Busy Weekend: Draper Temple, Family Pics, State Fair, Dinner With Ert

This weekend we...

taught Milo how to play soccer:



I talked Casidee and Jayme into running a mile and doing bodyrock with me...

I like having them with me to do this because they push me to get it done and to push myself while doing it... but boy do they ever have more stamina than I do.

Cas and I joined the youth of our church on a temple outing to the Draper Temple.  I sure love being in the temple with that girl.

We headed over to Fotofly for some family pictures.  Let me tell you, we were laughing so hard through that session.  I can't wait to swing back over there to see the pictures and pick them up.

We hit the State Fair.

 Where we saw Babe the Big Blue Ox in real life.
Seriously, this bull was humongous, it's shoulders were as tall as West's head and it's hooves were as thick as my thigh.

Billy Goat's Gruff?

 This goat made me think of Billy Goat's Gruff... and that made me think of the time that we had Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandma E's house and my brother Bill would get under the table (we were littler) and my cousins would laugh and say there was a billy goat under the table...

We loved all the science stations they had set up throughout the venue.
The Man showed the kids the trick to balancing all the nails on top of just one:

 The favorite for The Circus was the Lemur tent:

We hit Leatherby's where I ran into some old friends that I haven't seen in forever.
Man alive, I miss old friends.
Also, at Leatherby's, we discovered they have a "sampler" on their menu.  Have you ever done this?  You get five scoops of ice cream, but you only get to pick two flavors.  The other three flavors will be a surprise.
It was pretty fun to figure out what flavors they'd given when our ice cream arrived.

We joined Aunt Lindee at The Old Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square to celebrate her graduating post and landing a job on a police force.

We sure are proud of you Aunt Officer Lindee!

We love that place because the atmosphere is fun and the prices aren't crazy.  We can feel like we're taking our circus to a nice dinner without breaking our checking account.

Cas is taking Chinese in school this year.
She wrote her name on her leftover box in Chinese, and when she showed it to Sean he exclaimed, "that looks like cool Vampire writing!"
"Sean, it's not vampire writing, it's Chinese..."

To West.
-The Parking Garage.

This weekend we also discovered the TV show "Once Upon a Time" on Netflix. 
In love!
And it's kid friendly which scores high points in my book. 
We're catching up on the first season so we'll be ready for the second season to start on September 30th.  So excited!

That was our busy weekend.
Hope yours was just as good.

The Day I Ended Up Wet, On My Back, And Covered In Dog Fur

The other night we had a situation with our dog, Milo, that required us using the hose on his backside.

Milo hates baths and that's in a tub with warm water no less, so take him out into the backyard with the cold hose...

The Man gave me the option.  Hold Milo, or do the job with the hose.

Since the hose job had the possibilities of being "yucky," I decided that I could hold Milo.

I've always claimed that our dog Strider is the Clydsedale horse of dogs.  Apparently, Milo is also, he just doesn't care to exert it as much as his brother.

Milo did not want anything to do with that hose.  The Man had tried to do this job before I got home to no avail.  When we went into the backyard, Milo knew what was coming.

He tried to run and The Man held him in his arms while I got into place.  I watched The Man applying all sorts of muscle power against the struggling dog and knew that I needed to put a lot of weight into this.

I got down on my knees, pulled Milo close to my chest, and wrapped my arms around his torso and in front of his chest while I bent over, laying my body weight on him, enough to hold him there without crushing the ever living daylights out of him.

He struggled, but my hold stayed.

So The Man turned the hose on and began to spray.  As soon as that cold water hit Milo's backside that dog doubled his efforts of force.  I ended up covered in water and somehow on my back, arms above my head as I valiantly tried to keep my hold on the run away dog.  He was running on my hair and my face was being licked by Strider who seemed pleased as punch that it wasn't him who was involved in all of the hassle.

After all of that, the job still needed to be done.

So West held Milo.

And I got the yucky job.

And I got the yucky job done.

In wet clothes, covered in fur and dog saliva.

It was my turn to need a shower after that business.

****

Complete change of course, in case that story wasn't enough for you,  here's a beautiful thought for the day:

The Puppy Boys

I was feeling in a funk today.  I hate dressing up for work.  So in my funk I decided I would wear jeans with my heels.  I always follow the dress code, so I figured no one would care too much the one day I didn't.  Plus, at our office, the investigators have a lenient dress code and the lawyers only really dress up nice when there's court so it's not like my wearing jeans was really going to stand out.  Though usually everyone wears at least cargo pants over jeans.

Turns out I wasn't the only one feeling that funk.  Most of the office showed up in jeans today.

Including my boss, so I think that most definitely put me in the clear.

Also, the point where our entire office sat around and told Chuck Norris jokes in the conference room for a good half hour is just proof that my funk isn't just my funk. 

There's funk in the air.

Though I do love starting out the day with an email that I've won something.
It's the best.

This morning I found out that I won the 14 day fresh start nutrition program. 

I seriously can not wait for that.

