June

Here some pictures I remembered to capture during the whirl wind two weeks I have had.

Loved it.

 Every second.

But I honestly don’t have interesting stories to go along with all of them,

I did get to spend some extra time with this hunk during the last two weeks.

Headbands for the flower girls in the wedding, not quite sure I like them though. They might be “misplaced” before that day comes a knockin.

 

Made, or “re-made” some jugs.

Politically correct, a pickle jar & a Ranch dressing jug.

One is for change, cuz this isn’t cutting it.

 And the other is for all our “memories” ticket stubs, programs, most recently 3D glasses from Avengers

SAWOOON

  I get to marry him in 34 days.

I think that is enough for one month!

This next month is full of quick day trips to Greeley, for last minute fittings, showers & bachelorette parties.

Baseball games, Karly's State Convention in Pueblo, hair doos, cuts and colors

A little family reunion in Glenwood, a horse show, dog, chicken and house watching.

Getting my hair all ready for the big day and after June, there are only 7 days left until I will be a Stoltzfus.

BRING IT ON!!!

Oh the Places You'll Go

One of the best things about the careers that Jeb and I have both dreamed of is that there is not one state where either of us has to be.

OR continent

Jokingly Jeb and I have tossed around the idea of moving at least a few times before our future children are old enough to be in school.

There is NO WAY I am cut out to home-school & I (we) really want our kids to go to a school a lot like the one we went to. Maybe just a touch bigger, but still a small town school.

We also don’t want our kids to move from school to school after they have started, maybe once or twice but not every other year.

So, we play this game, sortof like would you rather, only with locations.

Florida or Northern California?

San Fran J or Ohio?

Mexico or Africa?

Alaska or the North Pole?

Okay so the last few are jokes

But what normally happens is, I am ready for some grand adventure outside of my native Colorado boarders and Jeb is ready to settle down, just down the road.

Don’t get me wrong I love Colorado, and if that’s what is best, I’d love to raise my kids here, but I’m a little ready to spread my wings.

Go on an adventure,

Live in a climate that only reaches 50 degrees F on a cold cold day.

Grow a palm tree, have a fresh fruit garden…

Obviously I am only thinking of warm places to liveJ.

I went to Alamosa this weekend to see my cowboy, and while we were riding horses at the end of the day in the bitter cold air he turns to me and says…

“What about New Zealand?”

Pretty sure he’s not kidding

The people in New Zealand are supposedly obsessed with American rodeo and horse shows, but no one knows what they are doing.

A friend from New Zealand is actually visiting Jeb’s boss and I guess has very entertaining stories to tell.

Jeb says he is making gobs of money running cow horse show, and isn’t close to a professional.

So what is Jeb’s plan?

To move to New Zealand to train rope horses and rodeo.

Me? I’m all for it. Not quite sure how the cosmetology industry is over there, but I’d be pretty stoaked to check it out!

I am just glad Jeb has no desire to sign a 2 year contract with a cattle ranch in Russia like his previous room-mate just did.

I’ve never been there, but I was told if I think Alamosa, Colorado is cold, I better pack another layer of clothes for Russia.

No Thanks!

I think I might like New Zealand though!

State Fair

Labor Day weekend was the last weekend of the annual sate Fair in Pueblo.

The State Fair hosts a horse show that weekend, and Jeb got to attend with his boss.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the State Fair.

I love:

The food

People watching, (Jeb’s boss said: “If you are ever feeling a bit down on yourself, just come to the state fair” and he is right, characters galore!)

The Vendors

The Food

Sugar loaded lemonade

The food

Usually the concerts but this year we didn’t attend one because the lineup was pretty poor.

The food

Oh and… deep fried pieces of heaven with generous amounts of powdered sugar on top.

This year, since Jeb was working from Thursday to Monday, I drove down between my work shifts to spend a few extra hours with him.

What I didn’t realize was that he was going to be extremely busy with all of the show horses.

So, I drove down after work on Thursday and Friday to catch the tail end of the horse show both days and to have a fair food dinner with my man.

