Horse Show and Open House

 On Sunday the 13th we headed to the stable that we used to board Margie at for their annual Fun Day & Horse Show. Sophia was so excited to see her old friends, Ayden (above) and Hayden! They are all in kindergarten, and get along (mostly) very well!

 We didn't bring any of our own horses (no floor in the horse trailer has a little something to do with it!) but everyone else was happy to share. This is Sophia on Shelly's horse, Cowgirl's Dream... aka "Squirt."

 Sophia and Squirt did "Dizzy Izzy," which involves riding to the end of the arena...

 Then jumping off the horse and spinning around a bat 5 times....

 and then running back! Travis actually won the adult division of Dizzy Izzy using Jess' horse. I also tried it using Squirt... I laughed so hard I could barely breathe!

 Sophia inside Jess and Brien's chicken coop with the chicks. There's so much to check out at their place!

 Sophia hanging out on Squirt

 Sophia and Squirt doing the Egg and Spoon event.

 Sophia, Ayden and Hayden riding in the Egg and Spoon

 Sophia with her egg. She held onto it for a long time! She lost it when they had to try trotting.

 Kaia sat on Squirt quite a bit, and fussed every time I took her off!

 Kaia with her daddy :)

 We were a little panicky about how long the Fun Day ended up being. We didn't get home until almost 7 on Sunday, and we had so much to do to get ready for our Open House the next weekend! But we had so much fun. At one point we talked about the time, and decided to just let go of our plans for our place and enjoy the day at Brien and Jess.' We deserved a Fun Day! :)

 I got home early on Wednesday from a meeting in Becker county, so I took the girls and Travis hopped on Margie for a quick ride! Margie is doing great... she can go pretty strong for 2-3 miles, which we feel lucky for!

 Please excuse Sophia's spaghetti 'stache :)

 I took this Saturday morning... the clouds were sitting right on the prairie. It reminded me of watching the clouds lift over the mountains in VT when we camped!

 OPEN HOUSE! On Saturday Oct 19 we opened our doors to friends, family, and our neighbors. The first people showed up right at 4, and then we had company until 1am! Well, my sister in law Lindsey actually spent the night with her kids, so technically we had company for about 20 hours. ;) This is my boss and his wife!

 I made a LOT of food... and people brought food! SO many leftovers! These are my spiral sandwhiches. I thought they turned out pretty well. :)

 An "office photo." It was so nice of two of our office volunteers and all of the staff to drive all the way out! I am so lucky to work in such a friendly, close office.

 Some of the kiddos

 My nephew, DJ

 Lindsey with Ava and Kaia, who look almost identical in their baby pics!

 Kaia with grandma Carmen and our neighbor, Kathy. All of our neighbors (3 different families) stopped by! It was fun to spend some time with them!

 The cousins performing

 Kaia with her Grandpa

 Lindsey with her daughter, Ava, Kaia, and our nephew, Hudson.

 Sophia played "fashion show" with Travis' supervisor's two daughters. We had a total of 37 people cycle through. It was super fun!

In the morning Travis and Lindsey went for a trail ride while I had a sweet time with all the kiddos. We spent most of our time painting a long sheet of paper! Lots of special time together, and it was a very fun weekend!