Horse Show

There were 10 riders in the show. Evelyn was #101. The group was broken into 2 groups. Evelyn being in the first group. Evelyn also drew quite the crowd. Besides us, she had Grandma and Grandpa Murphy, Eric, Chrissy, the kids and Aunt Deni, and Rhonda and Sara. Quite the cheering section.

Here Evelyn has her patterns to study.
Evelyn with her beloved Freckles, AKA Freckles minus the Freckle. That was his name for the day.

I just have to say, that the horse show was so exciting, fun, and I was so proud. Had tears in my eyes on so many occasions. Evelyn looked so grown up and so sure of herself. I just had to stand back and admire. Then walk away after I kept bugging her with do you know your patterns, remember to acknowledge the judge, smile, feet up, shoulders back......... I gave Evelyn a big hug, gave Freckles minus the Freckle a good ear scratch and a whisper to be good to my/his girl. And then go back to my spot under the easy up. But I was nervous too, so had to walk around to visit some of my horse buds: JJ, Scottie, Sassy, Rosie, and many others whose names I don't remember.

The show opened up with playing the National Anthem with all the riders in the middle of the arena. No matter how many times I have heard that song, it still brings tears to my eyes and makes me feel very proud.


This is the judge. A big tall cowboy. He was very good with the riders, giving them encouragement and praise.

First event was Trailing. Evelyn was first to go. The riders take their horse through a series of obstacles following a pattern. Evelyn did great. Freckles didn't want to go over the bridge, but Ev was forceful and over he went.

This is the gate. The riders have to stand on one side, back their horse, go through, and back their horse again. Like you would do going through a gate.

The riders have to lead their horses through cones,
do a pattern over a series of logs, continue through another pattern over logs, then slow to a walk and step over logs until they get to the bridge....
Here Freckles hesitated going over the bridge and needen some encouragement
Evelyn did get that guy up and over the bridge. Once over the bridge, they had to stop their horse and acknowledge the judge. Riders must always acknowledge the judge. If the riders did not, he would give them a reminder.

Next event was Horsemanship. All 5 riders in her group were in the arena at the same time.

Evelyn is on the far left, closest to the announcer's tent.

The riders must show good riding posture and good horse handling.
The riders jog their horses around the arena while keeping good posture and following the judges commands. The riders also walk their horses, have to reverse, back up the horses and then line up in the middle of the arena in front of the judge.
The judge carefully inspects each rider.

The timed events were the last 2. Poles and barrels. Freckles just didn't want to move very fast. He knocked over one pole for a 2 second penalty.

Barrels was flawless, none knocked over, but again, Freckles just was not in the mood to run today.

Barrels was the event Evelyn was really looking forward to. One of her dreams/goals is to be a barrel racer. Well, this was her first try at it! Great job too. Next time Freckles needs a little more kickin' in the sides with the spurs to get motivated to get out and get moving.
This is what a very proud girl looks like at the end of her first horse show and her favorite event.
Overall here is how our girl did:

Trailing - 3rd

Horsemanship - FIRST!!! Look at that look of excitement on her face. Quite the cheers when Evy's name was announced!

Poles - 4th

Barrels - 3rd

Overall score - 2nd in her group, by 2 points!

Oh my. Not bad at all for Evy's first horse show. Not bad at all. Actually very excellent! And most importantly, Evelyn had so much fun! You could tell. She was all smiles and looked so proud and so sure of herself up there on her boy Freckles. (aka Freckles minus the Freckle)

Here is the show group proudly displaying their ribbons.

Evelyn and the show judge.
Oh my! Look at all those ribbons. The kids hooked them onto their belts.
Here is Evelyn with her friend Sara. They have known each other for 5 years.

Evelyn with Miss Nicole, her riding instructor.

Way to go Evelyn! We are so proud of you. You have earned your belt!!

The Strauss' called to see if Greg wanted to go to the lake with them. We were headed to the pool. Greg said yes to the lake, Evelyn quickly changed her mind to a yes to the lake, no to the pool. So, off we headed to swim and relax for the afternoon at the lake. Thank you Strauss' for giving us a call. It was fun to spend the afternoon with you, as always!

