Memorable Moments of 2011

Favorite Memories of 2011 from Janice Johnt on Vimeo.

Have a great New Year!

*Please ignore the title page on the video that says 2012! I got a little ahead of myself! Haha

Serenity

Horse Show Results

I just realized {a month after the fact} that I never blogged about the horse show in November! That's pretty shocking considering how much fun we had. I'm sure that this is going to be boring for anyone else, but I want to write all the details out so I don't forget them!

Dahkilah's new owner had him at the show, but since we sold him on terms he showed under my name. I thought it was neat to hear his name and my name together over the loudspeaker. It was one of my goals when we brought him home!

I drove down Thursday night after work and stayed with Brett's mother in Niceville. The arena was only a 20 minute drive from her house verses over an hour from our house. I got to love on Dahki for the first time since August. I missed my big baby!

I woke up bright and early Friday morning and was at the arena by 7. I had several friends showing in Halter and Dahki's under saddle debut was one of the first classes in the afternoon session and I wanted to spend a little time loving on him before he had to hit the ready racks. I was really impressed with how alert and calm he was. I think {ok, I know!} I was way more nervous than he was!

I watched him under saddle in the warm up ring and it was the first time I'd seen him ridden since July. I was impressed to see just how dang good he looked under saddle!

I'm proud to say that he did pretty dang good in his very first under saddle class and walked out wearing one of these beauties...

A couple weeks before the show I was joking around with a friend of mine (K #1) about possibly showing one of her geldings in an amateur Halter class. I hadn't shown Halter since 2003 and I thought it might be fun. Nothing was set in stone either way, but she did bring him along to show in the Liberty class. A group of us went out to dinner Friday night and somehow it was determined that I was going to show Sadik in Halter the next morning. This particular show only offered amateur owner classes so I had to register to show him in an open class. Nothing like a little more pressure! Neither one of us had been schooled and he hadn't shown Halter in almost as long as I had! HA! After dinner {and a few drinks!!} we drove back to the arena and K #2 worked with Sadik and I for a few minutes and declared us as ready as we were going to be!

I ended up not sleeping much Friday night and had pretty much talked myself out of showing. Pre-show jitters SUCK -- even at a Class A show. I dressed in my show clothes anyway and drove out to the arena. R, K #1's barn manager, had Sadik in the ready rack by the time I got there and promptly informed me that I had all night last night to back out but I didn't have any choice at this point! HAHA!

I think I remember bribing Sadik with his body weight in carrots if he did good for me! I spent a good 10 minutes scratching in his favorite scratchy spot while we waited to go down to the arena. He has the funniest "scratchy" face!

We went down to the warm up ring a few minutes early so I could school him for a few extra minutes and I started getting a little more confident. K #1 was showing another one of her horses so we were all down there cheering each other on. I had almost lost my jitters by the time our class rolled around. I can honestly say that I probably would have wussed out if I hadn't had so many awesome friends down there!

I handed my phone and camera off to K #2's fiance and he was my personal photographer before, during, and after my classes! {The show photographer was awesome and I ended up ordering some of her photos, too!}

Sadik trotted in the ring like he had it in the bag and it turns out he did! That boy knew his stuff!

We won the Open Geldings 5 & Over class and had to turn right back around and go in for the Open Senior Geldings Championship class.

Pretty snazzy, huh?! Not too shabby for the ol' guy and the way-out-of-shape-amateur-handler! To top it off, Sadik ended up with the HIGHEST HALTER SCORE OF THE WHOLE SHOW! Seriously!!! It was an amazing day and I couldn't have been any happier! :)

Needless to say, I'm working on ways to get back into shape and get into the ring a lot more in 2012!

This past week {via Hipstamatic}

5

November 29, 2006 was one of the best days of my life.

After years of praying for the Lord to send me the husband He had planned for me, 5 years ago today, I married the love of my life.

I've learned a lot about marriage these past few years, but everyday I'm blessed to wake up next to the man I love.

God has blessed me more than I could ever have imagined.

It's been a great 5 years. I love you, Brett.

