Update

What have we been up to? Hmmm...
We have been working hard on getting our yard going. Sprinklers are in and Alex has been spending each evening moving dirt and rocks around to prepare for sod. Suka helped as you can see in the above and below. He is getting lots of baths lately. Especially since while Alex was out of town, I let him sleep in our bed and now we can't get him out. I just feel too bad kicking him to the floor - he is real snuggly after all :)
Love this picture!
We have been going to the park across the street a bunch. Suka and Lyra don't love the water yet but they will learn. We throw sticks just out of their reach in hopes that they will accidentally fall into the slightly deeper part and get the hang of swimming. Nothing like being "thrown into the fire" to learn to swim :) Of course it is not very deep and if there were any issues, I would got save them! Suka is smart - he knows just how far he can go in before he can't touch and then he "paws" at the water to try and get the stick closer. We have even tried tempting him with REALLY HUGE sticks but no luck.
Almost every afternoon, Suka goes to play at Lyra's house - they usually end up with dog slobber all over and then subsequent dirt stuck to their necks. This was an interesting find - not sure what they got into but they were filthy!

An evening on my deck - Alex was gone during the beatiful weather last week and so I spent a bunch of time sitting on the deck at night - what a view!
And to keep Suka occupied - a box - which he quickly destroyed. He lives a simple life :)
I cut some bangs one morning before work - already had a few but made some more. I am trying to grow out my hair but REALLY wanting to cut it short again. Needed some change.
My first pots planted. Still have 3-5 more to go :(

I spent 4 hours mountaineering on the hillside across from my house with Suka, gathering rocks of the same color. Took WAY longer than I thought it would. But turned out nice I think. At least I won't ever have to weed down there. Window wells give me the heeby-jeebies.
The best kind of baby-sitting: when you can get everyone to sleep and get some crap done!!! Two-year-olds are BUSY! And so are puppies! The combination wore me out too!

Growing like a weed...

1/19/09

3/1/09

4/12/09

He is getting soooo big soooo fast - it really makes me sad :(

7 weeks old

18 weeks old

Suka Updates

Suka's new friends...they spent all afternoon out in the rain and I don't think they cared :)
We went to the park and he started digging this hole looking for something - not sure what - but I was worried he was going to get his head stuck! It was making me laugh. He would just shove his head in the hole then hold perfectly still. Not sure I would come out of my "hole home" if a big dog was sticking his face into it!

Getting so big :(
My boys taking a little rest...zzzzzzzzzzzz

Evan's 2nd Bday Party - Princess time!!!

For Evan's 2nd birthday, Cynthia and Paula did a princess party. All of the moms (any myself) wore our old wedding dresses and the little girls were Disney Princesses. And Evan got almost all Disney Princess presents. It was dang cute, and fun. Paula was the evil witch from Sleeping Beauty and all the little girls were afraid of her. Always fun to wear the good old wedding dress. I can't believe it will be 5 years old this summer - crazy how time flies!!!

Moving

So we bought our new house (yikes - closing is about the scariest thing ever) and then suddenly realized we had to move and had not packed at all. So instead of frantically boxing things up, we just starting shoving things in our car and driving them over. We only moved about 8 houses down so I thought it wouldn't be too bad - I was so wrong. This has been the longest moving experience ever! I still have so much stuff to organize. Oh well, at least now we are done moving for a REALLY LONG TIME!!!
So per the request of a few, I posted some pics of our new house below. Still working on the decorating part, playing around with colors and ideas but it is coming along.

Entry

Family Room/Kitchen/Dining. It is one gigantic room but I like that.

View from the kitchen

Our sweet light that we got online...super cheap! Also stairs to the basement - it is finished but no stuff down there.

Master bedroom - where all the magic happens ;)

Master Bath - love the window above the sinks. We have the best views!

Views looking out the windows from the back - master bedroom and living room.
Looking South-East

Looking South-West

Also, here is Suka while we were moving. He was a lot of help :)

Sunday with Suka

I love Sundays. I think I had a post like this a while back. They are perfect days for just hanging out with your family. Suka and I had a great morning. My favorite part of the day with him is first thing when I get him out of the kennel. He is so excited that his whole body wags back and forth. It is like he has 3 separate parts - his head moves, his belly moves and his butt moves - all in opposite directions. He wriggles between my legs back and forth like a cat for a couple of minutes just too excited to calm down. It...is...awesome! Nothing like being loved. Then bathroom time - he was trained within the first 2 weeks. We haven't had an accident in over a month. And I don't even have to go outside. I just stand in the doorway and he comes right back. He is seriously perfect. Then, every day, he gets all of his toys one-by-one out of his kennel and puts them on the living room floor to play with at his leisure. We have made quite a collection I might add. We started with the usual dog toys and have added a golf ball, tennis ball, elbow cushion for sleeping, and the degradable stuff - paper towel rolls, box tops, post-it notes (yes the whole stack), milk cartons, catalogs...

