Hope’s First Thanksgiving!

I’m so excited that Hope finally gets to have her first Thanksgiving and I am even more thankful that she has been eating her new food very well and actually likes it. There was a little while where she didn’t want to eat anything at all but she is fine now. We still don’t know why she didn’t like the one food that she was on before, maybe one day we will find out but it is ok for now. But for Hopes first Thanksgiving she got a extra special dinner mat for her to have her bowls on.We actually got this mat a couple of weeks ago but we wanted to make sure that she liked it. When we first laid it down on the floor she thought that it was for sleeping on and not for eating on. She finally got off of it with some help from Michael and we quickly put her bowls on to show her what it was for. After that she didn’t have a problem because she knew it was hers.Asking if it is time for her to eat her food and I think that it is so cute that she does this. She doesn’t do this every time but when she does it is just really funny to me.

Now she is eating good and enjoying her food. It may be the same food that she eats everyday and on the same mat but I put it in the middle of the room so that she knows that today is a special day.Now Hope is just making sure that I am paying attention to her while she eats because she just wants some company on this special day so I really don't mind. I think hope is telling me that she wants me to tell you what she is thankful for so here it is.

Happy Thanksgiving from Hope!

Lilly’s Thanksgiving

Since Lilly was our first pet that actually did something (unlike the pet goldfish we have) she always gets a special Thanksgiving meal. Well this year she got something very different then normal and just loved it a ton.Here she is holding her trophy meal so proudly! Michael took the picture because I just couldn’t watch her eat this meal this one time. I do know that she is going to be sunning a lot on her new landing because she always does that after eating a really big meal. I know that Lilly is thankful that we love her so much and want her to be happy.

Happy Thanksgiving from Lilly!

New Turtle Landing

I don't know why but for some reason poor Lilly's sunning log and wall broke that use to be in her tank. So we had to go and get her a new one. Well we went to one pet store and found a new little dock that would work just fine. When we got home though we opened it up only to find out that it was already broken! Michael and I went back to the pet store and returned it and look at the other one they had but it too was also broken and nothing else in that store would work for Lilly to sun on. Which meant we had to go to a second pet store. At the second store we looked all over the place and they had nothing that would work at all so we had to go to Lowes to see if we could make something ourselves that would work for her. Michael bought two flagstones that were broken into small pieces and we ended up using them for her sunning dock. What do you think of it?

At least now she does have more room to swim in but she is really missing her little tunnel that she would love to go into and sleep there. She is still looking for it and one day we will make her a tunnel again but only after we get a bigger tank.

This is all that we can do at the moment so we should be happy that at least we did finally find something but it is going to make cleaning her tank a lot harder. Hopefully this will not brake as quickly or as easily either only time will tell us so. (Even our turtle loves to have her picture taken just like her little sister Hope. They are so funny!)

TAXI!

I can not believe some of the things that I see people do while driving or even how they drive but the worst driving I see is from taxi cars. I saw two recently that were just terrible. The first car drove on the shoulder where there was no lane and passed us only to almost hit the car right in front of us because they didn't want them to get by. I just figured that the first car was in a big hurry and maybe didn't know that it was a one lane road or something like that. The second car was also very funny in that we were at a stop light and there was a apartment building on the left. Well the taxi gets on the wrong side of the road thinking it was a median and tries to turn at the light but there was no place to turn into except for the stairs that go up to the building on a hill. So then the taxi goes threw the light, still on the wrong side of the road and finally finds the parking entrance and almost gets hit by on coming traffic from that side. All of this took place in front of a police car too and the officer didn't do anything about it either. It was just a interesting day for taxis I guess.

Funny Syrup Label

I do not always catch things like this but when I do I am just so proud of myself. I was eating breakfast and just having some french toast when I was reading the syrup bottle and noticed what it said on the label. After I was finished reading it I just started laughing and told Michael who also thought that it was kind of funny and I thought that you would get a good laugh out of it too so here it is:

.

Butter Rich Syrup

Natural Butter Flavor with Other Natural Flavors

Contains No Butter

.

