Christmas Came Early

Meet "Fancy". The newest member to the herd. She's not really a Christmas present. We had been talking about buying this horse for a couple of months. Doyle did some checking with a former co-worker who knew the family and then it was just up to us to decide.

Fancy is a registered Quarter Horse owned by the Rafter G Rodeo Co. in Terrell, Texas. Her registered name is "Beauty's Last Fancy". She was born and raised on the Rafter G and belonged to Summer the daughter of Jim Gay. She is well-bred and well-trained.

Thanks goes to Jordan, the trainer I had for Dixie, in helping us locate her. The Rafter G Rodeo Co is the one who brings livestock for our local rodeo!

Terrell is a little over 2 hrs away from here. I made plans to go out and see her Wednesday December 17th. I decided to take Kennedy with me. It was a cold drizzly day.

We get there and Summer has her saddled and ready. I ask lots of questions. I ask her to ride first.
Then I get on to ride. I am very pleased. Then I let Kennedy ride. I stay close and she doesn't go far but she turned, stopped and made her move forward by herself. A deal is made and I load Fancy in the trailer to bring home.

By the time we stop for lunch we get home just before dark. I make a place to keep her separate from the boys for the night.

After work the next day I let Fancy out into the pasture with the boys one at a time starting with Clyde. They are both excited to have a "girl" again! Clyde and Fancy seem to get along pretty good. In a little while I let Diamond out to join. That's when it gets interesting. The boys don't fight with the girl but with each other "over" the girl! Clyde does his best to keep himself between Diamond and Fancy. After a while they calm down and Diamond doesn't seem that interested.

Clyde keeping Diamond at bay.

She does have an unusual white marking at the top of her tail.
She is 8 years old.

Fancy has really taken to Clyde and they are inseparable. Maybe it's because he's nicer!


I can't believe we have less than a week before Christmas!

Have a good one!

Happy 5th Birthday

My goodness when did this happen?! Kennedy turned 5 years old Thursday, December 18th. Vanessa has planned a party for both her and Remi but it will not be until after Christmas.

To celebrate on her day Keannon and Vanessa invited us to go with them to the Gaylord Texan where there is an ice exhibit featuring scenes from the Christmas Classic Frosty the Snowman sculptured out of over 2 million pounds of ice! The exhibit is kept at 9 degrees!

Coats were provided. I was wearing a long sleeve T-shirt and sweat shirt along with an insulated hooded jacket. I still wore the coat they handed out and managed to stay warm except for my hands. Even with gloves my hands got so cold trying to take pictures that they hurt!








Granddad and Kennedy

Keannon with Kennedy and Kashton in front of Frosty.

As you might have noticed Frosty revolves.

Kennedy and Granddad.

Ice slides












Kashton sliding down. Although the slides weren't very slick and he got stuck. One of the staff had to help him slide the rest of the way.

















 Kennedy attempting to slide. She had the same problem but she knew enough to "scoot" herself down.

Aren't these sculptures just amazing?! Each piece "hand carved"!

A sculpture in progress.












The nativity was my favorite. So elegant!











Afterward we had a little hot chocolate to warm up.


















I was very disappointed that this picture was out of focus. I just loved how she was peeking over Daddy's shoulder.









Kashton and Granddad

Keannon took this picture for me!












The Gaylord was beautifully decorated.















I tried to hand hold my camera but if you look very close you can probably see that they aren't completely in focus. I need a tripod but didn't have one.

Vanessa wanted me to get a picture of them. We passed several beautifully decorated trees but she didn't think of it until we were about to leave and this one was all that was left. Still pretty but there were prettier ones!

We had to park in a parking garage and walk so Keannon went after the car. I had fun snapping some cause photos while we waited.

Remi called to wish Kennedy "happy birthday". Vanessa put her on speaker so that could both talk to her.

We had a great time! I can hardly believe she is 5! Now to move forward to Christmas!


Have a good one!

Frosted Family Night at Chick-Fil-A

Tuesday Vanessa asked me if I would like to go with her to take Kennedy to gymnastics and then to meet the Elsa and Anna characters scheduled to appear at Chick-Fil-A. I said sure!

Chick-Fil-A is one of Kennedy's favorite places to eat. She calls it Chick-o-lake.

We left gymnastics and went straight there. Vanessa figured that with it being a Thursday before 5 it wouldn't be bad. I was not so sure and I was right. We arrive and there is not a parking place to be found. Well, we did find one. Then once we got inside it was standing room only!

