January
This year started as the last 7 have... The best way ever!! Happy 8th Anniversary to my best friend and rock of this family. I love you and the girls love you. Life is better with you! This month was also a horse show for Grace Lynn. Thank you Miss Jess for teaching my girl the love and joy of riding. We are so very grateful for you! She did wonderful on Dakota and had so much fun! There is no doubt about it... the girl loves horses and loves to ride. |
| Happy 8th Anniversary to us! |
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| Miss Jess leading Grace out for her Show |
This month started with a field trip to Plaster Cottage. We also had our family tradition trip to the state fair this month. Oh what fun we always have!! The girls had a lot of fun on some of the rides and can you tell which child is not fond of heights?? Scarlett was a trooper though and hung on tight to daddy. We ended the month with the Florida Lineman's Rodeo. The girls have gone twice now and absolutely love it. Their favorite things are going high in the sky in the bucket and climbing the pole. This year my daddy came with us and we all really had a ton of fun together!
Plaster Cottage and Fair Fun
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| Fun at the Fair |
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| Going up in the Bucket with Lineman Ronny! |
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| Fun with Papi at the Rodeo |
Fishing fun was had this month with the family. Free weekends means time with family and I cherish every second of that. Also this month, Grace went to her very first father-daughter dance and had the time of her life. Does she not look absolutely adorable?! She was the happiest little girl in the world and kept asking "do I look beautiful??" Her joy brought me joy and Garrett was such a great date, dancing with her, hula hooping with her and her friends, and just having fun. Grace had a fun field trip to the zoo that I was lucky enough to be able to attend. We had so much fun checking out all the cool animals! This month was a big month for both girls with regards to horses too. Scarlett has officially started riding with Miss Jess this month and Grace has officially started riding Western with Miss Melissa this month. Both of their smiles on their first lessons say it all.
Scarlett's fish and Grace with Daddy before the Dance
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| Field Trip fun with my Baby Girl |
First Lesson for Scarlett and Grace's first Western Lesson
AprilScarlett celebrated Easter at her school this month with an Easter Egg Hunt; can you tell she was excited?? We also celebrated Grace's 7th birthday this month. Happy 7th birthday Grace Lynn!!! We celebrated with a fun party at the house and I showed Grace what the hula hoop champion of the early nineties looks like, HAHA. We ended the month with Matt and Kathleen's wedding. Welcome to the family (officially) Kathleen! We love you guys to pieces and had the absolute best time celebrating y'all. The girls were blessed to be asked to be a part of this beautiful occasion. They are just the cutest little flower girls around. Thanks Matt and Kathleen for thinking of them. Scarlett also did something amazing... she asked her great Papa V to dance with her and he sure did. It was a moment and memory to last a lifetime. I just love this girl's heart and love my Papa.
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| Happy Easter from our Family to Yours |
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| Our over the top Child... LOVE HER! |
Happy Birthday Grace Lynn!
Hula Hooping Fun with Grace
Happy Wedding Day Matt and Kathleen!
Girls weekend!! That's how I started this month. I absolutely love this tradition that my sister, mom, and I have started and carry on. I'm so thankful for Garrett to not only watch the girls but to also help us find fun things to do. This year we stayed on I-Drive and were "tourists" in our own little Central Florida world. We also met up with Granny and brought the little ones for a four generation breakfast. Happy Birthday Grandma-Kay, Mama-Kay, and Amanda-Kay! Scarlett had her school dance recital this month and tell me she is not the cutest thing around. We also celebrated Grace at her Art Show this month. She has been in Art Club all school year and this was our opportunity to see the cool things that she had been working on. This was also a month of fishing. When we have the time, we love to just be with each other and on the boat is a nice place for that. Lastly, Scarlett graduated VPK this month. I cannot believe she is going into big girl school this coming year. She is so excited and I pray that God uses her to do great things and be the shining star that she is.
Girls weekend! And, the Leeper/Sheppard/Vercamen/Myers Girls... Four Generations of Silly!
