Fourth of July Festivities

Fourth of July was a full day for me. I started it by taking the girls riding which you saw in my last post.

Then I rode my bike. I've started riding my bike for exercise again. I don't ride it to work anymore as I feed horses before I go. It takes me too long to ride to my destinations and get things done. Until I can build up my stamina and distance I'm riding to the cemetery where I take the dogs sometimes. It's almost a mile there and almost a mile loop around it. I've started with riding 5 miles. It does get a little boring but at least I don't have to worry about cars!

I get home and cool down. Vanessa calls and invites me to come over to eat dinner before the fireworks display. They had friends visiting and were cooking on the grill. After dinner we were going to the fire station to view the fireworks show with Doyle who had to work.

Kennedy was playing in the pool along with their friends little girl Lucy (3).

Doesn't that look yummy?! Now the friends who are visiting are Hispanic so this wasn't a typical "grilled steak meal. Those are not potatoes in aluminum foil but onions and jalapeno peppers that are roasting for the salsa!

This is Omar. He is making the salsa. I don't know if you can tell from this picture as what he has in his hand blurred a bit but it's a beer bottle! He's using it to smash up the vegetables! I heard that he also put some beer in the salsa! The salsa was really good although a bit "spicy" for this gal!

 Keannon and Omar adding lime juice to the salsa.

Vanessa also invited my neighbors over. They are a little younger than Keannon and Vanessa. They got married a year ago in the house they bought across the street from us. Really sweet couple. Payden is in the blue shirt and Bethany has the long hair and striped shirt. Omar's wife Lourdes and his son Little Omar are in the front.

After dinner we go to the fire station where Doyle is to watch the Fireworks display. Aren't they just too cute?! Waiting for the fireworks to begin! Kashton is 16 mos old. Kennedy 4 1/2.








Kennedy and Lucy (3)

Let the show begin!

Grand Finale!

Have a good one!

Remi's Solo Ride

Remi asked me about riding Clyde by herself the first I saw her. She had seen the video of Kennedy riding. Guess Mom and Dad had showed that to her so she wanted to do it too! Vanessa had a lot of things planned on Remi's first trip so we didn't get to do that until the day she was to go home! That was 4th of July.

Here is the link to watch Remi's solo ride. Toward the end I ask Remi if she remembers what I told her about stopping Clyde. You can faintly hear her say "no" then you hear Kennedy say "whoa" and Clyde stops! That's when I start laughing. It was funny!

Remi looked like a natural and wasn't the least bit afraid. After she made it around a few times. Kennedy wanted to ride Diamond so I brought him into the pen and put Kennedy on him. He's not a kid's horse yet so I led him around.









With Diamond in the round pen too, Clyde had a little more incentive to move. He was following Diamond. Then Remi decided to see if she could make Clyde go a different way. She was successful!

Kennedy was pretty proud to be riding Diamond!

It didn't take the girls long to get bored with going in a circle. Kennedy wanted to "ride the trail". There is some land next to where I keep the horses that has nothing on it and I occasionally will ride there or lead Kennedy on a horse over there. Keannon had come to help with the girls. I'm so glad. I would not have had both girls on horseback if I had been by myself! This way they both got to ride. Down side...Keannon and I had to walk!

Kennedy is trying to show Remi the view of the East side of town. As Kennedy said "Look Remi, you can see all the town!"



Have a good one!

Results vs Risks

Today's blog will be a bit different than you are used to seeing. I've been battling weeds in my horses pasture with the recent rains we've received. I am so thankful for the moisture! Why is it that the weeds grow much faster than grass?!

As you saw in a previous blog that I have been doing some major weed-eating but some of the weeds stalks are so thick that even with heavy string the weed-eater can't cut them down. So I've been pulling them by hand.  Ya, I know....very tedious...but pulling them by the roots is very effective or you would think it is. I pulled lots of weeds last year and I can't tell they are any thinner this year! It's also very therapeutic for me. I know may seem weird. There's something about seeing how things looked before and being able to tell a difference after brings me great satisfaction.

"Results"

I'm a "results" kind of gal. I like to see that I've made a difference or that I can tell I've accomplished something. That doesn't work well in God's kingdom. He's all about "faith". Believing without seeing. Trusting Him with an outcome.

As you might have already guessed....I have trouble with that.

Yet, He still pursues me, still encourages me, still challenges me, still loves me.

It was while I was pulling weeds about this time last year out of sheer frustration over a situation concerning Remi that God clearly spoke to me "It's not about the results you get but the risk you take".

Light bulb moment!

He rewards the risk I take....not the results I get. I had to chew on that! That is so NOT the way the world operates.

But I am not of this world.

When I said "yes" to Jesus, He rescued me from the kingdom of darkness and brought me into the kingdom of light, purchased my freedom and forgave my sins. Colossians 1:13-14.

Back to the weeds.

I don't do well waiting. I'm one of those who has to be doing something all the time because I feel like I'm wasting time.  (God's working on that too!) While I was waiting for the horses to finish eating their grain I decided to "pull weeds". Right after the rains it was easy to pull weeds because the ground was soft. Some of the weeds were fairly easy to pull as they were in sandy soil.  Some weeds took both of my hands and using all my strength to pull out because the ground had dried. A few were so deep and the ground so hard that when I pulled they broke off. I was muttering to myself about why this had to be so difficult when Papa began speaking to me.

The soil is my heart. Some of the soil in my heart is soft like sand....some places are hard like concrete.

The weeds are "sins". Not what we would consider "big" sins but.....in God's eyes...sin is sin there are no variables.

Sins like, unforgiveness, judgement, criticism, selfishness, lack of self control...just to name a few. Sin isn't just something you do wrong it can also be not doing something you should. Such as not having compassion on someone.

