Karen's

Karen has become the most talked about person in our house for the last couple of months. Karen is my sister-in-law, Amanda Rude's (married to Dan's brother Jason) mom. A few months ago Aunt Amanda asked if all the Rude cousins wanted to go out to her parents, they live about 25 minutes away, to ride horses and see all the new kittens. Karen has a stable, lots of beautiful horses and tons of little kittens running all around.

We spent over three hours there the first time, my three big kids all rode a horse for the first time and they snuggled lots of brand new kittens. My heart sank when I discovered that my camera had no SD chip in it. So I was unable to capture their first horse riding experience. We did however go back to Karen's this week. This time we brought our Daddy, some friends and MY CAMERA! 

The second time to Karen's was just as successful as the first. For over an hour they snuggled kitten after kitten after kitten and got to ride Misty the horse again. It was a perfect morning for my animal loving kids. 

The kittens have grown since the last time we were there making them even more fun this time. My children don't hesitate for a minute, they ran and picked up the first kitten they could find. Brave little ones.

Rex has a little stuffed kitten at home that he has named Karen. We love Karen!

Myla got jumped on by a dog... she quickly got over it. I just thought this picture was funny.

Rex is just in love with these kittens. He is so fun to watch because he is so happy just snuggling these little ones.

This was my favorite kitten. It had beautiful blue eyes.

Our friends the Kurths came out to Karen's with us. Their two kids Harrison and Harper are favorites around this house. Unplanned but all the boys are in their superhero shirts.

Tim, Dan and their girls. It took the girls a few minutes to warm up to all the animals.

He is just a happy guy.

Harrison loved the kittens.

Myla was the brave first rider. She was just thrilled to get to ride Misty again. 

I'm always amazed at how they barely hesitate to do new things and sometimes how a little friendly peer pressure gets them to try and enjoy new things. Karen walks them around on Misty. She is so wonderful to take them time to spend with us and help my kids experience new fun things.

My sweet girl.

Harrison riding a horse for the first time.

Titan enjoyed the dogs again. He gets so excited around animals.

Rex being a stud.

Myla warmed up to the kitten. She loved holding it like a baby.

Quinton, Harrison and Myla. Sweet friends.

This little man loves exploring.

This little boy warms my heart.

Harper fell in love with the kittens as well. She didn't even want to ride the horse because it meant putting her kitten down.

The last brave rider. What a big guy.

Myla and Harrison always seem to get along so well and he always makes her erupt in laughter.

He felt so brave hanging onto the reigns.

Titan enjoyed loving the cats as well.

The whole kitty loving crew. Quinton's cat is even waving.

Watching Karen take Misty back to the pasture.

What a fun morning. We are so thankful for Karen and the opportunity to experience animals in such a fun way. My children think the world of her and she has been overwhelmingly kind and welcoming. Thank you Karen for sharing your passion or horses with my kids. They are so blessed by the experience to learn and enjoy new things. I'm pretty sure that Karen is still talked about daily and I'm fairly certain that all five of these kids would have excitedly welcomed any one of these kittens into our houses. A fun morning had by all! Blessed to see such huge smiles on my children's faces.