With Facebook, I have a tendency to post there and not write on my page!  October was a pleasant month with our weather!   My mom and Jack came to visit the first of October and it was wonderful!!!  I never get to see them as much as I would like!

November was a quiet month, as I didn't go to the APHA or AQHA World Show.  Too much going on here to get away.  With all the horses and huskies, my wonderful live is here!  All stallions are paid up in Breeder's Trust and Incentive Fund, all Stallion Breeding Reports have been filed and all Christmas Shopping is finished!

December, I just love Christmas!  The tree on at night with the twinkling lights....I always have that feeling that something magical is going to happen!  We had a great Christmas.  All the kids came home, so it was "perfect!

L to R: Jake, Matt, Josh, Mark
Erin, Rae, Dad, Vicki

Our family photo!  Notice the 3 girls have matching shirts?  Our Christmas stripes, LOL!!

Getting ready to welcome a new year!  Next year will be so exciting, my first babies out of DC Legacy!

We have been so busy here!  With the drought we are having, it takes me twice as long to make sure all horses, dogs and plants have water.  The weather has been so hot that I make sure the horses and dogs have fresh water in front of them every hour of the day.

On September 2, our middle son, Matt got married.  This is our first child to be married!  The wedding was in Washington, MO at The Vineyard at Riverbend Chapel.  The scenery was breathtaking.  I want to share some pictures with you!

Click on pictures to enlarge.

The Vineyard at Riverbend Chapel overlooking the Missouri River.
Rehearsal, Saturday at noon.  We had to have the rehearsal inside due to rain.
Rae and Matt	Matt and brother, Josh	Jim, Rae's dad and Rachael	The Bridesmaids. Jody, Erin, Stacy and Nicole
Rehearsal Dinner, Saturday evening.
Mom and Jack	Before dinner	Nicole, Rae, Mom and Matt	Matt gave Rae a diamond bracelet as a wedding gift!
Before the Wedding, candid pictures of the bride and groom.
Erin getting her hair done, Sunday morning.	Rael and her mom, Cherie	Mark, Matt and Justin	The Men!
Matt, Dad and Josh	Almost ready!	Dad and Amanda	Josh, Nick and Casey
The Wedding
Justin and Erin		We do!	The Bridesmaids.
Introducing.... Mr. & Mrs.	Family Picture	Me, Amanda, Mom and Chris	Matt and Josh
Jim, Melissa, Nick and John	Chris and Jon	Our family.	Picture time!
Matt and Rae
The Wedding Reception
Ta Dah!	Best Man speech	The Wedding Party	Cutting of the cake.
Rachael and her dad, the Bride and Father dance.	Myself and my precious son, Matt.	Groom and Mother dance.	My Matt!

Summer is here and it is beautiful!  We are almost done with our kitchen!  It will be nice to have everything updated!  It's been a pain in the fanny going without a stove for 2 weeks, but there is a good side to that!  No cooking, LOL!

We had a good time at the Pinto World Show in Tulsa.  We were stalled with Dave and Brenda Kellerman, Jeff Ison and his friend, Brittany, Fred, Vanessa and Lexie Cole.  I met new people and visited with other friends that were there!  I got to meet Russ Ellis' wife, Felicia and see their stallion, Supernatural Fella and his yearling filly - one word describes both horses, phenomenal~!

The eating wasn't too bad either.  Erin and I tried a different spot for every meal!  The Tulsa Expo center is an impressive place.

I was very disappointed in the judging in amateur 3 and 4 year old stallions.  I walked DC in, had him set up and the first judge came by and judged me.  Then the ring steward came up to me and said my horse was lame and excused me from the ring.  We had him checked out and he was not lame, but there wasn't anything I could do about it.  So when are judges now vets?  I am proud to say, my stallion has never taken a lame step in his life!  I was so proud of him.  DC Legacy was a perfect gentleman and I had lots of people want to see him to breed to him next year!  Jeff Ison was showing him for me and we ended up third overall behind Tim Finkenbinder and JT Mitchell, so I was very proud of Jeff and DC!

Click on pictures to enlarge.

