Weekend Coffee Share; August ~ Fun Month!

On August 28, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share21 Comments

*Welcome to my coffee share! I just love this bearded Iris and wanted to feature it again.*

How can it be August 28th? The weeks have just flown by and it has been a busy but fun summer. As I am writing this it is really overcast outside which I am a bit surprised but if the marine layer is thick enough to head inland where we are at it will stick around for at least half the day. That will be today, much cooler and cloudy, a nice reprieve from the hot summer days. I have to say that we have been lucky this summer, so far it has not breeched 100F (38C) and we have had summers where we have hit 115F (46C) that was years ago, now that’s stinking HOT! I think we will be okay this year and just have the usual 90’s most days. We do not have humidity here, I like to call it a dry heat even though we sweat like crazy working outside with the horses. It cools off very nicely every evening, I can’t complain.

I started out this month of August heading to my family in Arizona. It was my granddaughter’s 7th birthday. It was so much fun to be there to celebrate with the family. I can’t believe she is 7 years old and she is heading into first grade. She has since started school and her dad told me she LOVES first grade, that just makes me smile. 😀 My grand daughter is so smart, funny and quite the character. She’s a wonderful older sister and with her baby brother 2 1/2 years old, I know there’s always a little trouble with sharing. He’s starting to talk more each day which helps with communication between them. They have my heart, love them so much! ❤

She is so adorable as we sang happy birthday with most of the kitchen lights out and the glow of the candles lit so bright! Baby brother was trying to blow out her candles, silly guy and after she made a wish and blew out her candles I took her photo with the cake. My flash went off which caught her by surprise, so cute! She also has poses for her photos which we do not ask her to do of course, and I just giggle as she is so adorable. I will be saying adorable a million times in this post because that’s just the best description. I miss them so very much!!!

*She doesn’t like her hair brushed so I took her photo to show her the pretty braid!* ❤

We headed to the water park nearby the next day which the kids just love! Me and my selfies, these turned out so great and I went crazy and took one with everyone who went including my daughter and my son. The only one who didn’t come was my daughter-in-law, I feel bad I don’t have a selfie with her and didn’t get one on this visit. The selfie with my grandson is now my background photo on my phone. ❤ I may switch it out soon with the one with my granddaughter! I change them often depending on my mood. 😀

My son and daughter selfies, love this so much! My heart is full and I am feeling blessed to have such a wonderful family and am so happy to be fortunate to have these two grand children who make us laugh and are so full of energy and love. I have lots of photos that I took but wanted to share other events for this month. I can now see the advantage of sharing weekly because I can dedicate the whole post to one event. Since it’s been a month I will continue on and share my horsey photos as my horsey sister arrived just over a week ago. Her son’s birthday was this month and so she flew down from Idaho and stayed a week. We had a ton of fun as she helped me with my young horse Murphy and we rode out on trail with my other horse Chloe. She was able to ride a friends horse with me on the trails.

*Murphy enjoying a turn out in the arena!*

*My sister riding Murphy! He is doing great and learning so much!*

As I share this month I am thinking of how fast this year has gone by so far. I am terrible at planning things but am thinking I should try and be more conscience of this and try and plan more for the future. I tend to fall into a rut of day to day things and need to think beyond the moment. I blame my lack of planning on being a middle child. I tend to just do things as they come up as one sibling or another make plans and/or my daughter who is the planner of the family makes plans and thankfully I can usually join her or she invites me and her dad. We have planned to meet at President Reagan’s library in 2 weeks as we’ve never been and they have a WW2 presentation there that will end in October. The library is about half way to my daughter’s house so the plan is each of us driving there and meeting up for the tour. I am looking forward to this and am so thankful my daughter is helping plan and getting us there!

This month has been full of events. Our 38th wedding anniversary was August 19th which I almost forgot about but I took that day off to add to the days to hang out with my sister. My hubby and I went out to dinner and he is so sweet and got me some gifts and I got him a sweet card. I took a photo I will share.

*He is so very sweet and incredibly thoughtful! The box has a beautiful necklace with double hearts and heartfelt saying!*

Why am I so bad at gift giving in general? I would gladly give away money, my shirt off my back or anything one could want if I can afford it. But I can stress for days and not know what to get and I rarely get him anything for our anniversary as I have no idea what to do, I am serious. I am horrible and I got him a sweet card and that’s it and I will ask him if he needs anything but we have been married for so many years the words romantic don’t strike me as being a great definition of how I feel. I LOVE him with all my heart and I know I am the glue that is our family unit and all I have to offer up is the love and consistent “being here” as I will always be there for my hubby and my family. I guess that is my gift.

I considered removing the last paragraph as I am embarrassed I can’t be more giving in the gift department to show my appreciation and love through material things. I can’t be alone in this world so I am going to leave all of this mumbo jumbo in and say that as I try and figure out the “why” I am like this as I feel rather selfish to not buy him anniversary gifts. I do not expect him to do what he does for me as I would be just as happy and never blink an eye if he just bought me a card and we had dinner out. He almost always gets me these gifts. He got me Jade gifts for our 35th anniversary, me? I got him nothing, zip, zero, nadda….. A big hug and a kiss to thank him! Haha, it is what it is and I am who I am….. Sharing myself to ya’ll wasn’t my plan this weekend. But there it is! 😀

I’ll end with these two photos. My sister riding Murphy! I think I may get a print of this to send to her for Christmas. Or I may make her a photo book with all the photos I have taken this past year of her and Murphy. I thought I would try a selfie with Murph on her last ride. Haha, it turned out pretty cute! Thank you for visiting and having coffee with me today. As I think about this month of August, there are a ton of birthdays. My granddaughter 8/3, my brother 8/4, my nephew 8/14 and my sister’s 8/23 and 8/26. With my anniversary thrown in there 8/19 you can see its a crazy month of celebrations. Most of them were virtual but still, no wonder I have been busy!

I hope you all have had a wonderful August and I am looking forward to the Fall as September is days away. Thank you Natalie for hosting the weekend coffee share link up and I hope you all have a great week ahead.

Loving Family Cowgirl Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Birthdays, Vacations, I can’t believe it’s June!

On June 11, 2022 By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, weekend coffee share24 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share. Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea as we sit and chat? I have been one busy Mom, Grandma and cowgirl. I have been a bit under the weather as I returned from my visit to my family in Arizona at the end of May and have a head cold. My grandson was sick the week before and they thought was better but still had a bit of a cough. I wasn’t worried and would have still gone and visited even though I ended up sick too, I am getting better each day. I didn’t share last week because I haven’t been feeling great. Onward, as I have so much to share I hardly know where to begin!

