State Career Development Events in Moscow

Sometimes I feel as though I am bragging about myself on this blog, and I think I should stop- then I realize that is pretty much what these blogs are for! I brag about me, you tell me congrats, then I look at your blog where you brag about you and I tell you congrats! That realization made me feel so much better about telling everyone this:

LAST WEEK I HAD SUCH AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE!!!

I have now been an Idaho FFA State Officer for approximately two months. While in that position I have been able to attend BLAST Off (state officer training) and attend a few of the local Chapter Banquets where I was honored by being asked to speak to the crowd on a few moments notice. (It's a good think I actually like stuff like that, and I had prepared for that to happen!) Last week, however, was the State Officer Team's first BIG event- and I loved it!

On Sunday morning I departed here and picked up our our State President, Kelsey Day, then continued onward to Terreton where we meet our State Treasurer Whitney Tuckett. From there we headed out to Salmon and met up with the State Office Coordinator, Jessie Kellogg. The

four of us then headed right on up to Moscow, ID. It was a long drive, but we had fun being the chipper group of gals we are!

On Monday, we got up and prepared ourselves for an exciting day of Business and Industry Tours! My first thought when they told we had to go tour different businesses and listen to people drone on about what they do for a living was "BORING!" Ohhh Boy... I was wrong! We had a lot of fun! Here are the 5 girls on our team of 6 officers (there is only one boy- poor kid!) We are at the Appaloosa Horse Club riding the stick ponies! Hee hee!!!

We also were able to go to Northwest River Supply where we toured their large warehouse and we learned a lot about rafting and river gear! It was pretty awesome! Then our final tour of they day was the University of Idaho. I was pretty excited about that because that is where I'll be attending school this fall, and I just can't wait!!! Here are the 5 female officers again- now with Joe Vandal- the UI Mascot!!!

Tuesday consisted of our Welcome Back BBQ and Opening Ceremonies and our Orientation Meeting! The BBQ is put on by the University of Idaho, and the rest is conducted by the State Officers. I had a lot of fun doing my part of the opening ceremonies. "The Reporter is stationed by the Flag..." It's a pretty cool script in my opinion- most any FFA member would agree!



Wednesday Morning we took a lot of pictures! Here are the crazy group of Rigby kids (that's my chapter!) and myself- thanks for the bunny ears Ryan... ha ha!!! After they took a group picture of the majority of the 740 people in attendance, I headed off to help oversee the Livestock Evaluation Event. There I was able to socialize with many people and watch a lot of cows, pigs, and sheep as kids examined them to place in different classes. It really was fun to watch!



Also, throughout the week we played a few activities! We played pool, twister, cards, trivia games, basketball, a few other random things, and my favorite- beach volleyball (in the sand)!
The Melba Chapter had a lot of fun with the sand and even made a lovely sandcastle for us all to enjoy! I just love the crazily creative people you can find in the FFA!

Thursday consisted of a lot of the same tasks- help oversee events, take lots of pictures, meet awesome new people, play volleyball and other games, and so on. But- I was also able to compete in one of my favorite events! Now if you are not familiar with some of the things that the FFA does, then you may want to brace yourself for this! My favorite event that I was able to participate in was the Meats CDE. Yes, I judge meat. In this event we have to ID 30 cuts of meat- beef, pork, and lamb. (I know about 116 cuts of meat very well, FYI) then we get to look at 3 classes of carcasses and rank them. Also we do two classes of retail cuts, and we yield and quality grade some beef carcasses also! And one of the highlights of it all- we get to wear these nifty outfits! ha ha!
After the Meats Evaluation Event, the Troy FFA Chapter hosts a dance. Although the state officers were all late, and had to leave early- you know, with all the official stuff we have to do (hee hee!) we had plenty of fun and danced up a storm!!! After leaving the dance we headed over to the Ag Education Office where we put together packets, went over all of the results, and practiced for our awards ceremony and closing ceremonies the next morning. We got finished there, went back to our dorms and packed, then got ready for bed. I hit the sheets at around 2:00 a.m. just to wake up at 5:00 a.m. so I could get ready, finish packing, and out the door by 6:30a.m. Our awards meeting started at 8:00 a.m. Here you can see me announcing some of the winners! Too bad it's a bit blurry...
We made it through our presentations in under two hours! (That's like record time!) After finishing up there, we jumped on a bus with our chapters and headed home. Nine hours later- I was home! Boy, I sure did miss my bed! :) But really it was a great week! I am just absolutely amazed at all the great things I have been able to do in the FFA- and am so grateful that I have had these opportunities! Another great thing to kick off the end of my senior year... :)

