Meet Lilac

We’ve only told 2 people about this so I know most of you will be surprised. We bought a dog!:)

I took this video at about 12:45pm today.

Every Saturday the Humane Society in Idaho Falls brings dogs that are in Foster care in the area to the Petco down the street from us. Mark went to wal-mart for me and decided to go by before coming home “just to look”. We do this every now and then because the kids love going to see the dogs.

Well, he called me and told me there was a really cute collie mix that was 8 months old. He thought I would think she was really cute. I didn’t think anything of it until he got home and showed me the pictures of her he took with his cell phone (don’t those cheap cell phone cameras come in handy when you least expect it?! LOL). She was pretty cute, but you couldn’t really get a good look at her so I decided to go to the Petco by myself. Mark took her for a walk outside when he was there and so I decided to do the same thing. She was really friendly to everyone in and outside the store. She would go up to everyone she saw and lick them and rub against them. She loved the attention. When I put her back in the cage she was so sad! There were a couple dogs walking by and so she started barking because I’m sure she thought it wasn’t fair for them to be out and her to be trapped! Poor girl!

I talked with the ladies about her and they said we could take her on trial for 2 weeks to see if we like her and she likes us. If it ends up not working out we can return her and get our money back, which is nice. I called Mark and we discussed it for quite a while. We both really liked her and so we decided to get her:) We didn’t want to bring her home right away since we hadn’t prepared the kids or didn’t even have any dog food and everything else you need! So the foster lady said she could bring her back on Monday morning and I could pick her up then. I filled out all the paper work and paid for her and everything. It felt wierd leaving empty handed, but I’m sure it would’ve been even more wierd leaving with her!

When I got home we made a list of everything we need for a dog and Mark went shopping again at Wal-Mart! He went back 2 more times later that day. We were trying to fix the locks on the fence in the backyard and whatever he kept buying wouldn’t work. Finally, he got the right stuff and we finished putting it together this morning before I picked her up.

When the boys woke up from their nap we showed them all the dog stuff and talked to them about getting a dog. They were excited!

So finally this morning came and we went to pick her up. The foster lady gave me some information about her and a book about dogs. I was reading up about how to train a dog. She pulls on the leash so we’ll have to teach her basic commands. I’ve never trained a dog before so we’ll see how this goes:)

Anyway, she’s a real sweet girl and we all love her so far. Poor Mark had to go to work and couldn’t stay home and play with us, but we’ll play after work too! I think we tired her out because after I took the video she fell asleep:)

Here are some pictures of her:

Just adorable, right?!:)

How funny is this?! It was naptime for the kids and I knew they wouldn’t settle down to take a nap in their room so I put on a movie and the boys laid down on the floor with Lilac. I love that she’s sleeping, but the boys aren’t!:P

Jonas’ Cast Review

I know I’m really behind on posting about how the trip to Boise went and Jonas’ new cast (especially since now he doesn’t have a cast on at all! LOL) so here’s some of that info now:)

The boys and I went over to stay with Mark’s parents on Memorial Day. Brynnan stayed with Mark’s mom while Jonas and I went to see Dr. Showalter on Tuesday May 26th. Jonas really did NOT want to go to the doctor’s office. He kept saying he didn’t want to go and he cried for at least half of the 45 minute drive to the office. When we got there he said he wanted Daddy to come with him, but I explained that Daddy was at home and couldn’t come. Can you guess who he asked for next? Not Papa, but Uncle Ian! Uncle Ian is his favorite Uncle because, other than the fact he’s really the only one Jonas has been around, Ian also played video games with him at Thanksgiving last year! Jonas always talks about Uncle Ian and playing games and going to see Uncle Ian. It’s so cute! So I called Ian 3 times and he never answered. Jonas was really sad, but once we got called back to the room he forgot about it.

The nurse used the little pizza cutter looking thing to take off the old blue cast. He was afraid because it was kind of loud. These pictures aren’t the best quality because I forgot my camera and so I used my cell phone:P

Oh, man!! Look at that Face!!