 Erin did a great job of showing her yearling, Exceptional Detail, "Gerdy."  This was Erin's first world show to show in and she was a pro!  Gerdy is an end of February filly, so she didn't have the height many of the earlier yearling had, but she is as "handmade" as you can get!  Erin got a 5th! out of 14 yearlings!  Way to go ER!!!

We had a great time cheering our friends on when they showed their horses!  It was a pretty good time.  Gearing up now for the APHA World Show in November.  Dave Kellerman is going to show the horses! 

We did the final check on the mares!  All mares are in foal for 2012~!  I am so excited to see DC Legacy's first foal crop....I know he will be a producer like his father, DC Precision.

May has been the busiest month yet!  My Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays have been pretty full collecting 3 stallions and driving to Fed Ex!  It is a good busy!  We're pretty much done breeding our mares.  I have bred my last mare on the 8th of this month.  I didn't want all my babies coming at once, so I spread them out!  I'm looking so forward to next foaling season!

Jeff Ison sent a picture of Exceptional Detail, and I am so thrilled the way she looks!  He has done a terrific job of getting her shed out and fitting on her.  She and DC Legacy are going to the Pinto World Show in June.  Gerdy is out of Exceptional Look and our Quarter Mare, Detail By Rockafella.  She is in regular registry in both APHA and AQHA.  Exceptional Look has been throwing some really awesome foals this year.  Lots of color and lots of size!

I got to meet Carri Wilborn of IL.  She came over to our farm and purchased the colt, Jest Lookin.  "Dexter" is going to be ONE BIG BOY!!!  I think those two will kick some major fanny in the show ring...and I'm excited because I will get to see him grow up!  The chest and back end on this boy is just phenomenal!  For being so young, he already has the deep muscles popping out.

We also sold Casinos Ms Elite, our Ellie to Judy Norman of Ohio.  I am sad to see Miss Ellie go.  She has given us some great babies with Jamaican Hottie.  I have kept one of her daughters to replace her, Miss Hottie Pants.  She looks just like Ellie, except a bay.  Ellie will be going to a family that will show her lots of love and attention, so I am very happy about that!  I just want to cut back on a few mares and make my broodmare band a little smaller!

We have one more baby to sell, Dang Good Lookin.  He is such an eye catcher and will make someone a great show horse!  Dango is easy going and loves attention.  All the babies have decided it is fun to play with each other.  I watched them run, buck and play for almost a half hour today, just laughing myself silly!

The decorating on the house is going great!  We have the living room, dining room and front entry/hall painted.  The kitchen is the next project.  I have the floor, countertops and appliances taken care of, now just waiting for everyone to come and do their job!  After everything is put in, I will decide on what to do with the walls. The old wallpaper is off in the kitchen and small bathroom downstairs.  Did I say I really don't like to strip wallpaper?  LOL!

Xena's baby girl is growing into such a gorgeous baby!!  She will be going to Lisa!  Lisa lost their husky Kino and was heartbroken.  I think this was God's way of giving her peace after she lost her baby.

The foals are growing like weeks and what a pure joy they are!  This is my favorite part of having horses.  Watching the babies grow and mature and finding their independence from mom.

Our Illinois Paint Horse Association Show was held in Sterling, IL.  It was a good show, with a pretty good turnout!  DC Legacy won 2 first's in 3 year old stallions and 2 Reserve Grand Championships.  He was such a good boy.  I had collected him on Friday and then got him ready for the show.  He was stalled by gelding and mares and was a perfect gentleman at the show.  In Sterling, the stalls are not solid walls, so I was a little concerned...but as always, DC didn't fail to impress me with his manners!  Thank you to Dale Bushue for showing my boy for me, and thank you to the judges Rick Bailey and Gary Hersom!  Our next show in in June in Gifford, IL.  It will be a 2 day show with different judges both days.  I will have DC qualified for the APHA World Show then!

What a great Memorial Day we had!  All the kids came home and we met at my Dad's house for swimming and eating!  Click on pictures to enlarge!

