The Best Christmas Gift Yet.

When my daughter decided that she wanted Santa to bring her a horse, a real horse, I was afraid that she was going to get dissappointed. We tried to explain to her that Santa might not be able to get a real horse on his sleigh because it would probably scare the reindeers. She decided this was okay when we were at Costco one day and she saw Butterscotch the horse. This would have been fine, but she was almost too big for Butterscotch and I did not see her getting that much enjoyment out of her. After Thanksgiving she changed her mind, and decided she really wanted Santa to bring her baseball equipment. She wanted to play T-ball, so she needed a mitt, a bat, a ball and a T-ball stand.

The only thing was that she really loved horses and was always talking about them. So leave it to Santa, he got her baseball equipment and horseback riding lessons. This was the best gift that Santa could have gotten her! The night before her lessons she could not go to sleep and she woke me up at 5:30am to see if it was time to go. It was so hard for her to wait until 1:00pm.

Her lessons were with Miss Karen who did not live to far from our house. When we got to Miss Karen's ranch, she had a grin plastered to her face and it never left!

Miss Karen taught her how to brush the horse and put the saddle on. She was a little timid at first, but before too long she was right in there.

She got to brush the horse and also help with the saddle.

When she was able to get on the horse, she was in heaven. And of course, she looked absolutely adorable with her cowboy hat and her long hair. It didn't matter that it was overcast that day, her smile lit up the arena.

Miss Karen showed her how to hold her reins and how to get Mocha started. She was a little quiet at first, but before long she could get him to stop and to get started again. Miss Karen never led the horse, but showed my daughter how to get Mocha to do what she wanted it to do.

She had Mocha doing what she wanted in no time. Here she was getting her to stop.

Towards the end, she was even riding with one hand. She looked like an old pro after just a half hour.

When they were done, she rode Mocha out of the riding arena back to the saddling area. She got to go out the gate all by herself.

Miss Karen also taught her how to get off the horse using the stirrups. It was funny because the stirrups wouldn't go short enough for her legs.

She was so proud of herself when she was done. You would have thought she had just climbed Mt Everest. She was so happy.

She watched Miss Karen take off the saddle and go in the barn to get Mocha some treats. She sat on the horse trailer and I got some really cute pictures of her. These two were a couple of my favorites.

I know I am not objective, but she is one cute little cowgirl! I am so glad I let her buy the cowboy hat last summer when we were going to a baseball game and it was going to be 105 degrees. She picked out the cowboy hat and would not consider any other of the more girly baseball ones. It came in handy for the photo shoot of this riding lesson.

Here she is feeding Mocha her treats. Again she was a little timid at first but then got right in and gave them to her. She let Mocha eat them out of her hand. Miss Karen said she was going to be a fine cowgirl when she wiped the slobber on her pants.

Here is the little cowgirl leading her horse back to her pen. She looks so grown up and so little at the same time!

She can't wait until next weeks lessons. Santa got her four weeks worth of lessons. We will see if she is still this excited after that. I of course can see her barrel racing in a year! Just kidding since we live in town and don't even own a horse. For now we will just enjoy the half hour a week of joy.

Friday Night Football

We were able to attend my nephews football game on Friday night. We had a quick trip over to the neighboring town, who happened to be the rival when I was in high school. We had fun routing for Big #75! (We didn't know his number before we got there but it was easy for us to pick him out.) It was a great night for football and it was made even better when we won!

The game went back and forth and we were trailing at half time 6 to 18. We scored twice and did a conversion making it 20 to 18. My six year old son looked at me and said with a big smile on his face, "Mommy, 20 is bigger than 18! Were winning!" We never looked backed. It is always fun to prevail over a rival. The team is doing great so far and are 4-1. Here's to having a great season.

National Champions!

How about them Fresno State Bulldogs! What an impressive job that this team did at the College World Series. They did Fresno Proud! We can always count on Fresno State to shock the sports world with an upset! These guys worked hard, played as a team and never got down. Way To Go DOGS! Fresno Bulldogs that is!