Tigers

While things here at our house have been less than normal this fall, we were able to experience something incredibly unusual in IL. After picking up Patrick in Chicago Friday night, we saw a big tent in the parking lot and decided to return on Saturday while we were there to pick up some other stuff. At "the Shoppes at College Hills," we found a carnival like atmosphere and had to check it out. A group of volunteers and employees were traveling across the country raising money and awareness about the level of endangerment of tigers. They had abandonded and injured baby tigers with them that you could watch play and pet. Of course, getting to pet them and have a picture take with the tiger was the major fundraiser. So we got a family picture taken with a baby tiger.

Time Frame & Perspective

Well, I have been missing from the blog again for a while. Most people who read this blog know why, but I would like to share a more personal account of the events of the past month.


My Mom called shortly after I came back to Alaska to let me know that she was having problems with her eye again (previously she had had a blood vessel floating in her eye that would interrupt her vision at times), and that she would be going in to see the eye doctor soon. After her appointment, she called to let me know that the eye doctor found her vision problems to be the result of a cancerous bump in her eye and that she needed to have her eye radiated immediately. Her oxygen levels were also dangerously low and they prescribed an at home oxygen compressor. She also told me that her oncologist and eye doctor cooperatively agreed that she needed to have many tests including a biopsy on her lymph node by her right collar bone. The biopsy was scheduled for Friday, August 31, 2007. We had family camp out at Bible camp that weekend (Labor day weekend), and for the most part relaxed. Somehow I ended up talking about the seriousness of my Mom's situation to a friend and making arrangements for the little boy that I watch during the day.


When we got back into town Sunday, I had a 2 or 3 messages from my family. I knew that my mom had her surgery and I thought that maybe they had quicker results than they expected. I called everyone back and didn't get ahold of anyone, so I tried again and got ahold of my Dad. He told me that it was serious and relayed all of the technical terms for everything that was going on. He also told me that I needed to call my sister to get a "sister-to-sister" perspective. So I did.


That was when I found out that my Mom was dying, and I needed to get there. They did not have the official results, so there was no time frame or no knowledge of whether I would be bringing the kids with me. Calling my family multiple times per day on Sunday and Monday (while waiting for test results to come on Tuesday) made it clear that I needed to get down to IL ASAP with the kids (plus my Mom asked that I bring the kids with me). I was able to talk to my Mom for about 4 minutes total between Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. She was exhausted and I did most of the talking. I could not wrap my mind around the fact that I needed to be flying down there and quick. I called some friends from church and told them my situation. After 2 phone calls, people started calling me and helping with the details that I couldn't think of. IJ checked to see if I could fly using her sister's buddy passes. Not having the assurance of making the next flight out of here, we couldn't take the chance of the stand-by like policy of flying like that. I could not wrap my mind around what to do next. I had friends who checked the internet for the cheapest prices and friends who called the airlines directly to figure out the quickest way there. When all was said and done, amazing people stepped up to get me and the kids home in a hurry. With Patrick having no paid vacation time at work, we figured that I would fly down first and assess how things were going and let Patrick know when he should come down. Again, amazing things happened (with amazing friend's help) to get Patrick on a plane the next day. I am respecting the anonymity of the people and the greatness of their kind acts as they asked. I will some day be blessed with an opportunity to offer similar help to someone who needs it. I pray that God will bless me with many opportunities to help others and that I will be faithful enough to recognize and obey when God presents me with those times. I cannot say enough thanks to our church family who flooded us with what we needed Wednesday, September 5.


Wednesday, September 5, at about 11:00 p.m., we headed to the airport. Our flight left at 12:30a.m. on September 6 (Phoenix's 2nd birthday). At our lay-over in Minneapolis, I prayed fierce for either our gate to be close or for me to have the strength to get to the gate where ever it was. I had both kids (who had just waken up... meaning Phoenix wasn't awake enough to walk) Phoenix's car seat (which I was thankful we had since he slept rather well in it), a cooler of frozen fish (don't let it fool you, 20 pounds of frozen halibut is heavy with Phoenix being carried on top of it), We arrived in Chicago at about noon, and my brother-in-law was there to pick us up. We were exhausted and starving so we stopped at Denny's for a quick bite to eat (pancakes are never one of the foods that are difficult to get the kids to eat), and we headed to Bloomington.


