19 Years of Wedded Bliss

Last year, on our 18th anniversary, I told the story of our wedding. It was a rainy (monsoon!!) day in Las Vegas that I will never forget.

This year we already celebrated our anniversary a couple of weeks earlier by going to Astoria. What a great time!!

Trying out some micro-brews and having lunch at Ft. George Brew Pub:

Definitely a great place for a smooch... the Astoria Column:

A hidden away beach on the hike to Cape Disappointment lighthouse:

Enjoying a walk on Delray Beach:

The Cannery Pier Hotel was amazing, and we cannot wait to go back!! We had so much fun riding bikes on the river walk, going to dinner at the Bridgewater Bistro, walking through the farmer's market and so much more. A very romantic weekend together :)

Happy Anniversary to my best friend and soulmate. I love you with all of my heart, Jim. Thank you for being the most amazing husband I could ever dream of. You make everyday seem like our honeymoon all over again... I treasure every minute we have together. I can't wait for the next 19+ years with you, babe. Cheers!!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

FRIDAY!!!!

It is FRIDAY and I'm a happy camper! The sun is shining... we are supposed to hit 86 degrees today. Summer is here... if only the school district knew that ;) Two more weeks of school... we are almost there!

Jim and I are heading to Astoria for the weekend to celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary. Our anniversary is not until June 9th, but this was the only weekend that we had time to sneak away. We are staying at the Cannery Pier Hotel which looks amazing!!! We have heard that Astoria is quite the hip place to go these days... lots of cool restaurants and nightlife. Not to mention the trolley car and great hikes. Should be a romantic weekend with my sweetie :)

Last weekend was the USPC Oregon Region Dressage Rally... it was a GREAT rally with FAB weather!! Our club did the food for 60+ people, 2 meals for 2 days. It was a lot of work, but turned out great! Lots of good help and laughter :) Memo and Nat did great!! Memo loves being a fancy dressage pony in the sun at DevonWood :) Natalie's team ended up winning first place in both riding and horse management! It was awesome!! Natalie and Memo scored their first "9" on a dressage movement... a beginning halt at "x". Not bad for a wiggly little Arabian, and for doing First Level. A very successful, but tiring weekend.

My car is in the shop... again :( AAA had to tow it :(  This time they had to order a new ignition switch from Germany!! Holy moly. What a pain. I hate that my car is getting so old and so high maintenance :( I love my car. I have been a truck-driving momma all week. Jim has loved being able to ride to work on the motorcycle. It took some work to get it going again... two of his bikes have been in pieces in the garage for awhile waiting on various parts. He is so handy to be able to fix them himself :)

I hope everyone has a superb weekend!! I know that I will :) xoxo

Is this thing on?

I've been a bad, bad blogger. Again. But then again, I'm not so sure anyone even reads it anymore ;)

Life is super busy right now... end of school is nuts! We are definitely on the home stretch now, and I am sooooooo grateful. Really ready for summer!!!

Mother's Day was super special... each day of the weekend started with horse events, of course ;) Saturday, Natalie and I drove to Gaston for a Pony Club Standards & Ratings Clinic. CMPC made quite the showing... we are frustrated with how ratings go in our region so we want to know details and how to make it work for our kids. We got home around 1:3oish and enjoyed a quiet afternoon at home. Jim and Natalie made dinner for me while I lounged on the sofa. Heaven, I tell you! They gave me the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" so we watched that together. I adore that movie and bawled my way through it. Even Natalie was shedding a tear by the end.

On Sunday, we had a riding clinic up at Windsong by the same National Examiner who did the Standards and Ratings Clinic. She was very knowledgeable and had good feedback for the kids. Memo was super bad! Bucking, kicking out, rearing. Sigh. She agrees that Memo is not a horse suitable to continue with Pony Club upper ratings. I guess it is good to hear it from a neutral source. Still hoping that the horse-gods will help us to get her sold and find the right horse for Nat.

After the clinic, we enjoyed lunch on the patio at the Greenway Pub. Life is good when the sun is out and you can sip a Ruby outside on Mother's Day :) We had another quiet afternoon at home... just the best! Really enjoyed my time with my family and some extra spoiling and relaxation. I'm a lucky momma.

This week I am working hard to get the house cleaned up, get caught up on laundry and bills, and so much more in preparation for my trip to Colorado! I leave on Thursday morning and will fly into Denver. Rachel is picking me up from the airport so we can spend some time together that afternoon. She and Shan are leaving for the Grand Canyon that night so I'm so grateful to get to see her before she leaves. That night I am meeting up with some of my high school friends for dinner. Will be so great to catch up with Lori and Jeff! Then I am off to Fort Collins to spend the weekend with Annie, Ben and baby Scarlett!! Can't wait to meet sweet Scarlett Adeline... is that an awesome name or what??? I remember how hard it was when the grandmas all went home and Jim went back to work after Natalie was born... so I'm heading out to spoil the Markse's rotten!! Will cook, clean, and hold little Scarlett as much as possible so Annie can get caught up on her sleep :) I will miss Jim and Natalie terribly, but so excited to spend some time with Scarlett.

Off I go to get stuff done. Wish me luck and safe travels... you know how much I *love* to fly ;) xoxoxo

Where did April go??

