March 5th

I went home over the weekend for a schooling horse show.  When I got home, I wasn't sure if I would show or just help.  Well...my mom helped me make my decision.  When I got to the show, she happily told me I was signed up for 5 classes!  Whoa! Back up this horse!  I was about to show in 5 classes on Erin's horse HotRod, and I had only ridden my horse, Daisy, once since August because I've been at school.  I said okay to my mom but wondered what I was agreeing to.  My mom assured me the classes were all walk trot classes and that HotRod would know what to do, which I knew he would be a good boy. 

So a little while later I strapped on some spurs and put on a cowgirl hat.  Then I climbed on to HotRod, Erin gave me some tips, and we headed into the arena.  I won the class!  Well, actually, HotRod deserves most of the credit.  He is a cool horse who knows what to do in the show ring and takes care of his rider.  This class and the next one were walk trot classes. 

Now let's remember it's been a few months since I've ridden, therefore, I was feeling a little sore by the time I had shown in two classes.  I was going to scratch the next classes, but the woman running the gate convinced me to go in so that they didn't have to cancel the class.  I agreed to go in because I knew the others in the class wanted to do it for practice.  So there I was up on HotRod heading into the ring when my mom yells across the, "Cara, why are you going in?  You don't know how to lope HotRod!"  Whoa!  My mom was right I didn't know how to lope him, yet she had signed me up.  I thought oh boy what am I getting into.  Erin quickly gave me some pointers and with courage I headed into the arena.  At first, he wouldn't lope for me but then he did!

It was a victorious moment when HotRod began to lope for two reasons.  That was the first time I had ever loped him.  Second, it was the first time I had ever loped a horse in a show ring setting.  And I got to do it all on HotRod.  I didn't get a ribbon from the judge but I gave myself and invisible one.  I'm pretty proud of myself for being brave and going in there, and I accomplished two things at once!  It was a good weekend!

Special Treatment

At one in the afternoon on Monday, it began to snow.  It dumped on Pullman and surrounding areas until about tenish this morning.  It was nonstop for hours.  As a result, my lab this morning lab was cancelled.  It was quiet exciting to read that e-mail even though I was already out on campus because I had to work early this morning.  It was so exciting that it deserved a little celebration.  That meant that my group project members from my cancelled lab and I met up and piled into a car.  We headed to Dairy Queen!  It only seemed right to get Blizzards to celebrate the blizzard for influencing our professor's decision to cancel lab.  Please don't think that we dislike lab or our professor...it's just that lab isn't fun, which means its just not our favorite part of Tuesdays.

Our celebration nearly ended as fast as it started.  We pull into a very empty but plowed parking lot, pile out of the car, head up the sidewalk, and barge through the front doors.  We were greeted by the manager saying they weren't open yet.  Of course as he said this, my group member that can read is saying "the sign says they are closed."  So I asked him why he had his front doors unlocked.  He told me it was because he had to shovel snow, but he quickly followed up by saying he could get us ice cream.  Thank goodness!  Just like that I became very happy and the celebration was on!  It was so nice of the manager to make us Blizzards.  It was the best part of my day since school wasn't completely cancelled for WSU...and I liked the special treatment.

Sledding Party

The sledding party that I planned was a super fun event despite the fact that the temperature was a frigid -9 degrees.  Ouch!  Ouch because cold temperatures like that hurt and so did some of our landings off the snow jump.  It was so fun, though!

Why did I plan a sledding party?  The answer:  I hate snow and cold temperatures, yet I am forced to deal with them.  To make my situation better I decided a fun event would make me enjoy what I don't like.  The result:  it worked!

The sledding party began with my friend, Laura, and I picking up two Monster pizzas so that we could feed our guests (and have extra sleds).  About 15 of us ate pizza, but only 9 of us made the trek out to sled.  We cruised down the hill and over the jump on 5 saucers, 2 pizza boxes, and 1 toboggan.  It was great!  Some of us had successful sled rides and landings while others of us crashed and burned and face planted.  I was one who face planted, but I don't care because I didn't get hurt and I was having fun with friends!  Once we were done sledding, and completely frozen, we went back inside to have a sledding after party.  That consisted of drinking hot chocolate, eating candy, and looking at our awesome sledding photos.  We also finished off the Monster pizzas.  A Monster pizza is 26 inches in diameter and each is cut into 45 slices.  Yes, 15 cold and hungry college kids can eat a lot of pizza on a Friday night! 

Here are some pictures from the sledding party.

 

  This is what two Monster Pizzas look like in the front of my car with Laura.  This is what delicious looks like to me.  Candy, popcorn, and hot Chocolate!  Yummy yummy!  Below is my friend Sam doing his stand and run move after clearing the jump.  I sledded in style slowly down the hill on a pizza box.

The group that braved the -9 temperature!  Let's do it again, but maybe when it warms up a bit.