Just a Few Fun Things...

Charly 3 months.  Getting bigger :)

Ruthie and I trying to make kissy faces.  She's so cute!

Beautiful Hailey

Hailey hair.  We had so much fun doing this!

Waterfall Braid on Hailey.  Gotta love Pinterest.com :)

First attempt at pigtails for Ruthie

My little guy just turned 7.  Happy Birthday, Joe.

Ruthie's pony.  So cute!  I wish she would keep them in for longer than an hour!

Ruth does not want her picture taken of her cute pony tail.

Ruth and Charly.  She has the hardest time being soft with our new dog.  I have to constantly be the mediator, lol.

Ruth's grumpy face, haha!  She loves to play the piano. all. the. time!

Charly

Meet Charly. He is an 11 week old male Shih tzu. Yes...I have a dog. I never, in a million years thought I would ever own a dog! The kids have wanted one for years, and so has Dan. I finally relented. Dan did all the research on what kind of dog would best suit our family. He is amazing that way. I love it that he loves to do that kind of thing. I hate researching things. In fact, if I even breathe the word that I'm interested in something, he will start researching it for me....like the year I started sewing... or when I started biking...anyway, you get the idea. It's great! So, we were looking at getting a maltese, but they are just so small and frail that I wanted a dog that could hold up with 5 kids. So we started looking at Shih tzu's. It was tough finding a good breeder! There were dozens of scams. So we started looking for about a month. We finally found a woman who had a couple and we went to take a look and immediately fell in love with "Harry" (the other puppy she had was called Ron, and she had sold Hermoine and Neville, lol). We did go and look at another couple of puppies but we just kept thinking about our little Charly. The kids just couldn't believe that we were going through with it! It was so much fun! We then took a shopping trip to the local Pet store and got a few things, including a book called "Shih tzu for Dummies" and I began reading like crazy. So, now after about a month, we are doing grand! Yes, he pee's and poops, like any puppy and has started to love to bark, nips at Ruthie, but after some firm "no's" and a handy crate for him to sleep in, his accidents inside are few and he has started to listen when I say "no". He is smart! He is such a sweet little puppy and we are all delighted to have him! He will be the cleanest dog on the block, because anything I can't handle is a dirty dog, so I give him baths every day or every other day. The kids have stepped up taking him potty at 1:00 a.m. and again at 5:00 a.m. They also bathe him and take him for walks and clean up his poop. They have to do all this in addition to their other chores and they have to get up at night, even if it is a school night. They have complained only a little with a nice reminder that this is their dog, not mine. Although a great deal of the work is during the day in potty training him, and that falls to me :) Yay. Choosing the name was great fun. The kids had all kinds of ideas...a few of them were; Max, Tommy, or keeping Harry. But I liked Charly and suggested that name and it was outvoted! It fits him now.

For the last few years, we have decided to have a big family Christmas gift (instead of individual gifts)...this year, it's Charly. So, Merry Christmas to us!

First Days of School

 I have so much updating to do on my blog!  Time just flies, doesn't it?!  I have pics of all of my kiddies starting their first days of school.  Joe is in 1st grade, Rachel is in 3rd, Abby is in 6th and Hailey is in 7th grade.  They love school!  I am enjoying my few moments of solitude and getting much needed chores done around the house while they are away.  It's amazing to me that fall is upon us with Holidays around the corner...can't wait!

Day's of '47 Children Parade

Our Stake had an opportunity to participate in the Day's of '47 Childrens Parade this year. We were one of the biggest stakes to participate...there were over 300 of us! We were featured in Salt Lake Tribune and were also on Channel 2 news. Any primary children and their parents were invited to walk. Our float theme was "Press Onward and Upward". Abby, Rachel, Joe, Dan and I decided to walk in the parade. We loved our cute yellow shirts with the hand prints on the back. We painted our toes and finger nails yellow to match (except Joe and Dan, of course). We were so excited for the parade! We arrived at 9:00 a.m. and anxiously awaited the 10:00 a.m. start of the parade. Unfortunately we were one of the last floats to start :( We waited until nearly 11:00 a.m. to have our turn to wave. It was a long wait, but well worth it! We had a lot of fun waving at all the people watching. Frankly, I was surprised there weren't more people, but then again, I had no idea they even had a childrens parade until this year. It was fun to wave none the less. Hailey, Ruthie and Grandma Jeanie were on the sidelines shortly after the start. Ruthie didn't quite know what to think. She stared at everything but didn't show much emotion. After the parade was over, we started our long walk back up to the car (5 blocks, lol). The kids were so hot and tired! We all met at Golden Coral for lunch. It was such a fun morning! I'm so glad we had the opportunity to participate! Happy 24th of July!!!

Part-ay!

Let me ask you if you think this is strange...or weird...am I the only one who feels this way????

Dan just left for youth conference for a few days and the kids and I are home alone...I'm sorta excited about this...

okay....REALLY excited! LOL!

I would hate to have him gone longer than a few days, I mean, he is my best friend and I love spending almost every second with him, but let's face it...I get to watch Chick Flicks! I get to play Wordfeud on my phone (guilt free), stay up super late, eat whatever I want (without comment or sharing), and....no snoring! LOL! Please Dan if you ever read this, just know that I mean no harm in this comment, lots of men snore, right?! Oh and one more thing...I can dance in my kitchen even in the evening, cause he's not there to watch my terrible dance moves! Seriously, though. I'm kinda, really excited! Am I strange?

