Sabbatical

Yeah so most people take a sabbatical from things with a time of return in mind. Ummm I guess this is my time of returning. Blogs are a little like pushing a car that is out of gas, once you get it going the momentum helps encourage you along but if you stop then it is like starting from a stand still. Here is my stand still and leading off again. Its not like I ran out of things to say. Heaven help us the earth would stand still! I sometimes feel like I have to much to say and I should be doing alot more listening. So here is to listening and speaking and learning to balance that with consistincy. Hey Inger, if you are still paying attention, I am back!

Kidder Creek part III

So the weekend continues with some sweet devotional time. We discussed worry and remaining in the Lord. It was very mellow. Part of being at Ranch camp is taking care of your horse 100%. Ashley loved that they were given responsibility and Black Beauty was really well cared for.

I love that she just takes the job on very matter of fact. If the horse was being lazy and leaning so she couldn't pick its foot, she took both hands and shoved the horse over. She is not intimidated at all. She cleaned all four hooves very thoroughly, as well as carrying her tack to and from the barn. I was in a lot of trouble if I even looked like I might be helping.

Another posing moment with her glorious horse. She loves her horse.

Here she is with Kendra and her horse Shep. We were getting ready to go off on another amazing trail ride through the woods.

Our hats in the corner of the cabin and here I'll pause til the last entry.

Kidder Creek part II

So the fun continues.. We wake up, grab a cup of coffee or coca and go to the pasture to wrangle in your horse. All by 7:oo a.m. There is something wonderful about rising in crisp air, pulling on jeans and boots and throwing on a sweatshirt to go bring in your horse for the day. It was so simplistic. I do admit I loved that breakfast would be waiting for us when we were done. I think I will be a ranch hand, no responsibilities, just working with horses.

Here Ashley has tacked her horse and is leading down to the arena for some fun equestrian challenges.

Black Beauty was definitely a fan of walking or the fast trot. Loping was not her thing. Ashley worked her tail of to get here to move. Plus she is a pack horse and does not like to do things on her own.

Here we are having a mid-morning tea break. Probably something ranch hands don't realistically do after just a few hours of riding. Pioneer Woman could probably confirm my suspicions on that. Actually I did raise horses for about ten years and nope we did not ever break for tea. They made homemade scones and fruit flavored tea for us, it was excellent. Kendra and Ashley enjoyed it immensely!

Apparently Ashley and I matched on every day there. Though we did not mean to it was funny. A mom thought we did it on purpose. Yeah, no that would take a lot of planning on my part.. Planning is something I am working on. Yeah as in I plan to get to that. So our beautiful Saturday is off to a great start.............. to be continued.

Kidder Creek part I

So as summer has quite deliciously arrived, my life is filled with everything I love....time for fun with my kids. My parents are part of a group of RVrs who go up to a wonderful place called Kidder Creek. While they were up there, they heard about a fun weekend for mothers and daughters to ride horses and spend time together. My mother was amazing in gifting this weekend to my daughter and I. Ashley could hardly wait! A whole weekend spent together. Here we are heading out of town, just the two of us!

Ashley took this picture of Mt. Shasta on our way up to Kidder Creek. Kidder Creek is located about a 3o min. drive west of Yreka. She held the camara out of the car to take pictures as I am driving I-5 at 70 miles an hour. After my heart slowed downed I suggested that she maybe take the pictures from inside the car. I did have to delete about 40 pics as most of them were repeats.

Here we are in front of our cabin on friday night. There was about 14 people total and we shared our cabin with another mother/ daughter duo from Rogue River. The girl was Ashley's age and they hit it off. Funny thing, I was hoping to just get away and spend time with people who didn't know me and as soon as we pulled in, right next to us pulled in another mother daughter set from my church who I knew pretty well. It was good to get to know each other in a different setting.

Right after our meet and greet and horse intro, we were up and away riding horses. This is Ashley's horse, Black Beauty. She loved her horse! They have great wranglers who help with whatever you need. Ashley was pretty sure she did not need anything. The evening ended with a wonderful campfire, songs and some simple devotions. The weekend was lead by this cute, never said a cuss word, christian mother daughter duo. They were too cute and spent the weekend bashfully singing each others praises.

to be continued..........................

