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!