You can take the kid out of the country...

but you can't take the country out of the kid.

I haven't posted on my blog lately because, frankly, I've barely been home. The end of the school year is the busiest time of my year. Part of that is because I am also a track coach. We are finally preparing for state competition and we are taking 13 athletes! That is the most we have taken since I started coaching about 4 years ago.

I love going to track meets, even with all the drama a girls' team sometimes brings with it. One of the best parts of taking our kids to the state meet is the fun of seeing them in a big city. Sometimes we are a little worried about what might come out of their mouths, but for the most part, it is a blast.

I thought this picture from our first track meet of the season pretty much sums up our lives as western Kansas kids and athletes. Our javelin runway was right next to a feedlot...which we all thought was hilarious. I have to admit, the slight smell of manure made me feel right at home.

However, as much as our kids want to sometimes fight against other people thinking we are a bunch of rednecks, they also embrace their identity. Yesterday it was quite apparent that we were a farming/ranching community when about 5 of our boys broke out in a chorus of mooing like cows just for the heck of it. It was extremely accurate and I was even more impressed when they continued with the sounds for chickens, donkeys, sheep and goats. Some might call us strange, but I think it says a lot that our kids actually know the true sounds these animals make versus the "generic" sounds we are often taught. They spent several minutes  fine tuning their goat sound so it didn't sound like a sheep. They finally agreed that a sheep had a slightly lower sound ;-)

Say what you want, but it helps keep my life in perspective. So, you can always take the kid out of the country but you can't take the country out of the kid! Let's go Cats, let's do some great work this week on our way to State!