4 U My Friends........

None of that Sissy Crap

Are you tired of those sissy 'friendship' poems that always sound good, but never actually come close to reality? Well, here is a series of promises that actually speak the truth. You will see no cutesy little smiley faces on this card.
Just the stone cold truth of our great friendship.


1. When you are sad
I will help you get drunk and plot revenge against t he sorry bastard who made you sad.

2. When you are blue
I will try to dislodge whatever is choking you.

3. When you smile
I will know you are plotting something that I must be involved in.

4. When you are scared
I will rag on you about it every chance I get.

5. When you are worried
I will tell you horrible stories about how much Worse it could be until you quit whining.

6. When you are confused
I will use little words.

7. When you are sick
Stay the hell away from me until you are well again.
I don't want to catch whatever you have.

8. When you fall
I will point and laugh at your clumsy ass.

This is my oath
I pledge it to the end.

'Why?' you may ask;
Because you are my friend!


Friendship is like peeing your pants,
everyone can see it, but only you can feel its true warmth.

Remember:
A friend will help you move.
A really good friend will help you move a body.
Let me know if I ever need to bring a shovel...


Send this to 10 of your closest friends,
then get depressed because you can only think of 4.



This is from my funny hilarious friend Julie, who always makes me laugh when I read her blog. And she has forced me to get up at 5 am to go running. Anyone seen that shovel??



And, yes, I do admit........ I was lazy. Easier to cut and paste here rather to think of 10 or 4 or however many people to send this too. There now. You all get it, like it or not!

Horse Show

Hey Y'all. Want to letcha know bout Evelyn's first horse show!

Sunday, June 29, 9 am

Serrano Creek Equestrian Center in Lake Forest.

Evelyn is nervous, anxious and so excited. She gets to ride her beloved Freckles and got to give him a nick name for the show.

Evelyn is doing barrles, poles, trailing and showmanship. There will be a real live horse show judge to judge the riders.

We went out and bought a Western blouse for the show and new jeans. Boot Barn, y'all! Evelyn also needs to wear a nice belt and have her hair in a nice bun. We have to practice that one. Need to shine up her boots too.

Evelyn has been dreaming of this and now can say that she has fulfilled one of her dreams. And accomplish a goal that she has set for herself. Way to go Evelyn.

If you are in the area, and care to drop on in, Evelyn would be thrilled to see ya.

Updates

It's been an entire week since my last blog update. It's been a super crazy 7 days with more to come.

North lost their game last week. Mixed feelings: sad :( no more baseball for awhile, but happy :) as we have some free time and Greg can have some much needed chill out time.

Friday: last day of school! Out to lunch with friends. Evelyn to Marissa's for an all nighter (that's my new word for a sleep over) Greg: I can't remember what he did.

Saturday: me- hair cut, nails done, cleaning up. All of us to Matt's fire academy graduation party. Way to go Matt!

Sunday: me and Evy and Marissa and Diane headed to the Grove for a girls day to see Kit (American Girl movie) and lunch and hang out at the Grove.It was a great day, we had a blast, so much fun and a great movie! Tom was golfing. Greg hung out at Uncle Eric's.

Fast forward to Wednesday night. Why, well because this was the best of all:

We had dinner at Pick Up Stix in Foothill Ranch. We were out doing stuff and were all starving. Greg realized he was eating with his retainer in, wrapped it in a napkin and told all us he put it on the table. ............At home getting stuff to go back out again..... and Greg finds me, he is in tears "Mom, I left my retainer at Pick Up Stix and it got thrown away" Ugh. Well, retainer $300+ vs. digging through trash can. Digging through trash can it is.

Grabbed a few plastic grocery bags and dashed back to Stix. Told our sad story to the very nice young man behind the counter, and he even offered to help us look. Now this is one kid who was raised nicely. Very polite and helpful. Way to go parents of this kid!!! And I forget his name.

Nice kid drug the trash can out front of the restaurant. Un lidded it for us and even got his hands in there digging too. Me and Greg also dug in with trash bags on hands. Dig, dig, dig......... gross!! At least it was not very full.

