July was a month packed with FUN! We started the month of remembering July 1st, 2006, the day we got our referral and saw Sophia's picture for the first time. Every year I take a picture of her holding the photo that was given to me during the referral meeting. Lately she barely tolerates having this picture taken but she knows how important it is to me.
We also remembered Grandma Beadle on July 1st as it was her birthday. And Grandma Bev, the anniversary of her passing was on July 3rd (2017)
We started the month heading to WEC for the Pony Cup Finals. Wren is far from a pony but they have a licensed show along side the Pony Cup which is awesome. The best part is the ride up Starbucks, of course. Wren was not a fan of his whipped cream treat! Sophia had incredible rides both days but her scores on Saturday, the second day of the show, were her best yet. 66.94 on her First Level Test 3 and a 70.4 on her musical! It was also great hanging out with the other families that went. The barn people are great. Sophia also read test for two people and earned a total of $200 for reading those four tests, 2 tests per day. Not a bad deal!
Sophia also competed in Lexington, VA Dressage at Lexington. She did well at these shows too. Her and Wren are really coming together as a pair.
We ended up truck shopping. Steve started when we were at WEC trying to get it handled before he went back to school. We landed on a beautiful Ford F150 that has all the bells and whistles. Mileage is around 100K but we are hoping to get many more miles from the truck. It will be "my" car seeing I drive the least and it gets the worst gas mileage compared to our CRVs. We will eventually (and by we I mean Sophia and maybe Steve) learn to pull a trailer to take Wren to shows and clinics.
At the end of the month we had a graduation party for Sophia. We hosted it at the barn and it turned out beautifully. Nick, Mari, Aiden and Lindsey made it down. Many of Sophia barn friends, former coaches and 4H leaders were there. It was a wonderful day. I created centerpieces that had her school picture for each year alongside a couple of pictures of the horses she rode the most during those years. She has been riding since before Kindergarten so it worked out beautifully.
We did back to school... or off to college... shopping this month. She is excited about this next chapter and we are excited for her. We will miss having her at home but she is only going to be an hour away.
I don't have many pictures of our animals. None of Loki this month so you will see a repeat from last month. Mr. Twinkletoes came home from his dental cleaning with the yellow tie he is wearing in the pic.
