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.

Under-The-Weather Wednesday

Natalie is home sick today... sore throat and headache. A slight fever too. Feels crummy. Hopefully she can sleep and rest herself out of this bug so she can get ready for another crazy weekend.

I have no excuse (other than allergies??) but I have had an incredibly lazy and unproductive day. I slept in until 9:30. I didn't get out of my jammies until 11:30. I spent a big part of my day on Facebook, mostly consoling Shauna. She sent her 13 year old off to Japan today!! He is going for 2 weeks with a group from his school. What an adventure!! So tough as a mom to let your kids do stuff like that without you. My heart goes out to her.

Another big part of my day was sorting through old photos and looking back at scrapbooks. Kind of in a sentimental mood I guess. I was chatting with Annie earlier... she is expecting her first child... a daughter. I am so happy for her and Ben... seems like yesterday that was Jim and I waiting for Nat. Time is just flying by. Now my baby is 14. What a whirlwind it has been. I'm grateful for every minute.

Guess I should try to get something done with my day. Have to admit I have enjoyed the slow pace... I don't get much of a chance to do that lately. It feels good to just breathe and take it easy.

Frantic Friday

Just spent the first part of my morning trying to fit all of the horse stuff in my car... yes, there is another horse show this weekend.... Blue Ribbon Dressage Show at DevonWood.  Wishing I would have had Jim take my car so I could have had the truck. My brain is not in horse show mode at all.  As I drove to my coffee date with Robanne, my eyes started swelling up and I was sneezing uncontrollably from the hay/horse smell of my car. Oh joy ;)

After a quick chocolate chai, I am back home preparing for the rest of my crazy day. Put some chicken in the crock pot so we can have dinner tonight (chicken quesadillas, perhaps?). Sam is driving down from Gig Harbor as I type this... will meet her for a quick lunch before I pick up Nat from school. She will run errands and I will take Nat to the barn. Nat and I need to quickly pack up hay and get Memo ready to get on the trailer. So glad that we remembered to pack Memo's feed yesterday...whew!

Then we are off to DevonWood... we will need to get Memo settled in. Have to tell you that packing for a horse is kind of like traveling with an infant. Remember ALL that stuff you had to bring??? OMG!! Only the horse stuff is dirty and stinky and huge.

Nat will need to ride Memo for awhile, then back home for us to meet up with Sam. Tonight will be dinner and tack cleaning, as well as getting all the stuff that we forgot ready for the horse show ;) I'm sure that there will be lots of that. LOL

Saturday Nat has really crummy ride times: 10:30AM and 3:30PM. Pretty much means that we will have to be at DevonWood all flippin' day. Nat will be doing her first-ever First Level dressage test. Hope that Miss Memo is excited about being dressage pony this weekend and behaves herself. Never know with her. 

Sunday night we are celebrating Jim's birthday with the family and Sam. Still not sure what I will make for dinner... definitely some kind of chocolate cake. Thinking about pork loin with mango salsa?? We'll see how ambitious I get after the whole horse show thing!! 

Off I go... wish me luck ;)

Happy Birthday, Jim!!

March 5th is a very good day... Happy Birthday to my Jim!! Let there be cake and merriment!! 

Happiest of birthdays to the love of my life. I hope your birthday is as wonderful as you are, Jim!! Here's to many more celebrations and fun times together! I love you with all of my heart and soul. xoxoxoxoxo