(The Moscow Sunset... where I'll be in about two months every night!!!! How exciting!!!!)

I'm Growing Up!!!

So this last week I graduated! I am now officially done with high school- I'm kind of growing up I guess!!! Woohoo for me!!! Well, as I thought back on my senior year, I had a really really good time! I have great friends, we have had great times, and made amazing memories. I've also been blessed with an amazing family! They have always supported me, and given a lot of encouragement. I am really one lucky girl, because I have been surrounded by really great people. I guess I just really want to say Thank You!!! to all of my family, friends, and people who have influenced me. And now, here is a little slide show of some of things I have done this past year... at least the weird things I have pictures of... Hee hee!!!

Commencement!

So last Saturday was our big formal Commencement Dance. I had been in Oklahoma the whole week before, and just didn't even plan on going cause I figured I would not be asked. So I was just cleaning my room, and planning to go brand cows that afternoon. However, at approximately 11:30 a.m. my cell phone rang, it was my friend Rhett, and the conversation went something like this:

Rhett: Laura Clark! How are you?

Laura: I'm just great Rhett! How are you?

Rhett: I'm pretty good. So what are you doing today?

Laura: Umm... nothing much just working.

Rhett: And what are you doing tonight.

Laura: Probably nothing.

Rhett: Oh, and do you have a formal?

Laura: Why yes, I do...

Rhett: Then do you want to go to the dance tonight!?!

Laura: Sure!!!

And from there on, he told me that he wasn't planning to go to the dance, then all of the sudden he decided he did want to, and we worked out the details. It was pretty funny! What you may also want to know, is that Rhett is the hired help on the farm. I said that I had to work during the day, but so did he. In fact, we were branding cows. So our day date I suppose you could say went something like this:

It was pretty much awesome! So after that, obviously I showered and got the stink off me, then I went into Idaho Falls to help set up decorations for the Rigby High School Commencement. Then I rushed home to have my sisters do my hair, and get ready for Madison High School Commencement. (That's our rival school! hee hee!) I was ready just barely in time for him to pick me up (and we were both running a bit late!) We basically looked awesome.

My dress was pulled out of the back of my closet- something I got about 3 years ago I think... Thanks to my sisters my hair looked fabulous!!! His Tux is a mixture of tuxes of his fathers, brother-in-law's and his choir shirt from a few years ago. (The bow tie and little waist thing is his fathers, probably from a high school dance also! Nice and Pink, huh! ha ha!) And Rhett's sister made the Corsage... AMAZING!!!

So, for dinner Rhett's sister made us a lovely dinner, with candles and all that jazz! It was amazing! Then we went and got pictures, and finally arrived at the dance where we met up with some friends, and danced the night away!!! :) It was one of the most fun dates I think I've been on! Just because it was so random, and we laughed all night. Thanks for the great fun Rhett!!! I can't believe that they threw the whole thing together on such short notice!!!(Thanks mostly to Rhett's awesome sister, Natalie!) And that was my random date to the Commencement Dance my senior year- a great way to finish up high school in my opinion!

9 States & 9 Tanks of Gas Later...

So this last week I was able to go to the National FFA Land and Soil Evaluation CDE in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma! So early Saturday morning(4:00a.m.), May 3rd we took off in a little Dodge van for our destination! Of course, we made the trip fun, so taking the longer route we stopped to see a few sites. The first day, we drove to Farmington, New Mexio. That day we made two major stops.

