Layla gets her MX!!

Today, the Golden kids and I drove to Fort Collins for the Longs Peak Dog Training Club trial.  Despite it being 27º when we left, we were quite comfortable inside the equestrian barn.  This says a lot for the quality of the facility because I am uncomfortable in the low 50s!!  The barn was well-heated.  It was a very nice facility.  Layla did very well today.  She finished her MX in the morning and Q'd in JWW for her 8th QQ in the afternoon!  I really like the judges this weekend.  Lisa Selthofer congratulated me outside of the ring after our class for my standard run.  Dan Selthofer made a really nice flowing jumpers course.  I am glad to hear that these judges are the same judges who will judge a show that I am entering New Years weekend.  I can't wait to get back to Fort Collins and run again tomorrow.  Because I have such a busy schedule with several difficult classes, I do not stay out of town for dog shows during the academic year.  I am lucky that Colorado has enough trials within an hour or so from my house so that traveling is not an issue.  I have been spoiled with close trials.  The 1.5 hour drive to Fort Collins today was the farthest I have driven for a trial since classes started this fall!

I measured Jade at the trial today because I wanted to see if he had passed up Layla in height.  I confirmed that Layla is now the smallest dog in the house!  Jade is about half an inch taller than Layla.  He measured 21.75" today!!  Last week, Jade weighed 47.5 pounds!  I am so excited about my big red boy!  Looks like I am going to get my 24" jumper that I wanted!  Jade has been just soaking everything in that I am teaching him.  It took him 2 ten minute sessions to learn how to pivot to the left (and keep his bottom close to me when I turn into him) and walk backwards in heel position.  We started baby sequences of jumps (bars on the floor) in class this past week.  Jade is sending extremely well.  I am very proud because Layla never had the foundation to work as independently has Jade will be able to.  Jade gets soo excited to work for me.  I was practicing with him Thursday night before Layla's class.  I told him "left, jump" and Jade WHIPPED his whole body to the left as hard as he could and took the jump.  I was laughing so hard because he is so dramatic in every aspect of his life- training included!!  This boy makes me smile so much.  Is it a problem that I feel the need to shower him with kisses every time I come home and see him?  I am having an unbelievable amount of fun with him.  In addition to agility, we are also taking field privates about every other week in Fort Collins with Sandy Whicker.  Jade thinks field training is the best thing ever.  It is so exciting for me to watch him light up when we take him into the field for marks.  Our future together is so exciting.  I am treasuring every little moment right now.  I am so blessed to have such a handsome, confident, and brilliant young man.  As far as I'm concerned, I am living the dream.  I really do have the best dogs in the world.

The quarter is actually coming to an end rather quickly, which I am quite happy about.  This quarter has been difficult, but thank goodness I have my Goldens here to keep me sane.  I miss Blake like crazy.  We do talk regularly on Skype, but it is just not the same.  We are so fortunate that our relationship is so well-developed that we are not having to build it over the internet.   Blake is, without a doubt, my very best friend.  We know each other like the backs of our hands after almost three years of dating.  I can finish his sentences, and he always starts laughing when I begin to say something funny because he knows how I will end my story.  Blake is one of the silliest people that I know.  I cannot think of very many conversations that I have with him where I do not end up laughing.  That has been so good for me because I have learned how to laugh at myself and how to take life less seriously.  I have always been an extremely sensitive person, so being able to laugh at myself has not come so easily.  Blake reminds me that in certain situations in life, all you can do is laugh and move on.   Excluding my parents, I cannot name someone more supportive of me than him. I am so ready for Blake to be back in the States and home.  I am counting down the days.  8 weeks from today, I will pick him up from the airport.  That day cannot get here faster. A part of me is missing when he isn't here.  Luckily, my little man channels Blake extremely well- he is handsome, as sweet as can be, brilliant, and beyond silly!  However, he sometimes sees wrestling with Miles more important than cuddling with me, he cannot cook dinner with me, and he is lacking in the English language skills department ;)