February 2014

Feb 1st - Terry and I started the month out on a date to Wendover. It was double the fun because we had double the free money to play with. It has been so long since Terry and I have just been on a date that it was fun even though we didn't come back any richer then we left.

Dolly is now 3 months old and weighing 15lbs. She is just a bundle of energy. Her sweet mom puts up with her all day long tugging at her ears and bouncing on and off of her. We love our sweet Dolly. Isn't her new hair cut darling? Yes, 3 dogs is a lot but most of the time we love it!

Here is Bowdee's latest art project. Yes, he just keeps getting better. He was pretty excited to be invited to 9th grade honors art next year. He loves when he completes a difficult project like this and he does so good. His project was voted class favorite and they had a hard time coming up with something to critic it. Good job Bowdee!

Oh my sweetness! I went to take some baby photos for my dear friend that had a baby recently. This is her baby number 6 so I wanted to make sure she got some before she blinked and baby turns 5 years old just like that! The best part was after I took the photos I got to just hold her. Man, I miss those little ones!

Matia did this science fair project all by herself! I was so proud of her for coming up with the idea and researching all her information. She took 3rd in her school so she is now going on to the district science fair. She found out that the flowers in water died first, then the ones in coke, then the ones with flower food bloomed beautifully and lasted a lot longer!

It's basketball season and all 3 kids are playing. We love to keep our kids involved in all different kinds of sports so they are well rounded, healthy, and know what sportsmanship means. This is Tregs fun team although in our opinion the coaches (refs) let them get away with way to much not helping them learn how to play by the rules... Oh well he had fun and has great ball control!

Feb 13th - we went down town with Kami, Iz, Lakota, and Mom to meet up with Clint and his darling family for the night. Taunya had got us tickets to the BYU Acapella group performance in the Conference center and it was simply amazing! The best part was hugging these two darling nieces of mine! This family is so amazing in all sorts of ways!

Feb 14th - These three kids mean so much to me. I just don't know what I would do without each one of them. Bowdee is such a great big brother always there to help out when needed. Matia is such a sweetie always there to help make the sad happy. Treg is such a comedian he keeps us all laughing!

For Valentines we always get a heart shape pizza and then open gifts. I made the kids 2 years of scrapbooks then the family 2 years of family book as well. It was a lot of work and was quite spendy but the kids love them and I feel it is worth the money!

Feb 16th - We decided to rent a room at the Strawberry Bay Lodge and spend the night ice fishing for presidents day. We ate dinner at the restraint and it was delicious. Then we went to the room and watched the Olympics while waiting for the wind to calm down. After it calmed Terry and I went out and set up the tent and did a little fishing. It was slow but we caught a couple. We finally went back to the room and got some sleep. The kids were up watching the Olympics and participating in the bobsled event as you can see in this photo....

Feb 17th - It started out nicely the kids resting in the room while we were ice fishing... Slow again... Then when things warmed up we cleaned up out of the room and the kids came out sledding. They had been sledding for a while when I told Terry "You know we are going to end up in the ER room right?" just an hour later Bowdee let Matia use his sled... She wasn't used to how it rode and she was leaning one way to far and the sled went of to the side through the weeds. In the weeds was a T-post nobody had seen and she found it with her forhead!

Sure enough we ended up in the ER. It was so bad blood everywhere and cut right down to the skull 2 inches long. She was so brave she cried at the first but then she calmed down and that was it. She was so sweet and positive even though she was scared to death and she didn't want a scar on her forhead. A really nice guy came over and helped Terry pack up the ice fishing stuff and get it to the truck so we could leave as fast as possible.

My sweet baby girl, so tough and so brave. I hated watching her have to go through this but we all knew it had to be done and so we did it the best we could. We were in the ER for 2&1/2 hours before we could leave. They nice man next room to ours came and complimented us on our family. How brave Matia was the whole time he said his grandson would have screamed the whole 2 hours and then they would have had to strap him down. And he mentioned how patient the boys were. I had to agree with all he said. Bowdee kept wishing it was his head split open not his sisters. Such a bad day but it could have been worse and I am so thankful she is going to be ok.

So our new family sport for the year is racquetball. We have been going every week at least once but trying for twice a week. Matia is sad to be missing out on the fun with her head injury we just don't feel it is safe yet. But we do have fun while we are there getting our hearts pumping!

Feb 25th - Matia's Junior High checkup and shots!!! Holy Cow how did my baby girl get so old? I just can't believe how fast the time flys. We went to visit Dr. Sundwall he thought Matia's head was healing up great and gave her the go ahead to start playing bball again. She was so brave to take all 3 shots with out crying. Love this girl like CRAZY! I just can't believe my eyes.

Feb 26th - So sad Winter lessons are over and this sweet family is not taking lessons in the spring. They are so cute and fun to teach! The Knapus family is in my dads ward and are simply amazing people! Hopefully we will see them again in the Summer. Winter lessons were fun although Robbie is having a hard time in his 3rd lesson.

