Summer Has Come . . . and Gone

*crickets*

Well, hello everyone! You may or may not have noticed my extended and unplanned absence from the blogging world. Rest assured that I have not forgotten about all of you, my wonderful followers! I'm dropping by today to recap my summer and attempt to justify my blog hiatus. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be able to accomplish in the coming seasons, but I truly hope that I'm able to post more frequently. I still plan on posting my blog birthday Q&A which has been mostly written for a month, just not finalized. For now, and without further ado, here is a taste of my summer months:

JUNE

Toward the beginning of the month, I was briefly reunited with my best friend from first and second grade. It was enjoyable to see her and catch up a bit. My grandparents came to visit one day, and we all were blessed to see one another.

I finished my sophomore year of high school midway through the June, and after that my family and I left on vacation to Lone Pine at the base of Mount Whitney, the same location where I attended the movie-making camp last November. I was relieved to finally have some time to relax and unwind after a hectic last month of school. We did a lot of sight-seeing, hiking in 110 degree weather, photographing, fossil hunting, and—of course—reading. :)

Horseshoe Meadows outside of Lone Pine. About 10,000 ft.

A creek near where we stayed while in Lone Pine.

The Alabama Hills where many famous westerns have been filmed.

The following week we spent focusing on cleaning the house, going through papers that have stacked up, etc. Near the end of June I had a marvelous time at my best friend's eighteenth birthday party. (Happy Birthday!!!)

JULY

The first week of July found me counseling at a Christian camp for kids aged 7-13. For five days I had a great cabin of nine and ten year old girls. I came back exhausted with lots of stories from my second time counseling. It was a fabulous week!

From there I had one day at home before I was whisked away with my sister to spend several days visiting my grandparents in Pacific Grove. The weather was lovely, (especially compared to the extreme heat back home) and we were able to participate in several fun activities. Whether playing in the sand, taking selfies, talking with my grandparents, going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, or on a whale watching boat, I enjoyed my time immensely!

Whale watching. :)

The flag off the back of the boat.

Most of July was jam-packed with many smaller activities, so that looking back now I'm seeing that I was away from the house much more than I was home all summer; this has probably been the first year I've been away from my family this much in a summer. Of course, all the activities were good ones, like finally getting to go to the beach with my best friend and that family. (I had the best time! It was the first real time I'd gone to the beach all summer.)

Panorama of the beach I went to

To cap off my month, my family and I went back to my grandparents' and hiked around Jack's Peak. Then my parents went home and my sister and I spent a few more days there finding treasures at garage sales (I got a really nice tri-pod for a dollar!) and watching fireworks (it was my sister's first time seeing real ones).

The view of Monterey from Jack's Peak

My family and I on the trail

That's me. :) Always with my camera.

This was the first time I tried the fireworks setting on my camera.

AUGUST

Day one of August brought with it a new experience for my sister and me. We rode both our horses down to a neighbor's arena and, as much as I enjoy riding in open areas, the confined space gave us so much freedom. I absolutely loved our time together and with the horses out in the middle of God's beautiful creation!

I'm riding Baylie, my sister is on Dream.

Then . . . my mom made the "dangerous" mistake of leaving to go visit her family in Los Angeles. That left my dad and his crazy awesome ideas alone with my sister and me who pretty much go along with his insane ideas. Thus was born the newest addition to my family's collection of home movies. We planned and filmed a ten-minute western complete with Indiana Jones music, horses, explosions, and chase scenes. It is truly . . . epic. And didn't have to leave our property to create it. Hours upon hours were spent with planning, filming (in trenchcoats and 100 degree weather), and editing. We had it finished by the time my mom got back and surprised her with it. She decided to never leave us home alone again. :) It was such a fun time!

Lights . . . camera . . . action!

