Day at Home

I got to work from home today and the girls had spent the night with Chad's mom. I did some projects around the house in between returning e-mails and checking voice mail. I started sanding my Salvation Army bookshelf and got my fountain put together for my front porch. Then our new rug was delivered and I was soooo excited to see how it looked in the living room. I needed to go to Hitchin Post to buy some hoof dressing for the horse's hooves, so on the way there I went by the furniture store in Warrior. I found a great sofa table and had it loaded up! They let me take it to see if I liked it but I had a feeling I was going to love it. Got home and we brought it in - it looked great! We went to feed the horses and rode the four wheeler over there. On the way there we ran out of gas and a car was coming. We had to jump off and push out of the road. Then Chad switched to reserve and we were on our way. While we were there I tried a stencil on Goldie for the Patriotic Costume Leadline we are going to do tomorrow night at the Cullman Horse Show. Shelby and I have matching flag shirts and I bought her some new red boots. I will try and post pictures of it! Later on Ryan and Sandi came over and brought the girls home. The girls went straight to the neighbor's....they have been gone to Disney World and the girls have been lonesome! We have tried to keep them occupied this week. Ryan and Sandi are staying since the guys are fishing together tomorrow.

Progress on all Fronts

Jessie had lessons last night. She was riding really well. The farrier was coming to shoe Goldie and Hannah. When he got there she was loping and looked absolutely beautiful loping around the arena. Later I mentioned to him that we were doing costume leadline this weekend and he said "she looks like she is ready for more than costume leadline"! I told him it was Shelby and I that were doing costume leadline.....he said Jess looked really good and looked like such a natural. She really does when she is in her groove riding well. We had a house guest last night...Tiffany, Chad's sister stayed with us as Mark (her husband) is exploring Europe for the next couple of weeks. What a life! ha ha ha..... She kept Jessie company last night while I think Jessie kept a foot in her ribs all night. The girls went to his Mom and Dad's today to swim and spend the night. So, Chad and I had dinner at the famous Green Top. Gotta love those BBQ salads. We came back, fed the horsies and then put clamps on the fence.

6/27

Got home today and fencing was in full swing with t-posts being put in place. Three sides have t-posts in place. Took Shelby with me to the McInvale's to feed the horses and we saddled Blackie for her. She donned her new helmet and we went to the arena. I held Blackie on the lead line and got him to trot around....Shelby loves to trot. She is now wanting to see if Blackie can run Pony Barrels! She helped me feed all the horses and we headed home.

6/26

Friday night we took the girls to Cullman to see Cars, the movie. It was great. The best part was probably hearing Shelby sing "Life is a Highway" with Rascal Flatts - at the top of her lungs. She has developed a huge crush on the lead singer, who she describes as having "prickly hair". Saturday, Chad and his brother fished a tournament at Neely Henry. The girls and I ran some errands and took Shelby to a birthday party / swimming party. Sunday came and I overslept so we didn't make church. Later on, Norman - Irene and Steve came over. Norman, Steve and Chad made significant progress on the fence and we were almost completely under fence when they finished. The girls spent the night with Nanny and PawPaw. Chad went today and bought the rest of the fencing materials. Steve came over and they got the gates hung up and the last bit of fencing up. We are officially UNDER FENCE! I had to go buy horse feed before coming home....saw people at the Hitchin' Post where we used to board our horses. We took the feed to the Mcinvale's and then rode for a little while tonight.

Family Picture

Taken in November at Gatlinburg Aquarium.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

Or maybe it's the other way around - Good Neighbors Make Good Fences ! I know very few people can relate to the excitement a fence can bring...but this is one fence that is certainly building excitement daily. Chad and Steve (my niece's boyfriend and resident horse expert) made the trip to Tractor Supply yesterday to buy the fencing. When I got home, they and our neighbor, Tanner, had almost one roll of fencing up around the perimeter....two more rolls to go, as we are putting up three rows of fencing. Steve thinks a few more days of that kind of progress and we will have it up. I can't thank Steve enough for his guidance, work and assistance. It was a blessing to see Chad, Steve and Tanner out there putting up the fence and I am so thankful!

Closer to Home.....

Before we went on vacation, we put our horses at our neighbors who had offered to take care of them while we were on vacation. We had also arranged with them to leave them at their house and property until our fence is finished. This couple is a wonderful Christian couple who own property completely designed for horses. They have two horses themselves but have plenty of room for more. They have a son who is a Major in the Army and a daughter who is a Missionary to Honduras. We feel blessed to have met them and to have this arrangement. Their house is exactly half a mile from our house so we are very excited to be closer to home. Last night we had lessons in their outside arena. We had a great time riding. Jessie rode her horse and rode great! She has been riding my horse in the past few lessons to get more used to riding other horses....so this was her first time back on her horse in a while. One of the owner's horses was trotting along side the arena railing on the outside and Jessie's horse was irritated by him being there so her horse decided to jump around a little bit (she was bucking!). Jessie stayed on for the ride and maintained her composure! I was proud of her for not getting rattled by it and we went on to ride for a while. She trotted figure eights with precision and then worked up to loping. She rides so pretty! Chad saddled up Shelby's pony, Blackie, and took them for a "walk". Now Shelby wants to take lessons! I love the fact we can do this as a family and am so thankful for the opportunities and blessings God has provided.

Where to Begin....

Well, it's not been quite a year since my last post so better late than never. I'll try to recap from last July....since that time....I got married, I bought a horse, then bought another horse for Jessie, decided my horse was too much horse and sent him to a trainer, bought another one from her (so technically at that point I own three), put our home on the market and it sold the first week it was on the market, bought another house with land to move the horses to our house but have to get the stumps cleared first, Shelby turned four, bought Shelby a pony - now we own four, got the land cleared and Chad has started the fence, Jessie turned eight, Jessie went to horse camp, then we just returned from the beach, Shelby is in zoo camp this week and Jessie is going to VBS, we have riding lessons tonight for Jessie, WHEW - what a year! Oh, did I mention my employer decided to merge with another bank? As if I didn't have enough going on.....oh well, nothing like CHANGE to keep your ticker ticking (really fast)!