Isn't that funny? Well I thought that it was since it is a butter syrup and contains no butter. Hopefully you found it funny too and are able to find some other funny labels too.

Helping Put Up the Lights

While I was at the party my father was so kind to watch Hope for me and she had a lot of fun with him because she just adores him so much. Well my father was putting up the Christmas lights on the house because we are suppose to get a very big snow storm that it was just safer to put them up now. So when I got back home Hope still wanted to be outside with my father so I got my coat and just had to get some very cute pictures of her.

Isn't she just the greatest dog in the world as to be able to climb a ladder all by herself and be so very high up?

Ok, Hope is still touching the ground but it did look like she was on the ladder more didn't it? Well maybe not but it was still a very cute picture of her.

She just loved watching him climb on the roof but I also think that she is keeping a eye on him just to make sure that he is safe.

What a day at has been for both of us that I think Hope is ready for a early bed time. She looks really tired to me and I am sure that she will sleep really well tonight and a lot of the next day too.

Emi's Party Continues

Yes, the party continues and so does the pictures of all the fun too.

Here Sean is helping Emi opening gifts but then all of her friends wanted to help her open up her gifts too. So a great idea came about that the person that gave Emi the gift is the one that gets to help her open it up. I think that was a wonderful idea and should be used at every little kids party if they are fine with the help from their friends.

Everyone just loves Emi so much that she really got swarmed in no time when it came to whose present to open up next.

I love that present that she got from a friend. I can't wait to see her in it either because she just looks so cute in pretty much everything.

Here are all of the children that attended the party and all just sitting so nicely too but how long do you think they could stay like that?

The video tell all of the fun that they got to have even while taking the picture. I love how Ardice (Emi's mother) suggest that everyone give her a hug in the end. You can't even see Emi in the video but I know that she didn't mind it at all. After all of the party guest returned to their homes Emi opened up some family gifts.

Yes, Matty just got away with her new toy from her grandmother but Emi is so nice and good as to let him play with it on her special day. She is just a wonderful sweet heart.

A very happy birthday girl.

Neice Emi’s Birthday Party!

Well Emi had her 5th birthday party and it is amazing at how fast the time has gone by. My sister and brother-in-law threw a tea party themed birthday for her with all of her little friends too. Emi had so much fun at the party and she was so cute!Here is a special balloon for her birthday. It was hanging in the entry as you came in which was really beautifully decorated.More decorations for the party but you can’t forget all of the fun gifts on the table waiting for Emi to open them either.Here is the cute little birthday girl! She is having so much fun playing with all of her friends and really who wouldn’t.Here are some of Emi's friends that attended the party. They all had a wonderful time and all look so cute in their party dresses.All of Emi's friends just love her so much that they all enjoy helping her with things that she does know how to do. It is so cute how children are so kind to others that may need a little extra amount of it.Finally it is time for lunch for everyone but before that every party guest got one of these bags with some fun things for them. Everyone also loved the lunch and had happy tummy after that.Here is Emi's cousin Matty enjoying eating his lunch and doesn't he just look so cute in his outfit?Here is Emi's other cousin Jossy in her beautiful party dress. I just love how everyone dressed up for this special day.Emi's father Sean is putting the icing on the cupcakes because everyone gets to decorate their own! What a fun idea to do but I do think that it is a good idea to put the icing on for the children or else some of the kids might just try and eat the icing.The children got to decorate the cupcakes only after everyone finished with their lunches. They had so much fun decorating them to but I think the best part was eating all of the hard work that they did on them. Some of the children at the party really did a lot of goodies on theirs that I hope that they didn't get sick.Aunt Dawn helping the children play some games. Like in this picture they are playing red-rover. It was so much fun to watch them all play and fun to join in a couple of the games too like red light, green light and duck, duck, goose. Everyone sure did have a wonderful time at the party which is just great.

