*snore*

I'm home....finally....after working a 15 hour day which included setting up our office after our move. Did I mention I moved desks? Oh I didn't mention that? Well I did. And chairs; and boxes; and filing cabinets. You get the picture. So now I'm heading off to sleep because....I get to work again tomorrow...but only 8 hours (I think, maybe 12)....and only til 3:00am. I think I'm a glutton for punishment! So tired; can barely type anym........................................

Now that I've shared Hayden's style...on to Belle

Belle has always been into her clothes.

Now it has become an obsession.

Along with the shoes.

Everything has to match.

And if she doesn't feel "b-dorable" she has to change.

Wow and she's only 6!

I wonder if this is a little preview of what my life will be like in about 8 years?

I'm not sure why

Hayden got it into her head that she wanted a new pair of tennies. Not just any tennies; Converse. And not just any Converse; they had to be high tops.

I had to get a new suit, which meant shopping, which meant unhappy, griping kids. My idea:

IF you're good and
IF you don't give me any grief and
IF you don't ask me again

I'll get you both the shoes you want.

I got my new clothes.

Hayden got these:

Apparently she's adopting a new style and apparently we're going through a funky cool phase. This could be interesting.

Favorite Foto Friday-the early edition!

Is it too early to do my Favorite Foto Friday? I sure hope not because I can't help myself!!

As you know when we were in Arizona Belle got to go on her first Arizona trail rides. Her very first one happened to be the breakfast ride. I've gone on many breakfast rides in my 11 years going to Tanque Verde but this one was extra special. Why? Because for the first time since I was married and had kids ALL of my family (except for my sister of course but she doesn't like to come so that won't happen) was able to be in the Breakfast Ride picture. So here it is my favorite foto!!

Notice that huge smile on Belle's face? Total cat who swallowed the canary! With everybody else smiling such big smiles too, you can just see how much fun we were having. I think this will be one of my favs for a long time to come!

Not quite all a "Twitter"

Okay, so I signed up for Twitter and I've tried it out.

I don't see the joy in it. Or I guess I just don't get it yet.

But I'm keeping an open mind.

If you twitter let me know and I'll be a "follower"!

Finally!!

I have added the pictures from our trip to our Shutterfly website. You can check them out by clicking on the link on the bottom right hand side. If it won't let you in let me know and I'll add you as a member so you can check out all our wonderful pics!!! I was able to pare them down from 1000 to the almost 400 that I posted! Makes me want to go back to the ranch.

Hayden in the co-pilot's seat of the plane

TGIF!

That's really all I have to say about that!!! ;-)

Is it Friday yet?

I will be quite glad to wake up and have it be Friday morning.

I will actually just be glad when I can lay in my bed Thursday evening and know that Friday will be coming with the breaking dawn.

I won't bore you with ALL the details but will shoot the highlights (or lowlights) of my week your way:

Saturday: home from vacation with weepy whiny children who still want to be in Arizona.

Sunday: Easter with the family and work...til 1:00am

Monday: massive storm; lost power for the entire day; had a tree come down in the front yard (going away from the house thank goodness and not into my bedroom where I was sleeping); had the dock break loose from its moorings on shore and be facing sideways up against the shore; go to the grocery store.

Tuesday: up at the school ALL day hanging art for Arts and Tech night on Thursday

Wednesday: up at the school ALL morning hanging art for A&T night; folded programs for A&T night; work for 10 hours...til 1:00am

Thursday: be up at the school for last minute "To Do's" for A&T night; sleep sometime; finish my personal "To Do" list; write a speech; laundry; set up Spirit Wear sale area; pull Spirit Wear that has already been sold; have A&T night

Then I can rest.

Because the weekend will be slower, right? I mean I only have dog class on Friday, a hockey game on Friday night; a baby shower on Saturday; working Saturday night; Belle's class movie day on Sunday and finally, working Sunday night.

I'm ready for another vacation.

Funkhana Update

Okay, so I know you all are sitting on the edges of your seats wondering what the results of the Funkhana were. I won't keep you in suspense any longer; here are the results:

Dad: rode a horse named Thunder and looked great. He did not place but did awesome!

Andy: rode a horse named Commander and did really well. He didn't place either but I think next year he could give a run for the ribbons!

Me: I rode a horse named Dude (yes, I said Duuuuuddde quite often!) and got second in the barrels and 3rd in the keyhole.

Hayden: she rode Kermit and kicked some major butt in the Loping group and got second in the key hole and 4th in the barrels. She looked great and now wants to start practicing barrels at home and possibly start competing in barrels. We'll see how that goes.

Isabelle: she was the youngest kid in the Wranglers group and she kicked some major behind!! She rode her horse Spur and got third in the barrels and 4th in the keyhole! Every adult wrangler there said, and I quote, "that kid rides better than pretty much all the older kids and better than some of the adults!"

I was so proud of both the girls! I worry about next year because I have a feeling that both girls are going to end up in the Loping group going head to head in the Funkhana. That could be really interesting!!

Lest we not forget

With all the bragging I was doing on Belle I couldn't let it go unbragged on or unblogged on that Hayden has passed into the lope lesson!!! Hopefully that means tomorrow she may be able to go out on the lope ride. We'll see about that. She was super excited about it and we didn't even know until we were coming back from a ride and there she was in the ring!! Gotta love that!

