Cowgirl Fantasy

We went to the rodeo at the National Western Stock Show yesterday, and it made me realize that I have an unfulfilled cowgirl fantasy.

Maybe it started with my love for the Little House on the Prairie books which I read over and over (and over and over) as a little girl, but I've always had a real affinity for the pioneer spirit. Living on the wide open prairie always sounded so romantic to me. As a teen I was lucky enough to start riding horses, which solidified my love of livestock (it's true, I even love all the smells of the farm), and in college I had the privilege of traveling with the Colorado State University horse judging team (little known fact...) and visiting some unbelievable horse and cattle ranches in Oklahoma and Texas. If you've never visited a true ranch, you can only imagine the sheer size - thousands of acres and hundreds (or more) animals - but surely you can appreciate the staff needed to keep a ranch running. It was at this time that I melded my childhood love for Little House on the Prairie with my young adult experiences and dreaming of what it would be like to be a ranch wife: riding the fences, helping birth cattle, making apple pie and fried chicken for the ranch hands at lunch... I'm sure very little (if any) of that fantasy matches reality, but based upon my day dreaming yesterday it's apparently a dream I still hold dear.

I couldn't be happier with my real life, but maybe in my next life I'll be a pioneer (with running water though...) or a real cowgirl. Either way, I'm hopeful there are horses. Getting back to riding is a dream I know I can make into a reality, and hope to again in the future. In the meantime, here's a retro photo I found of myself aboard a real American Mustang - JB Andrew, aka "Andy". In this photo we're "swimming" in Denver's Highline Canal.

Me riding "Andy", circa 1993 (or so...)

Bookworm In Training

I love the fact that when my husband reads to my son before bed he reads him the title, then the author, then launches into the story. Not sure why, but I think including the author adds a little something.

We love reading to Baby F and he really loves his books! My personal favorites are the Berenstain Bears books, but thanks to my amazing Book Club Girls who held a very meaningful book shower for me before Baby F was born, we have been introduced to a whole host of kid books that I wasn't familiar with before. Everyone was asked to bring their favorite childhood book (or books) to the shower and believe it or not, there wasn't a single duplicate! It tells me that we are all truly book lovers, even though "Book Club" is more often focused on drinking wine, eating cheese and talking about everything except the book.

I have referenced a particular research study a lot lately, so I wanted to note it here. The study shows that children raised in a home with a 500-book library achieve on average 6.6 more years of education. Amazing! We have a pretty healthy collection of books - and now we have even more reason to continue to expand our collection. Outside of the Berenstain Bears books, some personal favorites in my collection include classics The Great Gatsby and Lady Chatterly's Lover; beach favorites such as The Other Side of the Story and Watermelon by Marian Keyes; childhood staple The Little House on the Prairie series; and a favorite love story from my college years, Coming Home.

My husband has totally different taste in books, but together we're hopefully turning our little man into a bookworm all his own. Can't wait to see what his favorites end up being! I found some Bobbsey Twins books for him that were mine as a kid. I loved them... Wonder if they'll translate to today's kid when he's old enough to read them? What are some of your favorites?