It Feels So Good To Be Home!!

Me in front of the Utah sign. This was taken on our trip home.

I am back. It was a pretty uneventful trip, no tire blowouts, no breakdowns, no toll booth incidents, although we did get lost in downtown Tulsa at 4:00 a.m. the day we arrived. Not exactly the place to get lost towing horse trailers. The guys would not follow our GPS on the phone and continued to follow their Garmin, which we found out later that day had totally incorrect directions on getting to the Expo. After about an hour of driving streets where no horse trailer should ever go, the guys finally gave in and followed the directions from our phone's GPS. Men! We had a great set up and the show went really well. Lots of Top 10's and one of our clients was Reserve Champion in her Country English Pleasure class. That is one of the best feelings ever, and I didn't ride the horse! Seriously, this client is so sweet and she so deserved this win. It is such a huge deal winning a class like that. I mean it is U.S. Nationals, the biggest show of the season! The weather was all over the place, from the 80's and 90's then a sudden drop to the 60's. We had a little rain, and a couple big thunder, lightening and wind storms. Those storms sure do move in quick, but thankfully they move out just as quickly. A lot different then the storms here that seem to stick around for days.

There is one story that you all might like, but of course it wasn't funny at the time. We stayed at the same hotel we did last year (the 3rd hotel we moved to in 4 days). It did not seem as clean as before. Our hotel room definitely needed a paint job and the carpet was pretty gross, as in really stained. I was a little concerned but didn't say anything. About halfway through our stay, we got back to the hotel from a busy day and going out to dinner. We enter the lobby and a guy is yelling at the front desk receptionist to call 911 or the fire department. He had on jeans and no shirt. Us girls were like "what the heck is going on here?". We take the elevator up to the 2nd floor and could not believe what we saw. At least a foot of water in the hallway almost up to the room I was staying in and there was a woman yelling for someone to help. She actually was a horse trainer and had horses at Nationals. She was up to her knees in water. She said a water main broke in her room and it was gushing water everywhere. Everything she had in her room was soaking wet, from computers, clothes and bosals. We waded through the water to help her get her stuff out of the room, no one from the hotel ever came up to help her out. The guy in the lobby was her husband, who had been asleep when the sprinkler head pipe burst and gushed water all over him. The hotel didn't shut off the power and we finally realized it wasn't safe to be wading through the water with the electricity still on. Someone had put blankets and sheets in the hall to help prevent the water to go any further down the hall. The water was so bad, it went down to the first floor. It took almost 45 minutes to get anyone from the hotel to come up and do anything. They told us they called the fire dept. and the police, but they actually lied to us and did not call. The general manager showed up and blamed it on the woman and her husband that were staying in that room. The GM said she would move everyone from the 1st and 2nd floors from that one side of the hotel. When we went to get a new room, guess what? They had no available rooms (although they did move the people whose stuff was soaking wet). The GM also said that they didn't call the FD because they would charge the hotel $600 and just laugh at them. So many people had their stuff ruined. There were a lot more people just getting back from the horse show who didn't know what happened that found all their belongings soaked. We could not believe how the hotel staff treated the people, including us, about the whole situation. Later that night, we had to endure hours of the restoration company vacuuming up water, moving furniture right outside our door and fans blowing as well as the fire alarm going off. I called the front desk to complain, we had to be up at 5:00 a.m., but there was nothing they could do. She told be she would comp the room for me, well that was all fine and dandy, but that did nothing for us girls who needed sleep! And we don't even pay for the hotel room, the farm does! We suffered through the rest of the trip. I sure hope we don't stay there next year.....just sayin'.

It was so hard being away from home this time. With everything that has been going on at the home front, I just wanted to stay and get organized. I have had the last few days off, and have started unpacking some boxes. But first I spent a couple days being lazy and catching up on some much needed sleep. I have never been so excited to sleep in my own bed before. As soon as we get things unpacked and in their rightful place I will take pictures and get them posted. I know I keep saying that, but there is so much still to be done. The kitchen backsplash tile is taking forever to arrive, and sounds like it will be here at the end of the week. So I had to change the date for my dad to come up and install. I am still hoping it will be mostly done by Thanksgiving. We might not have new light fixtures by then, but all the really hard stuff will be done.

I missed my furry kids so much. I could tell that my little munchkin, Madison, missed me, a lot! She has not left my side, nor my lap in days! (When I have been lazy and haven't left the couch). The dogs nearly knocked me over. They have been given baths and have been so happy being in the house with me. Sadie has now been introduced to the munchkin. Madison just went right up to Sadie and kissed her on the nose. Sadie wasn't too sure what to think of that, but she is handling having another crazy, tuxedo monkey pretty well so far. Brandy and Fritzy are obnoxious as ever. Chance has gotten HUGE!!! I am pretty sure she is taller then Brandy now, if not taller. I will have to get the measuring stick out soon. She has also filled out, as in her butt is BIG!! I can't wait to get her going in the round pen with the bridle and surcingle! Leaving for shows has become so much more difficult to do. I really hate leaving my OH and pets. But I don't think that me staying home will happen. I'll just keep dreaming.....