Scooter

I haven't had a good Scoot Dogg post lately and thought that I needed to include one, especially since she is laying in the floor staring at me waiting for me to play with her.  I told you guys all about our massive amounts of snow that we got a month or so ago and didn't put up any pictures of her playing in it.  

She really likes to play in the snow.

Watching.  That red bag is what I always take home to WKY and she knows that when I start putting stuff in it we are going somewhere.  She basically attaches herself to my leg and will not give me any peace until we're in the car.

My sweet girl...  I will always love her like my first born :)

Wordless Wednesday - The Funny Faces You Make When Reading to Kindergarteners...

Clearly I was quite enthused :)

Christmas Decorations

Well, I broke down last night and put up my Christmas tree.  It has made our house seem so homey and we have really enjoyed putting it up.  Drew and I always work on it together so that makes for a fun activity for the two of us as well.

This year, I decorated our mantle.  The three stockings are for Drew, Scooter, & Me.  Next year, we will have to get another stocking to hang for Miss Callie.  It will be fun to celebrate Christmas and include her in all the festivities next year!



Finally, this wreath is on the door.  Its not like anybody ever drives by our house (we live at the end of a dead end road in the middle of no where, so there is never any traffic going past our house).  I also bought two little light up Christmas trees that will also go on our porch.  I wasn't able to get them plugged in tonight, because our extension cords are all in our detached garage and it was POURING down rain. 

Anyway, I hope that you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving today!  I am working tomorrow and then heading to WKY for a weekend with my family.  We didn't get to see them today, so I'm looking forward to spending as much time with them as possible this weekend.

And The October Wedding Season Continues..

This weekend my best friend from work, Kellen, got married.  It was a beautiful wedding and one that I had really looked forward to  For the past few months, Kellen and I have talked over wedding details and she's told me about some of her different ideas so I was pretty sure that it was going to be a gorgeous wedding, but I was blown away by how nice it really was.

Kellen is from Southern Illinois and unbeknownst to me, there are many wineries and vineyards that are within an hour or so of her house.  The one where she chose to get married was called the Von Jakob Winery and it bordered the Shawnee National Forest.  It was truly a beautiful scene for a wedding.

Kellen has a great sense of style and I always wonder how she can be dressed so perfectly all the time.  I have never seen her have a day where she looks "rough" (I have days like this pretty much every day).  Her wedding dress and hair were gorgeous and all her attendants looked great too.

Needless to say, Drew and I had a great time at the wedding and we were so excited to be able to take a road trip through the country.  Best wishes to the Laceys.  They are on their honeymoon right now and I'm very jealous, they're in St Lucia!  How awesome!

Shootin Skeet!

For his birthday this year, my dad wanted a Clay Pigeon Thrower (I'm sure there's a technical term for this thing, but I don't know what it is.)  Since he never says anything he wants, Mom immediately made the purchase.

 

Sunday was the first day that it had been out of the box, even though Dad's birthday is New Years Eve.  OOPS...  Oh well, what better way to blow off some steam than shoot little orange disks.

Dad and Drew had two guns that they were shooting.  A 12 gauge shotgun and a 20 gauge shotgun.  Dad bought the 12 gauge this summer but he has owned the other since he was 12.  My dad does not hunt or anything, so it was interesting that he was actually a really good shot!  I was impressed.  Drew loves to hunt (deer, doves, turkeys, etc) and was also a pretty good shot.

Me, I'm just good at loading the disks.  No shooting guns for me...  This time.  Something tells me that they will have me shooting the next time they get out their toy.

One of the funniest parts of this activity was the horses.  Mom and I were convinced that the horses would be really scared and that they'd probably run to the farthest corner of the pasture.  NOT SO MUCH..  They started coming towards where Dad and Drew were shooting.  I had to run and lock them back around the pond so that they would not come to close.  What a bunch of idiots!

I definitely think that Dad's toy was a success.  He and Drew went through two boxes of shotgun shells and he had the biggest grin on his face when they were  finished.  Something tells me that it won't be another nine months before they play with it again!



Wordless Wednesday... The Benefits of Country Living...

Happy Hump-Day Friends!!  We're on the downhill slide :)

ETA:  Who knew that you could mis-spell something in a post that was supposed to be "wordless"??

Silly pictures from the wedding...

I was lucky to be born into a big family.  My dad has four brothers and sisters and from those children, there are 7 grandchildren.  It has always made for lots of fun at Christmas, Thanksgiving, and other family functions.  Weddings are no different.

