House Update

IMG_0636, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Yesterday I got a phone call from M asking if I had pictures of the house. Me have pictures of the house? Only a ton of them! He wants to use the photo's for a collage of start to finish for the office and asked if I would continue to take pictures of the process. Wow...I don't know if I can deal with having to take as many pictures of the house as I want. So of course that meant grab my camera and head over to the property and shot tons more pictures! It worked well because we also got an update about progress on the build. Inspections were passed for septic and water yesterday, electric will be out Wednesday to finally put up the pole, transformer, and run the line, oh and install the meter! The picture is in the morning room where the french doors will be going in at, which is just about ready for those doors now. The master bedroom retreat room has been prepped for the door that will be going in there and there has been quiet a bit of dry wall work done already this week.
I'm sure today is going to be the sound of the bobcat moving dirt back to fill the holes for the septic lines and probably the completion of the electric trench. There is also tons of dirt to move back into place to cover all but about 6-8 inches of the foundation that will be getting moved. Walking around the property you have to be a bit careful because suddenly you hit very soft spots right now which catch you off guard for dirt here in Arizona. I also found myself getting very excited with the thought of the soon to be completion of this and our move. How sick is it to be happy about making a move?

Sibling Sunday

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I once upon a time used to be able to snap pictures of the girls together for this post, but it seems that those days are very long gone. Any time I'm hit with the thought that I would like a picture of them, by the time I get my camera one to all of them have left. It is a busy life with them all anymore and it just seems to be getting even busier. Oh well, it is what is supposed to be after all so let's do some updates about things going on with the girls.

Cheyenne was off this past week for fall break and the end of the first quarter has happened. Which mean just one more quarter of her being at Buena. Due to her unhappiness with class sizes this year, and my overall just not happy with the school, we have talked and decided that it is time for the run there to come to an end. With the start of the new semester in January she will be heading to new start at Tombstone. In the mean time there is a list of DECA activities and other that will be added I'm sure in the next couple of weeks. She had a great birthday Friday though and I'm sure that I'm about to start hearing the count down of 6 months till she can get her learner's permit. Outside of school stuff there are her riding lessons which she is just oh so very good at and in her spare time aside from that telling me hourly that she is just oh so very bored.

Stephanie is still in the busy routine of work, school, work, school, riding lessons, work, work. Although she has found that having her own car is a great freedom that she truly enjoys having. She has found that she now has the ability to spend some of her sparse free time with friends, which is something that she didn't have before.

Paige's routine is picking up here slowly now that she will be primary trainer of Kisses 4 days a week, plus her classes. Yesterday I got a call from our neighbor about hiring Paige to travel with her for a horse competition in Phoenix as a groomer. It is a two day event and with it is the youth expo which Paige would have the ability to attend during her down time. It will be an all expenses paid deal for her, and sometime here this morning she will need to give an answer as to whether or not she wants to do it. I'm pretty much fingers crossed that it will be a yes because I think it will be a great opportunity for her to network with some people. Heck just to be given the opportunity is great.

I think that is about it for this weeks update about the girls. I hope that everyone has had a great weekend so far and that today is one that brings lots of smiles and laughter.

Horse Training 101

IMG_0602, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Wednesday started the girls and Kisses training. The girls were taught how to view the horse and look for any conformational flaws or trouble areas. They quickly learned how to spot training flaws and their first training issue to work on is working with the lunge line with Kisses. Everything is fine with the lunge line till you actually get it to close to her hind quarters, then she kicks. There was a correction to her age because she is 7 and not 4. Overall her submissive training for things like backing up, lowering her head, lifting her hoofs, and moving to the side were all very good. The girls have tons of reading material, and even some dvd's to watch over the course of the next 5 weeks.

They have also set up with their riding teacher Redhead to come out to the property and do some waste management for her during this time period or other odds and ends jobs. We are going to be heading out there tomorrow for a day filled with nothing but horses and work actually since Friday proved to be a difficult day to get Paige's riding lesson in. You know the scene from the Scorpion King in the desert with the sand storm? Or from any western set in the old west with the dust storms? Well we had that happen yesterday. This was no little dust devil that came up it was full blown sand blast your face dust storm followed by torrential down pouring of rain! So tomorrow Paige will go for her lesson, and while she is doing that the other two are going to put in some time working and then they will all get their next lesson on working with Kisses. Sounds like a great way to end the weekend to me.

Happy Birthday Cheyenne!

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Dinner out with family and what better way to end the night than with a "Death by Chocolate" cake, chocolate icecream and a big glass of chocolate milk to wash it all down. Happy 15th Birthday my Little Bug!

Kittens 12 weeks old

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Yesterday was huge deal for all three kittens, they hit 12 weeks old! They pretty much play till they collapse anymore. Their jumping and climbing skills are just about perfected, they know their names when called, and daily routines are set solidly. They even have gotten to the point that they know that playing with Trinity dog is fun and that she is not going to cause them any harm, well unless she forgets how much bigger than them she is.

