Katie Jane and State Fair...two things I wouldn't have normally mentioned together, but...

Here we are!  All this early morning, late at night feeding and grooming and buying lamb food and...whatever else was required, is finally to the end.

Katie's been a little emotional about it.  She doesn't want grandpa Strong to buy her lamb because she knows that at some time...we'll be having lamb for Sunday dinner. :(

So she's hoping for a blue ribbon today!

Will and I drove up to see her judged in showmanship yesterday...she did fabulous for her first time!  She was about the middle of a very large group of other kids who have more than likely shown sheep since they were 7!  Never thought this would be something my kids would be interested in, but they love it.  

Will and I are headed off for an adventure...which I hope I can document from there, and of course I have 1 MILLion things planned to get done before we go...in an hour...SO here's the highlights of the day!

I hope you like looking at animal pictures!

 Katie looks SO much like her aunt Jane in this picture!  I was blown away when I first saw it!!  Just call me NO genes Julie!

Katie's friend, and our neighbor, Taylor...best sheep friends!

Love you Katie Jane!

(from dazeychic)

And only if you've seen a bird with a french fry in a parking lot somewhere...will you really get this.  I've got soo much going on.  Not that everyone else doesn't...I know I'm not the busiest person in the world, or even the street, or even my house, but each of us can get so overwhelmed with what's going on in our own lives.

I wake up at 4:20, work out, and the day gets busier from there. (except for Wednesdays...that's my coveted day to sleep in, except that Jay's in drivers ed this month and has to be at the school at 5:45 in the a.m....I'll take that extra hour of sleep though!)

Will and I are planning a get away.  A big one. BIG one.  I guess it's big in the fact that the airplane ticket cost, to me, a small fortune and we're spending 14 hours on a plane!  Not a place where there's a beach though, at least a warm beach.  It's more work related (so I have to be kind of hush, hush), but I get to go.

Me and my camera :)

So, lately, there haven't been enough hours in the day to get things done before we go.

Orthodontist appointments, Katie showing her lamb at the State Fair, homework, painting an apartment, work, football, packing, cleaning...because I'm sure my kids will keep the house clean while we're gone!

Do you think 12 gallons of milk is enough to leave my kids with?  I'm not sure it will last until we get back.

So my yoga goal this week was to be positive and be present with my kids.  So far I've failed.  But this morning is a new day...

I seem to be stuck in the past.  Never being able to get ahead.  It's getting old, but until I learn how to manage my time more wisely...I guess I shouldn't complain!

My loyal cousin, Britney, who obviously likes to look at July pictures in September, has given me the jolt I need to get these July pictures onto my blog.  Britney, your blog is NINTH down on my list to the side...let's get it up to the top!! ;)

Let's get this party started....

I took some more family pictures.  I think I need to think through the process a bit.  I took 590 pictures on this shoot.  Then I proceeded to edit ALL of them.  I did delete the ones with closed eyes and obvious problems...user error problems...but I need to relax a little bit with the shutter release button!  Still...a great experience.  I now realize that I'm better with smaller family units.  This big family thing is tough.  Trying to decide where to place everyone and then the moments to capture fun, candid shots are lost because I've got so much going on around me.

Go in with a plan.

I'll learn.  Still learning.  Lots to learn.

They were great sports and I'm so glad and happy that they trusted me to take their family pics.  I did remember from my last family photo shoot to not wear heels, v-neck shirts, or low rise jeans and to forget about a hair style.  Ponytail.  period.  All problems when I'm on my elbows and knees and bumpy grass or weeds.

Then...

One of the many family reunions this summer.  This is the Nielsen family reunion.  My grandma Jane and her 14 siblings...it's big!

Sydnie and Amelia...little clones of their mother, my beautiful cousin Britney!  I remember the days when my girls would let me do cute things with their hair and would wear cute, clean clothes to family reunions.

My grandma Jane had 14 brothers and sisters and she should have written a book about getting along in a huge family.  She always told us stories of things they did everyday, sleeping arrangements (4 to a bed...that makes you feel spoiled, huh?),  and the never ending fights over clothes.  That fight has been going on since the beginning of time!  They did it, I did it, my girls do it...and on and on and on!

These three, Aunt Floss (Florence Ruth), Aunt Kathleen, and Aunt Norma are the last three of the fourteen.  

They all remind me of my grandma Jane in different ways.  My grandma and her sisters loved to play cards together (sometimes the language would be questionable!!!), go on mini-vacations together, and dress up for Halloween parties e.v.e.r.y. year.  The scent of Georgio perfume, tiny little sugar balls of perfumed breath mints...not mint, perfume...beautiful jewelry, fancy up-do hair styles, punch bowls, bridal showers, quilting, and the color pink all remind me of my grandma and her sisters.  They always had a lot of fun together.  

Even though they never called me Julie.  I was always Jill or Beckie.

Something I have realized in my old-ish age is that my best friends are my sisters.  Sisters-in-law included in that statement of course!!  No doubt.

Penina...totally rocked in the potato sack race!

My dad's cousin Norma Rae...my cousin, I guess, has an awesome husband that spends the entire time blowing bubbles for the kids and handing our prizes and candy and playing games.  Kind of nice for the parents who want to visit.

Or the kids can explore the hillside covered in poison ivy.

Janette and Sherry...the only daughters in their families.

Tyree and Letley

Ainsley...love those big beautiful eyes and she always stops and holds still for me to take her picture.  Not like SOME nieces I have that close their eyes and look away (Emery...why can't you train her Ryan!!)

My beautiful Aunt Jeri and all but one of her uber-beautiful grand-daughters.

Jay's getting the..."This is my cousin Paula Faye, who is also married to your grandma Biesinger's brother, so you're related twice!!!" from my dad.  Jay already knew that.

Karen and Janette...really cousins, but as close as sisters!

Love seeing the family that I've been seeing since I was a little girl.  There used to be a Christmas party in the upstairs of the old Spanish Fork fire station.  Saying that makes me feel so old.  Like, who besides old people would remember where that was!!  I loved going to that and we went since I was a little, little girl.  There was always a drum set that one of my dad's cousins would accompany all the Christmas songs with up on a stage.

Nothing like "Jolly Old St. Nicolas" sung to the beat of a drum!

Then Santa would always come when we sang that particular song and we'd all line up to sit on his lap and get a yummy pink puffed rice ball and candy in a bag...and a dot on our noses when we had sat on his lap.  The adults way of making sure no one got to double dip in Santa's bag!!

I've even found old slides of pictures of when my great grandma Nielsen was there...sitting on Santa's lap, laughing!

I think the Christmas party got too large so they stopped having it and even now at this 24th of July reunion there are people whom I've never seen before!  Probably because 93% of Spanish Fork is there...we're all related!

2 more reunions to go...sheesh.

I've had this post in draft for, like 2 weeks now.  Time to get it out and get something new to show up.

Lame.