Happy Birthday Ryan

Ryan is getting older...he is 28 today. Ha! That's how old I was when I met him. He, of course, was just a pup back then. I take much pride in that. I thought for sure I was going to have to marry a guy who was half bald and aging. Lucky for me...Ryan got the raw end of the deal. Today was fun. This morning we took Badger swimming. Then, we went to town to buy him 2 new tires. (That was his bday and Christmas gift from his parent....Thanks Mom and Dad!!!) But, he couldn't get them cause they had to be ordered. So, we then we went to lunch for his bday. Afterwards I went w/Shelby to do a few errands...and then we met him at home. (sorry for some reason my computer won't let me make new paragraphs)....anyhow...We then washed our paint horse, Twister (AKA Bean) cause he was a mud pile. I also worked Romeo. I even got on him today. We just sat there, but he did nothing. He is so ready for the next step...forward movement w/someone on his back. So, we're going to do that sometime this week. Ryan wants to snub him up to Badger and do it that way. No matter what...I doubt he'll do anything exciting...which is great! This Saturday is the big day...My first run of the season and it can't get here quick enough. We are so ready. A friend of mine got the Rosenberg arena on Wednesday so we're going to go there and work on the barrels. They changed the direction you enter the arena and I haven't run in that way yet. So, that is perfect since the 1st barrel race is there. Since we've been swimming Badger he seems to be getting much stronger and is getting pretty griddy around the barrels. Look out all you Novice horses...we've got plans to win that Novice saddle...and maybe more!!! :) We learn at church to claim what God wants for you...I'm claiming this saddle and a great barrel season right now! This blog is my witness come December! I claimed it early!

Christmas pics

I've added new pictures of Shelby and Christmas Pics under "Texas"....enjoy...

Also, here's a fun video of Rossy and Donna dancing on Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas

It was another joyous Christmas for the Boudrie's in Texas. We went to our friend's house on Christmas Eve as we do each year. We had a wonderful meal and did our traditional White Elephant Exchange. That is always a lot of fun. This year Ryan got a dremmel (sp?) and I got a really cool stanley tool box on wheels as well as some gifts inside. I think the tool box will work great to hold all my horse equipment such as bell boots, split boots, and headstalls. :)

After we opened gifts we jammed to some music. A couple of relatives of the Kettler's pulled out their guitars and played some good 'ol country music. The good stuff...George Jones, George Strait, Johnny Cash...It was a lot of fun. Shelby got tired so we left there to take her home. She went to sleep around 9 pm and slept til 4 AM. We fed her and she slept til 7:30. That was great for us. She is usually up at 6 AM.

Christmas morning we opened up all of our wonderful gifts from our families and hung out at the house til around 1 PM. We then loaded up the horses and went back to the Kettler's to enjoy a wonderful turkey dinner with all the fixings. After my belly settled down I went out and rode Badger and Mito. Badger did awesome on the barrels and is getting better and better each day. I can't wait to make that first run of the year on Jan. 3. I didn't get to work Mito like I wanted cause we had forgotten Shelby's pacifier and after several hours she had had enough. So, we packed up and went back home. The rest of the day we just hung out and let Shelby catch some ZZZZZzzzzsss....I decided to have coffee later in the evening. Big mistake cause it is now 3:05 AM and I can't sleep. Shelby woke me up around 1:30. So I went in and put her pacifier back in her mouth. She went right back to sleep and I have been up since. Too much on my mind to sleep.

So, I got up and paid bills, checked my facebook and now I'm on this thing.

I have plenty of fun pictures and videos I will add soon. I need DSL to do it so if I get an opportunity to get to a place w/wireless I'll add them.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 2009 is going to be a great year for us!

Santa Claus

We got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus on Saturday in Boling. What excitement. Our town of probably 1,000 all came out for the 'big' parade and to get their picture taken with Santa. We skipped the parade, but just had to meet Santa. The cool part is I got a polaroid picture of her with Santa. I think it's cool because that's how they did it when I was a kid and now they are doing away with polaroid cameras. So, this might be her only picture with a polaroid. What a classic!

