Butterflies

When we found this butterfly it had just hatched and Ben found it very interesting. Don't you think that is the perfect "spring/summer" picture? If so, post a comment and let me know! :) Okay, not really if you don't want to.

Right now I am getting paperwork ready for our next show. This is a one day show in Ingham county. We will be leaving on Saturday(July 26th) and coming home that evening. I am also getting ready for our 4H goat meeting this evening. I have to shave a goat and explain what I am doing all at the same time. Then we have to do hooves(show style) and tattoos. It should be a good meeting if everyone shows up!

Well, not much is going on here. The weather is beautiful and we are all still picking strawberries at Harvey's. Rachel and Rebekah started working yesterday and Elizabeth came today. Hopefully they will continue coming through the rest of the season! Just thought I would update and let you all know what is going on.
Hope you are enjoying your summer!
~Bethany~

MDGS pic # 3

Elizabeth right after winning showmanship. She showed Mindy (Mandy's daughter) and I believe they both enjoyed it!

MDGS pic # 2

Grand Champion junior doe, Gala!! (owner - Jim Schreur) She placed 1st of of huge classes so we were really excited.

MDGS pic # 1

Reserve Champion junior doe Miss Jessup's Upright and her owner Abigail Schreur. :) (tell Abigail to look a little more excited about it....hehe!)

MDGS show update

For the show update! It was a really interesting weekend. We got to the Ionia fairgrounds on Friday night around 8:00. We were going to leave earlier but we had a storm go through and had to wait for it to pass so we could load up. We got everyone settled in, then dad and all the little ones went into town to find some stuff we needed. Abigail and I stayed back to get some paperwork stuff worked out. By the time they got back I was in bed and about to go to sleep! I think we got to bed around 11:00. Saturday morning I was up at 5:00 getting everyone ready to show. There was a slight mess up so Ben had to show Milky Whey so Elizabeth could show Mindy. It worked out okay though. Because of the stress, Mandie(whom I was showing in showmanship) got diarrhea so I was walking around with wipes while waiting for showmanship. Rachel showed Milky Whey and Abigail was going to show Gatlin but Rebekah ended up needing her at the same time so she had to show Gala. Elizabeth won showmanship and Ben....well, we'll get to him in a minute. I am not sure what Rebekah placed since we were showing at the same time. In intermediate the judge pulled out 3 children. Unfortunately none of us got pulled out. And back to Ben, when the judge asked him what breed his goat was, he yelled out across the arena to dad, "what breed is she dad?"! Then when she asked he what her name was, he quickly responded "I don't know"! It was quite funny. The breed classes started around 9:30 or so. The youth show and regular show were going on at the same time so everything was really hectic. They showed everything in different order than usual so everyone was mixed up. We had a first place or two in youth show and a few in the regular. Jessie got 1st in the regular and went on to get reserve champion. The show didn't end until 8:00 that night! Everyone was extremely tired. We went to a treat from a fast food restaurant. When we got back I was already sleeping(when you drive out of the fairgrounds you are already in the town but we had to go a few minutes to get to McDonald's). I got to bed around 10. At 11:00 I awoke to Abigail talking to me and the wind blowing really hard. I went out to the van and asked Dad if we could move our stuff into the barn and sleep in there. He said we would be okay but to take the awning down. I was about to take it down when the whole tent blew down. I held it up and Abigail came to help me while the girls were getting out. We noticed Elizabeth wasn't there so Rachel went in there and found her still sleeping! She pulled her out and we rolled the tent up so it wouldn't blow away. Now, my glasses were still in there and Abigail had sat on top of the tent so it would stop blowing around. We we pulled the tent into the barn and frantically pulled stuff out. I still couldn't find my glasses so I just let it go and helped close the barn up. Then we pulled out our sleeping bags onto a cement slab in the barn and laid on that. I slept like a log until about 5:30. Then I woke up, fed all the goats and went back to sleep until 7:00. Then I woke up again and got dressed. The show started at 8 but I was ready with time to spare. I had to show the Alpine senior does and Mandie and then I had a while until I needed to show anything. We got everything packed up so that when we were done with the kids we could go. Finally junior does came. Abigail and Elizabeth showed our intermediate kids(Gala and Jessie). Gala placed 1st and Jessie placed 3rd. In the senior class(Alithia and Maggie) Alithia placed 3rd and Maggie placed 5th. Then the 2st place animals went back out and GALA WON 1st PLACE!!! Bad news.....we had to wait till the whole show was done so she could be shown in best of show. We got to show all of our other kids though. Mindie placed 2nd in a good sized class and our Recorded Grades places OK as well. Right as we were about to leave......it rained some more! And on the way home, we picked up two more Nubians(we got them for free, thank you Lakes!). We didn't get home till about 7 but it was a very memorable weekend.
Well, hope your week is going well!
~Bethany~

08 show update #4

Just to let you all know, we are currently getting ready for the MDGS show that is taking place this weekend(June 13-15). We are planning on taking everyone except for Mom and Myah and taking 11 goats. It should be lots of fun to see everyone showing showmanship and showing their goats in the youth show. Abigail and I have animals of our own and registered in our name so we can show them in the youth show. I have all the paper work lined up and everyone is shaved. I have to tattoo a few of the junior does and Dad has to do all the hooves but other than that there isn't a whole lot we need to do.
I'll try to keep you updated on what all we have done!
~Bethany~

Memorial Day parade pics

Abigail and Angel waiting for the parade to begin. We were in the parking lot waiting with all 7 other horses. Dad says this is the only parade that he knows of that has more people in the parade than watching it!

~Bethany~

Molly & Buster

This is Molly, the dam of the puppies. She is almost 5 years old and a wonderful mother to her puppies.
This is Buster, the sire of the puppies. We just found out that he has many OFA certified dogs in his pedigree. There are also several champions! This was his first litter and we are quite pleased with how they turned out!

Puppy pic

Here are all the puppies together. It isn't the greatest picture but trying to get all 7 puppies in one spot all at the same time isn't very easy! :) As I said before, the yellows are females and the blacks are males.

Lab pups for sale

We have AKC registered lab puppies for sale! There are 3 yellow females($350) and 4 black males($300). They are 6 weeks old on June 2. Contact me if you are interested. I'll post a picture of their dam and sire and one of all the puppies together.

Emma picture!

Here is little Emma. She is pretty sweet. I have her on the bucket now and she is drinking about 2 gallons a day. We have been letting her out in the pasture with the goats and she loves it.

GLOM pic #4

Rebekah is showing Gala here. I don't quite know what the judge was saying here but she looks a little confused. She had lots of fun.

GLOM pic #3

These are the 6 "kids" that were pulled out in showmanship. I am the second from the right. The girl with the black Alpine in the middle won. You can see the others around us and there were some in front of us too. All 17 of us!!!

GLOM pic #2

Here I am getting Gatlin's milk weighed. This was RIGHT before showmanship on Sat. night.

GLOM pic #1

Elizabeth showing Gala in showmanship. I don't have her ribbon in the picture but it is about as tall as she is!