Jason took us straight to the hospital to see Mom. We arrived at the same time as my grandparents, Aunt Wyonna and Uncle Carroll, one of Mom's cousins, and Aunt Gwen and Uncle John. Doug and Christa arrived just shortly after us. Michelle coordinated people going in to visit Mom because she was too tired for a lot of people at once. After extended family had left, us three girls headed in to see Mom. I had prepared Kira for the sight of Grammy not quite looking like herself and being too tired to talk much. Although talking about it to Kira also helped me some, I was not prepared to see the shell of my Mom laying there. It did not look like her until she opened her eyes. I could see Mom still looking at me, like Mom always has with a little piece of her smile trying to find its way out. At one point, Dad helped Mom to sit up so that she could get to a more comfortable laying position. While she was sitting up, she let me scratch her back and she even managed a sentence to tell me, "that feels good." While she was sitting up her oxygen levels increased to 85, but she was physically worn out from it. We took turns holding her hand while we sang songs from the devo song book that Christa had brought down.



After spending a few hours at the hospital with her, I went to my sister's in-laws' house (thank you so much to the Smith's for helping us) for dinner and to put the kids to bed... they were exhausted, but happy to be somewhere to run around for a bit. I called Patrick to seek comfort from him and to let him know that he needed to be on the next available flight down to IL. While I was on the phone with Patrick, the Carla had brought out cake and cookies with a candle in it for Phoenix's birthday. Finally getting the kids in bed and the Smith's assuring me that they were OK with me leaving the kids with them, Christa, Michaela, and I headed back to the hospital. We talked to Dad at the hospital to see how he and Mom had been doing while we were gone. Dad was going home to get some sleep (since he had tried sleeping on the hospital room "pull out" chair one night previously but to no avail) and Christa and I were going to stay until about midnight when Doug would come and stay with Mom for the next few hours. Christa and I sang to God and swished around our memories to replay times when Mom had impacted us with specific sayings or events. About 11:15, Doug showed up to be there with Mom. At 11:30 p.m., Mom opened her eyes and said, "what are you guys doing here? You need to go home and get to bed." I had not heard her speak that much or that clearly since more than a week before. Mom was still being Mom (as those of you who knew Mom can well imagine her telling us that.) We assured her that we would get rest when we needed it, and she drifted off again. As Christa, Michaela, and I left the hospital about 12:30, Christa told me that one of her prayers had been answered. Not sure what she could have meant since we had already talked about her greatest prayer that day had been that I make it down there in time; she told me that she had prayed that Mom not die on Phoenix's birthday so that his birthday would not carry joy and pain for me. We talked as we drove home about the upcoming days and how we were handling things, and then crashed to bed upon arriving at the Smith's.

The next morning I woke up to the phone ringing, followed by someone opening the door. My Dad called and asked Christa and I to come to the hospital now. I had no idea what time it was, but I put on the closest clothing to me, brushed my hair and headed to the door. my kids were still asleep and I was sure that the Smith's were home, but then I realized that Kira should probably see her Grammy one last time- just as much as I should see my Mom. So I ran back up the stairs, pulled Kira's night shirt off and slipped her into a dress. She stayed asleep and let me carry her to the car and buckle her in. I finally saw a clock and it was just after 9:00 in the morning. Christa, Michaela, Kira, and I drove to the hospital to see Mom. Kira was sleepy, but I had slipped her Crocs on her and she walked part of the way up to the room. After carrying her into the room, I set her in the chair next to Papa and covered her with the quilt that I had brought down to comfort Mom (and me) because it was the quilt I had made for Great grandma. We all sat silently for a while using our own thoughts, prayers, and reflections to keep us company. What seemed like a day passed before we decided to get out the song book again. We sang praises to God, prayed, talked, and comforted Mom for about an hour and a half. Dad held Mom's left hand and us girls took turns holding her right hand. Kira had fallen back asleep shortly after arriving at the hospital. Amanda Wells arrived sometime too and stayed with us.

One of our conversations was about our singing. We recognized our talents (and lack there of) and tried to figure out how to sing one of the songs. I had a horrible cough and sore throat that would not allow me to sing soprano and Christa has a beautiful alto voice. We needed someone to sing melody so that left Doug and Michelle. They were both unsure of their skills and Mom, who had been listening to our conversation, but could not speak due to lack of oxygen, mustered up strength to pipe in "I'm a good soprano." in barely audible tones. Of course, we all knew how much that had to have taken out of her. We thanked her for her volunteering spirit, but encouraged her to rest.