This part always makes me nervous. There’s nothing between Jonas’ leg and the scissors and I know they use special scissors and they do this all the time, but it still makes me nervous!!

Here it comes!

There’s his leg! If you look closely you can see the scar from the surgery. The Dr. cut his tendon back there so his foot would be more flexible. There’s also a pin in his foot by his big toe, which you can’t see. The Dr. took that out before they put on the new cast. Jonas was afraid to put his leg down on the table so he held it up like this the whole time we were there! LOL

Watching the Dr. get ready to put the new cast on.

Another picture of his leg without the cast. You can kind of see the pin in his foot.

Trying to cheer him up, which wasn’t working well at all!

He got to choose what color he wanted his new cast to be. He had been talking about getting a new green cast for weeks so there was no hesitation on his part! Not even when there were 2 greens to pick from, he pointed and that was that:)

Dr. Showalter is the one on the right and his nurse is putting the cast on. I’ve only talked with her on the phone so it was nice to finally meet her!

Almost done!

And there it is:)

And there it is in all it’s bright green glory:)

Dr. Showalter said his foot is looking really good and he wanted Jonas to start walking on it and putting full pressure on it. So we started working on that. It was really hard on all of us. He got so used to being carried around everywhere that he didn’t want to do anything himself. Eventually, he started walking a lot more on it. He would wake up in the morning and we would have him walk out of his room to get us. He’s such a tough little guy. We’re so proud of him!

Afterward, we met up with Lynn, Mark’s mom, and Brynnan at Burger King for dinner. There was a playground area so of course Brynnan wanted to play more than eat. Jonas was okay with just eating:)

Here’s my little monkey!:)

The Walk

As most of you know, my friend, Megann Heath’s, daughter, Lainey, has type 1 diaptes. She is such a cute little girl! I’ve loved watching her grown over the last 3 years. She’s so full of love and energy everyone just falls in love with her.

Isn’t she so cute?:)

You can read about their journey the last 2 years on Lainey’s Blog. Megann and Dustin are incredible parents! The things they’ve been through with both their girls and the way they’ve handled it all is just amazing to me.

This year they’re participating in the JDRF Walk (Juvenile Diabete Research Foundation) here in Idaho Falls, again. If you head over to Lainey’s blog there is a link on the right side where you can check out her JDRF website or mine. You can give donations and/or join their team. Please help out this great cause in raising money to find a cure for this disease!

If you can participate in the walk it will be held at Snake River Landing on Saturday September 12th. I hope you can come and help us out!:)

P.S. HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!:)

Idaho Summers

I hate them!! First of all they start incredibly LATE and second of all WHY has it been raining for 3 weeks now??? It’s almost July, way past the “April showers” part of the rhyme. Yes, it’s wonderful that we’re getting so much water. We don’t have to water the lawn as much. And supposedly Ammon has been in a drought state so maybe this will lighten that up a bit. It’s still annoying though!

Today, it was raining when Mark called to let me know he was on his way home. He stopped by the store to pick up some stuff for dinner. It started POURING down rain like crazy! Worse than I’ve seen in the past 3 weeks!! I called Mark and asked him if he was still alive, figuring he had already left the store. He was wondering why I would ask something like that. LOL I thought he would wait it out at the store, but nope, he came home and ran inside, all drenched in water.

Stop Right Now!!

I just want everything to stop breaking!! I want everything to work the way it’s supposed so that I don’t have to pay anymore money, right now!!! ARGH!! The dishwasher is broken and has been since we moved in. I’m sure it was broken before we moved in, but the old owners probably got used to it and didn’t want to replace it. The timer doesn’t work so if we run it at night it will run ALL NIGHT LONG! We woke up a few days after we moved in and found that the dishwasher was still on the drying cycle! UGH! So now I have to run it during the day to make sure it finishes. Sometimes I have to force it to finish and the plates don’t always get clean. That has been the only problem with it so far, but yesterday I was running it during the kids nap time and I’d run up and check on it and the kids every so often. Right before it finished I checked on the kids and when I went by the dishwasher my sock got all wet! I was like “What?!” Yep, the was a puddle of water in the middle of my kitchen floor which I traced back to the dishwasher! So now it’s leaking out of the sides as well as the whole timer issue! Are we ever going to get a break??!!

