Cuteness is not enough. There must be cake!: Dog days of August

August was a fun and busy month. We had the last bit of summer vacation fun, back to school, birthdays, and the Davis County Fair 4H Stock show......

Work on the matchstick ball continued.

Lion Heart and Spider Monkey had a scout camp to Bear Lake.

Spider Monkey neglected to put sunblock on his face. Poor kid

Meow-meow figured if Spider Monkey was getting his picture taken then he needed his taken too.

Part of the stuff they needed to do for the Stock Show was to make a poster about their goats, which detailed out what they fed them and the kinds of things they did to train them. They also had to do research on a useful bi-product from their goats. Most kids did theirs on the leather and such. But Firebolt did hers on goat poop, which, when seeped in water, makes an excellent fertilizer for your garden. Then they had to present their poster to everyone. She did a really good job.

Then we had to find a white shirt for the Stock Show.

It was quite the adventure getting the goats from Vernon to Farmington. It's a good thing we have the van.

So, we all know I'm pretty clumsy. I totally biffed it at the fair grounds.

It was quite embarrassing.

TNT all washed, clean, and ready for the show.

Martina helping Firebolt look presentable.

Stephanie working on Bean to get her all pretty and clean.

Got to love the body socks.

Firebolt and TNT all ready to get into the ring.

The first part she participated in, she used TNT. This round was where she was judged on her knowledge of the goats and how well she could handle them and set them up in the best positions to show off the best parts.

She did an awesome job. She was competing against kids who had been doing this for several years.

TNT somewhat cooperated.

The judge was really awesome.

At one point, he had her look her goat over and tell him what she thought was his best feature. Without missing a beat, she said, "he has a nice butt," meaning that he had a nice square buttocks which means that he's got some nice cuts of meat. The judge cracked up. It cracked him up so much that he paused during the judging to turn on his microphone and tell us what had been said. It earned her several brownie points with the judge. He knew this was her first time working and showing goats and was really great. He did more than just judge, he helped them, gave them pointers and suggestions, and taught them. It was really cool to watch.

Trying to get TNT to cooperate.

She took 5th place.

Firebolt, TNT, and their 5th place ribbon. Now, technically there were only 4 competitors in her class, so it put her last place but she did compete against kids who'd been doing it a lot longer than she had. The judge made sure to point out that for her first time, she handled herself very well and he was impressed with her and hoped to see her back again.

Fatty Bean. She's a stress eater.

5th place, not bad at all.

After that round, it was Bean's turn in the Market Goat class. This class where only the goat was judged. They were looking for the best goat that would have the best cuts of meat.

If Bean had only cooperated, she could have had first place. It was a very close call for the judge. Poor Firebolt just couldn't get that darn stubborn goat to stand correctly to show off her best parts. But, hey, second place is not too shabby.

It meant that she got to move onto the final round where all of the goats from all of the classes were judged.

And in the end, not only did she take second place in her class, but she took second place all around, making her Reserved Grand Champion, that's a pretty prestigious title, especially being her first year!!

I just love this picture. All her hard work over the summer paid off.

Firebolt and her goats.

Her three ribbons.

That smile.....it's so beautiful.

Drum roll.......I give you......THE RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION MARKET GOAT!!!

Bean is so weird. She's the one kneeling down while eating.

They earned a break after their morning of being paraded around.

We took a brief break from the County Fair to head up to Bear Lake where the rest of the family were playing.

Meow-meow had a grand time playing with his cousin.

Then it was back to the Stock Show for the auction. As a Reserve Grand Champion, she got to be the second goat auctioned off and having the title meant that she had the chance to earn more money than on the other goats. With this being her first year, she didn't get as much money as she had hoped for. We learned a lot and if she does it again in the future, we know what to do and what not to do. But over all and between the two goats, she earned close to $1,000.00. Not to bad for her first time if you ask me.

And far too quickly, Summer Vacation ended and school started up again....sigh.