Ryan's saga continues

Wow! This is going to make me sound like MOTY ( code for mother of the year). So crazy Saturday starts with my husband and I dividing and conquering regarding baseball. The day goes relatively smooth, with every child at their appointed place on time. Good. I go to church, say the announcements, meet and greet, and head over to the last ball game. My husband is there with all the boys and our neighbor's son Mason. I show up with the in-laws, my friend Ronda, her daughter and mine. Game is fun. Alex plays well. Yada yada yada. Now it is late. 9pm late. Dinner at home will take us well into 10pm to prep, so off we go to The Birded Nest ( otherwise known as Red Robin). Ok now I am looking bad for the late dinner too, which I did supplement with jerky, cheese sticks, sunflower seeds, and Powerade. We eat and have a merry old time with 6 kids and 3 adults. Man it's getting late, so we head on home, saying our goodbyes to Ronda and family. I was the first one home, which is important to the kids. I do my best. As we unload the chaos of the day, my husband says
" Ryan, get your ball bag out of my truck."
I say "He was in your truck, why didn't he just pull in out then?"
To which my husband replies " No, he rode with you."
I now doubt myself and ask Kaleb, " Did Ryan ride with us?" He shakes his head no. Ummm...........what? Darin and I look at each other and I say
" Hurry back, he might not have noticed yet!" If you know Ryan, this is indeed possible. He could lose time in the game room. So Darin speeds on his way, I thank God we only live 5 minutes from the restaurant. As I walk in, the phone rings. It is Andy, our server ( who I have known since high school) He informs me he has a very sad little boy. I talk to Ryan and reassure him daddy should be there any second. He tells me that he went to the bathroom and when he came out we were all gone. My heartbreaks, knowing what he must have been feeling. He returns home looking like a sad little puppy, I hug him and reassure him we are sorry and let him know next time to let us know when he decides to use the facilities. Off we go to bed, with all the Beavers tucked merrily in. So ends my day! The next day is Mother's Day, thank goodness I was one day short on my errant ways.

So my son was late to school

Yes my son Ryan was late to school. Usually that is not worthy of a blog post but today it is. Mornings at the Beaver's are a little crazy. Kaleb, my 12yr old, is usually the first one up, with my husband gone by then. K gets up between 5:30 and 6. Momma not so much. I am like a star, I shine at night and am out by morning. I usually pop up around 7ish. Well this morning in the hurry and flurry, kids getting bagels, grabbing backpacks, me doing chores etc, it went a little awry. Kaleb popped his head into the room I was in and said "Bye mom, we are leaving now, I love you!" to which I replied "All right, I love you too, have a great day!" and off the kids left for school. They walk the 3 minutes it takes and K likes being early...probably why they like walking.. Mom is not early and definitely not in the morning. Alex goes later, around 8:10 and he is driven to his school. Well my mom popped in and asked if she could take A and I said sure. As they were leaving I see Ryan's backpack and groaned " Agghh. Ryan left his backpack can you drop it off at the school ".. Ryan tends to forget.... a lot. So off they go. The house is quiet, I am doodling around, when I hear footsteps. Now let me tell you footsteps in your house when you are all alone is not okay! With alarm I turned, frozen. Not run, Jen , run! No stay and see who it is, classic bad movie no no! And down the hall trod.........Ryan! Apparently I did not notice he was not up in the flurry of the morning. If you have seen my kids you would know how one can be confused from another... especially in my pre-coffee haze. After my mild heart attack, I called the school and told them the story and explained that if they called his room for him to come get his backpack, he would not be there. So we hustled Ryan together and dropped him off late. Sandy, in the office, said " That is the first time I have heard that one!" Me too! Anyways now to start my day, I will do headcounts. Hopefully I will come up with four!

70's Disco fun!

So I know I have been gone a long time and I am sorry. I do have fun post for you though....a flash back to the 70's! This year the mother/son and father/daughter dance was disco 70's style and we had fun!


Here we are on our way. These white bells can be found at Ross. Dead serious! They are in the regular pants section for anyone hankering for a flashback moment! Crazy!


This actually was a very comfortable outfit maybe I should start a retro flashback!

Here is Ryan loving the costume. Check out his chest hair!

He is staying alive, staying alive!

And here is the girl and her dad, I am proud of my husbands compliance with the dress code. Then again if you know my daughter it really wasn't much of an option.

So we had a great time and yes my husband is hot in any era!