May

May signaled the end of the school year, some new beginnings and the end of a few chapters as well. For instance, I drove my girl to school the morning of the last day of classes for the last time, knowing she would be driving herself once junior year began. Bittersweet. But necessary. Sigh.

We also brought this guy home - Taylor delved into the market steer arena for this show season. Cooper joined us in May and he's really the most calm and chill cow we've had to date. In fact, he believes he's a cat on most days.

Clyde continued to grow at a rapid rate and almost eclipsed Kate.

My girl brought home 2nd place at Area with her Ag Policy speech.

She also finally acquiesced and went in for allergy testing. She's not terribly fond of needles and, though she clearly has many allergies, she'd been averse to getting shots on a weekly basis. Once we learned that drops administered at home were an option, we quickly scheduled an appointment and learned she is literally allergic to all but TWO of the items they test for - several so severe that she had to be treated in the office during testing. 

Sigh. But the good news is she's three months into treatment and is already showing some improvement.

Cooper learned to walk and be set up for show.

And then we brought home the final piece of the show team - Cherry Delight. 

This girl. She is spirited. In fact, she thought she was a bull for the first couple of months - she would literally snort, throw dirt and charge anyone or anything that came near her. Even through her pen. Needless to say, it was a looooong summer of trying to get her to trust us. We've finally turned a corner, I believe, but walking is still a challenge. We'll get there, though!

Taylor was honored with both two awards at the Academic Awards Ceremony to close out the school year...

...and later that night we attended the FFA Banquet where Tiny busied herself with artwork...

...and Taylor celebrated a year's worth of accomplishments with other FFA members. She was also installed as the new Reporter! She is sooooo excited to be part of the officer team.

Sophomore year was fun, annoying, full of activities, challenging and brought new experiences and learning opportunities. I watched my girl grow and take on the world with confidence while continuing to be an amazing friend and person.

We may not always see eye to eye but there's no person in this world that I love more. There are a couple who are tied with her, though. :)