SOLD!!!

And noone believed that I could do it! I had my first sale of a product of my breeding program. Cloud, Telli's second colt, who is three years old, sold to a woman named Lesla who absolutely loves him! She can't believe how well behaved he is as a young horse! She was even able to dress him up as her princess mount this Halloween! I'm very excited that I sold him on many levels.... He sold for $7,500 so I actually made a profit on him. ( I still am in the red for my whole horse operation though...... good thing I can write it off on my taxes!) It's great to have money coming in to pay for my HAY!!! and the rest of my horse addiction! I did it!! and I will do it again!

Rags is Reserve Champion Colt of Inspection!

This year I took my two foals to the ISR/Oldenburg inspection in August. Brianna was only about 5 weeks old and she went too! Luckily a friend of mine took care of her all day since I was totally involved with the horses and stressed to boot! I never would have survived this day without the help of my friends, especially Kris, Wendy, and Rachel. Well, I'm very happy to say that my breeding program this year excelled!! I had two colts, Rags, and Lightning. Lightning is Telli's foal and he is full of spunk. He is bred more for dressage while Rags is bred for the hunter world. Lightning got an amazing score for his movement..... an 8.5 out of a possible 9.0! His overall score was 8.1 which is awesome! Telli's last baby got an overall 7.9 2 years ago. Then there was Rags.... he scored an overall 8.3 which was high enough to earn him the second best of the foal crop that showed up-- about 12 foals. I'm so proud! I've always loved the breeding.. and the thought of putting two different genomes together.... it's like what Ali and I used to pretend with model horses- now I get to do it in REAL life! YEA!!! I have high hopes for these two foals.... Rags had someone fly up from LA to come see him.... I haven't heard anything from her since, so say a prayer that I sell him! (The foal in the last photo is Lightning.. you can see that he has very different movement than Rags, better for dressage.)

This is my friend Camille... She's my first friend. She's two days older than me and she lives only a few miles away. Her mom's name is Colleen and she does Stroller Strides, an exercise group that Camille and I get to go to, with my mom. We are going to go to Camille's house for Halloween. I'm going to be Tigger and Camille is dressing up like a pumpkin. Maybe mom will post some pictures of how cute we are later..... I'm off to sleep now..... eat, play, sleep. Such is the life!

Mom's breast buddies!

Here are some of my friends from my breastfeeding success group! Rob calls it my gab session..... he's really right. It's a time for moms with babies to gather, nurse together, and TALK!!! Like every woman needs! But it is kind of cool because we get to weigh the babies weekly to make sure that they are growing, etc. Brianna seems to be doing OK. These pictures were taken on the Breastfeeding Awareness walk! Did you know that BREAST IS BEST!? ; )

The Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we went to Susanville to visit with the Hodgson side of the family. It was a great little get together. Brianna met her cousins and Uncle for the first time! The weather was wonderful and a fun time was had by all! Carol works at the pumpkin patch every year..... Zech and Grace both picked out a pumpkin for Brianna's first Halloween--- Uncle Rob wanted the pumpkins to be small "like a baseball or smaller"! I don't think he wants to have a big pumpkin around to rot on the doorstep this year!

Genelle's wedding

Brianna had fun at her third wedding in her three month life! She was a very good little girl as we enjoyed ourselves at my friend Genelle's wedding in San Jose. We went down for the event and drove home the same night... on the way home, both of us wished that we could get in the car seat with Brianna and just sleep!

Goofing around

Do you think Rob is having fun with his daughter? He goes off to change her diaper and comes back like this! ; ) Poor little Brianna..... she will get him back one day!

Last week, Brianna and I ventured to Lodi to see Betsy's new place. It is huge and looks beautiful already! Although they've only been there for 3 weeks, they already have painted the whole outside and have appointments to put in hardwood floors and redo the carpet! WOW!! I've been here 4 years and have done nothing to my house! Maybe I should consider doing something soon to keep up with the Jones's, I mean Meyer's!
It was fun to see Sydney... one day she and Brianna can be playmates!

Sip and See

I was in Fresno this weekend for my mom's famous SIP and SEE for her grandchildren. This one was for my little Brianna! We had an extended party, starting at 10 am when we were stillin our PJ's, and ending at 5pm! And the party was supposed to be from 1-3pm! My mom had accidentally sent out a few invites with the wrong time on them-- they said from 10-12pm! So, we had two attendees Joanna Stilson, and Karen Spencer-- obviously the "S" names were affected--- who came before the party was ready... This was a little stressful to my mom but she did a superb job of pulling it off in spite of this!! Noone else would have know except that we told everyone since we were laughing so hard about it!
Brianna was a good little girl, a little clingy to her mom but overall was good at being passed around to "real" moms. i.e. those who had successfully raised a child or two! ; ) Kirra got a chance to meet her cousin and hold her too!! All in all, a very fun visit. Thanks MOM!

Daddy dressed me

Well, today Rob dressed Brianna. We were going to church since it was Sunday. We now affectionately call it her BAM BAM outfit. She was accused of being a boy! Can you believe it!?