Just Loves Sticks

We finally found a dog park that is a nice area and has a big field for Hope to run in. It is really pretty but it doesn’t have any fenced off area for the dog. We do normally watch her really closely but we are just going to have to be even better. I am just glad that the road that is by this park is not a very busy road at all. I feel so much safer taking her to this free dog park where she can just have fun running around then the other place that those two dogs died at. Well while we were there Hope found a really big stick to play with. I think that it is funny that I have a dog that loves to play with sticks. I always wanted a dog to do that when I was a child and now I have a dog that does. My parent’s dog does not like sticks at all so it is a big deal that Hope likes them, or at least it is to me. So here is Hope with her big stick and just loving it.

The stick that she is actually chewing on was actually bigger then that but Michael was able to brake it in half somehow. He sure is a strong guy and he is all mine!

I love watching her enjoying herself and it is even cutter when she plays with Michael. He is so much better at throwing the stick for her then me that she goes to him more then me when she wants it to be tossed. I don’t mind that at all because I don’t want to get slivers either.

Sometimes she likes to tease us and not come back all of the way. Like saying, “Come and get it, if you can!” She is so funny but she is a really good dog and we sure are lucky to have her.

The one sad thing is that we couldn’t stay long because it took us some time to find the park and it has been getting darker faster lately too but at least we had some fun while we were there. We are totally going to be returning to this park again because it is just a really good family area.

Sign of Hope

Michael and I were driving in the car and one night Michael noticed this sign. Well it got us both laughing really hard and we decided that we needed to take a picture of it but when it was lighter of course. So we finally made it back there and got a somewhat acceptable picture of the sign.Isn’t that just the funniest thing ever? I never knew that our dog had a street named after her! Here is a picture of a sign that we took a long time ago when we were in Oregon.I don't know how he does it but Michael also found this sign and it just makes me laugh because it is exactly how I feel about our dog. We have to help her discover herself and the things around her. If you ever find a sign with your name on it you should definitely take a picture of it.

Said I Would

I told Michael one day a long time ago that if gas ever got to be a dollar something that I would take a picture of it because I was so sure that it would never happen again with how things are going. So I am just amazed with how low it has actually gone that Michael and I went out and took a picture of it. I’m glad that he helps me keep my word because I think that is a really important thing that we all should be working for. So here it is.We were in the car when I took the picture so I know it isn’t the best but at least you can see the price. I didn’t take the picture of this particular gas station because we go there or something like that but because that was the closet one with the lower price on it.

Good Book to Read

Normally I do not like to read but lately I have been enjoying it a ton. I really like to read books with Michael because it is some special time that we can spend together enjoying something different. Normally we do not don’t tend to read the same kinds of books but sometimes we find something that we both like. Well we found this one book called, Dragonspell. It is really a good book because it is something that is fun and different then just the normal fairy tale kind of thing. I so recommend reading this book if you are looking for something different. Dragonspell is the first book and after we read it we were hooked. There are five books in the series and each one if a blast to read. We are just starting the last book in the series which is sad but I am interested to see what kind of things this author will come out with next.Here is what the first book and the others look like just encase you want to find it and read it too. The first book is on the very far left and continues to the right which, of course would make it the last one. If you do end up reading these books tell me what you like about them.

Through a Child's Eye

One of the funniest things to do is to give a child a camera and see what they take pictures of. Matty saw that I was taking a lot of pictures of him and he wanted a turn to take some pictures too. So I made sure that he knew what button to push and that the stink was attacked to his wrist so that if the camera fell out of his hands it wouldn’t be damaged. Well here are the pictures that he took.

Here is some of the cars that we left in the bottom of the container that holds them. You can see Matty's cute little feet poking into the side of the picture.

This is a picture of a car that I had fun crashing into things. He wanted to take more but I told him that two was enough for now. I am going to do with again with him someday soon and I think we will try it outside and see what he comes up with out there.

