A Few Things

1. Baby H is 3 months old now! (Yes, its been 3 months and I've only blogged about him once. Shut your mouth.) He is growing at an exponential rate; he weighs 19 pounds already! All of his clothes are 6 or 9 months and the 6 months I should probably rotate out since they look like little muscle shirts on him. He talks and laughs up a storm, especially when you stick your tongue out at him, or show him a mirror. He is almost sitting up on his own, but still kinda dumps over forward or sideways. He's very close to rolling over, but hasn't quite figured it out yet. He loves water and bathtime and lounging in the backyard naked. He's grabbing anything that gets near him and of course, everything goes in his mouth now. It's all so amazing!

2. My laptop is dead. RIP Macbook Pro. You were only 2 years old. Yep, my precious, beloved computer is dead. It was sitting on the backyard grass after a naked baby session when the sprinklers accidentally came on and soaked it. For a minute solid. Fortunately, all my data (and baby photos!) is undamaged and safe, but the circuit board of the laptop was fried. So, blogging may (still) be slow while I get used to using Cowboy H's computer and get all my data/programs transferred over to it.

3. This mama is now a stay-at-home mama! That's right folks. Cowboy H and I saved and scraped together anything we could from my disability/maternity leave pay to make it possible. I am trying to get something going with my photography, but its slow-going at this point. You would think that would leave me more time for blogging, but no, that just means I get to spend more time with this guy:

All of these photos are OLD; from when he was 6 weeks or younger. He is so much bigger now!! I'm working on getting the more recent photos processed and uploaded now that I have the data from my computer back. (Sniff, sniff)

4. Speaking of my photography, I donated a few photographs to a fundraiser for the ranch where we keep our horses. The facility does a lot of equine rescue and holds fundraisers every so often. They always put my photos in the silent auction and they are always a big hit. This time, Cowboy H made some killer frames for the photos, but I didn't take pictures of the finished products. Here, however, are the photos:

The first four I had printed in 8" x 12" size and framed them with Cowboy H's old wood frames. The last two I had printed as 4" x 6" and put them together in a double frame. They all turned out awesome. If you would like any of the above photos, shoot me an email or drop a comment!

Until next time (whenever that might be)!!

A Homemade Wedding Homestead-Style: All The Little Details

Yes, I'm finally getting back to the wedding posts. I was hoping to finish before our anniversary, but Hawaii commandeered my brain in the weeks before (and after) the trip.

Also, the yard project will soon be hitting stands, as the pictures have finally been processed and uploaded.

You all still with me?? Anyone black out for a minute there??

