Welcoming the newest member of our family

Introducing Frankie!

Have you ever watched a YouTube video that changed your life? I have.
In late December my Nathan and I were watching some videos on a YouTube channel we follow called Vet Ranch. Then newest video was about a torn up pit-bull puppy they named Frankie who the wonderful people at Vet Ranch were able to help.
Frankie is a 4 month old fun and playful pit-bull puppy. But five weeks ago his life was not going so well. He was found wandering a parking lot in San Antonio TX with over a dozen lacerations covering his body. Some of which were very deep. Thanks to a local vet, he was rescued, stitched up and back on track for a happy healthy life.
You can see that part of his story in the video below:

After the first 60 seconds of the video I was in love with Frankie. I wanted him. I loved him. How can you love an animal you have never met and lives 1300 miles away? I don't know. But I did. But by the end of the video I was sad, but happy when Dr. Matt reported that Frankie had a home to go to.

Unfortunately, the family who found Frankie and took him home ended up being unable to keep him for unrelated reasons. So two weeks ago an urgent plea was posted on Vet Ranches Facebook page. Frankie was again in need of a forever home.

This was our chance to help Frankie! We can give him a forever home. We want him. We already feel as if we know him. We love him. 

The last two weeks have been spent coordinating with two wonderful women who helped us to get everything ready.  Renee was in charge of making sure all the I's were dotted and the T's were crossed;  and Caron was our hands-on angel with Frankie in San Antonio.  She volunteered to take him to vet appointments, provided the travel crate, gave him a home for a few nights, and got him to the airport and on his way to Utah.  Yesterday was the big day and we are happy to announce that Frankie made it home.

Picking him up at the airport.

The ride home

Jasper and Frankie

Frankie and Jasper

He already loves his nylabone chew toy

Playing chase outside

Size comparison. Yes Frankie does have a cone.
 He was neutered on Monday and will wear the
 cone for a few more days.

We love him.

Welcome HOME Frankie!

Elk videos for Dad

After Thanksgiving Nathan and his father drove up to the family cabin one day and spent the day looking for animals.  They had a great time being together and were even able to watch as an entire herd of elk traveled from one ridge to the next.  Nathan captured some video with my camera as proof that they really did see it happen and it wasn't just another fishing tale.

This first part you first see several deer walk across the area, soon you find out why.  An entire herd of elk is pushing them from behind.

This second part is a short continuation of the first video.  

I know that these videos are taken from pretty far away and that a photo camera is not the best equipment to be using but it is still fun to watch the animals do what they do.  

I hope that you all enjoy.

Happy Saturday!!

Fun with M, T, and N

My best friend M* and her family traveled up to Utah to spend Christmas with her husbands family and thankfully we were able to get together a few days later before they drove back home to Arizona.

We decided to take her cuties to The Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point,

(*M has asked that for privacy reasons I do not give their names online.) 

Me and some of my very very favorite people

If you are not familiar with the museum it is geared for children of all ages to come and explore, play, and experience in a very hands on interactive environment.  It does not matter the age; infant to adult; there is some for everyone.  Every activity is fun play and scientific.  For older children, it is a way they can experiance science principles hands on.  For younger children the same exhibits are a way they can play and learn with out being told not to touch.

In the Waterworks room:

They had a water table that actually had infant and toddler chairs built right in.  The child can sit in the water without getting wet (kind of).

T loved filling up the watering can and pouring it into the spinner.

The earthquake simulator had building blocks that you could use to build a house and then with the push of a button rattle the whole thing down.  T at only 2 years old just loved the feel of the rubber 'ground' and the shaking.  At one point he stuck his head into the bin as it was shaking just to feel it.

Learning about wind power.  We were able to build our own windmill with different shaped arms and then with the push of a button turn the air on and watch it spin,

I think he likes it.

This station let you press different buttons creating a fountain from multiple corners.  There was even a function that you could record your pattern and it would play it back to you.  T just liked seeing the water shoot up each time he pressed the buttons.

Playing with N in the Rain-forest room.  After an unfortunate clothing disaster M and I switched kiddos and I got to spend some one on one time with this little cutie in the toddler section.  There were plastic balls and mirrors that captivated her attention.  (So did the camera, she is definatly not camera shy).

An attempt at a mirror selfie.  

Next T and I showed M and N to the waterworks room.  I was sure that N would love the water-table as much as T had earlier.  And she did.  It was very hard to capture her laughs and squeals on camera and she was mostly splashing the water right into her face but I did get a few photos.

I bet that she just loves her bath time.

T taking a second run at the earthquake table.

In the Innovation Gallery most of the exhibits were a little over a 2 year-olds understanding but he absolutely loved spinning the balls around in this tornado funnel.  He probably spent about 10 minutes here before we decided we should check out the next room.

Next we explored Kidopolis, which is a fully outfitted kid town complete with movie house, library, jail, train station, laundry mat, magic show house and more.  T dressed up as a pirate including a hook and a parrot at the movie house.