As time passed, Mom's breathing slowed more and more all the while becoming more and more labored. Her morphine breathing treatments were scheduled for every 2 hours to ease the anxiety and pain. At 11:32 Mom took her last slow breath and breathed no more. We were singing her home to Heaven and surrounding her with love. At 11:33 Dad looked up and said, "It's finished." We all stood up and hugged and had a little cry. It was so much more peaceful than I had expected. God provided amazing comfort through us knowing that Mom had been a faithful follower of Christ to the very end. We prayed for comfort and moved on to taking care of what we needed to do. Talking to the nurses and making funeral plans were our next steps. Mom already discussed and had plans made to cover some aspects of the funeral, but over the next few days we would finalize everything.

My Mom passed away September 7, 2007, at 11:33 a.m. I cried. I still cry often, although staying incredibly busy has helped to ease the pain in a therapeutic way. God blessed my life by allowing me to have the family I have and create the family that I have. I am thankful that I had my Mom as my Mom for these twenty-something years and my Mom as Grammy to my kids for the past 6 years.

Now for the perspective changes... I have realized that even though I live in Alaska and my family lives in Illinois, we remain close because of our effort. Sometimes I get insanely busy and then flaky, but one of my sisters or my Dad calls and says hey... do you realize that it has been 2 weeks since we talked? I apologize for those times, and I am thankful for you picking up where I left off. We may not see each other but every six months to a year, but every time that we see each other it feels as though it has only been a day since we have been apart. Thank you for your persisting love.

All of the people who gave to us and welcomed us into their lives and homes inspired me to pray about and think of ways that I may better serve God through serving others. I can now reflect upon the people who gave to us monetarily, gave us airline miles, gave us food and flowers, opened their homes for us to stay, willingly took our children into their homes and kept them for hours while we cleaned and reorganized Mom's stuff and prepared for the garage sale. I am so thankful and wanted to thank people and return favors or pay people back. Things have happened in my life that have not allowed me to do more than give a profound thanks and talk with the people who have been blessings to my life. These dear people allowed me to learn to be more gracious in my receiving. I was told that I was the blessing that allowed them to have the blessing of giving. Following that, they informed me that someday I would again be in a place to help others and when I had that opportunity, I would be more empathetic in my giving.

Also with the thought of remembering that we are not guaranteed tomorrow, we are trying our best not to miss out on events that we might later say... oh I wish I could have figured out a way to... A recent example has been Kira's field trip. I have not been big on asking for people's help in the past, but I found the words to ask a friend if they could watch Phoenix and Ben for the morning while I attended the field trip. Being the friend that she is, she said that she could figure out a way. Then her son came home with his newsletter stating that he had a field trip the same day. I had to decide that I really wanted to go on this field trip and figure out another way for the kids to be watched. I called someone else from church to see if she could watch the kids. She gladly accepted the time to help and came over the morning of the field trip.

Now that my book is ending, I hope to be posting more pictures later.

Funny Sight

While I was cooking lunch on Tuesday I kept hearing this strange little plinking sound. I could hear Phoenix saying sweet little phrases like "open, open, help open... ohkaaay." While a pancake was cooking, I popped my head into the front room to see what he was opening. to my surprise, Ben was happily watching the "Dora" episode, and Phoenix was no where to be seen. After flipping the pancake in the pan and starting a new one, I looked around for Phoenix. I knew that it wouldn't take long because I could hear him and our house is not big

enough to get lost in. By the cupboards, I see the sight in picture one... Phoenix has been given away by the evidence. Buzz lightyear dropped outside of the cupboard along with several pistaccio shells and the strangely familiar sound of "plink, plink" fresh shell halves falling to the floor. Naturally I need a picture of how ever Phoenix has positioned himself inside of the cupboard to be eating pistaccios. Here is the proof obtained from Phoenix's silly moment of hiding with the door closed to eat pistaccios and drop the shells on the floor.

Kalalau Trail

The water fall at the end of a four mile hike was refreshing to swim in; of course it was wonderful being wet on the four miles out too. In that hot Hawaii afternoon sun, we were thankful that we were drenched in cold water for a little bit. Because of the steep drop offs and the difficulty of the trail (especially if it happened to rain), the kids stayed at the condo with Rachel.

