My Super Hero's

My kids "pick me up" when I'm feeling down,

They make me laugh when I want to frown.

The funny things they do and say

Saves me from just another ordinary day.They run and play, imagine and dream.

They are silly and goofy

just like mom and dad long to be.
They are growing up too fast. I wish I could save these memories in a bottle

and pour them out when I need to smile.

Come rescue me

from a serious, stressful, scary, fast paced world. I love my super heroin and 3 super hero's! What more could I ask for?

Oh where oh where has my little dog gone?

Well it is final. Noel was sold yesterday. None of the kids shed any tears, which made it easier on me, but nonetheless it was very sad. She was so cute in her little pink sweater looking back at us as she followed them out to their car.

Today I've noticed all the cute little things she did that will be missed and that I took for granted. (or granite) ha ha

Memories of Princess Noel's Cookie Crumbs: (her official AKC name)

*Whenever I sit down on the couch, she was always staring at me from the ground waiting for me to get comfy so she could curl up next to me.

*When we walked in the door her little toenails making a clicking sound on the kitchen tile running back and forth with a toy in her mouth.

*If Larry and I stayed up late watching TV she was always there with us, but every so often she would get down and go stand at the top of the hallway hoping we'll get the hint to go to bed. She never went to bed without us. And she slept on the bench at the end of our bed with a bunch of wadded up blankets. When the weather was really cold she would sneak up our bed in the middle of the night and crawl under the blankets to sleep by our feet.

This is a funny way she would sleep sometimes, lazing in the warm sun coming through our living room window. Yes! with her front leg sticking straight up.

*When any school buses came by she would let out one little yipe and run frantically from the door to the top of the couch to look out the window. Here is the bus now bringing Hud and Parks home and no Noel. :(

*When I cooked she was always at my feet staring at me with sad eyes hoping to get a scrap of food.

*It's weird not having to let her out the back door to go potty. i almost went straight there by habit when I woke up this morning.

*I didn't have to shut the bathroom door before I left the house to keep her out of the bathroom garbage. Yuck.
*Larry and I taught her a few tricks like sit, shake and "belly". She'd lay down and show you her belly. She could also jump like a rabbit and would jump up to Larry's chest for a treat. Larry gave her the nickname of "Smelly" I guess cause it kind of rhymes with Noel (smell) and she did stink. ha ha He has nicknames for everything. That was pretty much what we called her at home.

Today was a beautiful sunny day and Logan begged me to take him for a walk. Poor Noel would have loved to join us. When she heard the word "walk" she would perk up and go to the garage door. She was a smart dog. She always tried to please us.

I have walked with Noel to the Posse ground hundreds of times. That was her favorite thing I think. I felt very sentimental the whole time, not just about Noel but thinking about people who might not appreciate this beautiful world we live in and the awful things that happen to good people. So, I took these pictures with Logan.

My foot and hand compared to little Logie's foot and hand. Someday they will be bigger than mine. I hope I don't waste a day!

No I don't regret selling her, it was something that was inevitable with the way our lives are headed, but it doesn't mean we won't miss her.

I hope she is happy. She went to a home with another girl dog to keep her company, and that makes me happy. She needs a friend. But I feel for her since I know it will take her awhile to get use to.

Whenever my mom tended her for us, she wouldn't eat and my mom said she'd go to the door like she was ready to come home.

We love you Smelly!

