I have lived on the farm all of my life. I have three older siblings. When I was a young child, I could see a horse from any direction. I always wanted a horse of my own. We moved a lot growing up. I always seemed to find horses wherever we went. I started riding at the age of five, but it was always someone else's horse. I didn't get my own horse until I was twelve years old, from a neighbor whose horses I broke. He offered me a three-year-old filly. She came from out of the West River mustang herd, the area my book is based on. The filly had a brand on her right hip, and she turned out to be a very nice horse. My mom even rode her, and she didn't ride horses! I always thought how a treat it would have been to live in the horse and buggy days. A life in the 1800s was much less complicated, and I would be able to live a simple life riding on my horse. To have rode my horse out in the wide-open spaces. When I was twenty years old, I began to oil paint. I enjoyed oil painting landscapes, wildlife, and animals. I had the chance to take an oil painting class with Bob Ross's son as the instructor. I had a wonderful time and learned so much from him. I went to Aberdeen, South Dakota, to the Stewart's School of Hair to become a beautician. I enjoyed working with hair and love to meet new people, and also because my sister went to Stewart's before me. I wanted to be like her. When my two oldest children were just starting school, I tested to receive my CSL to drive a school bus. That was a challenging adventure in my life. As time moved forward, I remarried; I found a wonderful farm boy. I took a class and became a certified nurse's assistant, working in a nursing home. We have four children, one boy and three girls. We have horses that we raise and sell registered quarter horse colts. When my two younger children started school, I went back to work in town for fourteen years. Now that I have my children grown up and on their own adventures, I am able to work on getting my manuscripts published.
