1 week down, 8 to go

First week of camp completed, and I am WIPED OUT. Additionally, I was farm sitting for my trainer so I had couple extra hours of barn work in the morning and evening.

I am conveniently hidden on the far right, red shirt. 10 boxes of pizza had just arrived, and I was more concerned with an efficient distribution of lunch than a photo.

We had an exactly full camp- 24 kids. Camp is for kids 7-13, and it's allll day. They are split into 4 groups by age and ability, and I teach two and Christine (owner of RGF) teach the others. First is cleaning stalls, grooming and tacking, then two groups ride and two have crafts, they switch, lunch, activity (wet n' wild day, luau, carnival day, etc.) and pool time.

This group was more on the young side with a couple 5s and 6s. I prefer teaching beginners, which was mildly painful this week since these kids were so young. It's hard to entertain five year olds in the heat on horseback for an hour.

That, my friends, is 72 cupcakes.

Hmmm what other photos do I have now that my power cord is in working order..

The twins love Beau.

Baaaaad Killian. He got his halter stuck in the eye screw (HOW did he get it in there??) and broke his halter. I show this as an example for why we have breakaway halters.

Oh, in response to the strawberry/sour cream/brown sugar deliciousness:


I'm getting a rockin polo tan.

In other news, Beau and I are in nursery at church! It's only fair considering 3 of the children are from our family. I have never appreciated being able to go to Sunday School and Relief Society more in my life.

Beau has a job now! Actually, it's been a couple weeks. The original plan was to get some neat internship in engineering and be on our merry way to becoming my parents. This wasn't going as well as hoped. At a job fair several weeks ago, Beau was talking to lots of people that didn't care about hiring any interns but were impressed with fluency in Russian. Believe it or not, folks, people actually want Russian interpreters. CIA, FBI, NSA, etc. And I don't even know what the third one even stands for.

So, Beau is changing his major to Russian. AND, it only requires 34 more credits to graduate! It's like when you're playing Ticket to Ride and you pick a new destination that you only need to connect one more city.

Unfortunately, none of the above conversations lead to a new awesome job. Desperation set in an Beau applied to anywhere and everywhere. Which brought us to...
Where Beau now manages the making of delicious burritos.

We are both tired and happy at the end of the day!

Time for sleepies. Back to the barn early in the morn.

post sans photos

I've been having some difficulty with my computer's power cord (as in, it doesn't work) so we'll have to do an update with no pictures. Boo.

Why I love summer:

- WORKING. Being productive! Making money! Right now I'm teaching a few lessons a week as well as regular barn work. Camp starts in a couple weeks and then I'll really get busy. 24+ kids in the barn at once- sounds like a good time. PetSmart grooming was kind enough to take me back part time until camp, so I've been back with the doggies twice a week. I smell delicious.

- Time for new hobbies. Beau and I picked up tennis, something we'd never really done before. I mostly like it because I have a chance at beating Beau.

- Riding! Oh, and I even have a photo for this one. Killian is my lease for the summer, and he is fantastic.

Beau likes my game face in this one. You'd look like that too if you knew you had to halt from a hand gallop after this fence. We got a third in this class!

- Our transient lifestyle. We split our time between my house in Ashburn and my boss's house in Purcellville. We like the idea of becoming professional house sitters, as we enjoyed our time at two family's homes while they were away.

- Family! Living with the Holmes's has been splendid. Adriel's catch phrases have made it into our regular vocabulary. And it's okay with me that the girls like Beau better than me. We've been to the Tagg's for Sunday dinner twice, and we got to have a sleepover with Zack and Jocelyn.

- Summer fruit sales. I have eaten more strawberries with sour cream and brown sugar than ever imagined. Try it.

- Realizing on Sunday that your make up bag is still in the car from last Sunday. And that your straightener and blowdryer haven't been unpacked. And that you didn't bring any heels home from Utah.