Thanksgiving in Aiken {Part 1 via iPhone photos}

Brett and I went to Aiken, South Carolina for Thanksgiving. Let me just go ahead and say that I L.O.V.E. Aiken so fiercely! It's once of my favorite places on Earth. Love it, love it, love it! Now that that's out of the way... :)

I got off work at lunch time on Wednesday so I had time to go home and throw together a quick sweet potato casserole and Crispix mix before Brett got home. We managed to leave {almost!} on time and I was excited about getting up there before midnight for a change. Not 20 minutes after getting onto I-65 traffic was completely stopped. Somebody decided to pull their 40"+ motorhome off the side of the road with a steep embankment and it flipped and rolled into the woods. We sat there for about 2 hours before traffic finally started moving. By that time I was super sleepy so Brett and I switched places and he drove the rest of the way. We ended up getting to our hotel around 2:00 Aiken time.

We woke up bright and early Thursday morning and drove over to Brett's grandmother's house to start cooking. Brett's sister did the bulk of the cooking so we hung out and goofed around for most of the day. Dinner was wonderful and there was SO much food. We had turkey, cornbread dressing, G-ma's sausage stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, rolls, fruit salad, red velvet cake, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie. Phew! I think I got it all! LOL

After dinner, Brett's older brother and Dad hung out in the living room and played guitar. I never knew that Jim could play! :)

Friday we were up early again to go shopping in downtown Aiken. Again I say, I LOVE this town! There were some new shops that I hadn't been in before so I just had to check them out. I loved The Curiosity Shop and Plum Pudding. Nandina had a set of plaid chairs that I just HAD to have, but unfortunately for me {fortunately for hubby!}, they wouldn't fit in my Altima. Oh well!

Brett and I spent the latter part of Saturday morning/early afternoon at Redcliffe Plantation. We had to leave before they opened the house for tours, but we spent almost 2 hours walking around the grounds and taking pictures. I can't wait to see how the ones on my camera turned out!

We spent Saturday afternoon at Brett's sister's new house in North Augusta. Marlene and I hung out in the den watching the Iron Bowl. I hate that Auburn lost, but maybe next year will be better for us. I'm still proud of our boys. WAR EAGLE!

Tomorrow is mine and Brett's 5th wedding anniversary. I'm curious to see what he has up his sleeve...

My week thus far {via Instagram}

I know that it's normally Instagram Friday, but I will be at the horse show at 5:00 tomorrow through Sunday night, so Thursday it is!

These were taken across the bridge from our river cabin. I drive this way every day to/from work and it's just beautiful this time of year. I'm hoping to take the Pontoon boat out next weekend so I can get some "real" pictures if the leaves haven't already fallen. We're supposed to get down to 27 degrees tomorrow night so I'm not holding out much hope!

Our town's sports complex. I was asked to do photos for the All-Star soccer league. I'm a wee bit excited about that. The formal photos are tonight and I'm going to freeze my hind-end off!

Our 5th anniversary is this month! It's been a wild ride, but I love my hubby more and more every day -- unless it's just one of those days where I'm ready to shoot him! :) I think most married couples will agree with me on that one.

This store has always fascinated me. It's been closed for a LONG time, but I still hope that someone will open it back up. I hate seeing old buildings crumble away.

Dahki's show ring debut is tomorrow afternoon! I'm SOOOO stinkin' excited! I've gotten phone calls and texts from friends who are already at the arena and they all say that he looks fabulous! If I didn't have photos at the sports complex tonight, I would have taken a half day and driven down. The suspense is driving me crazy!

Have a great weekend!

Sunday morning :)

My family and friends know that I have an {unhealthy!} obsession with anything Paula Deen. It's quite sad, but let me tell you, her recipes have saved my you-know-what in the kitchen MANY times. It's hard not to love someone like that! :) My mom and I drove to Enterprise yesterday morning to go to Big Lots to get some new Christmas decorations and I found these babies.

Let me just say that my life is now complete. I haven't had preserves that good since my Grandmother was alive. I may or may not have had two biscuits with breakfast just so I could slather those babies with some strawberry goodness!

