Caden and Makenzie meet for the first time

March 13, 2009. Two grandbabies meet for the first time.

Caden lives here in Lincoln, NE, 30 minutes from us. Makenzie lives near Ft Collins, CO, 7 ½ hours away. The grandbabies are now 2 ½ -3 months old. Makenzie is 2 weeks older than her cousin. She is petite and is a little socialite already! Caden is stocky and loves cuddling.

Finally, they meet each other, they meet their aunt and uncle, and the family is all together for the first time since the babies are born.

Brenda with Makenzie, Tom with Caden, Jake and Sara, Micah, and Jacob and Amber

I was busy that weekend with the NE Horse Expo (that I will blog about next). Sara said she would come home to help me, but I think she wanted to show the baby off!

Friday, Sara and Jake are at Expo in the afternoon, and Jacob and Amber was able to come to Expo after Jacob was done with work. When I saw them, the moms were holding each other’s babies! I wanted to be part of the circle of my children, but I had to be in my vendor booth. So I watched from the booth. The "moms" were smiling at the babies. The "dads" were joking and laughing with each other. The younger brother, Micah, joined in with a girlfriend. That youngest son sure is good with the babies. He sure does hold and play with them well. He is only 21 and they are barely 3 months old.

Jacob, Caden and Amber

Tom came home Saturday afternoon to help Jake load hay into their trailer. Jacob came home to help. Sara and Amber were able to let the babies play on the floor.

Oh, I wished they would have videotaped this. The 2 grandbabies laying side by side for the first time.

Makenzie looks over at Caden.

She reaches out her arm. She touches him on the ear.

She must have pulled his ear or scratched him. He begins to frown, really large! He cries.

She gets very large eyes and she cries. The babies have never heard another baby cry! Caden begins to cry even louder. Makenzie begins to cry even louder than Caden.

Pop takes pictures until the babies start crying!

Why wasn’t someone videotaping this for Grandma?

Makenzie is beating up on her cousin while she can. I’m sure in a few years she is going to be the ring leader or he is going to be knocking her down! I can‘t wait to be there to find out. In the meantime, the grandbabies sleep when they can and get a lot of cuddling at other times!

Makenzie's Baptism

March 8, 2009.

A special day for our special girl.

Makenzie Ruth’s baptism.

What a doll at 3 months old! Makenzie is named after a very special relative, my Grandma Ruth. 3 generations now share my Grandma’s name as their middle name… me, my daughter Sara, and her daughter, Makenzie.

I was given a lacey dress when I was born. The story that I wrote to put in Makenzie’s baptism book about the dress is printed below. Sara and Jake asked all of the relatives to write something special about what they want to tell Makenzie when she graduates high school. They will present her with this book at her graduation party.

My mother gave me the dress when Sara was going to be baptized. Sara wore the dress when she was 1 month old. Now Makenzie has continued the tradition. At 3 months old, she looked like an angel this morning. I hope she is the first of many granddaughters to wear the dress. I wonder what we should do for the grandsons??? My grandma Ruth has told me that all babies, both boys and girls, wore long cotton gowns until they were one year old. I wonder if anyone has one of these old gowns. I wonder if anyone would let me put an old gown on their baby boy! I highly doubt it, so Pop will have to come up with something for the grandsons!!!

To Makenzie Ruth on her Baptism Day

Your Baptism Dress is dress that your Grandma wore as a baby. Great Grandma Chittester said that a neighbor, Viola Brown who lived across the street, brought this dress for me when I was born in 1958. Today, the dress is 50 years old. (I’m sure that with 3 older brothers, and living on a farm, I didn’t get to wear this dress very often). Your mommy wore the very same dress on her baptism day, November 1982, when she was a month old. Your Great Great Grandma Ruth is pictured holding your mommy in this dress. Just like you, your mommy and I have Great Great Grandma Ruth’s name as our middle name. Grandma Ruth told me that all babies, both girls and boys, wore dresses until they were a year old. Grandma Ruth was very kind and loved all children, and I’m sure she would love to be here today, and holding you too. I’m sure she is smiling down from heaven.



I put the dress away in a cedar chest. The dress is now yellowed, with a few stains, but can be worn with love. You are the first granddaughter, of hopefully many, that will wear this dress on their baptism day. This is a very special dress for a very special girl on a very special day. I love you bunches, Grandma


“The Baptism Dress”
The old dress, yellowed with age,
50 years old, from the past,
Fragile, delicate, gauze lace.
Worn for God, in His House, on a special day,
Loved ones, present and in Heaven,
Looking down on your angelic face.
Worn for family, now a heirloom,
A dress for future babies, and like you,
I wish for you God’s blessings and grace.

NATRC Convention

A few weekends ago, I attended my first NATRC (North America Trail Riding Convention. After competing for my first full year in Competitive Trail Riding, (I did attend 1 ride the fall before, but we had lots of rain and didn’t ride for as many miles as we could have). I was excited about attending the annual conference, which was held in Kansas City. There were speakers who talked about pasture and grasses, nutrition and Carbohydrates, lameness issues, and parasites, primarily ticks! We definitely found out that ticks were bad!!!

Besides these clinics and topics that were given by professionals in their respective fields, we had a small vendor area to wander through and look at tack and supplies. We defiantly ate well. We had a taco bar and music entertainment Friday night and a Saturday night dinner buffet at the Convention awards.

NATRC gives out awards per region, with the United States divided into 6 regions. Each region has an Open, Competitive Pleasure, Novice, and Youth division. Open Riders ride about 50-60 miles over a 2 day weekend. The riders or the horse have earned enough points to advance out of Novice. Open Riders have the most advanced and hardest obstacles to perform on the trail. Competitive Pleasure is for riders who have pointed out of Novice, but don‘t want to ride Open mileage. They ride about 40 miles on a weekend, and have the same obstacles as Open both days. Novice Riders ride the shorter distance, but have easier obstacles. Youth is for ages 18 and under and they ride the same distance and have the same obstacles as the Novice Riders.

Even though I have had some disappointments on the trail, my horse and I had an awesome year. My Quarter Horse, Finny, and I were high point Novice team for our Region. Finny won first place for Horse and I won 2nd place for Horsemanship. Many of my friends who competed this year also placed very high. My friend, Virginia, who I ride with, won Top Horsemanship in her Novice division. Her Fox Trotter placed very high also. My friend, Sheri, won Top Competitive Pleasure Team, Horse, and Horsemanship on her Paint, and placed very high overall in the nation.
My husband, Tom, came along, and decided to shop one of the afternoons while I sat in on the tick presentation! Lucky him! Tom highly recommends that anyone visiting the KC area should go to Cabellas. The mule/deer display in the back of the store was well worth the time to visit. It was better than a museum. He spent over 2 hours looking and reading about the wildlife displays.

Back to horses… My next competition is in less than 2 months and I need to get to riding. Both my horse and I are out of shape!!! But with cold winter months and long hair on Finny, working hard is not an option when we have a few warm days here and there. I sure hate to warm him up and have him sweating, then he spends a cold night outside! But with daylight savings time now, and warmer days, I don’t have an excuse to wait any longer! Conditioning starts now! Oh, Tom, we need to hit the exercise equipment because 2 pointing is going to kill my thighs if I don’t do some weight training! I need a partner to stay focused! Next time you all see me, I should be buff! Come along on the next ride with me!