Holiday Breaks are for Horses.

Thanksgiving week was a fun one for Sid and her horse pals.  On Wednesday, she went with a few other riders to Eagle Island State Park for a nice ride.  It was a beautiful, crisp day.  

If you recall, last year, Sidney was so excited to get to do the Christmas light parade on her very own horse.  She went over there solo, as she did not know too many people at the ranch yet.  This year, she dragged a whole crew along with her for the Christmas light parade.

Jayde and Kaycee, Sidney and Pigeon, Hannah and Lilly.

Savannah and Peaches.

Pigeon and Amy's mini horse, Tater, seem to really get along.  The cuteness!

Here is the HVR crew.  Kaycee was not a fan of the night lights, so Jayde ended up walking her.  Apparently Tater was a spicy one too.  No Levi this year.  I think it would have been a bit much for both of us!

I loved Santa in the horse drawn carriage!  Let the season begin!

Venti Vanilla Iced Coffee with Nonfat Milk.

This Thanksgiving fell on 11/23/2023,  Kevin took his last breath at 9am on 11/23/2018, which happened to be Black Friday that year.  The girls reminded me of the five year milestone.  Sidney and Hannah bought me these beautiful bouquets early in the week.  It was so thoughtful, as they wanted to get Daisies and lavender.  Since they could not find lavender, they bought lavender colored flowers.  

That morning, the girls and I ordered Kevin's favorite drink and took it up to the cemetery.

We talked, prayed, and shared memories.  

We each agreed that somedays it feels like just yesterday and other days it feels like it was a lifetime ago.  I think we each wish that he was here to see us and participate with us on all our new adventures.  I do know in my heart of hearts that he is super proud of us for continuing to put one foot in front of the other.  As one of the girls had heard, and shared with us, grief is love that has nowhere to go.  

My mom hosted us at her house for Thanksgiving.  I just had to include this one picture of the pumpkin pie.  Kendall accidentally laid the uncooked pie sideways in the bag on the way to my mom's.  It was a mess.  We managed to clean it up, only to overcook it.  At least half of it was edible.

Pickle Anyone?

This girl is so silly and her co-workers are equally silly.  One day between shifts, one of the bro-istas was craving a pickle, so they went on a giant pickle run.  Okay.

Why not do a little yoga on the job?

Sometimes, the stars are not aligned and nothing seems to go right.  Kendall and Sierra had one of those nights.  Of course, Kendall came home after her late shift to tell me all about it.  I really have to dig deep on those after work debriefs.  Though I may be tired, they are the highlight of my day.

Her stand had a 'Dutch Culture' night.  I cannot quite figure these meetings out.  They occur every other month or so and seem to be equal parts training and teambuilding.  On this particular night, Ethane, their manager, got 3 pies to the face from some of the newest 'broistas'. He made a deal that if they could score high enough on their Flow tests, they could each pie him. Kendall was one of the three pie - throwers.

This picture is just cute.  Kendall doing a bit of thrift shopping.

Also cute...

Maybe I am a Horseperson After All.

Okay, the title of this post might be a stretch, but I am certainly having fun and learning so much!  I took my first riding lesson, EVER, this month.  It was awesome.  I rode Noel's horse, Maize.  Maize is a great horse for building confidence.  It went so well, that later in the week, Noel agreed to let me tack up and ride Maize on my own.  I even took Maize for a small walk outside the arena.  Baby steps, but I know one thing for sure, I need to stick to bomb proof horses like Maize.

I saw a post on Facebook from one of the local trainers, Grace Robinson, advertising for a small clinic geared toward green and anxious horses.   I have heard great things about Grace and sent her a message.  I told her I am a very green 'non-rider' with a young and green horse.  I asked if this clinic would help me learn a few more things to do on the ground with Levi.  She thought it would be a great fit.  She told me that the clinic is three hours and the first half, everyone will be doing ground work.  For the second half, only those that are ready and interested would be riding.  Sid was working, so I loaded Levi and hauled him up to the clinic.  Sidney showed up right after it started and observed the first half.  I learned so many great things.  

One of my favorites was so simple, but it made so much sense.  We had our horses lunging around us.  At one point, Levi got a bit spunky.  Grace said, "Well, that is his opinion, not yours, keep him moving forward."  Sure enough, he snapped out of it.  It was good timing, because about 10 minutes later, the horse next to us, blew up.  I was freaking out inside and Levi got a bit excited.  I just kept telling myself, "that is only his opinion, not mine, keep him moving forward."  Sure enough, things fell into place.  Afterward, both Grace and Sidney asked me if I had noticed the craziness.  I told them, yes, I was dying inside.  They were both surprised, as I did not seem to miss a beat.  Yay!  The old adage, fake it till you make it really paid off!

The second half of the clinic, Sidney worked with Levi.  They did a bit of ground work first.

After that, Sidney got in the saddle and did a few new exercises with Levi.  They were amazing.  I have a video that I will need to load up.  For now, here is a picture of the dynamic duo.  Levi was so quiet under saddle.  He is still two, and still nutty, but he is coming along so nicely.  He is getting giant though.  He is already significantly taller than Pigeon, and still growing.  

Trailer Hauling 101.