Playing at the pool

Riddle: How many times does it take to get three kids to jump into the water at the same time AND get a picture of it?
Answer: 7

The kids relentlessly flipped each other off of this floaty plane. Half of the time they fell off of the plane before anyone could get to them. Kira has her "seriously trying to hang on" face for this picture.

Just playing around in the pool.

Zipline

We are standing at the top of the zip line course. The view was amazing, but our excitement was at its peak thinking about seeing the valley while speeding across the cable.

Looking up the valley to the tower where we started (right side of picture), it sure was a beautiful ride.

This was the final zipline ending us at a "wateringhole" for a picnic lunch and some time swimming. Unfortunately, the swimming was limited because of high waters; it had rained for several days before our trip and it mad the water high, swift, and dangerous.

First Day in Hawaii

After flying all night, picking up the rental car, playing at the beach while waiting for our condo to be ready, and swimming in the condo pool, Kira was exhausted. She fell asleep smack in the middle of Morie and Christy's living room floor. (Our condo was not cleaned and ready for us to occupy it, so the Mahugh's opened their condo to us.)

One last lesson

Kira had one last swim/snorkel lesson the day before we went to Hawaii. She had been in swim lessons since November, but we changed her last 4 lessons to snorkel lessons with a little bit of swimming.

Kira's Backyard Carnival

The fun, smart, beautiful girl who is the reason for the party.
Patrick designed our ticket booth to collect the "ticket for admission" which was a golden invitations designed and produced by Patrick.

Devon, Tasha, and Kayla ready to help the kids decorate the 50-100 cookies that Devon and I made Thursday night until midnight.

Paul and Devon posed for a moment. I think that this was the only time during the party that they were not helping us to make this party so great. The bounce house (lent to us by Kira's friend Amanda) was a huge hit and a tiring factor since we loaded them up with sugar on the cookies and gave them cupcakes.

Boomer made an appearance to the joy of all the kids but a few who were frightened.

Morie painted the kids' faces using what we thought were these great face painting crayons. Lesson learned: face paints don't work as planned when in a cold environment.

Solution used: paint the kids' faces inside.

Savanna, Mitchell, and Marcus are enjoying fishing (with fishing poles that Patrick made) for ducks in the duck pond.

River is throwing a beanbag (that Patrick made)at the toss board (that Patrick made.)
Can you tell who is the family's creative genius?

We all enjoyed the products of the grill as Scott cooked, and Lori gave him direction.

Kira was opening her gifts and I am writing down what she got. Notice our very different attire here. It was an unusually cold June day. I could see my breath, and here you see Kira as the truly Alaskan girl in shorts and a short sleeved shirt.

Back to School Essay

Since I have been missing from the blog most of the summer and have not really posted any pictures of our summer I thought that summarizing the events and then posting pictures as time allowed would be the best option.



If I had to write a back to school essay it would contain the following events:

*Memorial Day weekend: drive 5 1/2 hours to Homer for a great camping weekend and our first ever halibut fishing excursion.

Lesson's learned on this trip... Phoenix gets car sick from long car rides and fast food. We will never leave on time for a camping trip because even when we are organized and stuff seems to be going smoothly... our kids turn on the car lights and the battery dies. Where did we put those jumper cables again?

* Kira's Backyard Carnival birthday party: June 2, 2007. Kira had her birthday party with friends from school and church. It was great fun and a huge success with the kids. We spent most of week prior to the party preparing for the event. Games and fun included: duck pond fishing, bean bag toss, foam disk shooting, sugar cookie decorating (thank you Devon for staying up until midnight with me Thursday to bake cookies), goodie bag decorating, face painting (thanks to Morie being willing to apply his artistic skills to children's' faces), a bounce house (thank you to Nicole for letting us borrow this), and a special appearance by Boomer (thank you Paul for sweating a little longer for the sake of the kids). Several more thanks are in order because everyone who stayed here was helping with something... grilling and other food, gluing magnets back on ducks, helping organize bag and cookie decorations, monitoring the number of kids in the bounce house, taking a list of kids wanting faces painted. Patrick's creativity and "go-get-em" put most of the games together.

*The following week we spent cleaning up from the party and getting ready for our family vacation to Hawaii.

* June 9-29 we were in Hawaii on the Islands of Kauai and Oahu. This trip included visiting a new beach everyday with snorkeling and playing in the waves, going to the pool at the condos where we stayed, zip lining across a valley, tubing down an irrigation canal through and old sugar plantation, visiting the Kauai Museum, going to a water park, shark diving, hiking the Napali coast and swimming at a waterfall 4 miles in, visiting with friends who had moved there about a year ago. A very busy vacation, but totally memorable and the kids slept well every night.

