Mahogany

     Each week during camp the campers get to sign up for a skills class. I've been teaching a horseback riding skills class, which has been such a blast! Last week as we were preparing to sign the kids up I set the limit to 4 campers. The next day I found out I had 5 girls signed up for horse class. I was a bit frustrated because I wouldn't get to give each student the time and attention I would have liked. And this meant putting a camper on a little bit more challenging of a horse.
     Then Tim told me the reason he let 5 campers sign up was because Mahogany really wanted to do it and the class was full when she came to sign up... I was even more stressed now. I had already heard stories of this girl. She was tough, problematic, wouldn't listen, did what she wanted...so I was on my guard at the start of skills class 1. But as Mahogany walked up to Chance and stroked his soft coat, she had a look of fear, awe, and excitement in her eyes, and I was instantly relieved I did not say I couldn't take 5 campers. Mahogany was eager to learn the best way to brush Chance and put his saddle on. She was even more excited to finally get in the saddle. As I taught her how to steer, stop, walk, and trot, her face would light up. Everything I asked her to do was responded to with excitement. After class was over she would hang out at the tack shed, asking questions about the horses, help to feed them their hay, and then want to feed all the rest of the animals too!
     It was a joy working with Mahogany. And I feel blessed, because during other activities at camp, she was indeed a handful. She had to have many talks with the camp director, get pulled out of rec time, and loose privileges. But if I hadn't seen it I don't know if I would have believed she was a problem. I would tell you for sure that she was a hurting, tough, lost 8 year girl in a rough family situation. And to see her smile and giggle as she bounced in the saddle when Chance trotted made me want it to never end. Whenever I saw her outside of horses I brought up how well she did with Chance and we would have a good short conversation about the horses. It is moments like that, when I get to see the therapeutic side of working with horses, and get to see the joy they bring, that make me love my job.  

Round Pen Update!

The round pen is coming along great!! Every time I go look at the progress I feel the urge to do a happy dance. I can't wait to get to work with our horses in it! 

Before: just dirt and weeds...

And STARTED!!

Got the posts in day 1 of work week

 We have a great group of volunteer out for Work Week this year. Lots is getting done, from putting in the round pen, to cleaning carpets, to weeding the garden, to oiling saddles. It is a fun time hanging out with people. Most of them have been coming to work week for years! It is fun to hear stories of the past jobs they've done that are now an everyday part of life here at CBX.

Day 3 of work week, rails are going up!

Rocky the lop

We have a new pet... Rocky! 

He is part Fuzzy Lop, part Mini Rex. Which means his ears might flop over like a lop (probably) but they might stick up...or out...or one up one down! (which I am kinda hoping for :P) He is 8 weeks old now, so it is hard to say what his ears will do. But he is super soft, really cuddly, and loves his new giant rabbit hutch. 

When I saw we had a rabbit hutch at the ranch, I was instantly on the hunt for a bunny, mostly on craigslist. I didn't have much luck, especially since I specifically wanted a lop rabbit. But then last Saturday I found an add for 2 lops and a couple rex babies. So I called and we drove and got him later that day! I LOVE him! He is an outdoor rabbit, but I occasionally bring him inside to run around on our cool floor, which he loves. Sometimes he gets too excited and slips on the stone, 

which is darling. 

Catching up

Alright...it is official, I am bad at blogging! Ha! It's been what, 3 months!? oops.
I will try to get better now that things are picking up here at camp. But here's a quick update on things that have happened!

ROAD TRIPS!!! 

Sam and I have been doing a lot of driving the past couple of months. First we went to California. Sam was in a wedding of a friend from high school. It was fun to meet his buddies that I've heard so many stories about. It was also nice to be in the 75 degree weather, since when we left Durango it was about 15 degrees!

On the way there and back we stopped at some fun places! We saw some dino tracks in Tuba City, Arizona, spent the afternoon at the grand canyon, headed to the beach for a few hours, and camped in Joshua Tree National Park. It was fun to see parts of the country I've only ever seen in pictures or movies.

