My first real trail ride= disaster

So I went on a crazy trail ride over labor day and almost got myself killed. I was nervous to go riding since I've only been on a horse one other time. I think the horse could definetely tell I was scared. After switching to the giant tan horse because the smaller black one wouldn't go forward the horse takes off down hill heading toward a large ditch. We are going over all kinds of hills  and rocks and I almost fall off the horse sideways and loose one of the reigns. I am scared to death. So here I am 20 feet feet from going into a large ditch at the bottom of the valley pulling on one useless reign leaning forward trying to grab the other reign yelling "woah". The owner is yelling "pull harder" and chasing me in the background on foot but too far away. The horse turns and almost runs into a barbed wire fence eyes crazed then starts running up hill past the owner and I loose both reigns before it stops at the corral! I was shaking after for about an hour. It was one of the scariest experiences of my life never having been on a horse and a runaway out of control one at that! I am so glad the horse did not get hurt. I'm sure I looked about as goofy as the guy in the movie. Only to my defense I stayed on the horse and my horse was running fast downhill. Glad I didn't break any bones or get hurt other than the bruised bottom for a week.

Yum Messy Cake

 

I'm One Year old!

Colbie is one. We can hardly believe the time has gone by so quickly! She is an especially happy baby. She laughes alot and likes to snuggle. She loves putting things together and taking them apart. She likes to sit on my lap while playing and has to come get hugs often. She likes to give kisses. She is a little tease and thinks it's funny to give us raspberries when we ask for a kiss.

Some of her words: ma ma, da da, more, all done, please, up, bye bye, wow, oh, uh- oh, that, this, Alexis, dog, cat, horse, red, no, tickle, wash, num num, and wah wah (water).

She barks, moos, neighs, meows, growls, hops, says ma ma for a goat and ssss for a snake.

She is a blessing in our lives and we can't imagine our lives without her here. Happy Birthday Colbie!!!

Colbie got really excited about her cake and thought if we opened the box it would be inside. She was doing sign language for and saying "red" over and over. And saying "muh muh" for more. She was laughing at the cake in the oven she was so excited for it.

We told Alexis to go over by Colbie to take a picture. Oops! Alexis wasn't too happy about it but laughed after she got cleaned up.

Colbie ate the whole top tier. Her little tummy was bulging!

Colbie was laughing and trying to get us with her messy hands so we were laughing.

We love you Colbie!!!

Wow cookies!

Colbie and I were making chocolate chip cookies for the first time today and when I turned the oven light on and showed her the cookies inside she turned to me and said "ooo... wow!" It was so unexpected that she knew how to say that I quickly grabbed the camera to catch the moment. Sooo cute!

Kindergarten

Alexis started kindergarten on Aug. 12. The first day was a half day but she has all day kindergarten from 7:55 - 3:05. She has been waking up to her own alarm and loves it. I'm so glad she is excited and happy about going. Today was her 2nd full day of school. I asked her teacher how she was doing when I walked over to pick her up. (It is so nice we can walk to the school within five minutes!) Her teacher said "she's doing good.... she sure likes to talk alot! She also said she is really smart. Alexis tells us each day what they did. She is loving P.E. and learned to skip fast and gallop. She demonstrated both of them for me. She said her favorite part of the day was "choice play" and said she chose to play with the animals. She told me they did math with some plastic bears and 11 take away seven was 4. There is a boy in her class that she tells me about that yells at the teacher and kicks and cries and has to have time outs. It has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster sending her off to school all day. It hits home how fast they are in someone elses care for most the day and how I've hoped to have instilled some core values. On a differen't note.... Colbie is as happy as ever. She gets to play in Alexis's room and hardly cries because Alexis isn't bothering her. I can't believe how easy it seems to just have 1 at home and how quiet it is!

This is Alexis getting brave going down the boat at the B.D. Picnic for Shaun't work. It is a really fun carnival like picnic with lots of prizes to win. I love that everything is free and we get to try as many differen't treats or games we want! Colbie loved the cotten candy. I looked over and her and Shaun both had a drip of pink on their cheeks in the same spot. It was really cute because they already look so much alike!

Here is Alexis's teacher Mrs. Niles

Alexis in front of her Elementary School
Leaving for the first day of school

Colbie loving the water park on our last excursion before school started

She kept climbing through this fountain it was one of her favorite things.

Alexis had a blast playing around on the toys and water playground.

We got to mow our lawn for the first time. We also started to landscape by putting in some foundation gravel. I have loved going out and doing yard work with Shaun and Alexis. Doing house projects has been one of the most enjoyable things about having a house. Which is funny because I didn't think that working would be my favorite thing! It has been really rewarding to see the projects come together. I canned some pizza sauce and some chili base from the tomatoes from our garden. It was fun to do for the first time. Next year I have plans for making our garden better. This year it got overwatered and I think it was a fungus or mold that killed quite a few of the plants. We have had a wet spring and summer.