I left for work early on Monday to meet a mobile detail service at work at 7 to get the pu cleaned up before our big trip. On my way I saw that Crystal foaled, Toni told me it was a colt. I texted her back again and she said it is still a colt. I said I am waiting for a different response. She said well, it is still a colt. So I guess Crystal had a colt. Dad named him Santana. Dad and Toni ran down and spent some time with uncle Skip who is dealing with some health issues. Kade worked on Joss and T Monday night. The men started irrigation circles and fixed circles. Kids fed and did chores. We got another outside mare in to breed to Cappy. Cappy is up to three outside mares which isn’t bad for a cute little chestnut stud.

Butte was in Pullman (Butte is my pickup) getting its oil changed on Tuesday to get ready to go to Wisconsin. Toni and dad went to see Skip again. Mom was making items for us to take to Jr Nationals. Kids have been busy packing and getting ready to go. Kade has been riding his keeper horses at home and roping and dragging tree limbs, which is always good experience for his horses. Toni stayed with grandma Tuesday night.

Our compressed hay for the trip was ready Wednesday, so Kaine and Kade went and picked it up. Dad went to St John for a funeral and meet with a Heidi to clean the house in St John. Mom went to stay with grandma. Toni went to see Skip Wednesday. Anna and Kaine went to Corrales and brought the miniature horses home. Mike Corrales didn’t know the minis were leaving so wanted the kids to bring something back to keep the mini jack company, so that was a funny call. The men were chasing water, it looked like they were fixing circle 4 when I got home.  Mom calls herself NOT creative but embroidered some really cool hats for us to take to Wisconsin. We will be the envy of everyone! Mom also made Toni a Ride Sally Ride shirt.

The kid continued packing to go to Jr Nationals. Kade got all his horses ridden before we left. Toni rode “her” horse as well for a bit.  Toni and I moved Crystal and Santana in with MC. Chad came out and trimmed the donkeys and some minis. Mom wanted her donkeys done and that was the main priority. Anna took Misty and Blue Devil back to Corrales.  It was a long last day before we left. Toni also had a big hearing before the Court of Appeals that she has been prepping for. It feels like we are never ready but we are always ready, meaning we prepare and the cattle and kids are ready. The adults are probably not ready!  During chores Ben called that one of the tires on the pu was leaking air. We were very thankful he saw that before we left and was able to get it fixed.

Friday morning early we hit the road the Madison, WI. We drove a little over half the first day and made it it Dickenson, ND. We stalled the heifers at a rodeo grounds, we had called ahead and reserved pens, but there was literally a rodeo going on. So that was interesting. We got some real side eye from people that couldn’t stall their horses because we had the show heifers taking up stalls. We had 6 head on the trip to WI. The first day is always big because it sets the tone of the trip. The other family from WA going, Kat and Kady Verjaska, also stayed the night there. We left the men folk, mom and dad and Jaxsen at home to take care of all the animals, circles, etc.

On Saturday we made it to Madison by around 6:30. You cannot get into the grounds until 6 pm so our timing was great.  While we were checking in the heifers we noticed that the valve stem was leaking on the driver side back tire. It held out until we got everything unloaded and the trailer unhooked. Then Toni and Kaine changed the tire while we got a few things set up. The cattle unloaded great and we were at the end barn 3 bays from the end, which also correlated to being on top of the hill for tie-outs. We put the cattle in tie-outs, watered them, and the trailer got parked close enough that the kids could pack hay from the trailer. The weather was warm but not crazy hot like we had been told to expect. WI was experiencing cooler weather and lots of rain and flooding. There was a bar and grill on the way to the air BNB, so we stopped and ate there. We had cheese curds and hamburgers. On the way to WI we promised the boys we would eat lots of cheese curds.  Jaxsen went to Kasen’s birthday party at home and got to hang out with grandma.

Great news is that we now have 2 drivers over 16 that can legally drive. Sunday morning we sent the kids over to get the cattle in the barn, fed, and washed while we slept in a bit. The kids got to sleep in the pu while we drove so they were way more rested than we were. Just so everyone knows this was a huge concession for Toni who doesn’t think the kids are old enough to do anything on their own. Luckily none of them were stolen, they didn’t wreck, didn’t get hurt, and it all went well. Maybe she will let them go somewhere without her at some point before they are 40, maybe. On Sunday we got everything set up and ready for the show. We got checked in and the boys both got super cool windbreakers from Select Sires for having heifers at the show out of Select Sire bulls. Always a fun thing to get a bonus item at check-in. We also got our 7^th heifer Sunday night about 9:00 pm that we had bought and arrived from Michigan. She is a super cute little October heifer for Anna to show.