Matty the Giant

I love watching Matty play with his toys cars and he loves to play with them. Well my mother has this large car/driving floor mat and so he likes to play on it. She has had that thing for a very long time and it is a shame that they do not make them anymore because I would so go out and get one for my future children to play with. Here Matty is showing me the map and also asking for some help to lay it down on the floor too. I do think that he could probably do it by himself but I really don't mind helping him though.Matty thought that the mat was not laying down flat enough so he decided to step on the parts that were trying to poke up. I couldn't get the mat to lay flat either so I think his idea works well enough. I think he looks like a cute little giant in a little world. He is lucky that there are no cars to step onto yet or else he better watch were he is walking so that he doesn't hurt the new citizens or himself.Finally some cars have made it to the little mat land and we are ready to begin playing with them all. It was fun making the cars crash as we drove them onto the mat.Here Matty is with all of his cars out on the mat and Matty is having fun playing with them. I love it how he parks them and drives them around but I am the one that has fun crashing them together. Little children are so much fun to play with.

Wonder of Nature

I just love looking up in the sky and seeing the beautiful colors that are created. Last night it was just such an amazing view that I wanted to share it.Isn’t it just wonderful that we are able to enjoy this special beauty? I'm just greatful that I am able to see these wonderful sites.

A Child's Love

It always amazes me how children are so very loving to anyone and we have to teach them that they need to be careful with whom they should trust. Matty’s mother called him tonight and asked him what he was thankful for today. They have a Thanksgiving turkey that they put, on its tail feathers, what they are thankful for and tonight he said that he was thankful for ME! I was so happy, it was the sweetest thing ever and after he got off the phone with his mother he ran up and gave me a big hug. I just love my nephew so much and I am very glad that he loves me and is even grateful for me too.

Starting New Tradition

When Michael was going up, his family had a Thanksgiving tree. From what my husband remembers, his mother, in the very first year that they did it put things that they were thankful for on leaves and then put them up on the tree. After the first year they didn’t change what the leaves said and they would just put them up at the beginning of the season. So I wanted to do something like that for our family but a little different so that it works for us. I also wanted to surprise Michael with it but he caught me today when he got home from work. All that I did today was color some leaves red, orange and yellow on paper and get them all cut out. I am not sure if I have enough but I figure that we can always make more later.These are the leaves that I have right now. I think that they look good and I want to laminate them one day so that we can write what we are thankful for on them with a marker and then just wash it off with a wet paper towel when the season is over. That way we can have new things to be thankful for the next year. I also wanted to make sure that our tree would be full, so each family member gets one leaf a day to write on what they are thankful for. We will have our tree (when I make it) in a spot where everyone can see it and remember the things that they are thankful for. I do hope that this works and can be something fun for us especially while we are going through this hard time right now. I also think that it will be fun for our children when we have them one day too.

For His Family

Matty ran into a wall today because he had his blanket over his head and couldn’t see where he was going so we made this video just special for his family. It helped him feel a lot better.

Ok, before you see this video you need to know that the sound that he is making is a rooster call.

He sure is a silly boy but I love him all the same. At least you know that he is having fun and just enjoying himself and I am glad that I am not missing him growing up either.

Staying for a Visit

My nephew, Matty, is staying over for several days this week/weekend. I love playing with him and he is just so cute that he makes life fun and interesting. He has only been here for a little while but I sure do love it and am going to hate it when he has to leave. Today during his nap time he just looked so cute and peaceful that I had to capture the moment forever.I love it when little children are asleep and he sleeps like how my younger brother use to when he was that age. I even have a picture of him like that somewhere.We had a lot of fun building with the Lego’s and this is a train tower that we made together. Matty picked the height of it and I am amazed that it didn’t fall down.Here he is fixing a garage for his toy cars. I love little children’s imagination; we all should have something like that every now and again.

Simple Thanks

What has happened to the words, “Thank You?” I am totally lost as to when we just stopped using these words in society anymore but even more shocked when we don’t use them in the home where I think they are needed the most. I was shoveling the driveway yesterday for my family, which is enormous, and was doing it just to be nice. I really didn’t want anyone to slip and fall and hurt themselves. My parents do have a snow blower but I don’t know how to work it so I just shoveled the drive. Well a couple of my family members thought that it was better to tease me that the snow was just going to melt off the drive and it was pointless what I was doing. It really hurt my feelings because I was thinking about their safety and this is what I get for it, picked on. Finally the last person that picked on me I told them, “Just say, ‘thank you.’” After I had said that they did say thank you and how much they really appreciated the thought and effort. It is sad that we just can not seem to be grateful for a kind act done to us. It is like we expect it all the time because we are just so great or something like that. I find it very funny what with this being the month of Thanksgiving that we can not be thankful because we are to busy thinking about Christmas already which is another month that we are suppose to be thankful in. All I want is for people to be more appreciative of each other and try to be more aware of others feeling too. Don't you want the same thing?

