Slight remodel

So ever since Bryan and I bought the house we have been full of remodeling, upgrading the house. We fell in love with the crown molding in the house, but never really understood why the builder didn’t put in all over the house. The room that really stood out for being strange was the formal dining room…. No crown molding?!?!? That’s just crazy! Anyhow we were missing molding in the entry way and hallway as well…. So we found a remodeling company in the area and got an estimate and decided which items to tackle. We choose to do the painting the family and dining rooms, molding in the entry, hallway and dining room and we opted for wainscoting in the dining room. I have always LOVED wainscoting and wanted it in at least one room in the house. Anyhow here are the before and after pictures…. Both rooms turned out amazing and the crown molding matched seamlessly with the original molding in the rest of the rooms!

So... we bought a horse!?!?!?!

So in July I was anticipating my transition to my new team at Intel. I moved laterally in the company and as a result got back my free time in the evenings and on the weekends. I was wondering what I was going to do with all this new found time, and decided I might just take some riding lessons. Well I took some lessons at a facility in Granite Bay, and eventually got in contact with a girl I had ridden with in Pony Club growing up. Well I totally lucked out! I immediately clicked with Dani and started riding at her facility in Granite Bay about 5 times a week. I helped her out by exercising some of her horses and got a chance to ride one of her horses she had for sale. I immediately fell in love with this horse. Her name is Zalsa and she is a 7 year old Dutch Warmblood. She had a foal last year and got a late start under saddle. Dani got her in June and she had very little time under saddle. So when I started riding her, she was still very green (inexperienced). She had some initial trust issues, but she is such a sweet girl…. Very willing to try her hardest. Well we have decided to start training her for Three Day Eventing. We started jumping her at the end of August and she has been loving it ever since. I have been able to take her cross country schooling a few times and she is turning out to be a brave little mare! Anyhow this last weekend I went out to Star Vaughn with Dani and three other students of Dani’s. It was a great day… got Zalsa over all the fences, which is a HUGE accomplishment for such a green horse, especially since we only really started jumping her a little over a month ago! So here are the pictures from this past weekend:

check out the lightening bolt on her butt! yeah!

Visiting Samantha

So I was able to visit Samantha at the beginning of September. I met Samantha while attending ASU and instantly became friends. I have many fond memories at her parents’ house in Scottsdale and love spending time with her family. After leaving ASU we have maintained our friendship with *almost* yearly visits. Last time I saw her was March 19, 2010 when she got married to Jonathan! Since then she has been living in England since that is where Jonathan is from. Anyhow so I got to visit her and got to know her husband a little more. It was a wonderful weekend of relaxing and catching up. Just wish it was a little longer L I miss you already Samantha!