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Valley Home News 9-29-21
Winnie Mullins

Last Thursday evening was a very, very special evening for me! With COVID changing our lives so drastically, I have learned all over again to really appreciate those “good” days! Last Thursday was a really good day ... in fact it was a great day! The afternoon started off with us picking up a delicious Tri Tip dinner prepared by our Oakdale FFA Students! The line to pick up dinners stretched at least a couple of blocks long! The students, their FFA Advisors and others worked tirelessly getting everything ready during the afternoon. Several tables were set up in the Ag area; the lush green lawn combined with beautiful shade trees provided a perfect setting. The FFA students worked quickly and very efficiently to deliver dinners to the waiting cars. For our family we knew we would have a hungry football player after the football game that evening, so our dinner was enjoyed later together! What a delicious treat this beautiful dinner was ... especially for our young man whose hard working football team, The Ponies, won their game 44 to 14. We send a special “Thank you” to our FFA Advisors and our school Administrators who have built such a wonderful FFA Program.

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Later that evening, sitting in the high school bleachers, I looked out over our beautiful Oakdale High Football Field; what an amazing sight! Our players looked very prepared, in fact this strong young group of players looked pretty intimidating. This actually was the comment I heard from the folks sitting next to me! I was excited and very grateful to be sitting on the Oakdale side of the stadium. As the game unfolded, our fantastic Oakdale High cheerleaders kept the fans on their feet. These energetic young women are highly trained with tremendous skills. It is an absolute delight to watch them perform! As I continued to watch this very exciting game, I couldn’t help but notice how vibrant our Oakdale colors were, the player’s uniforms really stood out on the field and yes, I am pretty sure the other team, Kimball, was definitely a bit intimidated. What a great game! It was a sight I will not soon forget ... the sun sitting in a rustic fall colored sky; yellows, burnt orange, a hint of magenta with deep hues of blueish purple turned evening into night! The huge stadium lights began to come on and they flooded this beautiful state of the art football field with light in every corner. The second half of this exciting game would soon begin. Our Oakdale players trotted back out onto the field ready to go to work. Excitement filled the stadium as the second half was just as fun to watch as the first half! At the end of the night, Oakdale fans would feel a pride that comes with hard work and amazing players with a very strong work ethic. We send a tremendous “Thank you” to our dedicated Oakdale coaches; you are awesome!

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We end this week’s column with “Happy Anniversary Wishes” to our good friends, Kathy and Phillip Shepherd. Valley Home sends you tons of love; may you have many, many happy and blessed years ahead!

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As always you may reach me by telephone at 209-985-5233 or by email at WinnieMullins51@gmail.com. Until next time, “Happy Trails To All!”