I'm super excited about my photoshoot this afternoon. One of my friends happens to have the three cutest boys on the face of the earth and she's asked me to take their Christmas photos again this year. This was one of my favorites from last year!

This is her youngest and he is beyond precious. I mean, seriously now, how could you say no to that face! I can't wait to see what we come up with this afternoon!

This week is going to be a busy one. I've got photoshoots Tuesday and Thursday nights and then I'm going out of town for a horse show Friday and Saturday. Saturday afternoon with be Dahkilah's show ring debut and I'm so glad I'll be able to see it. I miss my boy like crazy, but I know that Rachel is taking great care of him!

This is one of my all-time favorite shots of Dahki. We were in the middle of one of his "fancy" photoshoots and he decided to tell us how bored he was! What a goofball!

Show Us Your Life

For those of you sweet {and totally awesome for finding me!} people who found my blog through Kelly's SUYL link-up, thanks for popping in! I've never linked up on anything like that before, so I'm probably a little too excited about it. HA!

My name is Janice and I'm 26. My hubby and I live in small-town, rural Alabama. I grew up in the little town we live in and Hubs was born in South Carolina and raised in Pensacola, FL. We met on Christmas Day 2005 {when I was living in Ft. Walton Beach, FL} and have been inseperable since!

I'm an insurance agent Monday through Friday and a part-time bloodstock agent and photographer on the side. I've been involved with horses in one way or another since I was 3. I'm thankful that I married a man who accepts {and tries to understand!} my passion for horses.



If I'm not in my office, chances are I'm behind the lens of my camera.While I "specialize" in equine photography, I've been known to venture out of my bubble every now and then!

Thankfully my friends and family tolerate my pleas of "just a couple pictures" every now and then! :)

Aside from work, horses, and photography, Hubs and I LOVE to travel. We'll pack the car after work on Friday for a spur-of-the-moment getaway and just drive. One of our favorite destinations is MeMe's house in Fort Morgan. Nothing calms my soul like the breeze coming in off the gulf. I love spending time at our river cabin and riding the jet boat up and down the river. I'm a water girl if you can't tell! I love my life and I'm so grateful for the amazing blessings I've been given!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Williams Station Day

Last weekend was Williams Station Day in Atmore, AL and we had most of the whole family together for the very first time! My parents, Brett and I, and Cory drove up to meet Jim and Marlene and then Marlene's mom, Mildred {a.k.a. MeMe}, drove up from Fort Morgan as well. That was the first time my parents had met MeMe!

Mar had a successful day of sales and, as always, had a great booth. I just love her work. :)

I haven't edited many of the photos from last weekend, but I did take a bunch on my phone. Since I'm the world's worst at keeping my photos organized, I'll share my favorites so I won't lose them!

Crow Mountain

Brett and I {along with his younger brother, Cory} drove up to Scottsboro last weekend for three reasons. We really wanted to see Jim and Mar again, I had a barn to visit in Tennessee, and it's apple season on Crow Mountain! In the 6 years that Brett and I have been together, we've never timed it to where we could get apples from the Crow Mountain orchard.

Right down the lane from the orchard was a small cemetery next to a beautiful pond. There were old {circa 1950s} wooden tables built against the treeline and some {not-so-old-but-still-not-new} outhouses nearby. I thought it would be cute to get some pictures of the boys with the outhouse. I think they turned out so cute!

These guys are so funny. I wish I had edited some of the "outtakes" from our mini-shoot. They had me cracking up something fierce. Their sense of humor is totally genetic! They get it from they Daddy!

After we came home from Crow Mountain, Mar and I shooed the boys off to the golf course so we could put our fresh apples to good use.

We turned these pretty Jonathan apples into some yummy goodies!



I made a caramel apple cheesecake and Marlene made an apple pie. Both tasted as good as they looked!

There's a good chance that we'll be able to see both of them again this weekend as well. Mar is setting up a booth at the William's Station Day in Atmore. I'm hoping that Cory can drive up and Brett, myself, and my parents can drive over. It will be nice to have the whole {extended!} family get together!