What can you learn from a horse...what have I learned?

Back on November 25th, I wrote about having been lead to an opportunity to work with horses through a non-profit organization called Hope Ranch.

I am still volunteering and working with this organization and have learned so much from it. I am so glad to have been lead to this organization and how much it has helped me. I get to hang out with horses and volunteer for those that need the HOPE the horses bring to me.

Learning about the horses:

• I learned to groom a horse, but it still scares me to brush the tail. I was always told growing up you NEVER stood behind a horse.
• I am continuing to learn about saddling a horse. Saddles are all so different and what does into making sure the horse is comfortable is important. Why and who cares? Well, you would if you had a 200 pound person sitting on your back and the saddle is too small and the padding isn't placed right. I had now idea about this. 
• Learning about feeding them...so many different kinds...from baby food type to older horse type that can't keep the weight on. 
• Being safe around them 
• Muck manure...sounds horrible, but I love being around the horses and learning everything and anything in taking care of them. 
• Picking up their hooves 
• Leading them
• Riding them 
• Different horsenalities. Yes, horses have personalities, just like humans.But we call them horsenalities. Don't believe me, you watch the 9 horses I have gotten to know. Matt likes to tease me about this as I study it on the videos I watch for "homework".
• And so much more. It is amazing how much I have learned in the past 6 months and I pretty much know nothing. 
• The horse I mostly work with and say she is mine, is Trinity. She is a beautiful Palomino.  

Learning about myself:

• I have always expected myself to be perfect and if you can't do it perfectly than there is no point in doing it at all. WRONG! With the horses I can't be perfect. I am learning and they are never the same. They are living breathing animals that have thoughts and horsenalities all there own. 
• Learning that perfection isn't always possible and that I can fail and come back and try again is a continual lesson for me each time I ride. 
• Some days are better than others and others day are far worst than others. 
• I am kinda scared of horses. I think they are one of the most beautiful creatures on Earth, but a couple things scary me about them. 
1. Fear of falling off them. Since I fell off for the first time in January, this isn't really that bad, but I don't like it by any means!
2. They are tall. I am scared of heights and when you are sitting on their back you tend to be much taller. 
3. Going down hills while riding on them. Heights and control.
4. Going fast. I don't have perfect control over the situation. Need to work on my balance and confidence. There have been things in my life that I haven't had any control over and have had to place my trust in Heavenly Father to get me through them and continue to do so on a daily basis. HOPE - Heaven Opens Promises Everyday!
5. I am still learning about being around them, their behaviors, how they work in a herd, and everything else about them. 
• SO WHY ON EARTH if I was scared of them, do I keep riding? I really have asked myself this...it is a love/scared relationship. If I never did anything I was scared of, I would be stuck in a bubble. 
• People. I get to meet and associate with a lot of different people at HOPE Ranch. From the other people taking lesson, to other volunteers, to people who come out looking for their own HOPE. 
• I couldn't have asked for a better time for HOPE Ranch to come into my life. It gave me a piece of the HOPE I was missing in my life, it continues to give me HOPE, and lets me share my love of horses and give others HOPE by being able to interact with them when they need it to.

69,168 feet = 13.1 miles

69,168 feet = 13.1 miles. Who cares about this statistic, well I bet Matt and David do. Why? On April 21st, they ran in the Salt Lake City Half Marathon. 

David challenged Matt to run in a Half Marathon with him during the winter, so they looked at prices and decided to run the Salt Lake Half Marathon. This was Matt's second half marathon and David's first. I wasn't planning on going to cheer Matt on as I had been there for the first half marathon and all you get to do is wait forever and try to see if you can catch them running by. Well, Kristin talked me into it, plus I could help keep track of the kids.

Matt printed out his training schedule of 10 weeks and did pretty well for the first couple of weeks than began wondering why he was doing this again. He really doesn't like running. I always ask him how he can train and then run 13.1 miles if he doesn't like it. He just says it is a goal and he is going to make it. I think he is crazy to just run. I like to run when a ball is involved, soccer, volleyball, basketball, softball, water polo (obviously you swim for water polo). Matt still says he will put a picture on his back and let me chase him. I think he is funny. The last couple weeks of his training were really sparse, but he trained for his 13.1 miles still the same. 

