Credit Where Credit Is Due

Hey everyone! It's that time of year...time to reflect, remember, and return thanks to all who have followed, read, commented, shared, and given me the confidence to continue on this journey of writing about a life I lead, and yet still am trying to understand!

Obviously, my family deserves A LOT of credit, Joe especially. Thanks for being the butt of my jokes and for giving me awesome material. Thanks for allowing me to poke fun at your profession, when I truly believe what you're doing is amazing. Thanks for making a life for our family that is something bigger than what we can see in material things. And thanks for that gift this Christmas of fixing my treadmill (hint, hint) and putting down my rubber floor mats in my car. Har, har!

To my girls, thanks for allowing Mommy "just two more minutes" when I'm trying to finish a blog post when you really need help getting the markers down so you could potentially draw on my walls while I'm concentrating. Thanks for making my life interesting and exciting, albeit exhausting. I am your dad's wife and your mom first, and a writer way down the list, even though at times it seems like I put this first. I'm just trying to complete a sentence with correct grammar.

Which leads me to my parents. Thanks Mom for checking my grammar and giving me material, and allowing many, many phone calls to allow me to vent. Thanks Dad for also providing material, all while handing out my cards to all those who may (or may not) be interested in reading what I have to say.

Thanks to my in-laws, as well, for providing great feedback (as well as material, Rick!), and for Karma, my super sharer and potential publicity director when I hit it big! You're a great PR rep for me already!

Thanks to my "manager," Sarah for being my number one fan, and even putting me in print!! Thanks Kara for being my personal paparazzi and helping me make this blog beautiful (with the help of some ADORABLE children!). Thanks also to Illinois Farm Bureau for thinking I have enough to say (do I ever lack, really?) about agriculture to be a part of something that allowed me to stay in a hotel, talk to adults and dress fancy for a day!

Thanks to Holly Spangler at Prairie Farmer, The Farmer's Trophy Wife, and Crystal Cattle for sharing my posts and making me truly believe that people other than my friends and family are reading my posts!! Thanks to the BlogHer network for sharing my posts with a greater audience, and even paying me a little...well, hardly enough to cover a Papa John's Pizza in celebration, but that's okay...I'm not the Pioneer Woman (see an earlier post) YET.

Finally, thanks to all you readers, writers, followers, and otherwise just plain awesome people who think what I have to say is worth your time to sit down and enjoy. I know this next year will bring more mayhem to write about from this farm, but I'm also so hopeful that I can continue to strive to learn more about agriculture and share it with you all in a way that is readable and relevant.

Blessings to you all in the New Year!