"I found it!!!!!" was the happy joy joy exclamation from Greg. Mama was happy too! "Thank you, thank you, thank you kind employee for helping us out and saving us hundreds of $ and the embarrassment of having to tell nice Ortho lady that we threw away the retainer."

We dashed to the bathroom, wrapped the retainer in a paper towel and safely deposited it into mom's purse, washed our hands 34 times with soap and hot water and happily skipped out of the restaurant back to the car and to Game Stop to trade in games for new ones. (the retainer has been soaked, brushed with tooth paste and soaking again before it goes back into the mouth)

Do you see the trend going on here how I forget things so easily. Ugh. Pin a note to my shirt please so I won't forget things. It's getting annoying, well at least to me.

Kids are out of school this week. Evelyn enjoying Show Camp at the stables. Greg bored out of his gourd. But had a play date yesterday and today. Whew! I am filling in for my supervisor for 3 weeks while he toots about Europe. And this week I am filling in for a co worker while she is on a family vacation. So, doing work for 3 peeps while kids need this or that. Not too phun. It's hectic, I tell ya, but it's Friday tomorrow so I'm happy.

Now back to work as I am sure I have received about 20 phone messages and 128 emails since I started writing this post.

Random photos

Just for no reason at all, and because my blog needs some more photos....

This is the sky through the fence at the ball game. I probably jerked as an exciting play was happening, forgot my finger was on the button and snapped this photo. Thankfully I have a digital camera.
And yet another picture of the beautiful Mission Viejo sky on a warm June evening.
Play's at home.! Did we tag someone out, did we score a run. I have no idea. Those umpire shoes look comfy and practical for umping. That shoe by home plate looks like Greg's but I can't be certain as I don't know who is the wearer of that shoe based on this photo.
Ummm, runner safe at home, or is this the part in the game when the umps do the hokey pokey and try to get the players and fans involved too. I think the first base coach is playing "head and shoulders knees and toes, knees and toes. "

Greg-o Smurphy in ready position at right field. Like the effect of the blurred fence? This was not done on purpose. I got the fence across his face rather than having him framed in the fence diamonds. That trash can placed behind him is there as a reminder to pick up after himself.
Looks like my pants? Or maybe someone elses as I did who know's what with my camera. Again, thankfully I have a digital.
See that light pole? That will light up the playing field at night. Well, I think it does. I have not seen it on before. But I had to make up something for this random picture that was supposed to be something else.

Silly me, when will I ever learn to control my camera. Is it time for lunch yet? My tummy is growling, or is that the dog snoring?

I was lost........Now I am found.......

Can you guess what is in this photo?

I found it in here. Doesn't this look like a fun drawer? I should give you 10 items to find in this drawer. But I already found one of them. See the photo up there. This is my sewing drawer that's in the desk that holds my sewing machine that really misses me and is neglected.
The first picture is my long lost check book. Remember how I searched and searched for it. Then opened a new checking account. My last entry in the ledger is 5-20-08. Oh, I have a lot of catching up to do. But I have been keeping a ledger that is pretty current. Trying to juggle 2 check books is no fun.

Last night I decided to sew a button back on these pants.

They had been sitting around awhile waiting for the button so they could be worn again. I am happy they now have a button as they are comfy to wear.
This is just a random picture of my closet. These are some of my shirts. I just felt like taking a random picture after I took a picture of the button
This is a fun shirt I like to wear. It has Roxy hearts on it. Today my heart is happy because I found my check book and I can wear my pants again and not worry about them falling down because there is no button. So I am wearing this shirt today.

I have no idea at all why my check book landed in the sewing drawer. No idea what-so-ever. I rummaged for the needles and then, what.......oh vey, it's the check book. I had searched and searched for that thing. Maybe I should look in more drawers for the long time missing phone.

I have 2 projects the kids are doing this summer.

1. sorting through the bags and bags of clothes I have been saving for Project Espwa in Haiti. (visit Free the kids link of the side bar). Our church's VBS collects clothes each summer, sorts them, and puts them and many other items in a shipping container to ship to Haiti. Since we are going to be on vacation during VBS, I told Susie I would have my kids sort the clothes we have been saving and get them to her before our vacation.