Apple Hill visit

Rob and I decided to take a little trip to Apple Hill. All went well until "the breakdown"-- when Brianna decided that she had had enough! My little girl has some lungs!! Here are some pictures... also some pictures of her cute outfit-- Rob thinks it makes her look "fat"! ; )

Time Warp-- Papa and Mimi visit in July

I'm quite behind on my blogging.... When my surgery was originally cancelled on July, my parents decided to continue to come for their preplanned visit. We had a really great time together. Mimi was helpful in getting me and Brianna OUT and ABOUT. We went on a walk by the American River... It took us longer than planned to get out of the house, and we paid for that mistake since it was like 100 degrees out! Our walk was short and sweet and ended with Brianna dipping her feet in the river. She also got a chance to see fly fishing for the first time, but I'm not sure that her vision at the time allowed her to fully enjoy the excitement of the sport : ) What we did learn is that she's like her mother and doesn't like COLD water! She started to cry as soon as her feet hit the water! Poor baby Brianna.... My dad still thinks that she is going to be an olympic swimmer with those big feet of hers, but if so, she'll have to train in a heated pool!

The Tapper Wedding

Well, this past weekend, we took the plunge and took Brianna on her first road trip!! We were a little worried about it, but it went very smoothly; she was wonderful. Other than some minor evening crankiness a few times, we had a perfect experience. Here she is, just 2 months old, and she's already been to 2 weddings!
This was the wedding of Andy Tapper who is a long time member of "the ranch group". He was the baby of the group so it's quite strange to see him all grown up and getting married himself. The wedding was beautiful and it was great having the chance to visit with all the other "ranch group" members, Gen 1, 2, and 3!! We packed it in with a dinner the first night, day at the beach on Sat, visit with Joan's family Sat night, get together on Sunday am with the Saunders and Beckers and their kids!, then the wedding,and THEN brunch before we got on the road!! WOW!! That's alot for anyone....... let alone a 2 month old! We survived...... ; ) and had fun too!

Domer, my friend; remembered

The passing of the baton..... On Sunday Aug 31st, 2008 I put Domer down. It was exactly 4 years since I moved into this place that he so faithfully sheparded. I knew it was time, because he became unable to get up....and if he couldn't get up, he couldn't protect the place. That was his passion. He diligently would always choose to hang out with Sutter when she was tied up or in the pen... a constant companion. Domer was my buddy from childhood into adulthood. He met Happy, my childhood dog, and was around to meet Brianna, my adorable daughter. He was my partner through vet school and through my 12 years of being a veterinarian. He was the constant in my ever changing life. I will miss him dearly, but know that he is in a place where all his limbs work and he can run like crazy..... and I know that I will someday see him in heaven!

No Surgery

I can't believe it, but my surgery has been put off again! I was supposed to have my surgery 2 weeks ago, but I forgot to stop my Ibuprofen in time. Well, we were set for a second date tomorrow. My mom changed her plans to be here with me, etc. Today the office called and said, "no surgery". They had apparently just reviewed the Xrays taken 3 weeks ago and noticed that I didn't have any kidney stones!! HUmm.... Where did they go, or were they ever there? I have to admit, I'm a little upset only to hear about this now!! The plan is that now I have to wait to have a CT scan done BEFORE I can have this stent out.... I SOOoooooo want this thing out of my body! Patience..... ok, I'm trying.

Broken tooth!!!!

Well, our relaxing Saturday turned into a dental emergency! Rob was cleaning out the back of his truck and slipped off the step on the side of his truck and hit hs tooth on the window, shattering it! We had to call 1 800 DENTIST!! ; ) to find a dentist open on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend!! Rob doesn't make his emergencies convenient.... ;) I have to say that 1 800 Dentist was very helpful and we got right in. He had to have a crown started on that tooth, and will have it finished in a few weeks. Of course it was a front tooth! Thankfully, it doesn't look like the root was involved..... we're happy for little things. Brianna was a trooper; she came along and she and I went shopping at Target where she got a very cute Pooh sun bonnet!! Well, we had to do something to pass the time; she's gotta learn to shop sometime! WINk WINK!

Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grandma Hodgson visit

On the 17th, the Hodgson clan was able to make it out to see our little darling. She was having a pretty difficult day.... one of her most fussy ones to date unfortunately! We did have a nice visit, but I hope the next one has a baby who is smiling a bit more! We were able to take pictures of the four generations... with Great Grandma, Grandpa, Rob, and Brianna! How cool is that!

A few pictures, just 'cause

Our little cutie!

My first wedding....

My friend Wendy got married on 8/8/08 and we've been invited since before Brianna was conceived! We had to go! And we did; Rob wasn't too thrilled about taking her at her age, but all went well. She was relatively well behaved, had to be nursed a few times, but otherwise was just adorable!! We had a chance to use our new stroller and everything..... And she had an excuse to get all dressed up-- I love dressing up- now I get to dress up my baby too! FUN!!!!