* July 4 we relaxed in the morning, but the outdoors was calling to us in the afternoon. Although it was raining, we drove out to Thunderbird falls to hike the trail. Phoenix fell asleep and we had not brought the Kelty kids backpack because he would have ran and played on the trails had he been awake. Patrick took Kira up to the falls despite the rain.

*Two play dates with friends from school. This was a time for the kids to see each other since they missed each other from school and for us as parents to get to know one another.

*Val's wedding shower. Although I did not host it here, I helped Christy with some of the party preparations and food.

*Japanese summer festival at Kincaid park. We all dressed up in our Yukatas (summer kimono- for girls) and Hapi coat (celebration coat- for boys) and ventured out to Kincaid for a summer celebration. We enjoyed food, play time, Taiko drumming performance, and a Japanese dance (which they were willing to teach some of the more brave souls).

*Bible camp. For Senior Week at Bible camp, I was blessed with the opportunity to be a counselor. Patrick had the kids at home since he was unable to take time off of work to go this year. While I was at camp, Kira lost her first tooth, lost her second tooth, and climbed Flat Top for the first time completely using all of her own power. Daddy power was reserved for carrying Phoenix.

*One day to rest and recover from camp and one day to pack for IL/MO. Fortunately, I have a husband who loves me so much that he washed all my laundry the day I recovered from camp so that I could pack with ease for the next trip.

*Flying out Monday night for Chicago, I finally got to sleep again on Tuesday night. Our whirlwind trip to the Midwest included a family and friends BBQ, visiting my grandparents old and new homes, dinner with my dad's dad, a canoeing trip, a water park twice (due to the insane heat of 95 degrees with a heat index of 108), a wedding, getting to see new houses of family members, and saving the best for last... getting to meet my 2 new nieces and seeing Christina's pregnant belly with my third niece on the way.

*Patrick finished scraping the wall paper in the kitchen (the hard stuff that I couldn't do... like behind the refrigerator and stove and above the cabinets), patched the drywall, textured the walls in the kitchen and painted it all a beautiful new shade called "high plateau."

*Valerie and Hayden were married Saturday with a beautiful wedding that matched their personalities perfectly.

*Back to school shopping has been completed and school begins on the 22nd of this month. I begin working again on the 15th and then we will have a sense of everyday routine and normalcy returning to our lives.

Add to this the stuff of everyday life (guard duty once a month, getting weed and feed on the lawn, regular car maintenance, mowing the lawn, softball games on Monday nights, Bible class on Wednesday nights and worship services on Sundays) and now you have a picture of what our summer has been like. Pictures of all or most of our events will eventually make it to the website, but for now only the story has been told and your imagination will have to fill you in on the pictures for now.

Camping on the Homer Spit

Across the road from our campsite, we visited the beach. As you can see, it is not the typical tropical sandy beach... that is because it is an Alaskan beach. The kids had a great time throwing rocks into the water and filling sand toys with rocks.

Phoenix found great ways to entertain himself at the campsite. Nothing says "all boy" quite like a handful of dirt.

Kira was trying to help Quinn find hand and foot holds to climb up on the tree stump.
Phoenix and Quinn were playing in the dog kennel. They took turns with Ben and I think at one point all 3 boys were in there together.

Cherry Blossom Festival

In April, Kira's school had a Cherry Blossom Festival. The kindergarteners sang 3 songs in Japanese.

Kira and her friend Channing went fishing for goldfish. It was quiet a challenge for them and great entertainment for the parents to watch. The kids had to learn a balance of their quick movements and the element of surprise to be able to catch anything.

Each of the girls were proud of their accomplishments.

The school also had Japanese games and crafts thruoghout the building for kids to enjoy all day long.

Baby Girl Cousin

Michaela Grace McClain-Smith came into the world at 3:54 pm on May 29, 2007.Michaela was 8lbs 11ozs and 20.5 inches long. She was born at SwedishAmerican Hospital in Rockford, IL. Doug and Christa McClain-Smith are the proud 1st time parents who are doing well with little Miss Michaela. Congratulations!

