"Our" Dogs

We are the minority in our neighborhood because we own just one solitary fish we keep as a pet. Everyone else has a dog. There is Ella, the hunting chocolate lab, Toby (golden retriever?), Mocha (Australian shepherd), Elvis (golden lab), Doodle (an 8-week old poodle), and our favorite, Duke (he’s a boxer). We love all the dogs! Mocha, we must admit tries our patience. When she gets into our garbage searching for Elsie’s dirty diapers, our love wanes, for sure. However, she is still a young, big, pup. Duke loves to play and be pet. He is right next door, so we see him the most. Yesterday Elsie even said his name, “Duke”. It was really cute. Our neighbor’s son also got a brand new dog, just six weeks old. His name is Choppers and he’s a Mastiff. I doubt he’ll stay so little for very long. So I’m wondering, why would we ever get a dog when we have so many to love all around us? We’ve got the best of both worlds – lots of dogs to love without having to take care of one. I’ve just got to convince Peter and Elsie. Here are the pictures of some of the dogs I’ve told you about.

A Healthy Lunch

A few days ago I measured Peter and we both realized he had grown about ¾” of an inch. He felt so big and told his Aunt Lanita he weighed 200 pounds. I think he was still on this kick a few hours later when I asked Peter what he wanted for lunch. His response, I must admit, was unusual. He replied, “Um, how about salad and a carrot. Oh, and pears and applesauce!” Okay….well, I wasn’t going to turn that request down. As I got the carrot out of the fridge he was especially excited and said, “Yea Mom, I’ve got to use my back molars to eat that, you know.” So I set him on the table and he proceeded to eat his healthy lunch, back molars and all. After a few minutes I saw him running back and forth from the kitchen table to our coffee table. He’d get to the smaller sized table, take a deep breath, and lift that thing up as high as he could. Yep, he could tell he was definitely getting stronger from all that healthy food. It was cracking me up.

Graduation

On May 21st Peter graduated from his first year of Joy/Preschool. It was a fun year for him and he had a great time learning new things. We met at the park and one of the Mom’s, Deb, brought along a “food craft” where they made graduation hats out of chocolate. Of course, Peter loved it! Congratulations buddy!

A Craft

Many mornings, at the crack-of-dawn, Peter wakes up and says, “Mom, can I do a craft?” That is when my dear husband rolls out of bed, takes him downstairs, turns on Sesame Street, and goes for a run. Eventually I rollout of bed and turn the t.v. off and get breakfast rolling. However, the questions continues to be asked throughout the day, “Mom, can I do a craft?” I put him off for as long as I can with chores and outside play, but when Elsie goes down for a nap, the craft often comes out. Here is Peter working on one of his masterpieces. It’s a boxcar to a train.

It's finally hot enough!

About a week ago it was finally hot enough for my kids to don on a swimsuit and go run through the sprinklers! Peter has been asking if he can play in the water and throw water balloons since March. They had a great time! Elsie just stood under the sprinkler the whole time and giggled and laughed while she watched Peter run through - back and forth, back and forth. When her lips started turning purple, I wrapped her in a towel and we called it quits. They had a great time!

A Little Princess

My friend, Natelie, whose picture is below, is a wonderful seamstress! I am really lucky to be her friend and have girls younger than hers because she is generous enough to give me her beautiful hand-me-down dresses she makes her girls. This is one that Elsie wore to church a couple Sundays ago. I think even she felt pretty special.

Fondue!

Fondue was a family favorite growing-up in my house. My dad was the chef when it came to "Fondue Nights". He had a special, "secret" recipe he got off the Galloping Gormet years ago. Every one of his girls has had to earn the recipe by doing something for him. For example, my one sister learned a Scott Joplin piece on the piano (my dad's fav composer) to "earn" the recipe, and I memorized "The Cremation of Sam McGee" (one of Dad's favs as well). So, a few weekends ago, a couple friends and their families came over and we had an evening of fondueing! We started out with everyone's favorite, Cheese fondue. It was this first course that I gorged myself and couldn't get myself to stop eating. Then we moved onto Meat fondue, and last of all, the exquisite chocolate fondue. As Rachel Ray would say, Yummmmo! By the third bout of fondue, I was completely stuffed. It was lots of fun though, eating and chatting it up with good friends. Sometimes I wonder if having friends over is worth it, after all the cleaning and cooking that goes on behind the scenes. I would have to rate this one as a success and definitely worth it!
Here are my friends Natalie and Cindy and their kids....