Erin, Jennifer, and I decided during the reception that we wanted to have a photo shoot at the alter.  We took flowers out of the decorations and used them as props.  Please enjoy...  and yes, we know...  we are dorks :)

And finally, Angela's car.  Keil's groomsmen definitely had a good time adding some very tasteful (ummm...) decorations.

My Brother's Wedding

My brother and his fiance, Angela, got married on Saturday at Pennyrile State Park.  The alter looked out over this lake and these woods.  The leaves are just barely beginning to change colors and the scenery for the wedding was beautiful!

My mother.  I think that she was glad to be the mother of the groom this time and not the mother of the bride!  Apparently, its much easier.

The beautiful bride and her dad.

This was the point in the wedding where Keil told Angela that he had forgotten his tux at their house, which happened to be a 30 minute drive from the wedding location.  After driving for an hour at 12:15, he was able to make it back in order to get in time for his 2:00 wedding.  Nothng like a little drama!

Cutting the cake..

The first dance....

I am so excited that my brother has found somebody to make him so happy!  Congrats Keil & Angela, I hope you have a great time in Hawaii!  I am jealous!

Riding Lessons

So you guys remember how I started taking lessons back in June??  Well, I STILL LOVE THEM...

They are absolutely fantastic! 

 

My mom was able to come and watch my lesson Friday night before we went to Lexington for the reining.  I was glad that she was able to watch me ride because she is definitely the reason for my love of horses.  She had a horse when I was born and has supported me 100% any and every time I have wanted to try something new.  She also travelled many miles and paid tons of entry fees for me while I showed through high school and college.  It definitely means a lot to be able to include her in the riding that I am doing now.

I am thinking that the jumping might have made her a little nervous though, especially because by the end of the lesson I was jumping two little cross rails like this one in a row.  Its definitely fun :)  It kind of feels like flying!

World Equestrian Games...

The World Equestrian Games are currently taking place in Lexington KY.  They have never been held outside of Europe and can basically be described as Horsey Olympics.  When I found out about them and learned that they were only 2 1/2 hours from BG, I knew that I had to go and watch at least one event.  While searching through the events, I decided that it would be best for me to go and watch something that I actually understood and had participated in, so I chose reining.

Reining is a class that is designed to show the skills that a horse would need while working cattle on the range.  They would need to be able to show dramatic variations in speed (fast and slow while at the canter), agility (sliding stops and spins), and an ease in handling that would make them a pleasure to ride for long days while performing ranch duties.  The horses used are primarily American Quarter Horses and this is an event that is the most popular in the US. 

 A typical reining pattern looks a little like this:

Walk to center ring and perform 3 pivot spins to the left and then 3 to the right.

Perform a large fast (hand gallop) circle to the left.

Perform a small slow circle to the left.

Change leads in the center and perform a large fast (hand gallop) circle to the right.

Perform a small slow circle to the right.

Change leads in the center and canter around the end of the pen.

Increase speed at center ring and ask for a sliding stop.

Roll back (a turn on the horses hocks) and lope around the end of the pen.

Increase speed at center ring and ask for a sliding stop.

Back 3 horse lengths.

This pattern (with the exception that it has two large fast circles each way) can be seen here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt5WOCMAFhY
That is Shawn Flarida from the gold medal winning Team USA...  He had the highest score of the whole competition!  I didn't get to see him ride but the video is awesome!

Wordless Wednesday... Cuddling with my sweet girl...

Balloons, Tunes, & BBQ

Every year in BG there is a hot air balloon race. Included in the weekend are a bar b que festival and on Saturday night there is a concert.

This year's concert included country singers Rhett Aikens & Nick Hoffman. I was amazed at all the songs that Rhett Aikens has written because they are some of the best songs on the radio right now. Nick Hoffman was also great. I really think that this was one of the best BTB Concerts that I have been too since they started.

I was so glad that my cousin, Jennifer, was able to come down from Louisville and join us for the concert. She is so fun. We decided it was definitely a shame that Nick Hoffman mentioned his wife on stage, because he and Jennifer would've been too cute together!

Before the concert, we went and had dinner at Samurai which is a Japanese steakhouse here in town. I had food off the Hibachi grill and Drew and Jennifer had sushi. It was a great dinner!

This is Ellie, she is Jennifer's little girl. Scoot was glad to have her to play with this weekend!