We also had a good time with our friend's on Friday. I have to admit, after two evenings w/o Shelby I was missing her a lot! I was glad when the party started to fizzle out and left around 8:30 PM. I was also exhausted from a long day at work and sleepless nights with Shelby. She's getting so much better, but working full time and taking care of Shelby is a lot of work and makes me VERY tired. Ryan, of course, does his share it's just that babies are very demanding. Who would've thought??!! :)

Today was awesome too. Shelby was right on schedule with her naps so inbetween I went out and rode horses while she slept. Ryan stayed inside with her. I worked Mito and he did great. He's starting to learn how to stop straight, turn into the fence and lope off while I'm on him. Now, we still have some work to do, but I am pleased with our progress. The weather has been nasty so I've just beeing working horses at home. It's not nice enough weather to haul somewhere and take Shelby. She and Ryan don't like the cold. :) I also exercised Badger and ponied Romeo today. I'm so excited to start riding Romeo. He did awesome today when I ponied him. He went all the different speeds I asked of him. Sounds simple, but some horses get a little stupid and want to do their own thing. Once the weather is nice enough for Shelby to go outside I'll saddle him up and either Ryan or I will climb on him. I hope it's me, but Ryan may not let me so we'll see. :) I was trying to hold of until we had his teeth done, but I'm running out of patience so I may just leave the halter on him and make the leadline reins. We have a halter from Clinton Anderson so it has some pressure points on it which I think will work well with riding him in the round pen. I guess we'll see, huh?

Christmas is very near and we are all excited. Tomorrow we go to Rossy's house to do a white elephant gift exchange and eat dinner. That is always a lot of fun! Then Christmas Day Ryan, Shelby and me will open our gifts and enjoy the day doing who knows what. The weather is supposed to be nice, so maybe we'll get her outside.

Shelby is doing great. She is growing everyday and we are all figuring each other out which makes it so much easier!

Finally, Shelby has found her thumb...and sometimes her fingers or whole fist. How cute??!!

Lost Keys

We are taking Shelby to see Mrs. And Mr. Santa Claus tomorrow. I’m excited about that. I was trying to find a santa clause close to home. I got lucky….we are having a parade in our town (Boling) and they will be at the fire station after the parade. So, yea!! If we couldn’t find anything my friend said her dad, our pastor, would dress up if we asked him. So, I told ryan that b4 I knew about the thing in boling…so after he found out about both he said he’d rather do it w/pastor cause we know him and the santa is a stranger….arg…he is sooooooooooooooooo protective. Anyhow…too bad…she can sit on santa’s lap. I’m not going to ask pastor to dress up when there is already one in town.

Last night was fun. I had a party with some friends that I had worked with at my first job in FBISD 10 yrs ago. There are about 10 of us that get together every Christmas at a friend’s house. It is so much fun. Well, I was getting my things together to take in her house and I decided last minute not to take my purse. So, I threw it in the back seat, locked the door to my truck and went inside. It wasn't until 2 ½ hrs later that I realized I didn’t have my keys when I was trying to leave. That’s when it dawned on me that I had put my keys in my purse which was now locked in my truck. Man that sucked! I thought I was going to have to pay $60 to have someone come out and unlock it. I would also have to wait over an hour for them to get there. I knew Ryan was not going to be happy with me since it was already after 7 pm and Shelby was up and cranky. Luckily one of the ladies, Laurie, offered me to take one of her vehicles home and I could pick my truck up the next day and drop her car off. She happens to live next door to the friend’s house we were at AND they live in the neighborhood I work in. So, I took her car home. I walked in the door to hear Shelby screaming, the vacuum sweeper running and Ryan completely stressed out. Poor Ryan and Shelby. He was on his last resort so I guess I got home just in time. I took her and he went outside to gather his frazzled self and probably drink a few beers. She settled down and I had us both sleeping (Shelby and me) on our bed by 8:30. That’s where we slept until I woke up at 10:30 and put her in her own bed. She slept til 3:30 AM.

Tonight I am having my friend’s watch her so I can go to a White Elephant party with some friends from my department and another technology department. It should be a lot of fun.

