Babysitting, fires, and mutts

Well, life has been pretty busy the past couple of weeks. We've spent a couple of days babysitting, today we "Strutted our Mutts" down at Sugarhouse park (Its the official walk of "No More Homeless Pets" in Utah). And we hosted our first barbecue at our house last night for Ashly's going away party. Granted, it was a veggie barbecue but Eric still cooked hot dogs with the veggie burgers. Although, I don't have the pictures from the barbecue on my camera, I guess Eric was using his so I'll have to wait to post those 'til later. I feel like this summer is going to be a great one. I really love having my own place now that there's actually stuff to do. Our yard is still a work in progress... but then again, so is our house but even that work is just enjoyable. From the moment I made plans to have Ashly's barbecue last night, Eric started getting all worried. He said, "Our yard is nowhere near ready to be having people over!" He works really hard on it and even an hour before the barbecue, he ran to the store to buy some more flowers to plant in the backyard. In a few years, I can just imagine how it'll look. Anyway, at least it makes the mortgage a little easier to pay each month!

But onto photos... This was our first babysitting gig and you can see how well it turned out. Whitney actually wanted to get into the dog kennel but Frankie was not too happy about it. He just went up to it and kept pawing at it trying to get the door to open.


Taylor is terrified of Frankie in this picture. That boy can sure scream!

After Tay saw how fun it was to be in the kennel, he decided to try it out too. Who knew it'd be such fun?

This is the first time we lit our firepit in the backyard, after a Bees game. Zach, Riley, Meg, Russ, Eric & myself were the participants and despite our best efforts, the fire lasted about 15 minutes before it was out for good due to a problem with wet wood. It rained all day so everything outside was soaked.

I think Frankie & Roscoe really liked "Strut Your Mutt". I was worried about their social skills but alas, they're pretty popular as dogs go. They made lots of new friends and only barked at a couple of outcasts.
This dog is so cute! He is available for adoption if anyone is interested. He only has two hind legs and then the wheelchair. I don't know why he is in this condition, but he is cute and sweet and needs a good home!Now onto our second babysitting attempt. We tried cupcakes this time which were a lot of fun.

Brice ate more of her cupcake than Ashton did! She is so cute and chubby!
Ashton loved playing with Frankie & Roscoe. I'm not sure they reciprocated his feelings all the time. After awhile, Roscoe started acting like he was afraid of Ashton and it was because Ashton would hit him to get him to drop the ball. I don't think Ashton has been around many animals so its good training to learn how to act around them. But they look like they're having fun here!

Brice is so cute! She actually slept almost the entire time we had her but when she was awake she was so happy.
Precious! There are certain times I actually can picture Eric as a father.
This is one of them.

Roscoe got really worn out today between "Strut Your Mutt" and Ashton. I should do this more often!
And last but not least, I finally got my coveted lawn gnome. Jealous?

Happy Mother's Day!

Just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to all the moms in my life. I have so much to appreciate on this day. Starting, first with my own mom, who is without a doubt the most giving person I know. Also, you are Eric's favorite person in my family (not counting myself, of course)! We both really love you, mom!

Ann, thanks for all you've done for me & Eric. You are definitely my second mother and I love learning from you and growing closer to you. You are an amazing person and are always doing something for someone and I can't believe all that you can accomplish. I have so many great examples of motherhood in my life and I just wanted to tell each of you that I really do love you and you have taught me about motherhood in some important way. Grandma Barb, Grandma Carver, Stephanie, Mandy, Teresa, Brittany, Andi, Mahina, Brytten, and last but not least, Gretel... Happy Mother's Day to you all!

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. " ~Washington Irving

Family Home Evening

We decided to be thankful for the lovely weather on Monday night by holding a family home evening outside. Although, its funny because to us, its almost always family home evening! So since this is based on FHE, the rest of the post will include shows of gratitude. We took a drive out to the nursery and got some nice little annual flowers for our flower bed. This is the first time Eric & I have ever done anything like this on our own (i.e. without parental supervision). And believe it or not, it was awesome. It was the best "work" night I've had in a long time. I can't wait to get out and do some more yard work. We planted some Allysum & a rocket mix of Snap Dragons. Snap Dragons are by far the most fun flower on the market. Big show of appreciation for snap dragons.

