The month of March

So the month of March has come and pretty much gone. Nothing too exciting, but we did celebrate Mom's birthday (sorry, no pics), and my favorite holiday of the year - St. Patty's Day. And yes, St. Patrick's Day really is my favorite holiday :) The picture is of Jeff and I at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center. Jon, Aubrey, Troy, and Lynette came with us to see the Irish folk group, Danu. We had dinner together before hand at my parents and overall had a great evening. The only bummer was that Jeff was feeling under the weather, and oh, Jon and Troy both fell asleep during the show. I guess they were not that impressed. As for the second pix, well I must say that, in and of itself, is a true miracle. Never in a million years did I think I would get all three of those dogs in the same picture, let alone all looking at the camera. I believe Soto thinks we have something against him. Poor thing. But at least they aren't fighting. At the moment, we are unsure of Duke's fate. Jeff is dying to keep him, and I, well, I am slowly warming up to the idea. We will see how the next few days go. If he can learn to sleep outside at night instead of ON me, well, he might have a permanent home. Luckily, we have a backup home if he can't stay with us. Work is work. Nothing very exciting there. April should be fun and exciting with conference, spring break, Easter, a new baby in the family, and some more birthdays. We'll keep ya posted... ;)

Duke...

So this is Duke. He is an almost 4 year old chocolate lab. Jeff found him. Now we might be keeping him. Good grief, LONG story. Maybe when I am not so sleepy I will fill you all in. It is a very crazy story indeed...

An ode to love...

Look at those faces! They are enough to melt a mother's heart :) Hope everyone had a great Valentines Day and if nothing else, you took the time to let someone you love know it! A big squeeze to my favorite person and valentine ever. Now, I know not everyone is a dog lover or even an animal person for that matter. You might think they are dumb, smelly, annoying, etc. I am ok with that. However, I KNOW everybody loves to laugh! Can you do me and our family a personal favor? If you go to http://www.pedigree.com/03Adoption/SuperBowl you will be able to watch some of the funniest video clips ever! My favorite is Tyler and his bison... Anywho, for every video you watch on Pedigree's site they will donate a meal to a dog in an animal shelter. You do not have to give them your email address or any other info, and you don't have to buy anything either! How great is that?! Thanks especially from Soto and Sadie Mae. They appreciate you helping out their kind so very much...and so do their parents!! Much love and have a great week :)

Showers and birthdays

Dad's birthday dinner

Lynette and Hali'a

So in the last few weeks we had a baby shower for Hali'a and my dad's birthday. I did manage to get a few pictures, but not as many as I would have liked. I do recognize the progress I have made, however, because I think there was about a ten year stretch after high school where I did not take hardly any pictures at all. Crazy. I wish I had been better at documenting my life but alas, I can only move forward :) It is a good thing digital cameras came along and that I have looked exactly the same for at least the last 15 years! I guess that could be considered a good thing, haha!

And so today begins a new year...

I really have some catching up to do! Christmas was great. We got to see a lot of family and friends and I am just utterly amazed at how fast the holidays have come and gone. Jeff, Amy, and Kayla were here for ten days - it went by just way too fast! Kayla is such a chatterbox and so stinking fun to be around! We got to go with her to build a bear where she made a bunny. Gotta love that picture of her and Justin :) We also went out to eat with my parents for their anniversary, hung out at the house and watched movies, played games, fed the ducks at the park, and even had an awesome sing-along Christmas night with Aubrey's family. I am sad vacation is coming to an end!! Oh, and I can't forget that darling baby Hali'a got blessed. Quite a fun-filled busy break. We hope this year is filled with many sweet memories and blessings for everyone. Happy 2009!

Ode to the dogs...

Today was a great day! As part of my Christmas present, Jeff took me to the Eukanuba/AKC national dog show at the Long Beach Convention Center. It was so much fun! I love wandering all the booths and seeing all the different breeds of dogs. Jeff did almost get us kicked out when he took a picture at the agility course and the flash came on. WOW. You would have thought we just tried to kill someone. These dog people take these shows pretty dang seriously. I toyed with the idea briefly of getting into showing dogs, but I don't think I could ever be that uptight :) I have to say, I think our dogs are just as good looking as most of those show dogs. Maybe I am biased, but we did have another lady a couple of weeks ago try to get us to sign up with her agency to have Soto be in commercials and magazines. Too bad he is such a pistol. Enjoy the random pictures above. Us in the car on the way to the show, the dogs with their new toys we got them today, etc. (You have no idea how much cheese I had to feed those two just to get them to sort of stand by each other...always an adventure!)

Hali'a

My niece is soooo stinking cute! She is such a trooper and we love her so much already! I got to spend a couple of hours at the hospital with her and just cuddle and love on her. Being able to see new babies brought into this world is always an awe-inspiring and tender moment. It truly is one of the greatest blessings Heavenly Father has given us. I was so touched to watch Jon as he interacted with Hali'a. He is so gentle and sweet; I saw new side of my brother that almost brought tears to my eyes. He is such an amazing daddy already. We are grateful for her quick recovery from her heart surgery and so "thankful" that she will be home for her first Thanksgiving!