Saturday, October 31, 2009

It's all so Bitter-Sweet!!

I think a million and one times I have told everyone that I had my J pretty early in my life and I am very proud of the young man he has become!! This kid to me is awesome!!! I just can't say enough times how proud I am of him!! He spent his entire summer weightlifting and doing a special Football passing league, which they dominated in!! So he went into the season being 1 of a few Sophomore's overall, and out of everyone freshman, sophomore's, junior's, & senior's he was at the beginning of the football season a strong player and was starting D on the Varsity team!! He did great, then he ended up playing offense as well so he was playing pretty much the entire game and it was wearing on him a bit. He was injured and out for a week, and after that he just was never put back into his normal positions fully. It's like one week he'd play the whole game and then the next he'd play half or bits and pieces... I don't understand it but it is what it is, right!?!?! So he gets a 2 week break and then will go full fledged into Basketball... Last year was not a good year for me during the season, I was extremely stressed out over personal conflict with the coach and him taking it out on J... I mean I literally had a stress migraine at least 3 days a week at that time, so I am REALLY hoping J is on another team and not that one...

So all stress aside I am a very proud mommy of a sophomore who has fantastic goals with his life and while I am so excited with the man he will become I am also saddened because I cannot believe how fast these years have flown by!!

So today was the day for picking up his class ring... Oh it is so awesome!! He designed it himself and while I am so proud of it and him, I am kind of sad too LOL!! I know, I know, I'm a big BABY!!

So here it is in all of it's Glory!!























Thursday, October 29, 2009

So Much Sadness... It's Just To Much!!

I really like to keep things real in my life and sometimes that's not really a good thing... I prefer to deal with emotions and get emotional about sad or upsetting issues rather than sweeping them under the rug and acting as if they don't exist.. Do you wonder what the heck I am babbling about today, I'm telling you this is where my mind has been!!

Last week J attended the FFA National Convention, I was really nervous about letting him go because he has never been away from home like that. And quite frankly I just worry about EVERYTHING!! Can you say control freak?!?! I can!! So anyhoo~ away he went to Indianapolis for his 5 day trip. They really were having a great time, and I get a text message asking "what happened to the FFA Students"? I start to freak so I immediately run to the computer and log into Facebook (I know, please don't judge) because it seems to be the fastest way to find anything out!! I am texting J also and asking him what happened and he tells me a kid from TX fell like 42 feet and landed on the concrete in the mall and he was in critical condition... OH how my heart ached for his family!! So they continue on with their week and come Friday evening they get a call from some friends that are at the convention as well and they live in the county next to us, but they call all freaking out because one of their members had just "passed out" and was rushed to the hospital.. So they go to their hotel and spend some time with their friends and everyone was just freaked out!! While all of that was going on the Hubby and I were at J's football game even though he wasn't there because it was our night to provide food for the players after the game. This game was a bad one, we were down players, we had players that were playing injured and then they leave for halftime and all of the sudden there is panic going on in our side of the bleachers. One of our players was being life watched to a hospital in the city he had apparently gotten a concussion (which this is like his 3rd one this year, he's been hauled out on a stretcher once before)and they didn't realize it until half time and he was in bad shape. Thank GOD he was OK, but he will never play football again, he would then have a high chance of becoming permanently handicapped if he got another concussion.. OH dear God it was so scary!!

So back to Lauren, I do not have ALL of the facts of what happened but basically she "passed out" and she was in her room and no one could get in because they did not have a key. After much fight and frustration they got someone to open the door for them and they immediately started CPR on her. Lauren had a medical condition in her heart, this is a condition that at least 1 sister that I know of has and that sister has an internal defibrillator and she is fine. But Lauren was diagnosed about 8 months ago and at that time the DR's said she was not in need of one. So when she "passed out" her heart actually stopped, so by the time they got her to the ER it had been 30 minutes and quite a long period of no oxygen to her brain. Her family was taken to her by a chartered plane and they were given hope before they got there and then all of the sudden things were not good. Laurens body started shutting down and she was on life support, on Sunday morning they did a brain scan and there was no brain activity and she died a little while after... Through all of this they tested her for H1N1 and she tested positive, no one knew she had it and your body can carry it for 6 days before you show any symptoms, so with her heart condition the actual cause of death is H1N1 because it caused the organs to malfunction due to her pre-existing conditions.. OH I can't express to you the sorrow that this community is feeling.

Then the following day we lost another "member" of our community to a fatal car crash. I just cannot believe it, I don't understand where all of this is coming from!

I'm sure some of my readers are also readers of Amy's blog "Our Daily Blessing...Life". Amy is an amazing woman who has been through so much I cannot even fathom how she does it. Amy herself is currently fighting a battle for her life against cancer, she also has a son named Philip who is fighting for his life he has multiple medical conditions and the DR's cannot seem to do anything to fix things for him. Then a few months ago Amy was so excited for a new light her life, her nephew Jackson. Amy just adored him and he gave her such hope and more desire to fight these battles in her life. She loved him with all of her heart.. And then suddenly October the 6th (I think was the date) Jackson died suddenly... How do you make any sense out of these tragedy's, I mean so many hearts broken and lives lost... WOW I just cannot find it in my heart to not hurt for all of these people...

So in Honor of those lives lost and their families and also in Honor of my sister-in-law and my baby niece Jentri who was taken from her mommy's womb in June to be with God in Heaven I want to dedicate this song...

You can follow the link to see the beautiful video by Natalie Grant, or it is the 1st song on my playlist..

Held by Natalie Grant


Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

Thinking of Halloween this weekend I decided to explore and find some great abandoned barns and stuff!! So then I decided to use my Monochrome feature in the camera, first tine I have used it and I love it!!







Tuesday, October 27, 2009

I Think it's Almost Time for Her to Come Home!

