Tag: #granddaughters

My Weekly Smile; Oct. 14, 2020

On By DianaIn Barn stories, weekly smile21 Comments
My grand daughter Loves to cook as she helps her momma in the kitchen!

Welcome to my weekly smile as I love to share the things that bring me joy in my life and as I look at how happy Alice is in this photo, she just brightens my day! I am grinning from ear to ear, she is just adorable! My birthday is just a week away and these little ones will be coming here for my birthday ❤ that is the best present EVER! I miss my son and his wife and to be able to see baby Teddy crawling, I can’t wait! And my daughter will be coming home too ❤ my heart will be full as we celebrate this milestone birthday. I also treated myself to most of the week off from work! I am grateful the stars aligned so that I didn’t have to cover vacations or any other issues at work to get the days I needed off. Yay! Lots of smiles going on over here! 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

This year 2020 has been a very strange year. We all know one of the big reasons why. It seems like this year has messed with our brains, haha, not really but I have made decisions I regret but I am thinking I need to learn from these decisions. Exactly six months ago with emotions running high (I am thinking now, don’t make big decisions based solely on emotions) I decided to move my horses with my girlfriend and her horse to where I am at now. Of course, I tried to not be emotional about this move and my girlfriend did have needs she wanted for her horse as she wanted more shade from the sun. The covers where we were didn’t provide enough shelter like she wanted. But I figured this would be a good move for us both.

Fast forward to now and I have made the decision to move my horses back which I am doing at the end of this month. There are many reasons why I am not happy, one of the biggest is not having a riding partner on the trails. Since Gracie is 28 and has EPM which she is being treated for she has a risk of tripping and falling. EPM is a protozoa which lives in her brain, and they are trying to get her immune system to fight it. Zack has EPM too, but he is in remission as far as I know and is doing fine. So, no more trail rides with my dear friend and I have no other riding partners as there just isn’t any boarders that trail ride. All my friends are at the other stables. It is bittersweet leaving my best friend as she wants to stay with the shady stall!

It’s hard to take action shots, but I love how pretty Zack is moving. See how he is stretching out his front and back legs, that is what we consider a good mover with the stretch coming from his shoulder! Chloe is not a good mover, but has healed injuries that have added to her bad movement. She does have a lovely gallop!
This is how I’ve been riding lately. I ride on my bareback pad either on Chloe or Zack in the arena. It’s fun, but I miss the trails and its difficult and not as fun riding alone on the trails here in my town. I am just a bit lonely at this stables when my girlfriend is at work.

I am really excited to move back across town to where there are lovely trails and all my other friends. I was tearful after making this decision. I’ve been torn and almost made this decision a month ago, but didn’t want to leave my best friend. (We have been friends since 10 years old) She finally gave me permission as she said to me last week, take me out of the equation. If you remove me from all your decisions what would you do? I knew in my heart of hearts I wanted to be back to where I was, so I decided to make that happen. Shedding a few tears along the way, I didn’t realize how much I miss all my other riding buddies. My best friend is like a sister to me, we will always be BEST FRIENDS FOREVER!

Instead of regrets, I am going to look at this adventure as a learning experience. I did not know or realize what a social girl I am and how important all the social interaction is to me. Currently when I am at the barn it is like my own place because rarely is anyone there. Maybe one other boarder, but she is up at the barn so we don’t visit. It’s a ghost town, so I get very lonely even though I love my horses, I miss the people. I realize I never want horse property, unless it could be a small gentlemen’s ranch so I could have boarders. Not going to happen in my lifetime, but good to know! 😀

My girlfriend is more of an isolationist, loving the peace and quiet and aloneness way more than I can bare. I guess that is why I blog. I didn’t know what blogging is or how it seems to be and with all the friends and lovely people that share their thoughts and kind words, oh I am in blogging heaven! I never knew and drink it all up and love each and every blogger out there who want to share with me their world. It’s been amazing and am smiling at my smile post! THIS IS ME! and I am discovering me with new realizations all the time. You are never too old to learn, I am grateful for this adventure! I am going to end with a video of Zack feeling his oats running in arena.

