Thursday, July 16, 2009

solitude: day 4

Since Sunday, Beau has been having fun with the family water skiing and lake-ing in Colorado. I'm not able to up and leave camp, especially not this week, since I am taking care of a friends horses while she is away. I've been jealous of the Parks clan the past few days.

Since I spend a lot of time at my friend's barn, I've been staying in her apartment in Purcellville. No babies, no sisters, no parents, no husband = sad face.

And I just finished a bag of chocolate chips I opened Monday night.

But I have gotten a few things done on the life to-do list... bought plane tickets for the trip back to Utah, straightened out our new phone plan. Why is Southwest the only airline that doesn't charge for luggage?? Three cheers for them and their ghetto airplanes.

Oh right, pictures.

Look! All 5 grandkids together with Grandmama.


Playing in the driveway is a daily occurrence.

One of Adriel's favorite things about Smith Circle is seeing various wildlife most days. Not that we're in the middle of the wilderness, but toads, deer, and foxes are pretty cool to a 3 year old.


Not gonna lie, I wasn't even present for this picture. Or the toad one, for that matter. But it's cute nonetheless.

3 more days till Beau's back!!

Friday, June 26, 2009

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.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

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.

Friday, May 1, 2009

ch ch ch check it out

How good are you at recognizing a criminal?

Hours of entertainment!

http://picktheperp.com/

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

"SYKE" -- spring

Spring has brought us such a nice surprise!

Snowflakes falling right before my eyes.


10 points if you noticed the familiarity in the above words with the lyrics of "popcorn popping". Beau thought of this himself. He is very proud.

Happy finals week!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

BABIES!

I meant to post this earlier, but my sister Page had her baby last Saturday! Everett Dickson Otto:


I'm so excited to see him when we go back east in 2 weeks!

ALSO..... My sister-in-law Alyse is expecting her second in October. Babies everywhere!! We are so lucky to have family close by.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Beau the brownie monster.

Happy birthday Beau! (yesterday)

He requested enchiladas for his birthday dinner. I believe this was the first thing I ever cooked for him, when we were dating. I've only been a disappointment since.

At first he wanted cheesecake (which I love to make) but on second thought, he chose brownies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. Easier, cheaper... sounds good.

After coming back from class/work today this is what was left:

Now you know why I hide treats from him.

Just kidding. I wouldn't do that. I think.

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Overheard on Campus
Guy 1: Yeah, my high school was crazy... Like three kids got arrested in the parking lot, and there were drug busts all the time.
Guy 2: That's awesome! All we had were lesbians.