Erin, myself, Mark, Jake and Josh	Dad and Maxine	Martini, Erin and Rossi	Erin and the big blue ball
Erin and Matt	Josh taking a walk around the pool.		Matt and Martini...ready to dive in!
Matt watching Martini swim.	Matt helping Rossi swim.	Go Rossi, go!	The Gazebo, Josh watching Matt fish.

It was such a great day and the weather was not too hot, with a slight breeze.  The perfect summer day!  It isn't too often all the kids are here at the same time, so to me, it was an amazing day!

What wonderful weather we have had!  Garden is tilled and the veggies are planted.  Looking forward to fresh tomatoes, beans, pumpkin blossoms, carrots (for the horses) and a bounty of other fresh vegetables! 

We've decided to do some major work on the house!  The rooms are going to be painted and freshened up!  I'm even going to try some faux painting in the bathrooms!

Etta, my little girl is growing so fast.  Love her look, as she is going to be dark like her daddy, Jamaican Hottie.

The babies are loving the lush green grass and warm sunshine.  Dango, take a bow!  This is such an awesome colt!  His coloring is so exceptional!  The babies this year are so loving and just beg for attention! Speaking of babies, let me introduce the newest member of Double L Acres.  SSF This Girls Cool, "Cherry" gave birth to an awesome colt on the 6th of April.  What an interesting birth this was!  She started pacing as usual, then laid down and out came a foot.  I never saw her water break, just a little drizzle came out.  I check to make sure the baby was positioned right and waited.  Cherry got up and down several times, then decided she wanted to stand up to give birth.  My sweet husband, Mark was helping me.  He looked at me and said, now what?  I told him we just catch the baby.  This baby was so large, that Cherry couldn't get the shoulders out.  Both Mark and I would pull hard when she had a contraction.  We finally got the shoulders out and that's when her water decided to exit also.  I was totally drenched in placenta juice!  Right in my face and down my shirt!  The water just didn't trickle out, it was like a fire hose!  We caught the baby through our laughter and the baby was just fine!  This boy was 42 inches tall at birth.  He also has two beautiful blue eyes!  I feel
truly blessed to have three healthy babies!             Click here to see the birthing video:

Exceptional Look's color percentage is about 93% these last two years!  You can count on him to throw the chrome on his offspring!  He is just an awesome sire!!!

DC Legacy had his first show of the year and we won 2 first places and 2 Grand Championships!  I was very proud of my boy and he was such a gentleman at the show!  Dave Kellerman did a great job showing him and complimented me on what a good boy he was, especially since he is young and a breeding stallion!  He is on the light side because of breeding, but I still thought he looked great!!  We had a good time at the show.  Stalled by our friends Fred, Vanessa and Lexie Cole and Brenda and Dave Kellerman!  Fred brought fresh strawberries and  my gosh, were they good!!!  It was so good to see everyone again! 

I miss Exceptional Detail, "Gerdy."  She has been at Jeff Ison's place since the first of April.  He said she is doing great and will have her first show in a couple of weeks.  We are taking her and DC Legacy to the 2012 Pinto World Show.  I've never been, so I'm pretty excited!!! 4  I also celebrated my birthday Friday night at our show.  My sweet hubby drove up to have dinner with us and then he drove up early with the kids that help clean the stalls!  I think they were pretty tired after getting up that early, but they were troopers!!

Xena was bred to Tux, but was only carrying one baby, so we took her to Dr. Heidi and she had a c section.  Xena gave us one big, gorgeous black and white female with 2 blue eyes.  I was surprised how good of a mother Xena was!  This was her very first litter and she was out and groggy for a couple of hours after they took her baby.  We brought her home and she settled right into motherhood.  So proud of my girl!

In like a lion, hopefully, out like a lamb! 

When I got my first horse, I boarded at Big Creek Riding Center.  In our barn, were some really great people and Erin and I had so much fun with everyone.  A young boy, Tim Austin, stalled next to us, along with his family.  We were all barn buddies!  Tim has grown into a great young man.  His talent with horses is nothing but amazing.  His goal in life is to make a horses' life a good one.  He can take a horse and do anything with him.  He started a business, ABC Horsemanship.  This was his second year at the Illinois Horse Fair in Springfield, IL.  There was standing room only when he performed!  When I first got Jamaican Hottie, Tim came over to ride him.  Hottie had never been longed or ridden.  Within an hour, Tim had him longing, and was on his back--walking, trotting and loping him around the arena.  I see Tim making a huge success of himself in the future, and I will always be proud to know him!