My sister Lacy was kind enough to let us stay at her house all weekend, so we would head over to her place after all the horses were fed and taken care of for the night. (This was usually around 11:30 or 12.)

Both nights Jeb insisted we rent a movie to watch once we got to Lacy’s place, both nights his eyes were shut before the opening credits.

Jeb had to be at the fairgrounds by 6a.m. and I had to be at work by 7a.m. So, we were up bright and early by 5a.m. for a quick trip to the gas station for a coffee, and then I dropped him off and headed back up the hill for a few hours.

After two late nights and two early mornings, my 6 hour shift on Saturday seemed to take forever. Plus, Jeb’s parents, brother and brother’s girl friend were all down at the fair, so I was itching to get down there as fast as I could.

Tyler and Robyn decided to stay the night with us at Lacy’s Saturday night so when Jeb was finished working for the day the four of us walked around the fair and rode some rides.

I just love that the four of us can do things together.

Tyler’s girlfriend is such a sweet girl. She is so easy to get along with, and she fits right in with my sisters and me.

When you grow up with two sisters, (one 16 months younger than you) you learn to share everything.

I mean EVERYTHING.

And Robyn joined right in.

 Tyler and her hadn’t planned on staying in Pueblo overnight so neither of them had a change of clothes.

Lacy had a big t-shirt that she lent Tyler, and dressed Robyn in a whole outfit. (It’s also a plus when you are close to the same size as your sisters.)

I made breakfast for Lacy and her two room-mates on Sunday morning as a “thank you”, we had “monkey bread” and “green monster smoothies.”

We spent the morning finishing the movies that Jeb had rented the two nights before and getting ready to once again head over to the State Fair.

We walked around and watching different parts of the horse show, and indulging in some more lemonade and a few turkey legs 

Lacy Tyler and Robyn went back up to Westcliffe in the afternoon, so I soaked up some sun in the bleachers.

Jeb was given the night off so that we could get some real food into our bellies, not deep friend and smothered in butter. We went to Chili’s to split two appetizers and then over to Lacy’s so Jeb could catch a few extra hours of sleep.

Monday Lacy had class so Jeb woke me up before he had to leave and I spent my Labor Day watching the end of the Colorado State Fair Horse Show.

That evening we had to go our separate ways, back to Alamosa for my cowboy and back to Westcliffe for me.

The only thing that will make next year’s State Fair better is that my last name will be Stoltzfus and we will get to go to OUR home together.

Broke By Sunset

NJC holds a contest every spring where 4 second year students compete against each other, and well time to "break" a horse.

Students all draw out of a hat for which horse they get at 9:00a.m.

and have to work with a halter broke horse for the remainder of the day.

This is Jeb and the horse he drew (my favorite out of the four {Lucky me}) Most of the morning was filled with "Ground work" lots of touching, rubbing, and in my words loving.
Jeb saddled and un- saddled his horse a few times, made him trot to the left then to the right... lots or repetition.

Then, Jeb made his horse lay down with the saddle on his back, and again started patting, rubbing, and "loving"

Jeb also worked a lot with his rope, making sure his horse wouldn't spook around it. He made lots of noise with it around the horse, he made the colt walk over it, and walk around it, just to get used to it.

Then Jeb SLOWLY got on his colt

Calmly

and quietly

He got on!

In the middle of the day, (lunch time) the students gave their horses a break, in the afternoon Jeb rode his horse a lot, back and forth back and forth back and forth, then at the end of the day, each student had to do a pattern around half of the arena, to show if their horse could not only walk, but trot, lope, stop, and back up too. This was the only part in the day that Jeb's horse decided to not get along with Jeb, but Jeb stayed patient and worked the little kink out of his colt. After the pattern each contestant had three minutes to show something that their horse could do.

Jeb stood up in his saddle and did a rope trick.

(too bad by this point my camera was long gone :( )

I am very proud to report that JEB WON!!!

He won a few prizes for all his hard work, which made him blush, but I was so proud of him. He was so patient with the horse he worked with all day.

I am excited for him to start training horses on a regular basis, and with more than just one day to work with them.