Ladder Truck Training

The big news in Patterson is that the fire department purchased its first ladder truck! I know that we live in a small town when news like that makes the front page of the newpaper. WOW!

Last weekend they had three different trainings for the firefighters to learn how to operate the truck, mostly the ladder part. So Mike went on Friday, since he was working and Justin headed over to take the class too! Justin LOVED it!!! Of course Mike is equally excited. Mike was actually trained first and then he was given the task of training everyone else in the class (what better way to learn yourself). It was pretty exciting and great to see my little boy playing fire truck with his daddy... er Captain.

Final Placings from Kentucky

Here are the final placings for the youth contests in Kentucky! The biggest surprise to us was that Cody won 1st runner-up Duke! We thought he was 2nd or 3rd. Justin was 1st runner up for the National Management contest... we didn't realize that one either.

You can find all the results here!

Louisville Day 9

Day 9... Happy Birthdy to me!!! What a way to spend your birthday... We got up packed up and headed to the airport. It really wasn't as easy as it sounds. We actually barely made our 4:30 pm flight once we got everything done. We flew home with lots and lots of rabbit breeders. I bet a third of the plane was rabbits and their breeders! That just made it even more fun... I think I slept almost the whole way home... so tired!

Justin was limping through the airport as he pulled a muscle in his calf the night before... dancing at the banquet! We arrived home at 12:30 pm and fell into bed. The next morning we slept in and then hit the ground running. We have been running ever since, trying to catch up and stay caught up.

The boys ended up selling four rabbits while they were there and probably could have sold all of them if they had been for sale.

Here are some candid shots of rabbits that Cody took to share with you...

Louisville Day 8

Day 8 was my last day of work! We finished getting all the results entered and the exhibitor reports, legs and breed club reports printed. I left right before we were finished to go to the youth banquet. Prior to the banquet, the boys slept in after another late night of bowling and then watch the breed auctions and the Standards Committee look at the presentation rabbits.

The youth banquet went really well! The biggest news of the night was California's Sr. Judging Team (Justin's team) placed second. They had never placed that well and that is one of the hardest divisions.





Justin was also 1st runner up for King - moving up one position from last year.







Cody was 2nd or 3rd runner up for Duke.


Kyle was the District 2 (CA, UT, AZ, NV & HI) winner for Achievement. Justin was the District 2 winner for Management. Justin and Cody were runners up for National Management, but I am not sure of their placings. It should be posted on the ARBA website sometime this week then we will know for sure.

Louisville Day 7

Day 7... almost there! This day was filled with more work for me! I got in early... boy was it nice to get some sleep. We just kept entering and entering all day long... The breeds that hadn't been judged the day before were judged. The boys had their interviews for their youth contests in the morning. The rest of the day they just waited for the judging to finish and for Best in Show to start. We were very happy to find out that our friend's Randy and Allen would be judging Best in Group!

The exciting news was that Russell Magee's Rhinelander and Lena Magee's Himalayan won Best of Breed and they would be up for Best in Group and Best in Show. Lena's rabbit won her group and that was super exciting!!! Her little savings account is $500 richer!!! She also came home with a new carrier and a stacking cage. There were lots of California breeders with their rabbits up on the Best in Show table... Go California!

Louisville Day 6

Day 6 was a total blur... Mike and I brought breakfast back for the boys and then I went to bed and he took the boys to the showroom. He returned back to the room and we slept for about 3 hours when we were woken to what sounded like a jackhammer. They were doing major construction on our hotel and it sounded like they were working right above us. So we got up and decided to head back to the showroom to see how the boy's rabbits were doing in their judging.

Justin's Mini Satin had already been judged and took 10th out of 25 and 2nd in fur. Next they were on Satins. Cody's chocolate took Best of Variety and his broken one the Sr. Buck class. Now were were waiting for Kyle's white doe. She took Best of Variety out of 103 rabbits! That was pretty exciting... Next they were picking Best of Breed... That took over an hour! It seems that the two judges couldn't come to an agreement. She wanted Kyle's white and he wanted the black doe. So they discussed it for over 45 minutes before a third judge was brought in and he chose the black. It was quite dramatic and left everyone in a bad mood - due to the way it was handled! After that was fur judging and Kyle's other white doe won overall fur.











Judge Cheryl Blackman and Brian Sawchuck... Duking it out...















After judging was over, it was back to work for me... Now we had to enter all the results from the day. I think at about 11:00 pm, I called it quits for the day and vowed to get up early the next morning and start again. I was soooo tired!

Louisville Day 5

Day 5 got even busier! I had to get all the changes from those who checked in finished up, and have the control sheets and cards printed by morning... and sorted for judging. The only problem is that check-in finished at 6 pm, and most people waited until the last minute to turn in their paperwork. It was a long night! Almost 24,000 rabbits and cavies!

The boys had their youth contests that day. They spent the whole day waiting for their turn to do Breed ID and Judging. They had fun hanging out with their teammates and Mike was one of the team leader for Cody and Kyle's team. That night they made plans to go bowling with a group of friends. The bowling alley was right across from our hotel, so Mike dropped them off and they walked back to the hotel when they were done.




Justin judging rabbits.








Kyle, Logan and Cody judging their classes.



































Team California waiting for their turn!















Team California in our convention booth!!!

Thanks Kevin and KW Cages for sponsoring us...




Mike came back and helped us with sorting and printing and we did not finish until 6 am! We actually were not quite done yet, but needed to get back to get the boys up for rabbit judging...









Mike is our paper clerk... he had the paper pre-measured and kept the printer full!

Kevin (owner of KW Cages and Show Pro) is supervising (?).







Working... still!

















All our papers already entered!