A Day At The Beach

Travis was invited to a birthday party at the beach this week. You know how in your busy life you sometimes get overwhelmed & dread having to fulfill obligations. I was kind of dreading the party thinking of all the things that I could be doing in that time frame. Well, I am so glad we went. I even got to drag the hubs with me (mind you he hates the beach....sand yuck!).

Surprisingly enough, we had the best day ever! It was a gorgeous day & the weather was perfect. Travis had a ball hanging out with his friends & boogie boarding the waves. That kid was gone as soon as his feet hit the sand. Hubs & I ended up sitting on the beach relaxing; enjoying good company, good roasted weinies & a wonderful bonfire . It was a blast!

We ended up seeing the most amazing sunset ever. I think its sweet how things turn out good when you take the time to smell the roses or in this case...the ocean. I will miss all the beauty that surrounds us here but look forward to new beauty & adventures living in the south.

The icing on the cake is getting to hang with my daughter again. Now if only I could get the Army to build a base in Arkansas & station my son there. Life would be perfect!

Enjoy your weekend & go out & find the beauty in your neck of the woods.

~Toodles

Rodeo Weekend

This weekend is the Bulls Only Rodeo. It is so weird to think that my brother has officially retired from it. Every year for the last umpteen years he says, "this is my last." This year he stuck to his word. It is kind of sad to see him stop, but nice to see him not go home broken & bruised by yet another wild horse. He has plenty of broken bones, scars & missing teeth from this sport they call Wild Horse Racing.

Wild horse racing is where there are teams of three cowboys that coax truly wild horses out of the corral & attempt to saddle them & ride around the arena between two barrels. There are usually about 7-9 teams all going at the same time. It is not an easy task. They are lucky to get the horse out without any injuries to themselves or the horse. My brother (the mugger) has to hold the horse by a rope while the horse is raring up & going beserk. There is guy who attempts to saddle the horse & the rider who tries to mount him while the horse is going nuts. LOL These are some crazy men.

Bill has always loved this event but knows how hard it has been on his body. This is a very dangerous sport. He has had so many broken bones you cant begin to count. Fingers dislocated, stepped & stomped on, as well as being thrown from the saddle into the surrounding corral. I know I wouldnt want to do it. Its scary just to watch it from the stands. I am sure its the adrenaline rush of it all that makes him love it.

I am sad to see him retire but happy to see him not suffer any more injuries from this sport. We have a lot of fun memories and a lot of awesome pictures from all the years of him competing. We are so proud of him. He walks away a winner & the pride that he is a true cowboy & has the Rookie Of The Year award & buckle to display forever.

I dont have access to all my photos since we are getting ready to move. I did want to share a few that I do have available.

1st pic is my all time favorite. I just love this pic.

2nd pic is Bill getting ready to do down for his event.

3rd pic is saying a prayer after the National Anthem.

4th pic of all the teams getting ready for the chutes to open.

5th pic is doing what he does. Trying to mug the horse so the rider can get on.

6th pic is Bill holding the neck while they try to saddle up.

7th pic getting drug across the arena trying not to let go. If they let go its over.

8th pic trying to ""git er done." hahaha

9th pic same as the 8th.

10th pic is one I took of my stepdad just watching the event. I love this pic. Thats my son up in the right corner watching with Grandpa.

Well I will have more tomorrow. Have a great day or evening...whenever they decide to post this blog. It drives me crazy that it takes them 24hrs to post. Anywho have a great one.

~Toodles

The best day ever

I have to share my day yesterday. I made some plans for running to some quilt stores to look at wool. As I sat at the computer figuring out my stops & such my son Travis walks in. He says, "Mom can we go to lunch at Olive Garden?" I said, "Well I was gonna run around, why?" He says, "I just wanted you & me to go there cuz I like it & Sissy used to work there." Well how can a mother say no to that. I just about melted. He has had such a hard time getting used to the idea of being the only one home now. His sister & brother left the house at the same time & he has missed them so much. Shoot I know how he feels. I hate the fact that they are grown & moving into new seasons of their lives. So we jumped in the car & went on our mother-son date. It was so much fun. I recommend doing that with your kids if you get the time. Just a one on one day. He really enjoyed himself too. I have to share one other cute blurb to this.

He comes in wearing his Docker type dress pants & a long sleeve dress shirt (un-ironed of course.) Hahaha I ask him, "Travy why you wearing those hot clothes?" He proceeds to reply, "I wanted to dress nice for you. I like dressing up." Awwww! He just got brownie points for sure. Well, as you can tell from the pics that I convinced him that shorts would be much more comfortable, as well as, cooler.

He is such a sweet child, good natured & so sensitive. I have never seen a child that is always in a good mood & so chipper. It is very refreshing! I tell my husband all the time how lucky we are to have such great kids.

I did do some running after lunch & bought oodles of fun, fun, fun fabric, patterns & notions. I will share more of these later. I just really wanted to share my date story. :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Toodles~

More Goodies

Ok I got more goodies to share. I was running around the other day with no intention of going to the quilt store (really I didnt *wink*). I was killing time waiting for our kitty to get groomed.