Luckily we can get a pretty good deal at a local showcase. The guy quoted me $350 for a Tall Tub whirlpool dishwasher. Not that we need a tall tub so I bet we could get a regular size whirlpool for cheaper than that. What kind of dishwasher do you have and do you love it? I was thinking of maybe going with Maytag because I hear they’re really good and last forever.

We also need a microwave. We’re on our 2nd one from Walmart and I hate this one about as much as the first one!! The lady at Walmart that checked me out when I was buying it said that her husband bought their old one at Sears and it lasted them 20 years, but she said it cost over $100! So I guess I’m going to have to pay a lot more than I wanted to to get a good microwave:P

Today I took my car into the honda service department to get the oil changed. Why did I take it there? Usually I take it to Walmart, but in the last 4 years they have raised their price to be so high that it’s worth the extra dollars to have honda take care of it. It was $36 at honda today, it probably would’ve been about $35 at walmart. Plus, honda does a whole check point system to make sure nothing else is wrong with your car. I don’t think walmart does that.

Anyway, of course there was a bunch of stuff that needs to be done to my car. The total price they gave me??! $1009!! Yikes!! None of it is urgent, but I probably need to get it taken care of in the next year:P Does anyone know a really good mechanic for cheap??!!:) The big thing is that we need to replace the front struts, whatever those are. The lady told me that the right strut is leaking. That will cost $700. UGH UGH UGH!!

Wish us luck on our adventures into replacing all our appliances and getting my car in better shape!:) I’m not looking forward to it at all, well, ok, I am looking forward to having new appliances, but not paying the bill! LOL

An Adventurous Monday!

Mondays are usually pretty chill at our house. I usually don’t do anything on Mondays. Occasionally I’ll go shopping, but usually I wait for Mark to get home so I don’t have to take BOTH kids with me! What a nightmare!:P

Well, last night my friend Karlenn called and asked me to babysit her kids all day so she could go to work. Normally her mom does it, but she couldn’t do it last minute so Karlenn had to find someone else. I agreed and so they arrived at 7:45 this morning. The kids played together downstairs while I fed Micah his breakfast. The kids wanted a snack so I cut up an apple for them. Micah, meanwhile, laid down on the hard floor and just stayed there! I had to take a picture:)

So cute right?:)

And here’s Sadie, with Jonas in the background, eating their snack. Well, Sadie was eating hers. Jonas, not so much as a nibble!! That little stinker!

Brynnan showing off his snack. Whenever I have the camera out he will always yell at me to take a picture of him and do something silly. Funny kid:)

Jonas went to therapy at 10:00. We waited outside for his ride to come pick him up. It was nice to spend some time outside! I really don’t know how other women babysit kids other than their own! I think I’m just not cut out for it. LOL Being cooped inside with tons of kids asking me for food and drinks and whatever else.

Anyway, When Jonas got back I started lunch and the kids ate. After that I’d had enough of the loudness of it all so I put on a movie and had them all lay down with a pillow and blanket. Micah took a nap upstairs in Jonas’ bed with pillows surrounding him.  They actually watched the moving for about half an hour. Then Brynnan got hungry and so everyone else wanted a snack. ARGH!! And there went my insanity ! LOL Finally at about 3:00 I sent the kids outside and made them stay out there for at least an hour. Of course Dylan would pop in every once in a while to let me know what was going on outside. Karlenn, you are an amazing woman! I wonder if Brynnan will turn out like Dylan, always going going going! I went upstairs to clean up the lunch mess, which I had been dreading. I set Micah down in the boys’ bedroom where, 15 minutes later I found him laying on the floor near the doorway asleep! LOL It was so cute! When he woke up he was all happy and smiley! What a CUTE boy!!