Christmas is Near

I thought I should let you know that I will not be sending out Christmas Cards this year. With everything going on I decided that was the one thing I could skip this year. :) I'm sure you understand.

The weather has been cold and yucky here. It's weird weather too. One day it is 36, cold, dark, and dreary (much like Michigan) and the next it is sunny and in the 60s or 70s. Then, a couple of days later it dips down again. There is even talk about some snow next week. That would be cool.

This week or weekend I hope to get pics of Santa and Shelby. I am trying to find a Santa in our area. My friend, Mel, is helping me as well. So I hope to have a pic to share with you soon.

I hope to get my gifts out today in the mail to MI andNM. Hopefully they will get there b4 Christmas.

Tomorrow I have a party at my friend's house. There are a few of us who get together. It's always so much fun. I won't be able to stay and do the Christmas Lights Tour, but it will be fun to see everyone for a little bit. Then, Friday is another Christmas Party with some friends at work. We're going to Sam's Boat. We're going to do a white elephant exchange. THat's been a joke with us all week. Some of them have sent pics of good/bad gifts...hahaha...it's been entertaining. So, now I have the pressure of making sure I bring a 'good' gift.

I'm looking forward to that too. I already have the babysitter lined up. I decided I was going to go and if Ryan wants to join me or do something else then he can do that and have a break from Shelby. He doesn't like going to new places or hanging out with new people. So, sometimes I have to drag him but once he gets there i usually have to drag him out. Ha!

Feet

I thought this was a cute pic of Shelby's foot verses mine. :)

It's supposed to be cold again. It was so nice yesterday and now another cold front.

One more week of school and then two more weeks off. I'm looking forward to it.

I made cookies this weekend. Man those Sour Cream cookies are so good. Probably not a good thing to make but it's Christmas so why not?

I have to get my Christmas packages in the mail this week. I can't believe Christmas is next week. Where does the time go?

Click on Shelby's link to see more pics of her.

Pretty Moon

I noticed how pretty the moon was this morning when getting ready to leave for work. Thought I'd share.

This is looking out to our backyard from our house.

Snow Day in Texas

Yesterday was exciting for us southerners. It snowed! North Houston got a lot more snow than us, but it was still fun to see the small snow flakes falling down. We went from tshirt weather on Tuesday to snow on Wednesday. Crazy weather! I took a brief video of the snow while driving home last night. You can't see it that well, but it is there.

This morning I took a picture of a lady's car because it had snow on the back of it still.

Cold Weather & Young Horses don't mix :)

UPDATE,....Here is a pic of what Michigan looks like this morning...I guess my cold weather isn't so bad after all...

The weather has changed drastically since yesterday. It's about 30 degrees colder today than it was yesterday. Brrr....and it's raining...yuck...there's even talk about snow....but unlikely

Yesterday I picked up Shelby and rushed home. Ryan had two horses saddled for me. I passed Shelby on to him and then went and changed. I only had about 30 min before it was dark so I had to hurry. I got on Badger and loped him around for about 15 min. He just needs exercise to get the extra weight off at this time. The cool thing is while I was riding him you could see the big, dark clouds rolling in and then came the northern wind. It amazes me everytime a blue northeren blows in. It's something you have to experience to believe. One minute you are in a tshirt and you are fine. Five minutes later the northern blows in, the temperature drops drastically and the wind picks up. It's amazing. Yesterday was super cool cause the clouds were so big and dark and they rolled in. So, as I exercised Badger I watched it blow in.

I then had to work Mito. He's still very green so I was a bit concerned about his behavior. That cold weather can make them frisky and the young horses can get broncy. Anyhow, I warmed him up in the round pen and then got on him just to work on his turns on his back end at a walk. Then the rain started to sprinkle...cold weather, rain, and young horses do not mix. I knew that could end up bad so I got off before I wanted to. I can't afford me to get hurt at this time.