Site #1: Arches National Park in Moab, Utah.

That's me climbing up a rock!!! :) It was pretty cool. This other picture is of the four Land Evaluators (hee hee!!) from left to right: Joseph Hale, Sammi Perez, ME!, and Stephen Hale. We hiked around and checked things for an hour or two then we all climbed back into the van and headed off again to our next destination!

After driving for a while we got out to stretch our legs in Monticello, Utah. What better place to stop for a while than the temple!!!

Site #2 Monticello, Utah LDS Temple

Then we once again loaded into the van and continue onward until...

Site #3 Monument Pass somewhere between Utah and Arizona... :)

We stopped randomly at some school parking lot because they had an AMAZING view of all the little rock formations behind Sammi and me in this picture. We also took the time to practice a little bit of sloping for our event. For those of who just got confused by that, for part of our judging we have to estimate the slope of the land. So we got to do a lot of that at that school.

So after that we drove for sometime longer until we crossed into New Mexico... and Arizona... and Utah.... and Colorado!!!

Site #4 Four Corners!

This was cool just because we got to stand next to each other, yet we were still in different states!

From left to right we have Stephen, Joseph, ME!, and Sammi. Fun fun, huh!

I also got to lay down and rest for a bit... IN FOUR STATES AT ONCE!!! ha ha!

That was our last adventure for the first day. We drove to Farmington, New Mexico where we stayed the night, then started off bright and early the next morning as well. We drove across the rest of New Mexico. We made our stop for gas, and at the lovely station Sammi and I made a new friend...

We just call him Chief! Ha ha!!!

Then we were into Texas. We stopped in Amarillo for lunch... Yes, we thoroughly checked out the Amarillo Skies... they were definitely different than Idaho!!! There was no mountains so the sky went on forever!!! Weird! ha ha! That night we got to Oklahoma where we checked into the hotel. The next two days were filled with lots of practicing, learning, and fun. One day we even went out to lunch at Toby Keith's I Love this Bar & Grill in Bricktown, Oklahoma.

We all look a little rough in this picture, but I still think that its a fun one!!! That seat is supposed to be like a tail gate... once again i have to say- It was cool!!!

So on Wednesday morning we woke up and got ready for the reason we were there- to do well in our CDE (Career Development Event). It was raining- no it was pouring! The event was postponed for an hour or two, and we just waited in the van with our raincoats on. But eventually we got out to the site and did what we do best- judge that dirt and land!!! (Unfortunately I have no pictures of a lot of this because it's all on Mr. Hales camera...) Then that night after we had endured the rain and wind and mud and all that jazz, we went to the awards banquet. We were able to find out that we did amazing!!!

This Event is split into two separate parts. The first is Land site, where we evaluate the land for it's class of farming. The second is Home site, which we determine how good the site of land would be to build a home. There were a total of 96 teams competing- that's about 400 people. In the Land site we took 2nd in the Western Region and 8th in the Nation. :) We were pretty amazed with ourselves, and very satisfied. But in the Home site- we did even better!!! We placed 1st in the Western Region (Ha! Take that New Mexico!!) and 5th in the Nation! I placed 20th high individual. We felt pretty good about ourselves!

Then the next morning we got up early and left for home!!! Sammi and I, however, hit snooze on our alarm clock, and woke up at about 4:53 and we were to be in the van by 5:00. It was fun throwing clothes into suitcases and not wearing make-up or doing our hair!!! Ha ha! So we drove for a long time and went through Kansas. We stopped in Denver, Colorado for lunch at Casa Bonita. Now this place was really cool!!! It was like a little Mexican Village with a waterfall in the middle. Occasionally people would jump off the waterfall. It was pretty nifty!

That night we stayed in Laramie, Wyoming. The next day we made it home around 3:00 p.m. It was a really fun trip and I'm very happy I was able to go! It was a pretty awesome way to top of my senior year in high school!!! It only took 9 tanks of gas, one fill up in each of the 9 states we went through... :) :)