The day after my mom returned, my sister and I left again, this time for LIFE Camp! It is always one of the top highlights of my year, and this week at camp was no exception! I was part of the high school group which did additional amazing activities and had fantastic classes that I thrived on. We studied the incarnation of Jesus Christ, in addition to how we can share our own testimonies to bring others to know God. The activities included watching The Nativity, painting Christmas sweaters, and making gingerbread houses. (Guess the theme—Christmas. :P) Non-Christmas related activities were traveling to the beach with the other high schoolers and best of all, just hanging out with my amazing friends. My sister and I recreated the Battle of Wits scene from the Princess Bride for the talent show. I was Westley and she was Vizzini. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you need to watch the movie! :) My cabin became the prank cabin of camp, and that was incredibly fun. I already can't wait for next year!

The Battle of Wits from the Princess Bride

Being in the high school group, I only got about five hours of sleep a night, (part of that was because the latest I got up was 5:30 and we didn't go to bed until around midnight) so I came home utterly exhausted. Two days later I began my junior year of high school. Yes, my junior year. I can't believe I started the second half of my high school years. So far, school has been going well. This semester, I'm taking Physics, PreCalculus with Trigonometry, American Literature, and studying worldviews and world religions. I am truly looking forward to the rest of this semester. I have a feeling it's going to go great!

 ~

And that brings you up to date! Now maybe you'll understand why my blog has fallen to the wayside over the last few months. I truly hope that I'll be able to get some more posted in the coming weeks. Stay tuned, and thank you for sticking with me through my crazy busy life! God bless you all!

Bethany

P.S. I updated my both my written profile as well as my profile picture. Let me know your thoughts!

I just recently made this from a picture my sister took.

I am an aspiring teen writer with enough ideas alone to fill volumes. I enjoy living in the country where I have many scenes to photograph and hardly a car passes all day. I love reading and blogging. Interacting with horses is another hobby. My newest interests include screenwriting, cinematography, and making movies as well as operating my amateur radio. I adore The Princess Bride, and if you don't that's truly INCONCEIVABLE! My imagination is one of my best qualities, and I'm definitely an introvert.

Most importantly, I seek to honor God in everything I do, say, think, and write. Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to have you join my wonderful group of followers! You all mean the world to me!

~

Another note: An idea I've been mulling over in my extended absence is possibly doing some posts regarding defending the Christian faith. It's a subject I've studied and my family is passionate about. The Bible says to be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is within us, and I would love to share some of my knowledge with you. The Bible is true—from Genesis 1:1 to the end of Revelation—and there is evidence. It's not a blind faith. Please let me know your thoughts. I'd enjoy knowing who is interested, and if you have any specific areas that you would like more information on. Thank you!

A Magical Moment

Our cow Freckles touching noses with Dream.

A few weeks ago I enjoyed a small adventure on our property. Since I live on 40 acres, own two cows, one sheep, four chickens, four cats, and a horse, with practically no neighbors on our street, I get the full country life. So anyway, I saddled up Dream with my sister and parents and we rode Dream in our lower 20 acres. It was really fun as this was her first time in the “lowland” as we refer to it. She had only met our cows over the fence so she was as excited as could be to meet the cows face to face. As I rode her toward the cows and sheep, her whole body began to vibrate violently. At the time I thought it meant that she was scared but have since learned that that means that they are excited. I turned her around and began to walk away and as I did the cows and sheep began to come toward us. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous as I was on her and didn't know how she would respond and also, there are a lot of gopher holes in the lowland that I was afraid if she started to run she might step in and break a leg. However, after the cows and sheep followed us, I decided to let them meet. I once again turned her around and after a while, our youngest cow stepped forward and reached out her neck as far as she could. It was sort of like, “Hey! I want to meet you but am just a bit afraid. But my curiosity is getting the better of me. I'll just keep my distance.” I can understand why the cows would be a bit afraid because I'd never realized just the size of the cows until I was up on Dream's back. Even though Dream is considered a “pony” she is still a good size. I was looking down on the cows instead of up to them. It was practically magical to watch as they touched noses. I can tell you that I let out a sigh of relief as I realized just how relaxed Dream was since she was eating grass as she approached the cows!!! :P

A girl and her horse. . . and two cows and a sheep.

