The good life

Each morning I wake up around 6:30 to read scriptures with the family and to see Will off to school. I then cuddle with the pussycats and then head outside to go for my morning ride. I saddle Jake up and we're off! When our ride is over, I drop him off at the pump house pasture to eat the day away. I walk home fetch the truck and bring Jake water (which he always manages to spill all over me) and to retrieve the saddle. Afterwards, I head home to start on my "to do" list that my mom makes for me everyday so I have something to do while she is at work funding my college education. These activities include scooping poop, getting 1 ton of hay, mowing the lawn, working with the other horses, and swimming. I don't mind these activities at all, but it reminds me of how buff I must have been back in the day because I'm struggling now. Life at home is wonderful but I count down the minutes until Will gets home from school so we can play together. Lately, my dad has been incorporating "quality bonding time" in the evenings. This is where Will, Dad, and I go down to the pump house garden and plant vegetables. This means in the fall I will have taters to bring back. Tonight we're in the clear because it's graduation so we have some parties to go crash.

On tuesday, I went to spokane/ coeur d'lane for the 8th grade trip. I felt kind of wierd being a chaperone because I honestly wasn't in middle school too long ago, and all the other chaperones were parents and old! Oh my goodness those kids are monsters. I got the list of kids I was in charge of and my jaw dropped. They gave me the worst 3 boys in the grades plus Will (but Will's a good kid). I was afraid of what I would find while searching their bags. To my relief there was nothing illegal. For the most part the kids behaved on the trip up and while at the place. They did a good job of checking in with me every hour or so. On the bus trip back was when things got interesting. They seperated the boys and girls. I was on the boys bus sitting in the back with all the trouble makers. I could see them look out of the corner of their eyes to see if I was watching. Of course I knew exactly what was going on since I was once one of those kids not as bad granted but still lookin to make trouble. They were jumping all over eachother, hitting eachother, playing with whoopi cushions, squirting invisible ink everywhere, making obscene gestures through the windows to the girls' bus, etc. But don't you worry- I laid down the law and got those kids straightened out. All of the other chaperones where in the front of the bus chattin away except for one. She was my 1st grade teacher and she sat in the middle. I could tell that she was worried for me. She helped out when she could, but I had it all handled. Overall, it was an interesting experience. I don't know if I would do it again, but it was good for me.

Yesterday while riding I made some new friends. Jake and I were just heading out of the neighborhood when we ran into two dogs coming back into the neighborhood. They had already been out for their morning stroll but turned around and decided to follow us. One dog who I named Sally Sue was a big black and white husky looking dog. Her buddy was a short blonde yappy ankle bitting type of dog. I named him Runt. At first, Jake was really irritated and didn't like them at all, so he kicked at them when they got too close. After a little while, he started to like them. They kept following us. I was hoping that at some point they would get tired and go home, but they didn't. They followed us for hours! Jake and I were covering a lot of ground too. It was interesting getting the whole herd of us across the highway. With Jake I can just dart across but with the other two I had to keep calling them back to keep them from getting ran over and then herd them across when there was a big enough break in traffic. They followed us for about 3 hrs until they finally got tired and gave up. Somewhere all the way across Burbank they laid down in someone's yard until a tree. When I got home, I decided I would grab the truck and go find them. My mom didn't approve of my actions because she didn't know if they were nice or not and she had zero sympathy for their owners because they should have kept them locked up. I reassured her that they were sweet little beasts and they were my buddies. I found them right about where I lost them a few hours before. I whistled and Runt came a runnin. I grabbed him and chucked him in the back seat. Sally Sue was a little more hesitant but I quickly won her over and she hopped on in. Sally Sue sat proudly in the backseat with her head between the two front seats and breathed and drooled all over me. Gross! Runt snuggled up in my lap and rested his head on my arm. To my relief Runt had a dog tag. As it turns out they lived just down the street from me. I called my mom and told her the address. Being the mail carrier, she knew exactly which house. They were in our ward. I don't know them because they have moved in since I have been away at school. She said she was so happy that I went to find them because they truly are beloved family pets and the family would have been devastated. I dropped them off at home but no one was home so I took them around back and gave them some water. I made sure to shut the gate properly so they would squeeze out again. Apprently, my mom left them a voicemail letting them know their darlings were home safe. The father called back to thank me. If he had seen me in person, I'm sure he would have given me a big ol hug.

Overall life is great. I really enjoy spending time with the family and the animal family. Mostly, I am going to miss Will. We have a lot of fun together making guns and flares even if it does result in a small fire. We also work outside together a lot. We don't always get a lot done when we're together but it's fun. So far my favorite memory is getting him all muddy. After we unloaded the hay we had a bunch of leftover leafy stuff in the bed of the truck so we always just go on a back road and drive really fast to get it all out. We could just sweep it out but that's not as fun. While doing this he usually stands on the outside of the truck on the step rail holding to the hand hold inside with the window down. There were some great mud holes on the way and I couldn't resist myself. He didn't see them until too late so he couldn't just jump inside the window. He was absolutely covered! It was quite the sight. Later my dad saw his baby (the truck) all covered in mud so I got chastised but it was totally worth it!