Today the kids decided to take a day off of school and so we went to lunch relaxed and went to Cal-Ranch and IFA to buy some chickies! You always need new chicks in the spring right? We got 3 Arecaunas, and a few different kinds but we are super excited!

Feb 28th - Since Robbie was struggling in the 3rd lesson I kept my eyes open for another lesson horse and this is what we came up with. Her name was Athena and we call her Sweetie. She is a Mustang/Quarter horse mix. She is just as sweet as can be and I think she will do great in lessons. Mom, Dad and Treg took the journey to the Neveda border south of St. George to pick her up for $650 lets hope the kids like her. She looks like all the others so nobody will feel jealous of someone having the pretty horse :)

Feb 28th - We got home from picking up the horse at 5:30 and at 6:00 we left with the Callaways to go spend the night at my mom and dads cabin. By the time we got there and carpooled up to the cabin because of the snow it was getting pretty late. But the kids all jumped in the hot tub and they stayed there for at least 2 hours!

We sure get along great with this darling family. Everyone agreed that this is something we need to do again soon when we have more time to stay and enjoy the view and company! What a great way to end a super fun month!

January 2014

We rang in the new year with pots and pans at midnight, puzzles and games and movies to pass the time. I can't think of any other people I would rather celebrate a new year with I sure love these faces!

With the New Year we all ponder what we would like to do a little better the new year then the last year. This year I think we all agree we would like to be a little healthier. Bowdee is wanting to eat clean and build his muscles, Matia wants to eat clean and cut out most sugar, Treg well he wants to keep being Treg. The first day of the year we headed to Strawberry to do some ice fishing and the kids ended up ice skating with their boots. Love those smiles!

So the puppies are now 7 weeks old. Daisy spends most of her days playing with both Dolly and Poppy. It is going to be hard to see Poppy leave but we know she has a good home to go to. This week Dolly is 7.4lbs and so super fun.

This is Bowdee's favorite art project so far. He ended up getting 100% on this project. Yes, he has a talent, and this is just one of his many talents.

So I took the kids for a quick get-a-way to the cabin before they all have to go back to school. Terry has a hard time slowing down this much so he stayed home and went to work while we enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa. We took the puppies and grandma fell in love with Poppy. We had fun just playin cards and doing puzzles.

So Flat Lucy came to our house and she ended up making rainbow loom bracelets with Treg and Tia. Tia got this for Christmas and oh my they both just love being creative and making bracelets. They are getting pretty good at it too!

Puppies are now 8 weeks old and still fun as can be. I wish their little bladders would grow so I didn't have to take them out every hour on the hour. But oh well at least we have linoleum in the main area!

So we left the kids home to have some fun without us while we went to Grantsville to wish Mom and Dad Townsend happy birthdays! We have been doing this for a couple years now and we just love the one on one we get with them. Terry cooks them a yummy dinner and I assist. What great people!

Here comes Basketball season again. The kids are fun to watch yes it has been a long winter and we are a little winded but every one of my kids play with such a drive I just love watching them play. We were super sad not to get Matia on her regular team but oh well stretching those wings is always good.

Bowdee with his 20 character art project. He is a little disappointed in it but I think it is Great!

Here is our sweet Matia out doing her chores. I love what it is teaching the kids and I love that smile!

My sweet kids on Crazy Hair day. I pulled out the hair color and they told me what to do with it. I just love their creative minds! I will miss these days they are such GREAT kids and so fun to be around.

At 9 weeks Poppy finally went home to this sweet couple in that lives in Alaska. They were so excited about their new addition to their family. They will take good care of our sweet, strong, smart Poppy!

We went ice fishing again but this time we went to Deer Creek and it was really slow! Lots of fishers on the ice but not too much coming out of the holes. Matia got a really big one on her line but she got a little to excited (I have no idea where she gets that from) and the line broke.

January 28th one of my very best friends had this beautiful baby girl and she named her Taisley! She called me at 10:00 and said she was going in to get started and invited me to come spend the day with her. So of course I was all in showered as fast as I could and headed to the hospital with another one of our best friends. It was a long day and Taisley didn't decide to come until 8:00 pm but she is beautiful and healthy and mom is doing great. There is nothing like witnessing a precious baby coming to this earth. Such an amazing Miracle! Thank you my sweetest friend for letting me be there for you. Remember there is a reason for everything so remember to enjoy this little one before she turns into a teenager! LOVE YOU GIRLFRIEND... LIKE CRAZY!!!

 

December 2013

We started the month off with a quick fishing trip to Strawberry with Troy. It was super slow and we caught nothing but at least it got us away for a short moment to enjoy each other.

The Live Nativity that we go to each year for the last 8 years that my cousins put on was fabulous once again. Terry helped with the hot cocoa, I managed the mad crazy long lines, Bowdee was asked to be a shepard with Kyle. It is always amazing being part of such a production.