You could get your picture made with Elsa, Anna and Olaf for free. There was also free crafts. Thankfully we were there early enough that we didn't have to stand in long too long.



This was on the entrance to the restaurant.












Kennedy waiting in line by some of the decorations.

This is a picture of a picture. They printed them out right after the picture was taken. Pretty cool!

Kennedy was quite the happy camper!

The crowd. It had actually thinned out a bit when I took this. The people waiting in line for pictures goes out the door to the right. Not sure how long it was but there were lots of folks!

After pictures Vanessa found a table and staked her claim by placing the baby carrier on it! Then she ordered food for the kids and she feed Korin. She fell asleep while Vanessa was holding her.

Kennedy made an "Olaf" with marshmallows, pretzels, candy corn and beads.

Kennedy got a couple more marshmallows and gave one to her brother. Kashton likes them. He didn't want his picture made. He was afraid to get near Olaf. He waved to him but when I tried to get him to stand next to Kennedy for the picture I thought he was going to have a panic attack!


Overall, I think the kids had a great time. I know I was sure glad to get out of there!


Have a good one!

Determined to Ride

The weather has been just beautiful the last several days. I finally determined that I would take off from everything else I'd been doing and enjoy a ride while the weather was still nice. I finally got that accomplished Saturday. I got a much later start than I had planned and almost gave up before I even got started.

I arrived at the horses and proceeded to hook up the trailer. After not having pulled it in several weeks I had gotten a bit out of practice so it took a few attempts. Once I got hooked up I realized I needed air in the tires. That's the down side to having a trailer. The tires almost always need airing up unless you use it really regularly! Airing up tires requires plugging in the air compressor to pressure up the tank. Then there's the process of airing up tires and checking the pressure in each tire then airing some more until the desire PSI is reached. I was thinking to myself..."is this really worth it?"

Then I went to catch a horse....

They are smart and knew something was up when I hooked up the trailer. I walked to the fence and Diamond starts running all over the pasture. I just had to grin. Silly horse. Where are you going to go on 3 acres?! I paused for a moment to enjoy watching him run.

I then walk to the barn to grab a halter. After his little running spree, Diamond had ended up in a little catch pen off the main pasture. Not too smart on his part...he had no place to go! Even so he didn't give up easily! It's times like this I am extremely grateful for the 3 acres instead of 30!

I finally get him haltered, saddled and loaded in the trailer. I was headed to the State Park.

I get to the park only to have the attendant tell me the equestrian trails are closed for hunting. Really??!! Of course they are! She then went on to say "but you can ride the Rails to Trails".

I say "We here and he's saddled. It's not as much fun as the equestrian trails but I'm riding". Off to the parking area for the Rails to Trails I go. The trail is nice but it's the old railroad which is very straight! This is the trail leading from the park to the Rails to Trails.

From the parking lot there are several switchbacks leading to the Rails to Trails as the Park is on a hill.

As you can see it was very overcast that day. I enjoyed looking at the cloud formations.









There was one wooden bridge on the trail. I had not ridden Diamond across a bridge like this before and wasn't sure if he had ever done it. I suspect he hadn't and sure enough when we got to it he was not interested in crossing it. So we got to have a training session!

He refused to cross it while I was on him. I decided to get off and see if I could lead him across. The a little coaxing he let me lead him across. He was so funny. He so gingerly placed his feet one step at a time while I cheered him on! Once we got across we had a celebration! I fussed over him big time giving him all sorts of accolades and pats for trusting me to lead him over! I was one happy girl that it didn't take long to accomplish this task.

Normally I would have made him go across the bridge several times while we were there but I was short on daylight so I opted to keep going and see how we did on the way back.

Even though the trail was straight the ride was still beautiful.

Very peaceful...just the therapy I needed!

I had hoped to ride to Garner, a small rural community that the Rails to Trails passes through. It's about 4 miles from the park. We didn't get that far before I turned around as I didn't want to finish my ride in the dark.

I thought these clouds were interesting.

These clouds show a hint of color from the setting sun hidden behind them.


We make it back to the bridge and may I just say how proud I was of Diamond! Although cautious he willingly went back across without hesitation while I rode! Yep, you guessed it. I fussed over him again! That tells me he's beginning to trust me!

We do make it back to the trailer before dark but barely! In fact it was dark by the time we got back to the barn.

Great ride Diamond! Thanks Buddy!






Have a good one!