Scarlett ready to Perform and Grace showing off her artwork
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| Love them!! Ready for fun on the river! |
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| Our Shining Star |
Precious Graduate... I cannot believe it!
JuneJune was a very busy month for us, but a fun one. I'm not sure how we fit all the below (and more) into a single month. These are just the highlights. We decided to do a little weekend getaway to Tampa. We enjoyed visiting Fort DeSoto and going to a Rays game of course! I also received a job offer for a new position at Duke Energy!!! Can you believe as of this month, I am going on 3 years with the company and will soon be starting as a Senior Regional Engineer. I am so excited for what this new journey will bring and for joining another great team within this great company. Scarlett had her dance recital with the dance studio this month as well and did phenomenal. She sure is a little performer. Along with a big personality, she also has a lot of fight in her; so we decided to try something new... Jiu Jitsu! We were blessed to find a great gym that is not only greatly distinguished, but that also puts God first. We are already looking forward to what Coach Annie, Coach David, and the team at Mount Dora BJJ will bring into Scarlett's and our family's life. This month ended with Summer Camp! This is Grace's 2nd year attending the Parent Child camp at Lake Aurora and has told me she may want to go by herself next year because she is a big girl now... can I please cry now??? We had so much fun and I was soaking up every second because I know before long she will be going by herself and she will be making these summer camp memories with her camp friends instead of mom, but that is okay because i know she will continue to grow and develop with great people while there.
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| Fort DeSoto Day |
So much Fun at the Rays game!
Recital Ready!
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| Silly Family fun after Scarlett's Recital |
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| Coach David showing Scarlett a few moves |
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| Mount Dora BJJ ends every lesson with prayer |
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| Ready for Camp! |
Stayed Hillside this year in Simon and had a friend from Church bunk with us!
JulyJuly began with a fun painting evening with mama... I begged her to join me because we were painting one of my favorites, SUNFLOWERS! They turned out great and it was also so much fun! Grace also got to enjoy time at Lego Camp at her school this month... what a cool experience that was for her. She already said she wants to do that again. Scarlett had a camp to go to as well... Princess Camp. This was her second year going and had just as much fun again this go round. Middle of this month marked day 1 for me in my new position at work. I am beyond excited for what is to come. This month Grace had her silks performance and did AMAZING! I cannot believe how far she has come in the last couple years with Miss. Denise. She is our little rockstar. We ended the month with celebrating miss Scarlett Lily. Happy 5th birthday princess! We celebrated with friends at a fun paint party.
Painting with Mom and Girls ready for their Camps
Grace performing her routine and later posing with her coaches, Miss Makayla and Miss Denise
Happy 5th birthday to this wild and adorable child!
AugustWe began this month with dance and this year Grace wanted to give Lyrical a try. She was getting burned out with silks and wanted to pursue something a little different for a little bit. Needless to say, she still missed and wants to do silks, but this allowed her to see if there was something else she would also enjoy. Scarlett is doing mini's tap this year and is excited for something new. This month we had our first real sleepover... we watched one of Scarlett's very best buds for the weekend. The girls all had so much fun from Tent sleeping, to swimming, to church, and science experiments. We also had meet the teacher this month. Can you believe we have a kindergartner again?! Scarlett is soooo excited to go to school with big sis this year if you can't tell from the Day 1 picture. This month we celebrated dad's birthday by going to Daytona and meeting up with not only some good friends, Brian and Sara, but also the best sister and brother, Amanda and Thiago. We had the best weekend just enjoying time with one another.
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| Grace working on that flexibility in Lyrical |
Scarlett and her buddy having fun and the girls with Papi for his Bday
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| The Elliots and Myers take over Daytona! |
Meet the Teacher with Miss Grenada and Miss Quinones; It going to be a great year!
