Moved In

Alright I usually don't do this big of posts, but hey a new house is an occasion. So here it is. We got everything moved over Saturday morning with the help of some great people. Everything was here in less then four hours. It was organized chaos getting it all moved around the house though. Shawn's folks came over Saturday afternoon and with their motivation we got the kitchen unpacked, living room sort of set up, the fridge moved and leveled, curtains up in the main bathroom and a tree cut down. Quite a list in 48 hours to accomplish. We are marginally settled in. Boxes still all over the place but we have to paint just about every room, so no knick knacks on the shelves yet. As of this evening we are now connected to the outside world as well. Phone, internet and tv are all happy and working. I'm very excited to say I now have the RFD channel that has all the horse programming on it... yeah!

Okay on to the pictures...

View from the front door to the kitchen. The living room is to the right.

The living room from the entry. You can see into two of the bedrooms the third door is just off the picture to the top right of the room.

The fireplace in the living room.

The beautiful front windows in the living room.
Nice view of the mountains too.

The kitchen. Laundry to the left, hallway to bedrooms to
the right and the window opens into the sunroom.

Yes, the fridge :0) Down the hall is the main bath, a bedroom
and the doorway goes back into the living room.

The main bathroom. This was completely remodeled over the summer.

Laundry room. To the left is the family room and ahead is the sunroom.

The very fun sunroom. We are going to use it as a dining area.

Sunroom from the door from the laundry room.

Bedroom one.

Bedroom two with a lot of built ins. Can't you just
see all the model horses up there?

Bedroom three.

The family room with half-bath.

The half-bath.

Come back soon for more pictures. I have OKHS girls soccor and varsity football coming.

Parade of Champions

On the last day of the fair, before the crowning of the new queen all the champions and reserve champions from the past few days line up on the track for a little parade. It's fun to see all the winners being so proud of their accomplishments.

The youngest riding competitor at I think 22 months. Baby T better start practicing.

The bottle babies were the cutest! They are so gentle the littlest kids can handle them.

And the last bit of racing. Shawn knows one as a student and the other is the daughter of a friend.



The big move is coming too. We close on our house next Friday. I do plan on getting pictures of everything before we fill it with all our stuff. Look for them around the beginning of October. It's an exciting time.

Off to the Races...

One of the highlights of the Okanogan fair is the horse races. I said it last year and I'll say it again, this is how horse racing began. Go back to the county fairs all over the country (and world really) and there have always been races. A whole breed developed because of the county fair races. Quarter horses were specifically bred to be able to race on the short tracks at the fairgrounds.

Of course the fair also includes the fun races. One of the cutest by far is the Half Shetland pony races. It reminds me of my friend and I breaking out her little shetland pony, Sassy. The only reason she couldn't buck was that I could almost reach the ground with my legs :0)

This little pinto led the way until the little girl
slid off. She got back on and finished though.

The pony express races are by far the most exciting. The image below is after the first lap and the jockey is jumping off her first horse to vault on to her second horse standing by. It is one wild race and you never know what is going to happen.

In the 17 and under race on Saturday afternoon there was an accident while switching horses in the Pony express race. Although the image is small the jockey got caught underneath the hooves of one of his horses and had to be taken off the track by ambulance.

Cute Barrel Racers

In between the races on the track everyone was very easily entertained by these little ones showing off their horse skills. Barrel racing looks twice as much fun when the little kids are smiling as big as these guys are. I was also very impressed by how good of riders some of them were. Apparently they've been raised in the saddle.

She was getting at this little pony with her whip for the run home.

The bandanna covering this little girl's helmet slid
down to where she was bravely racing blind.

What an amazing little rider. Her little pony refused to lope and
she would smack him so hard he'd be bucking and she'd just sit on top
and whack some more. While she was warming up she even had her dad
chase them with the whip so her pony would run faster.

Such a big horse for such a small rider, but he took good care of her.

Market Sale

At the Okanogan Fair kids bring a wide variety of animals. The pamper, feed and work with them all year and the triumph is being able to sell them at the market auction to make a little money. Many kids reinvest the money to get another animal for the next year, but others just take the money and run :0)

My friend's son just after he successfully sold his steer.

I had to add this one again because I just like it so much.
It really captures a moment between father and son.

Over at the horse barn there was some relaxing and play to be had after 3 long days of showing.

Fair Flashback

In between races the crowd at the fair was entertained by some barrel racing. I really got inspired to try and get some good shots after seeing Stephanie's photos of Angel.





Every night there was a rodeo and I tried to get a variety of photos but it got dark a lot faster then I remember. I guess fall is coming soon.

More photos from the market auction coming soon. Hope to get them up tomorrow or this evening.