This was my first year as a member of the
Juab County Fair Board. I have been planning and attending meetings since March and the fair took place last week. It was great! It was so busy and totally exhausting, but it was a blast. One of my responsibilities was "Fair Contests." The Fair Board really tries to ensure that there is something for everyone at the fair, not just families with livestock, so my job is to fill in the gaps. One contest was the "Diaper Derby" where babies crawl across a rug racing toward their parent. The first one across wins. The photo is of me handing out prizes to the winners.
My kids and Jeff were such good sports through the whole thing. They put up with the heat and the chaos the whole week. Jeff was my number one assistant doing anything and everything I asked all week long, including assembling toys and solving last minute problems. I must say that Levi was the cutest cowboy at the county fair.
Another contest was the Bicycle Barrel Race where kids of all ages raced their bikes in the barrel pattern. The kids with the fastest time in each age division won. Daisy was the winner in her age group - hooray! She was so funny burning around those barrels with her training wheels.
The other contest I was over was "Fair" Factor, which is Fear Factor County Fair style. I had nearly 30 teenagers participating. They had to complete 5 rounds of challenges with people being eliminated at each round. The last one left won $100 cash. The first challenge was to eat a live grasshopper (yes, I had to catch 30 grasshoppers), then they had to shave off their eyebrows, chug a Maggot Milkshake (which was really just chocolate milk and cottage cheese with dead flies sprinkled on top,) stand the longest barefoot in a barrel full of ice (they were screaming in pain,) and crouch in a garbage dumpster with the lid closed as 5 live mice were dropped in one at a time on top of them. The first person to get all 5 mice out won. The winner was actually the
Juab County Queen which was pretty cool.
We went to the Western Rodeo, the Ranch Rodeo, the ATV Rodeo and finished the week off with the Demolition Derby. I was so happy to be involved even though it was pretty stressful at times. It was a good time had by all at the
Juab County Fair.
We spent the weekend in Antimony, Utah at the first annual Sullivan Sisters Stampede, which is code for Family Reunion.
My Great-Grandma Sullivan (with the white hair) had three daughters. All three daughters and their families got together this year at her daughter's ranch in Antimony for a family reunion. These were the people I spent every Christmas and Thanksgiving with growing up, so it was so great to see everyone now that we are grown up and have children of our own. Even though we were all dirty from camping I had to get this 5 Generation picture with my mom, myself, my Grandma Holyoak holding Daisy, and my Great-Grandma Sullivan.
My Great-Aunt JoAnn has the neatest ranch there in Antimony and was so nice to invite us all there. When the (tiny) town was first settled hundreds of years ago there were three original log homes built. She lives in one of the original three. This picture was taken above her bed where you can see the original log wall.
While this is not the original fireplace, it is used to heat the two-room home and the small brick portion on the wall above is from the original fireplace.
The whole ranch boasts of history complete with more antiques than you could number.
This is an old 'sheep camp' that my cousin and her husband restored and took up to the ranch to stay in when they visit.
This is the 'out house' - literally. See how there is no door and no roof. The toilet paper roll is mounted under a coffee can which is nailed to the wall in order to keep it dry. You see the rolled up orange flag in the upper right hand corner...the flag is hung when the latrine is occupied.
This is the original log home. You can see the logs as well as the old wooden shutters.
The log home has only a kitchen area and a bedroom area. The porch is as roomy as the whole inside.
This separate building is called the Milk House because it is where the cows were milked when the ranch used to be a dairy. It now houses the only indoor bathroom on the ranch, as well as a loft where all the grandkids sleep.
Our family had such a good time! My favorite part was the night we had a slide show with hundreds of old slides of my family. There were slides of my ancestors who settled St. George along with funny candid shots of my mom and her sisters growing up. The weather was perfect the entire weekend and it was so great to just kick back with each other.
We took the horses down so Jeff ended up spending most of his time helping all the little kids ride. Daisy was really good to share Sparkles Rope.
There were tons of activities for the little kids and they were never bored. Levi LOVED the "Big Dig" where he found two balls - to throw at everyone!
In addition to riding horses, playing with the kids, and just lounging around we rode four-wheelers here and there. The entire ranch house is surrounded by alfalfa fields and giant trees. It was entirely serene and even the air smelled sweet. It was such a nice reminder that family really is the most important thing and that any effort made to keep family ties strong is well worth it.