How about birthday celebrations! My daughter-in-law and my son both have birthdays in May. We headed there for my sons birthday May 30th and had a ton of fun. My grandkids are growing up as my granddaughter will be turning 7 years old this August, she’s getting so BIG!! My grandson is just over 2 years old and is so smart and into everything. He is quite the handful but is as cute as can be and I cherish every minute I spend with these cutie patuties!

*Me and my selfies! I have to take them fast but they are so FUN! I’m a crazy Grandma!*

My daughter and other son joined me as we visited with the son that lives in Arizona. It was wonderful having all 3 of my grown kids together. My son in Arizona is the only one who has children and they may end up being my only grandchildren at least in the foreseeable future. That’s A-okay with me as I feel fortunate and very grateful for my beautiful family and grandkids!

My daughter with my grandson, isn’t he adorable? I couldn’t decide which photo to share of my daughter with Teddy so I just shared them both! And the center photo of my granddaughter who has the cutest smile. I think she has had so many photo’s taken of her that she often makes silly faces. I will share a silly selfie as she loves to make funny faces. What characters and what FUN!

This may end up being the last birthday celebration at my son’s house in Arizona as he has been applying to jobs in other states. We do not know what the future holds but I know he will do excellent as he grows with his career in Medical physics or Bioinformatics which is a growing field with technology and the medical field. He is currently working on his Master’s attending online at Stanford for Bioinformatics study. I am so proud of all he has accomplished as with all my children, I’m a proud mama!

How are you doing, can I get you a refill? I have gotten a fresh cup of iced coffee as it’s been pretty hot this last week and into this weekend. It hits the spot, I did not grow up drinking iced coffee as we just didn’t have such a thing. Now I LOVE iced coffee, haha, how things have changed! Now let’s see, where was I? In Arizona it was only really hot on the first day but Memorial day weekend had nice weather. We visited a mall and ate lunch at the Tikki Shack which was delicious. I took a few photos as we ate and walked around the outdoor mall. We spent most of our time at Barnes and Noble bookstore. 😀

Great memories and fun times with family. I could not ask for a better vacation and I am so appreciative of my children and all that they do for each other and for the family as a whole. I love them so much! ❤

Can you believe it is June? This year just seems to be flying by and I have been thinking a lot about my blogging and more like the lack of it as I have been rather absent lately. I am a creature of habit, and so with that I have my habits of the things I enjoy doing each day (and I have to squeeze in the things I don’t enjoy as much too, which is usually housework. Haha!) I do enjoy sharing and blogging but I feel like I have kind of lost my groove. I lost that “habit” of sitting down and writing! I use to think of things through my week that would stand out to me and I would say to myself, that would be fun to blog about. I think as I stepped back I lost that lust of thinking about what will I blog about today or this weekend, does that make sense?

I will say since I am writing about this that last year was a really tough year for me even though I had some real ups (the purchase/adoption of my beautiful Murphy) and some real downs (the loss of my sweet horse Zack and I did not write a blog about him but we put down our dog Drew as well). I also had some friendship problems that really hurt my feelings but the wounds have healed and I am much better now. I did not want to blog about these feelings, just too personal and I just needed to work through the emotions. I sometimes have worried that all I write about is happy cheerful stuff, like my life is so rosy and perfect when clearly it isn’t nor can it be….. BUT if you are an avid follower you know I like to stay as positive as I can and share smiles and laughter which in turn makes me happy. Sorry, I didn’t know I was going to write about all this but it has been weighing heavy on my mind! I feel much freer now! YAY!

This post makes me smile! I will end with Murphy and I am hoping to write another post tomorrow and it will be all about my horses. Next weekend I am going to attend a horse clinic at Monty Robert’s Flag Is Up Farm which is near Solvang, CA. It will be 3 days of clinic training with clinicians attending with Monty which includes the trainer I got Murphy from and I can’t wait to meet her in person! I am also really excited because I will be staying with my daughter as she lives nearby. I can’t wait to learn new and exciting horse training and so I won’t be sharing a post next weekend. I will share when I return.

I thank you all for reading and sharing coffee with me this weekend. I also want to thank you all for your support of my blogging whether I blog a little or a lot, you all are awesome! I want to thank Natalie for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare, I so enjoy linking up and I will try and visit other coffee shares this weekend. Take care ya’ll!

Crazy Grandma horse lover forever,

~Diana ❤

P.S. I have been told from fellow bloggers that I can save on space on WP if I share videos from YouTube but I don’t have a YouTube channel, another password another site another something to manage. So I am slowly running out of space here on my blog for my photos and videos which in turn makes me stress about blogging and sharing as eventually I will run out of space! Haha, it’s always something!! I guess it’s time to get a YouTube channel, sigh….

Weekend Coffee Share; March Is Here!

On March 6, 2022March 6, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share19 Comments

Welcome to my coffee share! Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I also have apple juice or cranrasberry juice if you prefer. I have so much to share as its been a few weeks and so much is happening in our lives. We made it to Arizona last weekend for my grandson’s birthday and we celebrated and made it special for him. I am also thankful that my family wasn’t planning a very big party (so very thankful) because my grandson ended up with a fever on his birthday so we had to cancel the event. We were to drive to my daughter-in-laws aunt’s house about an hour away to celebrate. It turns out my little grandson had a mild case of hand, foot and mouth virus which we found out he was exposed this last week when he was brought back to day care. That was why he had a fever, and we made his birthday a fun day none the less and celebrated at his home. ❤

*We baked him a smash cake and the cupcakes with a Mickey Mouse Funhouse theme!*

*Me and my selfies that I so enjoy taking! He doesn’t know “smile” yet, and my granddaughter likes to make silly faces which makes me giggle! She has a beanie baby octopus in her hand!*

My hubby and I enjoyed visiting and we did not catch any sickness which I told my family I don’t care, I would have come anyways. Unfortunately, my son caught the hand, foot and mouth virus as he came down with a fever at the end of this last week and he has nasty rashes on his hands and feet! Hence the name, and he says these rashes burn and are very painful. I feel so badly for him as he is the only adult that caught it from my grandson. My granddaughter and my daughter-in-law are fine. I am praying for my son to recover quickly. He is out of time off at work, so he can be out sick but can’t get paid since this has been a rough couple of months for illness for my little family. They all had Covid at the beginning of January and it has been one virus after another the last 2 months. Please say a prayer or send good thoughts their way, they sure could use a break right about now. This is SO HARD being so far from them so that I could help. But it is what it is, and all I can do is be supportive from afar. I Love them so much!