I figured Sidney might as well start learning to pull the trailer (sans horse).  She is already quite proficient at hooking it and unhooking it.  So, we headed to the ranch and decided to give it a try.  She did great!  I think all the practice pulling the four wheeler with a trailer at the ranch has helped ease her into this.

She learned to really watch her mirrors through corners.  I was very impressed by how well she did.

In fact, I was so impressed that I decided to find a big parking lot and have her practice backing up.  I made her a little trailer picture for the steering wheel, as this is how I learned and the visual is very helpful.  She took it slow and got a feel for how the whole thing moves together.  

When we got back to the ranch, she wanted to line up the trailer, but wanted me to back it in.  At the ranch, our trailer gets parked between two others and can only be backed in.  Once she lined things up, I told her to take it slow and try backing it in.  It took a few tries, but she managed to slide it right into the parking spot.  We will keep on practicing for awhile, before thinking about putting a horse in there.

'They' Cannot be Trusted.

The dogs have been so naughty lately.  I have caught them in the act a couple of times.  Bella is the sneaky one getting into things she should not.  She takes them to Bailey, and he destroys them.  UGH!  Kendall left the door to the sunroom open and this is what my pillow ended up looking like.  

If that is not bad enough, I accidentally left my, very expensive, wireless earbuds on the counter.   I came home and they were both chewed up in the middle of the living room.  Oh, I was so mad, I could not even consider taking a picture!  What am I going to do with those two?

Or better yet, what am I going to do with these two troublemakers?  Hmm.

Disney and the Dentist.

I had the honor of going to Disneyland for a work trip.  To tell you the truth, I am not a Disney fan, but I was going to the park for a conference, in which one of my team members was being honored.  My co-worker, Terry, is retiring at the end of the year.  He was presented the NCSEA Susan M. Frey Educator of Excellence award.  It was such a fun evening, meeting up with my team and honoring an amazing engineer.  

It was a beautiful evening walking into the park.  I was scoping the area out, as Kendall and I will be going there this coming spring for a dance event.

Everything is so perfect and beautiful, I had to touch most things to determine if they were real.

While I was on the trip, Levi had his first dentist appointment.  I miss all the interesting things when I am out of town.  Sidney was on hand, and I received several follow up notes from the vet on what a big help she was.  For horses, they get sedated for their dentals.  The teeth are then filed down.  Levi had his two wolf teeth pulled in the process.  Both Sidney and the vet said he was a very good boy.

He is so very sleepy.

He is a cute sleepy horse and also a bit goopy after the process.  It was definitely time, as he is able to eat so much easier with the teeth being done.

Franken-tree.

So I noticed this split in my front Ash tree.  I must say, Ash trees are a pain in the butt.  That being said, the two that I have are so giant, there is no turning back now.  My arborist compared them to teenagers, "You care for them and nurture them and then hope for the best."  While he was out to my house, I asked him about this split.  He showed me step by step how to 'reinforce' it,  He said that I should give it a try, because I would not want to pay his fee.  That was a bit unnerving, but I talked my dad into giving me a hand with the task (aka I supervise, and he does the work).  I even had to buy a new drill for the task.

I was a bit skeptical and nervous that the bit would get stuck.  My dad took it nice and easy and the bit drilled through the tree like butter.  After the hole was in the tree we put an all thread rod with washers and nuts on each end.  I lovingly refer to the front Ash as my 'franken-tree'.  Let's hope the wind does not have other ideas.

Speaking of nurturing things along, my house is of the age that things are going to start needing replaced.  I walked through the garage to a trickle coming from the bottom of my water heater on Wednesday.  On Thursday, the trickle had become a small stream.  I called the plumber.  He kindly said he could come out on Friday morning.  Thank goodness, as Friday morning, it felt like we had a river and we lost hot water, as the pilot light was extinguished.  I am thankful that I have some great people I can call on when things go sideways!

Just 'WOW'!

I truly love that the girls are willing to put in the work to accomplish their goals.  Kendall had gotten her aerial last year, but then was not able to repeat it.  It became a mind over matter issue.  She kept at it, and this year, the aerial has returned.

The prep.

The execution.

The celebration.  I love this picture, because the joy is so pure!

Sidney and Pigeon had their first show of the winter series.  They were looking good.  I think Pigeon's favorite thing is to jump.

Into a jump.

Exiting a jump.

I love this picture, as it shows the determination that Sidney and Pigeon both have as they round the corner and put their eyes on the next jump.

Meet Dany.

My mom and dad got a new dog.  Her name is Dany.  She is a five month old. long haired daschund.  They got her at the West Valley Humane Society.  She and her brother had been picked up as strays.  She is as sweet as it gets.  My sister and I decided my mom should have a dog shopping spree.  I had the privilege of taking them to my favorite pet store, Northwest Pets, to purchase a few fun things. 

Dany loved her new carrier.

Though I think she loved her first pup cup even more!

Sam seems to be doing very well with her.  He is letting her know when she needs to back off, and she seems to really be listening.  Oh, the cuteness!

My dogs absolutely loved her.  Bella was excited to have another puppy friend to play with.  Bella kept bringing her bones.  The problem is Bella's bones are about the size of Dany.  The gesture was sweet though!