At first the weeds are small in size and number but left unattended they grow amazingly fast and numerous!

If the weeds are not pulled out by the root they will grow back bigger and stronger than before. And the thing about weeds is they prevent the good stuff from growing and what is growing gets "choked" out.








I need "rain" on the hard places in my heart. Holy Spirit is the "rain" I need to come soften so Papa can pull the weeds out by the root. I must choose to trust Him to "handle me with care". He is gentle but He is persistent as He loves me too much to not make sure that I grow and flourish in His kingdom. His desire is for me to be "fruitful". It's hard to be fruitful when my life is riddled with "weeds".

"This is to My Father's glory,that you bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples." John 15:8

I must also be aware that sin, "weeds" are not always recognizable as such. Sometime they are disguised by the beauty of a flower but the fact remains....they are still "weeds".


Holy Spirit come rain on the hard places of my heart. Remove the "weeds" of bitterness, disappointment, judgement and anything else you find that doesn't belong.

I want my heart to be as Solomon wrote in "Song of Songs" a garden fountain, a well of fresh water...a fragrant garden where the Lover of my soul can taste of it's finest fruits. (Song of Songs 4:15-16)

All in a Day's Work

The rain has caused an explosion of weeds in the horse pasture! Some places they are as tall as me! Doyle had a co-worker who brush hogs on the side lined up to come mow the pasture. In the mean time I weed-eated Tuesday afternoon the places he wouldn't be able to get to with the tractor.

I'm taking the girls riding Friday morning and needed to get these weeds down before then.

Holding a gasoline powered weed-eater for 2 hours wears you out!

There were a LOT of stickers too! I'm sure you have heard of "sand burrs". Well these huge stickers are "goat heads" (I think) Good thing I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, boots and jeans. Those things hurt when the weed-eater slings them at you!

Now doesn't that look better? I didn't finish the round pen but I got the worst of it. I'll get the rest another day.

I also weed-eated down the fence line all the way to the other barn so the tractor didn't have to get so close. I weed-eated the area outside the fence where I park the trailer and down by the other barn around the feed shed but I didn't take pictures of that.

I was ready for a break! I brought plenty of water but now it was time for WATERMELON! Nothing better than cold juicy watermelon when you're hot and thirsty! I even drank the juice!

The brush-hog showed up on Wednesday. I was so glad I chose to weed-eat the day before. I still have some weed-eating to do but at least the worst of the weeds have been knocked down.

This is much better! Too bad all that green isn't grass!

Church let out late as the youth gave testimonies from camp but I managed a glimpse of the sunset. The bottom right of the photo you can see the silhouette of the Baker Hotel.

Have a good one!

A Few Cards

My friend Sandy suggested that I do some card challenges to help me build a stash of cards to have ready when I need them. Great idea....just haven't managed to get that done yet! That's my goal though!

I need a card for my Dad and Barbara's anniversary. I can't believe they celebrated 19 yrs on June 30th!

Using left over papers I created this card. I believe the papers were Echo Park Valentine collection for a few years back. The sentiment was a Stampin Up stamp I bought from someone else. I used Tim Holtz Distress "Barn Red" Ink. The yummy ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon's ribbon club. Did I say "ribbon" enough times!

On the inside I used Just Rite Alpha stamps to print "and the greatest of these is love".

I made a couple of other very simple cards out of some other scraps I had. Seems I am always needing a birthday card for somebody and having to through one together last minute. I guess there's nothing wrong with that except it takes time and I don't always have that!

This card was a near duplicate of a card I made for a friend and FORGOT to get a picture of before I gave it away! On the other card I had more space at the top of the candles and had put "How many candles?" It was my friend's 50th birthday. On this card I took small stickers letters from an Authentique collection to create the "Happy Birthday" sentiment. I colored the image with my Copic markers.

This card is also made of scraps from an old Bo Bunny line. I don't remember which. You Bo Bunny fans can probably tell me. Not sure I'm completely done with it. Think it would make a great masculine birthday card.

That does it for now.


Have a good one!

Girl Time

Vanessa had an ob appointment Friday and asked if I wanted to keep the girls. I said "of course!" The first thing they wanted to do was "fix" my hair. They almost attacked me.

Later they went with me to feed horses. The sun had just gone behind the clouds.

While waiting for Clyde to finish eating the girls took turns loving on Diamond. Remi is a bit intimidated by Diamond's size. You can tell she's not quite as comfortable as Kennedy.

Kennedy giving Diamond kisses.

Remi has asked me twice about riding Clyde like Kennedy did (by herself). We will be doing that soon and of course there will be pictures...and possibly a video.


Have a good one!

Fun With The Girls

Wednesday Kennedy called me. I was riding my bike. She said "We want you to come play with us." How can you say no to that?! I asked if she wanted me to bring my bike so we could all ride bikes and she said "sure"! I didn't know until I got there that their cousin Krystal was there. I asked Kennedy "What is Krystal going to do? She doesn't have a bike." Kennedy said "She can run with us." I laughed and said "How about you let Krystal ride your bike and you run." We all laughed. We decided to walk around the neighborhood instead. Some storm clouds were forming. The breeze was comfortable and there was a low rumble of thunder but the clouds stayed to our North.

As we walked I had us stop to take a selfie.

For fun we did a silly one! Although I'm the only silly one.

When I feed horses the clouds were darker but continued to stay just North of us











Here's a view looking more West.

As I was standing outside the church visiting with friends I got to watch the sunset.

I love how the clouds to the right begin to have color.

I think the show is just about over as the colors begin to fade.











And then there's the finale!




Have a good one!