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| Day 1 of school here we come! |
September marked our 72nd annual Sheppard reunion. Of course it would not be a Sheppard reunion without Musical Pie (Thank you Sondra for always bringing the fun!!) and the Lake! Those were the only two things the girls kept asking for leading up to the reunion and they were not disappointed. Also, we decided to take the extra time and spend the night this year. So much fun is always had and we are already counting down to the next reunion with wonderful family. Scarlett and I got to attend her field trip to the Science Center this month as well. I cannot believe how much has changed since I was last there as a kid. Finally, we decided to take Grace to watch some of the older girls at a barrel race event and she was beyond thrilled! We wanted her to see what it was really all about and if she wanted to give it a shot one day... short answer... YES she does! We also celebrated Garrett's birthday this month. Happy birthday handsome!
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| Musical Pie Success! |
Fun in the Lake for the reunion and Field Trip fun for Scarlett
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| Watching PacWest with this future Barrel Racer |
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| Happy Birthday Handsome!! |
We started this month out the best way we know how, Mother-Daughter Retreat at Lake Aurora! This was Scarlett's first camp experience and boy was she excited. The girls and I had an absolutely amazing time and I will forever look forward to continuing these memories and traditions with them. We also celebrated my birthday this month with but of course, COWBOYS! I know y'all were surprised by that. In other news, Grace competed in her first ever barrel racing competition and came in 4th in the PeeWee's 2D. She was on cloud nine and we are so very proud of her! Halloween this year, we decided to go Alice in Wonderland themed, with Grace being Alice and Scarlett was appropriately the big personality of Queen of Hearts. Can you believe that Grace's Alice costume was once my Alice costume?! Bring back memories mama??
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| Giant Swing with this peanut at Mother-Daughter Retreat |
Birthday fun at Cowboys and Grace Selfies with Willy Monster
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| Grace on Shotgun Willy |
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| Queen of Hearts and Alice |
And for your enjoyment, here's a little video of Scarlett being well Scarlett at dance this month, haha.
This was the month of field trips and school fun! With Garrett being in the thick of school, I was fortunate enough to attend as many of the field trips as their teachers would allow. We were able to enjoy the Crayola Experience, Orlando Shakes, and a Solar Bears game! We did thanksgiving with Garrett's family this year, which was a lot of fun! Happy Thanksgiving from our little turkeys to you all. Also this month, Grace saw her first monetary winnings ($7) from Barrel Racing and is officially hooked. She placed 2nd in 2D PeeWee's. We are so proud at how far she has come and how much she is working towards this goal of hers. Thank you Melissa for being the best coach, mentor, and person for helping her reach these goals. We are beyond grateful for you! We ended the month with our annual tree cutting tradition and this year came away with our tallest tree yet; 12-13ft! The girls also got to tell Santa their wishes and hopes for Christmas Day. Smarty Grace asked for Horse Fencing when we told her she couldn't have a horse until daddy fixed the fence, haha.
Crayola and Solar Bear Fun!
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| Gobble til you Wobble |
Grace with her winnings and her amazing Coach
Santa and Tree fun
December
This month has quickly come and is almost gone. But in these last few weeks we've really had a lot of fun. The girls started the month with their school Christmas concert. They never cease to amaze me with their joy for performance and for their hard work. We mailed letters to Santa this year too and they even received letters back! The girls also had their dance Christmas show and both of them did amazing. Unfortunately, with all the many activities they have going on, this was their last dance performance for now. They are going to focus on their horse riding, jiu jitsu, and silks. My heart breaks for leaving an amazing studio and people. Garrett and I also had a nice date night out to his company's Christmas party. I think we clean up pretty well when given the chance. Grace closed out the year with another barrel race and learned a big lesson in rodeo... never claim something until it's happened. She knocked down her first barrel and broke pattern by crossing the timer line. This resulted in a disqualified run. However, she still performed amazing and completed her run beautifully. This was also her first time riding Cherokee, which she is looking very much forward to riding next year as an SBRA member! We cannot wait! Also in other big news, Garrett graduated and can officially be called an electrical engineer. He has put in so much work these last few years and us girls could not be more proud of him and excited for more time together as a family.
Successful Christmas concert for school and mailing letters to Santa
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| Graceful Grace performing her dance |
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| Scarlett tapping her heart away |
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| We love you & will miss seeing you every week Miss Mary! |
Leidos Christmas Party and Grace with Cherokee
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| First Barrel of more I'm sure |
