Happy Thanksgiving!

I should have posted this last week, but I got locked out of this account, so better late than never...

I have never taken part in the posting of what I am thankful for each day that circulates Facebook this time of year, but it always gets me thinking about it. So I decided to make a list of the things I am most thankful for.

1. First and foremost, I am thankful for our Creator who sent His son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross so that we could have eternal life through Him.
2. My Mama. She is strong, beautiful, and inspiring; She changed my diapers, taught me right from wrong, and has dealt with all my shenanigans for 22 years.  
   
3. Mr. Preston Ty Riggs. He loves me for who I am, he wears wranglers, and lives on a dirt road, what more could I want? Sometimes I wonder how he puts up with me, but that just makes me love him even more.
   
   
4. My friends and family. They show unconditional love and support in everything I do (even when I decided to move to ND)  (...ehhh couldn't choose which pics to post)
5. Teachers. I took a personal and family finance class my junior year at K-State, I don't remember what the subject of the day was but I remember the professor telling us to take pride in our education because it is the one thing that cannot be taken away from you. I had never thought of it like that, but it's true; You could sell your car or house, phones break, and pets pass away, but once you have a degree, that can't be sold or taken from you (unless maybe you forgot to return a library book, but you know what I mean). From the bottom of my heart, thank you to all of my teachers from elementary to college, they really don't get enough credit!
6. My 4 legged babies, actually all animals for that matter. They make me happy :)
   
   
7. Farmers and ranchers, thank you for working 365 days a year, from triple digit heat, to negative cold temperatures to help feed our bellies.
8. For the invention of cars so that I could get home to see friends and family over Thanksgiving break.

There are lots of other things I am so thankful for, but those are the biggies.

Happy Late Thanksgiving,
Dani

"So you see, faith by itself isn't enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless" -James 2:17

Amarillo by Morning

*Note: I promised that I would try to post on a regular basis...I have been thinking about it on a regular basis, but just haven't had the time to sit down and write something. I technically should be studying right now...well anyway...



This weekend I was able to see a certain someone :) and it made me very happy! Ty got tickets to World Champion Ranch Rodeo back over the summer, before my ND deal was settled, so I wasn't sure if I would get to go, but by golly I went. I flew into OKC on Friday where Ty and a friend of his picked me up and we headed towards Amarillo where the rodeo is held.

My view from OKC to Amarillo :)

The boys were almost more excited for the trade show than the rodeo, so that's exactly where we went as soon as we got to town. We met up with a few more friends and made our way through the many booths of saddles, stirrups, and spurs.

Before the end of the weekend, we walked through the booths more times than I can count. They have a system:
Friday: you do a quick walk through to skim the booths and see whats there. Ty is efficient as possible, you walk the outer border first, then weave through the isles.
Saturday: a more thorough walk through to compare prices and scope out the best deals on what you want. You purchase the items that you really want on this day before they are gone.
Sunday: This is the last day so you can barter a bit with the exhibitors on things. The less stuff they have to pack up and haul home, the better. All the little things that you noticed the previous two days you go back to check if they are still there and how good of a deal you can get on them. The day is not efficient at all "Oh, lets go look at that one saddle pad," "Oooh, did you see that saddle? Let's go look at it," "Lets go talk to that guy about those boots," "Oh theres a butterfly!"

Okay, just kidding on that last one, but you get the picture, Sunday is very sporadic with lots of walking around sifting through SO MANY people. Those of you who know how much I love (read: hate) shopping can imagine how much I enjoyed (read: didn't enjoy) this. But as much as I wanted to sit down, I was happy to be spending time with Ty and other friends who I hadn't got to see in way too long.

The rodeo each night was really good, the ranches put on a good show for everyone! Of course there were the teams from KS, TX, OK, and NM, but there were a few others from different states including one from ND so I had to root for them a bit.

"Halftime" entertainment. The Escamilla Brothers 

Hard to see, but he has a big loop circling the whole horse while loping around the arena

Jump roping while also juming back and forth through his loop

Along with the rodeo and trade show, we were able to go out one night and Ty even got to push me around the dance floor for the first time since May (way overdue). I can't even explain how nice it was to sit down and relax and not think about school for a weekend. I love going to these kinds of events, it reminds me that there is still good in the world. The smell of dirt, horses, and cows, the sound of clinking spurs, the way men tip their hats when introduced to a lady and there is no such thing as a stranger. I see all the little boys in their tiny wranglers and boots and spurs and hats, inducing a slight mode of baby fever. And there is something about cowboy with rough, stained hands holding their sweet babies or pushing strollers as their wives shop that just makes me smile.

Texas sunset

After the amazing weekend, we headed home on Monday, the boys dropped me off at OKC airport on Monday for my flight at 2:30ish. I was supposed to be flying to Chicago then on to Fargo. Well apparently there was some weather (snow/rain mix) going through Chigago, so my flight out of OKC kept getting delayed. I tried to get put on another flight to avoid Chicago, but there were none available. We finally got out of OKC around 5 and since I originally had like a 3 hour lay over in Chicago, I wasn't going to miss my connecting flight. But... when we landed in Chicago, I had an email with an updated itinerary. My flight for that night from Chicago to Fargo had been cancelled and I was on a flight the next Morning (Tuesday). The airport was a mess...as expected. I waited in the customer service line forever before finding out that there were no flights into Fargo for the rest of the night...all the airlines had been cancelled their flights into Fargo. The next available one was at 8:16am the next morning. Needless to say I can mark 'spending the night in an airport' off my bucket list. Not that I wanted that on my list in the first place. I got into Fargo shortly after 10:00am just in time for my stats test at 11:00am (Thanks Justin for picking me up!!)