A huge thank you to Jennifer at  A Mothers Fitness2love.  Huge thank you.
I can't wait to start this program.

Strider

Milo

Our puppy boys.

I like to keep track of the things the kids do and say because it's fun to see how they grow, progress, change.

I thought maybe I should do that with our puppy boys.

Right now they are a year and a half.
We have them sectioned off to only being in the kitchen and the dining room (hence the baby gate behind Milo in that picture) where they have a doggy door to let them come and go to and from the backyard as they please.

They hate that babygate.  It's strapped to the stair rail and pressed against the wall with a chair.  They're learning that if they  jump hard enough, especially Strider, who is the Clydesdale of dogs, they can knock that chair enough to move the gate and get free.

They only do this when we're not home.

This means that any loose article will be shredded when we get home.

Shoes
flip flops
books
stuffed animals
stuffed penguins
camera cases
underwear
socks
my Victoria's Secret bra (that wasn't lying around, they broke into our bedroom to get that one)
homework
bathroom garbage can's contents

The dog ate my homework is a valid thing in our house.

Barbies
pencils
bottles of glitter
entire rolls of toilet paper
library books
Grandma KC's sewing supplies
paint brushes
rolls of painting plastic
masking tape
the couch...

If it weren't for this chewing habit they'd have free roam of the house.

Strider has a stomach of steel.
He ate rat poison and it didn't even phase him. (No, we didn't let him digest it.  We took him to the vet where he was purged and filled with charcoal to absorb the residue).
(Then he came home and ate his dinner like nothing had happened).

Strider also chews on his brother.

You can't usually pet Milo because 9 times out of 10, Milo's fur is going to be soaking wet from Strider chomping on him.

Poor picked on little brother.

Strider is monster dog, double the weight of Milo.
Milo is super soft.
Strider, being the bigger of the two, is the one that will insist that he needs to be a lap dog.  The only problem with that is that he's just a little too big to fit on your lap.

Strider is protective.
One time when I snuck into the backyard (so the dogs wouldn't know I was there and jump all over me) to lay out, Strider eventually noticed me out there.  I watched him and you could tell he wasn't sure who I was.  He froze and stared at me.  When I looked back he was belly crawling toward me, ready to jump.  I had to say his name so he would realize it was me and not attack me. It just struck me as funny that he would take the time to sneak up on me to pounce, rather than go into a barking fit.

Strider also likes to sit with one of his stuffed animals in his mouth to sleep.  Kind of like sucking his thumb, but since he doesn't have thumbs...

Milo is the pretty boy.  It looks like he wears guy liner.
He's pretty chill against Strider's antics.
The instant you reach to pet him on the head, he's on his back, legs in the air, wanting a belly rub.
He's stubborn though.  He knows the command sit.  But if you hold out a treat and tell him to sit, it's like a battle of wills.  He's certain that if he just holds out a little longer, you'll break and give it to him.  Sitting is so beneath him.
He eventually sits though.  The promise of a treat becomes more than he can bare.

Their favorite toy is the laundry soap cup.  They'll chase that cup across the kitchen tile forever.

When they were new puppies they  tried to herd the kids.  The kids would take off running and the puppies would start nipping at ankles to get them to stay together.  They've finally figured out that kids can't be herded.

They still bite ankles thought.  Especially Milo.  He seems to think that the way to say good morning is to either nip the top of your bare foot or your ankle.

They hover when I cook. 
They know I'll drop something or spill something eventually.

They also hover when dinner is done and the kids are scraping plates into the garbage for the same reasons.

They're getting pretty decent at staying in the yard when we take them out front.
Except they seem to hate people on skateboards?
Except Cas.  They don't seem to mind Cas being on  a skateboard.

They're fun dogs.  I enjoy them. 
I just wish I knew how to get them to chew on all the toys and bones we give them and to leave all the other stuff alone.
How do you teach a dog that?
Especially if your not there when they're doing it.
Any tips on that one?

father's day post - The Man and Papa Mike

Just for the record, I am an expert father's day present hider. Expert I tell you. I had it hidden safely away at a neighbor's house for an entire week, made a big todo about "don't look!" as I hauled it in the night before and then...

I was sort of hoping that it's obviousness would actually work in my favor...

The Man's burst of laughter a mere 5 minutes later told me I was wrong.

For father's day I made corned beef and potatoes and a no-bake cheesecake by request.  We loaded up Jayme and Sean and the puppy boys, along with the food, into the car and headed to a park to meet up with Papa Mike, Lindee, Sam, and Morgan.

Not long after getting to the park one of the dogs stepped on the cheesecake...

good thing there was plastic wrap on it.

I'm so in love with my man.  He's the most tender, fun loving father, not only for his own kids, but for mine.  Blending a family has had it's issues, and it's fights, but we've worked our family as just that, our family, together.  I don't know what I would do with out him.

Papa Mike has always been so supportive and West and me.  I couldn't have asked for a better father-in-law.  He's hands on with the kids, who have declared that Monday is "Papa Monday," and they always want to call Papa when they're bored and want someone to come and play checkers with them.