Life On Lost Creek Ranch
1:03 PM - Posted by Tomorrow's Wishes - 0 comments
It's been awhile since I have posted, for many reasons, but the biggest reason is we had been busy searching for our next home, a small ranch that we could live on and finally bring our horses to be with us.

We had always wanted property, and had looked many times over the years. However, when the horses came into our lives, it became an obsession with us to to not just find "some property" but to finally find our "country home". 

A place for running around barefoot and free, rolling around on the grass, pausing only to point out the cloud animals drifting by.

A place far enough out so that you can look up at the night sky and see an endless amount of stars. A fun and playful homestead to have cookouts, bonfires, hayrides and country parties.

A wild enough place, not touched by the city, to go trekking through nature and capture all of it's beauty.

A place where my husband and I could grow old together sipping iced tea on a porch swing.

A place to watch as our kids grow up, comeback to visit and bring their friends, and some day bring our grand kids to visit.

A place where our horses could run and we could see them everyday, without driving anywhere, we could see them just by looking out our bedroom window.

Rocket

Half Shy and Roxy

Tanner
Well, after a long (very long, like in several years) and tireless search (just ask our realtor, nothing felt like "the one") we finally found it, our very own "country home".

We would have some work cut out for us...there was a beautiful home on the acreage, but no fenced pastures, no barn...but it had all that we needed to make our home into what we now call...

Lost Creek Ranch. 












Tessa enjoying the view from our back porch.

We moved in this summer, and haven't stopped working since. It was a HOT summer! A sweaty, and often times tense environment, of putting in fence posts, pasture fencing and all that goes along with getting a ranch started.

My awesome husband breaking up the rock we kept encountering while digging.
 I'll have you know that is a "two man" auger and I was the "other man" working it.
Can you say girl power!?
Roxy always wanting to help.

The barn is finally up...
...but now the stall building has started. It is a slow go since my husband is doing it himself, after work and on the weekends.


He has the back and sides done, we have temporary fronts on while he works on building the stall fronts. Progress is good! Next, electric in the barn!


We are ALL loving every minute of it!


Tessa, Sean and Samantha

Tessa on our trampoline with our dogs;
Gracie, our yellow lab and Nina and Nikki, our Chihuahuas.
In our spare time (aka when not working on the barn, fencing, house or the yard) we try to enjoy our surroundings.



Even if that means from the seat of the tractor or lawn mower...



 or...a tree stand.




Even bringing home our first load of hay felt great!


Using our fire pit for the first time.


Songs by the campfire or in the kitchen...


Of course we had to get a few barn cats!

Max and Lorelai

We love to take hikes and explore our new surroundings and on our hikes we admire how cool nature truly is. 


































And on every hike we discover another reason why this was the perfect place for us and we love it here.

























We enjoy working out doors. (and playing)






It has been a true joy watching as the seasons changed from summer...








to fall...






...to winter on the ranch. 





Each season bringing us new adventures and wonderful memories that will last us a lifetime.




































We are so incredibly blessed to have found our little Lost Creek Ranch and we look forward to all that it and He has in store for us in the years to come.

























Embrace What is Inside of You
10:40 AM - Posted by Tomorrow's Wishes - 0 comments
I get it, and I have even said it to my own kids on numerous occasions.

"That's it! No more pets!"

Usually this is said after one of the dogs has had an accident in the house or perhaps started eating their way through an envelope of my "mad money".

Just look at those faces though! You can't stay mad long.

Nina

Nikki

Anyway...just to set things up here...when our oldest daughter asked repeatedly over the years for a horse my response was always "No. Horses are expensive, we know nothing about them, you don't know how to ride, what if you fall off, you don't take care of the animals we have now..."

 "Oh I will take care of it, I'll clean up after it!" well that goes out the window after about week two. Our last two dogs were a Labrador and a Sheltie, while the "pick up" of two Chihuahua's is much better, the thought of having to scoop the "apples" a horse left behind...heck no!

So, you can imagine my own surprise the day I asked my husband if we could adopt a rescue horse...

Her name is Roxy and she is what helped me to embrace what was inside of me.

 (You can read about Roxy in my blog posts: She Picked Me - Part 1 and She Picked Me - Part 2)
Roxy - our beautiful rescue horse at Motherlode Ranch where I spend most of my days
It was that day and a moment in time that I will never forget. Something came alive inside of me.

Let me explain...

