Just two more hours and one last final...

Just two more hours of work and one last final tomorrow. That's all I have left of this semester. And as I sit here in front of this computer for the last two hours of work my mind keeps going to the summer that lies ahead of me. And the many opportunities that it holds.

I get to spend three months back in my old stomping grounds, work with the 4-H program that I lived for each and every summer, and spend time with all of amazing family and friends that I rarely ever get to see throughout the year. The possibilities are unlimited, and I don't want to waste them! This has led me to the decision of making a "Summer Bucket List" that will include everything and anything that I want to do while I'm back home this summer. I have a lot of different ideas roaming around in my head, but I need to get them down on paper and make them official. 

So get excited for the official "Summer Bucket List" coming soon, and hopefully everyone back home is gearing up for my return because in just one week I will be making the long long long drive from Logan, Utah to Hope, Indiana. Ahhh...I'm SO excited!

A Summer back home in Indiana...

So if you haven't heard yet I am returning back home to Indiana for the summer!!!

Ever since I moved out to Utah for school I have wanted to go back home for a summer, however it was just never able to happen...until now. I will be working full time for the Bartholomew County Extension Office as the Summer 4-H Intern.

Growing up at home I lived for the County Fair every summer. I showed our Jersey dairy cows, sheep, swine, and of course competed with my horse and pony in the contesting events. Besides livestock, I did sewing projects, gift wrapping, and microwave foods. I can't wait to spend my entire summer working with the program that made every one of my summers amazing. I'm looking forward to working with all the young 4-Hers and putting together a great 4-H camp and 4-H week at the fairgrounds.

Besides working my dream job, I will be able to see all of my family and friends for more than just a few weeks at a time. I can hang with my incredible little nephews and twin nieces for the entire summer. Spend time with my little sisters that are living back home in a huge house with my parents. And help my dad farm and care for the cows and pigs during a great Indiana summer. I am so excited and anxious for it all to start, however leaving Cody (my cow crazy farm boyfriend) will be hard. He is pretty darn lucky though with a full time job working on his family dairy farm in Preston, Idaho. I'm going to miss him like crazy.

I don't think I could put into words how much I love home back in Hope, Indiana. I love the great summers full of the fair, corn and beans everywhere, driving around in a truck with the windows down, and hanging with my friends and family.

I hope everyone's ready for me to return, because I sure am!

I'm actually doing this...

I have thought about this day for so long (the day I actually start a blog), but never seemed to have the courage or time, which I still feel like I don't, but I'm doing it anyway.

Most blogs have a main focus or theme behind them such as cooking, sewing, traveling, etc. Well, this is one reason I never had the courage to start a blog, because I have no idea what my focus would be. I entertained the idea of a cooking slash baking blog, but not sure how well I can keep up on that with going to school and working and spending time with my boyfriend and friends. And then I thought about sewing. My amazing mother recently gave me a sewing machine for my 21st birthday in February, but I'm no pro. The best way I can put it is that I have experience sewing, but I'm not an experienced sewer.

So with no definite consensus on a "theme", I decided I would make it a jumble of it all. And with that decision came the next dilemma of deciding on a blog name. With no concrete "theme" of my blog it needed to be something generic for my entire life right now and everything and anything I could be going through that could end up on the fancy new blog of mine. Now you're all probably looking back up at the title and wondering what I was thinking when I chose this. Well, you have to understand my childhood and my father in particular...

I grew up in a little country town of just over two thousand people in southern Indiana. Hope was it's name and "A Surprising Little Town" was our slogan. I lived on a farm just a few miles from the town square on a country road with my family of nine. Our farm (aerial picture below!) includes a herd of Jersey dairy cows (the best dairy cow breed in my opinion), POA ponies, a hog barn full of 4,000 baby pigs and of course chickens, dogs, and cats. My father farms just over 500 acres that include mainly corn and soybeans, as well as alfalfa hay for the animals.

My dad grew up on his parents farm just down the road from ours a few miles. His entire childhood consisted of farm work from sunrise to sunset (unless they were hiding from grandpa in the tree house they built). Milking cows, chopping wood, feeding animals and helping his dad with construction business were just a few things my dad and his 10 brothers did everyday, while his two sisters and mother were cooking and taking care of the home. This type of work ethic has been with my dad his whole life. And has been brought about some motivating sayings to stir the work on. "Pushin' the Pony" was just one of them, and probably the everyone's favorite. "Walk the Dog" and "Drop the Blade" were both other common sayings my dad would tell all us kids to get us working each day. Of course, it got quite a few laughs too, but we all grew up working hard out on the farm and in the house.

So as I thought about what to title this blog, I thought about how I'm so busy everyday just trying to do get things accomplished and be productive. My dad's familiar voice yelling "Pushin' the Pony" came to my mind, and that was it. This blog of mine will include all the craziness of my life that I'm trying to get accomplished. I'm not really sure what I'm doing, but I hope you enjoy!