How much is that Doggy in the window? ruff ruff

With all the extra curricular activities we got going on and especially the traveling we do with Hudson's comp baseball team we are always looking for someone to watch Noel. I've decided that it is too much and we have to sell her. We are so sad but we are just not a pet family I guess. When Tierra turned 4, I bought her a Conure for her birthday. We had just gone to Disneyland and there was a Tiki room with talking parrots so we named him Tiki.
When I bought Tiki, he bit my finger at the store and it bled pretty bad so I was a little concerned about Tierra handling him. But this is holding him the day after we got him. He was such a good bird. He had personality. We taught him to say "hello" and we'd set him on the outside of his cage and say "potty Tiki" and he'd go, then we could hold him without worrying he'd poop on us. He loved showers. I took him in the shower with me and Tierra would wrap him in a towel and he'd just lay there. She pushed him around in her doll stroller too.
This is Tierra's 1st day of her 3rd year in preschool (since she has a Sept. birthday) and she wanted to pose with her pet bird and her pet dog Scooby Doo. After I got married and we moved into our house Tiki was irritable, he picked all his feathers out on his chest and squawked a lot. After I had Hudson, I was irritable! I was so tired and needed my sleep and Tiki would squawk for attention and wake Hudson up and I just couldn't take it anymore. I was also the one cleaning his ginormous cage. As a family we took him to a pet store when Hudson was about 10 months old. I regret it now. Looking back I don't think he was that bad, but I realize at the time it was too much for me to handle. We miss him.
In 2003 Santa brought Tierra a puppy. She named her Noel and we have had her for 5 years. Tierra has always had a soft spot for animals, so I thought Noel would be Tierra's best friend, someone she could cuddle with in bed and talk to and keep her company. She was for a couple of years but then as she became a teenager, she didn't have time for Noel anymore. I am the one picking up poop in the backyard so my boys can go out and play without any "incidents". Sometimes even the boys would scoop poop for 5 cents a dropping. But I'm the one taking her for walks, I'm the one feeding her, I'm the one cleaning up her accidents in the house. And telling T to give her a bath or feed her is like pulling teeth. grumble, mumble.
Tierra still loves Noel and the boys certainly don't want to give her away but we need to face the facts. My mom can't tend Noel because she's not suppose to have pets where she lives, I don't want to nor do we have the money for her to stay at the kennel. My brother has 2 dogs of his own and their boy Yorkie drives Noel insane, sniffing and jumping all over her constantly! With Baseball tournaments coming up in March, I don't see that we really have a choice. We are gone for days at a time staying in hotels. When we aren't playing in tournaments we are gone to double headers every Saturday, being gone for at least 6 hours or more at a time.
Tierra made calendars for her friends one year for Christmas. Noel just lays there and lets her do whatever. Tierra would kill me if she knew I put this picture on with her eyes closed. But I took, no kidding, 8 pictures in a row. She can't keep her eyes open with the flash on my camera. I turned it off but then the picture was orange.

Oh and don't forget last fall when Noel had puppies. They were so much fun!
Logan was only 2 but he was so gentle and loved those puppies. He is always giving Noel attention and trying to hold her and cuddle her. She doesn't mind, but she prefers older people to little people.
So I have her listed on KSL and a lady called an hour later and came and gave me half the money until I could go get Noel's Rabie shots which are overdue. I was so excited because this lady was retired and had a dog for Noel to play with and it seemed perfect. But she called back a day later and said her husband wasn't ready for another dog. What a let down. All the kids had told her goodbye and we were all ready for the transition. Oh well, hopefully we will find the perfect home for her.

So I don't think we'll be getting any more pets for a long time. I kind of want a hamster. Larry says no way. We don't like fish. Larry (and Tierra) want a Boxer. Are you kidding me? Then we'd have huge poops to be picking up. And where will the Boxer go while we're gone? They just don't get it!

Bowl-a-rama

On MLK day we went bowling. Logan came running to give me a high-five after every bowl. He took awhile to warm up. I thought he'd be so excited, because when Hudson and Parks were doing the Summer League Bowling, he just had to watch. But as soon as it was time to put on his bowling shoes, he freaked out. He screamed and cried and ran away saying he was only going to watch. ??? So when I got out the "metal thingy" for kids, he relaxed a bit and soon didn't want to use it and was bowling on his own. He bowled 3 games! I bowled terrible. I didn't even reach 100. All my kids beat me!

Bear Lake Escape

This has been a long time coming. We enjoyed a family campout (the only one this year that we took our trailor) to Bear Lake back in August. I never had time to publish it while my sister and her family were here. So I've just been drafting it bit by bit since then.
I had so much to say about it but by now it is forgotten. You're probably all thankful. ha
But I did want to mention Minnetonka Cave, just about 10 miles up St. Charles Canyon. It was discovered by Ed Arnell (I think that was the name). So I'm wondering if Brandon has some claim on it??
Then we stopped at a historical monument and among the first people to settle Bear Lake was another Arnell, sent their by Brigham Young. And across the street was an "Arnell" paint shop. Heck we don't need to camp along side the road anymore...we have family that practically own Bear Lake so we want a freakin' condo!

A little history about Minnetonka cave. It was first named Porcupine Cave because they found porcupine bones in the entrance. (We camped at Porcupine campground). The name was changed to the Indian word Minnetonka which means dripping waters which is how the formations are formed.

