2 years makes a BIG difference!

Last night we met Jerry and Jenny in Nashville to give them our horses. We don't want horses staying at our house for such a long time while we are at the trail ride. Plus one of the horses (Big John) is going to pull a wagon and has to be worked with before the trail ride. So of course we met at "Cock of the Walk" to eat and then made the switch. Jenny got some really great pictures while we were together. After looking at all of them I realized that I had the exact same picture of Mark, Aaron, and Jerry as the one she took last night, only mine was 2 years before. I thought it was pretty cool. Check it out! 2 years ago June 2010

July 2012

Getting ready!

Mark and Aaron have been riding every day together lately. It's good trail ride preparation for Aaron. We ride for 4-6 hours at a time and it can be hard for little people to last that long unless they are used to riding a lot. Aaron has been enjoying it and has even started trying to hold the reins and direct the horse by himself. I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures the other day of their 'riding lessons.'

Corban's first hike

Yesterday we took Corban on his first hike. He is 2 months old now and since it was a pretty day we decided to call some friends and go to Short Springs to hike down to Machine Falls. The Muse family and Joel and Liam joined us. It's a pretty short hike and Aaron LOVES to hike, especially if friends come. He always gets to throw rocks at the bottom of the water fall and climb on the rocks. I was excited to take Corban and see how he would do. He did pretty well. Slept most of the time in his little carrier. It was definitely a good work out for mama:) Everything went great and we had a lot of fun. The only bad part was when some very un-intelligent bees decided to have their hive right on the trail and Mark, Aaron, and Madeline very innocently stepped on it. Mark and Aaron were stung 3 times and Madeline was stung once. Hearing your child scream bloody murder when you can't get to them because are protecting your 2 month old is tough...and the downpour of rain immediately following it didn't help much. Thankfully we were right at the end of the hike and everyone recovered well. Everyone decided we would hike again.

RAIN!

We have been DRY around here lately. No rain and super high temperatures has been the name of the game. We have had some rain the past two days and it has been coming down pretty steady for most of today...yay!!! Aaron took advantage of the wonderful wetness by going outside and riding his bike and stomping in puddles. Praise God for rain. My flowers are already perking up:)

Also, Jerry got thrown from a mule yesterday and broke his hip. He is getting ready to go to surgery soon to have a partial hip replacement done. We are all praying for him during the surgery and especially the recovery time to be short. Looks like the trail ride is on hold for now...not sure if we will be able to go. Either way Jerry won't be riding.

Surprise!

So for July 4th we decided to surprise our parents and show up in Melber. It was Corban's first trip to Melber. He did great! Slept the entire way there and then again the entire way home yesterday. We didn't see fireworks because it is too dry, but still enjoyed spending time with family and friends. Aaron got to introduce his baby brother Sunday morning at worship and even lead the 'opening prayer.' He has never really prayed in front of people like that and usually we have a specific reason for praying when we do so Mark and I weren't sure what he would say, or even if he would say it. He bowed his head and said "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of slavery and you shall have no other gods before me. Amen." Mark and I immediately looked at each other and chuckled. I guess if you don't know what to pray about, just quote scripture. I will never forget that. Here are a few pictures of our long weekend. Up next...the trail ride:)