Molly is in 7th grade, so that means she is officially old enough to play on the Goldendale Middle School volleyball team! She has played volleyball for the past few years now, but that was just on a general club team that anyone could join. Now she actually gets to play on and represent the Middle School!
There are two teams for the Middle School. A Team and B Team. Molly is on B Team. She would have preferred to be on A Team....she is certainly good enough to be on A Team, but that team is mostly for 8th graders and a select few 7th graders (usually the taller/bigger girls), so B Team it is. After being upset about not getting on the more advanced team, we talked it out and she is now happy and content with where she is.
There is no denying she is the best player on B Team. I'm not even being biased, hahaha. She truly is a wonderful player. Being the smallest on her team means nothing. She's got a killer underhand serve (working on her overhand still), and knows how to hustle. In general, with many girls who haven't played volleyball before, there is usually an issue with not calling the ball and then everyone standing around thinking the next person is going to get it....and then the other team scores, lol.....but they're working on that. It takes time to learn and grow in skill, confidence, and team work!
Molly is truly enjoying her time playing volleyball! They have practice everyday after school and games just started last week! She has a good mix of home and away games. We won't be attending any away games, but will definitely be there for the home games.
It's been so fun watching her play and be a part of a team. She is so happy on the volleyball court and has made a lot of new friends. It makes Mama and Papa so happy seeing her play and enjoy it.
I can already picture her playing volleyball for the High School team and just kicking ass!!
Keep it up, sweet Molly. You are killing it! Go #5!!!
For a little while now, I've been telling Sammy that he needed to get his very own pup. After experiencing the love I have for Leo (we joke that he is my 4-legged soulmate, hahah), I really felt like Sam needed that as well. So off and on for a little bit now, I'd see a dog or pup post and I'd casually send it Sam's way. He would look at it and be like yup, cute dog, but then let it go as there wasn't any pull to check the dog out.
Finally, a few weeks back, I saw a post about a litter of puppies that were rescued off of the Yakima reservation. There was one in particular I thought Sam would like, so I sent him the post and told him to check the pups out, especially the tri-colored one. He did his usual, yup, cute pups, but then didn't say anything more. A day goes by and I'm sitting in the kitchen when he sends me a photo of the tri-colored pup and just brings it up again. I knew then that he really did like the puppy. He'd never brought the same dog up twice before. So I could tell he was feeling it.
I wrote to the lady, Valarie, who lives on the other side of town from us, to get more info about the puppy and wound up scheduling an appointment for that evening for us to go see her, haha.
Sam was so excited when I told him!!
Just in case......I got the house ready for a puppy.
The moment we saw the litter of puppies was magical. They were all soooo cute!!! The tri-colored one Sam was interested in came right up to him and it was love at first sight. It didn't take long to realize we were not leaving there without the puppy, haha!
So meet Chunky! Sam's pup! She is really something else. We've had her a week and a half now and Sammy has declared that he loves her. My job is done! LOL
The poor thing, along with her litter mates, were pretty much starving when they were taken from the reservation, so she was really sensitive around food. We have since been able to correct that food aggression by giving her access to food all the time. She's learned the food is not running out and she doesn't have to worry and be aggressive.
In true puppy fashion, she is 100 miles an hour for a little bit, and then crashes into nap time. Unfortunately, Sam can't take her to work with him because of a no-dog policy they have (it would have been soooooo nice if she could have gone to work with him!), so I babysit during the day and try to work on her training. Lets just say I love when it is nap time, hahaha. I've raised two other puppies in my life time, Daisy and then Leo, but Chunky is definitely the most spunky. When she is in chill mode, she is so lovey and snuggly! But when she is awake and ready to go, watch out! She always needs a toy in her mouth, otherwise it's you that's going to be in her mouth! She loves to play with toys and chase the cats around too, lol.
