California!

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go to California for Matt's Mustang Challenge. We got to see some friends and family. Matt did very well in his competition and placed 5th overall! The highlight of his weekend was getting voted Top Professional Trainer by the other competitors. We are so proud of him and all of the effort of training Ali, the mustang, did not go unnoticed. He got to meet some of the top trainers in the nation, like John Lyons, Guy Woods, Chris Cox, and Al Dunning. (These men were the judges for the Mustang Challenge, except for Chris Cox who was the emcee.) It was a very tiring weekend, up at 5am and to bed at 12am/1am. I feel like I am finally catching up! I was so glad my mom was there to help out, and my grandparents, Matt's parents, and Jerel and Sandy! At the expo my kids painted horses, REAL ones and Breyer ones! We got to spend the weekend at my grandparent's house in Sacramento, but we did get to spend one night with Kerry,James, Jackson, Ryan and Hailey. Kerry and I hung out all day the day before the competition and then we got to see each other thoughout the weekend. Kerry and I took the 5 kids to drop Jackson off at Kindergarten and we WERE ON TIME!!! That was amazing for us! We never made it to college classes on time, especially in the morning! We also took a trip to the West Sacramento Fire Station to see James and the kids "swam" in Kerry and James pool. We were also so excited to see Heather, Clint, and Aubri and Matt's Aunt Mary and Uncle Mervin! It was a great time and I was glad Matt made some money on the whole deal, too! YEAH! We celebrated Mesa's birthday with my grandparents, the Irvines, my mom and Cleat. Grandpa Merrill took her for a ride in his 31 Ford. What a treat!