On the other hand our team penning did not go so well today. :-( We came in 4th but that means no ribbon and for our competitive family that was rough!! Hopefully we'll fair better in the funkahna tomorrow. I'll keep you updated. Only one more day! The girls have been sad about that since Wednesday. I'm sad about it now. Thank goodness the booking process for next year has begun!!!

Wrangler

Belle is definitely not one to let a little ear infection hold her back!

The Buckaroos in the kids program are ages 4-6. Which is what Belle was when the week started. They're not supposed to be able to move up until they're 7. They put Belle on a new horse yesterday to have the head wrangler evaluate her to see about moving her up!!! Yesterday as we picked her up from the kids' program she was informed that she would be able to go out on the breakfast ride this morning because she was officially a WRANGLER!!!!

She went out on her first ride with the whole family and we were even able to get a pic of the 6 of us on the horses. After that she was off on 2 other trail ride with the Wranglers! As Belle said this afternoon "no more Bucaroo'ing around for me!"

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday I felt like I was on top of the world. Literally. We did an all day ride up into the mountains and ended up at a nice little stream. When we were coming down we had all of Tucson laid out below us. It was absolutely gorgeous. I took pics which I'm going to try to download tonight but they don't begin to do it justice.

Today was a not so good day since it started at 1:00am with Belle crying and saying her ear hurt "REALLY REALLY BAD!!!!" Of course that led to a trip to the NextCare Urgent Care Center to find out that yes we were right to bring her in because her "ear drum is EXTREMELY red with a BULGING ear drum". Poor Beezie B is now on Amoxicillin AGAIN and Motrin to help with the pain. She is down at the kids' program for the afternoon but can only wade in the pool later instead of swimming . Not a happy camper but much happier than at 1:00am. What a difference 12 hours, antibiotics, Motrin and a new shirt (while waiting for the antibiotic we had to do something!!) will make.

Stupid or Brave?

Either way, the curse is broken!

For those of you who may not know: last year when we were here my horse did a somersault in mid lope and I had to bail out. When I performed said bail out, I landed on my shoulder separating it. I must point out that I did suck it up and go out on the next ride and did not visit the ER until the next day when we were at home. Go me!

So here we are back at TVR. We go out on our ride this morning and I realize....dum dum duh...we are on the trail where my accident happened last year. I really didn't feel any apprehension, I blame the horse not the trail, right? Well we finished the ride with me still on top of my horse. We come back for the next ride and they bring me a horse, "you can ride Diamond." Dum dum duh.....yes folks this is the horse that decided he was trying out for the Arizona gymnastics team. Dum dum duh!!!!! Did I say no, please any horse but that one, get me someone else? Of course not, that would have made sense and made Andy happy. Instead I climb up on top of the tumbler. And he starts twitching...and shaking....and nipping. Do I get off? Nooo! Once again that would make too much sense. Long story short, because I'm heading to the pool. I did stay on the tip side of the horse even though he was acting like an idiot with some kick outs and all that fun stuff. Now the curse is broken. And I WILL be asking for other horses!

Blogging from AZ!!

I love technology! Here I am sitting in our room at the Tanque Verde Ranch looking out the window at the gorgeous mountain range AND I'm on my computer. Now I know I should be outside enjoying our vacay and I will. Just having a little down time prior to our afternoon ride. Plus I had a couple of things I had to share:

1) I'm a Twilight convert. Started reading the book when we took off last night and I'm now on page 457 of a 498 page book! I thought people were crazy when they said they read the whole thing in one sitting but here I am almost done and wondering who I can convince to drive me into town to buy the next one....I mean buy ponytail holders. Yeah, that will have to be my excuse. Can't really admit I want to go for a book.

2) Hayden and Belle met the pilot of our plane last night when they got invited into the cockpit. For Hayden, who wants more than anything to be a pilot and an astronaut, it was a huge thrill for her to be able to sit in the co-pilot's seat!

3) I'm so happy to be here!! I love it out here and could soooo live here. Although it does always make coming home nice too because after being here with all the muted greens and browns coming back to all the vibrant green of a Georgia spring is shocking to the eyes and gorgeous!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane....

YEAH!!

Today is the day! The girls are all packed except for a few last minute items. Andy is packed, for the most part. Me? Well, I have a list finished. That's a start, right? The laundry is mostly done. The suitcase is in the bedroom. I know what I want to pack and I'm excited to leave. I just need to get up and get my butt in gear and put my clothes in the suitcase. Well, at least I have the list finished!

TWO MORE DAYS!!

Only 2 more days until we leave for Arizona. I managed to keep the kids from packing their stuff 3 weeks ago. But I must admit I caved and they have been packed since Monday. That was fun. With comments like "Can I go ahead and pack my toothbrush and toothpaste?" And when I asked "Are you not going to brush your teeth for the next 4 days?" a shrug was my only response. Very interesting.

I think I'm already in vacation mode. I don't want to work or do anything that resembles work. Andy admitted he's already in vacation mode too. Good thing he only has one more day of work.
I can't wait for warm weather, horses, the pool and time with the family....and NO WORK....for a whole week. Heaven, that's all I can say!!! I can make it 2 more days, I can make it 2 more days..... Crap, I still have to pack!!!