Kisses

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For the next six weeks the girls get to say that they have a horse. This is Kisses a very beautiful 4 year old Quarter horse. Yesterday they got to learn about what it takes to load a horse on a trailer and get them out safely. Over the course of the next 6 weeks they are going to learn about feeding, care, training and about everything else that there is to learn. Paige will be learning the most since she will be spending 4 days a week with the horse but Steph and Chey are going to be over also when their schedules allow them time. They were happy that they were allowed to rename the horse because she had a not so great name. Thought was if it makes them blush to even try to say it, then it really needs to be changed.

There will be better pictures of Kisses coming in the following weeks. I only had my cell phone available since I was part of the crew for loading and unloading.

Monday Madness!

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The house is on the PROPERTY!! I only stayed over there long enough to shot about a 100 pictures and be given a joking hard time by the contractor.

Saturday Catch Up

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Alright let me play catch up from the last couple of days. Due to paving being done on a bridge in Huachuca City, our contractor and the seller of the house could not get a permit to transport the house Thursday. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the topic because the whole thing just triggered a great irritation for me. Fingers crossed for Tuesday since the paving project was finished as of last night.

Kittens had appointment last night and it turned into the marathon appointment of 2 hours! Great news though they tested negative for FLV/FIV! They got round 2 of their respiratory immunization and got their first round of the FLV/FIV immunization. In three weeks we go back and finish up. Dr. M was amazed to see how very big they have gotten and was oh so very happy to see them all. By the way we love Dr. M because she is just the best ever! They all weight about 2.8 pounds now which is huge difference from their just barely 3 onces when Dr. M first saw them at 4 weeks old. All three kittens spent time loving up on Dr. M last night and I think it was done in hopes that she wouldn't give them any shots.

Todd got back home from Colorado yesterday and I'm looking forward to having him home for what should be the whole week because of all the hours put in during this TDY.

Chey is happy that this coming week is fall break and is going to enjoy having the whole week off plus her birthday come Friday.
Monday Paige and Chey are going to go help their horseback riding teacher move a horse. A horse that we are renting for the next six weeks! Paige is going to be learning all things needed for training and working with a horse. Four days a week for 4-6 hours a day this is what she will be working on for the next month and a half. She is very excited about learning and working with this horse. I think her bigger hope is that maybe this could lead to a more permanent thing with this horse.

I believe that is all that I wanted to catch up on for this post. I will try to get my camera and get some pictures and get back into the everyday posting for this week. Have a great weekend everyone.

House Update

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I've been holding off posting today because I was hoping to be able to post pictures of them moving the house onto the property today, however that will not be happening today. This morning started with delivery of the septic tank, and ac unit and multiple other things which lead to the house being moved to be held off one more day. Plus the fact that mother nature seems to think that it is still monsoon out this way and it has poured rain for three days! I know that the septic tank is now in the ground though and everything that was delivered is now stored out of the way so that the house can be brought out tomorrow. I even know what time they will get started! Now I just have to hope that I will be home when they finally get it out here, because Thursday is still one of my busy drive days.

Oh Happy!

IMG_9967, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Yesterday my phone was very active with phone calls from...well just about everyone who has been dealing with getting things moving for the house! The best phone call came at 3:30 yesterday afternoon though. It was the phone call that we have waited forever for...the title and deed to the land were transfered into our names and the first round of funding was paid out so the build can really get going! My best phone conversation of the day was getting to share the news with Todd last night when he got done working in Colorado. We have time frame list out of when for things now and tomorrow will bring the moving of the house to the property...our property! (so love saying that!) So what better than to share another picture of the house? This is of the family room just off of the kitchen. The space is open between the two which is something that I just love about it. The living room is on the other side of the house. Can't you just picture some color on those walls?

Anyway, I hope that everyone's week is off to a great start and I'm going to try to get my feet back on the ground again here.

Please make them go away!

Please make them go away!, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Trinity would really like for these three kittens to just go away today! They seem to have the idea and she is one of their play toys and man that tail of her's is great fun! Since they will be 11 weeks old tomorrow and have appointment with vet on Friday for their second round of immunizations, I'm trying to have them be out in the main part of the house for longer time periods this week. Trinity would like for them all to go back to living in the bedroom and never see the rest of the house!

I hope that everyone has a good Monday!

Feline Friday

Mina, originally uploaded by torri_g.

Little miss Mina is the funniest little kitten. She loves curling up to sleep on her back! Give her a pillow and something to cover up with and she will cuddle up and sleep for hours. Mina is also the mini mama of the group of three and turning very much into a Mama's girl. She love's wild play time but had this thing about when she says enough is enough she will let the other two know that it is time to stop!
I'm loving seeing each kitten become their own feline and watching their personalities develop and shine through.

Here is hoping that everyone has a great Friday and a wonderful weekend!