1st Horse Show-Sept 2011

 Dakotah decided she wanted to enter her first horse show ever. With a little encouragment from mom and Aunt Sarah. So the first weekend in September there was a Open Horse Show in Adel. It was a fly by the seat of our pants thing. We didn't decide to enter her until Thursday, two days before the show. She got maybe one hour each, Thursday and Friday night of riding and taught what the judge expects from my mom and Sarah.

Saturday morning the kids and I got up bright and early. Too early for me being a Saturday and all.

It was worth it though.

We gave JR a bath and got him all prepped for the show.

We waited on Sarah for awhile and then we headed off for the show. Of course, as we are getting closer and closer to Adel it is looking like it is going to start raining. We get there late for the first show we were going to sign her up for, so we just let her ride around the practice pen. Then they had open riding for a bit in the big arena. Dakotah thought she was pretty cool riding out there with all those big kids. She was defiantley getting noticed. Then of course it starts raining. We sit and watch the show as it is raining and raining, not looking like it will give up at all. Then the announcer, annouces that they will be having a meeting for all members to decide if we should keep the show going due to the weather. All members voted that the show should be canceled! Bummer. It was just one class away from Dakotah's next class. So needless to say all that work just to bring Dakotah to her first show, but not getting to show was a huge let down, I think for me more than Dakotah. Dakotah was a good sport about it.

 My sister Lisa, drove all the way to watch her and some friends of ours came, just as they called the show. So Dakotah rode around the arena for them to watch her and of course once the show was called off, the rain had stopped and the sun came out.  I think overall Dakotah had a great day and I was one proud momma watching my little girl have a huge smile on her face and looking like she is the queen of the world.

                                     Love this picture!!

Gosh, how can you not love this kid?? Isn't he adorable?

 He just thinks he is a big helper.

 Peek-a-boo!!

 Then look at this girl!! She is turning into such the little daddy helper!!! Okay, not really. But when you are building fence for HORSES. Get that, keyword horses, she will be all over that. I think she was just taking a little rest in this picture.

 See, back to work she goes!!!

Just another weekend working on the farm, with your tongue hanging out. I think it helps her with whatever she is doing.

Just another Friday night.

So what do we do on Friday nights when we are bored? Let me give you a clue...

Any ideas??

This is what happends at my grandparents house on most Friday nights. A whole bunch of people get together with their horses and chase some cows. In other words, roping.

The kids really enjoy coming out there and just riding in the arena. Dakotah is getting use to chasing the cows with her horse. Mike III is not into the riding part as much as working the cow shoot. Ryder? Well he is still a little young to actually enjoy it. He just enjoys riding horses with mom or dad. Or as in the picture below, Dakotah and Dad.

It's beginning to look a lot like.... FALL!

I was going through some of my pictures on my computer and ran across these.

 It sure is getting to be that time of year again.

 So excited to try out the pumpkin patch again this year with Ryder being a year older.

 Makes me sad at how much he is growing up though.

Enjoy some fall pictures from last years trip to the pumpkin patch.

AND....

my favorite picture from the whole trip....

This picture is priceless....

I will never, ever see another picture of my kids getting along this well!! 

17 months old

Ryder 17 months old??

Yep, I said it, Ryder is 17 months old. Crazy, huh? They say you are always suppose to cherish their young years, but it has gone by so fast there is no time too. Ryder is growing like a weed, his feet included. He is up two shoes sizes since the first of summer. Maybe that isn't that bad, but I sure think it is when I have to buy him new shoes all the time.

What does Ryder like to do?

He enjoys picking on his sister...
To name a few, running up behind her while she is sitting on the ground and jumping on her along with growling. Yep, I said growling. Don't have a clue where that came from.
Pulling her hair any time he can get a chance, most of the time when she is laying on the couch watching tv, some times chunks of hair come out. He is laughing and she is tattling.
Running into her room and getting on her bed while she is sleeping, just to wake her up. I guess she shouldn't have lost her sign she made that says "No Boys Allowed"
He has defiantly kept me on my toes. There is never a dull moment when Ryder is around. I am excited to watch my little man grow and possibly make me bald before I am 35. He may have his daddy's brown eyes but he is all me in every other aspect and I love watching Mike cringe every time a "Crystal Moment" pops up. O come on, I am not mean just getting payback from having a daughter that acts and looks just like him.

3rd grade

Dakotah has started 3rd grade!!! Hard to believe that my first born is in 3rd grade. She is getting so big and a even bigger attitude. What can I say she learns from the best! <wink> The first day of school was August 23rd, Dakotah was so excited to start school again not for the school part but for the social part. She had been missing her friends like crazy, so she says. She had decided that she was going to ride the bus in the morning this year. So we all got up earlier than we normally would have on a school day and she got dressed in her new cloths and ate breakfast and brushed her teeth. Then it was time to work on the hair, this took a little longer than normal, trying to make it just perfect for the first day. Then we had to lace up her new shoes. As I am lacing up the second shoe I hear the bus outside. EEEKKK!!! So out she went running to the bus with one shoe tied the other half laced up. She made it to the bus before the driver decided to leave. Thank goodness!  Now we were actually watching the time, but the bus had showed up earlier than we were told. So of course since this happend we did not get one picture of her first day of school in the morning. Bummer!! I was a little upset and a little nervous because we did not go over her after school plan. All went well and she made it to where she was suppose to be going after school and of course I was able to get a picture the night when we got home. Only one though!!!