I have gone from saying to my own kids, "That's it, no more pets." to "OK so when we move to our own ranch, I want to get Peacocks, a Cow, which of course you can't let me near or I will have it named and doing tricks...chickens and well we need to get a pony for Tessa, Steven, you said you wanted your own horse...." (deep breath)

You could say that I found my inner country girl.




For the record, my definition of a country girl is: someone that doesn't care what others think, is strong, believes anything is possible, believes in themselves, believes in hard work, loves the out doors, animals, believes there is some good in all of us, has faith and is willing to take a huge leap of faith to follow their hearts. Simply put...she is unique and is determined.


For instance...I now drive a truck and can parallel park. (which for those of you that know me and have had to jump out of the passenger seat to parallel park my car for me, this is a huge accomplishment!) I know it sounds trivial but I have a new found confidence. See pic below.

A perfect parallel parking job!
I have connected and bonded with Roxy on a level I never thought possible. I have bonded with all of the animals on the ranch...the horses. dogs, peacocks....It has been an amazing experience.

Rocket, Tanner and Roxy is hiding in the background

Fred the Peacock
Sometimes I feel as if I was the one rescued. She calms me, she makes whatever is going on in my life melt away as soon as I see her. We truly have a special bond.


The only other animal, 'er person, that can do that is my husband. (Maybe my kids when they aren't being sassy.) I cannot thank my husband enough for helping to make all of this happen. His unconditional love and support has brought us to where we are today.

I love this man!

Roxy opened up a closed door in my inner being. I can not explain it any other way.You hear about these special bonds between humans and animals, but it's hard to understand until you experience it yourself. She came into my life at a time when I needed it the most, even if I didn't realize it myself. 


Reality is that life gets hectic; we are running place to place with our kids, worrying about bills, college, schedules, our marriage starts to take a back seat to work and the kids, date night practically disappears, you start to lose focus on what truly matters in life. You need something to help pull it all back together again.

For me, Roxy coming into our lives is what helped me embrace my inner self, helped me and my husband find more time to be together and has opened up another exciting chapter in our lives.



My husband and I
My husband and I are now thinking about what "we" want and trying to focus more on "us". That doesn't mean we leave out the kids. Our kids are a part of this experience and our youngest is very much involved with Roxy and all of the animals. And yes, she even shovels stalls!
Tessa and Roxy
Tessa and Baby the chicken


Tessa with Tanner and Rocket

Tessa and Stoliver (short for Stinky Oliver - trust me it's a good name)
Yes the kids have needs and wants, but we have those to. We need more quality time together for one and we have always wanted land, but have put it on the back burner and tended to all of those other needs in our lives.

We have finally had our "ah ha" moment our "epiphany" or whatever you want to call it...we realized that there is no time like the present!

In just the two shorts years in which we have had Roxy in our lives she has given and taught us so much. I feel as though each day is a lesson, a gift. She has opened up my eyes, my heart and my soul.




She has given us strength and taught us that we can do more than we think we can. I never thought I could bridle a horse by myself let alone own, ride and take care of one. It is a massive animal but for some strange reason, I never feared her nor did I ever second guess that we were supposed to be in each others lives. (don't look at my riding form in this pic!)
 


She helped me through the death of my father. I became his main caretaker, a task I thought I could never live up to. It is trying both mentally and physically, it is scary, you cry a lot, and at times you want to walk way because it is so hard to see your loved one that way. And just when I thought I was going to break down, my husband would give me a hug and tell me to go out and see Roxy.


Of course I would feel guilty leaving my father but I would go see her and the other horses. I would cry, talk to her as I groomed her, we would connect and somehow it melted away and gave me strength to get through. Of course my husband was my rock, but he somehow knew that she could take it off of my mind for awhile.


She has given us her trust; taught us to fully trust our instincts. Even though she is a 1,000 pound plus animal (she's a lady, I can't give away her exact weight) I trust her with my life. She trusts me with hers. I feel deep in my bones that she would never do anything to intentionally hurt me; and we've bonded with all of the horses like this.



Now that doesn't mean I haven't been bitten, stomped or nudged across the barn, but if anything I have become one of the herd. I just bruise a bit easier than they do. I've realized that I can do more than I thought I could that's for sure.

Below is just a few seconds of a "snuggling" session I had with her in her stall. The trust she had in me was humbling. I could have laid with her for hours.


She has given us love; taught us that love crosses over the animal - human line to an extent I never really knew existed. When she is moody I can calm her down. When I am moody, she calms me down. When I am sad, she senses it and moves in for the snuggle.


