National Equestrian Champion!

Kelsie is the Junior Varsity Horsemanship National Champion! She won today and it was so exciting! I was really happy for her. As I stood there waiting for them to call her number for a ribbon, I knew I was proud of her whether she placed or not. So, I was standing there, still not knowing a lot about this horse riding, thinking to myself, she looked great. The top 8 riders earned ribbons. They start with 8th place, 7th, 6th...I'm starting to get a little nervous, would they call her name or not??? The people around me thought she had a good ride, she might win! Yikes, I started getting more nervous, I guess for her b/c I knew she would be disappointed if she didn't place. 2nd place (they call that person the reserve champion)...still no "kelsie hand"...and then it happened....from Forsyth Central High School....I think they said...CHELSIE Hand...but I didn't care, Chelsie, Kelsie, it was still my girl and she was the Champion!!!!



Kelsie and her friend Anna at the beginning of the day.

I love this picture.

We had terrible weather -- storms moved thru the area -- they had to put the horses back in the barn because they are afraid of thunder. This is after the storm passed, the riders brought the horses back.

WINNER!!!

The riders are from all over the country, by the way!

This is Marcy...

Calling Dad and Cam!

Yes, I was emotional!!!!

Below, they have a parade of teams....

Fore!

Kelsie finished her 1st season of high school golf today. It was a drizzly day on the course, but she prevailed. I am so proud of her and I think she even had fun, in addition to the joy she felt when she got to miss school. I did a horrible job of taking pictures, though -- I had an umbrella in one hand and the camera in the other, but you'll get the point.

And a note about the Cardinals: Vicky and the kids were here over the w/e. We came home on Saturday night, turned on the tv and they were probably in the 6th inning -- 5.5 hours later, they lost! What a killer!!!! But, they rebounded on Sunday night baseball and brought us a winner!

One side note: After the match today, I carried her clubs to the car from the clubhouse. I do not know how these kids haul those bags around on their backs, it's unbelievable.

Chicken Pox and Other Stuff

Front yard renovations have been completed -- check it out below!

Vicky, Hannah and Andrew are coming to visit tonight!

Kelsie came home from Florida itching -- I took her to the doctor and she said it's a mild case of the chicken pox! Can that be? She had both of the shots. Well, I guess it can, but thankfully it is a mild case. After 2 days at home, I shipped her back to school today -- hopefully all went well.

Does she look sick???

Spring Break

The kids are on spring break this week and it's flying by. Kelsie went to Sanibel Island last Friday with a friend and her family. They are headed back tomorrow. I think Kelsie is ready to come home. Could it be that she actually misses us? OR, could it be that the showers at the camp site they are at are just not as nice as the ones here at home? Hmmm.


Cam and I have been having some fun while daddy's been working. Monday we played the Par 3 course, Tuesday, Chuck E Cheese, today lunch at Fuddrucker's and tomorrow, well, we haven't planned that out yet.

Kenny and I are still playing tennis. It's been getting intense, but fun.

Vicky, Hannah and Andrew are coming for a visit next Thursday, we're excited about that.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Wishing my mom a very happy birthday -- wish I was there to celebrate with you and have a piece of the new recipe birthday cake! Have a great day!

Please Consider Helping Matt King

Hi -- friends of ours son, Matt King, was found unconscious last week in his apartment and has a brain tumor. Matt is 26 years old and does not have health insurance. The doctors put a shunt in his brain to drain the spinal fluid that had collected. His 10 hour surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible is scheduled for April 6th. He has to pay the surgeon $8,000 up front by next week. Here is a link to his journey:

www.helpmattking.org

If you can help out by donating to his surgery, that would be great. Most importantly, though, would you please lift Matt and his family up in prayer, along with the doctors?

Thanks!

On to Nationals

Kelsie and I are back from a weekend in Statesboro GA. She competed in the Zone 4 Western riding competition -- riders from 5 states met for the weekend about 4.5 hours from here. Kelsie rode in the Junior Varsity Beginner Horsemanship class because she earned enough points during the regular riding season to advance to Zones. She took 2nd in her class and the top 3 riders go on to the National Competition. Nationals are pretty close to home this year, yay! So we'll travel about 1.25 hours to Conyers on April 23rd (I think).

Kenny and Cam had a good weekend too. Kenny and his doubles partner won their match yesterday and Cameron's baseball team won too. The weather was perfect on Saturday, rain AGAIN today. I better check my husband's blog and see what trouble he was up to this weekend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

To my wonderful mother-in-law. I hope your day has been restful and special!!!

Time for a Quick Update

I hope everyone is doing well out there! Just a quick update on what's going on here in GA. Kelsie had her first high school golf match last Saturday - 18 holes, wow, without a cart? You know I could NEVER do that, but Kelsie did and after a long day away, she came home with a really good attitude about the whole thing. She was the only one in her group who got a par. Kenny was in the gallery ;-) the whole day -- what a dad!

Zones for the Western high school equestrian team are about 4 hours from here in GA the weekend of March 19th, so we will be heading there.

Cam's baseball team has their first tournament this weekend, should be fun, if it stops raining.

The Kotlarczyk's are coming for a visit starting on Saturday, we are looking forward to that.

Kenny and I started playing "T2" mixed doubles. I don't have time right now to rant about our first match which was Tuesday night.

This Saturday, the ALTA men's doubles team starts their spring season and Sunday the women's ALTA doubles start. Kenny is scheduled to play, the women's schedule hasn't come out yet.

My brother Alan has been in and out of the emergency room the past few days; had some kind of a scope today that showed some ulcers, more tests tomorrow, would appreciate prayers for him.

That pretty much covers it for tonight. Happy March 10th (oh, Happy Anniversary to my parents tomorrow -- let's see...must be 55 years, is that possible?????)

Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica

Here are some pix from the trip.

It was crazy for all of us getting to Miami, with the weather for my plane and mechanical problems for my sister's plane. They got to Miami at 1:30AM and I got there at 3:30AM; when we got to the hotel, they had one room left with 1 king bed...there were 4 of us who wanted to sleep...it wasn't pretty. One of the women trying to get to Miami from St. Louis didn't make it -- she had to fly into Cozumel on Monday.

Carnival Liberty...

Cozumel...

My sister snorkeling...

One of the pool areas...

One little snafu: the seas were too rough to tender near Georgetown Grand Cayman, so they took us to the other side of the island. It was a bit crazy getting off onto the tender boat, but it ended fine...we just missed out on some shopping in Georgetown...

My sister at stingray city, Grand Cayman -- see the stingray on her back?

Jamaica...Dunns River Falls. Kenny and I went here before we had the kids...I conquered it then, it was slippery, cold and dangerous then...

My sister, Cindy, Sharon...

Me....(I didn't feel a need to conquer it again, since it is still slippery, cold and dangerous...) so I was the official photographer...

Dolphin Cove, Jamaica...

Back on the ship....

On Friday, our last day, they announced that we had a medical emergency on board, so they cleared the front of the ship, waiting for the coast guard helicopter to come. It hovered above the ship and they lifted the person up and flew him/her to the Bahamas. All they told us was that it was life and death.

Breakfast the morning we left. We were about 2 hours late getting into Miami due to the medical emergency.