La Famille Armstrong

I beg you all to excuse our absence this week. It has just been nuts! But it's also been good. Here's an update on what we've been doing...

Ok so, we're moved out but not completely moved in. Do you know what I mean? We have a bunch of things still in boxes and needing to be put away, but it definitely feels like home and we're acclimating nicely. The cats have the run of the place and are making friends with their new neighbors (they're outdoor cats now). Zeek has always been a bit skittish but he's found a sort of refuge under the house that he quickly runs to at the first sign of trouble.  Madeleine is happy as a clam and gets along famously with Kory's dog Bernie. I've been enjoying the grand piano during rare breaks and Joellen has broken in the hot tub and today even got a chance to soak up some rays on the back porch. Sure beats the old place! Unfortunately, our change of address is going through at a snail's pace and we've only received 1 piece of forwarded mail since the beginning of the month! GRRR. I'm still waiting on my last check from AT&T which I think was mailed instead of direct deposited, or at least I hope because it's sure as heck not in the bank :) That and I think our kicker check from the IRS might be mixed up in all that too... 

Anyway, this week I started my new job working for Paul Moreland from our church. It's super interesting and I'm learning a lot although I'd forgotten what it was like to start a new job! I feel like a complete idiot because I'm in a new industry I know nothing about and all the papers I look at make me feel like I'm swimming around in a sea of ignorance. It's unlike the last four times I started a new job by going back to the same company. That was easy. This... well, I'm enjoying it quite a bit and slowly but surely, I'm getting a feel for how the business works. 

Yesterday, Joellen and I and Baby Asher took a trip over to Redmond to move a horse. Ok so you're right, we don't have a horse trailer and wouldn't know the first thing about moving a horse, especially one this size (for you horse people out there, he's a BIG yearling who's over 16 hands!) Thankfully, Aunt Karen and Mike agreed to help us move him (and by help I mean they did all the work). Mike was just a natural with him and coaxed him into the trailer even though he'd never been in one before and was more than a little reluctant to go in. This horse is owned by a syndicate we are managing. A syndicate (for those of you who don't know) is for people who want to get involved in horse racing but don't have the experience or time needed to make it happen. Basically, the partners put in the money and let the syndicate manager take care of the training, decision making and so on with regards to the horse (kind of like a limited partnership). I don't really have time either but what the heck, it's a great deal of fun and we get to be involved with more horses without having to spend a bunch of money on buying them all. We're hoping to maybe do more of these down the road but we'll start with this one and see how things go. Meanwhile the horse we own with Joellen's parents (McLaren) is up at Emerald Downs and working well. We plan to go up there next weekend to watch him workout and get our owners' papers. That's assuming of course the money we're waiting for comes in the mail by then... Fingers crossed. 

After moving the horse, we went up to Karen & Mike's, checked out their place and watched Big Brown go the way of so many Triple Crown hopefuls before him :( I guess that leaves room for McLaren to make history next year! We got to meet her new filly Zoe (2 weeks old) along with the rest of her horses and then headed back to McMinnville. Yes, it was a long day but Asher handled it like a champ.

Now, I just finished doing some Goldstreet work and as soon as I finish this post, I will spend the rest of the evening with my gorgeous wife and our lovely son enjoying some sorely needed and long overdue family time :)