She has given my husband and I another reason to spend more time together. We enjoy going out to   the barn and working with her and the other horses. Helping to build a fence, shoveling stalls, grooming a dirty horse (why did I fall in love with a white horse!) putting out hay, hauling around water buckets...I enjoy it more than I should probably admit. But there is something about working with your hands and doing things you normally would have never thought you could do. It is self gratifying to say the least. My Brooklyn born hubby has embraced his country side (we all have one trust me) and we both enjoy just being out there together. We watch the horses and talk about how we will enjoy it all even more once we find a ranch of our own. 

Bath time - Rocket
Bath time - Roxy and Tanner





My husband and our youngest with Rocket

Tanner, Roxy and Rocket

But this is not just about how a rescue horse changed my life and now we want a ranch of our own. It is about finding something that sparked the fire within us.

We all have the strength to accomplish what we set our minds to, we just have to believe in ourselves. Whether it is taking on a new job, taking care of a loved one, trying something that you've always wanted to do or perhaps something you thought you would never do like...adopting a rescue horse. 

The point is, we need to be open minded about what is put before us and seize the moment when that spark ignites.

So go out, open up your heart and your mind, consider the possibilities and find something that makes you embrace what is inside of you. 

For me...it was a rescue horse named Roxy. 


Y'all come back now ya hear!














Wait! What happened to fall?!
4:11 PM - Posted by Tomorrow's Wishes - 0 comments
Wait! What just happened?! I blinked and we went from this...




to this...

And yes, she does know that the gloves go on her hands, I believe she was trying to make a statement here. Not quite sure what that statement was...none the less, it is starting to get cold. 

 Then today...


Our first real snow fall of the season. Yay! Booo! Hisss! 

 I have mixed emotions obviously. It is quite beautiful, I actually enjoy a good snowfall, I like that part. 

 Everything is white, quite, still, it's calming. 

 It's the, what's ahead of us part, I don't like...

 The barren trees and frigid temps for the next several months. 

 Ugh!

 Although, I guess for now I will shut up, quit complaining, count my blessings and just enjoy it. 

 It does make for some great pictures...



Actually, it really was the perfect day...and the best part...I got to spend it with this guy... 


23 years ago today I married my best friend, my soul mate...my husband and today we celebrated that love during our first snowfall of the season. 

Sigh... I'm blessed. 

Now I have to go help this little nugget get out of those wet clothes. You know it's tradition to make a snowman out of the first snowfall of the season.



Doesn't he resemble Olaf? 
Warm hugs to everyone! 










Beginning a new chapter
10:05 AM - Posted by Tomorrow's Wishes - 0 comments
Autumn

To me, autumn is a wondrous season. It is a time of transition, a time of change and a time to renew myself spiritually.

 The beauty that comes with this season is just breathtaking. To watch as the trees transition from green, to yellow, oranges, reds...   
It's a lot like our life isn't it? We  live in cycles, ever changing, one completely different than the last or the next. 


I find myself getting lost in the colors of the season, the idea of change, the new chapters in my life yet to come and all of the possibilities that surround me. 

I thank God for all that He has given me, and my family, and for giving us such a beautiful season to live. 


 However, it can be a bit overwhelming at times. It's hard to focus in on just one thing that I want to change, to do, to accomplish...

 There are so many things I have yet to do, that I want to do, where do I start? It can be hard to take that first step.
Seasons change so quickly, just as life moves us forward so quickly. 

But if we never take that first step, if we never explore the possibilities or take a chance and venture down an unfamiliar path now and then, we may never know the wonderful things He has in store for us around the bend. 



 Don't let life pass you by. Open your eyes to the season that surrounds you now. Take time to dream about your life and think of ways to make your wishes and your dreams come true. Step out in faith and take a chance on an unfamiliar path. 

 I enjoy soul searching, evaluating my life and realizing that I have so much more to offer, to accomplish, to achieve. 


Setting it all in motion, taking that first step, looking at what you have to do to get there...that is the hardest part. 

But you can do it! Believe in yourself, trust in God, and have faith in Him and in YOU. There is no obstacle you cannot overcome. He will never lead you down a path that doesn't give you strength, or skills or wisdom to conquer what's ahead; and it is never to late to start something new.  

 After all, we are the authors of our own lives. 

 Find what inspires you. Overcome your "writers block" those obstacles that are slowing you down. Surround yourself with people that will encourage you and help you write those new chapters in your life. Don't be afraid to separate yourself from the people that pull you down. 

Do those things that make your heart sing, your soul breathe and your spirit feel alive. It is a time to write a few new chapters in your life!

Find your inspiration!