First real ride of the season!

Well we had an exciting weekend here. Horse back riding and hanging out with little cousins. Cody and I were excited to work with the horses all Sat since the weather was so nice. We've got two mares that are just 3 years old that we've been working with since we got here. They were both born with us at the summer rental house after we first got married and this is the first time we've been able to see them on a daily bases. Coco is a draft horse to the core both in size and in temperament. Her mother was a appaloosa and her father a Clydesdale. Her sister Pokie was sired by the same father and an Arabian mare so she's a bit smaller with a lot more spit to her. Needless to say she needs much more work than her sister :) Anyway, I got some darling shots of the kids with them and surprisingly enough Asher had yet to ride on a horse so we got him sitting on Coco which is about all he can do right now. Cody and I took the mares out for a big ride on Sat with Cody's brother Landen (who was also riding a very green and unpredictable horse) so we all had our own adventure trying to get to the top of the mountain. The ride was lovely and afterwards Cody and I thought we'd try and do some control exercises in the field afterwards. Apparently the horses had had enough cause upon running them Cody was bucked off Pokie and just a few minutes later Coco had also bucked me off. For a first ride of the season it wasn't that surprising and we're all paying for it today! Poor Landen was bucked off when I pulled at an old stitching on his horses chest so the day ended horses 3 humans 0. But they paid for it in sweat! Funny thing is that if you're reading this you're probably thinking "That does not sound like a very fun day to me" but I had a blast the whole day. Other than landing on my backside. That hurt pretty bad. :) I expect great things from these horses. Especially Coco who has an unusually kind and human heart for a horse. The funniest thing that happened with her was during my ride I noticed that she was itching herself on whatever she could find. Especially her face. Finally she dropped her head and I thought she was going to itch it on her leg and instead she dropped onto her belly and I jumped off her just in time and she rolled onto her side, rubbing her whole body on the ground. I guess there are just some itches that only rolling can get. I couldn't believe it. I'd never seen a horse do that before in the middle of a ride. And it was so slow and purposeful that I never felt in danger. Just shocked. Next time I'll have to bring my camera up with me to take a picture of the gorgeous mountain area we were riding in. I sure love being on horseback! Anyway, enjoy!

Chickens, Sticks and Boogers

So I got a new camera yesterday and I've been having a blast taking pictures with it. I know I've got a ton to learn about a DSLR and I'm looking forward to the challenge. I got a Nikon D3100 with a 18-55mm lens. I'm hoping a pick up a 55-200mm lens later on this week from craigslist so that should be really exciting. It's been cold and snowy up here for the last few days so I've had a chance to sit inside and play with my new camera. I've always been a die hard Canon fan but the Nikon had better specs and it was on sale for a hundred cheaper. So now I've got to figure out a new system. I loved capturing some of our favorite past times here at the farm. Going up to Gage's great Aunt Kolay's house to look at chicken eggs is one of them. In a close second it throwing sticks in the creek. I also had to include picture of Asher sucking his lower lip in and pushing it out. He could chew on that thing all day long. I wish I would have gotten a picture of us going to the ranchers store and holding all the baby chicks. Gage was in chicken heaven! And the little ducklings were my favorite of all!  Lastly Aunt Kolay's golden retriever is obsessed with Tipsy. They play together for hours on end and I wanted to try out my camera's action photo ability. Cool pictures came from that! Be excited for some beautiful country pictures to come!

First picture I snapped with my new camera ever. Kinda fitting of what my life consists of right now.

Lip out

Lip in

Showing Dad his hurt toe

Daily walks are a must!

Two eggs!

Throwing sticks in the creek

Just look at those eyes!

Idaho times

 We made it to Inkom! After a long and hard move we can happily say that things have finally settled down over this way. Cody spends his days applying to jobs and reuniting with the family since bar prep. I've been loving having him around and I count this as one of the happier times of our lives. We've been all over the place the last couple of months. Heading down for Chelsea's wedding in March was a blast and the cruise we went on to Ensenada with Cody's sister Kaiann and her husband Kevin was a total blast! We've had helmet appointments with Asher in Salt Lake and a weekend with Logan and Tonya for Easter. All in all things have been good with lots of horse working. The horses are totally crazy and they've taken a lot of effort but every time I finish with them I realize how happy it all makes me. The following pictures show some of the fun we've been up to. Enjoy!

Tipsy has finally made her peace with the horses. They continue to be leery of her.

The neighbors goats came to visit us for the day. A mom and her two babies!

CoCo, my favorite horse in the entire world. She was laying down sleeping last week and I crawled on her back to give her a good scratching and I got her to stand up and walk around with me on her back. Just really fun moments.

We had a Brower sister's craft weekend and I made these really cute seasonal houses. My biggest craft of pride was a bandana quilt that turned out really cute. Pictures to come when I bind it.

Gage tapping into his Idaho roots. It's not a good day till Uncle Landon takes him on the ATV

BEST LOWER LIP EVER!

And finally we attempted a family picture. This was the best we got which just goes to show how successful it was :)