Happy Independence Day!

My sister told me a great story about her talking to Whitney about Independence and why we celebrate the 4th of July. She was telling her that our country had to fight for its independence and then defined independence to Whitney saying, "Its when you get to make decisions for yourself and not have anyone in charge of you." Then Whitney replies, "Yeah, that's what I want, Independence!" We are lucky to have not only a country that gives us Independence but a religion that teaches us the true meaning of freedom. I pray that our country does not lose itself in the idea that freedom is simply doing what you want to do when you want to do it. However, I do have a deep love and appreciation for America, for my place in this nation, and for those who stand for truth, freedom and righteousness. Anyway, onto the fun stuff...
Eric and I enjoyed a great 4th of July beginning with what is becoming a tradition, my once-a-year golf game.

Andi with her golf clubs. I enjoyed golfing with Andi, we seemed to be about the same pace the whole time. We should do it more often! However, we should leave Eric and Jdub at home! Mostly because I have learned that Eric is really ornery when golfing!

AFter golf we went to my parent's for a BBQ. I made chips and dip which my dad took upon himself to be the official holder.
Eric and Roscoe swinging! He needs a child, doesn't he?

So here is where a series of unfortunate events began. My dad decided he was going to start a water fight. So he filled his cup with water and waited. I ran inside and started to capture the events from the kitchen window.
Evan decided he'd teach grandpa Vardell a lesson by just walking right up to him with the hose. Hilarious... at least until James (in Grandpa's arms) got wet and became furious!
So grandpa got rid of James and got the big bucket pictured here. Then the real fun began. Just about everyone got wet, even Stephanie when Eric snuck up behind her and dumped this bucket full of water on her back. The water fight continued between Evan, Taylor and Landon for most of the day. If you think that kids are so innocent and sweet, you should see them in a water fight. The looks I saw on those kids' faces were anything but innocent and sweet. They came across more like a very angry linebacker!

Apart for the water fights here are the other fun swimming events that took place.
I love Evan's face!!

If you can spot the orcha whale in this picture you get a prize! :)


Then my batteries died so I didn't get any other photos but we did try to go watch the WJ fireworks. we waited until about 10:45 before we gave up and headed back home to light our own fireworks. Then at about 5 after 11 we saw the WJ fireworks officially begin. Now, I don't know about you but I thought that an 11:00 firework show was just a little ridiculous. I mean, people are tired, kids are crying, dogs are tired! Really WJ, get your act together next year!

Dental hygienist song!

To all of the hygienists out there, here's a song for you on Loren Depping's myspace profile. There was a little article about it in my RDH magazine so I thought I'd share it. Kinda funny! Dental Hygienist song

Baby bird

So tonight as Eric was out working in the yard he stumbled upon a surprise. He came in the house and asked, "Hey, do you want to see something cute?" I jumped up from the couch as if I had been awaiting any invitation at a possibility for some excitement. Eric led me out to the base of our pine tree where we found this fuzzy little guy. After discussing the possibilities, Eric decided to try and put him back in the nest that has kept us from cutting down this very pine tree. Now, we don't have a ladder so Eric did a "test" climb seeing if it would be possible for him to reach the nest. Upon reaching the nest, we learned that there were no other birds in the nest. I became nervous for the little bird. What if the mama bird had abandoned him? But I went inside, got my camera out to capture his cuteness in digital form and to use my camera case to contain the bird around Eric's neck as he climbed the pine. Eric placed the bird into my camera case and began his daring climb back up into the tree.

At last he reached the branch with the nest, dug into the case, pulled the baby bird out and gently stretched forth his hand to the nest, successfully delivering the bird into the comfort and safety of its home. With hope, I continued to capture the rescue attempt with my camera.


Eric posed happily as he made his way out of the tree. Then, looking back at the nest he yelled down to me, "Its trying to climb out of the nest!" Then, I noticed a quail on the other side of our fence. Eric, spotting the same bird said, "Quick, go inside and look up what a baby quail looks like." I ran inside, frantic, realizing our mistake far too late! Sure enough, the bird we thought we were rescuing was indeed a baby quail. Now for those of you who don't know, quails are ground animals. I ran out to Eric to tell him to get the bird out of the nest. As I came into his sight, I said, "IT'S A BABY QUAIL!" To which he replied, "It's already on the ground somewhere!" I slowly walked towards the tree, watching every step for fear of crushing it beneath my own feet. Alas, I found it, amazingly alive and well by a pile of wood. Eric and I quickly cleaned up and headed into the house just hoping that this birds mom would come to the rescue as soon as our threatening presence was gone. Hopefully!!