 

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The next drive we did was up to Denver for our annual Hope For Youth fundraiser. That was an adventure for sure. We got up there on Friday, and on Saturday, the day of the event, it snowed about a foot. Which cut the attendance of the fundraiser by half...which really was a bummer. But it was a good time anyways.

Sam trying to stop the bleeding in his cut thumb... :(

Sam and I were in charge of cooking...not sure this was a good task to give us, since within 15 minutes of starting the meal we both cut ourselves! With some bandaids and gloves we continued with the cooking, and received lots of compliments. :) But really the credit goes to Tim for picking the menu and recipes. We just got it ready! 

 We all got decked out in our western clothes for this event! There were lots of people with hats and boots. And everyone enjoyed doing out old western photo booth we had set up. Here's Marci and I on the left, sporting our western getup.

 The camp presented Nick and Tracy with this picture of the view from camp. They had people sign the mat.

The guests! Imagine twice as many...as it would have been without the snow.

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The last road trip we did was down to Albuquerque, New Mexico for a camper retreat. We had a lot of fun! We got to catch up with campers who came last summer (of course I didn't know any of them, but other staff did!) and we got to tell a bunch of new kids what camp is all about. Many of them were very excited to sign up.

News from the camp

Things are getting busy around here. First of all, the entire full-time staff is here living at the camp! Yay! it gets very cozy working in the office now. It is fun to have everyone here. I get more people to ride horses with, we have game nights, prayer nights, and just some good hangin out. It is great seeing stuff happening too, from so many hands! The program for the summer is coming together. And our new business director is busy registering kids for camps..we are almost full already!

As for me, I must admit, I am SICK of Colorado spring. I even miss Oregon rainy springs. Here it is wind, wind, dust, wind, dust, wind...you get the picture. So much so that you can't see the mountains from all the dust in the air. And when you breathe it tastes like dirt. :( Plus the wind makes it cold and really annoying to be outside.

Once it teased us that it might rain...it tried. It sprinkled. But it only resulted in MUDDY RAIN. As you can see on our truck, it literally was dirty rain. Really gross. And it didn't rain enough to clear the air and wash things off. Just enough to get everything that WAS clean nice and dirty.

It is supposed to start warming up here in a few days. I am anxious! I was washing saddles today with a girl I give riding lessons to, and we were using warm water, but our fingers were still freezing from being in the cold air. I am looking forward to it being so warm that giving a horse a bath and "accidentally" getting yourself a little wet too sound really good. :)


And another note about living here...our chickens are rock stars! Here is a days collection...18 eggs! we get probably 10-12 a day. The other families and us take turn collecting them from the coop. 

All in all, things around here are good. Summer fever is in the air as we plan for camp. And in about a month, Sam and I will get to move in to our new home! Our little cabin has been a wonderful home. :) But I am excited to have room to have guests over to play games and eat meals. And to have a couch to sit on to blog. ;-) I will probably be better at this when I don't have to hike up the hill to get internet.

Please be praying for the summer! For the campers- that they will have open hearts to hear the gospel, for the staff- that they will have a passion for reaching out to the kids and the energy to keep going all summer long, and for the horse program- that our new horses will catch on to the routine of things and can enjoy their job.

what very cold looks like

A piece of an icicle I found in front of the lodge

 Trying to stay warm while out feeding the horses! The sun was out but boy was it chilly!

 Poor trashcan... it was under the corner of the lodge and turned into our very own icicle jellyfish

                                      Icicles taller than me!

Snow overhang on our roof, warm enough for it to slide down but too cold for it to break off. I thought it was very silly looking

Winter Wonderland

Well, it finally snowed in Durango! I was glad it came before we left for Oregon for Christmas. This is the first time I've lived somewhere that gets so much snow...and gets so COLD!! We have many negative degrees days and nights so far. But when the sun is out and there is no wind, it is very fun to be out in the snow, even if it is freezing cold!

This bench in front of Alpine lodge looks so pretty in the snow

Feeding the horses in the snow out of the back of our feed truck...brrr!!

Sunny's first time to live outside in the snow...I don't think he minds as long as he has lots of hay!

Sam filling the water. We have to keep a trough heater in the bottom or it would freeze solid