This has been a year of change for my family-my daughter got married, bringing a wonderful son-in-law and two beautiful granddaughters to the family.  We have or will shortly have two baby boys added to the East Texas family, we have regained relationships that were flagging, and I guess the biggest change- has been the living arrangements for our grandson Josh, he has chosen to go live with his father.  I'm sure that this will have an impact on the time he will get to spend with us, and our involvement in his life.  But, it was his choice and life does go on.  I wish him well and hope he is happy. 
I struggled with his decision, even though I could not do anything about it, I felt in some strange way that he had betrayed my husband and me.   I am very good at saying "don't worry about things you can't do anything about "good advice, hard to follow.  Thanks to my sister, Jan, I came to realize that all this had nothing to do with me, or Tony, or even our daughter, it was all about Josh.  It is time for me to let go, stop worrying about things I can't control and move on.  Josh is a good kid, smart and kind hearted, he'll be fine.    

SUMMERTIME

Wow summer is almost here--I don't get on here and write much, don't even know if anyone ever reads it.  School is out, Josh is spending two weeks with us, working in Tony's shop, earning some money and learning to weld as well has plan out a project and get it set up .  He has been playing baseball of course.  His select team qualified for state and they played this last weekend.  Finished up 3rd in the state--Josh got to pitch in a couple of the games and did very well.  He also made some ESPN highlight plays defensively, including a double play on second, two outs all by himself!  His  batting was good and he knocked in several RBI over the two days of playing.  Mostly for the rest of the summer, he'll be playing summer ball for the high school jv, scrimmages just for practice.   He's getting a lamb for ag project this year-looking now, Rachel's ag teacher from her high school days, is helping him locate one.  He'll be spending some more time with us after he gets back from church camp--we still have plenty of chores for him to do.

I've been doing a little trail riding, you have to be up and ready to go early to avoid the heat.  Rachel is teaching summer school this year, so that has limited out riding time. 

Our little Jack Russell terrier-Maddy- is keeping us entertained.  For such a little thing (8lbs) she has a huge personality and keeps us laughing with her antics.  The other dogs try to give her a wide berth-but she insists on pestering them--the boys leave her alone mostly, Lilly just lets her do whatever, but Sissy and Maddy get into it from time to time.  The thing is Maddy doesn't have any  back down, no matter that she is the smallest of all our dogs. 

This June Tony and I celebrated our  45th wedding anniversary.  Doesn't seem all that long ago to me--but when I look in the mirror--I get a reality check!  Seems like 45 years is almost a record setting event these days.  Mostly it's been good--I think I'll keep him.

2012 Off to a Good Start

2012 seems to be a busy year already, Rachel and Michael moved into their new house just before new years day.  We were all busy getting them in and settled.  It is such a nice place, with a shop for Michael and a barn for Rachel's horses, with pasture for turn out. She and Josh will be so glad to have their "boys" back home.  
Then it was Josh's birthday  January 9th --15 years old, so hard to believe!  Baseball season approaches.  Gunter JV's first game is February 16th.  Josh has been taking pitching lessons from Larry Carter, a minor league pitching coach for the KC Royals.  Larry says that Josh is making really good progress in fine tuning his game.  They are working on the finer points of pitching in contrast to "just throwing" the ball!  Way over my head, but I enjoy seeing Josh so excited and enthused.   I'm excited about the season starting can't wait to see him put  into practice what he's been learning.  His coach from last year is trying to get another select team from Gunter 15 and under for some tournament ball, after school baseball is over.  It's shaping up to be another busy spring and summer. 
I've been reworking some of the riding trails that Tony made for me, trimming and adding some extra loops.  Not riding last summer has some of the trails pretty over grown and I need some new ones to avoid the food plots and trail cameras that Tony has out for the deer.  Besides, having loops through the woods lets us ride in the shade and has the added advantage of avoiding the ponds as much as possible.  Also adding some more area to ride in lets us ride longer without having to double back.  I'm hoping for much nicer weather this year so it will be pleasant riding.