Awesome Week Recap

This has been a pretty nice week for my husband and me. Except that we had to spend the week apart. We both were working a lot, but that's not a bad thing when you love your job.
My week consisted of an easy week of lessons. I rewarded a bunch of my students with rides down to the beach. I got in some really good rides myself, which was great since I hadn't been riding very much with the show stuff going on.


Spring is in the air! I think we may be finally getting over the most rainy and grey winter ever over here. My parents sent me (and Brad) the cutest Easter basket. My parents know me all too well and were sure to pack Brad his own separate chocolate bunny. Not like my thighs actually need a whole chocolate bunny to themselves, but that's what running's for right?!


This week was our colt's 1st birthday! He's getting big so fast.

I used my post-show new found free time to relax on the balcony and read with the kitty. Yup, she's wearing a harness.


Jade is the apple of my eye. I had no idea I could love a cat so much. When my hubby is out of town she is pretty much glued to my side (or lap) and I love the company and how much she makes me laugh.


Brad, as I mentioned was away this past week on a work trip. But, check this out. This lucky duck got to fly to:
Majuro, Marshall Islands
Tonga
Ohakea, New Zealand (stayed in New Palmerston North)
Pago Pago, American Samoa
Pohnpei, Micronesia






The plane kept breaking down, so the poor thing had to spend a couple down days enjoying those tropical and exotic locations. Rough life! Yes, I'm jealous. But, he was on an important check ride flight, so he was kind of stressed. He acted as the aircraft commander and planned the whole entire flight from Oki to Majuro to Tonga to New Zealand to Pago Pago to Pohnpei and back to Oki and taught a brand new co-pilot at the same time. He did pass, so he's relieved. And I'm very proud of him!

Pretty successful work week for us both I'd say.

Where I've Been

I know I promised to be better about blogging, but I was sucked into a barn black hole. I've been working my tail off the last 2 months or so. We had our Spring Show last Saturday on St. Patrick's Day so I did a whole green theme (I love themes!) and honestly I'm so relieved it's all over. I had lots of green decorations, special green horse show ribbons and metals with green neck ribbons.

We had so many events leading up to this show and it was a ton of work. We had 3 clinics for dressage, jumping and riding to music or dressage freestyle. And a clean up day when we did a ton of paining and fixing up the barn. And then we had the day of horse show prep where we got all the horses prettied up for the show. Of course, it was all worth it to see my students show off their skills. All the students did really well. The reaction from my 6 year old student, Max, when he got his blue ribbon in jumping just totally made my day. His face just lit up and he squealed and gave me a big, long hug around the waist. Worth it. And we had some amazing raffles that were donated from local vendors and we raised a lot of money for the horses.





Yesterday one of the clients said "There is just something so nice about coming to a place where everyone gets along." It's so true. I completely love all the amazing ladies I get to work with! Not only do we spend a huge amount of time at work together, but we also love to hang out outside of work too. After work drinks and dinners at each others house. Just couldn't do what I do without them, well I wouldn't enjoy it half as much!

Sunflower Festival

A few weeks ago a Sunflower Festival was held in Kitanakagusku Village. Sunflowers are my favorite flower and I was excited to see so many big, happy, yellow flowers in one place. Local farmers grew thousands of these big sunnies and visitors were welcome to wander through paths in the fields for free. There were some local vendors selling food, pottery and plants. But, unfortunately there weren't any sunflowers for sale!




Spring is definitely here!

Adorable Animals

It seems like every time I get on facebook another one of my friends is pregnant. Makes me feel extra pathetic for blogging about my cat... but hey, maybe you all need a break from all the baby bumps?

And who doesn't love a kitten in a tee shirt dress! You may remember this same dress on my hedgie back when he was partying it up for his 1st birthday, but he was kind enough to loan it to Jade for their play date.



Lately we've had double the kitten fun at our house. Zoey has been staying with us while her owners are out of town. Jade wasn't a fan of this house guest at first, but after a few days the kittens were big time besties. We get endless entertainment watching these two play and be cute together.

Kitten Cuteness Overload

In my couple months away you've missed out on some extreme kitten cuteness. I can't resist showing you what a ridiculous cat lady I'm becoming.

Christmas Kitten:





Kitten in a basket:

Kitten tee shirt time coming soon.

Winter Wonderland

As a post deployment trip and to celebrate our 4 year anniversary Brad and I set out to explore the winter wonderland of Nagano, Japan. It was kind of a lot of work getting there with having to take, taxi, plane, monorail, train, bullet train, and a bus ride to get there (and back), but it was totally worth it.

Nagano is completely beautiful. It snowed a lot while we were there making it extra special. We were going primarily to ski/board. Brad had gone snowboarding once before and I was excited to try skiing for the first time. We stayed at a pretty nice resort right on the Shiga Kogen ski slopes. Our breakfast and dinner were included in our room package, so we enjoyed an extensive buffet breakfast with plenty of strange Japanese options and delish Western choices. We loved the fancy resort multi coursed dinners every night. After skiing all day we ate every bite of our meals! The dining room was a big room full of floor to ceiling windows looking out onto the ski slopes to maximize the breathtaking mountain views.

So, prior to this trip I've never skied. I tried to take a ski lesson, but one wasn't available, so I was on my own. Bunny slope?? Ummm my first time having skis on my feet was going through the gate and sitting down on the lift and going up a huge mountain. Freak out central. I was panicked! Somehow I managed not to crash off the ski lift (that time) and proceeded to careen down the mountain with absolutely no control. No way to turn or stop. I was crying and praying and falling A LOT. Man, getting back up onto skis after falling took some practice. But, I did eventually get the hang of it and by our third trip down the mountain I didn't fall. I did fall a lot the 3 days we were out there, but I have officially caught the ski bug. I loved it! Can't wait to go again.

While we were in Nagano I insisted that we take a trip over to the Jigokudani Monkey Park to see the Snow Monkeys in the hot springs. You had to walk through this snowy park along this snow covered path and snow covered trees. So pretty. And it was snowing at the time too. Perfect. Oooooh my gosh the monkeys are the cutest things ever and they were everywhere. The babies were especially adorable. You could get right up next to them, inches away. It took all my self control not to touch! This was an amazing experience.





I could have stayed in Nagano for a while longer. We were having a blast out on the slopes, the food was great, the place is generally beautiful and who doesn't love being on vacation. I'm so glad we did this trip and would really recommend it!