A Summer of Happiness and Sadness

Wow, I can’t believe my last post was in May. Sooo much has happened since then.  The biggest news….I got MARRIED!!

I married my Fireman at Lake Norman on June 10th! We had a beautiful lakeside ceremony with all of our immediate family there. As soon as I get the pictures from the photographer I’ll be sure to show them. 🙂

I also went to my last district barrel race before we took our summer break. Which thank goodness they did do this year because O-M-G has it been HOT! I still need to do a race racap for that one since it looks like the last recap was the April Barrel Race. Gah, I think I even had a May barrel race I haven’t done a recap on. I definitely need to get too it!

With it being so hot I haven’t done much riding. Rumor needed a break since her Ulcers were starting to flare up again. It’s like we had no Spring and just jumped straight into sweat your self silly from freeze your butt off winter. At dark it would still be in the upper 70s and just so humid, that I had no desire to ride. Slowly, it’s starting to cool down some and honestly I’m itching to get back in the saddle. Our first Fall show is the beginning of September so it’s time for me and Rumor to get back into shape.

While we’re on the horse subject, Gracie is doing amazing too! She hasn’t had any stifle troubles in months. I swear Donna, my equine chiropractor, is a miracle worker. Ever since I got her to work on Gracie, she has gotten better and better. It definitely didn’t happen over night and has took a few years and patients but I think she is finally healed and possibly even ready to do some barrel racing. This fall I’m hoping to take her to one or two shows and exhibition her. I don’t ever plan to make her my competition horse, but I would love to take her for fun and run her a time or two. After all, she’s breed well for it and super fast. (You can read all about Gracie’s stifle story here.)

Let’s see what else has been going on…humm..

The very last post I put out talked about my Cousin Rachel who has ALL Leukemia. I’m sad to tell you, she passed away on July 7th. She fought a long hard battle with Cancer and we all prayed she would beat it but in the end her body gave out. That was tough and honestly still is. She leaves behind her 3 beautiful children and a husband. This past weekend I was able to get the two girls and spend some time with them. Rachel always wanted to bring them to the farm and show them the horses and life always got in the way. It’s now one of my biggest regrets..I’ve learned now to always make time for family and friends. Anyway though, I got the girls Friday evening and they got to come see the horses. The littlest one woke up Saturday morning, jumped out of bed and first thing she did was put on her shoes and say take me to see the horses! I think I found my little riding partner!! She wasn’t scared one bit. She fed them and wanted to sit on them. Gah, they both just had a blast with the horses.

We also took them to the lake and they loved that too. I too had a great time just watching their excitement and seeing them smile. Sometimes it gets to me and I get a little teary eye’d but I just remind myself Rachel has a front row seat to see it all. I’m sure she’s in Heaven smiling too!

That’s it for now.

So Tell Me..

What have you been up to this summer? Do anything fun and exciting?