Etta is growing so fast.  I feel so blessed that she is even here.  Coming 5 weeks early, she has been a healthy filly from the start!  She has the most gorgeous head and when I go into the barn and she knickers at me, my heart just melts! Dango, our gorgeous colt is growing into quite a handsome young colt!  He will be a show stopper for sure!

Bogart and Willa are sold and will go to their new homes in Penn. in April!  I will miss them, but I know their new owners will love them and show them on the east coast!  Watch out on the east coast for these two gorgeous horses! Our new baby boy, Dang Good Lookin is going to be shown in the state of Washington as soon as he is weaned.  Good Luck Sarah, I know you will win big on the west coast!!  It is so exciting to have our horses go to places far away and win big!!

I had to take pictures of the trees that line our front pasture.  They are so beautiful this spring.  Everything is!  I have my garden ready to start planting the first of April.

We've been busy breeding mares!  The boys don't seem to mind, LOL! 

What a wonderful, mild winter we have had.  I don't think I have ever enjoyed February so much.  Temperatures in the 50's and 60's.  Most of the time, the weather was in the low 40's!  Not much snow to move around...Life is good!!

Breeding season is keeping me busy, collecting on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays (and sometimes in between). Thank you to all the mare owners that now belong to the Double L Acres Swim Club!  All the boys have enjoyed making the mare owners happy!  LOL!

We have two babies born this February.  A gorgeous AQHA bay filly.  "Jamaica At Last," Etta.  Her dam, Obviously At Last, "Lilly," some how got Placentitis.  Which is a infection of the fetal membrane.  Our wonderful vet caught this and we started Lilly on SMZ, Banamine, Regumate, and Dex (to help develop the lungs of the foal).  Bless Lilly's heart...she endured the shots for 3 weeks.  Little Etta was born on Feb. 15, 1 month and 1 week early.  Healthy, full of life and a bundle of joy!!!

Click on pictures to enlarge.

Mark and I were watching TV on the evening of February 27.  Around 8:30 p.m., we got a call from a lady in Ohio.  She was watching Mare Stare and said the mare in Cam 4 had just foaled.  Both of us looked at each other with question marks.  Shesa Sting "Sting"  wasn't due until March 14.  Her bag was not full, she had no signs of foaling.  She was outside all day playing and we brought her in.  We ran to the barn to find a beautiful Overo stud colt laying next to his mom.  Sting had no problem giving birth.  He has such unique markings.  I don't think I have ever seen anything like it!  I'm still working on a name for him.  I'm thinking a barn name of Bandit, since he has the patch over his eye!

Click on pictures to enlarge.

We've been busy checking and breeding mares.  I am getting better at ultra sounding the mares!
I guess practice makes perfect!  I have two of the greatest kids helping me clean stalls and helping around the barn.  Matt and Hannah are such neat kids and love my horses like I do!  Matt went to Universal Studios for vacation in February and kept calling to see how the horses were doing.  He even watched Mare Stare and called the girls to tell them what they were doing wrong, LOL!!! 

I wish I had more to tell you.  Like I went on a vacation to the Bahamas and got a great tan.  Oh well, I can dream.  I have my own heaven on Earth here.  I couldn't ask for any more than that!

Happy New Year everyone!  I apologize for writing so late.  Thank you for being patient with me.  We've been cleaning out the stallions this month and I am pleased to say all are good to go!  Breeding room is cleaned and all equipment is warmed to 100 degrees for our stallion's pleasure. 

It is so heartwarming to get phone calls about the stallions and the overwhelming response we've had this year.  The stallions at Double L Acres are exemplary, and I am proud to own them.

Congratulations to the mare owners and their new foals that were born this month.  I know you are as proud of them as I am!

All the puppies from Tila and Misha's litter have gone home with their new families.  I am so blessed to have such wonderful families love these dogs!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, Mark!  May you have many, many, many more!!