2. doing a mission organization in the garage. They will wear heavy work gloves, take all the things off the shelves and sort it all out. Go through all their "stuff" and sort that too and purge baby purge. Then I will put things back on the shelves with like things together. It is so hodge podge there now, sports equipment all over the place, tools here and there. Yeck.

Well, wish me luck as I trudge through the check book and get it figured out. My head is already spinning. And, our neighbor up the hill is doing some work in the back yard. I heard it is going to be a pool. Workers are out there pounding and making so much noise it's driving me crazy.

North won!!

We WON tonight! 7 - 4 against Tierras Creek! What a great game. Greg had 2 super catches at center field. One good stop at center field. One great catch at right field. And another time it was hit high to right, Greg got the sun in his eyes and missed the catch, but he was quick to recover and save the runner from getting to 2nd. He also played left field and had 2 at bats. Walked and was barely thrown out at first. In All Stars, you can sub batters.

Before the game, the head score keeper announced that he would like a few older kids to help out - one to announce the game and one to work the score board. The kid who was going to keep score for North, tossed down the score book and ran to the booth. I turned to Evy and asked if she wanted to help. Yep, she sure did. She got to announce the game! She did a great job. When her brother was up, she announced....."now batting, number 13, Greg Smurphy" oh boy!!! Not everyone caught that one. But those of us who know the nick names, caught on.

I got to keep score. This was an entirely new experience for me. I figured out how to keep track of the subs and different way of pitch counts. I think I did pretty good. I just kept referring to the score notes from the last game.

Practice Thursday.

Game Friday at 5 pm. Be there , or be............. wherever. But think positive thoughts for North. I think we play Ladera Ranch. Have to double check the schedule.

Go NORTH!!!!

Mid Week Update

Whew! Quite a lot going on. Let's see, Saturday, we were pretty much at the ball field all day. Watched the Rangers beat the Yankees in the championship game. At closing ceremonies, got the All Star hats and trophies as well as the Dodgers 2nd place trophy. Cool! Pictures will be posted later. Then back to the field at 3:30 for the 5:00 game. Sorry to say NMVLL All Stars lost to Viejo. But a good game. Greg played center field and first. Caught a fly ball to center field and had great plays at 1st. I don't ever remember Greg playing center field. But he did great. As one parent and I were discussing, pretty much every player on this team can play any position.

Busy week with practice Monday and Tuesday. Game tonight at 5:00. Dashing home from school to eat, change and then dash back to the field hopefully by 3:30.

School is out on Friday. Whoo-Hoo! The kids have a week of rest. Evelyn goes to horse camp for a few days. Looking forward to not having to go to school, homework, etc.....

The rest of the week depends on how we do in the game tonight. Wish us luck!! Thanks.

My friend Julie has the blah blah blog. Love it. It's a private blog at the moment so can not post her link, yet. I love her blog posts. This one really hit me. It's about a 16 year old who is sailing around the world with his goal to be the youngest to sail solo around the world. Here is a link to his blog. This is going to be one to follow. I'm also posting the link on my sidebar so you can check on his progress.

Enjoy the rest of the week. Stay cool out there folks. Remember to drink lots of water.

Happy Friday to you all!

TGIF. Finally made it to Friday. Funny how this happens every week :)

Evy and Tom are off to Campland in Mission Bay this afternoon. Greg and I wil be at the ball field for practice. And I will also be running around the lake. I have been doing this while Greg is at practice.

Saturday is the final TOC game and closing ceremonies. We will be there as the All Stars are announced and they get their official hats. Then the game is at 5:00. We play on the South fields which are actually right next to the parking lot. No more hiking across the grass to get tothe field. So, come one come all and let's root for the NMVLL All Stars!!!

On another note, I am getting really bored with my blog layout. I have found a neat website that has so many free blog layouts. I found one I just love. I am hesitant to load it though as I dont' want to loose all my links and jibberish I have listed on the side board. What's a mom to do? Ugh. I guess I should just go for it and reload things if necessary.

Have a super fun tremendous weekend.

