CHRISTMAS 2010

We were sooo lucky to all be together for Christmas this year. Aimee and Shane and little Max, braved the sub zero temperatures to spend the best day of the year with us!!

Christmas Eve day we all left our own homes in our own cities to join Mom, Tucker, Nic, Troy and Duke in Ardrossan. By 5pm there were 7 adults, one 9 month old, one "minime on the way" and three dogs happily sharing laughs in Mom's kitchen! We dont' all get to be together at the same time very often, so the next few days were precious!

Mom was an amazing host, feeding us, entertaining us, cleaning up after us and giving us all comfy places to sleep. Nic and Troy also got to be hosts one day at their house near a golf course. They took us sledding, fed us a delicious steak dinner and served us home made ice cream cake!! Aim and Shane shared little Max and his flirtatious wink and cheek to cheek grin with us and Marty and I just took it all in, loving every minute of family time!

I have posted my favorite pics of the 4 days we spent together, makin' memories!

The happiest Grandma!!!

Auntie Dic and Max

Sooo happy to just hang together!

Christmas Eve Pyjamas-new ones!!! :)

The stockings were hung....one for everyone-both 2 legged and four legged creatures. No one gets left out at Mom's House!!!

New Bomber jacket!! Adorable!!

Mom and me in my new tuque, thanks, Aim!

Sooo fun having a "little one" around for Christmas!

Fun, new Christmas socks!

The boys and their silly, new Tees!

Merry Christmas to the animals too!!!!

Life is good when you get pulled around the block in your sleigh!!!

Time together!!!!

The Farns

The Coles

The Wrights

Okay, there are sooo many more favorites, but they'll have to wait until the next blog post...I gotta go get something productive done today.......

THIRD TRIMESTER

I have officially entered the third trimester. Here is what my favorite pregnancy book, "The Pregnancy Countdown Book," has to say about that:

"The third trimester ultimately serves one purpose: To make you so uncomfortable, so over it, so tired, so bitchy, so achy, so itchy, so freakishly huge, that you will do anything to get that baby out of you, including pushing it out of a place where a tampon once felt gigantic. This is Mother Nature's way of inspiring you at the end of your pregnancy..."

Ummm....maybe Marty should read this, so that he knows that the "tired, bitchy, itchy, achy, freakishly huge" stuff is NORMAL!!!!!

Max and I comparing "bellies." His belly may be way cuter but at least I don't have as much drool on my chin as he does, he he!

THE FLU

So, back in November at my monthly, maternity clinic appointment, the nurses convinced me to get the flu shot. I have never, not once gotten the flu shot.

I am a teacher, and yes, I am surrounded by a lot of germs all day, but because of that I have a pretty good immune system. I manage to escape many colds and flus, thanks to my immune system of steel. Unfortunately, sometimes I can be a carrier of these germs, spreading them to Marty, whose immune system is not built up to conquor the germs brought home from school. He has suffered a few colds thanks to my invisible gift!

Anyway, the nurses convinced me, that it would be best for "mini me" if I got the flu shot, so against my gut instict, I got it, then two days ago, I got the flu!!! I have not had the flu, that I can remember in my adult life and then, this year, the first year I get the flu shot, I get the flu!! Not just any flu, not the shaky, cold, shivering, achy, sore muscle kind of flu, but the puke your guts out in the middle of the night, write sub plans at midnight kind of flu!! Ewwwwwww! Puking might be one of the grossest things ever!!

Puking just makes me want my mom. I don't know why, but I just want her to come, lay me down on the couch with a towel and a bucket, brush my bangs back and just take care of me. Not that Marty didn't take care of me, he did. He inquired if I needed anything after I was done hurling for the second time, he brought me gingerale and rubbed my back. Scout also showed empathy. She was with me, her head in the toilett with mine every time I was there. She layed by the bed the whole day, Monday, while I slept, being very patient and not demanding at all!! But somehow, the only person I really wanted was my mommmmy!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHRISTMAS TREE HUNT

Now that we live in a place with livingroom big enough for a Christmas Tree, we had to go get one! I refuse to buy one from a lot. Not because I dont' like the trees in the lots, quite the opposite, those trees are always beautiful! I dont' want to go to a lot, because all of my happy, childhood Christmas Tree memories involve a "hunt" that ends with someone sawing down a tree. Those are memories I want to continue having!