And he is growing like a weed - inches every day it seems! This first picture was taken within the first week we had him.

Now he is twice the size moose is.



And I can't forget to mention Moose. This was the first toy we bought for him before he arrived. He adores it. And he loves to chew and thrash it. So good thing I work in surgery!!! I have had to sew Moose up 6 times! I have left over suture from work that I use - just like suturing a human (well, we don't have fake fur fortunately). Moose is only missing one ear - pretty miraculous considering how much he plays with it. He is like a child with their first blanket. Eventually it will become one of those things you can't wait to get rid of because you know how sick it is, but the kid won't let you because they are so attached. Well, guess I will just keep suturing him back together until he is totally demolished!

Puppy Kindergarten

Second week of puppy kindergarten. Suka is definitely the star of the show. The first week, each owner had to walk their dog around the room to practice. Of course each puppy is pulling on the leash, sitting down, totally distracted. Alex was excited - he had been working really hard with Suka on different tricks - and if you know Alex at all, he was totally bragging about how good our dog was - seriously to EVERYONE :) So when it was his turn, they trotted off and...it...was...perfect - a glow of light surrounding them, the clouds parting and sun shining down :) You could see it on Alex's face how proud he was - perfect dad and perfect dog. Of course we had to tease him a bit but I was impressed. And EVERYONE heard about it! Then it was my turn. Not so good unfortunately. But I have since been working on it and it is getting better.
In puppy kindergarten, there are about 6 other pups the same age. We practice sit, stay, come, down and then for the last 10 minutes, the dogs get off leash and run around the room chasing each other. Last week, there were toys in the center. One dog decided which toy was the coolest and they spent the rest of the time chasing after whomever had that toy. It was like they would get it, show it to the pack, say "ha ha I have the toy", and then take off running. Pretty funny.

First trip to the water

So we are hoping that Suka is a water dog since we plan to boat a ton this summer. We live across the street from a dog park that has a pond and river so we try to take him each day. But I hadn't taken him to the pond until today. He looked at the water for a while because it was a little windy and so there were waves. Then, slowly, he got into it more and more. Only problem that mom didn't think about - the mud. It was EVERYWHERE! So after playing in the pond, we went back to the river and got a quick bath. He does so great. I keep him on leash while we are close to the road but then we work on "off leash" time and he will only go ahead about 15 feet before waiting for me. Probably helps matters that I have chicken chunks in my pocket - but I like to think it is because he is soooo smart!

New house with a view!!!

So we are 98% sure we are moving into a new house. Our uncle is developing the area we currently live in (and rent from). He has a smaller home that is the last to be built and needed to sell it. And we want to buy it - perfect. So if it does not sell within the next 2 weeks, we will be purchasing it. Fortunately, we have been able to add our personality to the home. He had it finished up to the walls and kitchen cabinets then we have picked the rest. So sort of like building but not as stressful. It is my dream home - big windows, deck, walk out basement, clean and contemporary. Every day after work we are over there cleaning, working on the yard, etc. Fun though. We are hoping to move in the first 2 weeks of March! I can't wait! Wish us luck!

View of the mountains from the side...

St. George Parade of Homes

Each year we try to go down to St. George to see the Parade of Homes. There are usually some really spectacular multi-million dollar homes. This year, I think because of the economy, the houses were a bit more realistic in size and price. Except for the 3 million 15,000 square foot home with a basketball court in it's basement. Can't even imagine cleaning that thing! Yikes. The Stanleys, my parents, Cam and Mckenzie all came down. Even Suka got to go on his first road trip. He did great. Whined a bit in the car but NO ACCIDENTS! Not even in my dad's house! We were pretty nervous to take him and hoped he would be on his best behavior - whew. He only got into trouble because he kept eating all the moss out of the fake plant. But everyone enjoyed the good weather and no snow.

Suka's first road trip...


He spent a majority of the time sleeping :)



Snow did really well with Suka. She just loves him so much that she sometimes gets a little rough. But they had a fun time playing.

The boys (including dad) ran around the house shooting each other with airsoft guns. There was one gun that shot especially harder than the others. Supposedly it was off limits for people. Then Alex had the genius idea of shooting me in the side when I wasn't looking. Left a good bruise for a few days. So I shot him back. I think everyone was shot by the "off limits" gun before the trip was over.