He was a conductor on a train.

Played Vet at the Animal hospital.  He loved the stethascope and listened to his heart, my heart and even walked up to a random girl in the room to listen to her heart.  I think we may have a Dr in the making....

Lastly, M and T looking a lizard and snake.  Right after I took this picture the lizard started walking towards T and T ended up running away from it and refused to go back and look at it.

After several hours and even though there was more that we could have explored and played with it was lunch/nap time for both of the little ones so we had to call it a day.  But it was a fun day that I will not forget and I cannot wait until I can play with my favorite little buddies again.

I love you all.  Thank you for spending a wonderful day with me.

Christmas Sledding

On Christmas day we were able to drive up to Heber Valley Camp where my parents are currently serving a mission and spend the day with all of my family.  It was so great to have all of us together for an extended time and sit around and talk and joke and laugh together.  We don't seem to be able to do that as much now that we are all adults and living separately.  

While we were waiting for dinner to cook we took the opportunity to go out sledding.  We all donned our cold weather gear and headed out to the road.

Sam borrowed some of Dad's things.
They were just a 'tad' too large. 

Just getting started.  L to R Jen, Nathan (playing air guitar0,
Emilie (Caleb's girlfriend), Caleb, and Sam.

We would slide/scoot ourselves "down" the road.  (It was not much of a hill) and then our parents would tow us back up the road with their 4X4.

I quickly decided that tying my sled to the rope was much easier then
trying to hold on as the rope was strung between the five of us.

We had a blast!  We may not have lasted for hours but with several runs up and down the road and a few snowball fights and wrestling matches we enjoyed ourselves and had a great time.

Holding on for dear life.

"Look Mom, no hands!"  And yes we were moving.

The aftermath of our adventures.  

Sledding Highlights: Both Caleb and Nathan fell off of their sleds; though Nathan managed to 'butt slide' while being pulled by the 4X4 for a surprisingly long time.  And I managed to hang on  while getting pulled through two feet of fresh powder.  At one point I think I had more snow piled-up on top of me and my sled then we had under it. 
P.S. Do you recognize the coveralls that Nathan is wearing Grandpa P?  He loves them and wears them often when weather permits/requires.  Thank you.  

After the sledding fun we hobbled back into the parents place for a warm dinner and our Christmas gift exchange.  All in all, I think that this was one of my favorite Christmas's; because it was simple, fun, and spent with family.  

Last but not least, unfortunately Jasper had to stay home and couldn't join us at camp but he was not left out of the gift exchange.  He loved his gift from Nana and Papa.

At first he wasn't sure what to do and why we were just watching him.

Then he started carrying it around the house.

And then finally he got down to business. 

We are very happy to report that he loved his giant bone and even with us limiting the amount of time he could spend gnawing on it, it is now long gone.

We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas as well filled with warmth, family and fun.

Happy Friday!!

Christmas Eve

We spend our Christmas Eve every year with Nathan's family.  This year was no different.  We all gathered for a great dinner, spend time visiting as the kids run around and play, and then settled down for some serious gift unwrapping.  The gift opening production is quite the process that involves each person/child being handed a gift and Grandpa counting 1-2-3 and then a flurry of tearing paper and squeals of delight, minutes of showing off the new clothes/toys/gifts followed by the reminder to clean up all of the paper and boxes before the whole routine can be repeated again.
This year Nathan was scheduled to work Christmas Eve day-shift and so we got dinner started with outhim and then distracted the children until he could join us a little later.

All the cousins sitting down to dinner wearing
their light-up reindeer antlers.

The first gift of the evening is always a new pair of pajamas
that must be immediately changed into and worn for the rest of the night.
Again the customary photo this year including the antlers.

I unfortunately did not get anymore photos of the evening but I will say everyone left with there arms full of reminders of how much they are loved and happy hearts.

My favorite part of the night happened when Nathan was tickling J (5 years old) and T his 2 year old brother came to his defense and repeatedly whacked Nathan with his new Rescue Bot 'Boulder' toy.  J quietly escaped and Nathan endured this beating for several minutes.  For those of you not familiar with Boulder the Rescue Bot (don't worry, I had no idea what or who it was either)  here is a picture of this hard plastic toy.  I think Nathan ended up with a bruise or two.  T is one tough kiddo.

Surprise!

Today as I was going through an old file I found two things that I had completely forgotten about.  The first is a bookmark that my Mother made years ago before she was married.  I must have used it as a bookmark and it somehow ended up with my things when I moved.

The second is a laminated driving safety card that my Dad brought home from work and shared with me when I was learning to drive.

That was not all, the day had one more surprise in store for me.  After dinner when I went into our bedroom I found a dark chocolate Ghirardelli bare waiting on my pillow.  Dark chocolate is my favorite.  Thank you Nathan.  He is the sweetest.

Yum.  The darker the better!

Happy Tuesday Ya'll