Spring!

sprung...then went away... then rained... then showed its face again...

Becoming a good house wife has come...well...slow at times to me. I do pretty good on the cooking and laundry, but maybe not so much on the cleaning. Though we are renting right now, it doesn't hurt for Drew and I to dream about the day when we have our own place to put our stamp on.

Other than his wish for chickens, one of our longings is to have a garden. I'm not sure how great at the gardening I will be, but hey, its good to try. I used to hate going to Lowe's with my mom because I didn't have a house of my own to fix up and buy things for, but now I am (slowly) liking going to Lowe's.

On a recent shopping excursion, we checked out the dollar aisle at Target. For Spring, they had these small pots that you could begin your own garden. Boy, was I excited! I got one of everything! My gardening expert, Drew advised me to wait a little bit to plant them. The first day of Spring was gorgeous here and I had the fever! The next day I planted my garden. Tomoato's, Strawberries, Chives, Basil, and Parsley. I placed them in the window seal and began to wait.....




Just a little over a week later my first sprouts were seen! The Chives really took off followed by the tomoatos. The others were late bloomers.



Back to the dollar aisle at Target, they had NEW pots in. This time I purchased Daisies, Forget Me Nots, and Zinnia's. I planted them last weekend before we went to a sale, and by the time we got back..WOW! The Zinnia's were taking over the window and the Daisies too have sprouted. I'm really feeling successful.



We bought seeds and accessories to plant a real garden when the weather stops acting stupid. But I don't see how a real garden can be better than my window seal garden.

Happy Spring!

Happy National FFA Week!

I believe in the future of Agriculture...

Other saying "I Do" this past June, those words might be some of the most exciting and impactful words that I have ever recited. I was so excited to join the FFA my freshman year of high school and immediately immersed myself into the organization. I wanted to do everything!

My advisor, Mr. Ashcraft called me an overachiever because I wanted to be involved in anything and everything. It wasn't because I wanted to win as much as I could, I loved the organization and wanted to take in as much as possible. I had success in the organization over my years involved, but never was there a prouder moment than when I was elected to serve the great state of Kentucky as the Kentucky FFA State Secretary.

That year was one of the greatest times of my life. I was lucky enough to serve with 10 other amazing individuals who I am very blessed to call teammates and friends. It was a great year traveling to conferences, facilitating workshops, meeting FFA members; many who have went on became great friends.



We also made time to have fun!


With this week being National FFA Week, I have reflected on my time in the FFA. The memories of my friends and experiences, speaking to groups of students, driving many miles across the state, and advocating for Agriculture and FFA. I consider myself so incredibly blessed to have been involved and be an Lifetime Alumni of the National FFA. It truly was some of these best times of my life, and I hope others have the opportunity to find out about the organization.

I saved all of my FFA t-shirts from my State Officer Year to make a t-shirt blanket. After many years of them laying around, I finally found a place to make it for me, and in celebration of FFA week... it arrived! What a year way to remember the memories of my state officer year.

So, put on your blue and gold this week and celebrate the millions of FFA members across the United States who are striving for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success!

My Valentine

I don't want to be one of those mushy, gushy kind of girls, but with today being Valentine's Day I wanted to bring attention to the one who warms my heart.



We met at the Tennessee Beef Agribition in 2006. We became facebook friends after that, and always said we were going to try to hang out. Time passed and no hanging out happened. It just never worked out. The North American came around in 2008 and he texted me to ask what time the Simmental sale started, but I never saw him at the sale. He'll tell you I walked right past him and didn't say hello. I say it was sale time, you have to work to get my attention. Not soon after the NAILE, we started chatting and since then we've never looked back.

Love is a very funny thing. For some reason, I think I always knew that it was him. Even when I crazingly drove 3 hours to Tennessee for our first date on New Years, I felt like I was driving to someone I already loved. I've never questioned how I felt about him, and I think (hope) he'd say the same thing about me. :) He puts up with a lot of crap and craziness, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

So, here's to you my special Valentine. May the rest be just as great as the first three. Thank you for always loving me and making my life complete. xoxo

Reading on the Road

I'm going to Jackson....

This weekend was the Dixie National Simmental Sale in Jackson, Mississippi. The car ride is quite long and I must have something to occupy my time.

For my recent birthday, Drew got me an Amazon Kindle. I love to read, but honestly, the cost of purchasing books can get quite expensive. Also, what I love about a Kindle is that after you read a book you don't have to worry about storing that book, its on your little electronic device. Plus - I haven't had to charge it once!

With a recommendation from fellow blogger, Crystal.Cattle my first Kindle read was Kelly Cutrone's, "If you have to cry, go outside." I finished it about half way through our trip south, but was on pins and needles to begin reading Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman's new book.