I just wanted to share this special part of my life with you all. Thanks for reading!

An Update . . .

I just wanted to do a quick post to let all my readers in on an update about Dream's leg. Sorry I didn't earlier. It is healing up well and she is at the point where we could start to ride again. (Yeah!!!) She is really feeling her oats. We have been working her more to get her ready for us to ride again. We took her for a walk (I know that sounds crazy but. . . ) on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and that was great except that it was a windy day and she spooked a bit. So I hope that fills you all in!!! By the way, if you are a horse owner, could you let me know in a comment so I know who to ask for tips? I hope to post new pictures soon! God bless you all! Thanks for all you prayers and concern!

The Ups and Downs

Her leg was really swollen.

It was open just below the knee and bleeding.

Since receiving Dream we have lived through some ups and downs with her. To start with the ups, it is a wonderful blessing to have her on our property and to ride her freely. I so enjoy working with her, grooming her, spoiling her, and riding. For the downs, we came home one day about two weeks ago to find that she was just standing, which is extremely unusual for her, not even taking a few steps to come to the fence to greet us. I crouched down to look at her legs all the while coaxing her to come to me. I noticed that her left-front leg was open just below the knee. Being a first-time owner, I freaked out and called mom and dad. I jumped through the fence and was with her in a jiffy asking my sister to get water because I didn't know how long it had been since she had drunk since the water trough was on the other side of a hill. When I saw that her food wasn't even finished I became even more worried because Dream loves to eat. :D After we finally led her into a much smaller “pen” we called the man we got Dream from and the vet. The man we got Dream from came to our place to look at her wound and said that it was bad but not life-threatening. (THANKFULLY!) Two days later the vet came out and basically said the same thing. We got some medications for her from the vet too.

We gave her the medications twice a day for about a week and cleaned her wound daily in addition to putting in some stuff that's supposed to heal it up and some stuff to keep the flies away. It's been a lot of work and I hope it heals real quickly! Please pray because it isn't appearing to improve!

A Dream Come True

What ya doing?

Dream's feeder and OUR boardwalk to keep out of all the dust.

LET THE VIDEO LOAD ALL THE WAY FOR BEST VIEWING!!! ENJOY!

Ah, Sunday, October 13, 2013, a day to remember indeed. For on this memorable day my family and I picked up our horse that we have been given. Although it was extremely difficult for me not to share this with you all before, I was determined not to until after she was on our property. Going back now to August, I had a horse and didn't even know it! My dream come true at last! Back when we left for camp, that Wednesday, my mom and dad had been offered a horse and decided to take her. On the Saturday my sister and I came home they told us. So from Wednesday to Saturday, basically four days, I didn't even know that I was a horse owner! Can you imagine! I was so excited! (And still am:-)) We decided to name our mare “Dream” because she was a “dream come true”! Dream is an eight-year-old pony appaloosa. This does not mean that she is a very tiny horse but rather she is not quite full sized. She is the perfect size for my sister and me. She is also considered a “pony of the America's” aka: POA. We have free-ridden once so far and we do “ground games” a lot with her. She is a great horse for us. She's quiet—not like a high-spirited Arabian or something. : ) She was actually used with handicapped kids if that helps you picture her! Another good thing about her is that as we learn our training method, Parelli Natural Horsemanship, she is learning too because she was never trained with this method so she does not get frustrated as easily. (Notice I said “as easily”! LOL) Our friends who gave her to us also taught us how to ride, but most importantly, to build a relationship with her.

Now she even trots to us when she sees us or we call.

 

Neighing at me."Well, howdy yourself Dream"!

I am queen of this hill!

We are converting our playhouse to a tack shed for her. We made her a nice feeder too out of a tractor tire. We have been so blessed by friends offering advice, loaning us equipment, giving us tools, and offering physical help. Thank you if you are any of the above mentioned. Since we are first-time owners, we need all the help we can get! So far we have had a good experience except for a few minor mishaps. :-) Expect that I will be posting a lot more with her included!!!