Ugh, there are lots of sad things happening in the world today and everyone has their own set of problems and/or issues to deal with. I certainly do not want to add to any of that and as you know I am usually full of optimism and positivity, but I will say even I can struggle with that from time to time. I am thinking if I share what makes me smile and brings me to a special place where I can forget all the scary sad stuff then maybe if I share it will bring a smile and a bit of positivity your way as well. I decided that is one reason why I like to share here on this blog. I have been questioning why I blog lately, and so I am only blogging when I have a collection of fun and enjoyable shareable things that not only make me smile and feel good, I hope you can enjoy and smile too! It’s my contribution to keeping my mental health happy, and in turn I hope it can do that for someone else too! I don’t even know if I am making any sense, but these are my thoughts today. 😀

*These blooms in my garden sure make me smile! Spring is in the air!*

My Iris plants have multiplied since last year. They are in a container and I am thinking I should thin them out this year. I am not sure what to do with the extra plants? I guess I can start another container and have more Iris plants! Haha, I do much better growing flowering plants then vegetables. Since I am not sharing daily or weekly posts I have accumulated lots of pony photos and fun videos that I wanted to share. 😀 As you all know this is my happy place, the stables or barn where I board my horses and the horses are what fill my heart and help me with my mental health. They bring me so much joy, so let’s get started with what I have to share.

Miss Chloe with a big bouncy ball to play with only she isn’t very interested!

My girlfriend at the stables (we call each other pony sister’s) brought the bouncy ball and let us all take turns using it in the arena with our horses. It is fun for them to see something different, it helps desensitize them and get use to different objects. We have horses that love playing with the ball. It is very bouncy and soft. They can bite it and throw it around with their teeth. It is so fun to watch them play! Chloe just stares at it but didn’t move as it headed towards her and then walked away, haha, and she did go up to it and push it once but I didn’t make a video of that. She just isn’t interested in playing like the geldings, especially the younger horses!

Murphy with the bouncy ball. He licked it and tried to bite it and will need time to learn to play with it!

Murphy was really afraid of the ball at first. I carried it into the arena and walked up to him holding it and he stood still and I let him reach out to touch it with his nose. I will say that for Chloe I knew it was not her first time with the bouncy ball as I have had it in the arena with her and my other horse Zack some years ago before he passed away. So that is why I was not worried about her reaction when I kicked it towards her. I knew Murphy has never seen the ball, so I introduced it carefully. I decided to let him check it out by himself and left the arena at which time I could take the video above. 😀 I know he isn’t doing much with it but he is very brave and is a good boy!

*I had time this weekend to shorten their manes. It is good for them to learn to stand still as it takes a good half an hour or so to get this completed.*

As I am sharing my horsey photos I am realizing that this could be a very long post. I am thinking I will save some of them and write another post soon. Either a Smile post or horsey post of some sort. I’ve been wanting to shorten their manes. I like to keep them tidy and they were getting pretty long especially Murphy’s mane. He got tired of me messing with him and when he gets antsy he starts to paw at the ground. He does not really enjoy being pampered and groomed. Unfortunately for him, I’m the type of owner that loves to brush and groom them. I do not overdue it and ask for his patience kindly and I don’t groom him every day because when it’s his day off of riding he just gets turned out and then I put him back in his stall. I am being gentle with him and give him days off from grooming since he doesn’t enjoy it that much. I’m hoping when he gets older he will enjoy being groomed, hopefully. 😀

*Murphy is the second horse on the left. I just love this photo of the paddock row with the beautiful clouds!*

We have been getting some weather which is always something exciting for us here in sunny CA. I just love the clouds and we got a little bit of rain. It has been chilly and cold a few days this last week. The sun was out today and that’s when I trimmed up their manes. I also had a nice trail ride. Saturday was fun with the bouncy ball day and I am hoping to ride Murphy tomorrow. I usually take turns riding one horse one day ~ the other the next day. It works out good for all of us! I’m going to end with this pretty photo which was taken by my pony sister who brought the bouncy ball! Thank you Jane! ❤

Murphy standing tall near the back of arena! Such a pretty photo! I hope you all are doing good and thank you for visiting and having coffee with me this weekend. I am so happy I shared and I will try and write and share again soon. Have a wonderful week!

Loving Grandma, Loving Horses!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; My Heart Is Full

On February 20, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share25 Comments

*Welcome to my weekend coffee share! How are you today?*

Welcome and how are you doing? Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I am doing great and am so excited because next weekend is my grandson’s second birthday. I can’t believe he will be 2 they grow so fast! My hubby and I will be traveling to Arizona so we can spend some fun family time with not only our grandson but with our granddaughter and my son and daughter-in-law! I pray that someday we won’t all be living so far apart and am thankful they are a short flight away and its not a bad drive. We will be driving there and my daughter will be joining us flying in Friday evening. 😀

*They are so adorable! My granddaughter is 6 1/2 and my grandson will be 2 at end of Feb. ❤*

Boy, just looking at this photo fills my heart with so much love for them. I could just stare at it all day as I miss them so very much. We do video chat, sometimes I wish we could more often but they are really busy and I will keep hoping that someday they will move closer to us, or vice versa. My son has been applying for a new job and has even mentioned maybe moving back to CA. Oh my, that would be so GRAND! But I should not get my hopes up too high as who knows where is next job will land them. He has been applying all over the Pacific Northwest.

As I am getting excited about my upcoming little vacation next weekend I wanted to share this last weekend and the fun I had with my ponies. I have been struggling a little bit with Murphy and getting him to participate more willingly in our rides. He has a bit of a stubborn streak in him, and I have been gently working with him in a positive way to keep his feet moving. I have to say my eyes opened up yesterday when I was reading Anne’s blog (HorseAddict) she shared a lesson with her trainer (her trainer is an Olympian!) She rides dressage and at the highest levels and I am just trying to get a nice walk, trot and canter in the arena.

Murphy is so young I am teaching him the basics but he would rather just stop and stand. So I asked Anne a question after watching her video and I asked her about riding with the dressage crop or whip that she carries while riding. I have one to use but it has been so long in using it I wanted to ask an expert and she gave me great advice about tapping Murphy with the whip near my leg when I cue him if he doesn’t respond immediately and it worked GREAT! I only had to use it on two different occasions, once to trot and once at a halt I asked him to walk. I barely touched his side, it seemed more like a tickle but he is sensitive enough it motivated him perfectly! I have to give her credit as it definitely helped him keep his feet moving which made my job riding him so much easier. I wasn’t so exhausted trying to push him forward. I am so excited! Thank you Anne!! Here are some photos from my weekend.