If you don't know who Ree Drummond is, she is a city girl turned rancher's wife who began sharing her experiences on the ranch in Oklahoma via blogging. She is now wildly successful with her blog and her cookbook. Her new book will be no exception. Let's just say I started reading it and could not put it down. I read all the time. Even when we got to Jackson, I stayed in the car to continue reading until I was done.

There love story is beautiful, fun, and humorous. All the things a new love and first year of marriage should be. I highly recommend reading it. It is funny when she begins referencing working cattle on the ranch and taking their temperature.

Currently, my Kindle is resting. If anyone has any good suggestions for my new reading material I will gladly take them.

Where in the world are the Hatmaker's??

Because sometimes we have to ask ourselves...

Growing up, I always felt very fortunate than when my friends at school were here at home, I had the opportunity to travel all over the United States showing cattle and going to sales. Luckily, I married a man who loves to travel like I do and likes my family's business.

After a crazy busy 2010 with sales and wedding stuff, we thought of the idea of keeping a travel journal. We saw one of the cooks on the Food Network keeps a journal about places they eat and what they have. Not only food, but we wandered how many nights in 2010 were spent in a hotel room.




Therefore, for 2011 Drew and I decided to keep a travel journal. It is nothing fancy. It is a craft book I got when I was making Drew's wedding present. I decorated it myself and the pages are all blank inside, which I will fill with our travels. It will include all of our trips, restaurants visited, what we ate, and the hotels we have stayed in. I am really excited about this, and think it will be a great piece of our history and memories to have for years to come.

So far, we have Nashville for New Years, the National Western Stock Show, and a upscale little restaurant we tried out here in Paris.

So here's to all the wonderful places and people we have the opportunity to visit with in 2011!!

Year in Review

2010 might have been the best yet!

I know everyone says it that last year was better than before, as it should be. Though for me, I feel like 2010 was defintely the best year yet. So many things happened that made me so thankful for the wonderful people,places, and experiences that are in my life.

One of the things I loved most about 2010 was having Drew to share so many great moments with. It always special to have someone to share all of life's moments with.

Let's start with the most important:

I married my best friend!


After months of planning, the big day was here! I was so ready to become Mrs. Hatmaker and spend the rest of my life with Drew. We were so blessed that so many of our out-of-town friends came in to share in this special day with us.

Traveled out of the U.S. for the first time!


Yes, it was for our honeymooon, but traveling out of the country was a very exciting experience. We flew out the morning after our wedding to the Bahamas. The water was so incredibly blue and clear; we didn't want to come home.

I'm becoming a better cook!


Drew and I love to cook together, and since we travel so much it's nice to be able to cook at home. We love to watch Food Network. I try really hard to cook new and different things plus we have all these fabulous wedding gifts to try out.

I graduated from college!


It might have taken some time, but I finally graduated from college. Sometimes it is easy to get discouraged, but I'm lucky to have great support from Drew, family, and friends.

There are so many great moments that happened in 2010, but I know that 2011 will be just as great. Year one of marriage is around the corner, my best friends are getting married and having babies, and hopefully somewhere out there is a job for me.

Here's to the New Year! Cheers!

Can I see your stick??

My dad has been in the Simmental business for over 30 years now. He's been the manager of some outstanding Simmental operations, then went on to begin his own business. His knowledge of the Simmental industry and cattle within our breed is unbelieveable. We often tell him he is the walking dictionary or phone directory of our breed because it seems everyone calls to ask him questions. I find every time he gets on the sale block on sale day that I become very proud.

CNS Dream On...(real)


But perhaps, one of the coolest moments was when he, Chris Schick, and Jon Janssen were awarded bronzed statues of CNS Dream On at the National Western Stock Show by ABS. CNS Dream On is the most influential and most used bull in the Simmental industry in the last few years, and has sold a lot of semen. Semen distributor ABS "bronzes" bulls that have sold record amounts of semen. There are five or less bulls that have been bronzed, mainly Angus, and Dream On was the first Simmental.



Dream On spent much of his life in stud, and sadly died last year. Due to the fact that he had such an impact on the breed, the owners decided to keep parts of him. Chris got his hide, Jon got his head (which is massive), and my dad got....(drum roll)... his penis and scrotum. Of course, due to his massive amount of semen sales, these were the most important parts.

Now you might wonder what you would do with these parts. You can utilize the penis of an animal to make a Pizzle Stick. There are dried and made into a cane. It is super cool and very interesting. And it arrived!!!



It has a small plate near the handle that has the bull's name, date of birth to date of death, and my dad's business on it.



He hasn't received the scrotum yet, but I'm thinking that a candy or nut bowl would be useful for it. :)