Free Dog Anyone!

Just kidding, but some days I am serious. I never knew that having a puppy was so much work. Growing up my dad always dealt with the potty training and all of the tricks that dogs need to learn. I totally took that for grantid and now I want my dad to come here and train me.

Potty training - WHO KNEW it would be harder than a child???? Teddy does great until he comes out of his new home, the bathroom. We had to lock him in there because during the night he would ransack this house if we were not paying attention. We do not have a fenced yard, which would be ideal, so for now I have to deal with it.

His Name - We have had Teddy for two months and he still will not come to his name. We tried treats and he does not come.

Biting - This dog has teeth. He is playing around, but it is starting to hurt the bigger he gets. We have a ton of chew toys, but he still seems to want to bite. I think this is the main thing I can't stand because I do not want a child getting hurt. I know he is playing around, but when will it stop?

Chewing - He has broken a cell phone cord, my phone cord, two flip flops and who knows what else. Like I said before, we have a ton of toys for him, but he still chews when he finds a cord.

My husband keeps reminding me that I wanted this dog and I begged him for it. I do love him, but I need some tips on how you handled a puppy!

The Great Outdoors

WARD CAMPOUT

Last weekend the girls and I were able to go to our ward campout at Camp Wilkerson in Rainier, OR. I absolutely love the ward campouts. My girls get to camp, play with friends, have fun activitites that the ward has set up, we have a fun fireside and always yummy food.

When the sign up sheets came around for the ward campout, you could either have a camp site or an adirondack. I thought that the adirondack sounded really cool (not having any idea what it really was). Well, this is it!!!

Who in thier right mind would sleep in this without a husband around or with a 3 year old who could wander around in the woods for hours during the night when she is suppose to be asleep. I was so glad that I brought my small tent anyways so we slept in our tent, in the adirondack. It ended up working out just fine.

We had a lot of fun making a fire all by ourselves. It actually was really a great fire, once we got it started. I learned that paperplates work wonders. Who could camp without eating hotdogs and smores? YUM-O! We tried smores with reeses peanut butter cups inside instead of the hershey chocolate, I will never go back to my old ways. They were wonderful!

Lindsay and Ashley both want to be photographers. Lindsay tried her hand at some picture taking. Here is one of her masterpieces, I think she did a great job!

The campground was full of beautiful wildflowers. I could not pass up this picture taking moment of Hailey picking a flower.

I was nervous about camping alone with the girls, but we had an excellent time and we all came back in one piece!

PADDLE BOATS AND FISHING

Our girls love to fish. On Tuesday night we went out to Hornings Hideout with my brother and his two kids and a boy who is in our ward that loves fishing. We were able to catch 8 fish. Lindsay caught 5, Mitchell caught 2 and Ashley caught 1 plus a salamander.

I was playing with Hailey at the playground equipment when Ashley caught her fish so I have no idea why this fish has blood all over it. GROSS! I will have to ask Mitchell.

We also tried our hand at the paddle boats. They were a lot of fun, especially since we had the whole lake to ourselves.

(Ashley is going to spray you!)

A beautiful bald eagle flew right in front of us and landed on top of a tree. It was beautiful. The owner of Hornings Hideout told us that there are actually two of them and they have been there since 1998. I did not realize that there were bald eagles that were just flying around so that was a treat to see.

(Jared being Jared.)

I can not get enough of being outside. I remember the first time that I came to Oregon we went to my sister Heathers house. I sat outside on her front porch and just listened to the birds chirping, smelt the forest smell and smelt the fresh air. It was wonderful. Little did I know that a year later I would live here and enjoy the same things at my own home. There is nothing like the great outdoors in Oregon!

I Know Who To Vote For!

Google Readers must actually come to my blog to watch the video. Sorry. You could comment also so I know how is looking at my blog. :)

I have been told that some of you can not view it. If not, go to this link, it is worth it...
http://www.news3online.com/index.php?code=4g21FrP676F057WW9gkf

Memory Lane

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

EVERYBODY PLAY! I want to see what memories are out there!

Wednesday's "Coffee Group"

Over the past 6 months or so I have grown to love each one of these women that are in my aqua class. A couple of the ladies started a "coffee group" (Hailey calls it hot chocolate group) on Wednesdays and invited me to join in. It has been a lot of fun.

High Adventure

This last week Mitchell went with the Boy Scouts on their High Adventure trip. He was able to help with the planning and they decided to do two days of rock climbing and three days of white water rafting.

