Out At the Barn

While we were at Pappy's house last time we decided to spend some time out at the barn. I never would have imagined that my babies would love being at the barn so much, but boy they sure do! They love to brush the horses, talk to them, bring all the ropes and reigns around and basically do anything to help Pappy.

But most of all they love to ride.

All three of them Love. To. Ride.

Even my little Mika loves it. She bursts out in excited screams when she sees the horses. And she insists on getting her turn to ride.



I am constantly reminded of how much my girls are growing.... especially when I see pictures of them like this. Peyton is getting big enough to ride on her own. She is so confident on the horses.... I pray she is always confident in everything she does.

Laila spent the first month of summer afraid of riding.... now she doesn't want to get off. We love watching the girls find their courage and overcome their fears. I am so thankful that the girls are growing up with such neat experiences.

Their new favorite thing to do at the barn is to ride together. They think it is so much fun. I think they are so much fun!

Mika Lynn even got a chance to show off her solo equestrian skills.... she's a natural. Pappy also taught her a couple of new phrases: "Whoa, Sugar." and "Easy, Sugar." So cute to hear her little voice say those words.

We love going out to the barn with Pappy. We are so thankful that we get these opportunities. And you know it makes Pappy so proud and happy to watch his baby girls develop a love for horses like he has. He keeps trying to get me on the horses. But y'all, every time I ride my rear end hurts for days. Seriously. I'm just happy hanging out on the sidelines with the cameras.

Love.

Last Weekend on the Lake

Labor day is the unofficial end of summer. So we celebrated with one last weekend on the lake. Jared's parents went with us and we had a great time.

The weather was great - not too cool and not too hot. The girls enjoyed swimming, jumping in and snacking.

They even got the rafts out for some raft surfing! They LOVED jumping from the boat onto the rafts. It was very cute and funny to watch.

**Side note : how cute is my hubby??? Love that man!

We did the lake for a couple of days and really enjoyed being all together. We did miss Whit though. She had been sick last week and decided to stay home and rest.

We got up Monday and headed to the barn after breakfast. At first the girls weren't too sure about riding. They haven't been riding all summer and I think they were just a little nervous because they couldn't remember riding before. Peyton warmed up to the idea first.

She rode with Pappy for a while. This is what Laila was doing while P was riding:

Cautiously watching from behind the fence. Eventually she decided to give it a try and I couldn't be more proud of her!! Laila is very cautious around animals and I was convinced that she wouldn't ride at all since she wouldn't even get near the horses at first. But she decided she wanted to ride so we let her...

I just love the look on her face in this picture. She was still a little uneasy but she was determined to do it! Dollar was such a great horse and the girls both really loved him. After a minute of riding with Pappy, they were ready to ride on their own. How big are they??? I love this picture of them! I can't express how proud of them I am. I love them so much it hurts. Sweet sisters.

We also played a little on the RTV out at the barn. Peyton really liked it (as did Jared!).

Overall, it was a nice weekend. I'm so thankful for my family and the good times we have together.

And I believe the other day I was saying that Mika has started picking up food to eat. Here is a picture I snapped of her stuffing her face. Ha! I can't believe how fast she is growing... she's really started crawling around (army crawling) and tonight she took her first bath in the big tub - no baby tub. Oooooooh, I just love her so much.

I hope you all have had a wonderful Tuesday!

Love.

Ok... I think things have settled down...

enough for me to get back to my blog. Yikes, it has been a crazy couple of weeks!! Last week we welcomed my sweet new niece, A, into our big ol' family! And the good news is she and Mommy are scheduled to go home today! Woo Hoo!!!

We are loving Fall, except for the rain - yucko! And we are taking some time to enjoy this wonderful season!

Don't you just love Fall clothes!!! Seriously, I love picking out my girls' clothes each morning!

We also spent the weekend with Pappy last weekend.... it was wonderful, as always. We ate well - I'm sure I gained 3 pounds in the two days we were there (seriously, I weighed myself). We played and watched some good movies. And we rode Sugar, Pappy's horse!

L loved playing on the fence... and so did P!

P is so big and she loves, LOVES to ride Sugar. She's a natural too! It blows my mind! She was telling Sugar to "Whoa, Sugar" and "Be easy Sugar". It was too cute!

And L got to ride for the first time.... she wasn't too sure at first. So Pappy took her around the circle. And she LOVED it! {Speaking of Pappy... isn't my dad just too cute?!} I think we have another natural horse-rider on our hands! And before we knew it, this is what was going on....

Yep, that's my 16 month old baby riding Sugar all by herself (with Pappy leading her around and keeping a hand near her in case she started to fall)! I couldn't believe it!!!! And I'm so proud of her!

And most importantly, I've been spending some time with these people... the ones who make my days brighter and give me a reason to get up every morning.... the ones who make everything I do worth it....

Can I just say that my kids have a wonderful dad... he's the best! He loves his girls so much and they LOVE him!!!! It is so special. And he is the best husband - I love you J!

We had a house guest last night but I'll post pictures of that later. We should have a pretty normal rest of the week so I'll have more time to post. I've also been busy with some gifts and orders from my "craft" blog.... check it out! I'm having the best time with it.... even though all of my orders have been for family! :)

Hope you all have a great Tuesday!