So, today I get dreary, rainy weather...at least I have cell group for church tonight. I hope it will be nicer tomorrow so I can ride again. My goal is to ride on Tuesday and Thursdays during the week. We REALLY need to sell Mito and so I REALLY need to stay on him and get him going. I hope to sell him by spring as a patterend barrel horse. We've got to down size. This economy doesn't look good so we need to set up ourselves so we can ride through the wave.

I have added new pics from MI. Here's one of Skylar's deer...congrats Skylar.

Shots for Shelby

Yesterday Shelby was 2 months old and she had to get shots. I believe both Ryan and I were equally worried and nervous. She did cry, but she was very tough and only cried for a few minutes. Her poor little feelings were so hurt. It about tore us both up. We survived and she did well the rest of the evening.

First Competitive Run

Well, my run did not go as well as I would've liked, but we made it through. I have to admit both of us were really nervous about making our first run. I had to stay off Badger until right before I ran because I was so nervous. When we ran into the arena we were doing well, but then he got stiff necked and didn't really listen to me until the third barrel and I rode like a fat girl...hahaha...I lost so much muscle from not riding. I'm hoping to get a few more competitve runs in before January 3rd, the opening season for GCBRA.

The good news is we still placed and made a little money. Although it is bad, here's our run. Oh, BTW - sorry about the crying in the background. That's my little Shelby screaming "Run Mommy, Run!" :)

Fun Day

Today I went to our friend/neighbor's house to work Badger on the barrels. I wasn't sure how we would do going fast and wanted to be sure before we went to the barrel race tomorrow. He did AWESOME...so I'm super pumped about going tomorrow and nervous too! Badger is so much snappier. If I can keep him off the barrels we'll do awesome. He is just so quick around the barrels and sucks them up so tight we have to time things right or we might hit it coming out of it. But, I know we'll do great tomorrow. Besides...it's reallyjust a practice run. My quest for my goal to win the novice saddle doesn't begin until the new GCBRA season January 3. :) This is just to give me an idea of where we stand with the other competition. After today I feel great.

Ryan and I went to dinner last night and then went and visited with Erin for a little while before picking Shelby up. Boy did I miss her and of course she was sound asleep by the time we picked her up. Karen's girls wore her out I guess. Here's a picture of Alana with Shelby. Aren't they cute?

5 Years Today

Ryan and I were married 5 years ago today in Las Vegas. What wonderful memories! I know we didn't do the traditional church and all that stuff, but I still think of our wedding day as one of the best in my life, if not the best! Here's to those who didn't believe in us NA NA BOO BOO...hahahaha...

And for those of you who did...thank you! We love you for it!

Tonight we are going to go out to eat and have a date without Shelby. Thanks to Karen for being so kind to watch her.

I am looking forward to eating with Ryan and having a conversation without Shelby interrupting, but I am sad to have less time with her. Good thing tomorrow is Saturday! :)

I also may go to a barrel race on Sunday. We'll see how the weekend goes. :)

Fun Video

Here's a cute video of Shelby taken earlier this week. :)

Ryan or Shelby

I have been sifting through my 1700 emails and I found the email from Nancy with Ryan's pics. No doubt about it, Shelby is his! I have more pics of him under Shelby's link...but this one reminds me the most of Shelby.

Ryan

Shelby

Shelly just sent me pics of her boys I've added them to "michigan"

Last Day

Today is my last day of maternity leave. Where did the time go? Taking care of Shelby and getting well again sure sucked it all up. That is ok. I am sad to go back, but yet looking forward to getting back into the network again. I plan to spend most of tomorrow looking through all my emails with the hopes that I will be able to delete most of them.

Today I have enjoyed working Mito in the round pen and getting on him for the first time in like a year. He is so green but he will learn quickly. Hopefully I'll be able to get him patterned on the barrels and poles and sell him in the spring. I also rode Badger and ponied Romeo. Romeo had some issues with ponying him. He wanted to sit back. Well, today he did great! He even ponied at a trot and he did exactly what I wanted. So, I was super excited!

I also had the pleasure of doing some cleaning...oh joy...I sure wish I had a maid.

Well, gotta keep it short. Ryan is on his way home and so I need to get my hair done and shower done before my little girl gets home.