Troubling Sadness for Dogs

Michael and I took Hope today on this trail in down town. It is the only place that we know of that allows dogs off of their leashes. When we got to the trail there was not a lot of people around and we saw two cop cars. That worried us a little bit but we figure we were ok so we went on the trail. We only walked a very short distance and came across this guy running with his dog. He stopped and told us that we probably didn’t want to go very far on the trail because two dogs had just recently been found dead there from some type of poisoning. He also told us that the police had informed him to not let his dog wonder very far because they were not sure if the poison was still around in the area or if someone had given the dogs it and then left them. Then he left with his dog and then this huge pack of dogs were coming towards us from the direction that the man had just come from and they all started to attack Hope. The owners had no control of their dogs and so that was it and we were so out of there. It was really sad to here that some place that we thought was safe is not so anymore and that we are going to have to start hunting all over again for somewhere we can take her. I really feel bad for the owners of the dog and I sure do hope that the police find out what really happened. It is a scary and sad world that we live in at times but I think that if we try to do our best and truly help and look after one another then maybe things could become better.

Gratitude

Today was a big day of reflection for me about some of the trials that have been accruing in my life right now. I know that everyone has trials and of course they are always hard to go through or else they wouldn’t be called trials. I just have been feeling picked on or something like that. This makes me frustrated because I want things to go smoothly and things to get resolved and just have some peace in my life again. Well in Relief Society we talked about gratitude. I really enjoyed the talk and it really made me think about my trials right now and how I should try to see the positive side of the trials. Some of the examples of how to make things seem positive and show gratitude for them were:

-Weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been productive.
-Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire. If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
-Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow.
-Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you opportunities for improvement.
-Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character.

These were the ones that I felt most applied to me right now. I do want to try and be even better and look at the good side of my trials even when it is hard to do that sometimes. I also know that it is going to take me time to do that but I also know that I can do it and I want to do it and that is always the first step.

Comics

Normally I do not read the comics in the morning but Michael does. So he had to show me this one comic that was really funny and it even made me smile and laugh really good. It was the comic of Hagar the Horrible and Hagar and his friend Lucky Edie are chained up to a prison wall.

Lucky Edie says to Hagar, “We’re completely helpless…With no chance of escape. What in the world keeps us going?”

Then Hagar says, “HOPE.”

I just loved that because that is exactly what keeps me going to at times but I am sure that they meant a different kind of Hope then what I am thinking of.

Funny Moments in Life

Yesterday was a different sort of day then what Michael and I normally have. We both had the normal kind of day while we were apart but when we got together everything became really funny. Two things happened while we were driving trying to find a park that actually allows dogs at it since most of the parks that I used to know don’t.

The first funny story was we passed an antique and treasures store on this back road.

Michael says to me, “Hey look it is an antique and treasure store. So is Hope an antique?”

I reply, “She is not old enough to be an antique, she is a treasure.”

For some reason it made Michael and me laugh really hard and he had to agree with me about her being a treasure to both of us.

The second funny story is when we actually found the park. For some reason this park that is enormous has only two entrances and the parking lot does not connect together for some strange reason. So we miss the first entrance and find the second one way on the other side of the park. As we are driving into the parking lot we are trying to read a sign that has information on it about the park rules. Michael carefully drives in and a car is following us. All of a sudden Michael stops and there isn’t anyone in front of us so I am wondering what is wrong.

Michael says, “Oh, no! This is a side walk!”

I start to look around and realize that he is driving on a very large side walk. I could not help myself and start to break out laughing really hard. The car that was following us into the park also had driven onto the side walk as well but then they realized that we really didn’t know where we were going and they backed off of the sidewalk and passed us on the road laughing too. We also backed off of the side walk, thanks to them for moving, and got on the real road. Michael was a little embarrassed about doing that but I told him that he just had to laugh about it.

