Hi everyone; what beautiful sunshine we are enjoying. I hope you are all doing well.

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This week I would like to share the excitement of a very special young woman in my family’s lives. This past Sunday evening, our beautiful cowgirl, Samantha Bates, was crowned 2024 Teen Miss Clements Buckaroos. Sam, as her family and friends fondly call her, is an amazing young lady. She has a beautiful smile, a sweet and thoughtful personality, she is kind, considerate and welcoming to everyone she meets. This weekend Sam displayed her amazing horsemanship, her gracefulness and her deep love for the cowboy way of life in front of several judges. As a result of Sam’s hard work and dedication, she received several prestigious awards during the beautiful Sunday evening ceremony. It was indeed a very special evening for each contestant. The ceremony was held at the beautiful Jenny Lind Memorial Veterans Hall. As a delicious and plentiful dinner was being served, I happened to look out across the rolling green hills … the shades of the evening sky along with a magnificent sunset sparkled almost as much as the smiles each of the beautiful contestants shared all during the evening with the crowd. Samantha would go on to win the Speech, the Interview, the Appearance, and the coveted Photogenic award. Samantha is the lovely daughter of proud parents, Shannon and Ray Scott, and Melissa and John Banks. Congratulations to this most amazing young woman. Sam sends a very sincere and heartfelt “Thank You” to each of her sponsors, her family, her friends, and especially Lyndsey Moe, the amazing coordinator of this very special event.

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It was definitely a special weekend in Valley Home. The “Heart” of Valley Home – our beautiful Valley Home Community Park – was spruced up by several hard-working folks from our community. Friends and neighbors came together for our “Love Valley Home” Day last Saturday morning. They brought their tools and got to work. Several projects were on the to do list. Folks sanded the park picnic tables, trimmed shrubs, cut tree branches, weedeated paths, and the park alley. They raked and hauled away several loads to dumpsters across the street. We are so grateful to our Stanislaus County Supervisor Buck Condit for sponsoring the two huge dumpsters. The dumpsters were located directly across from the park in the Valley Home School parking lot. They were in place and free to our community from 8 am until 4 pm on Saturday. A huge “Thank You” to all who came Saturday morning and helped. I would also like to send another huge “Thank You” to all those who have worked tirelessly over the years to keep our beautiful little community park the “Heart” of Valley Home. Our park is a very special place; peaceful and inviting for our community. Please remember we will be having our Spaghetti Fundraising Dinner to benefit the park on May 10th! More details to come.

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As always you may contact me by email, winniemullins51@gmail.com or by telephone at 209-985-5233.

Until next time, “Happy Trails to All!”