Her 1st Show

This Saturday Elizabeth took E1 to her 1st horse show. It was a day filled with great excitement. I got to watch Elizabeth coach E1 through her 1st show, watch Grace have an incredible show and allow Elizabeth to coach me through my first show as well.

I cry...a lot. I cry when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm excited, when I'm feeling lost or when I'm feeling accomplished. Needless to say...I cried a lot Saturday. Actually I didn't. I just didn't say anything all day because I knew if I did the tears would start and never end! I don't know why God made me this way. I just keep telling myself what Karen Kingsbury said to me when I got to meet her, "Don't worry about the tears. They make your eyes sparkle!" So I try to embrace that thought every time the tears come, and they come often!

OK back to the show...I was told by several friends that a horse show is a lot of "hurry up and wait". And they were so right!

Grace was showing 1st. She did so incredibly great! I can't even remember how many blue ribbons she got!

It was an honor to get to watch all of her and Elizabeth's hard work pay off. And to get to see what was in store for E1. Thanks Grace! You had a great show and it was an honor to get to watch you!

Saturday was special in many different ways. For E1, I'm sure just getting to go to her 1st show was special in and of itself but look who got to come too!

YES! J took the day off and got to watch too! It was a special day for all! The two of them had a great day together!

The girl has nerves of steal! If she was ever nervous, she never

showed us!

OK it was finally her turn to get in the arena and show Cricket. Elizabeth took her to the warm up arena 1st.

And then the fun started! These next few are of her showing.

She was entered in 6 different classes. These were HUGE classes too. I have never seen so many horses in an arena at one time! There were somewhere between 15 - 20 riders in these classes! The 1st 3 came and went without a win. Elizabeth was right there talking me all the way through them. What a great coach! I bet she never dreamed she would have to coach me too!! On the 4th class (a "cantor in groups" class) I was praying for God to shine a light on E1 that the judge could see. Yes Elizabeth had already told me not to expect to much at the 1st show. E1 was just getting her feet wet and we were here to see if she even enjoyed the whole experience.

This was a much smaller class. I think only 8 were in this one. Cricket is a pony Check out the size difference.

She is the 3rd from the left. They are lined up waiting for the announcer to call them in groups to canter around the arena for the judge to do her thing. Then they line up for the announcement of who won.

I was standing there with J on one side rubbing my neck (he knew I was chocking back the tears) and Elizabeth on the other when 1st place was called, then 2nd place, then 3rd place then 4th place was called to # 476, then 5th was called, wait wait wait!!! Number 476 is E1!!! She did it! She won a ribbon! She got 4th place!!! Needless to say the tears are coming even now as I type this!

We were all excited! Look at that smile!

She was then off to the warm-up arena to get ready for jumping.

She was ready, Cricket was ready. We waited and waited and waited...

Finally it was her turn! It was getting so late that the announcer had asked that the riders not make the "courtesy circle" but to enter the arena and go straight to the 1st jump. Lets just say after all that waiting, Cricket needed a "courtesy circle"! He stepped over, not jumped but STEPPED over the 1st 2 jumps! Elizabeth, J and myself laughed so hard!! Eden managed to get him to obey and he jumped the last 2!

We all thought she deserved a ribbon for not beating Cricket after that stunt!

Here she is with her ribbon!

Elizabeth kept us going all day! She taught me so much that day. What things meant, what was a good horse, a good rider, what judges look for and most of all...to keep laughing!

Thank you Elizabeth! We had a blast and she can't wait for the next season to start in March! You have truly blessed us! I could never come up with enough words to let you know how much you mean to us and to E1!

OK I know this was REALLY long and had too many pictures but...It was our 1st and so here are 2 more!

And I have to give Emmy and huge "THANK-YOU" too for letting her show

Cricket!

Grubbing

Have you ever been grubbing? I know, it sounded corny to me too. My sister found this place in the North Ga. mountains. You can check out their web page: http://www.goldngem.com/ I got the directions, the address, plugged it into the GPS and off we went. The kids and I had fun. We found all kinds of stones such as amethyst, quarts, tiger's eye, raw rubies and raw emeralds and much more.

Let me explain more. What you do is you pay for a bucket of what looks like rocks and then stand at these troughs. You pour out some of the stone and dip you screen into the water washing off the dirt. You then look through your load picking out your treasures.

You can also pan for gold. This is much harder and VERY time consuming. Younger kids will enjoy this for all of about 45 sec.!

