Valentine's Day and Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show.....

Between Brenda, Grandma, and me- it was Christmas all over again!! We spent all day at the Scottsdale Arabian show...from early morning to around 6PM. It was my 21st year straight! Our diet today was the worst it's been in a very long time- ice cream, pop corn, candy....nothing healthy all day long:( We watched the kids classes pretty much all day and walked around the "shopping area". One of the booths had little horses that you could ride by pushing up and down on the stirrups with your feet:) We spent some time there! Watching the show! Jasmine wanted me to take this photo of the winning Arab Costume Class horse and rider 18 yrs and under:)

Ham Test and Chinese New Year

Most of the day we spent in far east Mesa at a Ham Radio Club at their practice meeting -taking the Ham Test- which I passed:). I spent many months memorizing totally irrelevant factoids about electrical circuits, laws and "safety"- among other things. They made me do my first transmission to the head of the Club (Dave) who was home sick. I had no idea what to say to him. I bought an el cheapo little radio, and now all I have to do is figure out how to use it- a whole different level of learning. It will take a few years, I'm sure. Tonight is the Chinese New Year celebration at Mesa Center for the Arts where Chandler Children's Choir will be performing! Waiting outside before the performance:)

Running around today....

First to skating, then to our meditation class, then to Joe's Italian Ice right across the street from us- a place we frequent much too often, then to a Vietnamese Tet Party. Joe's has one of the original Pac Man games which we played for awhile today. They have all kinds of "antiques" in there - a barber chair, candy and gum dispensing machines, gas pumps, bikes, and old fans- all looking relatively new:) The Vietnamese party was kind of a dud:( It was at an elementary school in Chandler- inside in the cafeteria- on a perfectly nice 75 degree day. Loud speaker was blaring in Vietnamese, lots of games for kids to win candy...just what we need. Jasmine was happy about the candy, of course. We didn't spend long there. Long and unimportant story of how we then ended up at an Indian vegan restaurant that was pretty good.

Feed My Starving Children....

CEE 4th Grade Class volunteered at Feed My Starving Children. I wasn't there, so I'm not sure exactly what they do there. I believe that they make food baskets with various ingredients for families. Then they were supposed to write a paragraph about their feelings concerning how they spent their day:)

Last Horse Hands 3 Class....

Today was the Last Horse Hands 3 Class. The big deal today was that each participant got two attempts at trotting. On Jasmine's first try, her mare-Penny- decided to trot across the arena after another horse, and Jasmine had no say in the matter:) She says she wasn't scared- ha:)) On the second try, the mare tried it again and was intercepted by one of the instructors. Well, at least she got to trot:))

Last Etiquette Class....

Jazzy took a little "Etiquette" class at the Chandler Community Center. They practiced table manners, walking, sitting, holding doors for people, speaking in front of and to people. Too bad the "etiquette" leaves the second she leaves the classroom:)

Don's house....

We spent most of the day yesterday at Katie's grandpa's house in Apache Junction. He lives right at the base of the Superstition Mountains. Really pretty. All of my photos came out very badly- especially the photos from indoor. Don's other house is in Minnesota, and he is an avid fisherman. He brought fish (not sure what kind) back from MN for us. I didn't think I would like it, but it was actually really good,- along with all the other stuff we had from Whole Foods Market. Jasmine and Katie played all day with Susie- Don's dog. Here's a really bad photo of us just getting ready to eat. Very dark:(