This is Natelie's daughter.

A Little Sleepy

Mike and I have wonderful neighbors! We are the "young ones" on the block and so my children (and the two of us) are spoiled continually. We are constantly getting hand-me-down toys and clothes. The latest... one of our neighbors gave us their old swing set! Can you believe how my children have loved it. Peter has always been a bit scared of swings, so he mostly just climbs all over it instead. However, I can swing Elsie forever on the baby swing. She loves the motions. One day earlier this month she got especially relaxed and this is what happend....

A Good Excuse

So, right after I had dedicated myself to becoming a true blogger, I was asked by my church to play the piano for primary (the young children in our church go to "primary" and learn songs and scripture lessons while the adults attend Sunday School). To those of you who know me very well, I am not a pianist, and certainly do not accompany. I never have much in my life. Well, apparently, they were desperate (obviously!) so I agreed to help. So, these songs are killing me to learn! The first week I spent 12 hours practicing these songs! The poor children that have to put up with me. So, every spare moment I have been on the piano, practicing, practicing, practicing! Tonight, I said, "Forget it! It is time for me to blog." So, there. I will catch you up with what's been going on since I have continued to take pictures.

Sisters are fun company!

One of my sisters (I have three) is married to someone who is a BYU film major. They have known each other forever, and ever since I can remember, he has LOVED making films. This year he had a great idea to film BYU's rugby team and make a movie of their highlights. It just so happend he picked the right year, since they took nationals! Go BYU's rugby team!
This is all well and good for my sister, Becky's husband, but it has made some lonely weekends for my sister when they have their away games. This last weekend, he had to go to California, so Becky decided to come visit me! I was estatic, especially because Becky has a daughter, Eden, who was born just 1 week before my daughter, Elsie. I haven't seen Eden for a while, and have been anxious to see how her and Elsie would play and interact. Plus, it is always a special treat to have a sister over!
We had a fun time together, but I wouldn't call Eden and Elsie best friends. Mostly, Eden just tolerated Elsie, and Elsie loved to share things with Eden, including her kitchen set she pushed right over and onto Eden's head. No wonder Eden kept her distance! Eden was also not feeling well, so she mostly wanted her mom. There were a few times I was tolerated and got to hold her, however. It was fun to watch the two and see how differently they were developing, and yet so alike as well. I loved Eden's 15 month sprint versus Elsie's speed walk. It was lots of fun.

Our Local Zoo

I live in a tiny town where a saying under our welcome sign says, "Country Living at its Finest". I have a PO box, not a mailbox, and right next to the post office is our local zoo. It's actually a little farm where the family likes to raise animals, some of them a bit exotic. It's always a special treat to go to the post office and be able to pet the horses while you're there. Well, the little joy/pre school Peter is in got to take a field trip of the farm. They had a great time watching the sheep, seeing the horses, dogs, and even a llama and emu! I learned a lot about llamas, like how territorial they are, and I had never realized the amazing sound emu's make! It sounds like a low drum. The kids had fun, but I think Elsie had the most fun! She squealed at the dogs and loved the animals. She kept trying to squeeze through the gate to see the llama and emu, and got so mad when I wouldn't let her through. She sure is fearless, that girl!

Is THIS what little boys are made of?

A little over a week ago Peter had a couple friends over. This was a fun thing for everyone since it had been raining on and off and playing outside wasn't as much a novelty. They had a great time playing downstairs while I chatted with the "Moms" upstairs. That evening Mike and I were downstairs relaxing... or rather, I was dozing on the couch and Mike was putting Peter to bed. Yea, that was it. I was suddenly awoken by, "Peter, did you do this? This is disgusting!" Peter was quite oblivious to what Dad was talking about. So, I'm hoping he was innocent. Mike had found over half a dozen dried-up worms all over our downstairs! Some were intact and some were broken up in many little pieces. Sure enough...DISGUSTING! I had Mike carry me over the threshold (seeing as I was barefoot) and vacuumed first thing the next morning. Boys are so gross. Seriously, worms?