Puppies are now 3 weeks old. And I just can't tell you how incredibly challenging it is to take good photos of these black beauties! It takes all of us to hold the lights, get the puppies attention, and take the photos.. They are now eating their blended up puppy food and loving it. It sure makes a mess!

Here is Bowdee's latest work of art. It is a portrait of John Stockton done with Charcoal. As you can see Bowdee is learning a lot in his advanced art class at school. I think he gets his talent from my mom! Who also has an artistic eye with a hidden talent.

I have not been to a ward Christmas party in years. But this year the kids really wanted to go and since there is such a limited number of kids to sing in the program I felt like we should be there. So the kids and I headed to the church for a great dinner, wonderful company, and fun performance. Terry stayed home to show the puppies to a couple that was interested in adopting one.

We sure have fun with these little guys. Now that they are mobile it is fun to put them down and play with them. They all have such different personalities it is going to be so hard to pick just one. Although the kids have had their eyes on a couple.

Matia's dance performance was so disappointing this year. I should have been ready for this because Matia danced competition last year but this year we simplified it because she wants to focus on her horses. Well it was obvious she wasn't learning anything or being challenged so we are going to pull her out for the rest of the year. She is super excited to ride her horse more now on the days she was dancing.

Puppies are now 4 weeks old and today they got to go outside for the first time. I took them on a ride to the vet for their checkup and he said they all look amazing! Then we came home and the kids helped me take photos outside. This was their first time in the snow and they loved it!

Townsend Christmas party! So this was the longest time we left the puppies alone. But it was so worth the mess we came home to. We just love chillin with this family. They all mean so much to us. Thanks for the yummy food and nice gifts. We could have done without the keys locked in the trunk though. But it was a good challenge for the boys to get it opened.

We started a tradition with the Callaways a few years back where we go to eat at JCW's then we go through the lights at Thanksgiving Point. It has been a fun way to enjoy the season with some of our favorite friends. As you can see there are smiles all the way around.

Another tradition we have is gingerbread houses with Troys family. I tell you what I sure like how this has become an easier funner tradition through the years. We started out with me making the gingerbread and shaping it. Then we bought the kit that we had to frost together that always fell apart. Then we started hot gluing the houses together. But now you buy them all assembled and all you do is decorate.  Hey we will take it!

Puppies are now 5 weeks old. It is crazy to me that we will only have 1 more week with most of them. And then they will all have new families to love and care for them. This week I started taking them outside to potty every hour and what a chore that is with 9 puppies to carry out because otherwise they wander off. We sure love them though!

We sure love our Garrick friends they came over tonight for dinner and visiting. So we grilled some steaks on the grill and enjoyed a nice dinner together. Then all the kids went and did their own thing and we adults sat and visited. What a great family!

So we went with Mom and Dad to see Frozen in the theaters. You see it is an extremely big deal when we go to the movies let alone one that we don't call the sticky shoe. Frozen was such a fun movie I am amazed year after year at how Disney always seems to outdo themselves. Such a fun day!

Christmas Eve is finally here! With 7 families coming to pick up their new family member we were stuck to the house pretty much all day. So we cooked a nice meal, cleaned the house for santa, arranged our gift baskets that went with the puppies and said farewell to our sweet friends.

Here is one last photo with all 9 of them together before they started finding their new families. They are getting so big!

Then the families started showing up with great big smiles on their faces. And for a moment it felt really good to be part of dreams coming true! We sure hope these puppies are all their families hope them to be and they bring some special moments to their lives.

After all the puppies went home Poppy's foot got worse and her fever went back up. I have syringe feeding her for 2 days watching her fever and taking care of her. She got a spider bite on her paw and it got incredibly swollen and infected. So tonight on Christmas Eve we ended up in the animal ER. Where we paid $300 to have them give her some antibiotics and clean out her paw. She lost her claw and so we are not sure if it will grow back and if her Alaska owners will still want her.

Christmas was so fun Treg asked for a laptop.

Matia asked for a bunny and new hutch.



Bowdee didn't ask for anything and so Santa took it upon himself to buy Bowdee a phone. He was so very excited!!!

A couple of days after Christmas Mom and Dad invited the grandkids to the cabin for a night. I hear they had so much fun they want to move up there with them.... Not going to happen but very cute that they love the cabin and cousins so much.

While the kids were having the time of their lives we were invited to go play games at Tara's house. We ended up playing this card game named hand and foot. It was fun but the best part was being with Terry's siblings. What a fun night!

That next day we went and picked up the kids and then went to eat at the Pie Pizzaria with Troy and Clint (his friend), Casey and Nic and their families. All really great people we did this with them last year and had a blast so we did it again. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever that they could right their name on the wall and nobody would get mad. Then off to the Grizzly Game. It was a fun game but being surrounded by family and friends made it even better.

Then we ended this fabulous year full of changes with a greasy oil fried traditional fondue dinner. I guess it is a good way to get excited about the new year resolutions. Once we started it the kids just wont let us quit this tradition they love their fondue new year eve dinner. Happy New Year to all, may the new year be full of happiness and love!