Thank you for visiting my smile post today! What makes you smile? I am loving October so far….

Happy cowgirl Grandma,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Aug. 18, 2020 – SURPRISE!

On By DianaIn Love being Grandma, weekly smile14 Comments
  • Welcome to my weekly Smile! What are they looking at? A surprise at my house!

I know a rather unconventional opening but I really wanted to make this a surprise as my smile post this week is about the most fabulous weekend with my family. So if I used one of my other photos I will be sharing, then you would guess right away why I have the biggest SMILE right now. I am so excited to share! 😀

As we try and make sense of things with all that is happening in this crazy world my son and family decided they needed to come to California to visit my daughter-in-laws grandfather who is unfortunately very ill. My condolences to their family as he only has a short time with liver failure. I hate making this sad occasion into one of my happiest, I feel like I should apologize as this was not my plan but I can’t help but feel overjoyed because I finally met my baby grandson!! AND it was wonderful to see my granddaughter Alice! ❤ (I think I will be forgiven.)

  • Teddy has chubby cheeks!
  • He is pulling my hair, those little hands!

Oh my goodness! They only came for two days with one day spent with her family and the next they spent the afternoon at my home. So much FUN! Thank you dear Lord, I can’t tell you how happy I am to finally meet baby Teddy. Isn’t he just adorable? Well, I am prejudice I know but I just had to share as these are my only grand children and so any minute I can see them, hold them and share some love makes Grandma’s HAPPY!

  • He is such a cutie patutie! He is on a blanket his great aunt Bonnie made for him! ❤
Mom and son! Beauty and Cutie!

I have some more photos to share, selfies with my granddaughter. They aren’t bad, a little blurry here and there. I am sharing anyways! This is what makes me smile as I am remembering this last weekend. I welcome this kind of surprise any day! I didn’t find out they were coming until last Friday. It all worked out so great.

She is getting so big! Love you so much Alice!

As I was getting ready to write this blog post my phone rang and it was my son calling and Alice wanted to talk to me and tell me about her kindergarten class. It is online and she was telling me on the phone about this cookie jar. It was so cute talking to her as we have not done this often. We did video chat the weekend before this which I always love as well. I just wish we lived closer so I could help more and babysit to give mom and dad a break. In time, we will see what the future holds.

Thank you for visiting my wonderful smile post this week. I have been meaning to get this together. I have been dealing with a heat wave here where we live, it’s been really miserable trying to take care of all the animals. We had to take one of my dogs to the vet for skin problems. He is okay, got some shots and is on antibiotics. It’s always something, I don’t talk about the always something but I know we have these in our lives. I hope you all can find something that makes you smile? We all need smiles, I’ll end with how I began as these two make me smile as well! 😀

  • Thanks for stopping by! Chloe and Zack say thanks for the treats. I gave them some for you!

Happy Cowgirl Grandma,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; March 25, 2020

On By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, Love being Grandma, weekly smile13 Comments

I wasn’t sure what I was going to share this week for my weekly smile. And then my son was able to chat with me and I am so thankful for today’s technology. We video chatted and I was able to take some photos I want to share. I was so excited to chat with my grand daughter and see up close baby Teddy! I took a lot of photos, they are not the best but worth taking and I thought I would share. Today was so fun as it is amazing how it almost feels like you are there visiting, video chat is AMAZING! 😀

Baby Teddy was asleep and Mom picked him up and he just fell back to sleep in her arms!
Hi Alice! Grandma sure misses you, we had so much fun today!

My smile goes to this wonderful technology and to my beautiful family! I miss them so very much but this really brings us together. Baby Teddy will be one month old tomorrow! WHAT! Wait, it’s been a month already? I can’t believe it but he is doing great. I will share more photos. I was in grandma heaven today!!