We had fun grubbing and going down the dirt road the GPS insisted we turn onto!

Halloween Fun

This year we had E1 as a...hmmm...not sure what you call this. A blond Japanese maybe? E2 was Indiana Jones and E3 was Pikachu.

Halloween is a fun time. It's a time to dress up and visit with your neighbors. And of course a time to overindulge in candy. It's now more than a week later and that stuff just wont go away! Time to pack it up and share with others.

It was fun to watch all three get excited and get ready this year. I was afraid with E1 being 13 she would not show interest. Her friend saved the night with an invitation to one of the local colleges for a night filled with games and treats. She had fun, her friends had fun and I had fun watching her put together this outfit. Check out those eyelashes!

Yep, those are purple and silver lashes. Thank-you Wal-Mart!

Her friends were cute too. A Japanese blond, a pirate and a scary strange thingy.

Hope your family had as much fun as we did!

Finding a love

It is interesting as a parent to watch our kids try new sports and different activities. Some we like OK, some we have found are just not for us. We have also learned so much about our kids too. E1- not competitive at all, E2 - just wants everyone to be happy (and not too loud), E3 can make a competition out of eating dinner. E1 has been to camp the past 4 summers. She is gone for 2 weeks. This camp has let her try new things without mom there to scare her out of them because of the "danger" involved. Each summer she has said horseback ridding was her favorite activity. Boy, I'm glad I was not there to talk her out of it. I tried to ignore this as much as possible. She was persistent though. Finally last year, after much research mind you, I knew I could not hold her back any longer. I found a GREAT/SUPER trainer that not only loves what she does but loves my kids too. Riding is so good for their self-esteem, great exercise and a huge confidence builder. E2 and E3 decided they wanted to ride too. Oh boy! So much to think about, so much to worry about! Elizabeth took us under her wing and not only taught our guys how to ride safely but taught me how to breath while watching! In no time she had E1 where she could walk, trot, canter with ease. Next came the hard part. Well the hard part for me! Jumping. Oh My!! As if watching your child on top of this huge animal was not hard enough, now you want my child to jump over those rails?!? Was she crazy? No, she wasn't. She knew my child's ability better than I did. E1 could not wait to jump and in no time she was. I can not begin to tell you how it feels to see your love, a piece of your heart, go jumping through the air on the back of an animal that I will be honest about, scared me to death! So you see, not only have E1, E2 and E3 learned so much, I have too. I love these animals now! My heart no longer sputters out of control while around them. I can't wait to go to the stables with my guys. Those horses have boosted this family's confidence! Elizabeth I owe you many thanks for all you have done for us through your love of horses and kids! It's one year later and E1 and E2 still ride. E1 would go every day if I could send her. E3 is ready for baseball to start again this spring and for football next summer/fall.

Here are some pictures of a lesson just a couple of weeks ago.

This is E2 in the 2-point position. Great for the legs!

This is E1 warming up on Cricket, aka Pony. He is a pony. You might think having her on a small horse would make me feel better. No, you see, Pony has an attitude (much like her's!). He has dumped her at a jump on more than one occasion! She and Elizabeth have worked really hard and now he is much better. Take a look.

Isn't it amazing to think this 13 year old girl that weighs 100 lbs (with cloths on and wet hair!) could make this huge animal do that?!? This is what makes E1 happy. This is her "thing"! This is her. I love you baby girl! Go after your dreams, no matter how big they seem!

We love our trainer! She is stern, full of knowledge and EXTREMELY funny! See?

See why we love her so much? No wonder we can't wait to get to the stables!

Birthday Wishes

Birthdays are so special. E3 turned 7 at the end of September - yes I know I'm a little slow getting this up. God has blessed us with getting to watch E3 grow so much these past 12 months. From learning to read, learning to care for others, to learning the importance of family, he has embraced them all.

We let the kids pick what kind of party they want when they are in the 1st grade. A Big party with all class mates, small party with just a few friends or a family party with just our closest family. This year E3 surprised us all. He wanted a "family" party. "Just my family mom, these are who are the 'specialest' to me!" How could I complain with that? My heart melted and I was filled with joy! Here we all are. The only one not seen is Kelli, she offered to take the picture.

Family and cookie cake. Mmmmm... That was a GREAT choice! Check out this HUGE cookie!

He could not wait to blow out the candles and start eating!

After a cook-out, cake and ice cream we let the kids loose on a pinata. We all had loads of fun!

Those guys had a blast! E3, thanks for sharing your special day with your family! We love you so much!!