On Wobbly Legs

I really should be doing homework right now, but this blogging thing is kinda addictive.. I think this is the last paper I can post which is on my computer, the rest are on my families computer at home, like the story of a skunk being in my 4-H cabin, and more stories of my crazy life. This paper I wrote for English in High School. Enjoy!

Watching a calf take its first steps is an amazing experience. It gets up on its back feet, and then it’s front feet, and carefully takes its first tentative step, only to lose its balance and fall. But it always gets up again and takes a step and another and another, until it can walk, then run without even thinking. Just like the calf, in life, we slowly try something new just to fall down. But if we keep trying we’ll eventually be like this calf, able to get up and walk without even thinking.
Just like a calf has to live on a farm its whole life, I have lived on a farm my whole life too. I started doing chores at age 6, and have done chores ever since. Chores have taken me about four hours a day, 365 days a year, which is about 1,460 hours each year doing chores. So chores have been a big part of my life.
Living on a farm doing chores has taught me a lot. First of all it has taught me how to wake up early every morning if you want to make it to school on time. It has taught me responsibility, I have to make sure every animal gets their share of feed, and looks healthy or I owe my dad $500 if a calf dies. Living on a farm has also taught me how to work hard, and how to get along with my siblings, well sometimes. I think everyone should live on a dairy farm, so that they can learn what I have learned. I’m glad I have lived on a dairy farm and had the opportunity to learn so much. One of my favorite parts about the diary was being in Dairy 4-H.
I have been in 4-H since I was 9 years old. It’s a hard organization to describe, they have many different clubs you can participate in to learn many different things and they usually participate in many service projects. I have been in many different clubs and learned a lot. I have had many different experiences in 4-H. I think the greatest thing about 4-H though, is not only learning new skills and knowledge, but also getting to know others. I have belonged to many 4-H clubs. I have done crochet, quilting, knitting, Dutch oven, scrap booking, and Dairy 4-H. Future Farmers of America or FFA is a lot like 4-H except there are bigger competitions.




I belonged to the FFA in 9th, 10th, and 12th Grade. It has been a fun organization to be a part of. The Rigby Chapter goes to contests about twice a year once in Moscow, Idaho, and once in Twin Falls. In 9th Grade I tried many different contests including Soil Judging, Range land Judging, and Dairy Judging. I came really close to making the teams but didn’t quite make it.
So in 10th grade I again tried out for the Rangeland Judging and made it this time. Our Team went to state and won! I got 8th individually which was the 3rd highest on the team. If you win State you then go to Nationals to see how you do there. So our team went to Oklahoma where nationals were taking place. It was really fun; we tried hard and won first Regionally.
Also in 10th grade I tried for Dairy Judging, I went with about 8 others to the Black and White Days in Richmond UT. We were supposed to write down how we had judged each class of cows so that as soon as the contest was over we could try figuring out how we did before we got back the results. Well, we figured out each persons score and mine was really low. So when we got back the results I must have written, how I had judged the classes wrong, because I had the 4th highest score out of all who had gone to Richmond. So I had made the team, but since we had thought I had done really bad the girl whom I beat off the team had thought she had made the team and had already been planning on being on the team, so I decided to let her be on the team instead of me.
Since I wasn’t going to be on the Dairy Judging team, my advisor said I could compete in the Dairy Handling contest instead. When we went up to Moscow, the weather was beautiful until it came to the day of the Dairy Judging Contest. It rained almost the whole time during the contest, which of course was out side so many others, and I had to show the dairy cows out in the rain. It wasn’t a very good contest because the cows were all hunched up and ornery. When it came my groups turn to be judged on how we handled the cows I felt I had done very well.
When it came time for the Awards Ceremony the next day they called up all of the Dairy Handlers and we received a standing ovation for standing out in the rain all day handling the cows. I headed for my seat as they called up the runner up, 3rd place, 2nd place, and I had just gotten to my seat when I heard my name. I was awestruck, I had won 1st in state, and would be going to Lewisville Kentucky for nationals.
When I went to Nationals it was lots of fun. I was excited for the contest because Showing Cows or Dairy handling is something I have done my whole life at our Jefferson County Fair and the Eastern Idaho State Fair. The cows handled very well for me and I felt good about how I did. The dairy handling contest isn’t judged like the others, they don’t really give anyone places you either get a bronze silver or gold placing. The judges went through all of the bronze and silver placing and then came the gold. The gold they told us were the top 10 showmen. I was called for a gold placing.
Life doesn’t change much for a calf, it always does the same things, eat, and sleep. Life doesn’t seem to change much for me, being the 4th child and living on a Dairy farm. We don’t get any vacations, go camping, or do much away from home. We always have to be home at 5:00 in the morning and 5:00 at night. Probably the biggest change for me was changing schools. The summer before my junior year I decided to take an art workshop with my dad. The lady teaching the workshop taught me a lot and told me I could be really good at art if I kept working at it. It was her saying I could be good that helped me decide that I should switch schools if I want to become good at art because Rigby didn’t have a good art program.
I kept thinking of switching schools but was afraid to because I had two big trips I was going on the last week of September to Kentucky for Dairy handling Nationals, and the last week of October to Wisconsin for Dairy 4-H. So after I got back from these two trips and Rigby’s first Trimester ended I decided to go to Bonneville. It was hard to decide if I really wanted to go to Bonneville, if I went there I wouldn’t be able to be in FFA, but if I stayed at Rigby I wouldn’t get art. It was a hard decision but I finally decided to switch.
I am glad I decided to go to Bonneville, even if I was a traitor to Rigby. I had lots of fun and learned a lot. I entered 2 art contests this year, one called the Helen Aupperle art competition which I won 1st in and received $500 and The Bank of America art contest which I got second in and received $100. After learning I was pretty good at art I decided to go back to Rigby so I could participate in FFA and Graduate with my friends. Like most of the seniors I am excited to almost be out of High school. I feel I have accomplished a lot in my life and hope to accomplish much more in the years to come.
Some of my more recent goals I am trying to achieve are to get good grades so I can graduate from high school with high honors. I want to be able to graduate with high honors so I can get some good scholarships for BYU-I. I plan on going into a good paying, art related career, maybe interior design or Landscape design in which I ‘d be using Knowledge I have gained through the FFA program and skills I’ve learned in 4-H. College will strengthen my legs and I will begin to run into life like the new born calf.