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At first, Daisy and Leo wanted nothing to do with her. They were like who in the hell is this? And when is she going home? They were barky and growly and poor Chunky was so sad they didn't want to play with her. I get it. Eventually though, Leo started to warm up to having her around. He is such a good boy!! He is very tolerant of her puppy antics, giving a soft growl here or there when he's had enough, but otherwise so good about her being in his face and crawling all over him. I think he finally realized she could be another play mate for him, so he finally caved and quit ignoring her and started to play. It's cute watching them play together and how patient my good boy Leo is with her! The only thing that is still a problem is that Chunky will sometimes come on my side of the bed at night time and that makes Leo upset. I think he gets jealous and is worried about her taking his place. I tell him that Chunky is Papa's and I love him more than words can express and no pup could ever come close to taking his place.....but I think he's still worried, lol. So we're working on learning personal space on the bed at bed time, but otherwise Chunky and Leo are now friends and that makes Sam happy.
Daisy, on the other hand, is all sorts of sad and mopey and still doesn't want a thing to do with her. Instant barks and growls the second she even approaches her. So that relationship will take some more time. I think Daisy just needs some special one on one time with Anthony and/or Papa so she understands she's not being replaced or forgotten.
Training is going well. I have successfully taught Chunky how to use the pet stairs to get up onto the couch and the bed in one try. I also successfully taught her how to use the dog door to get out to the fenced back yard within one try as well. She is a smart cookie.
We are still, however, working on potty training. I didn't have such a hard time with Daisy and Leo.....but for some reason she can't quite put it together that outside is the only appropriate place to go potty. For now we have to keep all the bedroom and bathroom doors shut to prevent accidents on carpet. For the most part, she is doing good. I make sure to rush her out the second she gets up from a nap, and then periodically during the day, especially after she's eaten. But sometimes she just can't seem to get herself out the back dog door and will squat on a bedroom floor if the door is accidentally left open. Annoying.....but we will get there. The puppy stage only lasts for so long, and I've had success with two other dogs, so I've got patience.
Anyway, that's Chunky. Sam's very own 4-legged soulmate. We are looking forward to her settling in and becoming one of the family.
Molly participated in her first TRUE rodeo this past weekend! She was a little familiar with some gaming events as her riding instructor, Judi, had had a fun event back in August where she got to run some poles and barrels. But that was just at Judi's barn, and with just her small riding group. This was at an actual rodeo grounds with kids of all ages, with different skill levels, from all over Goldendale!
It was an all day event, with poles, figure 8's, barrels, and other games I don't know the name of, haha. Since Molly had only done a few game runs the month before, she isn't very experienced. A true beginner compared to some of the talent that showed up. Thankfully, The Broken Spur Rodeo is very beginner friendly, and they actually delight in taking in newcomers and teaching them the ropes. All the other kids, parents, and staff were so kind and supportive to everyone there! If someone had a run issue, there was always a helpful voice from the sidelines or someone running out into the arena to coach them through it. This happened with Molly for her first two events - the poles and figure 8's. She knew what she needed to do, but getting Rain, the horse she was riding, to listen was a whole other story. He was being a bit of a turd, and she was getting frustrated, but with a little motivation from the sidelines and a helping hand on foot in the arena, she pushed through and finished the first two events without quitting. We were very proud of her!
She did amazing on her last two events, which were "key hole" and a barrel run. By this time Rain had had all morning to warm up and realize Molly meant business and wasn't going to let him not listen to her. So she was feeling a ton more confident and it definitely showed. She rode the last two events wonderfully without the helping hand of someone on the ground coaching her through. After she finished her barrel run, you could tell she was so pleased and proud of herself.
These photos were taken by the photographer at the event. I am thankful for these photos as they are so much better than mine from the far sidelines! She was doing her figure 8 game run here.
At the end of the long day, after all the times and scores of all the events were tallied up for the different age groups, Molly came in 9th for her age group. For it being her first real rodeo, with hardly any training in gaming, she didn't care about her placement, and was very excited just to be there having fun with friends and to have been given the opportunity to try something new that she likes and is interested in. I love that attitude! She finished the day with a smile and was proud of herself for persevering and not giving up, even when she ran into moments of frustration when missing a pole or taking a wrong turn, etc.
In the end, it only matters that you tried your best and had fun in the process.
We loved seeing her out there having fun and hope that there will be future events she will be able to attend. For now, rodeo season is winding down. So we will see what next year has in store.
