So Far.....

On July 11, 2008 my life was changed... not just a little a whole stinkin' lot. After being elected and taking our position we talked and discussed future plans, and as some of you know my wisdom teeth were coming in during convention and I was still in a lot of pain and ready to go home.

As soon as I got home I was ready to brag to my friends and tell them how awesome I was because I was a state officer. I then began to pack my bags for BLAST OFF and returned to Cedar Lakes the following week. While at Cedar Lakes we began working on some team building and individual growth. This outlined our picture, and we had the chance to see who we were and what we could be.

For me the officer team really shined this week, this year's officers are not picture perfect. We are all different. We come from different backgrounds. We all have different values and opinions. Despite all these differences we are a really strong team, especailly when another member is struggling. Unfortunatly this was displayed during BLAST OFF. My dad who is a huge FFA supporter was taken to the ER on Friday night of BLAST OFF. I decided not to tell my team until Derek and I were to depart the following day. When I did tell the team they were upset because I hadn't let them know, but they did everything in their power to make me feel better. My dad is still not 100%, but I still get calls from the other officers just to check on my dad. I guess the bottom line of this story is YOU have an awesome team that cares about you and believes in the FFA.

After BLAST OFF we traveled to Dover, DE for NLCSO. (if all the acronyms are confuzing don't worry Emma hates them too) While in DE we all kind of lost our ego, at this conference the National Officers showed us that we are here because you guys believed in us and are trusting us to run YOUR organization. Besides sitting in conferences we had a soggy beach adventure, ate at a seafood resteraunt, had a groovy dance, and best of all we got our new officer jackets (which is a totally awesome feeling).

We recently had our fall meeting, where tried out our skills learned at our summer conferences by presenting workshops to the students at Phillip Barbour. We also discussed WLC which is going to be great this year, I hope you all can attend.

For my first blog I want to end by saying that you; the members, my team mates, the advisors, my family and my friends. Without you all there's no way my senior year would be what it has been and will be.

*Ap