Ready for Home

Mommy's work has taken her on trips for the last 3 weeks. Fortunately it wasn't all one long stretch, but it was quite a bit more than normal. The girls asked me to take pictures of the hotel rooms.

 

Vancouver, WA

Houston, TX

Singapore

View from hotel room in Singapore.

It's quite a beautiful place, although very busy and metropolitan, of course.

I had just one opportunity to walk around, so I soaked it in. It's a lovely place to visit.

 

But I miss home.

Mommy's Birthday: Her Favorite Things

Mommy's birthday happened to fall on a Sunday this year. It's generally fun when one's birthday is on the weekend, but it was a little different this year because her job has required her to be on a few back-to-back business trips, and this birthday happened to be the day before she would leave on an international trip. So things were kind of challenging, because that meant there were lots of things to do for planning and preparation.

 

But Daddy and the girls reminded her that it was also very important to take some time to do favorite fun things. And we did!

 

Daddy's card to Mommy was just perfect!

And he made sure we didn't lose the chance with good weather to be horseback for a little while. 

Aleaha made a card with things that reminded her of Mommy....horseshoes, rope, and cactus. The western theme is always appropriate for us!

(Note: She is not yet calling me "Mom", but I suspect that will start soon)

 

Miri made a card too, with lots of special writing of names and drawing of people and hearts and such .

 

Love this family illustration.

 

 

That afternoon, Aleaha and Mommy saddled up a couple of horses for a little ride around our place.

The ones that didn't get to go were quite vocal about their disapproval.

We took horn bags and stopped at the apple trees by the second pond to load up on apples.

Of course, while we picked, the boys took a taste too.

So fun!

Then we walked around the edge of the fields. It was so lovely!

Afterwards, we made homemade meatballs - yuuuuuum!

Since Mommy would be gone for a while, we planned ahead and had some meals ready. It's good to have good food!

Sewing up a Storm

Aleaha has been going through all of Mommy's fabric scraps and making things. Here she fashioned a piece of black flannel into a cape and a matching eyemask. She even designed the fastener all on  her own.

 

And then, naturally, she wore it everywhere for the next 2 days.

 

 

Aleaha rides Quigly

She feels like she's got Shortly all handled, so she wants the challenge of riding another horse. So we put her saddle on Quigly and gave it a go. (Of course, he's a totally good boy, so there's not a worry. He's just very big compared to Shorty.)

We asked them to do a few laps first, so she could feel how differently he moves.

Tiny kid and tiny saddle on big horse!

She claimed he moves just like Shorty.

(I admit I took my eyes off her for just a moment for a pretty snapshot as the sun's rays were coming over the hillside.)

After some warm-up laps, she put him through a little routine she does with the cones. He's a very easier reiner.

She keeps asking us when we will put up some barrels so she can run that pattern. Ay yi yi.....

Smokey Update

 

He's a very curious guy. He thinks he's helpful. We beg to differ.

 

It was time to stain the waterwheel (a task Mommy has been thoroughly dreading). But Smokey was at the ready....

He made sure the process of hanging the dropcloth was as difficult as could be.

And in order to make sure Mommy wasn't working too quickly, he got in the way whenever he could, just to keep the pace tolerable. He's such a helper that way.

Headline reads: Superhero make pigs smile

SpiderGirl helped give the piggies some treats recently. Oh how they love seeing the treats come their way!

 

Such anticipation! (not sure if that's Maybeline or Boarus on the right...)

Can you tell how happy she is?

Very happy!!

SpiderGirl know how to do it.

Round-Up

We made our annual pilgrimage to Pendleton for Round-Up. As usual, it was a whirlwind trip - very busy time, very fun time! Only got a few photos....

 

On Friday we took the girls to the rodeo, and Sylvie joined us too. What fun! Here she was French-braiding Miri's hair.

And someone definitely loved the extra attention.

How many photos have we snapped over the years of Miri asleep with her hand in the snack jar?

Fun shot of some of the rough stock - they look so docile here.

Last year Mommy rode Jake in the parade and for the other Mounted Band events, and this year it was Quigly's turn. He was a good boy!

On the last night, Gramma let us have Quigly spend the night back out at her barn, which made things so much simpler the next morning. She had made a special stall poster just for him!! Stall #1 for #1 horse. :)