*Before my rides I always get him warmed up by trotting and cantering in the arena!*

*I set up some trot poles that you can see in one of the photos. He did great trotting over them today!*

He was such a good boy today as I was able to get him to move forward and into the bit with him being supple in his neck and he does this best at the walk. I am working on him to stay supple at the trot and having the dressage whip helps immensely and he is much better going to the right, I need to strengthen my left leg when we go to the left as he is a bit stiff. It is all a work in progress and I need to take one day at a time. But I was so impressed as he had a good attitude and moved forward more easily! YAY!

*I also rode Miss Chloe today out on the trail. Her and I had a great ride!*

I can’t leave out Miss Chloe. She can’t trot and canter any more with me riding her as she has a bad back leg that does fine at the walk but not so good at the faster gaits. She has an old injury in her stifle which is like our knee. She can run around free in arena with no problems but with the weight of saddle and rider it just isn’t a good idea and would put more pressure on that old injury. She does great on our trail rides! Walking is motion lotion!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I know some are still really cold and living where they may even have snow on the ground. I know others across the world are still in Summer probably heading into Fall. It is fun to share my rides and my adventures with my horses. I am having to reach far back in my memory in riding now that I am starting out a young horse. He is very, very calm and doesn’t get rattled very easily. He is smart (sometimes too smart) and forgiving as I am getting in shape just as much as he is with our training. I will end with a pretty photo of Chloe as she is shedding out her winter coat and getting a nice shiny one as we get closer to Spring!

*Miss Chloe looking very pretty! My heart is full!*

Have a wonderful week ahead!

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; December Fun, in 2021!

On December 19, 2021 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share48 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share! The last coffee share for this year to share with our coffee share group hosted by Natalie! Her blog is so fun, positivity flows and her photos she shares are so beautiful. She hosts our group #weekendcoffeeshares and you can click here to visit hers and others if you are interested as there are wonderful bloggers out there and I love our coffee share group! We will be breaking for the holidays. Can I get you a hot cup of coffee or tea? Or maybe a glass of milk to go with the sugar cookies I baked. I actually made them last weekend and they are almost gone. 😀 I am planning on baking more this weekend. I also want to make ginger molasses cookies, maybe some magic cookie bars, fudge and I am not sure what else as I will look through my cookie recipes and see what jumps out at me to bake!

*I had to use my horse head sugar cookie cutter with the gingerbread man!*

Sugar cookies are so messy but hey, you have to make a mess sometimes! I had a ton of fun baking last weekend. It always feels more like the holidays when I bake cookies. It is a fun tradition and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. I am hoping to bake enough to be able to make some gift bags that I can give some baked goods away. I also need to figure out Christmas dinner for next week. I am not sure what I will make but I work all week including half the day on Christmas Eve. We still need to work to run the blood work for those sick animals heading to the vet on that day. It will hopefully be light, as most likely it will be mostly emergency vet visits and we are closed Christmas day.

I finished my cup of coffee as I love coffee with my cookies. I got myself a refill, can I get you one too? Winter is here in Southern California and we got a lot of rain this last week. We are in a drought so the rain is welcome. I wish it would rain more often and not all at once for hours at a time, but we can’t control the weather so it is what it is. It rained closed to 12 hours straight I think and when we get that much rain, it floods at the barn. The horses do fine in their stalls and stay under shelters or in the barn. Our arena has a low spot and always puddles, or to be honest it is like a huge pond. It is now almost dry as a trench is dug along the fence line to drain the water out of the arena. I have shared over the years my photos of Zack and Chloe out in the water and now it’s Murphy’s turn with his first winter here!

Murphy having fun in the water on this beautiful day after the rain storm!

He was so cute walking around and pawing which is their way of playing in the water. I thought maybe he would roll but the video was getting kind of long so I ended by showing the snow on the mountains. When I left him alone in the arena I looked over and there he goes, down in the water!! As he rolled his head went into the water and he got water in his ear as he shook his head and promptly stood up. Haha, I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough to catch him rolling darn it all….. But I took another short video of him all wet. Silly guy had a lot of fun turned out that day!!

Silly guy is soaking wet! I wonder if he will ever roll in it again?

I wonder if he will roll again in the water if I give him the chance. I ended up working him and not turning him out again with all the water which is now almost gone. We are expecting more rain next week and I am sure it will pool up again and I am also sure I will turn him out again, but he may be done rolling in the water. Haha, I wonder though?

Here is Miss Chloe in the water. I didn’t take a video, but she pawed but did not roll in it on this day. She has rolled in the water before but now that she is older, she rarely even rolls at all let alone in water. She is so sweet and had fun being out on this day.

I forgot to mention that after Murphy rolled in the water he went ahead and rolled in the wet arena dirt. Oh boy, he was so dirty I ended up hosing him off to clean him up. Here is a photo of a very dirty Murph!

This is my December fun here riding my horses and trying to keep up when the weather turns. We are expecting a lot of rain next week and probably a wet Christmas. I can’t say white Christmas because it does not snow at our elevation which is basically sea level. Our local mountains do get tons of snow and as you have seen we have gorgeous views of wintery snow capped mountains. After the rains the air is so clean and crisp, our winters are beautiful in their own way. And in one day you can visit the ocean and smell that salt water, or surf if you are so inclined and in just over an hours drive away (without traffic) you could be sledding down a snowy mountainside. I am always grateful for our weather because I can ride my horses year round and I know there are many places in this world where that is not possible due to inclimate weather. ❤

*Miss Chloe dry and happy under her shelter in her stall. She is so beautiful and I Love her so much!*

I have been struggling a tiny bit with Christmas time as there is always a certain amount of stress that I think we all do to ourselves and it is mostly stress in planning stuff. That is what I do to myself. I have my own personal plans as you can see and read here which is doing all the things Diana loves. Which is tending and riding my horses! Haha, and when home I will do house chore’s and take care of my home animals, our dog and cats but then I sit down and cross-stitch or crochet while watching cooking shows or sometimes a movie! It’s all wonderful with the exercise of horse care and horse back riding, and relaxing while creating. BUT what about getting some gifts or planning some dinners!! Hahaha, I do and can make myself get this stuff done, I just have to do it without stressing. Thanks for listening as I am motivating myself by writing this. 😀

I am sure some of you are great planners! or are you like me with a middle name of procrastinator? I will give myself a break because I do work full-time, 40 hours a week so for me there is a lot to fit into each day. I rarely do my crafts during the week as I just don’t have time so there is even more I want to fit into my weekends. I am sitting here writing this thinking I can’t believe there is only 2 more weeks left of 2021. As there are things in the news that are sad, in my bubble I am going to try and enjoy the end of December with as much FUN as I can fit into it and stay safe at the same time, I hope! 😀

As I think of the holidays I am missing my family and I am so thankful for technology and video chats. I had so much fun as we have been video chatting each weekend with my grandkids in AZ. Oh my, they are just so cute and I have so much fun with them. They melt my heart and we have done a gift exchange and will Zoom on Christmas day as we each open the gifts together. It’s so fun having them on our TV set! Speaking of my son and family, he continues to send photos of his kitties cuddling!! CUTENESS!!

