My Best Friend's Wedding

As I sit here, I've just put the final touches on my Matron of Honor (makes me sound old) Speech for the Kilburn-Hurter wedding tomorrow evening. You see, my best friend Salena is getting married tomorrow. :)



Salena and I have know each other for 15 years and have been best friends for 14 of that. I can't believe it has really been that long now. It seems like just yesterday. I thought writing my speech would be such a piece of cake (yum, wedding cake can't wait), I thought all the thoughts would immediately come to me, but turns out there was lots of things to say. It was hard to nail down the special moments we've had together, or articulate just how amazing of a person Salena is.

Last night, as we were outside of her house, she gave Drew and I the sweetest 1 year anniversary gift. She made us a scrapbook of all the important invitations and documents from our wedding. There were a few invitations to showers I never got to see until last night. But after we opened it and I had my crying moment, I realized that we are now growing up, getting married, and starting a new chapter of our lives. For some reason last night it felt much different. I mean I know that Drew and I have now been married for a year, but knowing that Salena is getting married very soon (tomorrow!) made me feel much different. It had always been just us, and now we are both soon to be married. It's a beautiful thing, but still touched me in a very sentimental way.

For a long time, I thought I've wanted to include a certain poem in my speech, but as I wrote it, it just didn't seem to fit, so instead I'll bring it to my blog, as I hope sometime in the near future Salena will read. So, here's to you best friend and sister at heart. I am so happy for the love that you have found.

[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]
BY E. E. CUMMINGS
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Welcome to the family!

The Hatmaker family grows!

Drew and I have been talking about getting a Corgi puppy for quite sometime now. We were waiting on a particular dog to get pregnant and for sale season to wind down. When the dog we had been waiting on didn't get pregnant, we were sad but kept on looking for our perfect puppy. After some facebook investigation, we stumbled upon a lady that I knew from when I interned at the Hereford Association. She sent us pictures and we picked our puppy. Delivery was set to happen in the coming weeks.

Well, last week Drew and I were in Kansas City. It was Tuesday afternoon and we were sitting an airport restaurant waiting to catch our flight home. As we sat there, I brought up the fact that we weren't very far from Tulsa, Oklahoma (which is close to where the puppy lived). I brought up that we could rent a car and drive down and pick her up then go home. "No," Drew said. Determined, I got on my phone looked up the price of a rental, the hours to get there, the hours to get home. I was pleading my case with good evidence. I even got my friend Lauren and our waitress in on it. After some great evidence (I should have been a lawyer), we were heading out of the airprot and to rent a car.

We drove an hour south of Kansas City to Louisburg and stayed with our friends the Barbours (whose sons were our ringbearers) to spend the night. We also had to make a pit stop at Target since we only brought overnight clothes to pick up a few essential items and puppy items.

The next morning we loaded up in our Nissan Versa and headed south. We arrived to destination puppy after 1:00 and met the previous Gabby. She was everything we had hoped for. We even got to met her sisters, aunt, grandmother, and grandfather.





Tying up a few loose ends, our Versa now included two happy parents and one Corgi puppy named Gabby. Our adventure back to Kentucky began. Gabby did an excellent job on the way home. She never pottied in the car and typically went to the bathroom everytime we stopped. When we were driving, she slept in her crate like a little angel.



We drove just east of St. Louis that evening and stopped at our first pet friendly hotel. Gabby was so happy to finally get out of the car and run around. Our first night went well, and the next day we headed home.

Gabby seems to like it here now. And loves to chew on everything. She sleeps through most of the night before she has to go potty. And of course, we just love her. :)



Welcome to the family Gabby!!

I'm a Grandma!

If you are a loyal reader or even part-time reader of my less than wonderful blogging skills, I thank you! I'm not always timely and sometimes sparse, but I realy do enjoy writing and sharing.

Anywho... so if you have read in the past you might remember a post about my wonderful sheep named Betty. She's pretty sassy! Betty is growing up to be a very good sheep. I didn't want Betty to have little lambs because she lives at Drew's parents house, therefore I would not be able to be there for labor and delivery, as well as the first few days of the babies lives. Well, mother natures happens.

On March 9th, 2011 Betty gave birth to two little boys. One white ram (Bob) and one black lamb (Billy). I know you are thinking, thats been over a month ago, but I just met them this past weekend for the first time. They have big ears. Bob is a lot like Betty in terms of his personality, and Billy is the wild child.



Betty is a great mother though she still likes her special feeding time; when I take feed in a scoop out in the field, and she is the only one who gets to eat it.

Here is our attempt at a family photo.


The Hatmaker's - Holli, Betty, Bob, and Billy (Photo by dad, Drew)

Though, this is not how I ideally wanted to become a grandma and not at the time I wanted, Drew says I have to love them anyways because they are Betty's babies.

So, here I am, the proud Grandma showing off my babies to the world!

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.