****update: not going to change at this time. I liked the way it looked, but I did loose all my side bar jibblets and it didn't add in the older posts. So, for now, I will keep up my search for a different blog header. But check out www.pyzam.com for some fun ideas.

Another book and more on the way

Well, just finished "Embrace Grace" by Liz Curtis Higgs. Another great book. Remember her website? http://www.lizcurtishiggs.com/.

(copied from the website)
The forgiven life. The grace-filled life.
It begins with an embrace.
Wherever you are spiritually, whatever you have been through emotionally, you are already enfolded in the arms of One who believes in you, supports you, treasures you.
He is waiting for you to embrace him in return. To accept the gift he’s offering you. To listen for the whispered words you’ve longed a lifetime to hear:
You are loved. All is forgiven.

And today, I got an email from Amazon that my books have already shipped. And this is even with the free shipping. Very fast! But I am in a dilemma as to what book to read first. "Thorn in my Heart" or "Whence Came a Prince". The book before or after the one I already read....hmmmmmm. Well, I think I know my answer and you will just have to wait and see.

One more week of school for the kids. Hip Hip Hooray!

No practice today so the kids and I dashed to the Sandlot so Greg could smack some balls, Old Navy for a bathing suit for Evy and back home too make dinner. Evy and Tom head to Campland at Mission Bay tomorrow for the last AP outing of the year. Greg and I have to miss it due to baseball.

Well my friends, Thursday nights are Misday nights for me. I'm already late with my date with CSI.

GO Lakers!!

GO NMVLL All Stars!!

I love this author

I just love this author~~~~~~~Liz Curtis Higgs. check out her website here.

It started with "Grace in Thine Eyes", then onto "Bad Girls of the Bible", "Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible","Unveiling Mary Magdaline". Then I had to get "Fair is the Rose" which I just finished and "Embrace Grace" which I just started reading.

I was so caught up in "Fair is the Rose". I had a hunch that "Grace in Thine Eyes" was part of a series so I took a peek at what I had already read and it did have some of the same charcters. Well, then I realize there are 2 other books which preceed "Fair". These are "Thorn in My Heart" and "Whence Came a Prince". So, again, I am reading a series out of order. Oh well. Who says things have to be done in order.

This evening, Greg had practice at 6. After an early dinner, we dashed Greg to practice. Then Evy and I dashed to the library as she needed to get a poetry book for school. Seems we are always dashing. LOL!!!After we found her book with the help of a very nice library lady, I quickly dashed to the my section of the library to look for Lizzy. Nope. These books were not on the shelf. So, I dashed to the computer to check the library list. Could not find them at a library close to us.

After several more dashes, I dashed into the office, straight to the computer and to http://www.amazon.com/. Oh, Lizzy, there you are my favorite author, my bestest friend. So, I could not resist and ordered a few more books o'hers as well as some others. Why not. I can't wait to start reading. But for now I am reading "Embrace Grace"

So, this series is set in Scotland in the 1700's. I just love historical books. Oh, and it's about Jamie and Rose and Leana and their families....... I won't give away too much. But she loves him and he loves her,. and now her loves her and she loves him, and she is her sister and will they ever forgive each other? and he is a dashing sheep herder, and their cousin, and he is married to her, but really to her, and their father is a crotetchy scrooge, and...................... well, you will just have to read it yourselfs.

Like I said, it's in 1700's Scotland. Oh, to go back in time for a while. And to listen to the dialect. Oh, I would love it. I have been to Scotland and can imagine the beautiful countryside there. Aye!

Jus' a teaser for ye:

"Are ye sure ye won't come hame wi' me, Miss McBride?" Willie tuggd off his wool bonnet and worked it around his hands while his wet boots dripped on the cottage's flagstone floor."They'll be sairlie missin' ye at Auchengray. Truth is, I hate tae think o' ridin' up tae the gate wi'oot ye. Mr. McKie will niver let me groom Walloch again."

Aye, och, tae, dearie, sairlie, luve, ye, tis, wi'..........

Get the book. Now. Or you can borrow mine.