The night before his marathon, I told him he needed to load up on carbs, so we took his mom to Chili's and Carb loaded. I of course to pictures to commemorate the dinner. 

Ma hiding from the camera

She is giggling in this picture. Ma thanks for always being a good sport. 

I took several tries for Ma to get our picture to come out not blurry. 

Saturday, April 21st - the day of the Marathon

Matt had to be at the starting line by 6:00am, so he was gone by the time I even work up. The race started at 7:00am, so I left to meet Kristin at the Gateway at 8:45. We figured the boys would take over 2 hours to finish the 13.1 miles. We tried to find a spot along the finish line for us and the kids to see. Gracie could  barely see over the fence, so we had to hold Katie and Parker up for them to see. 

We ended up waiting for 20 minutes for Matt and 50 Minutes for David to run by us. Poor David ended up with some nasty blisters only a few miles into the marathon. Matt ended up finally leaving David behind at 6 miles. They both finished the race and we were able to get pictures of them come up to the finish line. 

I easily recognized Matt's run as he really has a spring in his step. 

Here is the spring that I can easily recognize as Matt's springy step.

Focused and determined.

Matt just about to the finish line. GO MATTIE!

Matt came over and gave his adoring fans a sweaty hug....while I got to take the picture. Yeah no sweat on me!

Parker, Katie, and Gracie. They ALL love him.
I love when they call him MATTIE!

David came in behind Matt and was hard to find at first. I mistook some else for him and got the girls excited for nothing. But the next time I did see "him", it really was him. 

Here comes David.

There goes David

Adoring fans waiting for their dad. 

After David went by us, we went to the finish line to meet up with him and to congrats and see everyone. We took pictures while waiting for Matt and David to stretch and cool down. 

Elswood Family with Parker not wanting to
get out of the stroller

Matt and the Elswood family with Parker screaming.

Me and Matt

Us and the girls

Me, Kristin and Parker. I am scrunching down
and Kristin is on her tippy toes.

69,168 feet later and they are FINISHED with 13.1 miles. CONGRATS boys!

After we got pictures, we went back over to the fountain at the gateway and let the kids and Matt (trying to cool down), play in the fountain. 

Matt showing the kids how to play in the water

Matt tried several time to catch the water on his head. 

He caught some in this one.
Little surprised with the temperature of it. 

Gracie had fun getting wet, while Parker watched his big sister.

Katie and Gracie playing. 

Gracie drying off

Gracie trying to dry off as Parker climbs on her. 

After playing in the fountain, we went to ZTejas and sat outside for lunch. 

It was such a lovely day with our favorite family!

Dinner at Olive Garden

On Saturday, we went up to David and Kristin's. They invited us to go out to eat at Olive Garden with them and the kids. It was a very long wait...70 minutes, due to some Proms that weekend. We had a fun time keeping the kids entertained while we were waiting. All I can say is good thing for smart phones. The kids enjoyed taking turns on it.

Katie sat on my lap most of the watching a movie or reading a book. She didn't really want to share. :-) My sweet, silly, Katie already has a mind of her own at 3.
When we finally got seated for dinner, it was in a quiet corner at a round table. It was quite nice after being in the noisy lobby for 70 minutes.

Grace was sitting next to me. She was so tired
by the end of dinner she could have gone to sleep. 

Me and Kristin. We are usually taking pictures,
so we don't get pictures together. 

Mattie and Katie sat together.

Easter 2012

This year was a bit odd as Matt was on his 7 days on for his Graveyards over Easter, so he worked at night and slept through most of the day.

We did get to go to church together and have dinner with his family. We ended up going for a walk with our niece, Tali, too. She has fun running in front of us while we walk and is very inquisitive about everything. Matt's parents' neighborhood is currently being remodeled. That is to say, the Mountain View Corridor is going through their neighborhood so half of it is being torn down. We like to walk about and see what has changed from week to week. It will be interesting to see a freeway just a street and a half away from his parents.

Tali with the big backhoe.

Me and Tali

Catching Mattie...ASLEEP

Matt and I were hanging out in our room while I was blogging one day. For some reason we locked arms and Matt ended up falling asleep. I thought it was funny and cute, so I took some pictures on my phone.

Isn't he cute, while he is asleep? It was after one of his graveyard shifts, so he was tired. It took me 6 tries to get me and Mattie in the picture together.

