And they call it puppy love...

We've been making progress on our yard. We got our fence up and some curbing done. For some reason the day we started on the fence we thought to ourselves "we don't have enough whining and being ignored by our own kids, let's get a dog". Actually we went out to lunch and there were puppies looking for homes and we couldn't help ourselves and we came home with "Jack". He is a border collie/blue healer mix and he is a cute smart dog that is wonderful and frustrating all at the same time. He is still very much a puppy so he likes to chew on everything and chase the kids around. But he can also be very lovey and will cuddle up at your feet whenever you are stationary for long periods of time. Now if we can just get him house trained. Any suggestions????


Coming home the first day.







The first couple of nights he would just howl if we left him in his kennel, so Nick went and slept on the futon with him.



He is now as big as the cats and tortures Reggie relentlessly. I don't feel too sorry for Reggie, he could jump on the bed (or even the couch) to get away from him. Instead he just lays there and howls as he is being mauled. I wish he would just put Jack in his place. He has taken down Labradors before.



I think they are both a little tired here. We are trying to get him used to drives. I have to justify the purchase of the van somehow. That is how Nick finally convinced me to get one. He told me we couldn't go to Parowan with 2 kids and a dog in our car. Of course not too long after that, Bo died.

Do you see why I love being in Parowan?

Oh, the fun we get to have in Parowan with Grandma and Grandpa. This is one of the main reasons I'm sad that we don't live there anymore. If I could be half the parent that my parents are grandparents, I would have some very lucky kids. Instead, they are stuck with me!

We get to:

Eat meals fresh from the garden.

So fresh that the corn still had a worm in it. Seth was fascinated and called it his friend.

We get to help Grandpa cut and stack the wood.

Grandpa sets up a tent for us on the deck so we can sleep under the stars.

Grandma lets us help her sew...

And bake bread...

And make pancakes....

And pick beans....

Grandpa builds us a fire in the chiminea

So we can roast marshmallows (with starbursts)

And eat the gooey mess. Yum!

Grandpa lets us help him mow the lawn.

We get to go to the "fun"park with friends.

And mommy even gets a little "girl time"

We get to hang out with our cousins. Blowing bubbles is the best!

We get to pick fresh rasberries out of the garden.

We get to feed the ducks at the pond (and do a little fishing)

We also love feeding the horses across the street. That colt sure is friendly!

We love Parowan!

I was laughing to myself thinking that the main form of transportation seemed to be 4-wheelers. The people acress the street from my parents don't even own a car. They just cruise around on their ATV's. Then to really give me the giggles, I see the chief of police patrol the town on his ATV. I guess it is saving him over $100 a week in gas, but hopefully there aren't any emergencies or that he needs to arrest someone. What is he going to say? "Put this helmet on and hold on tight".

Labor Day

For Labor Day this year, we took our friends Kerry, Miranda and Logan to experience the joys of Parowan. We got down there Friday night and just hung out. On Saturday we went up to Yankee Reservoir and did some fishing. Okay, Kerry did some fishing and Seth and Logan had fun casting out with their little poles. Seth did amazingly well. Sam just liked playing in the mud!

We were about to give up when Kerry finally got one!

After we were done fishing we stopped in the little turn out for lunch. It is one of my favorite places on the drive up the canyon. It has a little grassy area to sit and then a stream that runs through it. It would be a perfect place for a family picture, but do you think the boys would cooperate? Not a chance. Of course, I was not looking picture perfect anyway.

We then headed up the canyon to go to Cedar Breaks. We didn't stay long. You can see from the clouds behind the boys that the weather was not good and being on an exposed ledge during a lightning storm is a big no no. It was pretty sad because that storm caused a flash flood that killed a young boy in Parowan who was riding his 4-wheeler. Very sad--his father was devastated!

Sunday night we hung out with my fabulous friends from So Utah. We had dessert and played basketball and did a little jam session. Savanah who is in kindergarten did an amazing job on the drums!

Monday morning was spent at the parade. I think this was the first time I have ever watched the whole parade. I usually spend most of it walking up and down main street looking to see who else came home for the weekend. I find you get much more candy if you stay in one spot!

We then had a BBQ. It was just supposed to be a small one-mostly family and a few friends, but then it turned into about 30 extra friends. Crazy times, but that is what Labor Day is all about at my parents home. And I love it!

It's about freakin time....

Yea!! I finally have my computer back. I'm sure that my legions of fans will be thrilled that I am finally posting again. I have much to catch up on and I will try and do it while both children are contained in their beds (although I can hear Sam crying and wanting to get out--sorry buddy you need a nap!)

I know most of you don't care about the rest of my summer, but since this is as close to a journal that I will ever get, I'm going to write about it. My sweet husband surprised me for my b-day and got my blog printed and bound, so at least future generations will get a glimpse into my life for the last few years. Here are some of the events you have missed hearing about....


The County fair was held a few blocks from my house so my friend Miranda and I took the boys over. We checked out the animals and there was a very friendly sheep. You can see that Seth didn't mind a few kisses. We then went over to the kids booth where they were able to make a few different projects like puppets, hats, windmills and they had a little cakewalk and face painting. The kids had a great time!









It was so good having my sisters come out from Chicago for a few weeks each. It's too bad they missed each other by a day. It's always fun for the family to get together!



We were able to go see Brian Regan again this year. What a fun night! The best part was right before the show started, we looked around and 15ft behind us were some of our best friends from when we first got married. We were all in the same ward and we used to have New Years Eve sleepovers together and vacation at Bear Lake--fun times. We haven't been able to all get together for years, so it was great to be able to spend the night laughing with them.



We were able to go to an Owls game again this summer. We got some free tickets and I waited all summer to go to "fan appreciation night" because there were fireworks that night and if you know me, you know I love fireworks! Well, had I known that they lasted less then 5 minutes, I don't think I would have stayed the whole night. But at least we won and made some fun memories!





Here is an update photo of the 5 boys that were born within 6 weeks of each other. It's so fun to have them all so close in age--although I'm so glad I am not in nursery right now. Oh, who am I kidding. If Sam is in the nursery, either Nick or I am in with him. Little stinker!



They are in order of their birth. I'm sure if you look closely, you can see a 5:00 shadow on Cohen (red head). That kid is a tank--don't mess with him! :-) Of course I think Sam is the smallest. But at least at his 18month appt, he had made it up to the 7th % for his weight. I'm having trouble keeping clothes on him, his 12month pants slide right off his little bum. I sure wish I had that problem (okay, maybe not the clothes sliding off, but being small sounds pretty good--but not as good as chocolate I guess).


I guess I missed the memo that we were supposed to wear jeans! Would you believe it if I said in was coincidence that they all match?

Aaauuuggghhhh!

I'm so frustrated. My computer was fried last week and I'm going crazy without it. Talk about serious withdrawal. Anyway, I just want all my faithful readers to not give up on me. I'm hoping to have my computer back next week and in the meantime, I will try to commandeer Nick's work computer again and check in. I have many pictures to download and post. Plus I need to get back to stalking...

New obsession!

So I have become addicted to Facebook lately. I'm staying up until all sorts of unhealthy hours trying to track down long lost friends. So far I have been able to find a bunch from past jobs and clear back to high school (which is farther back then I care to admit). So if you read this and you have a facebook account and I don't have you as a friend, please invite me to be yours. I'm really enjoying it so far, but I know I have much to learn!

Dang!

I just accidently deleted my counter to show how many people love me (or at least check out my blog) and I am too tired to figure out how to add it again. Can someone please help me? And I was getting up there in numbers.... Never edit your blog when your brain isn't working!