THE State Fair of Texas

Yep I have to admit that I had never been to the famous State Fair of Texas..... until this past weekend! You have no idea how excited I was to actually get to go and I fully enjoyed myself besides a few "embarrassing " moments! (those will definitely be mentioned) We started out by driving to Dallas to meet at the hotel to get change and look sharp in Official Dress for a get together at the Cotton Bowl Arena. 1) we were running late so of course everyone was upset 2) it helped that we had a funny cab driver that got us to our destination in 10 min when were were previously told that it would take 35 3) we got dropped off at the wrong gate so had to run half a mile down the side walk in panty hose and heels in hand to gate 6 where we were suppose to be 4) in the process of running I got a rip in my pantyhose :/ so was completely mad because I looked so unprofessional and we were even more late 5) It was hot and we were VERY flushed in the face when we finally arrived but....... things were quite okay after that. We got the chance to meet the FCCLA state and national officers along with the 4H officers and some great people who put on the fair every year. The night only seemed to escalate in goodness because the next thing we know we are shaking Laura Bush's hand and taking a picture with the ex First Lady. Pretty exciting! The next day would have been Saturday and it was a day to be spent at the fair grounds, spent eating all the fried food we could find, spent playing basketball against some college kids, spent watching the dog show, riding the gondala and eating more fried food. :D I have to admit that the fried peanut butter and jelly banana sandwich was the best! Next we are at a reception put on by Texas Tech and a banquet that followed. Of course the best part was the dance afterward. Yes us FFA kids know how to dance. Let me just throw in that Miles flipped Jeremiah not once but TWICE!

Well this last week I have gone from one extreme to the other it seems like. On this past Tuesday I found myself driving to Glen Rose to hop in with Dakotah to attend the Area 8 Banquet in Waco. I got to see some new faces which always puts a smile on my face not to mention running into my good area officer friends down in the Area :D It was great to get to talk on a personal level with one of our major sponsors David Waggnor, and his brothers Dan and Lance Waggnor. This leads me to this weekend where I made a day trip to the LBK to do a workshop with my Lubbock-Cooper Chapter Officers. Our organization's power and success starts at the chapter level and having chapters that desire to better themselves and the members around them in turn makes our organization one of the best ones to be apart of. This upcoming weekend will bring many students, Ag teachers and business officials to the Dallas area for the State Fair of Texas. It will be exciting to see my team once again and to experience one of the biggest events in the state of Texas.

[Passion] is what I live my life by.

The FFA is that [passion]

Phase III

This life never ceases to impress me and I love the busy"ness" of it. This past weekend I flew into Austin to be picked up and put in a 15 passenger, white van with 8 of the team: Aron, Jeremiah, Layton, Miles, Tyler, Miles, Dakotah and of course Blaze. A short time before this I got to tour the FFA Building in Austin that houses the FFA Foundation, VATAT Staff, the FFA Association and Ag Credit Union which was exciting to see where our organization productively does business out of. After piling into the white, unmarked van we pulled out and headed down to the south south part of Area IX where we finished up our Phase III training at Carlos Guerra's Ranch. This was a great place to be at and get away with the team for the weekend not to mention getting to meet some WONDERFUL south Texas members and eating some of the best legit fajitas and cake :0) We went over our team goals for this next year, assigned committees and prepared ourselves for National Convention also getting a chance to watch some college football, cook "early-morning" pancakes, and laughing at our selves giving our election speeches again. Today we had our first Board of Directors Meeting and got quite a bit of business done....... after quite a while in the board room! Well I am headed to Waco tomorrow for the Area VIII Banquet :D

Until time stops , I will not Stop,

Until someone else smiles, I will not stop smiling :}

Until a life is touched, I will not stop reaching

& Until June 5th, I will not stop serving the Texas FFA members