Easter Morning

After many attempts to add more pictures to this post, I am just going to leave it at this. This is what the Easter Bunny left for the kids for Easter morning. Then the kids had an egg hunt to follow time spent digging through their baskets. Phoenix enjoyed dumping out his box of band aids and eating animal crackers for breakfast. Kira enjoyed her Littlest Petshop animal. The coins that Kira found during the hunt she is calling her Japan money. In March, they had "banking day" at school where they discussed the value of money and how much of the money that it takes to buy certain things. They sent home a paper explaining that to the parents and encouraged the parents to start planning for the Chitose exchange that 5th & 6th graders do. It is an experience where the kids go to Japan in 5th or 6th grade for a few weeks as an exchange program. Every other year the kids from the Chitose school come here too. So Kira is saving up her money to buy a plane ticket to Japan and spending money while she is there. If she finds loose change, she also claims it as "Japan money."

I found it!!!

"Daddy, daddy, I found my long lost nostril!" said Phoenix. When playing the "where's your nose?" game, Phoenix used to touch the end of his nose. One day, he missed the end of his nose and that finger just slipped up his nostril. since then his finger goes straight up his nostril when anyone says "nose" or "knows."

Signs of Summer

In Alaska, several things clue you in to the summer season. Break up is over, and summer has begun. Here are a few things I saw today indicating the beginning of summer.
1. The sun was shining and Kira asked if she could wear shorts and a tank top to school today.
2. Bright white and yellow lines have been painted on the road. (I am trying to remember what significance of those lines with regards to my driving.)
3. A pressure washer disguised as a truck was washing our street off.
4. I pulled up to a friends house and their boat had snuck out of storage taken my usual parking spot.
5. The line at the car wash was longer than the line at the post office in December.
6. As we walked to the park this afternoon, our neighbor was out staining his deck in shorts and a tank top in our sunny 56 degree weather.
7. Dandelions popped up next to the house. (Our grass is still brown and we still have a pile of snow out front.)
8. I killed a spider.
9. Kira has freckles across her nose from batting practice in the backyard with Daddy.
10. Someone walking their dog picked up their dog's poop-- since it didn't instantly disappear into a pile of snow.

Just adorable

1-Phoenix frequently dumps the toys out of the red box and climbs inside for a nice cozy seat.

2- This is Phoenix's "aahhhh" I have just taken a refreshing drink face. This it the same face he makes when he laughs to show approval, but not complete amusement (one little "ha" usually comes from the back of his throat.)

3- He is coming for the camera to see. He is obviously concerned that he is not the one taking the pictures.

One step closer

I am finally downloading pictures from the past 3 weeks. This is a big step in getting a new posting since so much has been happening in our lives. Starting with the most recent events, we have had half days of school, guard duty weekend, for Patrick, Ladies' Night at church, parent teacher conferences, Cherry Blossom Festival (pictures to come), taxes, and Easter. Wow, when I type it out like that, it doesn't seem like we have been that busy; but in reality, that all combined with the boring daily stuff that I would dare put in here for fear of boring people so much that they would quit reading the blog, it really has been a busy few weeks. So today I tuckered the kids out with a trip to the zoo and I have a few minutes to myself to download pictures.

Thankful Thursday

Thirteen things today that I am so grateful for:
1. My loving husband got up with Phoenix when he started screaming 22 minutes before my alarm went off.
2. Kira woke up in a good and playful mood.
3. Phone calls with family.
4. The high today is going to be 44 degrees. (yeah! more snow melting)
5. I have had time to do dishes and laundry (with the help of a few sweet little people.)
6. My computer didn't crash near the end of making a 7 picture post.
7. I have a place in my house to safely burn yummy smelling candles.
8. A single bath will remove most blueberry stains from small children.
9. I had 30 minutes of uninterrupted silence during nap time.
10. The strawberries that we bought actually smell like strawberries. Yum!
11. Packing peanuts.
12. Phoenix running to every chunk of ice I scrape off the driveway and earnestly trying to stomp it to little pieces with his tiny little feet.
13. Friends who are more like family than you can imagine... unless you have met them, then you know.

Out for a Sunday ride

1. OK... I am ready to get this pony ride started.

2. I still have the no handed riding mastered...oh starting to wobble.

3. Giddy up, giddy up. Why is my pony continuing at the same pace?

4. Phoenix is back there screaming. What is wrong with him?

5. I love my pony.

6. You're not a natural brunette?! I found blonde. Don't try to deny it.

7. I am so lovin' the pony ride.