Back in the Saddle Again

Yep back in the saddle again....
I haven't really gone riding for years....It felt good!

Food..Fun & Family

We had so much fun with our cousins from OK this weekend I just had to let you all in on it.
Everyone have a good week.

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FREEDOM!

I AM SO THANKFUL FOR LIVING IN A LAND WHERE WE CAN SAY IN GOD WE TRUST!
Thank you to all the men and women who fight for our country and give me this right.

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Amazing how Nature works

One thing I love about living in the country is watching how nature works. From the Mommas feeding their young to the grass and plants.

Mostly I love watching the miracle of how a colt is born and how quickly it grows up.

Everyday I see the same little Robin looking for bugs and worms in my flower beds to go feed the babies.

Even those darn Magpies stealing my dog food and tormenting my poor pooches.

Even more amazing is how hardy the weeds are and how in any conditions they keep thriving.....on that note I better get off of here and go pull some weeds before it gets too hot.

Have a great day everyone.

Rodeo Weekend

This weekend was packed with Rodeo Fun! Kassie had a fast enough time to run in the Rodeo Friday night. We all went to watch and had so much fun. This was my first time this summer to see my friends in that circle. It was hard for Maddie but she was really a trooper.

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One of the Coolest horses I have ever known

Mac

Today our family said goodbye to one super special horse.

Mac Maddie's 8 year old Gelding.

He was the kindest horse I think I have ever known. She started riding him when he was 3 and she was 8. What a team. Maddie showed him in 4-H English & Western then taught him to run barrels and poles...she even started teaching him to be a rope horse.

I will miss looking out my window each day and watching her put him through the paces.....watching her groom him for what seemed like hours before she saddled him. She would have me mix her up some magic main and tail softener for him then she would brush it over and over to make sure he looked spiffy.
We have a very sorrowful home today and I am sure the last tear has not fallen but we will all remember what an Awesome little guy he was.

He passed so quickly...Maddie had just given him his bath and dolled him all up for the barrel race tomorrow morning she tied him to the trailer to dry. He didn't suffer he just went. Right there where he stood and loved being brushed and eat his daily grain.

May he rest in peace and I pray that our Lord will help Maddie get some peace....and ME too.

My heart breaks every time we loose an animal but to watch your little girl hurt so bad over the loss of her best friend just hurts so much more.

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First little guys to start blooming... Chives are such a happy flower with their lilac pom poms...

Flowers....Flowers...

The purple little flags pop out and fly adding some color to wash away all traces of winter...

I find it so peaceful to putter in my flowers... I get this from my mom she is a hard core gardener...I will have to post you all her yard....every part is perfect to the T. I am not joking...even the entry to my Dad's corrals are landscaped. It's lovely and I love to go out there to the ranch. We should all go out there they put on the best BBQ's. Let's wait until I get off my diet k. Thinking...One day I will have a beautiful yard like my Mom's!

Babies of Color!

Summer is in full swing. You all know that today is Fathers Day.....I spent some quality time with the father of my beautiful children. He took me to see all his new babies. What a colorful bunch.
Fathers day gift was fitting I would say....a new pair of hoof nippers and a shoeing knife.
Click below to see the Babies of Color

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Quick Catch Up

Enjoyed Kassie's Athletic Banquet

Can't believe she is a Sr. this coming year.

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Celebrated Maddie's Birthday in April

Chase's Birthday in May

Kids all got out of school

Went to the Dr. in Denver for Serina on June 2nd. We are looking at surgery for her in Sept. to get her some relief with her hips.

Serina is going to a special Summer School program where they do mostly physical therapy

Madison is in Gymnastics practice twice a week (she has Chase talked into going with her this week)

Kassie just got back from Washington DC where she experienced an awesome leadership confrence with FFA.

Kassie went to a Basketball Team Camp here at Adams State.

Maddie will go to Basketball Camp this coming week.

Things are super busy around here but in our spare time I am teaching all the kids to knit.

The girls have been riding their horses but we have not been to any rodeo's as of yet.

Well that pretty much sums it up!

Looking forward to seeing our family from back East and down South this summer!

Spring Time

This is my view most of the winter....It is pretty but only for a few days.


Don't you just love Spring Time????
I do when little signs of life are popping up everywhere.