The Real Story (taken from the website)

Once again this novel brings to life the tumultuous stories of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel. In Thorn in My Heart the emphasis was on Leana’s (Leah’s) journey, found in Genesis 29. In Fair Is the Rose the triumphs and tragedies that befall Rose (Rachel) take center stage, as described in Genesis 30.

Research, as you might imagine, is an important part of my writing process. I studied fourteen translations of the Genesis account and ninety nonfiction books and commentaries to make sure I understood every dimension of the biblical story, plus I consulted six hundred books on Scotland’s history and culture to get the Scottish details right. My goal is never to weigh down the story with too much information, but I do like to get the facts straight!

May Fair is the Rose take your heart on a memorable journey through the Lowlands of Scotland and the depths of God's love!

Let's spend a little time with Evelyn now

No, this is not the Greg blog.It's a family blog. Where I can write, brag, vent, about what I want to. Mostly write about the family, the kids, the dog.

While Evelyn is at all Greg's games cheering on the team, and playing with the other sisters who are younger than her, Evelyn does have interests of her own. She is quite the young horse woman. She has loved horses for years, gone on trail rides and somehow convinced grandma she needed riding lessons for her birthday. Well, that has turned into weekly riding lessons and dreams of becoming a professional barrel racer.


Since we don't live in the country or have a vast amount of acreage behind our house, Evelyn takes lessons in the heart of Lake Forest. It's a very nice equestrian center nestled back in the trees with nice arenas and even a great riding trail. We have met the nicest people there too, and the greatest horses.


Evelyn is taking Western lessons. She looks like she has been on a horse all her life. Her horse love is Freckles, a stubborn older guy who doesn't like attention and would rather show you his back side. She controls him like a pro in the arena and gives him plenty of hugs and pats and shows him that she loves him unconditionally. Maybe he is warming to this sweet young lady who loves to ride him and dreams of owning him and him alone one day.


Today Evelyn is moving to a more advanced riding lesson. She will be riding with older riders. Should have seen the smile on this girls face, like a jack arsh with a mouth full of bumble bees. I am so excited too and can't wait to see this girl in action.

Over spring break Evelyn attended a one day riding camp at the stables. Oh what fun these gals had. The did competitions, painted the horses, won awards and had a horsey great time, y'all. Evelyn won a few ribbons too. She proudly displays them in her room (messy though it be) Here are some fun photos of the day.

Girls just havin' a fun ole time painting this sweet horse. Can't remember her name but she is so sweet. And she looked so purdy when she was done.
I believe she was summer and spring. The girls were in 2 teams. Each team had a theme to paint their horse.
The other side, the other side, the other side o' this horse.
Oh, just lovely.

Oh, hello there Evelyn. Gotcha!!
Here are the girls waitin' to get their awards for their hard work that mornin'.
Sweet! Evelyn won 3rd and 6th for the 2 events she did. Yee haw!!
Lookie Lookie. How great is that!
The group o' campers proudly showin' off their awards from the day.
Here's a closer view of Evelyn and that's her riding instructor behind her, Miss Nicole. Woah! Back the horse trailer up! Is Evelyn almost as tall as Miss Nicole? Did I forget to mention how tall Evelyn is getting. Hard to keep her in clothes and shoes lately.
Here is one of our favorite horses at the stable. A big ole' sweet horse who can be very intimidating at first given his size.

I must also say , that this girl of mine is just the sweetest, kindest, sweetest, beautiful people I know.Did I say she was the sweetest? Sure she has her moments, but not that many like others in this house who will remain nameless. She is kind, friendly, patient, funny, loving, sweet, kind, a wonderful friend, adventurous, patient, a beautiful young woman, a super friend, sweet, kind, a super sister, loving, funny, and just has a wonderful soul. Can't find enough great words to describe this girl of mine. Just wonderful, super, mine. She just goes with it, hardly a complaint, always happy, always helpful, always her. We have fun hanging out together. I love watching her ride horses and just hanging out with her. She loves to run with me and I am afraid one day here will out run me with those long legs of hers.


So, that's my Evelyn, my girl. You are wonderful, awesome, you are definitely you. One day you will fulfill your dream, you will have a horse and you will be riding. One day. Don't ever loose sight of your dream. Never. Never. Not ever.