Goodness knows I almost did when I typed those words.

~~~

Now, onto the good stuff!

When planning weddings, brides/planners seem to OBSESS over the details. Details are a double-edged sword (in my opinion). They can make or break the event, but they can also make or break the bride/planner. Like every other aspect of our wedding, there were some details that were very important to me and others I couldn't have cared less about.

I'll start with the flowers. A family friend designed/arranged all the flower pieces for me. She did a flippin AMAZING job. The flowers came out EXACTLY like I wanted them to, but hadn't been able to clearly articulate. I had a very specific vision for the flowers; I wanted a very particular feel. However, I didn't care at all what actual flowers were used. Here's what she came up with:

My bouquet, which you've all seen before.


Maid of Honor's bouquet, same as mine only smaller, also tied with raffia.


Cowboy H's bout, with a bit of raffia to tie in with my bouquet.


Reception table centerpieces, again raffia.


This metal "basket" already hung on this gate at the reception location. The gate marks the way to the barn. My florists filled it with this killer arrangement.


This old butter churn was found in my mother's kitchen; we didn't know exactly what we were going to do with it, but knew it needed to be part of an arrangement!
Photo by my cousin, Joelle.

I was very fortunate that my venue came with tons of cool details that completely added to the feel of our wedding. Here are a few of them:

Wagon wheel chandeliers.


An old door turned into a mirror hanging behind the bar displaying our names on playing cards.


Non-alchoholic drinks in glass servers stationed on an old dresser with white string lights hanging behind.


A handmade sign nailed to a piece of old farm equipment pointing the way.

There were also a few other details that I had my mind set on.

The baby photo boards:

Photo by my friend, Katie.

The handmade (by me!) signs:

My beloved Menu board (also made by me). This is going in our backyard once we get our BBQ pit made.

Photo by my friend, Lauren.

My "Mr & Mrs" chair signs:

And last but not least, my FAVORITE detail of all:

Our horseshoe wedding favors. Did you read the tag? Yes, they all really were from Smoke Tree Stables, and yes, they all really were used. We had to hammer the nails out of and straighten every single one.

So worth it. People loved them. I loved them. Cowboy H loved them… because they were free!

Up Next: One last photo shoot! (The end is finally here!)

If you missed anything, catch up here.

Unless otherwise noted, all photography credit goes to the always rockin' Applemoon Photography!

Tears In My Eyes

Tonight, as a parent I experienced one of the proudest moments of my life. Seriously, my heart swelled in my chest and something became lodged in my throat.

You may or may not remember, but a little over a year ago, when we rescued The Hankster, he required a major orthopedic surgery.

Poor little guy was only 12 weeks old and he came home like this:

In the months (heck, the whole year) that followed, Cowboy H and I often questioned whether the surgery did any good. Occasionally, we considered having the entire leg amputated. For the longest time it seemed, Hank didn't even use the leg. It was just there, even in the way sometimes.

Eventually we realized that the leg was shorter than the other one. In the few weeks between his injury and the surgery, the blood supply to his femur had been compromised. For that period of time, Hank's right femur did not grow at the same rate as the other, making the leg a little stumpy. We're still not sure if he'll ever use the leg normally, despite the fact that he gets quite a bit of use out of it now.

In addition to having leg surgery, Hank was also neutered the same day. The combination of not using the leg and not having the male hormones made us wonder if he would ever stop squatting to pee.

Until tonight. Tonight, while running around at the park, Hank stood on his bad leg and lifted his good leg to pee on a pole.

I have never been prouder.

Never, ever in my life.

In other news, the winner of the "Name That Photo" contest has been decided.

The Desert Rose: "Redneck woman vacuums up two dogs..."

I seriously laughed out loud, because well, I wouldn't be surprised if I actually did vacuum up a dog someday.

Congrats Desert Rose! Take your pick of one of the following:

Tag, I'm It!

Okay, so about three weeks ago now, I was "tagged" by both 'City Girl Turned Country Girl' at A&MD Ranch and 'Growing up a Country Girl' at Livin' It Up Country. The deal is this:

Post your tenth photo that you downloaded into photo folder or picaso and blog about it. Then tag 5 others to do the same.

Well, since I don't use picaso, and I have oh, about 50 photo folders, I had to improvise a little bit. So, I selected the very first photo folder on my desktop and picked the 10th photo out of it. Here ya go:

My handsome cowboy and his equally handsome new horse. This is the first trail ride Cowboy H took Crow out on since having him at our boarding ranch. You may remember that Cowboy H had ridden Crow several times elsewhere before we actually owned him. The evening was just beautiful. The blue of the sky and green of the grass were amazingly vibrant. The photo is completely untouched; the colors really were that bright. It ended up being a pretty nice "first" ride.

And so, I have to tag a few of you now, most of you whom have probably already been tagged by others I'm sure. I pick:

Choleesa at Choleesa's World
The Desert Rose at JessesDesertRose
Stephanie at Momma's Soapbox
Cousin B at She Who Rides Many Ponies

I'm only tagging four, because I really want to tag Pony Girl, who apparently QUIT this blogging thing. So, in mourning, I'm leaving an empty spot for her and Pony Girl Rides Again.

P.S. Maria decidedly approves of Crow, if judged by her, ahem, forward behavior towards him on our ride. Seriously, she was rubbing herself all over the poor guy. Yes, I have a hussy of a horse.

P.P.S. Sorry for not linking to all the blogs I mentioned, but its midnight, I have to get up at 6 am and I think you all know who each other is. If not, all the blogs can be found on my side bar.

Second Shooter

During our big ride with the Desert Rose a few weeks ago, I did hand off the camera for a little while. In case you didn't know, Cowboy H is a budding photographer himself, and if I were to ever start a wedding photography business (I won't) he would be my second shooter.

Seriously. There is just something about his images. He has an instinctual ability to capture the true essence of his subjects, to really bring out their best.

That day, he managed to capture a side of me rarely seen:

My grace.

My beauty.

My class.

My elegance.

*Sigh* They're all so beautiful, I just can't decide which one to blow up and put on the wall.

A Homemade Wedding Homestead-Style: Dance! Dance! Dance!

There were three (or four) very important factors to Cowboy H and I in regards to our wedding. One was that the food be amazing. Check. Another was that everything have meaning to us, i.e. not doing something just because its "tradition". Check. Third, we really wanted that down-home, casual, relaxed, spontaneous atmosphere. Check.

And, lastly, we wanted a rockin' dance party!

Our swing dance pretty much set the tone, and pretty soon the dance floor was hopping.

Cowboy H and I danced and danced. I actually was able to two-step around the entire dance floor without screwing up. It was amazing. The two-step is not my strong suit.

Pretty soon my dad sidled up to me and stated, "Everyone says we need to dance together."

So, you're all thinking, Wha?! No father-daughter dance?! Well, I actually had a song all picked out, and I asked my dad, "Do you want to do a father-daughter dance?" And he replied, "No, I don't think we need to. I mean, you're already married, its not like this is the real thing." So, father-daughter dance was scratched. Or so we thought.

I don't even remember what song the band played, but I know it was a good one. For your information, I had picked out "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" sung by Judy Garland since Wizard of Oz is my dad's favorite movie.

No matter, I'm really glad we danced together after all, even if my dad is a horrible dancer.

Photo by my Nina

It was a pretty sweet moment. And pretty soon a bunch of sets of 'father-daughers' joined us. I loved it.

At some point, Cowboy H was caught dancing with his mom, even though we didn't do an "official" mother-son dance.

Photo by my Nina

Even though they weren't planned, I'm glad we got all these special moments captured.

Because, pretty soon, we were back to tearing up the dance floor.

Up Next: All The Details

(I swear, I'm almost done, but if you missed anything, check it all out here.)

All images by Applemoon Photography unless otherwise noted!

Portrait of a Cowboy and His Dog

I snapped this a few weeks ago. I'm pretty sure this one's going on the wall (someday).

And for those of you who haven't witnessed Cowboy H smile and laugh like I have, this one's for you. Notice even Hank is sticking his tongue out at me!

This man loves his dog so much it makes my heart want to burst.

I'm working on so many other photos and posts; I swear I haven't gone anywhere! Enjoy these for now!