential suntan. Bliss, right?

But for Marko & I, summer equals cattle shows. It kind of makes me laugh how accustomed our friends our to us being MIA nearly every Saturday from June to August.

OK, I'll admit, it's not every Saturday. In fact, I have an empty Saturday in my planner as early as next week, but I promise you, this summer I will be spending a lot of time on the wash rack and a lot of quality time with my husband behind the wheel of a truck hauling a trailer. But really, we don't mind. This is our thing.

Do I have to get sappy and remind you that our love story started at a cattle show?

We kicked off our "show season" last weekend at a two-day show in Preston, MN. Two days means double the work and double the fun. :)

Saturday morning started at 4 am. Besides a quick freakout when a classic case of miscommunication resulted in us almost losing the back end of the Jeep (not a scratch, thank goodness) and a mild setback waking up our third wheel, the commute went pretty well.

 As soon as we got there, though, it was go, go, go, go, go, go...do I need to continue? The point is, we were busy. And I was a sweaty, hot mess, but folks, you don't go to a cattle show to look pretty.

Meet our little brothers - Jason & Matt. Jason had the Reserve Champion Angus Heifer on Day 2; Matt had the Reserve Champion Angus Heifer on Day 1. They are old pros at this showing thing.

Jason is showing a Style daughter this summer for Mark & I. You might have seen some pictures of her on the blog before – she's my wedding present from Mark. Yes, my husband gave me a heifer for a wedding present. Yes, I gave him a decanter. Yes, it wasn't a fair gift exchange. Don't remind me.

Matt is showing a Saugahatchee heifer our of our donor cow Molly. Jason & Matt's heifers are half-sisters and I promise you they couldn't be more different. Scarface (notice the birthmark on her face) is tiny, big-bodied, and a baby to work with. #1 (creative name huh?) is maternal, extended and crrrazzy. But in the end, we are pretty confident they are going to be really good cows and that is what matters. They are also both half-sibs to these calves I posted about before.

{Jason}

{Matt}

Saturday took forever. Let me slow it down and say it in Sandlot style...FOORREEVVERR.

I snapped this picture at 9:30 pm when the kids were just finishing up the judging contest portion of the show. At 10 pm when it finally wrapped up, we piled in the truck to grab some food...to find the only place open in town was the Casey's gas station. Jackpot!

 And then, we got up at 6 am and started it again all over again on Sunday.

And of course, we are doing it all again this Saturday and Sunday. :)

XOXO,

Why This Blogger Has Been MIA

Blogger MIA Alert!

I know I have been missing for nearly a week. So sorry friends, but life all of sudden got really busy.

And I am still running short on time, so here's your super quick review brought to you by our friend, Instagram.

I think the hectic schedule started when Mark convinced me to buy an old, crappy coffee table to refinish for him. And then it continued with a meeting up with friends, farmer's markets, graduation parties, family get-togethers, lots of cattle clipping, an overwhelming amount of stripping & sanding on a table that actually looks like it might have a future, volleyball games, judging practice, more cattle, running, lots of working and not enough sleep.

And now I am here. It's Friday afternoon, I am at my favorite (and best) mall in America enjoying a smoothie from Caribou, a tomato & cumumber salad from Noodles and finally catching up over lunch hour. Thank goodness for 60 minutes of rest. :)

Enjoy your weekend friends! I am off to a cattle show with my Marko & brothers, like I most likely will be every weekend until September! :)

XOXO,

Jamie

We Have A Winner!

Today couldn't be a better day.

1. It's Friday and I have a High-Five For Friday post to put up momentarily. 2. It's a gorgeous day and I have date with my hubby for lunch and with my girlfriends for supper. 3. I have one of those weekends ahead that offers flexibility, which I absolutely love. 4. I get to announce the winner of my first CCC giveaway.

First and foremost, a big thank you to everyone who entered. This week was one of my favorite weeks on the blog – so many new faces and better yet, so many sweet comments. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I headed over to the famous random number generator website and had my husband to press the "generate" button this AM. Drumroll please......

Who was lucky number 11 you ask!?

Yeah! I am excited to send a little homemade goodness off to my fellow #agblog friend! Please email me at cowscorncountryblog(at)gmail(dot)com with your mailing address and I will get it sent off tommorow! By the way, you must check out Coolidge Life On The Farm - they grow grapes & sheep, so it's a little twist on your corn & cattle chat you get here!

Also, just a little house work, but if anyone is ever interested in sponsoring a giveaway on the blog, I'd love to chat! Just shoot me an email and we can work out the details!

Happy Friday Friends! 

Corn Report | The Numbers Behind Farming

I have a Purfeerst Farms corn progress report planned for everyone soon, but in the mean time, I wanted to share this infographic from the Illinois Corn Corps blog. It was created by Erin Ehnle, who is the talented designer behind Keeping It Real: Through The Lens Of A Farm Girl – you have probably have seen some of her work floating around social media sites, but if not, go look now. She does an awesome job of creating simple, effective infographics explaining the basics of rural life and has quickly gained an impressive following on Facebook and Pinterest. She makes "agvocating" that much easier for all the rest of us.

Remember in our last crop report (you can read it here) and I mentioned how much "risk" it took to just put the plant in the ground? And then, you wait months and pray that Mother Nature doesn't throw a drought, hail, or straight-line winds at you before you get anything back This graphic does an awesome job of explaining what I meant -- much better than I ever could. It really is all about loving what you do. Take a look!

Source: corncorps.wordpress.com via Briána on Pinterest

Plus, I thought it was interesting how Mark's family almost fits the "average farmer. I think Jim is right around 57 and their farm has been in the family for over 3 generations. It's nice to keep those tradition going. Luckily, Matt & Mark are helping bring that average age down a few years! :)

If you have any questions on any of this, just leave me a comment and maybe my contributing editor (who still has done no contributing!) will help me find an answer. And, of course, make sure to go to take a look at Erin's Keeping It Real page on Facebook and give her a like!

And one last reminder, today is the LAST day to enter my birthday giveaway! I'd love for you to become a follower and enter! Click here to enter.

XoXo,