*My son’s cat’s, the brothers Wolfie and Dublin! I share frequently the photos he sends to me!*

The above photo is how I feel sending warm hugs to everyone! These brothers do not disappoint and cuddle each other often. I just love when they send me these wonderful photos and since they are such a handsome pair I can’t resist and need to share! I hope and pray for everyone affected by this virus and pray for our country and mankind. These are crazy times but I can remember growing up having other things that made our world feel crazy, for us old folks out there I am sure you remember too! Let’s take in the beauty and keep smiling for all the good out there and so I will end with this beautiful photo my daughter-in-law took and shared. Let’s enjoy this season to it’s fullest and remember what Christmas is all about. I hope your holidays are filled with peace, joy and happiness! ❤

With Love to all and thank you so much for sharing coffee with me today!

Happy Horse Crazy Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; It’s October, My Favorite Month!

On October 3, 2021 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share21 Comments

*Beautiful wild flowers blooming at my friends house in Kentucky! She is so kind and sends me photos!*

Welcome to my coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I am remembering summer as I share these wild flowers from my girlfriend. She has shared with me some beautiful photos of her flowers in bloom. She knows I have a LOVE for all flower photos, I could actually have a separate blog just for flowers except then I would have trouble keeping up so I’ll just share them from time to time here on this blog, my one and only blog. Can you believe it’s October? I can’t believe it as September just zipped by and here we are starting a new month. I have had Murphy for over 4 months now and he is learning and growing and is so much FUN! 😀

When Murphy arrived I took my time getting to know him as he got to know me and remember, he needed time to heal up a splint bone fracture. It is completely healed and he is perfectly sound and it is a non issue. But that time was well spent as he learned our routine. I could have done this earlier but never seemed to have enough time in my day to do some extra trimming and this weekend I was able to trim up his mane. Some people leave their manes natural and let it grow long. I prefer to have it shortened and an even length across his neck. I think it could be even shorter but that would have taken me longer and he stood so well while I spent the 30 to 40 minutes it took me to shorten his mane. When he first arrived, he did not stand still very long and was restless as he got to know our routine. Now he has gained great patience, I am very proud of him!

*Before I trimmed his mane, it’s pretty but very long!*

As I share my horsey stuff which includes riding Murphy in the arena and Miss Chloe on the trails, I am looking forward to a visit to Arizona to see my family. My daughter bought tickets to a comedian show in Arizona and is treating her brother and his wife. I asked if they needed a babysitter and they said Yes! So we will head out to AZ this coming Thursday and spend the weekend until Sunday. My son has some new games that we all can play together and Alice can join us playing some of these games too. I am looking forward to a fun game night with our visit. My son found a fun small water park for the kids and I look forward to taking them there as well. My son sent me this photo of them just the other day and I thought I would share. 😀

*They are so adorable! I know they are my grandkids, but they are so darn cute ~ how can you not smile!* ❤

Oh how they melt my heart! I have the hugest smile on my face right now! I have to say they are two such different children which makes sense. Alice is so sweet and cuddly. Loves hugs and attention. Teddy is very much the opposite, as independent as they come getting into everything and is not cuddly, so curious and very busy. Of course, he doesn’t know me as well as Alice got to know me at his age but he is all boy. Climbs up on everything and is as smart as they come. He will push chairs over to climb up on the countertop, he is such a handful and then some!! He is not even 2 yrs old yet and I would say has already had a few of those terrible twos temper tantrums. He will turn 2 in February. My goodness, they grow up fast! ❤

Thank you for visiting with me today and I so enjoyed your company. Do you have any travel plans? I am enjoying being able to have these long weekend get-a-way’s. I also am looking forward to my sister who lives in Idaho to visit again in a couple weeks. She is my horsey sister so we will have fun riding together again! Her husband is coming with her this time as he has a reunion to attend and she decided to come and visit too.

I want to thank Natalie for hosting our #weekendcoffeeshare link up and if you want to visit her blog or other weekend coffee shares I’ll add a link here. I hope you all have a wonderful week and I will see you again in two weeks time since I will be traveling this next weekend. Take care and stay safe out there!

Horse Crazy Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; First Week Of Aug!

On August 8, 2021August 29, 2021 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share21 Comments

*Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives!*

Welcome to my coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? It has been a busy last few weeks and it’s the best kind of busy because it’s been all about visiting with family. My sweet family, my beautiful daughter and my son and his wife and of course my beautiful grand children. During this first week of August it was my grand daughter’s 6th birthday and she has had such a wonderful birthday spending time with her cousin’s at Knott’s Berry Farm. We’ve had cake and ice cream and all the fun that birthday’s hold and then my daughter and I visited Phoenix and we spent this last weekend with them. We flew out but drove home as my son had my daughter’s car and he returned it to her as he does not need it any more. So we drove the 5 and 1/2 hours home and I thought let me put together this coffee share before the weekend comes to a complete end.

*We enjoyed a walk around the neighborhood and enjoyed these bushes blooming! My grand daughter is so sweet!*

*Her mommy and daddy got her a little motorized jeep. Not meant for two, but I thought this was so cute!*

I had such a great time and my grand daughter is growing up fast. She is learning to read and is now in kindergarten. She absolutely LOVES school which makes us all so happy. She is now attending school in person which we are all happy about as well. I had so much fun babysitting so my daughter, son and wife could get a night out together. My son and wife do not get out that often and so I am always so happy to babysit. I sure wish we could be closer, but at least I can visit often which just makes my heart so happy! ❤

I am also busy taking care of my horses. I have something very exciting to share as I have been working with my new horse Murphy and wanted to share something I have been wanting to accomplish for the last month. Murphy and I are doing really well bonding and I decided with the help of my best friend to try and take him out on a short trail ride. Yes! I am so excited to share a couple of video’s we made!! He was such a champ, such a good boy. He definitely looked around which is what you would expect, but he remained calm, and relaxed. We have a short loop to walk which takes about 25 minutes and my best friend and I had plans on returning home early if he seemed stressed at all. I even had him in a halter and lead rope (with a bridle) which would be easier to lead him if I needed to get off and walk him home. I didn’t need it! He was great! I can’t wait to ride more trails with Murphy!!