I thought this picture was just TOO cute!!:)

Dylan had been asking me every couple hours all day long if his mom was coming to get him yet.  so finally at 5pm I told Dylan and Sadie they could go wait outside for their mom who was on her way. I think we were all excited to see Karlenn pull up! LOL Not that I don’t like her kids, Dylan is just a handful and add him to my boys and I really felt like I was going to pull my hair out!

After they left we went out to eat. By this time Brynnan was getting on my nerves. We were sitting in the restaurant and he would say something to me and replying to him wasn’t enough! He would grab my face under my chin and turn my head toward him or whatever else he wanted me to look at. It started to get really annoying! I started laughing so hard at one point because I was just so tired and loopy. After I calmed down Brynnan started doing it again and I just got up from our table and took a walk away from the table. I could hear Brynnan crying and saying, “Don’t Leave me Mommy!” It was the saddest thing you’d ever heard! So I went back to the table and he was so happy to see me. He made me look at him and said, “Don’t leave me Mommy, Otay?!” It was so cute.

So on the 2 minute ride home he fell asleep and was stuck to me for the rest of the night. We cuddled on the couch together while watching TV before bed. That made up for the adventurous day that I probably never want to relive, no offense Karlenn!!

I Want Some Money!!

This is a direct quote from Jonas! LOL Mark asked me what’s for dinner tonight and I answered him. Jonas didn’t like the answer and said “What? I want to go somewhere!” Meaning, if you hadn’t already guessed, he wanted to go out to eat, specifically to Burger King or Taco Bell. I replied to him saying: “We don’t have enough money to go out to eat.” and Jonas said ” I want some money! I know where it is!” We asked where and he said: “In the backyard!” HAha! If only it were true!!

Mow That Lawn

Mark bought a lawn mower last Thursday, finally. I told him he should mow the lawn that night, but he didn’t want to so he didn’t. The next day it started raining and has rained every day for the past week. Our lawn hadn’t been mowed in probably about 2 weeks!!! The people didn’t mow it before they moved out and we didn’t mow it before we moved in.

The plan was to mow it last Saturday, but of course when we woke up it was raining. It rained all morning and probably the rest of the day, I can’t remember. So the lawn didn’t get mowed.

Monday was a cloudy day, but it didn’t rain!! Around 4:00 it actually started getting sunny outside and Mark called at 4:20 to say he was on his way home, but had to stop by Sam’s Club. Of course about ten minutes later there were some dark clouds coming towards us!! I was so annoyed! Our lawn looked really bad and needed to be mowed. Mark got home and it started raining a little bit later:P Luckily it didn’t rain for very long and Mark went out after dinner and mowed the lawn in the sunshine. Yay!

Mark loves his brand new lawn mower and trimmer!!

It took him about an hour and a half to do both the front and backyards. Mark found a little motorcycle toy while mowing. I washed it off for the kids to play with, which they both loved, but now it’s become a fighting piece so I hid it. LOL

Thanks for mowing the lawn, honey!! I really appreciate all your hard work!

Dream Night at the Zoo

Last Friday after dinner there was a free night at the zoo for handicapped kids. It’s called “Dream Night at the Zoo” and they have it every year. This was the 3rd year we’ve gone. We really enjoy going every year. They give out ice cream, animal crackers and little water bottles. Plus, it was all FREE:)

Mark and I told the kids we were going to the zoo earlier in the week and Jonas would talk with me about eating animal crackers all week long! So when we got to the zoo on Friday he was really excited about getting the animal crackers. In fact, we skipped seeing half of the animals because Jonas just really wanted to get the animal crackers! LOL Also because there were storm clouds rolling in and we didn’t want to get rained on so we kind of rushed through this time. We still spent about an hour there, though. I didn’t take any pictures, I just had the video camera. I took the video camera last year because we had just bought our new one and I was excited about using it. Well, the boys LOVE watching the video of themselves at the zoo last year (they watch it at least once a week, sometimes more!!) so I thought they’d like a new version of it:) I’ll only post a few.