Our family used to bundle up, head out into our "deep dark forest" (the back 40 of our pasture,) seek out the best tree Mother Nature could provide in the pairies, saw it down, tie ropes around it and haul it all the way back to the house. This was a tradition and it was one of my favorites. Our trees were rarely perfectly shaped the often had bare spots and frequently they had a terrible lean to them, but once decorated they were always glorious in their own way. We loved every tree because it was ours! I can remember years where the tree actually fell over, splashing water from the tree stand everywhere, smashing ornaments and cause squeals from us girls! I remember once or twice, Dad actually tied the tree to the stair railing with fishing line to keep it from leaning and falling over. I remember Dad drilling into the trunk to shove branches from other trees in the holes, creating the illusion of a very full tree. I remember the cussing that always accompanied the job of wrapping lights on the tree. I remember throwing loads of tinsle onto every branch we could reach, and the way the Angel was our topper of choice. Others may share similar memories of decorating, however if their tree came from a box, they missed out on one important thing....the adventure! The adventure that comes with finding a tree, the adventure that comes with untangling, and wrapping lights, the adventure that comes with strategically decorating in order to maximize branch capacity, the adventure that comes with going to bed never knowing if your tree will still be standing upright when you get up in the morning. I don't blame those who prefer not to partake in the "adventure" however, I for one, am not ready to leave it behind.

Our tree stands in our livingroom, bare spots to the wall, pinecones still attached, branches pointing awkwardly upwards, waiting to be decorated, to fulfill it's destiny as a 'CHRISTMAS TREE!"

Off to find the perfect tree out west!

We brought Scout and 5 of our good friends to share in the tradition.

Marty and Andrew cutting down our tree!

Dragging the tree out of the bush....

Time for hot chocolate by the bon fire!

Taking our prize home!

25 WEEKS

I am now 25 weeks pregnant and really starting to show!! According to the literature I have been reading, which honestly, isn't much, my uterus is the size of a soccer ball!! Looks like I am already a soccer mom!! Mini Me is the size of an eggplant, weighing it at approx 1.7lbs!

Me and "Mini Me"-25 weeks!

Scout, completely oblivious to how much her life is gonna change too, in 15 weeks!!!!

The guys in the green latex suits in this video clip are not the guys who sat behind Marty and I at the hockey game lastnight, but the guy who did, was dressed just like them....well after the fist period he was.

Marty and I were given amazing seats to the Calgary Flames game lastnight. Neither one of us are big Flames fans, but Marty is a huge Canucks fan and the Flames were playing them lastnight. A family at school has season's tickets to the Flames and they couldn't use the tickets lastnight, so they offered them to Marty and I. The seats were in the 4th row behind the goalie!! They gave us tickets one other time this year and damn, hockey sure is way more fun to watch that close up!!!!!!!!! Marty and I have gone to lots of games, but the tickets we get are in the very top rows of the Saddle Dome. We watch most of the game on the Jumbotron, but lastnight, we were almost as close as you can get!! I could see the string of spit the goalie horked out of his mouth after each period! There were a couple of fights, which are awesome to watch from that close and one big injury that left a huge pool of blood on the ice. I was close enough to see that pool of blood, close enough that the sight of it made me gag!!! They actually came out with shovels and scraped the blood off the ice! EWWW!!!

Behind us, in row 5 or 6 was a loud, skinny, obnoxious guy. He had a big voice that he could really project and he wasn't afraid to heckle the players. He was a Canuks fan, so he was not in good company in the Season's Tickets section. To be fair, there are a lot of Canuks fans in Calgary so he was not alone in the stadium in his loyalties, however he was one of the most annoying Canuks fans I could hear. It was like he had memorized everyone's salary on the Flames and his favorite thing to yell was something like, " Hey Kessler, (or any other flames player) why don't you earn that 1.5 mill (or whatever he had read their salary to be.) He didn't just yell this stupid line once or twice, he hollered it everytime a Flame touched the puck! He was rude and loud and no one was impressed, until the second period. He came back to his seat after the break with a beer, dressed head to toe in a one piece green latex suit. Apparently, the guys in the video clip, made the green onesie kinda famous, something Canucks fans do and this guy, had one! Suddenly, he went from being the obnoxious, irritating Canucks fan, to the Ultimate, superfan, the one people, including those dressed in Flames jersys, asked to have their pictures taken with! He continued to be loud, cracking his stupid salary heckles the entire game, but the green get up, made him tolerable, funny even!!!

