How do you Fair? Dixie Classic Fair Memories

October is here and with it that ache that has become all too familiar.  Akin to homesickness for a place that is so familiar it feels like home.  To many it is just a county fair, a place for food, rides and fireworks; for me it will always be about friends, family and so many memories made.

I grew up raising and showing animals (pigs, sheep and beef cattle), the Dixie Classic Fair was always a favorite part of the show season.  As a child I loved riding the rides and eating all the cotton candy and candy apples I could get.  As I got a little older I found my favorite spot on the fairgrounds was not the midway but in the livestock barn.  The people were what really made the difference.  Many of them have been there my whole life and have watched me grow up.  The support and friendships made throughout my years of showing are some that I will always treasure.  Even though the livestock show brings a fair share of competition in that barn everyone works together and supports one another.

  I miss the early mornings before the sun was up, washing the cattle on the wash rack, late nights cleaning up, and taking a quick break eating lunch together on the showbox.  It was hard work but those times spent with my family are priceless memories that I will always hold onto.

I'm sure all of you have a similar spot that you love and miss, the Dixie Classic fair is mine.  It's where I grew up and the home of so many memories.

I have been attending the fair since before I was born, my first trip was in utero.

It's true what they say "Banners and ribbons will fade but the memories will last a lifetime."  Winning was nice but being able to share that with my family was even better.  I know my parents were proud of us each and every time we went in that ring, first place or last.  

Just looking at this picture I hear the whir of fans blowing, cattle mooing and I'm back in the barn. 

There's not a lot that compares to the feeling of walking into the ring and giving it your all.  Fellow showmen, enjoy your time it goes by so fast.

"It's sort of in your blood.  You don't think about the long hours or the money.  You do it because you love it." -Ross Haberfield

As I sit here eight hours away, I hold on and reminisce on the years spent and the memories made.  I can almost smell the scent of shavings, hear the announcer giving class results and feel that rush of walking into the ring.  

The fair will always hold a piece of my heart and I am forever grateful for the place it has had in my life. 

Dierks Bentley Concert

If you have been following along for awhile you will be familiar with the fact that I have a knack for winning concert tickets (guess that's my hidden talent).  This was the second concert for the summer and I was pretty excited about this one.  I had the chance to see Jon Pardi and Dierks Bentley a few years ago at Stagecoach and they were pretty great so I was excited for the opportunity to see them again with Kyle.

We were pretty blessed to have an overcast night with a little bit of a breeze and no rain!

I kept it pretty casual with my favorite Redhead camo hat and a tee shirt, jeans and my boots.

Funny story we actually ended up in the wrong seats for about 30 minutes.

The owners of the seats came up and were like yeah I think you're in our seats, we looked and sure enough we were a whole section over...whoops 🤦‍♀️

Tenille Townes was the first act and we were both pretty excited to hear more from her.  She has a really interesting voice, very raspy and heartfelt.  My favorite song from her is "White Horse".

Jon Pardi was up next and y'all I just really like him.  He sounds like a mix of old country and new.  His set was my favorite, simple feel like a honkytonk.  I'm a fan for sure! 

   

Dierks brought it for sure.  He is just a good time.  You definitely forget how many of his songs have been such big hits.  He put on a show and it was just a good time.

This amphitheater is definitely one of my favorites, big but still intimate feeling.

Dierks and Jon did a song together and of course it was great.  That's my favorite part of concerts when they do combos together or sing other songs you wouldn't expect.

Tenille came back out and sang a little Shania Twain and I sure wasn't mad about it.

It was a really fun night, I love country music so the chance to go hear it live and share it with my husband is a blessing.

Goings on over the past months

Since I haven't written in such a long time so many things have piled up and happened.

I posted earlier about having taken my GRE and all well I applied to Grad School and...drum roll please....I am going to Clemson in January!!!  So excited to start this new journey and figure things out for my future. 

On to October, pretty much this whole half of the month was spent showing cattle at the fairs.

all in a day at the fair

just taking a nap

pretty Miss Hollywood

But we had a pretty great year.  At the State Fair I was Reserve Senior Plus Showman in showmanship (where you are judged on how well you show the cattle) and my little heifer Miss Hollywood was Reserve Champion Simmental.  I was so excited because this was my last year showing at the junior show, since I have gotten so old.  Then at the open show (where anyone can show) I showed the Reserve Champion Simmental Bull.  So all in all it was a great time at the fair.   


Blessings,

Erin 
  

Crayon Art

So my boyfriend and I decided to try a craft from pinterest. 

I don't know if you all have seen the melted crayon art on there or not but it is pretty neat. 

He wanted to do the browing heart symbol that I have on the back of my car.  We were going to do "boy" camo on the buck side and "girl" pink camo on the doe side. 

We used old crayons so the colors weren't as pretty but heres how it worked:

melting

you use a hair dryer

drip

finished product

the process is pretty straight forward and simple you pick your crayons lay them out in whatever color pattern you want.  glue them on the canvas and then use your blowdryer to melt them (that's the fun part)

We used a glue stick to glue contact paper on the canvas in our design and then the crayons dripped over it.  The colors looked really good and like camo on the boy side but my colors weren't so great.  Oh well product tried and done.  Not a total failure but not a masterpiece either. 


Blessings,

Erin