My New Toy...

I am having way too much fun with my new toy...
The only reason I use my computer is to update bills, check accounts, email, Facebook and blog occasionally. I can now do it all from my phone..anytime, anywhere! It has a fun touch screen that allows me to soothe my gaming cravings....games like Angry Birds, Memory Trainers, Wordfeud, Sudoku, Bublet, and Fruit Ninja to name a few. I have all of my music from itunes (doubletwist on android), youtube, Pandora (just plug it into the car and have music instantly in my car, how cool is that?!). Now the really cool thing is I have all the church magazines, manuals, scriptures, hymns and conference!!! I have the Mormon Channel (again, plug it into my car and listen to all kinds of things from Music & Spoken Word to Mormon Tabernacle Choir...so COOL! All of these things are called "Apps" or applications that can be downloaded for free!!! You can pay a little for other apps like geneology applications, documents to go (loading any docs from Microsoft, etc. The list goes on and I'm just scraping the surface of it all. Technology is so FLIPPIN' COOL!!!! If you have one of these fancy little "toys", please share any fun info or apps you love?!

Catching Up On Spring

I have loved this Spring! I have loved the cool, rainy weather. It makes me miss Portland....a lot! Sometimes I feel we go from Winter to Summer too fast. The kids have loved being outside, even in the rain at times. I have gotten some cute pictures of Ruth enjoying the sunshine. A few weeks ago I picked up my Grandma and had a chance to spend the day with her. It's so weird to see your Grandparents age. My Grandma is such an amazing woman has been and still is such an influence in my life. My crazy love for healthy food comes from her. I remember calling her years ago needing advice about my health and she just had all the answers. I am amazed at the kind of shape she is in. She is even more fit that I am. She enjoyed playing with Rachel, Joe and Ruth. She has Alzheimer's. In so many ways she is still herself, just more forgetful. She is very musical. She has an amazing voice!!! She will often sing. The kids had fun singing songs with her. She loves children, especially as she becomes more child-like as she ages. I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with her. I wish I could do it more often.

My schooling opportunity fell through earlier this month. I was very disappointed but know that things happen for a reason. I have been looking into other options but nothing seems to fit, so I am putting my schooling off for another year. The other day Hailey said to me..."Mom, I'm glad you aren't going to school, I think I'm really going to need you this year. I'm scared to start Junior High." This comment, along with many other changes in our lives, made me sure of my decision to wait. Dan received a new calling this month as 1st counselor in the Young Men's Presidency. He is excited about this calling! I think he will be great! Again, this will be another reason that my being out of the home full-time is not a good idea right now. One of the things I wanted most was to be home with my kids. I have been able to do this. It has been such a huge blessing. I'm going to enjoy every minute of it. I'll get my schooling done when the time is right.

This Spring we've had Hailey in soccer, Joe in soccer and Abby in softball. It's been fun to go to some of their games. Many were cancelled due to weather. Joe is awesome at soccer! His last game he made 6 goals! He is fast! It's been fun to watch! Hailey has played defender. She isn't a fan of soccer but it's been fun to see her improve at soccer from Fall to Spring. This is Abby's second season of Softball. She loves it! She is getting better as well. Having 3 kids in sports this Spring has been a lot though! I think we will only have two kids enrolled in the Fall. This last Saturday all three kids had a game at Noon. Ugh.

Hailey was chosen Student of the Month in April. It was fun to go and meet with the principal of her school and have him read a few fun things about Hailey. She is such an incredible girl! She is so responsible and smart and gorgeous! I can't believe how she has changed over this last year. She was recently made Beehive President in her class at church. She truly loves all the girls in her class and doesn't have a bad thing to say about any of them.

Joe lost his first top tooth. He pulled it out all by himself. He has been trying to get that tooth out for a couple of weeks. He is so funny!

Rachel put on a cute little play with two of her friends from school. They had outfit changes, lots of songs, a welcome banner, goodies, dancing and a program. It was at her friends home. It was so cute to see! There should be a pic of that below. She is such a sweet girl!

Abby...oh Abby. She is my carefree girl. All she can think about is boys. She is always dancing and singing. She makes me laugh. I wish I were more like her. She is changing a lot too! It's so cool and yet so strange to see my babies turn into young women. I recently went to an Artists night at her school. She wrote a story and drew a picture with it. Afterward we went to the park to play. There was a girl there her age, she just went up to her and introduced herself and made a new friend. She has always been this way. Seriously...I want to be more like that.

Ruth is CRAZY! I love this girl so much. I have enjoyed her soooo much! She is jabbering a ton! She says a few words like..."Joe", "uh-oh", "don't", "no", "ma-ma". She is so sassy! She likes singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and she loves to dance. If only I could slow time down and enjoy her this age a little longer.

I'm so grateful for my babies! I am so blessed!

Grandma June with Rachel, Joe and Ruthie

Hailey with her Principal

Kids Easter baskets

Ruthie's Easter basket

Joe's soccer game and one of many goals.