Heid and Jack's First Show

On Saturday January 26, Jack and I went to our first show. It was a schooling show up in Woodinville at Gold Creek Equestrian Center. We were in a combined training class, so we did a dressage test and a show jumping round. It was a good learning experience, and Jack was a superstar! He was so well behaved and had a blast in show jumping!

Here we are at the end of our dressage test, just before the halt and salute.

We had to wait out in the rain between show jumping classes. Thankfully the snow held off until we were about ten minutes from home.

This is Jump 2 of our round. Jack was pulling the whole round. He wanted to go fast!

Jump 5A in the background and two strides to Jump 5B. Can you tell I'm having fun? Jack's expression gives him away, too!

Jump 8, with two to go! We went clean and got third place in our class. It was great to know Jack is so well behaved at a new place. Of course we are biased, but Dave said Jack looked like the best horse there!

Sightseeing in Seattle

Megan and Aaron came to visit for a long weekend. On Monday, January 21, we spent part of the day downtown. We did the typical Seattle sightseeing stuff: Pike Place Market and original Starbucks, but the best part was going to the Space Needle. Dave, Megan, and I had already been there, but Aaron hadn't, and the weather was AMAZING. It was perfectly clear, not a cloud in the sky. We couldn't pass up an opportunity like that, so we went up to the observation deck. It was so worth it!

Here's us at the public market. We're just down the way from the fish throwers! Though we didn't see any fish being thrown :-( Though if no one is buying, they don't have much reason to throw fish. Aaron and I still recognized some of the guys from the training video we'd both seen.

Here's the Space Needle. It's cool that Dave and I have lived in two different cities with such an architectural icon: The St. Louis Arch, and now the Seattle Space Needle!

Megan and Dave enjoying the view. It was so nice in the sun. We had a full week of clear, sunny days. What a treat for the Seattle winter!

Here's the Seattle skyline. You can see Mt. Rainier in the background. We had an amazing view of the Cascades, the Olympics, and Mt. Rainier. The tallest building in the middle of this picture is the Columbia Tower. You can pay to go up to almost the top floor and look out on the city. It's a good view, since it's higher than the Space Needle, but I think it's more spectacular being in the Needle. You have a more unobstructed view, and you are outside. Not stuck behind a glass window.
Inside the Needle there are lots of informational boards and interactive displays. This one is a bunch of touch computer screens. There are drawings of the view, and you have to wave your hands over the screens to make info pop ups appear so you can learn about different landmarks. We thought we looked so silly waving our hands around in the air!

Christmas Cookie Bake-a-thon

I baked cookies for 8 hours back in December to give as gifts to some of our friends. It was a fun day, especially since I got some help with decorating!
Stacy came over to help me with the sugar cookies. She hadn't made them before without the help of her mom, so it was a learning experience! My best advice is from good old Alton Brown: keep the cookie cutter on the cookie when you scoop it off the counter with the spatula. (Or pancake turner, as Mrs. Epstien would say, right Mom? Hahah) That way, it will hold it's shape until it is on the pan.
Precision decorating of the cute gingerbread men. We didn't make any women, sorry girls.
Stacy decorated the trees amazingly with the sprinkles. She individually placed each of those larger round ones! She kept saying she wasn't a good decorator, but the cookies indicate otherwise!
Here is a completed plate of cookies. Makes me hungry just looking at it! Christmas is the best excuse for baking!