I knew you way back when... or did I?

While we were visiting Luke's family in Indiana over Christmas, one night during the 'blizzard' we decided we wanted to sit in the den so we could watch the snow fall. You see, when we visit Luke's family, we get to stay in the basement, which is like a fully furnished apartment with it's own bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, and washer and dryer... which is lovely, but it doesn't give us much of a view as far as windows go.

So, upstairs we went one cold night. Luke built a fire in the fireplace and I snuggled up with one of Luke's mom's blankets that hung over the couch (seriously... I want to smuggle more of these blankets back to our house. I have already smuggled one but it took me 6 years to do so. :)

Turning on the TV just didn't seem fitting, so we decided to pass the time by going through an old box of pictures. Somewhere among the 80s perms (you know who you are) and the past family vacations, we stumbled across two pictures that I just love.

By the way, did you know Luke and I met showing cattle? Well, we did. We both grew up showing livestock when we were kids up until we started our business. I am so thankful that we met one another!

First is the picture below from 1998. This is at a big Indiana winter cattle show called the Hoosier Beef Congress. What's interesting about this picture is that there is little Luke, showing his calf (who he remembers was named Gina) and right there on the other side was one of the judges for the show. A few pictures before this one in the stack, I had spotted that judge's white cowboy hat and I said to Luke, 'I think that's my dad. I'd know that Bailey cowboy hat anywhere." Sure enough, we came across this picture next and that certainly is my dad. This was before any of us knew one another.

To add even more to the story, I came to this cattle show myself in 2001, three years later. Without a doubt, Luke was there. That year, I had traveled along with my dad and my sister to the show while they were judging showmanship. But we didn't meet there.

Next is my favorite!

This was in November 2001 at the biggest cattle show of the year - the North American in Louisville, Kentucky. This is in Freedom Hall where the Louisville Cardinals used to play men's basketball.

First in the picture we saw Luke, who by the way is in the first place hole with his Angus heifer.

Across the ring, on the other side of the white fence is me, also in the first place hole, by the way, with my Shorthorn heifer.

Again, we were right by each other, but we still never managed to meet.

Luckily, we finally crossed paths and met one another 3 years later at (where else) another cattle show in South Dakota... but that's another story.

In other news... get your pictures and snapshots printed. Here's why. :)