Industrious Day

I'm not sure what got into me Tuesday but I rode my bike 10 miles and rode my horse for a couple of hours. I was one tired chick!

I had not ridden my bike for almost 3 weeks! It has been hard to get back in a routine after the rainy month we had. I need to ride in the morning when it is cool but I can't seem to break out of my "late night" habit making it difficult to get up early enough.

Our temps haven't been too bad but the humidity has been horrible! I decided to suck it up and ride anyway. Even though the trail was open I did encounter major damage at the place I blogged about before but the damage was even worse than the last time I had ridden.

This is how the trail look May 19th.

This is what it looked like on Tuesday June 23rd.

I realize this picture doesn't really give you "depth of field" so here's one more to give you a better idea.

Needless to say it was a bit of a challenge to get my bike across this! Once I navigated this area the rest of the trail was ok.

A lot of the beautiful wildflowers I had enjoyed along the trail last I rode were all about gone as it is the end of their season. I did however find one of my favorite summer flowers that make me smile every time I see one! The Sunflower!

The Mesquite trees are fully tasseled.

I don't know what kind of weeds these are but I found them interesting.

Found some cattails.


















Some already bursting to expel their seeds.

Even the milkweeds are dispensing their seed.

As I came back into town i found some domestic flowers like this trumpet vine.

This beautiful Lantana.

And this butterfly bush

A close up. They sure do smell good!

I made it home and cooled myself by eating some watermelon! Yum! After resting a bit. I changed close and went to catch me a horse!

I wanted to ride Fancy but she was missing a shoe so I rode Diamond. The equestrian trails are still closed at the park so I road at my friend's again. I was much more watchful as they have seen several snakes with all the rain. Thankfully I didn't run across any but the mosquitoes and deer flies were really bad!

Riding the fence line.

Time to head back as the sun slowly makes its way to the horizon.

 I saw this on the way to ride but didn't take time to stop. I just love to see hay farrows and hay bales in the field. Always brings a smile to my face. Sure was wishing I could have taken some of that home! We should have an abundance of hay this year with all the rain we've had. Hoping that reflects in price!

All in all it was a very good day.

Have a good one!

Thanks Berry Much

A dear lady whom I call "Momma Irene" is the recipient of this card I created  as a "thank you" for a
birthday gift I received from her. She bought me 2 lbs of fresh strawberries! I loved them! So I thought I would make her a card with "strawberries".

This card looks pretty simple but it was anything but simple to make! And I still didn't get it right. I had tried so many times I decided to just go with what I had! My challenge was the sentiment. I was using two different stamps to get the sentiment and I had issues with getting ink where I didn't want it! Except for that I was very pleased with the card. I took white cardstock and used an embossing folder to get the raised dotted background. Next I stamp the strawberry. I had to stamp 3 times as it was a single berry stamp by Unity. I stamped the image on watercolor paper then colored the strawberries using my Twinkling H2O's. Once they were dry I added glossy accents and cut them out. Unfortunately you can't see the glossiness in this photo. I put the strawberries together and used foam tape to give dimension on the last berry. The sentiment I cut out using a wafer die from Lifestyle Crafts.

Have a good one!

All American Dad

That is the sentiment I created for the card I made for Cards in Envy Red White and Blue Challenge.
This is my second card to make for this challenge.

I used a star embossing folder for the background then I decided to try something a little different. Using my Tim Holtz Distress Ink I blended the ink on a third of  my background. I used Faded Jeans for the blue and Barn Door for the red. Leaving the middle white. I then heat embossed the sentiment "all american DAD" onto vellum using silver embossing powder and attached with brads. I don't like this card as well as the one I blogged about yesterday but it will do.

Have a good one!

Red, White and Blue Challenge

I needed some Father's Day cards so I used Cards in Envy's Red, White and Blue Challenge to get me going. Here is the card I made for
my husband.

To make the blue background I used an embossing folder. I created my own sentiment with Just Rite alpha stamps. I made the red stars using a Tim Holtz die.

I made a few more cards that I may share in another blog.

Have a good one!

Another Day at the Pool

Day two at the pool (Sunday June 14th) and this time Daddy and Remi are with us.

Mommy and Korin got in the pool this day. She's wearing her brother's hat to protect her from the sun.

Remi playing it safe in the shallow end!

What a little ham!

Water gun fun!

Saw this little beauty flying around the pool. Finally saw him land and snapped several shots before I could catch him with his wings open.

Over all it was another great day!

Have a good one!

She's Here!

Remi is here for her first leg of summer vacation. She goes home July 3rd.

Now you will find this interesting or at least I did. Kennedy picked out her shirt that morning. Unaware of Kennedy's choice Remi picked the very same shirt to wear. Is that not cool?! The shirts say "God Loves Country Girls". What is also interesting is Kennedy is a year younger than Remi and yet she is taller and heavier than her sister!











Before Keannon and Remi arrive we went swimming. I have been caring for horses of some friends who are gone for a week. They have a pool and told us to go swim anytime we wanted. Our friends left on Thursday and Saturday was our first opportunity to go.

We have a tongue chewer!

I love this picture of Kash!

There she goes with that tongue again!

Kashton is a good big brother!

After swimming, Vanessa took the kids home to meet up with Keannon and Remi. They then came over for dinner.

Granddad and Korin!

After dinner the kids wanted to play with bubbles.









Mommy got in on blowing bubbles with Kashton.

Remi is thrilled to see her baby sister!

Daddy and Korin.

Kaston eating a popcicle. He's sure a cute little guy!







Of course there is more to come!


Have a good one!