The hockey game itself was great, for the Canuks fans, they beat Calgary by 5 goals, but the Green Suit guy was the real entertainment!!!

Here's to people brave enough to wear latex onesies in public!!!

OVER OR UNDER?????

So, according to my pregnancy book I have reached the point where I need to invest in new undies….duh, it's not like I need a book to tell me that my own gaunch is getting tight! Infact, I have already purchased more than one pair in a bigger size! I didn't put much thought into the new undies beyond the, "I am getting cheap ones, cause I don't plan to wear these for long," thoughts, but according to the book there are more choices than the ones I considered....no not the choice, of undies that go "up the butt crack" or those that cover it, I long ago made my preference on that decision.....apparently I coulld have been considering the choice of undies that go “over” the belly or undies that stay “under” the belly. What?? Undies that go over??? Ummmm, is that even an actual choice??? Grossss! There is no way, I am going to stretch the waist band of any size of gaunch over my baby bump!! I think I'll stick to my "up the crack" "under the belly" undies....they're the ones I find comfy and so far, no complaints from my butt or my belly!

SMILE DEVELOPING

I felt like I was reading some kind of report card when I came across the comment, "smile developing." Had it been a report card, I would have smiled myself, but this was not a report card at all, this was Dirt Face's dental report. And, from the size of the bill, I guessed that, "smile developing" was NOT a good thing!

Turns out, poor, Dirt was missing a tooth. Tooth, number 202 to be exact. Tooth 202, for those of you unfamiliar with horses' teeth, is a tooth in the front of the mouth! I didn't even know he was missing it!! When the vet called at lunch, to ask if he could go ahead and fix Dirt's issues, he started by saying,

"So, you know, he's missing that one tooth, right?" Before I even answered I was filled with guilt,

"yeah," I answered, hoping my tone of voice hid the fact that I really had ZERO knowledge of his missing tooth! I felt like a horrible owner. My horse had a missing front tooth! I bridled him at least three times a week and I had NO idea he was a tooth short!! What kind of treatment was he gonna need? Do they give horses a retainer with a fake tooth attached? Do horses get dentures? Did he need something to fill that hole in his mouth?

The vet put my mind to ease by assuring me that he can still eat properly. His jaw will get out of alignment more easily, so I'll have to stay on top of that.

Dirt got a medium strength tranquilizer and his jaw realigned, I got bill left for me at the barn and the budget for porcelain veneers got to be saved, just in case, for Marty and mini me's hockey future...LOL

SUNSHINE ON SATURDAY

The sun shone Saturday, so Marty and I took Scout for a walk and a play in the snow. It was finally warm enough for me to bring my camera along without freezing it or my fingers!!! I can't help but laugh outloud as I watch her love the snow!!!!!!! You know, if it weren't for her, I think there are days I wouldn't go outside at all. I am greatful that she is here to remind me how much fun snow can be, even if you arn't snowboarding across the top of it! :)

Yep, all four feet are off the ground!

Throw anything into the snow and she'll chase it, including snowballs!!

Fun!!!

We love our Scout!!

LET THERE BE LIGHT

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas:

Snow? Check!

Cold? Check!

Christmas lights on the roof? Check!!

Yep, second house on the street to have our lights up!! Marty did them all by himself before I even got home from work! I drove up to the house and the glow of red, blue, green and yellow lights brought a huge grin to my face! I love Christmas lights!!! I love the icicles, people put up that hang down in strands, giving their homes a white glow, I like the all blue lights best when they lightly glow beneath a blanket of snow, but I love the good old fashioned, red, blue, yellow and green light bulbs that sit neatly on the edge of the roof. I love them!!!

This is the first year, we've had a real house together to put lights on and we both stood in the middle of the street, when Marty was done hanging them, to take in the glow of the approaching holiday season!!!!!!!!

Only a few more days until December first, my official decorating day! Yipeeeeeeee!

BABY BATTER???

Just sitting here, watching, "Glee." I love that show, I know, I know, it is so "high school" but the grad 7 girls got me hooked on it. Tonight's episode opened with the hot new guy (yes he plays a high school kid, but I am sure he's older in real life, so it's not too creepy if I think he's hot, is it??) Anyway, the hot new kid, presents his girlfriend with a promise ring and this great speech about how much he cares for her and all the great things he promises to do for her, like move stuff that's heavy and blah, blah....Marty was sitting on the couch beside me, pretending to barf, while I commented on how romantic and sweet the kid was. I wished out loud that I had a romantic guy who would promise me stuff like that and this is what Marty said, and I quote,

"hey, I'm romantic, I gave you my baby batter didn't I??" Like what?????????????

