Missouri...An Impromptu Trip

My Great Aunt Pat passed away last week so we decided to pay our respects. My mom, Ivy, AnnDrea and I drove to Missouri where the funeral was held and most of my mom's family is. It was a long 2600 mile drive (there and back), but we did have some fun in the sad time.

Us girls got to spend some quality time together and my mom updated us on some family history. We got to see family that I haven't seen in a long time, and a new little addition to our family, baby Andrew. He is such a cute little boy, and so good. Carlie is lucky.

My Aunt Pat was an amazing and strong woman. While she will be greatly missed, I know she is in a better place and free of worldly pain, both physically and emotionally.

Life never goes as planned. But you roll with the punches and you take care of your family. That is what I feel happened this weekend. My Mom never questioned going, she asked me and my sister to go and we went with her. While we knew Aunt Pat and will miss her, we were there for my mom. Then my amazing husband never questioned my decision to go, in fact he help immensely and made it easier for me to leave my kids and him. I knew everything at home would be taken care of, so no worries there.

When all else fails my family will be there for me, and I will be there for them.

New Trampoline

So we knocked another project off the list today by finally getting the trampoline done. The kids are extremely happy, and I got a real good workout on it today. After about 2 hours of jumping, the kids fell asleep on the couch while I cooked dinner. Hopefully it will be a good way to wear them down for the night!!

Richard

Hamburgers anyone?

So I am quite proud of my baking adventure today.

I was put in charge of the dessert for the Father's Day BBQ. My mom the hostess with the mostest is making garlic burgers with an assortment of toppings, bacon, mushrooms, Swiss cheese and blue cheese etc..

What could I do? Make hamburgers too!

Cupcakes, brownies and frosting. Yummy! But something is missing...

French fries and fry sauce (aka sugar cookies and frosting). Yep I think that will hit the spot. So before I can take all the praise for creativity, I have to admit this was not my idea. I got the idea off of Bakerella.blogspot. She has the best ideas. I just added the fry sauce. That is quite Utahan don't ya think!!

~Amanda

The Fence is DONE!!!

So we decided a few months a go to finally bite the bullet and put in a new fence. After going back and forth with the idea of Richard doing the fence himself, and what kind of fence to do, we finally decided that it would be faster, easier and not that much more cost wise to pay someone to do it. We did some research, got some bids and went with a vinyl company.

So after the main water line break three times and being without water for hours on end three different days. It is finally done and absolutely wonderful.

This is going to be a garden area in our back yard. Unfortunately it will have to wait until next year to get planted. I have one plant started...

This is the pergola Richard built so I can grow blackberries. I got some starts off my grandpa's vines. I am hoping that they will survive. I think some have already died on me.

I have never been very good at growing things. All my house plants die no matter how much or little attention I give them. Bradley thinks I need the AquaGlobes that they sale on the infomercials. Do you think that will help with the blackberries???

And puppy makes five

Our newest addition has finally arrived, and while it doesn't seem like that long since Niko has passed, it has been a long time coming since I have wanted a new little puppy.


Piper our little King Charles Cavalier Spaniel joined our family June 9, 2009. At 10 weeks old she was ready to leave her mother and two brothers. Her separation was a lot easier than expected.


She is a cuddler and a fast learner. In the first few days we have had her she has learned fetch, knows the kennel routine and is basically potty trained. Piper also figure out on the first night that if she got on the kids' little chair, then the end table she could get on the couch (the one time we didn't let her up). We moved the chairs but that didn't deter her either. She tried until she could jump on the couch.


It has only been a few days, so I know she still can prove me wrong, but she is the best little puppy. And the cutest, and I may be a little biased on that subject. But one look from her big brown puppy dog eyes will melt any one's heart. I am a proud mama so you will probably hear way too much about little Piper. But how can you resist?





~Amanda

Air Show!

Bradley and I had a Father and Son outing at the air show. We went to Hill Air Force Base and got to check out all the planes up close before finding a seat to watch the show. Bradley loved to climb into the really big planes and check out the helicopters and monster trucks.

Richard

A new Job!

I just accepted a procedural coding auditor position. I will be staying within my current department which is great because I love the people I work with.

I am a little nervous because the position requires me to speak in front of large groups, consisting mostly of doctors and such. So my anxiety level is sure to raise. Now I am not being thrown into this part of the job, so I am hoping my nerves and confidence will rise. I am a social butterfly, but usually only after I know every body. Maybe that will help.

I am very excited and up for the challenge. Hopefully I fulfill every one's expectations!
~Amanda

My thoughts on a new puppy.

Ok, here are my thoughts on getting a new puppy. We recently had to put Niko, our German Shepherd down and are now considering getting a new puppy. I am a little torn over this, I would like to get another dog, and I know the kids and Amanda would LOVE it! But on the other hand, I have been used to having a very low maintenance dog that we just have to feed and clean up after. No barking, no chewing up the furniture or anything else, and since she was an outside dog, no shedding inside the house!

We will most likely get a smaller dog that will be inside the house most of the time, and I am just a little bit leery of the whole puppy training phase. Amanda really wants a King Charles Cavalier, and they are supposed to be pretty smart dogs, and people pleasers. We have a few things that need to be done before we can get the new dog, the fence in the backyard being the first. The posts are being set today, and the rest will go up next week. We also need to get plenty of new chew toys, and a kennel.

I guess I am just hesitating a little bit because I am worried that I will be the one who ends up taking care of the dog, and cleaning up all the "accidents". Well after next week, the fence will be done, and I won't have any more excuses, so I am going to start embracing the idea.

Puppyville here we come!!!

~Richard~

Where is the Romance?

Today as I worked at home, I felt a little guilty ignoring the kids, especially Olivia when Bradley was at school. They fared very well with minimal supervision, and Richard's meeting got out early enough that I was able to finish my work while he played out side with the kids.

Olivia must have not felt ignored. She kept bringing me dandelions to help brighten my work day. Then she started bringing roses in, off my rose bushes. I told her how beautiful they were, and how nice she was to bring me flowers, but she really needed to leave the flowers on the bush so they would grower bigger.

She took the roses she had and head back outside, then inside, then out. You see the pattern, I was finishing up my work, still not paying too close attention. A little later Richard called Olivia into the other room to "come clean up her mess." He then informed me that Olivia wanted me to have flowers everywhere.

She had de-pedal her roses and left them on our bedroom floor and bed. I found this to be a cute little jester. She is a romantic at three and she doesn't even know it yet. Richard was just flatly annoyed. So much for Romance!!!

The Land of Make Believe

Having a girl has opened up a whole new world of princesses, babies and kitchens. Even though Olivia is Bradley's little shadow and willing to play all of his "boy" games she has just started her life in the pretend world.

My two favorites fantasies that she has created are (1) kitty and (2) mommy, daddy and baby.
For kitty Olivia will crawl around on the floor and meow and act like a kitty. She wants to be petted and scratched just like a kitty. She can play this for hours on end, believe me I get sick of this before she does.

Mommy, daddy and baby, (and yes this is what she calls it) started out as a very simple game using the figures of a mommy, daddy and baby out of her first doll house. Now she is assigning each "member" of her game a role. So some days I am the mommy and Richard is the daddy, Bradley is the kid and Olivia is the baby. This is my favorite since then I get to hold and rock Olivia and cuddle her like when she was a baby. But now she is getting more creative in assigning her roles. I have been the baby and once I was the daddy. Richard and Bradley have been the mommy. She is even recruiting aunt Ivy and Honey to play her game.

This land of make believe is only the beginning and it is what little girls are all about. Olivia is the little princess I always wanted even when she acts a lot like me!

~Amanda