My girlfriend took this video, so kind of her and I think it’s great! It’s hard because Murphy didn’t want to walk next to her but behind her on her horse Roscoe.

I wanted Murphy to feel safe as he followed Roscoe on the trails. He stayed mostly behind him and only once walked up next to him but he didn’t stay there long. So my girlfriend had to practically turn around in her saddle to get the video of Murphy and I on the trail. I think she did a great job considering, but that is why it kind of ends abruptly. Haha, she did the best she could but you can see Murphy well I think! I’m so grateful and thankful for his smart brain, calm attitude and all around willingness to go where he’s never been before. Here is one more video that I was able to take while I rode him on this same trail. 😀

Horses have GPS, seriously, they know when they are heading home. When we rounded the last corner that turns in the direction of heading back to the stables I could feel Murphy relax a bit. He actually relaxed enough so that I felt comfortable enough riding him to make this video. I am so proud of him and I hope you enjoy my video’s!

My veterinarian has told me that at 3 years old he is not done growing. I know some of that means filling out too. He still has a young body and he stands at least 17hh (at his wither or the point at the top of his back where his mane ends equals 5ft 8, and he could possibly get taller!) I am 5ft 7 and I can’t see over his back. He is one tall dude!! He is a ton of FUN!! I am so enjoying working and riding Murphy!! ❤

Thank you for visiting my coffee share and I want to end with a photo of my son’s cats. Today is international cat day and these kitties are just so cute. They love sleeping together and they have managed to squeeze together at the top of their cat tree. I hope you all have a wonderful week! I also want to thank Natalie for hosting #weekendcoffeeshare!

Super Busy Cowgirl Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Family Fun and Murphy in Action!

On July 10, 2021 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share26 Comments

*Welcome to my coffee share for this second weekend in July!*

I think I have made up for last year where we couldn’t visit family as we are getting in lots of family weekends recently. My hubby hadn’t seen my daughter’s house she moved to that she is leasing so for the 4th of July weekend we drove up to her place to spend time with her. It was a great visit however my son in Arizona called me Saturday night and he and his family decided to drive to California for an impromptu visit. They drove through the night while the grandkids slept and then they stayed in our room since we weren’t home. We drove home the next morning to spend the 4th with my son and family which included fireworks!

Oh where are my manners, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? Hot or cold? I have some cookies to go with, store bought but I think good to go with either beverage. I wanted to share some photos from last weekend because you know, I am always so happy to see my grandkids and share. I always try and get a couple of selfies too! SO FUN!

*She ALWAYS wants to do a goofy photo! She is so adorable and fun!*

*I asked her for a nice smiling photo and she is now old enough to comply. She use to ignore my wishes, she will be 6 soon and is growing up fast!*

*My sweet grandson! I got him to smile by my huge smile as he can see himself as I took the photo! He is so adorable too!*

I do miss my grandkids immensely but it has helped to be able to visit them this year. I think you can see how excited I was to see them and I don’t think I have taken or shared selfies in awhile. I have one more photo I wanted to share as after I took it I realized it has three generations in the photo. A happy accident, and it’s a cute photo of the guys in my family!

*My grandson doesn’t look too happy but I think he was getting tired. It was a long day for him at the 4th of July party.*

Family is so important to me and I have extended family I wish I could see more often as well. I have all my sister’s and brother, it is hard to figure out who I want to visit next and as I try and figure out my traveling plans the time just keeps passing by. I have sister’s that read this blog and I do want to come visit and am hoping I can figure out when I can come out and spend a weekend. It will all work itself out eventually, and they all know our immediate family’s have priority. I at least can share on social media all that’s happening which includes here as well! 😀

Can I get you a refill? Top off the tea or coffee? I wanted to share some fun horse photos and a video of Murphy in action! I also took an action shot of Chloe in the arena trotting around that turned out pretty good. Both my horses are doing really good. I keep them separated and they are not turned out together at all. I want them to have autonomy and I can tell you that Chloe is much happier not having Zack by her side on the trails. He use to nip at her and was a pesky fellow, and she put up with his antics but is much more relaxed walking by herself or with my girlfriend or any other horses that are ridden out with us on the trails.

*I zoomed in on my lucky shot of Chloe trotting, and all but her right back leg are off the ground which I think is a cool action shot. And Chloe up close, silly girl!*

*It’s nice to let them graze and I can tell you he is enjoying this time on the grass as they all do!*

I had him turned out in the arena and he is learning to trot and canter when I ask him and he is so big that his strides cover the ground pretty quickly. Our arena is really not that big, which is a good thing as he can’t get going too fast. He is definitely on the lazy side as horses go and that is exactly the way I like him as he needs to be relaxed and sensible once we get out on the trails.

He is so beautiful and fun to watch him in the arena. At the end of the video I like how he just stops and stands there as that is a really calm and lazy horse. I hope he stays this mellow, I think he will! I also had a set back over a week ago where I did not have the bell boots on his front hoofs. At the end of the video you can see them, they are rubber with velcro that go around his pastern and hang down around the hoof. This will help him not step on the back of his shoes with his back hoof! He did this and pulled off a shoe, so I am hoping the bell boots will be the fix and we won’t have any more shoes come off.

Thank you so much for having coffee with me today. I am sharing last weekend this weekend, but that’s all good. This weekend I am home and just riding the horses and so not much to report. I missed last weeks coffee share and thought this way I can catch you up on all the happenings! Thank you Natalie for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare link and I hope you all stay safe, healthy and happy!

Busy Grandma Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; June Fun!

On June 12, 2021 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share27 Comments

*Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives! How are you today?*

Hello and come on in and I have coffee or tea handy. I also have it hot or cold. Today I’m drinking a cold brew as it is a hot weekend. We are heading into a heat wave this next coming week which will get up over 100F degrees (38C) for most of the week into next weekend. It isn’t even officially summer yet, and I know it is cold and winter on the other side of the world. It is so interesting how in my little world I am going to sweat it out in the heat while others are heading into winter.

I can’t believe its June and the weeks just seem to fly by even though I am trying to take in every day and enjoy it to it’s fullest. I have been thinking a lot about the future and when I do I realize we can’t see the future, and even though we can plan for the future what ever will be will be ~ are you humming yet? 😀 Que Sera, Sera ~ I’m just thinking philosophically today about life and all that we can enjoy and even though our plans to move near my grandchildren have been put on the back burner, I will still dream to live near them one day. I can at least visit as often as I can and in the mean time enjoy what I do each day and that’s what I’ll be sharing here today. Here’s a couple of cute photos of my grandkids!