I said to him, “Remember what we heard in conference by Joseph B. Wirthland? Laugh!”
(The exact quote is, “Come what may and love it!”) He also talked about how his family would go on car trips and get lost sometimes and the entire family would laugh even harder when they still couldn’t find their way. That is just like Michael and I because we get lost a lot when we are driving and so it just fit the moment really well.

Michael told me, “Maybe a later day I will but not right now.”

I told Michael, “You know this reminds me of something on my oldest sister’s car. She has this little sign in one of her windows that says, ‘If you don’t like the way I drive, get off the sidewalk.’.” This made us brake out laughing even harder than before and I know that Michael got a good chuckle out of that too. (Just so you know he really didn’t drive that far on the sidewalk before he realized what it was.)

So there are my funny stories for you to enjoy. They just make me smile and I am glad that I have a wonderful husband that I can laugh and enjoy life’s funny little moments with.

Kicking Back

Hope really loves playing in leaves. I think that I got her hooked onto doing it from just getting her to play in the leaf pile the first time. She also likes to take some toys with her when she plays in the leaves too.Hope thought that it was a good idea to take her Frisbee with her into the leaf pile. I love how she has all of these leaves on her back and she really doesn’t even care. She has become one with the leaves.

I love it when she plays on her back but it is very funny when she does this little back scratch rolling thing on her back. Maybe she is getting an itch or maybe she is just trying to get the leaves off of her from before. What do you think?

Matty the Golf Ball Farmer

At my parents house they get a lot of golf balls that fall into their yard. So my father has started to collect them. For some reason Matty really likes to play with them outside and spread them around the yard, mostly in the flower beds. He is so cute in practical everything that he does that it is just too much fun to watch him and play along.Here is the cute little golf ball farmer spreading them all over the place. He puts the balls into his little bucket and then he dumps them out over the flower bushes.Now with a face as cute as that how could you not let him do it? He has such a cute little smile that you can not help smiling yourself.

Leaves All Around

I just love playing with my nephew Matty but it is even more fun, for me, when he plays with Hope. Hope just loves him so much and really keeps an eye out for him too. Since Matty was here yesterday for trick or treating he and his family stayed over. Which means that I got to play with Matty even more! Well he saw a picture that I had taken of Hope playing in a small pile of leaves and he wanted to jump in them too. So we went outside today to jump in some leaves.

Hope is being a funny little girl by playing with a toy of hers in the far back. At least she finally came over and played with him. Yes, she was eating some leaves that he was feeding her but she did spit them out if you didn’t notice.

I just love watching them play together! They are just so cute! That is Hopes cousin penny that is barking in the background that you hear.I think that Hope looks cute in the pile of leaves as she is waiting for Matty to come back and play with her some more. She is really a very patient dog which is very surprising since she is still such a puppy.

Nephew and Nieces Costumes

I just love it when little children dress up for Halloween and they are always dressed up as the cutest things too. I haven’t seen my Nieces and Nephews dress up for a really long time so this Halloween was really special to me. It is funny but normally I don’t get really into this holiday but this year I am have been going crazy for it and being able to watch my nephew Matty do his trick or treating was made it all the more special to me. I had a lot of fun walking with him and watching him knock on doors and say, “trick or treat.” Little kids can just be so cute sometimes; well really all the time.Matty was a cute little skunk this year which I am told he was that last year too but I didn’t know that until now. He really didn’t want to hold very still for me to get any pictures of him. It is funny that I can make Hope hold stiller then him. The ring that he is holding is a glow in the dark thing in case you were wondering.This is what the back of his costume looks like. At first I didn’t know what that red mark was on then back but it is a little heart that says, “little stinker,” on it. Isn’t that just the cutest thing?Jossy is way cute as a peapod! I think that her father and mother picked out the cutest one in the bunch. She sure looks like she is ready to go out and get some candy (well maybe she is still to young for candy just yet). It sure was a lot of fun with them tonight and I am so lucky that I have such a cute nephew and a niece as them.