Ladies Horse Weekend

If you know me, you know I love horses. I think they are such beautiful creatures and I love everything about the process of horse riding - the grooming, saddling and yes, even shoveling poop! I have ridden sporadically throughout my life - I would have loved to ride more but it just never seemed to be a convenient thing and nobody close in my life has ever had horses.

My new and wonderful friend, Heidi, (we met at on the soccer field last fall!) is also a horse-lover and from the Mt. Vernon area. It seemed like fate when she told me she does a ladies horse weekend retreat at Lang's horse farm every year. It's two days and two nights of horse riding with about 20 other women (all levels of experience). I was so excited to sign up and my experience did not disappoint!

I came home exhausted, filthy and so.very.sore. I also came home grateful. Grateful for a new friendship (we're never too old to make new friends!) and for the experience, in general. I learned so much and have a whole new appreciation for the skill of horse riding. There is so much more that goes into it than I ever even knew.

I truly can't wait for next year.

I think it's so important for all of us parents, moms AND dads, to try to do things outside of our kids and families that feed our souls. It's so easy to get lost in parenting and life. This weekend was a nice reminder of the importance of that and I was super grateful for Sean's support and willingness to take care of our brood all weekend. He even took them to the fair?!?! He's the best!

Oh, Tim

Tim McGraw is one of my favorites so when my soccer mama friends, Heidi and Sarah, asked if I wanted to go to his concert at the fair, I jumped on it! We had a blast and met up with some of Sean's family that was there, too. At one point, Tim even came off the stage and was standing just a few feet in front of us. Swooonnn!!

the 'hood

Our little neighborhood is jam-packed with kids!

Some are family, some are friends and they all play hard together.

I know that time will move forward and eventually some of these families (maybe us, too) will eventually move on to other areas and we will always look back at these kiddos and all the fun they had with such fondness.

Here they are ... the McKenna-Heimgartner-Harvie posse.

Lake Tapps

At the end of August, we got to spend a fun day on Lake Tapps with Katie and the kids. I got a babysitter for Aiden for the day (because, lets be real, chasing a 14 month old baby around at a lake is NOT fun).

Our four kids play so well together and have so much fun. Finn and Nora are little expert kayakers which I just loved! Both of my girls gave it a shot and true to form, my cautious Kennedy wasn't so sure but Mara enjoyed it after a few bouts of circles in the lake!

Lazy Pool Dayzzzz

Fall is officially here but I still haven't blogged some of our summer fun! Catching up today. We were lucky to spend many lazy summer days at grandma LeeAnn's pool and we were all sad to see those days end with the start of school and cooler temperatures. Both the girls made awesome swimming progress this summer which was so wonderful to see!