My son said he went into the closet and put the hat on his head! And he got into his mom’s paints sort of, water colors! And my sweet granddaughter with the gift she got with some money I sent to her in the mail!

They are so adorable and my granddaughter is getting so big. She will turn six in August! My grandson turned one in February so he is almost sixteen months now, toddling all over the place and into everything. As it should be with little ones, he is a handful but such a joy. I can’t wait to visit them and am so thankful we are able to travel now and visit as often as we would like. My entire family is vaccinated and thankfully we are all doing well. ❤

As I share I realized that I have not shared what’s been happening here at the house. We removed all the carpeting in the living areas and replaced the flooring with a wood-base laminate that is really durable. We just love how it turned out and I thought I would share some photo’s. This was done last month. My hubby is also working in our backyard putting in a retaining wall. A ton of work, what a busy year so far!

The only rooms with carpet is our bedrooms. We will be replacing them with new carpet in the near future. Our kitchen and the entry way has really nice travertine tile so we did not need to replace that and thought the flooring went well throughout the house. What a difference it has made in the openness and feel in our home!

I also can’t wait for the work in our backyard as the retaining wall (stackable bricks) will add support for the slope and eventual vegetation we want to plant. The previous owners never finished the back yard, and we never did either and we have been here 15 years now. I think its about time! These improvements will make our home enjoyable and add to its value.

*Murphy and I are enjoying each other, he even enjoyed the water from the hose! Chloe and I out on trail, look at the tree bloom! So BEAUTIFUL!*

I am enjoying the horses, trail riding with my best friend and sometimes by myself with Chloe. My vet will be out this coming week to check out Murphy’s leg and I am hoping I get a green light to start doing more with him. I am enjoying working with him and I took a video of him and thought I would share.

He is so funny because he knew I could not pay full attention to him while I was holding the phone to video! He is very smart and it has been fun seeing his personality! I am in no hurry with Murphy and I really want to take my time with him, especially since he is just 3 years old. I am enjoying the process of getting to know him and I am thinking we will have many years ahead of us of fun trail riding together! ❤

Surprise! Two videos today! He is such a character enjoying the water from the hose! My girlfriend at the stables did not know I was doing a video and was telling me about a sick friend and so I was responding which sounds kind of strange in the video but Murphy is so cute with those flapping lips I just had to share. We hope the friend will be all better soon.

Thank you for visiting and having coffee with me today. I always enjoy sharing the happenings around here and boy has it been a busy year so far, I can’t believe it! I have to thank Natalie for hosting the coffee shares providing us a link and you can visit other coffee shares here. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I know I am enjoying mine! 😀

Happy Grandma Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; March 29, 2021

On March 29, 2021 By DianaIn Family is important, weekly smile17 Comments

Welcome to my weekly smile! I had such a wonderful weekend visiting my family in Arizona. I was in Grandma heaven as I spent the weekend with my son and his family. I can’t get enough of them and feel extra excited because I had just visited last month for baby Teddy’s first birthday and then I was able to return so that my son and wife could celebrate their anniversary. They had a wonderful time together and I had so much fun baby sitting. They have a lot of energy these little ones and I was able to take them for a walk in the neighborhood and thought I would share some photos.

My grand daughter said she knows some tricks with her scooter! She is so cute as she balances on one leg and holds up the other. She only scooted around half the block though, giving it up to walk. Lucky the scooter fits under the stroller so I didn’t have to carry it and push the stroller. As we rounded the corner there was a road runner and he didn’t shy away at all! I should have zoomed in but if you click on the photo I think you can see him pretty well. I should have walked all the way around their complex – they live in a townhome in a very nice area. My grand daughter was getting tired and I hate to say she was whining but yes, she was saying she was tired and I thought it best to cut through the complex for a shorter walk. Haha, she wanted to sit in the stroller with baby Teddy! I told her she doesn’t fit and she is 5 1/2 years old and the exercise is good for her. Oh my, she’s so adorable and silly. I think she likes acting like a baby around me because you know, I’m Grandma! She sure makes me smile! 😀

I don’t know when I started to take selfie photos with the grand kids but it has become sort of my “thing”. It’s funny because I don’t particularly like seeing photos of myself but the selfies became a ton of fun! I have tried taking selfies with my horses, Haha! Now that is difficult because they are so huge. I once had a selfie stick which back when I got it as a gift years and years ago, I never used it and it is long gone. So I just go with the length of my arm selfies, and my grand daughter gets so excited she just makes funny faces. It’s fun and so now I have to add Teddy to the mix so here are some selfies that turned out I think….. well, at least the ones here aren’t too blurry! The kids move so much, I deleted the blurriest ones. I hope you enjoy them too! They sure make me SMILE!

I so enjoyed my time away and now it’s back to work this week. The sun is shining and my heart is full! What makes you smile? I wanted to get this together today and I have just enough time to make my lunch before I head to work. I will end with one last photo of the brothers. It was great to see them and they curled up together and I got to take this photo.

They were very friendly except when they were on my bed they tried to bite my toes under the covers! Silly kitties. I hope you all have a wonderful week and thank you so much for visiting!

Happy Grateful Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Enjoying March!

On March 21, 2021 By DianaIn Living life, Love being Grandma, weekend coffee share14 Comments

*Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives with old friends and new!*

Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I just finished up a nice hot cup of coffee as it’s been cool out, the best weather ever to be honest. March is really a beautiful month and I am enjoying every day. We have had some rain which we always need and the sunny days are so enjoyable at the perfect temps between 60F – 70F (15C – 21C). Yesterday it was a little blustery and the sky full of clouds. There was a 10% chance of rain and never rained in my town but it was very cool. Today it is sunny and not a cloud in the sky which I will enjoy in a little bit as I will head to the barn before the morning disappears.

I have been thinking a lot about my garden and I have about 4 containers and 2 have flowering plants in them and I have decided the other 2 I am going to continue on this theme and plant more flowers. I have not had much luck with veggies in the past and with the attention these types of plants need I decided I am just too busy to be consistent with watering and such things that I decided I will just try for some pretty flowers. I know there are a ton of choices out there for flowering foliage and I LOVE flowers so much and have taken many photos that I’ve shared, so that is where I am heading in my gardening adventures!

