My Little Flicka

Mady's love for horses all started when her Uncle Larry gave her the movie "Flicka". She would watch it at least 4 times a day and would hum along with the music, it captured her attention for hours. She would ask Dad if he could buy her a black horse like Flicka and she said she would ride it and feed it and even let it sleep in her room. Then she realized she had her own horse right in her room, that she never even bothered to play with before all this started. I was ready to give it away because it was just taking up space. Good thing I didn't because then I really would've had to buy her a new horse.

About a month later good ole Uncle Larry came over with another movie, Black Stallion and Black Beauty. She watched both of them and loved them. In Black Beauty they braid the horses hair so Mady decided she was going to do her own version of braiding and put her sponge rollers in her horses hair.

She takes very good care of her horsey. She makes sure she has blankets for padding underneath the saddle and then used one of her dads belts as a saddle. She collected two pieces of rope and tied one for the reins and the other one is for "cactching horses" she says. Whenever we leave the house or at night time when we go to bed, she makes sure her horsey is tied around a drawer handle so it doesn't get away. She even will get a little bowl of water and spoon feed it to her horse.


We then had to get her the whole attire for a cowgirl. She wanted to look just like Katie in the Flicka movie, so we got her some boots and a red hat and she even has a denim vest to go with it.

Dreams Come True

Thanks to Aunt Ginger, she made all of Mady's dreams come true. A friend of hers, Kimberly, trains horses and does riding lessons. She has let Mady come and ride horses a couple of times and Mady would live on the ranch if she could. She is in heaven when we go there. This is her and Mason walking Mack the horse into the stable to get it ready to ride.

She has no idea how much work and time it takes to have a horse. First they had to brush Mack before they put on the blankets and saddle. She got tired of that very fast.

Then she was giving him treats but she wouldn't put her hand close to his mouth. She was afraid he would bite her. She better get over that fear if she wants to own a horse.

She loves to go for rides, she would stay out there all day and ride horses if she could. Maybe in a year or so she could start taking little riding lessons from Kimberley.

Some of Mady's new favorite movies are "Man From Snowy River" and "Return to Snowy River". She will watch them over and over. You would think she would be into princess disney movies but no, she likes the classics.

Mexican Jumping Beans!

I don't know where Mason heard about Mexican Jumping Beans, but he always asks Jesse if he can buy him some. He new you could buy them in Mexico, and I remember as a little girl we would go on family trips to Mexico and we would always come home with them. They are so cool, they have a little worm inside that moves around and makes the bean jump, it's kind of weird. Sometimes they break out of the shell. So when Jesse went to Tucson to do a job he stopped at Picacho Peak on the way home and found some, so he brought them home and the kids were so excited. Mady keeps asking, " when are they going to crack up out." It's the new pet.

Remodel

As you can see we are in the middle of remodeling the kitchen! Right now the cabinets are oak and they have a peachy pink formica countertop. My wonderful husband put up a big thick crown molding on the top with new beadboard underneath the bar area and an onlay over the sink. That's why it looks two toned right now. It looks soooo nice already, just adding molding makes such a difference. Next Garon and Brendan (the painters) are going to paint them all with a creamy color and then add a chocolate glaze over them. Then to finish it off we ordered some granite countertops that are beautiful! I'm so excited for it to be all done! I will post a picture after it's all finished.

Labor Day- Camping

Over Labor day weekend we went camping as a family for the first time. Larry, Ginger, Andrew, Brendan, Breanna and Sparky the dog all came along. We went to a spot about an hour north of us by a place called Mormon Grove. It was the best camping spot ever, about 20 miles in the mountains. We slept in the back of Jesse's big truck, and cooked all our food over the fire. It was very relaxing and suprisingly not hot.








Mady and Uncle Larry sitin' by the fire.








Chillin out around the fire, roasting marshmallows.







Uncle Brendan found a horny toad down by the creek that the boys were playing in. He stuck it to Mady's shirt and she just stood there and wouldn't move until somebody got it off. The boys also caught about 30 crawdads and took them home to feed to Brendan's fish.

A Mason Ditty!

So, the other day as Jesse was showering Mason decided he needed to go to the bathroom, in our bathroom of course. He thinks it is hilarious to flush the toilet while Jesse showers because it makes the shower water scalding HOT! As he is flushing the toilet he says,"Oh, sorry I flushed the toilet," and Jesse screams! Then Mason found the bottle of nair hair remover and asked Jesse what it was for. He told him that a chemical eats up the hair and washes clean and the hair is gone. There was about a 30 second pause and then Mason said," what if we put some in a dogs hair"? All Jesse could do was laugh!

It is amazing to me the things kids come up with. Mason is always thinking about everything. He will say some of the most random, funny things ever. He is very smart also, so we better watch out for what his little brain is thinking up next. I Love him so much and his fun sense of humor!

Mason goes to Texas!

Well I am going to back track a little. In June of this summer (08), Mason went on an awesome trip to Houston, Texas to visit his Uncle Kent & Aunt Briggite. Grandma Rowley took him and his cousin Andrew for 6 fun filled and packed days on a trip they will never forget! When Mason got home we asked him to tell us about his trip and some of his favorite things but he would never really tell us anything. I think he saw so many things in such a short amount of time that he couldn't unravel what he did. So a million thanks to Grandma Rowley, Uncle Kent & Aunt Briggite for a trip of a lifetime!!!! There were so many pictures that were taken, these are just a few from some of the places they went.


At the Johnson Space Center
(where Kent works)
standing under the moon.


A picture with some famous astronauts.


A space shuttle where the astronauts practice.




A relaxing day at the beach.
Mason would live at the
beach and be one with the
fish if he could. This was
probably his favorite.



Cooling off with a Bugs Bunny popsicle!







TAKING IT ALL IN!

This is at the wildlife park where they rode a train and the animals would come right up to you and eat. I think that crazy deer just ate all of the food!

On a horse ride.




At the actual Blue Bell Ice Cream Creamery!

Shooting a missile!

What a funfilled trip!