Eric made this "U" in one of his classes at school and so he has decided that it naturally makes good yard art. I would have really loved a nice gnome. Ever since the movie Amelie came out, I've wanted a lawn gnome. Eric has quite the vision for all the dirt you see here so at the end of the summer I will have to compare this photo with our end result. Thank you Canon camera for a nice photograph.

Just working on my pots. They came with the house so I figured, if ya got 'em, plant 'em. I was inspired by Earth week last week. Thank you NBC! The gloves were $1 special at Target. Thank you France.
Eric working on getting rid of some grape vine in our backyard. When you were little, did you ever say "Back-E-Yard?" I remember the Josie boys used to say it like that. Thank you for the memories Josies.
Here are more pots that came with the house. We really made a steal with this purchase, eh? I really do love these pots though. The small ones are housing my herb garden. I can't wait for fresh cilantro! Thank you Cafe Rio for helping me to enhance my appreciation for cilantro. Delicious and nutritious!
Roscoe looks just like a wet seal! He loves running water. He frolicks about in it and makes these really high pitched squealing kind of noises. Who says kids are better? Thank you Wasatch Humane for a successful pet adoption.

And we can't forget Frankie. He knows how to cool down after a hot night outside. Just sprawl out on the cold tile. I wish I were flexible enough to lay like that. Actually, it closely resembles a stretch I used to do when I was in dance. Thank you, Shelly's school of dance, X'pressions, and Elite Academy for years of overpriced dance lessons, without which, I may have never made the above connection. Really, the thanks here goes to mom & dad for paying for the lessons & driving me to them & going to all the really long and boring concerts.

Cakes

My posts got out of order and this is supposed to be below the next post. But these are the cakes at Grandpa Carver's 80th birthday party. This cake represents Grandpa's career as a large animal vet. Robyn did a great job, this was one of the few cakes that was at least half eaten!
This is just one of his classic jokes! Can you see why Eric aspires to be like him? Great jokes!
Tada! Here is the re-creation of the ranch made by yours truly. It is missing the cabin that we made out of graham crackers though. It blew off it the wind as we were carrying it in!
Grandpa always made the joke, "I saw you pee on a train" (UP for Union Pacific). Cute train cake made by Mahina.
Brittany cheated and bought cupcakes then decorated them with cameras because we all know that Grandpa takes random snapshots whenever he gets a chance.

And this is another store bought cake I believe, but still so cute! It is reminiscent of family vacations to Disneyland, of course.
Vicky is very talented as you can see with this hay bale cake. Oh and it was delicious! Another classic saying!
This probably was my vote for one of the best tasting cakes. Ann made it to represent the several missions that Thair & Norma have served.
This is my favorite picture of the night. Grandpa thought it great fun to put his ribbons on Jace's face!
Jace on the other hand, not so much.

Grandpa Carver's Birthday!

Happy 80th birthday to Grandpa Carver. Last Saturday we drove up to Logan to have a surprise party for him. We all were supposed to meet at a park where we were going to have a family picture taken... but the photographer ditched us so we all moved to the Iron Gate Grill where we had a very nice lunch, entertainment provided by, great now I can't remember their name... it was the Rootbeer something or others. Then people were assigned to make a cake that represented Grandpa Carver in some way and as you saw, my cake was clearly the best. None of the other cakes were served fresh in the baking pan and looked like a four year old had helped out! In reality, all the other cakes were very impressive and I would just like to defend myself by saying that this was the FIRST TIME that I have EVER attempted at decorating a cake, outside of just slapping some frosting on it. And in addition to that little fact, the baking process itself didn't go without a few glitches. Here's a little lesson learned from the experience; If you forget to add water prior to mixing all the other ingredients and then add the water afterwards, it just doesn't work! Trust me! And since I don't have a professional photograph to post, here's some of my snapshots.



So here are some pictures at the park. Eric & Grandpa... Or, Eric and Eric when he is 80!