We chatted for awhile, sharing and laughing together and then Teddy woke up!
I Love this photo of baby Teddy! ❤

We had so much fun and we got to catch up with everything. We have been painting the inside of our house, so I could show them with the video chat. We also showed each other the kitties as we made the kitty exchange back in the beginning of the year. Now I have the two sisters which are doing great. They have the two brothers which are also good. I’ll share a photo of one brother and one sister. 😀

Wolfie asleep in Arizona and Duchess on the couch at my house.

My son showed me how they have rearranged some furniture in the downstairs and they also showed me the Chore Chart they have for Alice. This is so good for young children and she really likes doing her chores and earning rewards. My son was explaining this to me when Alice asked him if he could have grandma watch her do a chore! She is just so adorable, so I was able to watch her as she loaded up the washing machine. Yay! Good job, well done! ❤

Alice showing me how she is doing her chore for today! So cute!

I just had the greatest time and was elated we were able to spend so much time together. Yes, we have done this many times before but the last few weeks have felt like months. It felt like a long time ago the last time we chatted. I think its just the overall craziness of what we all are going through that makes each day seem even more precious and since I can’t travel which breaks my heart, this all makes up for that. It definitely fills me up with happiness. Was there anything that made you smile today? I hear of many good deeds happening these days, people stepping up and helping elders in grocery stores and other wonderful things.

One last photo, HAHA! It was truly a blast to see these kids!! ❤

I really wanted to share and help bring a little smile to your day. Thank you for visiting my smile, and maybe this brought to you some cheer today! Take care of yourself and enjoy the rest of your week, the best you can. We are all doing our best!

Stay Safe, STAY STRONG!

~Diana ❤

Riding Before The Storm!

On By DianaIn Barn stories, Horse stories, Living life, Love being Grandma4 Comments

There is a storm brewing and the forecast is 100% rain for later this evening into the morning hours. This has been the most rain in a very long time this last winter and I have to admit a very cool Spring. I can’t complain about cooler weather for Southern California, especially since I live inland, we see over 100 degrees in the Summer months. Thankfully, we just spike 100 degrees but we can live in the 90’s through the Summer so I WELCOME the cool and I do welcome the rain. I know it won’t rain for long, but I also know I won’t ride tomorrow. So I took advantage of my day off and rode both horses! 😀

I turned around after hanging up my bridle and thought what a neat photo! I can’t believe I caught him with his tongue out! Haha! Funny boy!

I have to thank my best friend Sally for a wonderful trail ride on Miss Chloe! It was very uneventful which is nice as we chatted about her granddaughter, our travel plans to visit both our granddaughter’s next month, FUN times! Yes, we rode around the trails through the neighborhood here in Norco and enjoyed a leisurely walk as our horses know where to turn and take us for our ride. I was thinking I need to ride Zack since rain is coming and I just rode him in the arena. He is settling in to our leisurely rides since he is retired, he has finally figured out it’s not going to be a hard workout. I know I spoil them but in a respectful way as I don’t want them to take advantage of me which they don’t. They are respectful back!

I should count the pomegranate trees at the stables, there’s at least 10 running along the arena outside the fence. The blooms are beautiful!
I have shared other photos of my horses treating themselves with a nibble of these trees!

I had a really nice day off enjoying my ponies. The wind started to pick up, so I was able to finish all my chores and then come home and work on my crochet as I have some zoo animals I am trying to complete. I just wanted to share my day and must say I really needed the riding, it relaxes me so much. I also enjoy grooming and caring for these giant animals. I fed Chloe and got her to look at me for a closing shot. The sun peeking through the clouds to shine on her face a bit! What a beautiful girl! ❤ ❤ ❤

My beautiful trail pony!

Stay dry if you live in California or in other areas that are still having winter/wet weather. And smile big as we are all truly lucky to be enjoying this wonderful life we have, right?

Warmly, feeling blessed,

-Diana