First Annual Draft Horse Show at Young Living Farms

Sept. 18-20th was the First Annual Draft Horse Show at Young Living Farms.  I got a ticket 

for Saturday and took Dad and Grandpa Marvin along.  They are senior citizens and got in free. :)

We hoped on this wagon to for a ride and to get the lay of the land.  

Do you recognize the younger driver?  (Merrill Bronson)

First we watched a farming demo using draft horses.

A fair amount of farm work is done with horses on this farm.

Grandpa started telling stories about helping with farm work 

using horses as a kid. I wished I had taken a recorder of some type. 

This is a belt drawn stationary combine.  They were 

hand feeding the bundles of grain for threshing.

This is what two-horse power looks like from the front....

...and from the side.

There is a section that is sort of like a zoo. (Nice rack!) 

Grand-daddy Buffalo

They have over 25 brood mares on the farm.

Then we went to the jousting contest.

We had to climb up the castle towers to get to the other side.

This is the jousting arena.

This is the collection of combat weapons.

Guess who we ran into: Alyssa, Lillian, and Uncle Kieth

First came the bag pipes, followed by the royal court.

Do you know the fairy in blue?

The show started with some young jousters.

We saw this little remote camera during each event.

You can tell he got up close and personal.  The 

documentary they were filming airs on Dec. 23rd this year.

Then the REAL knights came to due battle.

The Black Knight lost! 

He recovered in time for the real jousting.

Let the jousting begin!

They  had a display tent.

This is the Flagon with a Dragon!

Next was the Draft Horse competitions.

This is an old time school bus.

The winner of the  lady's pleasure class was from Indiana.

The ground where the arena and new bleachers are--- was a field where they cut first crop hay this year!

THAT EVENING WE WENT TO A KENNY ROGERS CONCERT!

We sat near the light platforms.

The stage was a portal one that was specially brought in.

This is a twilight selfie! 

Here is Kenny Rogers!! Yah! He looks like Santa Claus!!

He turned 77 in August, but all the drugs he did in the 60’s have taken their toll on him. 

I was surprised how many of the songs I knew.  He is a showman through and through.

  It was fun to be there with Dad and see how 
much he enjoyed it.  He knew ALL the songs!!  

He sang some I have always liked: “Through the Years”, “She Believes in Me”,

 ‘You Decorated My Life”,  ‘The Gambler’, and “The Coward of the County.”

LEVAN HOMESTEAD NEWS: September Edition

DAD:  On the first of September, Mom and I took Lionel and Linda to the Payson temple for a session between bus runs.  Lionel forget his clothes so he had to do initiatory while we did a session.   That weekend was ou Samoan Cousin Reunion.  We had some new cousins come this year.  One came clear from California.  Mom and I went to the Hale Theater to the performance of “The Diary of Ann Frank” the next Saturday. Once again it was disturbing to see the injustice that some people have done to other people.  We’ve been getting ready for winter. First Mom and I harvested the potatoes.  She was the tractor driver.  I only planted 50 pounds this year, but we got over 700 back.  Our potatoes and beans did the best this year.  We won’t brag on anything else. Then Mom and I went down to Gunnison to the Satterwhite Log home company and got a load of log ends to cut up for fire wood. It doesn’t take long to load up a load of wood down there. We come home and I started cutting up the wood that didn’t need to be split.  Then I got the tractor and split up the rest. As I was loading the truck by throwing the wood in the back, I bounced a piece of wood through the back window of the truck. L  Gratefully, our insurance helped with some of it.  When it came to cleaning up the glass after the new window is put in, I think it took me about an hour. That window shattered into a million pieces.  At the end of the month my brothers started chopping corn and I have helped them a few days each week for the last couple of weeks.. One thing I have noticed is that there are a lot of raccoons and skunks in the corn fields. It isn’t pretty if they go through the chopper.  Love ya all---- Dad

Mom:  When I got a text from Laura asking if I had my family newsletter written, I felt like I had.  Now I know why.  The big events have been well documented on our blog. J  They include the highlight of the month which was Janna and Ammon’s visit over Labor Day. ( Payson Cousin Party, Grandpa Marvin’s apple tree falling over, Samoan Cousin Party, Grandpa Marvin’s 65^th class reunion, a trip to Maple Lake and PCT’s production of Peter Pan.)   I will never forget the miracle at the airport when Janna flew in.  Colton and Malea flew in the same day and with no mortal planning, they arrived 5 minutes apart.  We were able to have a brief reunion and I was grateful.   You can also check the blog for our trip to the Zoo with the Wilkins, our Sports Day with the Mellors that included the Hale Theater trip, our outing to the Old Capital Arts Festival in Richfield, as well as the First Annual Draft Horse show at Young Living Farms in Mona.  

Some things the blog missed were Ray Crooks funeral, (Dad and I both sang for it,) and our Book Group meeting here. (I chose “Eve and the Choice Made in Eden” and we had a deep, wonderful discussion.)  The blog did not mention our amazing Regional Conference.  The talk by Elder Nelson was so amazing, that the Church put it on line.  I can’t remember another regional conference address being featured. I also taught Gospel Doctrine once this month, was called and sustained as a primary teacher with the 8-11 year old girls and gave my very first lesson to the girls.  It was on the Holy Ghost.  I couldn’t have picked a better topic for a first lesson. J   I also loved sharing riddles with Andrew Ross the first part of the month.  He had Janna’s old phone for the duration of the service, so I sent him a riddle and a thought most days.  It was a challenge by the end, but I looked forward to it every day. I also took Ruth Crook to the Payson Temple this month. It was her first trip to that temple and her first since Ray’s passing.  It was a very sweet experience.  Of course I will never forget Elder Scott’s passing. Losing three Apostles in less than six months had never happened previously in my life time.  I truly felt a deep sense of loss when Elder Perry, Elder Packer and Elder Scott’ each passed on.  I loved the Women’s Conference on Sept. 26^th.   Part of the reason is--- that no matter what time zone we are in, we are all viewing it at the same time and that is a good, unifying feeling.  Happy Birthday to Aunt Laura, Andrew, Uncle Tyler and Uncle Tory! Lots of Love to you all!! Mom

Sister Andrea Kenison: See andreaapril.blogspot.com