The days that they went rock climbing they were able to climb at a location called Smith Rock, known world wide for its climbing routes. They were also able to do some repelling and Mitchell loved the chance to try and conquer his fears of heights.

On Wednesday they started their white water rafting trip. They rented 5 boats so as to fit all of the boys and and the gear needed to spend three days and two nights on the river. Mitchell was the leader of his own raft and had four of the boys join him. After lunch on the second day his raft ran into a rock at the start of some rapids and threw two of the boys overboard including Mitchell. Mitchell and two other boys floated down stream while the other two boys were able to climb up the rock until another raft was able to help. While Mitchell was floating down river his foot got stuck between two rocks. He had to pull really hard to free himself and while doing so he heard a pop and was afraid that he had broken his foot. Finally, Mitchell and the other two boys were picked up by another raft. The raft they were thrown from was pressed against the rock with so much force that they could not retrieve it. It was considered a loss.

They had to finish the trip with four rafts making things a little cozy for the next two days. On the last day Mitchell was again thrown from the raft by another rapid but it wasn't as dramatic as the first spill.

On the last day a photographer was on the river and he was able to get some pictures taken of the boys on the Oaks Springs Rapids, a class IV rapid. As you can see, it was quite the adventure.

Mitchell is in the back of the raft in the grey shirt.
Going down a waterfall.

They had a great time and everyone got home safe. Mitchell is wondering what they will plan for next year to top this trip.

Reunion Time

Reunions are a time to be SILLY!

A time to Lounge Around!

A time for togetherness!

A time to get dirty!

A time to look for bugs, lots of bugs.

A time to go on hikes.

A time to let children play with fire. HAPPY FOURTH!
A time to baby the dog, I guess. (There is a story behind this picture. Teddy got really dirty so I gave him a bath in the sink. I could not find a towel so I wrapped him in my daughters pajamas and he fell asleep. You could say that he is pretty spoiled!)
Reunions are a time for FAMILY!

Thanks Jared for a wonderful reunion. We missed Mark and Lilly while they were at a wedding in Beliz (jealous!!!!!), and Adam who is on a mission in Portugal.

It's About Time

(I was not going to write about this again, but this has been my life for the past 3 months so I can not just pretend it did not happen.)

April 26th I was given the methotrexate shot because I miscarried and even after a D&C I still had the placental sac in me. The methotrexate shot was to help my body get rid of it. Every Monday since then I have had to go to the Doctor for blood work. This is something that I do NOT like at all, who does, but I really mean I do not like it at all. Every other time I was pregnant and I had bloodwork, I would feel faint and throw up. It would take me a long time to finally feel normal again. Well, I learned that since bloodwork was going to be a part of my life for a couple of weeks I had to overcome this.

I tried a couple of things but finally came up with what worked. I would sit in the chair and immediately close my eyes. The nurse, luckly, was the same every time so she knew my routine real well. I asked her to please just do it and not let me know what was happening and then I would hold onto this soft ball. It really really helped. I actually became a pro at it. My appts went from 10 minutes each time to about 2 minutes since I knew what to do.

After every appt I would get the phone call from the nurse to tell me, "Sorry, your hormone levels are not to a zero yet, so you will have to come back in next Monday." So when the phone rang today I was waiting for the same routine call, but it did not happen. She told me wonderful news that my levels are FINALLY at a zero and I do not have to go back again until I get pregnant again (yeah right, not after what I have been through), or until my checkup in a year. I have a great Doctor, but I have truly seen him enough.

During this whole ordeal I would often wonder why I had to go through this. Why does a mother who WANTS to be pregnant, not get the chance or have a miscarriage. It truly made me know and understand that even though we may WANT something, our Heavenly Father knows what we NEED. I needed this at this time and here is why. I learned to get over my crazy fear of shots. I learned that Heavenly Father actually knows me and listens to my prayers, even though my prayer of becoming pregnant did not turn out how I would have liked, it was still answered.

I love the song, "Unanswered Prayers," by Garth Brooks. (It is the song that is playing right now.) I KNOW that my Heavenly Father loves me. I know that when I pray, he listens. I do not always understand why things happen the way that it does, but there is a reason for it. My favorite part of the song is the chorus:

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you're talkin' to the man upstairs
That just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

Powerful words for my time of life right now. I am grateful that I have come out of this with a positive attitude and the only reason that is, is because I have Faith in Heavenly Father that he knows what is best for me and I will wait if I have to.