Awesome Weekend!

This was a busy weekend, but a great one! Saturday we traveled to Sylacauga for the U14 All Stars Soccer District Championships. The kids played their hearts out!

Ouch!

Half Time:

Ring around the pole:

This is where our team scored against Talladega to tie the game 1 to 1.

The tie had to be broken by a shoot-out. Each team took turns kicking the ball into the goal. First team to make the most goals wins, but each team has the same number of shots. This is tough, because it can go either way so easily.

We won the shoot out!

Some well deserved celebrating!

This meant our kids got a 15 minute break and had to play a second game against Opelika (who had been sitting on our sidelines watching our kids play for the last 80 minutes)!!

Here's a photo of B in the sun - it was a gorgeous day!

A in the shade:

A's friend sprouted a coyote tail:

A enjoyed filling our empty drink bottles with sand:

She said they were very "heaby."

Second game against Opelika...there were some great moves in this game!!

These great moves lead to a 2 to 2 tie with Opelika; which meant another shoot-out!!!

We WON!!!

We're #1!!!!!

Winning these 2 games put them in first place in their league. They are District Champions!!!

They will travel to Dothan to compete in the State Finals towards the end of November.

We are so proud of our team!!!!



Since we weren't the least bit worn out from Saturday, we hosted a barn painting party on Sunday!

Even as tired as D was after all that soccer, he still worked hard painting!

First coat....whew, and a long way to go!

We still have a lot left to paint, but hopefully we'll have another painting party again this weekend.

My parents brought me an early Christmas present from the Pike Road Arts and Crafts Fair:

I look forward to finding the perfect place to display the running horses on the barn!

Tomorrow Tropical Storm Ida is supposed to dump a couple of inches of rain....maybe I'll have some flood shots to share!

Until next time, Happy Riding!

Check it out!!!

Dreams really do come true (if you beg and gripe enough!) Hubby and his friend will put the new siding on the loft this weekend.


Come on in for a little tour:
Tack/feedroom is on the right:


Future stalls on the left:


Another view of the tack/feedroom:
The guys will finish the walls when they can.


Inside the tack/feedroom:
Some type of paneling will be put on the walls; forgive the mess! I can't wait to hang my new saddle and bridle racks my best friend S sent me for my birthday! You are TOO wonderful!!


This will be the grooming area:
It won't house the lawn mower and 4-wheeler much longer! I will get to hang my beautiful new hunter green crossties in this area....thanks to S! And I will use the step stool/groom box S so generously bought me as well. She knows how us short people struggle to trim ears and bridlepaths!

Outside of the barn. Dutch doors will be built sometime in the future.

Another view of the aisle: (can't wait until it is cleaned out!)

The horseshoes in the concrete belonged to horses of my past and present (Buck, Hamlet, Ollie, Brandy, and even some of Maggie's.) They are at the other end of the aisle as well.

Another view of the future stalls:

The grass continues to grow beautifully on the cross country banks (just kidding...) it is tempting to think about though!

I just keep telling myself I think I am dreaming. I just can't believe the barn is actually being finished! It is soooooo hard to be patient...but it's been 10 years since I had ponies in my own back yard and only in my dreams have I had a barn this nice! (Thank you honey!!!!) I guess he'll have to finally get that 400 inch big screen TV, or boat or motorcycle he has been dreaming about....

Looking like a Barn!

The barn is coming along!! My hubby, his Dad and our friend T worked all weekend to get as much done as they could. It was my birthday on Sunday, so my b-day gift was to work on the barn...and that was aaaaaallllll I wanted. :)

Standing back to admire their work: (T is sitting in the truck, hubby's Dad is standing on the right and that is Uncle R on the left.) Not sure where hubby was....maybe running an errand?


The trim pieces around the windows and aisle door are hard to see in the photos, but I am loving them!!!! The loft will serve as a big play area for the kids...or place for Pony Club meetings...or camp outs...or something fun we can think of!


Stall door openings awaiting their dutch doors:


Framing for the 2 stalls: (we haven't put the divider in yet...not sure when that is happening...)

Stall and big window:

We've got to get a load or two of clay for the floors. I would like to install rubber mats, but I'm beginning to overspend my budget, so they may have to wait for now...)


For now, I am having them leave this area open instead of making it into a feed room. I don't have a lot of tack, so I'll put feed and tack in one room and leave this as a grooming area. If we decide to close it in, it can be done later...(right now it is the storage area for the old mower and 4-wheeler...)


I had to share these next two photos from the Fall Festival we attended Saturday night:
My 3 wonderful kids....(left to right: A as "Super Girl," D as a mixed up New York Yankee sporting an Auburn hat...and B as "Darth Vader" (he refused to wear the mask, so he was kind of just the "Dude in Black"...) (I guess B could have gone as the "Headless Horseman" and let his red hair serve as the pumpkin...)


Then we have "Halloween Costumes Gone Wrong..." These two peas in a pod are well endowed for this age! And yes, one was a girl and one was a boy...you might be able to tell from the photo... :)

Thanks for checking in - I can't tell you how excited I am with the barn progress, but I guess you can kind of tell from my blog. :)
Happy Riding!!

Sweet Progress

My hubby's friend is between jobs, so he's had a couple of days to work on the barn. Bad for him, but good for us....He will hopefully be back on the road next week with his new job as a tanker truck driver. Pray he stays safe. Those things scare me.

Because our barn is not square and is off-set so I could have larger stalls, TC has all kinds of tricks to make it look better. He is currently adding a little overhang to the front: 1) to help fool the eye so it looks a bit more balanced and 2) to protect the doors he is planning to build.

The left side is being framed up for the 2 stalls. There is a nice big window for one someone to hang their head out of...it may be a bit high for little Tonto, but I'm not complaining. The siding above the small overhang will eventually be replaced with the same siding currently on the right side of the barn. Not sure what color it will be painted when done...I am open for suggestions.

Looking through the aisle:

I can't wait to be able to use it! My dream has always been to have a barn with an aisle. It will be D's job to keep it swept. :)

Future stall area:

You can see the forms where the guys are pouring concrete as I type this...future walls and doors will hopefully be built fairly soon. :)

Another shot from inside the stall area:

(Notice all that grass!)

Below is one of the outside wall footers my hubby poured last weekend:

We have been blessed with plenty of rain and warm weather, so the rye and fescue mix is coming up like crazy. I just pray it continues to grow throughout the winter like it is supposed to. We will over seed with fescue and carpet grass next spring.

The walls are doing their job holding the soil in place. Even with all the rain, there has been almost no erosion. (Thank you Lord!)

Grass is growing on the lower part of the hill as well....this photo doesn't do it justice.

Glorious grass.....

I've been in touch with Filly's new owner and they are both very happy and doing well. I'll have to pull some photos off her website to share. I miss Filly like crazy, but she is right where she needs to be. Her new owner said Filly nickers to her every time she sees her, so I take that as a good sign. :)

Thanks for checking in and I'll post again soon. :)

Photos of Filly's New Owner

In case you were wondering - here are a couple of photos I pulled from photobucket. This is T and her big paint gelding she events and Pony Clubs on. I've seen even better dressage photos of these two, but this is quite nice, so you get the idea!

I believe this was her profile photo when I sent her a friend request. It was definitely a jumping photo and they looked so good!

Anyway, I am thrilled that Filly may have the opportunity to be trained to her full potential. I'd love to see photos of her like this! She is only 9, so she is certainly ready to be put into steady work. I have no doubt T will train her up right. :) The only problem is I'll never be able to afford her price tag if she goes up for sale looking like this!