On to sharing what’s been happening and if you haven’t guessed what I am about to share it’s what I do every day! Haha, more horse adventures. I took another video that I want to share because I can’t help myself! I find it so FUN! I’ll start with a couple of photos first. 😀

I am going around on the same block but went out the other direction. It is interesting to see the block from the other eye and that is how horses see things as each eye for them works a bit more independently than our eyes.

As we headed out on the trail instead of turning right we turned left and so this is the same block I shared in my last video share only I am heading the other way. I have had my horse walk quietly by things one direction and when we head by it with the other eye she can sometimes spook or be like “what is that” as she sees it with her other eye. Yes, they have monocular and binocular vision and have a far greater peripheral vision than humans because they have their eyes set on each side of their head. They have a small blind spot directly in front of them and behind them. Because they are prey animals they need to see far and wide to stay safe and flee if needed from predators. They can see things we may not and you can wonder all day long at what has ruffled their feathers if they get upset. You can’t know what they sense as we are not as attuned to our surroundings as horses! Our training involves them feeling safe in our presence and this is a subject that people make a living on or write novels about, understanding horses and being able to work with them so that we have a safe ride. Haha, I don’t want to write a novel on training today! 😀

Heading down Hillside on a beautiful trail ride on this cool day!

I Like how you can hear the birds in the video and even though I call the day blustery there was a little bit of wind that actually picked up as I arrived back at the barn. The wind was cool, which added to the wintery feeling. Now it is officially Spring! We will be slowly warming up but I don’t mind if that takes some time. I absolutely LOVE SPRING! I am already seeing some beautiful blooms and so am excited as I already mentioned to plant more flowers.

As I rounded the corner I came upon the field that I usually pass first. Remember I rode around the block the other direction so now this big field is the last part of my ride. I did not let Chloe take a bite of grass, it is only a treat every once in awhile! I wish sometimes I had a super nice camera for days like this where the clouds in the sky and the sun rays hitting the hills with the lush wild flower field all fell into place and was just gorgeous. My phone camera doesn’t do it justice, but I snapped the photos anyways! Here are my photos ~

*The clouds shimmer with the sun and you can see the wild flowers all blooming with a yellow and purple hue!*

I am enjoying Miss Chloe immensely as I am sure you can tell. I am so happy and in a good place in my life right now. I feel very fortunate and never want to take anything for granted, I truly feel blessed. I am going to end this coffee share with you today with my grandkids. My son provides such wonderful photos, I just have to share. My son said the weather in AZ is good too, not too hot yet so they are out going for walks and enjoying it before the heat sets in there. They sure bring me warm fuzzy feelings and huge giant smiles as they enjoy being outside! I think my granddaughter’s photo says it all! They both are so ADORABLE! ❤

*Loving my Grandkids! Love you sweet Teddy and Alice!!* ❤

Thank you for visiting and enjoying coffee with me this weekend. I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend and enjoy the week ahead. Thank you Natalie for hosting the coffee shares and if you would like to connect up with others the link is here!

Trail Riding Cowgirl, and Grandma!

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; March 3, 2021

On March 3, 2021March 3, 2021 By DianaIn Living life, weekly smile18 Comments

Welcome to my weekly smile and I have a lot to smile about. I had the most fabulous weekend and I am so excited to share. My daughter and I were able to travel to stay with my son and his beautiful family and celebrate my grandson’s first birthday! I am in grandma heaven! It has been over a year since I have been able to visit and stay the weekend. I am planning on visiting a lot this year as I miss my grandbabies so much. My grand daughter is not a baby any more at 5 1/2 years old and she sure can be silly and enjoys making her baby brother laugh. She is in kindergarten and doing well. She attends virtually at this time. We started out our weekend by visiting the Desert Botanical Garden and I wanted to share some photos. In the photo above those very bright cactus are all made out of glass which is at the entrance, beautiful! 😀

*It was perfect weather at the gardens. Teddy with his Dad, Alice looking adorable and Teddy in stroller!*

*I like to take random photos as we walk, which includes interesting foliage!*

*My son, wife and Alice getting so big, such a sweet family! ❤ ❤ ❤*

We had a great time at the garden and we could not have asked for better weather. The winter in Arizona is perfect and the best time to visit most anything outside. There were so many beautiful plants and flowers and many were blooming. What a fun afternoon! I have to thank my daughter who so thoughtfully planned and booked this outing. I am so happy we were all able to do something together and enjoy the beauty of the desert. I hope you have enjoyed our little adventure as it sure makes me smile! 😀

I have more to share and am so excited we were able to help celebrate Teddy’s first birthday! I wanted to share a few more photo’s of his special day. I have to say that I did not take a lot of photos instead enjoying as much time with the family. I was asked if either my daughter or I wanted to make the cake and I volunteered and made a confetti cake with vanilla frosting. Teddy absolutely loves strawberries and so I put whipping cream in the center of the cake with cut up strawberries. I then lined around the top strawberries I cut in half. I was holding Teddy during the singing “Happy Birthday” song, so my daughter shared her photos so I can share with you. As soon as Teddy got close enough to the cake (Alice helped blow out the candle since Teddy is too little) he grabbed one of the strawberries, so adorable!! ❤

*Teddy turns 1 and is eating a strawberry, his favorite!!*

I realized and knew strawberries have a lot of water and I tried drying them off really well and they still lost some water on the top of the cake. It tasted delicious, I would share with you but we just about ate the whole thing! It tasted like strawberry shortcake, haha. I cut up the strawberries thinner and smaller for in the middle of the cake. I’m just a home cook and baker, but it is made with Love ~ the best kind of food I think! ❤

I had so much fun last weekend and as anyone that follows me knows I just can’t get enough of family togetherness with miles in between loved ones. Some day that may change but for the long term future my Grandma heart is in Arizona. I am always going to dream of living closer to them, we will see what the future holds! I want to share a few more photos of fun with the family. Just can’t SMILE enough!! 😀

*Teddy walks all over the place now! Me and my selfies with Alice and adorable Teddy*

*Best ending ever! How can you not Smile, they make me laugh and I cried when I left! ❤*

Thank you for visiting my smile post for this week. I want to thank Trent who host’s our smile’s and I absolutely Love to share. Not only is it fun to have a place to document my Life and the happenings as I hope it will be fun to go back and visit these fun times. Alice cried when I left, which in turn made me cry. I will be back to visit as often as I can make it happen. I feel so grateful for my family, and I Love each and everyone of you so very much. Here is to many more fun visits and maybe someday I’ll only be around the corner instead of a state away. Someday……

Loving being Grandma!

~Diana ❤

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Mylife-and-Horsestories

Tag: #grandmaloves

My Weekly Smile; March 29, 2021

My Weekly Smile; March 3, 2021