Sunset Ponies

I was out the other night and it wasn't quite dark when I did chores but it wasn't very light either so with my phone I got some neat pics.

(Jessie)

(Bailey)

(Disco)

(Trio)

I didn't look at them till I was back in the house but if I had have Id have taken more cause they were kinda neat.

Snakes and Sunsets

As I was walking across the patio to the garden shed to get a pic of all the piled up wood I saw the ground wiggle and could hear the tiniest noise.  So I stop and there was a little tiny garter snake looking up at me.  Would been fine just seeing him and leaving but he was sticking his tongue out and it was just neat so I stuck around a bit and got a few pics of him.

And later that evening as I was taking my nightly walk (that should be a run but isn't yet) I took the pics of the trees on the road where they cut, but on the other side of the road was a really pretty sunset so I got way too many photos of it so I thought I would share a couple.

Real Life

So apparently I been to caught up in the Equestrian Challenge on her to talk about my real life.  Well I got another horse here (she is not mine, just boarding for a while so her foal could get weaned) and she is a sweetheart.  She does everything...cuts, jumps, trail rides, raises babies, just everything you can think of and is safe for beginners.  She is the one my friend is gonna ride this winter on and jump with me and Kali.

And about a week after she come I took Jessie over to the barn!  I rode her last Friday, Sat, missed Sunday cause of our Christmas Party and rode Monday   It has been a while since I been on a horse I guess (i know its about 2 months) but my legs were really sore Mon so yesterday I didn't go either.  But today and most days from now on I am going cause I wanna get some lessons in before Christmas and she is kinda fat and out of shape. (like me)

(Im sure it was the coldest day that I took Jessie over but I went anyways :)

I got all my Christmas decorations up except my Christmas lights cause I got solar ones this year and had no idea what I was doing when I went out to put them up and I don't know where to put the solar panel so it faces south and isn't covered in snow.  But hopefully before Christmas I will get them up.

(been having some pretty sunsets this month)

Oh and speakin of Christmas sounds like my family is comin Christmas Eve to stay overnight and we are gonna have stockings and presents and then dinner.  And later Christmas Day I am gonna go to Calgary with my sister so we can go boxing day shopping :)  I am real glad this is the plan cause then Neil's family can come out that day as well and we don't have to travel all holidays.

 (We got new phones and Telus sent us Purdy's chocolates, kinda a surprise to open that package!)

( Jam I made this week, Rhubarb raspberry, and Raspberry Cordial)

Wedding in Grande Prairie

We left on Friday morning to head on up to Grande Prairie.  Its about a 10 hour drive from our house and I was not looking forward to it.  I knew the wedding would be good but I just didn't want to drive that far.  Plus the fact my knees had been bothering me something bad since last Sunday it was not fun.

But we headed up anyways and the first few hours were OK, we stopped for Breakfast in Drum and then stopped to look at our heifers at Donalda, and then we never stopped again after 3 hours and that was a little long but we ate lunch and wandered around for a bit then onto the last stretch of 4 hours.  That was the longest drive ever!!!  So far and nothing to see but trees and more trees and occasionally a cleared spot with farming going on.  But no moose even though it said moose crossing everywhere, and no bears either :(

(Neil walking among his heifers, they are not very wild)

We got there and all checked in our hotel and tried to get a hold of others who were down, but they were all somewhere else.  So we went shopping for  a bit then had supper and back to the hotel and we found Neils mom and dad and Aunt Jennie.  But it was kinda late so we just had a drink in our room and went to sleep.

Saturday morning was breakfast at the hotel and almost everyone eating there was with the wedding so that was pretty cool.  Then after Neil and his dad went shopping and I stayed to visit.  I talked a lot with Terry and he gave me a bunch of help on running, which he has been doing for 5 years so that was cool.

Then after we got ready, we headed out to the church for the ceremony.  It is a fairly new church and really big.  The Priest said it would hold 1000 people!  Wow!  They just recently got the bells up and that is nice, I like church bells.

The ceremony was very nice, I was worried it would be long, but it was just about perfect.  What a beautiful bride she was.  And I had never met the groom, but he seemed super nice and everyone else loved him so that is good.

 (the grooms mom had on this cute little hat)

We had a few hours between the ceremony and the reception so we headed out to have lunch and then just hang out then out to the hall.  It was at the Elks hall and just a perfect place, only about a block from the hotel so we could all just walk back and no worries about driving while drinking.

 (table decorations)

(they had a candy table with these cool bags)

They did the regular speeches and a video show that was neat and then it was party time!  The Beckers realy like to dance so it was perfect.  I am not a dancer but they did get me up there for one song.  I told Neil I will dance with him if there is a slow song cause neither of us are much good, but all the slow songs his Aunt and Mom wanted, so that was fine with me too.

 (first dance)

 (dance with her mom)

( a ukranian custom to dance in a bucket if your younger sibling gets married first, 

I had never heard of this but it was sure entertaining)

They also had a tickle trunk of stuff for everyone to dress up in and give wishes to the bride and groom, that was so much fun, i think everyone got involved in that.

Then we finally headed back to our hotel way to late and the next morning went back over to the hall to help clean up and say our goodbyes and be on our way home.  We saw on the way up I have a road!  so on the way home we stopped at it and Neil took my pic and then we saw the sunset looked cool so I stopped to get some pics of that as well.

It was a good time, but sure glad to be back home again.