Update on the Enormous Dog

Just wanted to show the growth on Koda - this is ridiculous! She will be 4 months on the 19th.

We Have To have Hinges

Dog Lazy Days

I know I have been a blogging slacker for a really long time and it can only be blamed on being lazy, but when I went to download pics tonight and the camera says, "download all new? 104" - That's really pathetic.

First is the new dog. I am not overly excited about this. I don't really like new puppies, I would so much rather get an older, housebroken, non-chewing, non-digging dog. But this was Cam's choice and he picked another Aussie that is crossed with a Great Pyrenees. She's kinda large. I'm a little nervous of her size and that the Great Pyr is not a very social dog. Well, those are my thoughts and now I get to post the pics for my family that are all looking for pics of Koda to match her large description. Oh - she was born the day before Thanksgiving. That makes 8 weeks tomorrow and the seat of the couch sits at 7.5 inches.



Next, we are potty training . . ok, it's really is a joint effort between me, Paige and Hyrum. The kids have been great about the whole thing. They also get some M&M's every time they sit with Hannah while she sits. I told Cam that he gets a half day with Hannah on his days off and he just grunted - we'll see. So far - mixed reviews - 1st day: great with only one accident in the undies. today - horrible with going better towards the end of the day. It's hard though because I've never done a kid who was still taking naps. She is finally into a big kid bed, but I am doing diapers during the nap. Any suggestions for this? PS - I DESPISE POTTY TRAINING!!!!!


Last - here are the evidence pics for Cam's choice of snack 3 mins before we are due to leave for church:

You are correct if you guessed Ding Dongs. What was he thinking???? I told him we have carrot sticks in the fridge if they need a snack. Not to mention - in their Christmas dresses! Needless to say - he got to sit by them in Church while they bounced around in the pew.

Oh - and by the way - I did not send out Christmas cards this year, again, just becuase I am so incredibly lazy. But, I did love all of yours - so thanks for thinking of us and I haven't given up on the idea just yet. I did send out Valentines cards one year. I needed to say this just to relieve some guilt.

Echo Location

Have you heard about Echo Location? It's where an animal sends out a noise that helps them identify where things or other animals are. I'm sure it works great - at least my kids think so. I have noticed over these past two weeks of vacation that my kids repeatedly call out "Mom!", I respond and then wait for what they have to say. Then nothing. I am calling it Echo Location. I think they do it just to see if I am:

1. Still alive
2. Where I am in the house/ car (why?)
3. If I'm listening to their every beckon call
4. Am willing to still respond

I think this incredibly annoying and personally not able to tune them out like my husband does. But now that I have the name for it - I find it a little funny. Am I the only one?

Catch Up Time

I have been really terrible about blogging lately and have decided to just play catch up all in one post. Here's what we've been to lately.
Getting wood for the winter . . .
Daddy letting Hannah do his hair
I don't know if you can see this, but this is graffiti in our house. It was done by Paige and says, "I love you Hyrum. From Paige." I can't bring myself to clean it up. We had a very mild lecture about not writing on objects, only on paper. She wrote it in three places. I kinda want to trace it in sharpie so they will remember when they're 12/15.
This is Hannah's friend Mesa. They are a year apart, but love to play together. Every once in awhile I hear Mesa asking Hannah, "What? What did you say?" - She repeats it several times trying to understand Hannah's baby talk. It makes me giggle.
Paige took Hannah on a little ride the other day and also rode by herself for a 5 mile ride. I drove by to check of her a couple of times, but she did perfect.
The kids put on Cam's boxing and MMA gloves to goof off for awhile. Umm, please no comments about General Conference being on in the background :)

Hannah finally turned 2!! She got a puzzle and a barbie for her B-day and was very happy about both of them. We are still trying to teach her to tell people that she's 2 and not 5, sometimes it works.

That's about it for now, sorry I have zero ambition about blogging right now. I still love to read about everyone else though!

Total Cuteness!!

Did You Know That Cameron Hates Snakes?

Well, being from the land where nothing but the teenagers are harmless, I grew up loving snakes and my parents were always kind enough to let us bring animals home. Cameron's side of the family hates them. I don't find that hard to believe because just about every wild animal here bites, stings or stinks. His father hates them worse and his father before them would rather vacate a house than go after one. On my way home from a hike behind my house I found a harmless baby racer snake. It would try to bite, but had no teeth and was only 1/4" around and 8 inches long. I thought the kids would love and brought it home. Well, the kids did love it and played with it all day long. Hyrum even thanked Heavenly Father for letting "Slither" in our family. I didn't think about telling Cam that we had the thing downstairs in an old fish tank with a grasshopper waiting to be munched - it was too late and I was too tired. The next day was Sunday and Cam comes in to wake me up and starts to tell me about Hyrum crying and rambling on about some snake and how he lost it. I finally snapped out of it at that sentence and asked if he let it go. I sprint down the hall to ask Hyrum with Cam yelling my full name (he always calls me by my maiden name when I've done something wrong). Sure enough, Hyrum had accidentally let the snake go when he got up before the crack of dawn to hold the snake before Paige could take it away. To make matters worse, Paige decided that she should release the grasshopper as well so at least Slither could have something to eat - did I mention that I put it in our bottomless pit of a basement? Brilliant Melinda . . . So I don't even know if it's still down there, the kids have tried to look without luck, but at least we won't have any mice sneaking in for awhile. Needless to say - no Horsley man would go in the basement during our Sunday family dinner.