Sheila's New Home

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John and Aaron Jr riding Sheila.

It has been awhile. Aaron Jr and I went out of town, but we are back. I will post photos from our trip next time.
This time, I wanted to post the photos I took at Sheila's new home. Sheila is Aaron's horse. Her name is actually pronounced 'Shayla'. Aaron heard that name in Brazil while he was serving there and really liked it, so that is why he told me he wanted to name the horse Sheila. Anyhow, when Aaron passed away at the end of November, Sheila was living at Aaron's friend Brandon's house. After Aaron passed away, that is when I needed to figure out where Sheila should go and that is when I asked my brother in law, John, to take her. He and Aaron always talked about him getting a horse and them being able to go horseback riding together more often... so it made sense to me for John and his family to take Sheila. I also wanted Aaron Jr to be able to ride her, so it is perfect. I hope John and Lisa and their family know how grateful I am to them. It is a blessing that they agreed to take her and take on the huge responsibility of having a horse. I know Aaron is grateful as well.
Anyhow, a few weeks after Aaron passed away, Aaron's friend Dan and John went down to Brandon's house, picked up Sheila and brought her up to Dan's place. He also has horses and he agreed to let Sheila live there for the time being until John had another place ready for Sheila to go. The photos I posted a couple months ago of the horse were taken at Dan's place. Thank you Brandon and Dan for the help you have been. John's sister and her family have property in the next town over and they have a barn and a pasture where John wanted to put Sheila. So John went over and helped get a fence repaired so that he could move Sheila over there. A couple weeks ago, he was finally able to bring Sheila to her new home. So these photos are taken at John's sister's place and it is a beautiful place. She has space and a great shelter to get out of the weather. She seems happy there.
Thank you again John and Lisa. I am so grateful to you.


Aaron watching with anticipation for his next ride on the horse.


Aaron riding Sheila with um... one of John and Lisa's twins. I still can't tell them apart very well. Sorry twin. Hopefully your mom can help me out with this.


Top left: John's sister's little girl, Jane? with Caroline (John and Lisa's oldest) and John
Top right: Hannah and Elise (John and Lisa's twins) and John, Stella, and Aaron Jr.
Bottom left: John and Stella (John and Lisa's 4th daughter)
Bottom right: John's sister's little boy, Lewis? with Aaron Jr and John


Close ups of all of the kids riding in the photo above this one.
In the middle is Angus (John and Lisa's 5th child and only boy so far). He was sleeping most of the time in the car.


The left photo is a close up of the scar on Sheila's front leg. A few months after Aaron got Sheila, he was riding her and I think she got cut on a barbed wire fence. Whoever was riding with Aaron that day should let me know the details again since I am not remembering very clearly. Anyhow, for the next while, Aaron had to go and clean the wound, put this strange ointment on it and wrap it every single night. I went a couple of times with him and he took great care of her. He was worried about infection and I think he was successful to avoid any infection in her wound. He loved Sheila and I am positive that she loved him.
The next photo is of Aaron Jr's boot. I got these at a second hand store because he had grown out of his others and he was going to be a cowboy for Halloween again. So, I went hoping to find some, and these were there... for $3.00. It was a bargain. I got them home and hoped they were nice ones so that Aaron liked them. When he saw them, he said that if they were adult boots, he would wear them because he thought they were great ones. I felt proud.
The bottom photo is of Aaron's bridle and reins and bit. This bridle matches his saddle that I have here with me at my parent's house.


I wanted a photo of Aaron Jr on Sheila with his cowboy hat on. Well, he decided it was a game and he kept taking it off once John stepped away. So, I never got one of Sheila AND Aaron Jr alone with his hat on... but oh well.
It cracks me up that John is in shorts and cowboy boots. Aaron's mom tells us all the time about how Aaron would wear shorts and cowboy boots ALL the time when he was little. I will have to find a photo and post it.


I did get this one closer up without Sheila in the shot though.




Watching Sheila eat. He was fascinated.




Saying goodbye.


Aaron Jr is in this phase of blowing a kiss to most people when he says goodbye to them, so this is Sheila's kiss goodbye.

These next two photos were taken in September 2006. We were on our way home from a wedding and we stopped by to see Sheila.


This is the only time we took photos of me on Sheila.


This photo is the only photo we have of both of my Aarons with Sheila. It isn't a great photo since the sun was setting, but I am grateful to have at least this one. It is one of those things that makes you wish you had taken even more photos.


This photo was taken November 2004 soon after Aaron got Sheila. He is riding Sheila and I am riding his friend Justin's horse. I remember watching Aaron ride Sheila at full speed this particular day. It was my first time seeing Aaron do that and I have to say... I was AMAZED. I had never seen anyone ride a horse that fast in real life. I was in awe of him and his skills. I never rode a horse at full speed. I remember when Aaron and I were riding horses together in Moab once and he started running with his horse, so my horse ran as well and I was scared and thrilled at the same time. We weren't even going as fast as he was on this day. I loved watching him with horses, he loved them and knew so much about them. I still remember the first time I saw Sheila. I was so excited. I thought she was so beautiful. I have always loved dark brown horses. Ode is between us in this photo. I often wonder how Aaron's animals are feeling wondering why he has been absent from their lives for so long now. I really feel sorrow for them. I am sure they are missing him like we are. We miss him so much.

I am missing you, my cowboy...

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(thanks to Aaron's friend, Justin, for that last photo of Aaron and me on horses with Ode)