Love and miss you all!
DB

"For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love." Psalm 33:4-5

My summer...priceless

Words cannot describe my experience this past summer. I had the opportunity to spend all summer, working at Camp War Eagle in Rogers, AR serving kids of all ages, teaching them about horses and Jesus Christ. This is a large camp that recruits college students from many universities across the midwest to serve as counselors, which is how I found out about them. How large is large, you ask? BIG! They hire about 350 college students to work throughout the summer and they have about 500 campers each session and there are 7 sessions in a summer. There are "60 different activities – just about anything a child would dream of doing during the summer! Some of the activities that the campers may choose are: swimming, archery, basketball, volleyball, horsemanship, skateboarding, hip-hop dance, cheerleading, pottery, wakeboarding, sailing, water slides, stained glass, riflery, nature study and conservation, woodworking, candle making, ropes course, rock climbing and many, many more" (taken from CWE website) While at camp, I served as a wrangler, caring for our 24 horses and giving riding lessons to the kids. Getting paid to work with horses and kids....how much better can it get?!?

Here it is from the beginning:

I was supposed to be at camp on May 18th for the start of Pre-Orientation. As some of you may know, I was also supposed to graduate from K-State on May 18th (and Taylor was graduating from high school on May 18th). Of course, graduating from college is apparently a pretty big deal, so the staff at camp was more than understanding that I would be a day late. So I graduated on Saturday afternoon, drove home Saturday night (crying the whole way when it sank in that I was leaving Manhattan for the last time and going to miss everyone of my friends terribly), went to project graduation for Taylor when I got home, then got up and headed for AR on Sunday morning.

 

 

The first two weeks of camp consisted of orientation and training. There was a lot to know about this camp and they want to make sure you know what you are doing and feel comfortable doing it before the kids get there.



All the wranglers at one of the Special Events during Orientation



Bareback lesson during Orientation

It was so exciting when the group of first session kids got to camp! As wranglers we spent the mornings doing chores and saddling the horses for the day’s activities.

In the morning we had riding lessons and in the afternoon we had trail rides. The morning lessons were my favorite time. Watching kids’ eyes light up when they get on a horse for the first time was one of the most rewarding moments. It was even better when a camper was scared to get on, but you are able to get them on and then they don’t want to get off!  

After supper we got ready for the special event. This was probably the hardest part of the day…after spending all day working in the barn in the heat, dust, hay, horse hair, and horse sweat, it felt so good to get back to our room for a cold shower and just sit. But we would get dressed for special event and give another 110% dancing the night away and playing games with our kids and completely forget about how tired we were (until that was over and we were in our beds at last).


Dirt tans

Each night's special event was a different theme where we dress up, play games, and dance, we dance a lot! Some of the special events are Water World, Western Night, Red White and Blue, Reindeer Games, and then the last day of the session is Planet Eagle. While the previous mentioned ones are self explanatory, Planet Eagle is best explained as a huge 90's/neon dance party. The party starts at supper where everyone stands on their seats to dance while we eat pizza, cupcakes, and pop. Everykids dream!!

 

We had a firework show everyweek on Red, White, and Blue day



For Hollywood Night, we dressed as Security Guards to protect all the 'famous people' in attendance

Planet Eagle during Orientation

After special event we went back to our respective cabins for devotionals. This was the more serious part of the day, winding down before bed, learning more about the scripture. This is when we, as wranglers, were really able to get to know our campers since we didn’t get to hang out with them during the day. After devo, we usually spent some one on one time with each camper, getting to know each of them and answering their questions. This was my next favorite part of the day. I loved getting to know each camper and hearing about how much fun they had that day and just spending some quality time with them.

Camp War Eagle will forever have a place in my heart and I will always bleed Osage blue! There is infinitely more that could be said about this camp, but this post would be 10x as long. All in all, it was an unforgettable summer, I loved being a part of those campers' great camp experience and hopefully make a difference in their life. I made so many great friends that will always be near and dear to me no matter how far apart we are. Throughout the summer, there was never a dull moment, we were constantly laughing, enjoying each other, and supporting one another.



This was Jami's 'going away' party



They gave me a great birthday!!



Entertaining during a rainy day



We talked all summer about having a mud fight and Mak made it happen during the last week!!



#WranglerSwag



Trail Ride for a picnic



We didn't enjoy ourselves at all, obviously



We are classy. This was at the end of summer banquet



We have so many more 'funny face' pictures than normal



Wouldn't trade them for the world!

And a few of the Horses:


JB



Ringo



Tinker



Jami riding Joe




Jami gawking at our largest horse, Cowboy....he is very large, and not in a healthy way

Erin with Doby



Harry, our pony

 

This post, in no way, gives justice to what this camp does for the kids that it blesses each summer or for it's staff but I am an animal science major, not an English major, so that's the best I can do!

Chaco's: $100
Gas to get to camp: $40
Osage Shirt: $12
CWE experience: Priceless


Love and miss you all!
Dani

P.S. Thank you Kailea for letting me use your pictures!!

"And my God will meet all you needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" -Philippians 4:19