LOL! Boys!

BUGABOO

We made our first big baby purchase the other day! I found a stroller on Kijiji and I loved it! I definately want a chariot eventually so that I can use it as a jogger and attach it to my bike, but in the beginning and for trips to the mall and grocery store and walks, I figure I'll want something smaller. When I first started looking at strollers, I had no idea what I really wanted. Then I saw it, a Bugaboo Cameleon. OMG! That was the cadillac of strollers and it was priced, even on Kijiji at over 800 bucks!!! I had never thought I'd be the kind of girl that would want or need a high end stroller, but I couldnt' get enough of these Bugaboos. There were other models, besides, the cameleon. The Frog, the Bumblebee, each one offering a little something different. The frog was the original, the base model and the other day, I found one on Kijiji for $300! It had all of the accessories, including the UV parasol, the rain cover, the sun shade, the bassinet, the toddler seat, the diaper bag, the maintenance box and the instructional video. The Frog is actually being discontinued this year, but I know that new, it is still valued at over $600!

Marty and I met the seller in a parking lot in the snow. She pulled the whole thing out of the trunk of her Honda Civic and set it all up, showing us how each piece fit on before we even had time to freeze. I offered her under $300 and we drove away with our "brand new to us" Bugaboo stroller!!!!!!

I was sooo excited when we got home, that I insisted Marty help me put the basinet in it so that it will be all ready for when Mini Me comes home! :)

22 WEEKS

Wow, it has been a long time since I’ve had a chance to blog! Ive been crazy busy at work, and report cards have hijacked most of my evenings! I can finally see the light at the end of the “report card tunnel” so I am taking time today, to blog!!

I am finally starting to look pregnant! Yay! I love it! I can see that my belly button is slowly making it’s way from an “inny” to an “outy,” weird, but exciting! My boobs are still way bigger than my belly, but my belly is catching up! I have gone up two cup sizes with my boobs now fitting comfortably in a D cup!! Wow, who knew??? My snoogle continues to be the only thing I get intimate with at night, and my sluggish bowels and the boating make me wonder if I won’t get hemeroides just trying to take a crap!

I am still fitting into some of my own clothes while some of the maternity stuff is still a little too big. My fingernails are growing like crazy, while the hair on my legs is not growing at all!!!

I still havn’t had any “cravings” but I’ve been enjoying icing, boat loads of it! Sometimes I just eat it off a spoon right out of the Betty Crocker can. Sweet chilli Doritos are a weakness and so are “haystack” cookies.

If I do say so myself, I have managed to keep my emotional hormones in check, no random crying, or freaking out and I can count on one hand, how many times I’ve been mad at Marty for no rational reason. I am tired though, but I’ll admit that is probably because I can’t seem to get headed for bed before 11pm, ever!

The kids at school are adorable! The grade fours always give me hugs, saying, one for you and one for “mini me!” They always say Bonjour Mme. W and bonjour Mini me, with a little wave just for my bump. The grade 8 girls are sooo curious about how it “feels to have something growing inside you,” and the teachers are constantly telling me how “cute” I am.

Marty? He’s just plain weirded out by all the changes. He doesn’t want to hear about my newly protruding belly button and he doesn’t want to closely examine the new veins appearing on my boobs. He is grossed out that when I do finally have a great crap, it takes over four flushes and a plunger to break it up enough for it to fit down the toilet. He keeps telling me these are things I should keep to myself, but you know me, I can’t! LOL

POPPED BUTTON

I am just over 19 weeks pregnant and I am still trying to squeeze into my regular clothes. yes, I have purchased maternity clothes, but for some reason, I just want to save them...for what, I'm not sure. It's like I've been waiting so long to have a reason to need them, that I just want to enjoy them hanging in my closet for a while...Today, though, today I got a sign that it just might be time to start wearing my maternity pants. I pulled on my black capri pants, zipped the zipper, stretched the material desperately trying to make the button reach the button hole, but it wouldn't, so I simply left it undone. By recess, I could barely pull the zipper up all the way. By lunch the zipper wouldn't go up at all! The button, hanging by a thread simply popped off and rolled into the stall next to mine! Ahhhh! Looks like tomorrow, I'll be wearing pants with an elastic waist band!

