So, as I mentioned in our last blog a couple days ago, Christines Dad has arrived in town with some of his horses for a big horse show in Cloverdale. We went out to the horse show the last 2 days straight, and the girls are really happy not only to see Grandpa Dale, and Grandma Mimi, but also the horses. They are going to get the chance to actually ride a horse in the horse show on Sunday morning. They will be taking part in the 'lead-line' class, and both are super excited. They have both been wearing their pink cow girl boots, and showing them off to everyone. They have been quite funny.

Brenn has been having some trouble sleeping over the past few nights, so much so, that Christine and I have started to become worried about her health. We called the clinic yesterday to find out what we should do about it. Some of her drugs make her have some trouble sleeping, so they ended up suggesting that we try to give her Melatonin. This is a natural supplement, that helps with falling asleep, but not necessarily with staying asleep. We gave it to her last night, and she had the best sleep that she has had for months. As a result she was in a much better mood today, without so many mood swings. Thank God that the doctors have these little tricks up their sleeves. We only want Brenn to be as comfortable and happy as possible, and when she is tired, things never go well. She simply cannot keep herself under control emotionally. I know that a lot of kids throw temper tantrums, and get upset when things don't go their way, but this is quite a lot different from Brenns normal emotional state. She has always been a pretty under control kid, and we are struggling to give her the normalcy that she needs to keep herself level.

It is Samanthas birthday on Tuesday, and we are happily getting prepared for a big party. The house is providing dinner, and cake, as well, they are giving her a birthday present. There is a group of girls that usually come in on Thursday mornings that are coming on Tuesday morning to make cupcakes with the kids, and we are planning on a couple different things for the afternoon. We have included Brenn on all of the planning for Sams birthday, because she really wants to throw a party for Sam. It has been really fun getting everything ready, and we want to make the day really focussed on Samantha, as she has been down here with us from the start, and all the focus has been on Brenn. I really hope that Samantha has a really great day.

Christine has been watching the girls in the morning for the past couple of days as I am out for runs. I am currently trying to push myself to see if I am going to be ready to do a 27 km race up and back down a mountain outside of Vancouver. Yesterday I ran a really hilly 11km, this morning I ran the same route twice for a little over 21 km. So far the test on myself is going well. Originally, I was going to take a rest day tomorrow, and then run 30 km on Sunday morning as my final run on my test, but I have had to bump it up a day, so will be running tomorrow morning. I am really looking forward to the run in the morning, it will be my longest run of the year so far, and for some reason, it kind of excites me. If I can do the run tomorrow, which I am sure that I can, I will be running the race with my Uncle in mid September. This will be the first race that we have run together in quite some time, so I am really looking forward to just spending the time with him, and having a great time at the race. I am hoping that we will be able to make a weekend out of it with my family, as long as Brenn is feeling okay.

Scott