Babies .....I just adore the babies.

Doodles weighing in at 3.5 lbs at birth from a set of quads. Baby goats are so much fun. Each year we seem to have to bottle feed at least one...it is a round the clock job at first but It is a great teaching tool for my children on how to be a good mommy.

Baby Chicks....so fun to watch grow and it always amazes the kids how quickly they get their feathers.

I think Spring is finally here now. We may have some crazy storms but they don't last long. I am ready to see green out my windows.

Happy Easter

I hope you all had a super Easter!
I spent a few minutes explaining why we really celebrate Easter....then we hurried up to engage in all the man made parts of it. No one enjoys listening about how mean they were to Jesus but they were thankful that he died for our sins so I think they got the picture.
We enjoyed egg hunting at home then another one at Aunt Dixie's with the Canty little ones. Had a great day.
Just a little slide show for all of you who were not there.

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Happy Easter

Last night we had our 16th annual Howard egg dye. I just love to see the creative juices flow from children. We had so much fun. I am not sure if Maddie had as much fun as usual because she had track practice after school followed by a 2 hour basketball practice. She is one tired girl. Sorry for no photos of Maddie but she was still at practice during the photo shooting earlier.

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Prom Time

Kassie had a great time at prom. She really looked beautiful.
Greg and I stayed up all night at the after prom party. They had so many cool things for the kids to do and so many prizes. At the end of the night drawing Kassie won a wii. What a cool prize she was so excited

Crazy March

March brings so much wind here. I guess it makes us appreciate the good days. Today the forecast says Snow...lots of snow. We will see how much we get here but in Denver they are saying 18 or 19 inches. We could really use the moisture. I would say it is going to be a Thursday Thriller.
Happy Thursday everyone.

Spring Break Video

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Spring Break Howard Style!

Three days of Goofing Off!

First I have to tell you that I have missed reading all of your blogs for the last couple of weeks. I survived the worst cold I think I have ever had...coughing....sneezing....body aches and all that. It took me over a week to kick it.

Thank goodness I did just in time to load my whole group up in our little Kia and head to Denver.

Serina had a Dr. appointment with the Orthopedic surgeon from Children's Hospital. I am not sure how I feel about the outcome of that visit. He basically told us that Serina is not in too much pain and that her quality of life is pretty good. Then he told us that the surgeries do not guarantee her to be pain free or be able to walk. He can't see doing surgery on her right now because the options are not that promising. Part of me is so thankful that she won't have to endure the trauma of surgery but the other part of me is so sad because I wish they could do something for her that could let her sit with out her legs crossed all the time. I guess we will have to see what we can do with therapy.

While Greg and I and the little kids went to the Dr. Kassie and Madison went shopping. We checked into our Hotel and then we went to eat. That in it's self was entertaining. We don't generally eat out so everyone enjoyed the meal and ate too much. Tummies full we headed back to our Hotel to swim off the feast.

Making a Game Plan

Serina had a ball even though the pool was not too warm. She enjoyed the hot tub the most.

Friday Greg and Chase went to play Put Put Golf and ride the Go Carts with my brother in law Mike and my niece Kiya. Mike and Greg also took them to the park and Mc Donalds. Chase and Kiya had so much fun together and they really get along well.

While they were having so much fun.... I bet you can't guess where all of us girls were

Oh come on you can guess....

You got it...Shopping

The big girls had so much fun at Ross..they loaded up a cart and Kassie even found a Prom Dress in case she goes.

Serina and I found a few things and we had so much fun. At every store I kept my eye out for a big suitcase(figured we would need it to pack all the stuff the girls were buying home) I didn't find anything in the price range I wanted to spend so on the way back to Mike's house I saw a thrift store....yep I did...marched right in there and bought a real cool clothes bag.

I thought my girls were going to have a fit.........they didn't (I think they knew their dad would have a fit if he saw the whole back seat filled with bags of clothes and no place for passengers) so they were great sports about it.

They did fit all our purchases in the bag and Greg tied it on top of our luggage wrack.

We giggled every time we stopped....doors opened....people fall out in all directions....open the back to get the wheel chair out....duffel bags roll out and there on top of the car is our thrift store bag with all our treasures in it.

Kinda looked like something from a funny movie!

