Poor Little Doggy!

This morning I got up early with the kids and went for a drive. After stopping at Days Market for a treat, we went over to the playground at Edgemont elementary (one of the kid’s favorite playgrounds). Then we drove around to check out a few garage sales. Around 10:30, I called Camille and she was going to come meet me at my parents house and then we would go on a few errands. So I am driving up on Foothill Drive and out of nowhere, a little dog darted out in front of me and with no time to do anything, the dog was hit. I felt so horrible! I had no idea how bad it was or if the dog even survived. So I pulled over and got out to see how the dog was. Luckily, it wasn’t as bad as I feared, probably just a broken leg but the dog was obviously in a lot of pain and was just scrambling around kind of limping and crying. As I was walking towards the dog, a jogger beat me to the dog and was trying to pick it up. I thought it was the owner but it wasn’t. There was a man in a yard close by who also wasn’t the owner and didn’t recognize the dog. I didn’t really know what to do since the owner was not around and it was just me and this jogger lady and the dog needed medical attention. The lady was able to pick up the dog and by now it had calmed down. So, we decided to take it to the vet and then I would come back and look for the owner. As we drove down from the foothills, I called Camille again to tell her about the strange change of plans. She was on her way so we met up and she took over the job of holding the dog and we told the jogger lady that we would take care of it. We got to the vet down by Will’s Pit Stop and told them what had happened. I took a few pictures of the dog and told the people at the vet that we would go and try to find the owner. We drove back up to the scene of the accident. I sent the pictures of the dog to Camille’s phone so that we could split up and go house to house in search of the owner. Camille took Josh and I took Jane. On about the 5^th house, there was a family who recognized the dog and said it belonged to a family that lived over by Rock Canyon Park. That is probably a mile or 2 from where we were. They looked up the phone number and called them to let them know what had happened. Sure enough, they did not know where their dog was. We got the exact address and went over there to show them the pictures just to confirm that we had the right owners. When we got there, the wife told us that the husband was already on his way to the vet. So, just to be sure, I called the vet and the owner had just arrived and it was definitely his dog. It for sure could have been a lot worse and I am just glad that we found the owners. Poor little doggy!

:: Garden Stuffs ::

I have been working in the back yard for the last two weeks on and off and this is where I am so far. I have all three planter boxes planted with seeds and or plants. I have a wee bit of earth turned over for larger plants and I moved my compost pile to the far side of the house. You might not think that sounds like a lot of work but you can let me know how your arms and back feel after moving two yards of dirt and turkey poop from a trailer to planter boxes.

I still want to transplant some of my tomato plants to smaller make shift planter boxes when they get a little bigger (and yes I totally bought the tomato and the pepper plants, no judging!) because apparently I have five plants too many in each of my boxes. Who knew they would get so big?

I was keeping my compost pile next to the back fence in big barrels hoping that my neighbors in back of us would see necessity of going in on a fence with us, but I guess it wasn’t stinky enough to do the job. I know that we have a fence and we don’t really need a new one, though it would be nice sunbath naked when ever we want to (you can never have enough freckles, right guys………..guys?) and the chain link doesn’t hide as much as you would think.

Having a garden in the back yard has presented all kinds of problems with the kids that I never imagined. Like I never thought I would have to say stuff like, “Josh get out of the turkey poop and stay out”. I thought I would share these pictures before the kids destroy the plants and fling all of the dirt out of my boxes. Oh well, I love working in the yard and the kids love “helping” me.

:: Let's talk about Emilie Campbell ::

So Emilie is one of my favorite people, she is an amazing photographer and the coolest friend. Emilie took our wedding pictures, my bridal shots and our engagement pictures. Oh yeah, she has also taken numerous pictures of our kids and a massive family shot at our last reunion.

So needless to say we love Emilie, she always makes us look good. Here are some super cute pictures of the babies that Emilie took that I still can't get over.

Emilie, thank you for all of the beautiful pictures that you have taken of our family over the years, you rock! So check out her site and give her a call next time you are in need of an Amazing Photographer!

Sunday Walk

Such a perfect day for a nice little Sunday stroll through the
neighborhood.

Hooked back up with my guitar!

I love to play the guitar but I feel like my guitar has been a little neglected for a while. One reason is just finding the time to play. Another reason is accessability. With Josh and Jane in the picture, I don't just want the guitar out in the open. As of about 5 minutes ago, that problem is now solved! I picked up this wall mounted guitar hook last night so now it is out of the reach of children but not out of my reach. Wish I would have thought of this a few years ago.

:: MacGruber ::

Mom and Dad, this is for you. We finally have our 72 hour kits done and all backpacked up! No more sending siblings over to spy on our progress or lack of progress.

I am actually so proud of myself for finally getting these bad boys done. So come hell or high water, …………… well actually I really would rather not ever have to use them.