I also caught Matt asleep at Shopko in a comfy chair. Not really, but I had found the last piece to our Nursery though...a glider. I had been searching KSL for the last 6 months for the glider I wanted, but found it brand new at Shopko. I took Matt to see it and sit in it, or fall asleep in it.

It's comfy. 

It rocks.

It reclines.

It has an ottoman.

It's made of leather, so when the baby throws up, it won't stain.

General Conference Weekend

We spent half of General Conference Weekend with our favorite family, the Elswoods.

Saturday -
Matt and I spent the first two sessions relaxing in our pajamas and listen to conference. The Saturday morning session was really comforting to hear for us as they talked about the importance of families and raising kids. It made me cry, but comforted me at the same time.

President Monson reminded us in his talk, "As We Gather Once Again":

:There is much that is difficult and challenging in the world today, my brothers and sisters, but there is also much that is good and uplifting. As we declare in our thirteenth article of faith, “If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.” May we ever continue to do so."

I like this reminder, because the world can seem so crazy, dreadful, and full of despair. We can't know how blessed we are without having the present of the opposite around us. It just seems hard to remember sometimes. I'm also extremely glad that spring is here with the blue skies and glowing sun to shed light on the budding Earth.


When President Boyd K. Packer gave his talk, "And a Little Child Shall Lead Them", I cried through the whole thing. His words touched my heart and soul. If you don't remember it or haven't heard it, you definitely should read it.

Some of my favorite parts were:

"These children of whom I spoke represent all of our Heavenly Father’s children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord: and … happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.”²

Another young couple tearfully told me they had just come from a doctor where they were told they would be unable to have children of their own. They were brokenhearted with the news. They were surprised when I told them that they were actually quite fortunate. They wondered why I would say such a thing. I told them their state was infinitely better than that of other couples who were capable of being parents but who rejected and selfishly avoided that responsibility.

I told them, “At least you want children, and that desire will weigh heavily in your favor in your earthly lives and beyond because it will provide spiritual and emotional stability. Ultimately, you will be much better off because you wanted children and could not have them, as compared to those who could but would not have children.”

One of the great discoveries of parenthood is that we learn far more about what really matters from our children than we ever did from our parents. We come to recognize the truth in Isaiah’s prophecy that “a little child shall lead them.”⁴ This was my favorite, can't wait to be parents!

Family time is sacred time and should be protected and respected. We urge our members to show devotion to their families."

After the two sessions, we went up to the Elswoods so Matt and David could go to the Priesthood Session together. Kristin and I played with the kids outside. I even got to help Gracie ride her 2 wheeler. I was sore the next day from bending over running next to her, but so worth it. 

The girls were excited, because we slept over. Matt and I got the privilege of putting Grace and Kate to bed. We love when they pick us to put them to bed instead of their parents!!!

Sunday we listened to Conference, or I should say attempted to as much as possible. Young kids have a short attention span. We enjoyed our time with our favorite family over the weekend though.

I got some pictures of Matt having fallen asleep with the kids nearby of course. They love their Mattie!

Mattie and his Gracie. Mattie is asleep and Gracie
is playing the Ipad.

Mattie asleep! Parker, Katie, and Gracie
playing the Ipad.

Night at the Ballet

We took a trip to watch two of the young women, Liesel and Bryn, in my young women's group in their ballet.
They were putting on Sleeping Beauty with their ballet company. Liesel was Aurora and Bryn was in the supporting group.

Watching Sleeping Beauty being interpreted by dance without any words was kind of an interesting experience, but I can honestly say most of our group enjoyed themselves. I definitely like a ballet where they are telling a story and I know the story before hand.

Flash photography wasn't allowed so I tried taking some pictures without the flash. With the stage lights on. it was harder to get any good pictures. I only got pictures of Liesel when the stage lights were at a lower level. It was always fun to hear Liesel talk about being able to practice with her "prince", when he actually showed up for practices that is.

We waited after the ballet was over to get a picture with all of our group and Liesel and Bryn. 

Backrow: Karen, Shelby, Berkley, Amy, Krista, Destiny, Rachel, Me, Kiercy

Frontrow: Gail, Keatly, Liesel, Bryn, Hannah, Katelyn