PUKE

....Scout had the last laugh! She spent this morning puking all over the carpet!!! To be fair, she was headed downstairs towards the door, trying to hold her vomit until reaching the fresh air, but clearly she couldn't! She puked first on her bed, while getting up, then three more times on her way out the door, all of it on carpet! Ewwwwww!

LAST LAUGH

I am not sure who had the last laugh, Scout, who had me chasing her through the frosty grass in the pitch black at 2:30am in my housecoat and flip flops, or me, when I locked her sorry ass outside in the cold????

BLOODY MESS

Normally, I shower in the evening, but the other day, I ran out of evening. I woke up earlier than normal, turned the hot tap on all the way and hopped into the steam. I was running my fingers over my face through my hair, when I noticed the blood. NOt a little, but a lot of blood! Before I could figure out where the blood was coming from, the walls of the shower were covered with it, blood was running down my body, and it was pooling on the bottom around my feet. My shower was honestly was starting to look like the scene of a violent crime! Eventually, I discovered that the blood was coming from my....nose! It was the most unreal, unstoppable nose bleed I have ever had!! I ended up having to get out of the shower, drip across the floor to the kleenex box, where I stood over the sink bleeding relentlessly as goosebumps covered my naked body! Yes, I was thankful the blood was coming from my nose and not anywhere else, especially considering I am "expecting," but this was something I had not factored into my carefully calculated "getting ready for work" time. Half a box of Kleenex later, the nose bleed stopped and I was able to finish my shower. I had read that nose bleeds are common during pregnancy and this was my fourth one. None of the others had been this bad and it grossed me out!!!

Standing over the bathroom counter waiting for each kleenex to be saturated with the blood in the nostril it was shoved up, I thought back to my first memorable nose bleed.....

It was grade 6 and I remember it vividly. It was the night of our first "Family Dance" at school. I was soooo excited about this dance that I even remember what I was wearing. I wore a pink tank top, and some fancy fluorescent bermuda shorts that my mom had made for me. My hair was in an awesome side pony tail and I was ready to hit the dance floor, but....we walked into the gymnasium and the nose bleed started! I spent most of that night in the bathroom begging the blood to stop pouring from my nose. I must have missed all of the dance, because the only memory I have of that night, is of the bathroom, bummmmmer!!!

Anyway, other than a couple of bloody noses, I have been feeling great! No nausea, no morning sickness, I mean I really can't complain!!! But I do carry kleenex everywhere with me now!!

MINI ME!!!

Today we got our first baby picture!! Getting the perfect portrait of our little angel didn't involve a faux background screen at Sears or Walmart. Neither, Marty, nor I had to wear hand puppets or make silly faces to get our baby for a smile, none the less, securing a snapshot we could post on the fridge did take some effort and lots and lots of water!

I had to drink 8 glasses of water an hour before the appointment. I had to do this while teaching cooking to 27 grade 8's. We were making Halloween sugar cookies, the kind you roll out and use cookie cutters and icing to make delicious! The class was fun and the room was hot. Downing the 8 glasses didn't take long. I was thirsty with all the running around between cooking stations I was doing. The trouble was, I drank the water too quickly. I drank it all within 20 minutes, done well before an hour before I needed to be and then, damn, did I have to pee! Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I got an Teacher's Aid to cover my class for 2 minutes, ran to the can and emptied my bladdar completely. I'd have to start again, but it was worth it for the relief I got. I paced myself a little better the second time around, drinking another 8 glasses of water. By the time the bell rang and I headed for my truck, I was so full, I'm sure my eyeballs were floating. I had to undo my pants fully on the way to relieve some of the pressure. I walked into the clinic and the lady behind the desk, asked me "how are you today?" I answered painfully, "very very uncomfortable!!" Luckily, they got me into the ultra sound room right away. The technician squirted the jelly on my belly and began pushing with her instrument, on my bladdar. Immediately, she told me I had to go "empty" a little bit as I was toooooo full! She handed me a paper cup, told me to fill it to the top twice, emptying the cup each time, before coming back. THANK GOD!!! The tech finished measuring all of "mini me's" parts, then went to the waiting room to get Marty so he and I could see our baby on the screen for the first time together. It was awesome! We saw Mini Me's hands and feet and it's little jaw moving up and down while it tried to suck it's hands! Sooo cool that something so cool is living inside me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mini Me's leg