Spring is just flying by...I cannot even believe that it is April 22!! It is finally starting to warm up around here... the weather has been gorgeous!! I wish it would stay in the 70's year round!!

Lots going on here as usual. Lately I have enjoyed the job of "Professional Play Dater"... great benefits, no pay ;) Lots of lunch and coffee dates that I have really enjoyed!! I have great friends!! Today I'm having lunch with Jim... I did last Wednesday too. I'm hoping we have started a new tradition. 

Natalie has decided to put Memo up for sale. A tough decision, but smart. Jim shot some video and photos of her that we need to get online. Natalie even rode some horses last weekend and fell in love with a little grey Thoroughbred jumper. No cross country experience though, and we really have to wait until we get some action on Memo before we can seriously start looking. Great time to buy a horse... not a great time to sell. Wish us luck!! Nat really needs a horse to rate on for Pony Club this summer.

Annie and Ben welcomed their little girl into this world on April 19th... welcome sweet Scarlett. I cannot wait to meet her next month when I go for a quick visit. Planning on spoiling the Marske family rotten!!!

Pretty sure that we will run up to Gig Harbor this weekend to help Sam celebrate her birthday. Always love to go up there... so beautiful!!

Happy Wednesday all!! xoxoxox

Easter Update

Hope that you all had a great Easter. Ours was great in some ways, not so great in other ways. Oh well.

Jim did an Easter photo shoot. Here are my favorites:

What a beauty. She is really growing up on us... sigh.

Love this one of my family.

Nat took this one of me and Jim. I have the best hubby in the whole world.

Had a quiet day here. Made a nice breakfast for Jim and Nat, then they headed to the barn to see Memo. I made a big ham dinner: brown sugar glazed spiral ham, garlic mashed potatoes, Italian asparagus, biscuits and berry crisp. We took leftovers down to my sister's house... my nephew Ethan is in the hospital so we cancelled our big family dinner. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. My mom has been a big help with Colby.

We ended our evening with a few Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes. Nice to hang w/my family. I love them to pieces.

Big hugs going out to my girl, Shauna. She had the chemo from hell this last week. The side effects have been the worst ever. Love ya, S. xoxo

Big hugs to my bud, Sam too. She had to put her dog, Daisy, to sleep on Thursday. We will miss Daisy so much.

Hate that life has to be so hard for so many of the people I love :(

Just for Natalie...

Here is a blog post for my darling daughter, Natalie.... :)

She just told me that I haven't updated my blog in ages, and that it is all because of Facebook. That Facebook has sucked everyone's brains out. LOL

So here you go, Nat. I hope that I still have a brain ;)

Life is so crazy busy right now. I barely feel like I have time to breathe.

Spring break was a blur last week. We spent all week preparing for the show and rally. Insane.

The show was good. The rally was kinda (really!) bad.

Memo actually jumped the jumps at the show!! Not so much at the rally. The good part about the rally is that Natalie scored a 100% on her written horse management test. The only pony clubber to do that.

We really enjoyed the rental RV we had for the weekend. It was a Godsend in the rotten, horrid weather! Really worked out well, and we are hoping to rent it again for Western Championships in August.

Now that we are home from the show, I am wading through piles of laundry and trying to make 53 brushes! I finally got another big order, as well as a small local order. Go me!

Memo is officially on my "list". I am so annoyed with her behavior. Not sure what we are going to do. It is really up to Natalie. Lots to think about....

Off to finish dinner.

Woot Woot!!

Natalie received some really awesome ribbons in the mail yesterday (as well as a beautiful engraved photo frame)!! Congrats to Natalie and Memo!

They won 2008 USEF Region IV Horse of the Year Championships in both Arabian Hunter/ Jumper Horse and Arabian Specialty Horse!!

They also received 5th Place in Training Level Dressage for the region.

Their photos will be in the April issue of Equestrian magazine!! Way to go!!!! Proud momma, as always :)

Slacker Blogger

Where in the world have I been this last week? One simple answer... at home with a sick girl. Natalie had it bad. Really bad. I was sure she had strep but no. Just a really nasty virus. She missed three days of school as well as a three-day weekend. It was ugly. I haven't seen her that sick since she was a little girl (OMG... remember ALL those ear infections??). 

She is on the mend. Still very pale and worn out. Still complaining of a sore throat this morning. Tuesday was her first day back to school. Luckily just a few more days of school before Spring Break and a chance to get some extra rest.

Memo has missed her terribly... and Natalie REALLY missed Memo. Janice and Elise took great care of her while Nat was sick. When we saw her yesterday, Nat just hugged her for the longest time. The sad part... Memo had to get a chiropractic treatment yesterday so now she cannot be ridden for 5 days. Natalie will have to do special stretches and hand walk her each day. I'm sure that will be a good bonding time for them, but sad that she cannot get back in the saddle.

Today I am supposed to be getting allergy shots. Not going to happen. Stuck at the VW service waiting room... again!!! This time it is some kind of coolant leak. I pray that it is just a hose of some kind and not the radiator....

And a couple of hours later....

Not good news. My car could have blown up!!! Holy crap!!! $1200 and it will be good to go!!!! Dang it!!! Took the shuttle to Intel to get Jim's truck so I can pick up Nat from school. Nothing is ever easy.

Okay... I'm in a mood so I will sign off. Sigh.