I think the time is coming near for my beautiful 3 yr old filly Mya to come home!! She was sent to a friend of ours some months ago to be broke. The arrangement my Hubby had with the Cowboy was a trade deal, he gave him something he needed for his horse trailer and in return he would break this filly for me. But as luck would have it Cowboy was very busy all summer with rodeo for his kids and then football season, so now it has come down to she is going on to the Cowboy's uncles to be finished. Which is all fine by me, I'm just ready to have her back and get her muscled back up!! The working she has done and then not having a turn out onto pasture over the summer she has really lost her muscle mass, I went over Saturday and took some pictures of her..

She wasn't real thrilled with the camera :)



She has the prettiest eyes!!



So WOW, she looks yellow?!?! She really is white LOL!!



Something caught her attention!



And away she went LOL!! Here is where I noticed some loss in the thickness of her neck!



She is a paint, but with her winter coat you can hardly tell! She actually just has black markings on her skin that show through her summer coat really well!!



This is her summer of '08, you can see her "paint" markings! Interesting information for you, the new filly that we just got and had the naming contest for...They share the same sire!



Monday, October 26, 2009

What Does Fall Look Like Where I Live?!

You know I am so envious of those who are surrounded by the awesome fall colors of reds and oranges!! Around here where I am it's pretty much yellow LOL!! Of course if I go to town there are reds from neighborhood Red Maple's but we just don't have them in the middle of no-where!! So I thought I should share what fall looks like in my country side!!

Where could this road lead?!?!



To here!! This opening that is just beautiful for miles in all directions!!



We had some awesome storm clouds rolling in!



See yellow's and green's....No pretty reds and oranges :(



So when I arrive back from my little excursion this is what I find... My J who had been gone to an FFA National Convention all week and my DD who J had just picked up from a friends house.... J says in a very stern voice "where have you been"? I said "I was out taking pictures" so he says to me "well I was worried about you, please don't do that again"!! Yes sir SON!! LOL, he's quite the sweetheart!



DD was a pretty happy girl cause J bought her a Frappuccino!!



Have I mentioned lately how fabulous my kiddo's are!! LOVE THEM!!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

I Have a Winner and A New Name for the Filly!!

First off I want to thank everyone for ALL of your name suggestions!! They were all really great, and thank you for voting as well!! We ended up with a tie!! The 2 names that tied were "Charm Her Like Texas" by Leanna from "Thoughts and Whatnots" blog, and the second name was "Little Texas Charm" by Growing Up A Country Girl from "Livin' It Up Country" blog... So since they tied I had to fall back on the trusty drawing the name out of a hat, and the winner is "Charm Her Like Texas" by LeAnna!! So congrats to LeAnna!!


Friday, October 23, 2009

Name That Foal Game Ending Soon!!

OK all, my name the foal game will be ending somewhere around 1:00 am Saturday... So get your votes in!! Remember the name that has the most votes is the winner and the name creator gets an awesome gift from my store!! Good Luck everyone!!

She's definitely ready to have a name!!



Thursday, October 22, 2009

Polka Dots Everywhere!!

I think I might have mentioned a few weeks ago about repainting DD's room!! Well I made the worst judgment call when she asked for Polka Dots....See her room we just painted not even 2 years ago and of course it was all horses!! But she decided she wanted something bright and fun!! So that's what we did, and I'll never paint polka dots again!!!


Finally the finished product!!



Not even sure how many polka dots there are?!



It took me many many hours to paint them though :)



OPP she can't live without her "makeup desk" LOL!!



Gotta love her Coleman chair that she won in her Barrel racing class last year...She loves it!



Now she is FINALLY a happy girl LOL!! Her and her cat!!



Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

OH I Am So Ready For Winter Rodeo Season!!

It feels like forever since we finished our last rodeo circuit and I am so ready to get DD back into the groove!! Our lives are always busy but one things for sure rodeo always comes first on her priority list!! So I am now on the countdown for the winter circuit to start!! Only 19 more days!!!!

So I thought I would show you a couple of shots done by my SIL and her Sister! If you click on them you can see how high she's flying through!!



OK other sister I had to edit the picture a bit so it has my watermark now :)





Monday, October 19, 2009

Our Jersey Steer has gone on the lamb!!

First off if you haven't voted make sure you get you vote in for your favorite name!!

At our 4H fair in 2008 my Hubby decided to bring home a Jersey Calf to start teaching DD about raising her very own steer. Well Bob is now over a year old and I really have no idea what his purpose now is other than getting fat and horning the horses every chance he gets!! During the summer time they are our back in the open pasture but come October we lock them up front and they get round bales of hay and of course pellets. Well Bob he just gets whatever the horses are getting ever since DD's Angus steer went to the market:) So there is about an 80 acre wheat field next to our property that the owners decided to run calves on this winter, so we of course get the joy (not) of being cattle eyes... Well a couple of days ago I go out for the afternoon feeding and when I go to feed the back group I realized Bob was missing!! So I called the Hubby and said "UMM Bob is gone"?! He says "oh yeah now that I think about it I don't remember seeing him this morning" UHH MEN!! (sorry to any men readers, this of course is not directed at you)!! So then he says well the fence was down in the back so I fixed it and I bet Bob is with the calves... So I go out and I'm looking......And finally I see this fat could be Jersey??? So I grabbed my camera to get a better look and sure enough it's Bob, he ran away to go be with those of his nature LOL!! SO I guess he may be spending his winter with some cattle LOL!!


Here is where he is supposed to be....



Oh YEP that's looking like a Jersey out there!!



Just grazing away like he belongs with them!!



OOPS....He knows he's been spotted!!



So there he goes away....



Leading the rest of the herd right along LOL!!



Wordle: AMD