I already told you I ♥ fall. When I stumbled upon this fabric I knew it had to be mine. hahaha I am seeing raggedy doll dresses. Yep! The other goodies that snuck into my basket were this halloween panel that I think I will quilt & make into a wallhanging and this Whistlepig Creek Productions tote pattern. I am really wanting to sew some totes. My daughter loves them, as do I. These just looked like all kinds of fun.

After all the excitement over my new found treasures I came home to find more yummy goodness in the mail. It's really the little things in life that get me excited. Not many people can get that excited over wool yarn. It is dreamy! I received my fall wool from one of my blog buddies Suzy from Cloth Doll Supply. I love her wool! It is fabulous. She always sends you a surprise sample of one of her other goodies that she has available. If you go visit her tell her I sent ya. The brown wool has golden & orange highlights running through it & is so gorgeous. I am thinking of using it for my Pumpkin Patty doll from Sew Many Prims. I have a lot of projects swimming in my head. I am hoping to get some done & some started before the move. I will keep ya posted to my progress. :)

Well I am off & running. They are having a quilt run here in town & I want to go visit some of the stores. I must see what other great finds they have right now. I will be back to share tomorrow. Have a wonderful day!

~Toodles

Amazing

This was the view from our front porch tonight. Just beautiful isnt it? I ♥ sunsets. They make me happy. You could be having the worse day ever & look at this & it all just melts away. I will

miss this view but look forward to new views in a different part of the country.

Not much to write about today. I am trying to get last minute things in place for moving. Ready to hit my big comfy bed & just relax. Goodnight all.

~Toodles

Yummy Fall Goodness

Yes, I am ready for fall. I am one of these weird people who HATES summer. So on my little outing yesterday to the quilt store I found these yummies. Two of the patterns are Myra Mahy of Country Faces. I have loved her stuff as far back as the early 90's. I have done several of her tole painting projects. The other pattern is from Suzanne's Art House. They had the pumpkin & pinwheel quilt hanging up. It was the cutest thing ever. It was done all in flannel & the colors were more prim than the one on the cover. I fell in love! I had to have them! I went perusing through the wools & grabbed what fall colors they had. I will be on the hunt for some more. I will keep you posted on my progress with these new projects. I am liking the fact that the tags I can carry with me. Gotta love those hand projects that go anywhere. :)

Well not much else going on today. Kind of had a dull headache all day so havent been to motivated to do much. The heat sucks & I am hating every minute of it. I am thankful our new house (in the much hotter & more humid state of Arkansas) will have a good A/C unit. Looking forward to cranking that baby! LOL

Well enjoy your day! Toodles~

Life Keeps Moving

without me keeping up! Hahaha Where does the time go? I just cant seem to keep up with all the day to day things that need to be done. A lot has happened in the last few months. I'm not even sure where to begin.

A few months back I bought a few lottery tickets. Now mind you, I dont usually do that. About my 2nd ticket in I scratched it & could'nt believe my eyes. I had won. It was so exciting! We took a trip to the lottery & what fun that was. We ended up winning a car but taking the cash value instead. We have a great car that I wouldnt trade for the world. If you cant tell....I love my car. LOL With that being said....we were able to pay off some bills & take a vacation to see our two kids that are'nt with us.

We went on a three week adventure. We travelled to Arkansas first to see our daughter & scope out the area for moving. (Yes, we are moving) We checked into housing & employment & everything looks great. Hubby is trying to get on with one of the women's prisons in the area. We found a house & it looks secure at this point. Will be heading south the end of July. While on this vacation we drove over to Memphis, TN & saw all that it had to offer. What a blast that was. So many cool things to see...Davies Plantation, Graceland, St. Judes Hospital, Beale Street, Neely's BBQ, Underground Railroad Museum & last but not least, the Gibson guitar factory. Our son Travis even got to march with the ducks at the Peabody Hotel. The Duckmaster invited him up to the roof to see their sanctuary which is usually off limits. He was on cloud 9.

After leaving Arkansas, we headed up to Oklahoma to visit the bombing memorial. WOW is all I can say. It is a beautiful memorial & just so sad to think of the tragedy that occurred there. We then headed up to Colorado to see our son Taylor. He is stationed there. It was our first time seeing his base. It is so beautiful up there. I would move there in a heartbeat. Pikes Peak still had snow on it in May. I thought that was just crazy. If you ever get the chance to go you have to visit the Garden of the Gods. Amazingly breathtaking. After our quick (too quick) visit we headed home. I think it was the best vacation we have taken by far.

So you see, we have been super busy with all of our travelling & getting ready to move. I am so excited though, at the prospect of having a craft room & finally getting to sew again. I have missed that so much.

Everyone have a wonderful & safe Fourth of July! Will keep you updated on our latest adventures in life. :)

~Toodles