On Monday Maria brought Aram to hang out with us for a few days. The adults ran to Walmart for necessities which included 4th of July sunglasses, hairpieces, necklaces, and all kinds of fun stuff for the kids to wear. We also bought bread for sandwiches, chips, anything else that caught our eye. On our way to Walmart we dropped the pu off at Discount Tire to fix the leaky tire and check the others as that was the second tire to have a valve stem issue. When we went to pick the pu back up they had fixed three leaky stems, replaced the tire, and charged us ZERO. Big thank you to Discount Tire of Madison WI for being awesome. It made us feel a ton better to know the tires were fixed and we could hit the road as soon as the show was over. We had opening ceremonies, luckily Kat had ordered a few extra shirts so we had one for Aram. After opening ceremonies there was a dance that Kaine and Kade went to for a while with their SD fried Teagen. The rest of us led the heifers to tie outs and got ready for the night.

Tuesday it poured down rain. If we had soaped the heifers before we put them out they would have been washed. Kade competed in Team Fitting with Oregon, so he was pretty excited about that. The team had some great mentors that gave them advice like Justin Click and our boys Coulson and Dalton Chambers. The team used Kade’s heifer Queen so that was also fun. Because it was raining so hard the competition took extra long as they had to blow the heifers hair out before they could start to fit them. There were 44 teams I think.  They did really well. Kat and I went and bought rain jackets to try to stay dry. Anna and Kady were Angus delegates so we also got to meet most of the kids running for green coat positions which is always fun. We tried to eat out near the capital building that night but couldn’t get parking so went to the bar. 

Wednesday was our first show day and the first day we had McKenna to help us. She was originally flying in on Tuesday but due to weather didn’t get there until Wednesday. It was awesome to have her with us helping wrangle the children. Wednesday the kids showed bred and owned heifers. Kaine had two, Gabby and Johnny, Kade had Queen and Anna had Blondie. All of them did great, especially Gabby since she is a baby and this was her 2^nd show. The weather had also gotten nicer so that was a huge help. We had a really fun upscale dinner. By Wednesday we also had Kacey and her dog. Kacey is a sister to Kady and daughter of Kat. We once again had cheese curds. We tried to have cheese curds at every place we ate. Leslie and Traci took the kids to the 4^th of July rodeo at home, Jaxsen had a great time.

Happy 4^th of July. We had the PGS show (Phenotype and Genotype) and then tail gate that night. At the PGS show Gabby, Queen and Blondie all made it back to the championship round in bred and owned PGS and Queen made it back to the championship round in the regular class as well. This was awesome for us to have that many in the championship round. They all did great. Anna had showmanship as well on the 4^th. At Angus Jr Nationals you just get to show in showmanship once when you are a senior. Next year Jr  nationals is in Tulsa and the following year in Lexington, so we have not decided if we are gong to those two, so she decided to do it while she had the right age of heifer. She did a great job. We are so proud of her for her composure and immense skill that was reflected in how she handled her heifer and the other heifer that she got to show for her round.  There is truly nothing more rewarding than seeing a child that was as shy as Anna was when she started, become the showperson she is today. We know she did her absolute best and left everything she had out in that showring. It was raining again so the tail gate was moved inside. We had a lot of fun and way too much food. At home most of the family and Erina and Terry go to my house for a 4^th of July bbq. We hear they all had a great time.

On Friday we started the owned heifer show, we only had one Friday, Hazel, our Seldom Rest heifer. She did great for her first time out. She is just a little green. In fact the only thing the Judges said was she is too green. But she did great in a big deep class and we are pretty excited about her future. Added to the fact that she is really sweet, eats great, doesn’t seem to stress too bad and is just fun overall.  We started to pack up on Friday knowing we were leaving at the earliest opportunity on Saturday. We were hoping to be done showing on Friday so we could leave early Saturday, but this year they didn’t split the showring so things ran long, they ran late and there was no getting done on Friday. In fact we were like the 6^th class on Saturday and the classes were not fast. Closing ceremonies were Friday night and we learned that Anna had won a $1800 scholarship! So that was really exciting. We also got to say goodbye to some of the friends we had made that week.

On Saturday Kade showed REM and Anna showed Devo, and Kady’s heifer Missy was also in that class. The April classes are pretty deep, but they all did a great job. Kade’s heifer was bought from PVF so they fit her for us. Funny thing when Toni was over talking to Alan and Theresa it turns out that Toni’s other niece is doing an internship in WA DC and so is Alan and Theresa’s daughter, so they exchanged the girl’s numbers hoping they can meet up while they are both in DC. We got all of our new goodies that we had bought packed up along with all the stuff we brought and our Hazel heifer and headed home. I had also bid on and won a couple of baskets in the fundraising auction so we had some extra treats on the way home. We made it to Murdo, SD on the first night which was about 9 hours of travel after the showing.

                On Sunday we spent a lot of time in the pickup, but we made it home by 9:30. Long day. Long trip. Lots of fun, lots of friends made and old friends seen. We had a great week being stalled near Kentucky and made some wonderful friends. We also got to see our CA and OR friends who were stalled near us, and the boys good friend Teagan hung out with them almost all week. The Jr. Nationals week is always a whirlwind of competitions, break-outs, showing, and taking care of the heifers. It is absolutely one of the best weeks of the summer to be with the kids, watching them build a strong foundation in the Angus industry and knowing that nothing can replace this time we get to spend with them. These kids grow up so fast and these memories are priceless.