Mini Me sucking thumb

Mini Me being adorable

UP OR DOWN

We have three bathrooms in our house. Three bathrooms with three toilettes and yesterday all three toilette seats were up! I noticed, before falling in, thankfully, but decided against saying anything as I wasn't interested in a dispute. I simply put the seat down, peed and went on my way. I didnt' realize ofcourse that Marty was walking in behind me, putting the seat up, peeing and going on his way. Eventually our toilette seat differences were gonna collide.....At 11:30pm,

I woke up in the dark, felt my way into the ensuite and sat down and got my ass wet!!!!!!!! I couldn't hold my tongue anymore! My screech woke both the dog and the guy who left the seat up! Good! That was what I was hoping!!! "Put the seat down for crying out loud!!!" I was half tempted to stand up, run over to the bed, jump in and rub my wet butt all over Marty, but I didn't. I gathered what was left of my dignity. Slammed the seat down and finished my "business." To answer the question that always comes from the man, after an incident like this, "no, I don't always look before I sit down!! I assume the seat is ready for me!!!!"

SNOOGLE

I have been having troubles falling asleep lately. This is new for me as I usually fall asleep instantly, however I am a tummy sleeper and since early on in my pregnancy I have not been able to sleep in my "go to position," on my stomach. It's not that my tummy is preventing me from sleeping that way, it is my very tender boobs that make stomach sleeping so uncomfortable! My friends suggested that sleeping on my side with a pillow between my knees would be comfortable, and it was...kind of. The last couple of weeks, though, I just havn't been able to get comfortable enough to sleep!!!

Trying to see the bright side of this situation, I figured that this was nature's way of preparing me for the sleep deprived days ahead. Just as I was about to accept that this was the way it was going to be from now on, my girlfriend introduced me to a product designed to defy nature's ways.....behold, the SNOOGLE!!!!!

This pillow gave me the BEST night's sleep I have had in weeks!! Seriousy, cuddling right into it, is like crawling into my very own nest! The pillow just curls around me, part of it under my head, the long part cradling my back and the bottom curves up between my knees, offering nothing but the most comfortable sleep ever!!!

Sleeping with that pillow is like being "spooned" but without the heavy, uncomfortable weight of your lover's arms crushing you!

Pregnant or not, get a snoogle!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

It's Thanksgiving and I have sooo much to be thankful for! Family and health top my list for sure, but this year, I am mostly thankful for being 4 MONTHS PREGNANT!!!!!

Me and my "baby bump"

HEARTBEAT

It's real! It's really, really, real!!! There is defiantely a "mini-me" growing inside of me! Today, I heard the heart beat! From somewhere in my uterus came the sound of galloping horses. I could hear it loud and clear! My eyes filled with tears and a huge smile spread across my face. The galloping horses, the med students holding the doppler, explained, was the sound of little mini-me's heart beat! How cool is that? Mini me's heart beat sounds like galloping horses????

Most of my friends who are expecting, or who have recently had babies, were sick with morning sickness, proof that they were indeed pregnant. I, thankfully, have not had one day of morning sickness, however, I sort of felt...jealous! Since week 6 or 7, when I had my first ultra sound to make sure the baby was in the right spot, I have not had an ounce of proof that the little "mini me" is still there. To top it off, as word gets around that I am expecting, people keep telling me that I don't even look pregnant! I've had sore boobs and my pants are getting tight, but apparently no one else notices this... Today though, today, I got proof!

SUMMER WAS HERE...FINALY!

Yesterday, Saturday, we had summer! It lasted for a day and it was amazing!! The sun beat down on us in a way that it has not in months. I actually needed sunglasses, short sleeves, barefeet and flip flops! It was a glorious day! Today, fall, came back, but memories of our late, short, one day of summer still linger!

When it is so warm and beautiful outside, there is no where else I wanna be than AWAY from the city. Marty had hockey, yep, ice hockey, on our only day of summer all year, so Scout and I went out to the Farm where I keep Dirt Face. It sure looked like fall, the leaves were all different colors and the grass was brown, but the sky was incredibly clear, blue and full of bright hot sun! I had decided not to ride horses by myself while I am pregnant. I am not ready to quit riding all together yet, but i am trying to make smarter, safer choices. So instead of riding while out at the farm, I strapped my camera around my neck, and headed out with Scouter into the woods. Summer was a good day!