Sorry to do another slide show but I have a lot of pics from our trip and my kids don't ever get to see them unless I do something like this out of them on the computer. And the Najdawi's came up to visit us for the day on the beach, so I'm sure they'll enjoy seeing them. (Personally I love making slideshows and watching them!)

Like father like son

Hudson has really seemed to grow up these last few weeks. One thing that has changed is he actually enjoys sitting down and watching a full football game with his dad. He has always enjoyed sports but not to the point of watching them play by play. He will choose now to watch football with Larry over watching a video with Parks and Logan.
I like watching the Steelers and the Jazz because they are "our teams" and I know the players and care who wins, but when it comes to other teams I actually hate watching them. But Hudson will gravitate to the TV when he hears his dad yelling and he will start commenting on plays and certain things happening even when they are teams he doesn't know.
Sure, now I think it's cute, and "special" that they have this connection. But I feel sorry for his future wife. :) ha ha JK

Sunday we watched the Steelers vs. Chargers. (my brother Rance is a Chargers fan so I feel torn) . I grew up watching the Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers with my two brothers. Larry soon had me converted to the Steelers. He has very strong feelings "against" the Cowboys so it persuaded me not to like them anymore. (Sorry Chudri) So this win put them in the semi-finals. One more Superbowl win and they will have won 6 rings. More than any other NFL team in history! (knock on wood)

We saw some fans in the stands wearing Steeler masks so to get the kids riled up I put on a ski mask and Larry's winter hat he's had since he was Hudson's age. No, Tierra doesn't feel left out that she doesn't have a Steelers' shirt. She wouldn't wear one if we bought her one. And she isn't here watching the game with us because she went to Shae's house. Logan is our little photographer. He is always getting the camra out and taking our pictures anywhere, anytime. (Jeni inspired me to put these 3 songs on my blog, perfect for the occasion!)

Welcoming Emma Mae Williams

Kim, Stephanie M. and I are holding an open house baby shower for Jeff and Rachel's new baby.

It will be this Saturday, Jan. 17, 2-4pm at Kim Reynolds house. This way everyone will be able to congratulate Rachel, see her precious new daughter and have all their questions answered about how this miracle came to be.

We've asked Rachel if there is anything she needs, and here is a list of items she could think of off the top of her head.

A baby bouncer if a few of you want to go in on one.

Diapers and wipes

Formula...Target brand Enfamil (double check with her on that)

She has plenty of baby lotions, powder, wash etc.

We will also have a donation box if you'd rather just give her some money to help with the cost of the adoption.

Please tell everyone you see, we don't want anyone left out. :)

Cabela's

After our boys had a chance to go to Cabela's with Pop and Gram and eat the breakfast buffet, they have always wanted to go back. They tell us they had the best bacon. So we thought we'd take a trip down since Larry and I have never been there, and we took my mom. It is a fun place, even if you're not a hunter or fisherman. Tierra even said it was fun.

Unfortunately we didn't realize they only had the breakfast buffet on Saturday and Sundays. We got there on a Friday about 10:15am so we were starving! But all they had for us was boxes of cold cereal. So we all loaded back in the Suburban and headed down the freeway to IHOP. We were lucky enough to be back at Cabela's in time for the fish feeding frenzy. They have huge aquariums filled with enormous trout, bass, bluegills and others. We especially liked when they dropped in live gold fish and watching the fish eating them. Some of the fish that were too small to swallow them just swam around with the gold fish hanging out of their mouth still gulping for air. No, I'm not sadistic! It's the circle of life.

They have wonderful scenery with lots of varieties of deer and elk. We even seen a stuffed Polar Bear, Musk Ox and a Zebra head. Tierra was appalled that anyone would hunt a zebra.
I wish Larry could shoot one of these on his annual hunting expeditions and bring it home to the boys. They would love it! I sometimes wonder if he is really gone hunting. ha ha Maybe someday my boys will shoot one themselves.

Grandma gave the kids money, so we headed for the Shooting Gallery for some target practice.
They loved shooting the snake under the porch which would slither out and shoot water at your face. Parks said he was hit in the eye with "poison" 8 times!

Tierra and Grandma lounging in their "cabin living room".

I know Uncle Raymond and Ed would love this store. Mom said you have one similar to it, but I'm hoping you'll come out for a visit and I'll treat you to their breakfast buffet...Next time we'll go on a Saturday!