Grandpa Carver loves new babies and its a good thing because he's got four babies now under 1. (At least I think that's right.)



I like to think that Payton is just thinking very carefully about his next move on the playground here.



And Eric had great vision when he suggested that I take this picture of Grandpa's footwear. Hey, when you get to 80, comfort is #1. And he's got the "Gold Toe". Nothin' to be ashamed of here!

flower arranging, emeline & boys

So last weekend I fulfilled a dream of mine that I've had for about 2 years or so. See, one Christmas Eric made me these cute shadow boxes that I wanted. I was so excited about them but then, my parents remodeled, and mom wouldn't let me hang them up on the wall in my room. So finally, a couple of years later Eric and I got married but then we lived with his parents and I couldn't hang them up there either. Now, for the past 7 months we've been living in our own place and I hung up the shadow boxes but one of them has been empty waiting to be filled. See, ever since I got the boxes my plan was to hang up a cute arrangement of Gerbera daisies in it but I never had one... until now! Tada! I made this arrangement over the weekend and I am very surprised that they actually turned out. The fake water thing was kind of tricky but here it is.Oh, and I got to hold Emeline on Sunday. She is so cute!
And then, Eric was sitting on the couch with the dogs and said, hey I guess you should come take a picture of this. But the lights were out so I couldn't see what was going on. So I took my camera over a took a picture. Really, nothing was going on, Eric just thought it was cute that he & the dogs were snuggling. Then he says to me, "I guess you'll have to blog about this." You'll note that my flash woke Frankie up in the photo. Poor little tired eyes.
That's all for now!

New Babies & Corinne's Birthday

So I feel bad because I have been forgetting my camera at many special occasions recently like our trip down to St. George for my grandpa's 85th birthday and for our visit to see James & Emeline at the hospital after they were born. However I did get some cute pictures of Corinne at her birthday party. She had a "Cat" party and Teresa made a kitty litter cake. I know, it really looks disgusting but all it is a normal cake that has been mixed up into little crumbles. It was totally edible, tootsie rolls and all.

And I did remember my camera at the last nephew's birth. Here is cute little Cooper Jones. I really like that name and I am glad they didn't go with Preston. I had a neighbor named Preston that I don't associate good memories with so I wasn't a big fan of that name. He was having difficulties breathing at first so they didn't let him out of the nursery for the first day but he is doing just fine now and is home.

Terror Attack Signs

I was just reminded of, quite possibly, my all-time favorite email forward when my good friend Meg re-forwarded this to me the other day and I realized that this may bring the same joy to others as they perouse my blog. Have a great day!


The US government has a new website, http://www.ready.gov/.The thing is that the pictures from the site are so ambiguous they could mean anything! Here are a few interpretations.


If your right arm is on fire, do not run

If you spot terrorism, blow your anti-terrorism whistle. If you are Vin Diesel, yell really loud.

If you spot a terrorist arrow, pin it against the wall with your shoulder

Michael Jackson is a terrorist. If you spot this smooth criminal with dead, dead eyes, run like hell.

Use your flashlight to lift any fallen walls right off of you!

If you are sprayed with an unknown substance, stand and think about it instead of seeing a doctor.

Austin is radioactive, move to Houston

If you hear the Backstreet Boys, Michael Bolton or Yanni on the radio, cower in the corner or run away fast.

If you are trapped under falling debris, conserve oxygen by not breaking wind.

If you lose a contact lens after a terrorist attack, be sure to look for it. If you cannot find it, it is probably best to roll on the floor and have a good cry.

Do not drive a station wagon if a power pole is protruding from the hood.

A one-inch thick piece of plywood should be sufficient protection against radiation.

Be on the lookout for terrorists with pinkeye and leprosy. Also, they tend to rub their hands together manically.

If a door is closed, karate chop the hinges.

Try to absorb as much of the radiation as possible with your groin region. After 5 minutes and 12 seconds, however, change the focus point to your head.

After exposure to radiation it is important to consider that you may have mutated to gigantic dimensions: watch your head.

If you've become a radiation mutant with a deformed hand, remember to close the window. No one wants to see that crap.