Haircuts!

I was just looking at the picture of Frankie & Roscoe right after we adopted them and how sad their hair was! They just got groomed yesterday and they are looking too hot to trot now. Frankie looks like a punk rocker and Roscoe looks like a tiger because he has stripes but they are both so cute! If you want to see the old pictures refer to my post The Newest Additions to our Family. Here they are now -My little boys! Roscoe can look tough if you try to toussle his hair a little bit but most of the time it goes flat with a part right down the middle so he looks like a real nerd!

Frankie on the other hand could be the next member of the White Stripes.

Hanging in the graveyard

So a couple of weeks ago we went to visit Grandma & Grandpa Jones' grave with the whole Jones family. Its a tradition, I guess. We spent about two hours hangin' in the graveyard. There was quite the wind chill but through it all I got some pictures that I couldn't resist posting. Afterwards, we "enjoyed" a meal at Golden Corral?

Parenting 101: don't leave one-year-olds unattended in a vehicle. Brice was one key-turn away from escape.

I saved the best for last... Eric has a way with Parker. Yes, he is as terrified as he looks and yes, Eric is laughing. It is even funnier because last night we babysat the boys and Eric held Parker down and made him pee his pants. Not on purpose, but still, I just wouldn't be surprised if Parker will need counseling from the trauma caused by his uncle Eric. Although, I must add that I was very proud of Eric for taking care of two children and a baby for 2 1/2 hours by himself before I arrived. He fed the baby & the kids, got them in the pajamas, played with them, cleaned up after them and mostly, handled Cooper when he was awake the whole time! He even put them to bed successfully and read them 3 stories. I found out a good gift for Eric is a pop-up book that is a Star Wars Guide to the Galaxy. He loved it more than the kids did!

My first year!

Well, I just had my one-year review at my job with Dr. Smith. I technically haven't been a registered dental hygienist for one year until June 18th but I started assisting at Dr. Smith's office before I got my license. So, one year at Dr. Smith's means that I am now getting a 401k, a raise in my salary & I finally get 2-weeks of paid time off. I feel very fortunate for every benefit I have at Dr. Smith's, due to the fact that probably at least half of the dentists out there still don't offer employee benefits. I am a saving junkie so I am very excited about the 401k. I was also very happy about the paid time off last week when I came down with the stomach flu! I can't tell you the misery of those few days when I was so sick I just wanted to crawl into a hole and step into coma but I suffered through 8 hours of hygiene just so I wouldn't miss the paycheck. Oh, the joy of paid sick-leave! Anyway, it is amazing how fast a year goes by. Dr. Smith asked me how the job was different than I expected and at first, I couldn't think of much but finally I said, " I thought I would be bored with the job after a year. I thought I would know it all and be a lot more complacent. And that is definitely not the case!" I am still learning so much about hygiene. And there will always be more to learn and keep up with. Just today, I was reading about a hygienist that used a product called Emdogain after SRP to help with attachment regeneration. She turned a 15 mm pocket into a 3-4 mm pocket! (For those that have made it this far and don't know hygiene lingo, that is amazing!) I don't know much about Emdogain or products like it, but I'd like to & there's much more out there to learn! But aside from the technical stuff, there's always more to learn about and from people too. Today, I had a patient with a ZAP! car, its an electric car that only has 3 wheels and she took me out to see it after her cleaning. People are so interesting and I have a job that allows me to interact with people in a one-on-one intimate setting and usually see them again every 3-6 months. I really enjoy my job more than I ever thought I would! I do have those days when I come home and crash on the couch all night due to exhaustion but in the end, I think its worth it.

Oh and in other news, Eric is only taking the garbage out past sunset now because he enjoys testing the motion light that he installed on the side of our house. I am very proud of all his hard work (and very thankful for Kent's help).

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.