New Puppies

Mishka had 3 puppies yesterday.  She was due on Christmas, and we all hoped she'd have them then, especially since she was born on the 4th of July- we wanted to continue the holiday birthday tradition.  But she went in to labor and stopped, then the same thing happened Dec 26th.  Finally we took her to the vet, and she had a torn uterus and had to have a c-section.  Good thing we went in, all 3 puppies are doing great.  No names yet, but the are all very wiggly and squeeky.  Mishka is a gret mom, she licks them and keeps them warm all day.

Shoshone Falls

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 We went on an impromptu trip to Idaho last week to have uncle Steve do some dental work on the kids.  Of course the trip included a stop at Dairy Queen in Burley (more business for uncle Steve). Abby couldn't keep her ice cream in the cone, but that didn't seem to bother her.

We heard that the Shoshone Falls (in Twin Falls) had a lot of water this year, so we drove out to see.  It was amazing.  Probably the widest waterfall I've seen.  I love the rushing water mixed with fine mist in the air.  It makes you feel happy to see the beautiful streams and falls, but humbled at the size and power of that river.
We then went to visit Grandpa & Grandma in Idaho falls- with stops to see the lava rocks.  It was a great way to spend a couple days off.

Easter Surprise

For Easter this year the little girls woke up to the sound of chirps and some fuzzy new friends. They didn't know, but the chicks had been smuggled the night before, from their cousin's house in Harrisville, in a little box. We put the box under the front seat and turned the radio up so they wouldn't hear the chirping. It worked great, and the Easter Bunny was able to come through Sunday morning.

Pictures from Monterey

Here are some pictures we took last November before we moved. We were near Lover's Point in Monterey, and it was raining and misty. A little cold for the kids, but the pictures turned out amazing. Thank you to our wonderful friend Sam Baily, an excellent pro photographer, who took them for us. There were some huge waves coming in with a storm. Check out the water splashing up the rocks in some of the pics with Justin and Chance!

We Moved!..OK, 5 months ago

We Moved!..OK, 5 months ago. I have been a blog slacker, but we moved to Orem, UT & it's a kind of crazy story. The kids & I really wanted to finish out the school year in CA- they loved their new school & I loved the weather & our ward. Justin had a couple job possibilities but it was a year contract, & then we'd be in the same boat: middle of the school year with no job. Then his unit in Ut said they could give him a position in Draper that hadn't even existed before, and could turn in to a permanent thing. We decided it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

We thought we had a house to rent in Lehi (10 min from Draper), so over Thanksgiving we packed up & moved. The Lehi owner called & said she was giving it to someone else, so we found another one in American fork. The owner there wasn't able to move because his paperwork didn't go through for his new home, so we took all our stuff to my parent's home while we worked on a house. The kids were just hanging out, not going to school, & Christmas was in 3 weeks. Then the Lehi owner called back and said the renters didn't work out & wanted us to please rent her house. We thought it was the answer to our prayers, but the day we were supposed to move in, she said someone offered to buy her house and she was selling. We decided to just look at houses to buy, but after all day in UT county, nothing worked out. One house we wanted even got an offer while we were looking at it.

Discouraged and lost, Justin, Emma & I went to Arby's in American fork (food always helps), and said a prayer right in the restaurant. We needed somewhere to live. After eating we decided to check a newspaper. We saw an ad for a house to rent for less than he others, but it was in Orem. Justin said: "we have to see it, it has TWO fireplaces." I said " I don't want to go to Orem, it's too far south." We decided we weren't going to rent it, but we were already nearby so why not quell Justin's pyro curiosities. Well, the manager just happened to be nearby, and could show it to us right away so we drove down. It took about 5 seconds after walking in to know that we were home. We signed the contract @ 5:00, drove back to Ogden for our U-haul, and were back by 9:00 to move in. There were neighbors and young men waiting for us when we got there to unload our truck, tell us how to find the schools, and offer whatever we needed. It was a very happy ending.

The very next day as I was registering the kids for school, I got a phone call from the owner of the American fork home saying his paperwork finally went through and we could move in, and a call from a Charter school in American fork I had been trying to get the girls in to for weeks saying they has space for all 3. I also got a call from Hill Air Force Base saying they had a house for us, when they had said the week before there wouldn't be anything for 2 months. We had either jumped the gun, or found where we are supposed to be right now- (we are sticking with the latter since we can't change it anyway).

It has turned out to be a great house, great location, and great schools. The Elementary is literally in our backyard, and several of the teachers are in our ward. Alyssa loves her Junior High, and Chance's High School has classes correlated with UVU that will help him get a LabTech certification, and a jump on the classes he needs for pharmacy school. It is a very quiet street, but close to everything (I can walk to Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and Old Navy). We have a garage for the first time (still filled with boxes...) and our front window has an amazing view of Mount Timpanogos. For some reason, we have been very blessed, & we hope to give something back to this new area.

Favorite snack

Abby tried a new snack this summer, and she asks for it all the time. We took nutella and dipped different things in it to find our favorites. Apples, marshmallows, ritz, and of course fingers. Abby's favorite is graham crackers, I like the pringles honey butter stix. Pretty fattening, but definitely yummy!