:: Flying Too Close to the Sun ::

So a while ago I was having some serious washer trouble. The stupid thing would over flow at the drainage pipe every time it would empty during the rinse cycles. So for about a month I would sit in the laundry room and wait for the water to start draining and then lift the lid to prevent the water from exiting the drainage pipe too fast. Super lame-o, but it worked. Finally through some gift of the Goddess of the House Wife, I was able to unclog the previously un-unclogable pipe and get the washer back to normal.

This was a few months ago, so last night Kgordee asked me how the washer was doing (any trouble, that sort of thing), nope I answered, it has been great. Poor Stupid Camille, bless your Stupid little Heart!

So today, I have been doing a shlode of laundry, minding my own business and taken' care of business. I was feeling very adventurous so I thought I would try washing our pillows in the machine, since according to the one Oprah* show I have ever seen in my life the dust mites that were building up in my pillows were going to descend on my family and kill us all. Maybe you aren't suppose to wash pillows in the washer, how embarrassing for me, I don't know these things.

Anyway, the stupid rat b&*#$%# over flowed again, and yes because I was working on a crap load of laundry there was plenty of dirty clothes on the floor to get wet. So that is always fun, I guess at least they weren't clean. I really hate my stupid washing machine right now, it makes me so cranky.

*I don't know how I remember this, but it has stayed with me for far too long. Oh and I totally forgot about my three months of best rest with the twins, so I lied I have seen more then one Oprah show. Oops.

Phone Dreams

I came upstairs tonight to find this sweet photo op. (fell asleep
reading something on her phone) I couldn't resist sharing...

:: I've been working in the garden all the live long day ::

Here the kids are "helping" Grandpa water a tree in his back yard in Payson. They love anything to do with a) water 2) dirt and d) grandpa!
Notice who is playing with the little pink teether, or who at least was playing with it.
Now notice who has the pink teether and who has fallen on their face. I didn't realize (until I saw these pictures) the reason poor little Dallyn had careened onto her face was that my daughter was prying Dallyn's toy so loving out of her wee little baby hands. Tyler and Reagen's girls are so beautiful, it is always fun to see them and play with their little feet. Unfortunately they are always a little worse for the ware after our visits. Sorry Reagan.

Yard Work

This weekend we got a bunch of top soil for our grow boxes, we got 9
trees to plant in the back yard, and, as you can see, we got a
wheelbarrow.

:: Trees ::

:: Big Beds ::

Jane in her new "big girl" bed. The kids have been in their new beds
for almost two weeks now and we are just now starting to get back into
our routine. It has taken blood sweat and tears to get the kids
through these last few weeks. Okay, it was mostly sweat and tears but
there was a little blood in there too.

Today was busy around the house since we are working on getting our
garden in. We kept finding snakes in the yard, especially under stuff
I was picking up. I have my suspicions that it was actually only two
snakes, one had a definate death wish.

At one point I thought the snake had skidaddled, when I turned around
and Josh had it cornered on the pavement. He would pick it up with no
fear and run with it. When it did happen to be on the ground he would
chant "go snake go". I had to save it by putting it in our neighbors
yard (sorry Susan).

Hopefully tomorrow we will be planting trees and getting our planter
boxes ready. Happy gardening to all.

Home from Albuquerque

I got back from New Mexico today. I had such a great time hanging out with my good friends Brian, Kelli, their 2 boys Miles & Otis, Jared, and Brian's parents. It was a nice break from the usual craziness of life but it is also so good to be back with Camille, Josh & Jane!

Trip highlights:

WILCO!!!!!!!!!
Yummy New Mexican food
Getting to know Miles and Otis more
Catching up with old friends
Not worrying about responsibilities
Jazz winning in overtime
Petroglyph National Monument
Staying up till the middle of the night Saturday night talking to Jared, just like sleepovers from back in High School
The list could go on but I am tired.

Lowlights:
Buying 2 jars of excellent Trader Joes Spicy Black Bean Dip only to have it taken away by airport security. I guess it does have potential for some powerful side effects.
The fact that I bought my plane ticket before I realized that it was Mother's Day weekend. (We will be celebrating that next week)

Petroglyph National Monument

Just got back from seeing a bunch of really cool petroglyphs. Good
times.

Better angle

Walked up a little closer for this shot. This has been such a great
show! Tweedy is super talkative and they are playing all my
favorites! In case you haven't heard, Wilco will be playing in SLC on
August 18th at the Red Butte Gatdens. This is a must see!!!!

Wilco

Brian and I have great seats tonight for Wilco. Super excited! Only my
second Wilco show. More later.

:: Hitched ::

My roomate from back in the day, The Lovely Sarah Peterson (now Sarah Olsen) just got married in the SLC Temple today. I lived with Becca (Sarah's sister) and Sarah in the same room for a bit. Those were good times.

Trikes

Jane is demonstrating the "Flinstone Style" of riding a trike.