We had a great time!

The big swimmer in his spider man floaty

The Grand Finale was going to Frisco to watch Madison's gymnastics meet. She went up a division this week so she was so nervous..... She went out there and did fantastic. She placed 1st in the vault...3rd in bars ...5th on the beam...5th in the floor....and a big 2nd in the all around. Greg's Mom and Dad, Kristy and the boys came to watch Maddie. That was fun to see them and the boys and Chase had so much fun.

I am sorry to say that I didn't take any photos in Frisco. It is a mountain town and it is so beautiful with the snow. My camera was packed inside and I was too tired by then to unpack the car to get it.

The Hunk I met last year!

I am getting all ready for this sports season......




Camera...charged and in the bag

All my maroon clothes washed and ready to go....

Planner all filled out with all the dates....




I thought I would go through the photos from last year to pump me up...

Wow I forgot that I had met this gorgeous hunk last year on the way to Gunnison for Maddie's meet.....

Wanna Meet him?

He was such a flirt....

Isn't he a beauty......

Now that is horse power....

He stood there and let me take all these pictures....what a ham.Happy Friday to you all!

When 1 Door Closes.....

Another one opens!

Basketball is over and the girls are already on to the next phase.....gymnastics and Golf.

Remember the wall I was telling you about that makes such a great background for my photos....there it is. That's Kassie shooting a free throw #32. We didn't pull out a win but I think that the girls are glad it is over . We sure had a fun final trip. My mom came to watch Kass and our friends from there were there to watch their girls so we all went to Ihop to eat before we came home. That is the most fun of all the sports stuff....the lasting friendships that you make.

Sneak preview.....

Maddie Gymnastics

Kassie Golf......

Happy Monday to all of you!

3 Great Things!`

#1 It's Friday

#2 Kassie's last Basketball game is today

#3 We are all going

The whole clan is heading out this afternoon to watch Kassie play in her final B-ball game of the season. We are going to Pueblo County(about 2 hours away) and I just love that gym....it has a huge Hornet breaking through a brick wall. I laugh about how much I love that mural on their wall. It makes such a vibrant background for my photos heeh.

It has been a long season and the girls finally pulled out a win on Tuesday night ....wouldn't that be awesome if they could finish the year off with another big win. Really our girls have played their hearts out and played close with most of the teams so I am so proud of them.

The little kiddos are excited to go because Pueblo is their hometown and we have not taken them to many away games because it is such along trip for Serina. Her little legs just get too tight and it makes her uncomfortable. She is a trooper though she would be in the car and ready to go if we would let her. Darn that Cerebral Palsy anyway. Chase loves to go but doesn't really like to sit and watch the game....he always finds a friend to play with.

Angels????

Do you believe that Angels walk among us?

I got off work early yesterday and went to this delightful little scrapbook and yarn store just around the corner from work. I milled around there looking for my Valentines Gift from Greg....he wanted to bring me flowers...I gave him a little hint that I wanted some new knitting needles (yes it's true I am teaching myself to knit...heh he) anyway he gave me money to shop for myself because he had no idea what to look for. I really enjoyed being around all those crafty people ...found some yarn and needles the perfect gift for me! What he didn't know is that I already improved my underwear drawer last Tuesday when I was shopping for Valentines gifts for all the girls. That was so fun too... Anyway I am rambling....
So I head to the grocery store (I always shop at our local grocery stores...not Walmart unless I absolutely have to). I buzzed through and grabbed the things I needed went to the check out reached into my pocket to get my envelope of money.......It was not there.....Oh crap I went into a quick state of panic. I went to check the dog food area that was where I know I had it last.....not there I quickly went up Isle after isle to look for it... praying the whole time to the lord to guide me to it. Then over the loud speaker came my checker asking me to come to checkout # 8......
You won't believe this one of the checkers daughters found it and it had my receipt from my deposit so she was going to take it to my bank on Monday so they could give it to the person who's account number was on it...MINE!
Wow...if that was not a loud and clear message form God....I am with you Kim....don't ever wonder or forget or question my presence. I thank that nice honest lady who found my money and returned it.....but most of all I thank my father up above for all the blessings he so generously gives to ME each day.

Ask me if I believe that there are Angels walking among us!
You know I believe it!