Shou Shu

Chance, Alyssa, Emma, Justin & I have been studying Shou Shu at a great studio in Monterey. It's a form of Kung Fu. Our friend from China told me the chinese characters on our Shou Shu shirts mean "animal style fighting". It has been good for the kids to learn how to put effort into classes, and work hard even when they "don't feel like it" (insert whiny teenager voice). I like knowing I have a few good moves that would hopefully come out if I were ever in danger. The more you practice, the better muscle memory you have and you can react in an emergency. Plus, it's just a lot of fun to hit and kick stuff.

Abby's unplanned hair cut

I had a fun present on my birthday this year, I found Abby behind the living room chair with a pair of scissors and her hair on the floor around her. Alyssa always tells her they are "same, same sisters" because they both have blonde hair, blue eyes, and like the same things. When asked why she cut her hair, she said she had to be "same same like Lyssa". That's my Abby, always trying to be 10 years older!

Oakland Temple

We took these pictures on a temple trip in August. It was a bright sunny day-not that common in the bay area, although the temple usually gets up above the fog. The girls love the fountains. The picture of Kyra and Emma is from the garden walkway on top of the temple (kind of like the conference ctr). You can look out across Oakland, the bay, and San Francisco (top left). It's an amazing spot.

Abby's message to Kenzie

This was right after Abby cut her own hair off. She sings songs for us every day. They are usually about her family or friends, and dancing in the flowers. She is so much like Alyssa. Lyss sang made up songs so much, that Chance's most common phrase in 2000 was "just stop singing, Alyssa!!

Kyra's message to Kenzie

These were made @ a little cove near lover's point. Kyra had a class picnic to meet the other kids in 2nd grade at her charter school.

Book for Emma

I made this book for Emma on Shutterfly.com because I had a free book coupon. It is so easy & hopefully makes her feel special. Actually, Abby has hogged the book since we got it. She "reads" it, & the story is different every time, but always about Abby and Emma. I made one for Abby and for Kyra last year on Snapfish.com, but I don't like their site as well. They do have cuter books at snapfish though, and you can get an 8 x 11 for $20 (they are $30 @ shutterfly). I highly recommend both sites.
The book is hard to read on the online version because the words are so small. But the story is about a girl named Emma, who had a lot of friends & family in Utah, her dad had to leave again with the Army, and she got to go with him to California for 1 year. She missed her friends & family in UT and got to visit them, and she also had a lot of fun in CA at the beach etc. The end basically says life can be good no matter where you are.

Shared photo book from Andie

Click here to view this photo book larger

Chance Junior ROTC

Chance has joined a Junior Officer Training program at his high school. It gives him PE credits, and they do a lot of competitions and awards. I worried about him moving from junior high to high school, but he has friends in early morning seminary who are in the JROTC program at his school, and he has done great. He had an award ceremony and got a "good conduct" award, "academic award" for good grades, "raider team member" award (raider team is a competition team, they do obstacle courses and drills), and the prestigious"Senior Army Insructor's Leadership Award" for displaying outstanding leadership skills. WOW, what a kid! He has also grown 3 more inches, and thinks it's funny to pat me on top of my head. He is not perfect, he likes to hide in his room reading when it's time to clean the house, and can have a temper when arguing with Alyssa. But he is very helpful, and patient with the little girls-I couldn't have asked for a better son in the whole world.

Fun With Cousins (and Police)

Natalie & her family came to visit a few weeks ago. The kids are all sitting in the "ice plant" that grows all over our neighborhood. We have heard it's actually a tropical plant, but someone planted it all over the military base to keep the sand dunes from eroding. It hasn't really worked, because some of the buildings on the west side have fallen off the cliffs onto the beach. The playground behind them is right outside Abby's window, and she always want to go play. It's been a pretty good bribe to get her to pick up her toys etc. It was just too tempting one day last month though, and she ran outside in her underwear to go to the park. Unfortunately, one of the base police was driving by, and saw her. Kyra saw the officer talking to Abby. & ran in to tell me He then called for backup (they must be really bored), and the two officers got all kinds of information from me to write up a report. Hopefully that will be Abby's first and last criminal encounter with the police.

Abby and Ellie are standing in front of a rock wall at lover's point. This is in Pacific Grove, which is about as far west as you can get in the U.S. except Alaska and Hawaii. At lover's point, there are rock outcroppings along the beach, with about a 30 feet down to the water. Everyone was sitting up on top of the rocks, watching the surf that crashes up against them. There were some pretty high waves that day, and the water was splashing all the way to the top of the rocks. The last picture is moments before Natalie, Ellie, & Elaine were drenched by a wave. They didn't see it coming because they had turned around to pose for Rob to take the picture.

The 4th picture is everyone on a beach in Big Sur, right after we all watched the sun set. This is one of our favorite beaches because the water crashes between the rocks and shoots up like a fountain. There are also cool purple streaks in the sand that I've never seen anywhere else.

The 5th picture is some of the kids in front of a section of redwood., showing the dates some of the rings were made (clear back to the time of Christ). We love going to the redwood forests along the coast. The smell is wonderful, and they are soooo tall, you fell like a tiny little bug.