This is when we first got into the zoo. Brynnan liked getting the purel more than touching the snake! In fact, he had to go back a second time to get more purel! LOL

Also, if you listen closely you can hear Jonas talking to the mayor in the background. Their conversation is pretty funny. The mayor says to Jonas: “I like your green shoe.” Jonas says back “It’s not a shoe, it’s a cast!” What a funny kid:)

Brynnan was very excited to see the ducks!:)

Libby’s in the water?!!:)

I know I said I’d only post a few, but I found more that I really liked. I thought our parents and family would really enjoy them so if you don’t watch them all that’s fine. I just find my kids so cute and funny, what mother doesn’t! hehehe This next one is kind of long, but I thought it was too cute to leave out.

Brynnan really liked petting this turtle!

Such a funny boy!! I think this is my favorite video:)

We met up with our friends, the Heath’s and walked around with them for a bit. Brynnan kept running off because we forgot to bring the Monkey backpacks this year. So eventually we lost the Heath’s. Here are some pictures I took from Megann’s blog:

All the kids.

Lainey and Brynnan saying hi to the penguin.

As we were getting ready to leave it started sprinkling so we quickly took a family photo and then left. The wind started picking up and I felt like we were in a hurricane almost! We were running to the car to get out of it and I was carrying Brynnan. He was holding onto the stuffed penguin he got, as we left, for dear life as we ran to the car. It was so cute! He did not want it to blow away, apparently!

Brynnan is still hanging onto his penguin for dear life!!

Soon after we got in the car it started raining and then POURING!! When we got home it was so bad we didn’t want to get out of the car! Mark ran to the door and opened it then came back for Jonas. I grabbed the diaper bag and Brynnan and ventured out into the crazy downpour. As I was almost to the door a big gust of wind came and just about blew me off my feet. Luckily, I was able to steady myself and we got inside ok. The boys stood at the couch and watched the lightening and rain come down.

Can you see that rain just pouring down??!! The kids were so mesmerized by it!

And here’s Mark all mad that he got so wet.

Backyard Fun

We’ve really been enjoying our new house. Yes, I’ve been totally stressed all week with unpacking, but it’s totally worth it! Our house is awesome!:) Not to brag or anything. LOL

Last week before it started raining all day every day:P I sent the kids outside to play in the backyard. Thursday I was unpacking and I wanted them out of the way so they went outside and stayed out there for 2 HOURS!!! I would check on them every now and then. They had so much fun being out there! Later that day Brynnan and I cleaned and organized the garage while Jonas was at his therapy appointment. Friday morning I did the same thing. They spent 2 hours playing outside again! I was able to get so much done. It’s so nice to have a backyard and that the boys will play back there without me having to worry about them running in the street or anything. Here are some pictures from Thursday, yes, Jonas is still in his pajamas. I figured since they were playing with chalk he would get clothes all dirty anyway so I just left him in his pj’s:)

They love playing with these plastic horses! I didn’t even realize they had brought them outside. Brynnan must have grabbed them from downstairs at one point. LOL

Brynnan trying to get Jonas.

Jonas pretended to punch Brynnan and he fell back like this and “died”

This wheelbarrow is the reason why the boys are riding their bikes in the grass on this side of the yard. Jonas kept asking me  to move it, but I was too busy taking pictures. LOL It’s still there today!

After they were all done playing in the backyard we had to go to the front of the house to sit on their little bench and have popsicles. Then we went inside to have lunch. Oops, bad Mommy, giving popsicles before lunch! LOL

I really hope this rainy, yucky weather we’re having now stops soon!! I don’t know how people can stand living in places where it rains all the time!!

The Fair’s final event combines classic cars and creative driving with one rule: keep moving…if you can. No matter how we say it, the Demolition Derby is still one of the most exciting events of The Fair.