Tessaroos

On August 12th we lost our dog Tessy. Ryan called me while we were swimming at Deseret Peak during my Mom's visit and asked where the dog was. I realized I never put her in her kennel before we left, but she wasn't around. She must have snuck out while we were all loading cars to leave.

2004- The first week she joined our family

This isn't the first time Tessy has run away.We've been lucky in the past, one time she just happened to be recognized my a family friend. We've learned that she usually sticks the sidewalk and ends up on the street behind ours. This time Ryan and I both drove around for a quite while, but couldn't find her. To add insult to injury, she didn't have her collar on that had our contact info. Any dog owner knows how noisy those tags can be... I usually have a piece of material wrapped around her collar to keep the tag from jingling but it had recently broke, so I just took off her collar until I could fix it again. PLUS... she does have chip, but it's not registered with us because I don't know the chip number.

2005

2006

I posted her picture on facebook and asked for help finding her. A friend from High School told me he saw the police loading up a dog like that just down the street from where we lived. I called dispatch and sure enough, they had picked up a beagle that night but we wouldn't be able to check with the animal shelter until Monday.

2007

2008

Needless to say the weekend was a little tense at our house. Even though Ryan said he didn't blame me, I sure felt guilty that I had lost his dog. To top it off, it was his birthday that weekend, so that wasn't exactly the best way to celebrate it!

 2009

Monday morning I was heading to the shelter as soon as I could. As I was loading Andrea, the shelter called and said "we do have a beagle, but she had a blue and white collar on and no tattoo under her ear". I was feeling really discouraged, but headed down anyway to see for myself. When I arrived the attendant said "I think I was looking at the wrong beagle when I called". When she brought Tessy out, I couldn't help but cry. Seeing your dog, is like seeing your child, there was no doubt it was her.

2010



She was filthy (with urine) and her stomach was pretty bloated. I took her to Ryan's parents because I was heading to the zoo with my Mom and brother's family, and I really didn't want to put Tessy in her kennel. Gary helped me give Tessy a quick hose bath outside and we were off. When I came to get her that night her stomach looked worse and she couldn't really walk. Ryan and I were really scared, we didn't know if she was hit by a car, or was starved all weekend, but turns out she just needed to "relieve" herself. After a much needed potty break the next morning she was back to her old self.

2011- New Collar

 Now you'd never know she left... she tells us when it's dinner time, follows Andrea everywhere, and still tries to run away when she is in the front yard. I've now got her a collar with her name and phone number embroidered on it from gotags.com, so no jingling! Plus, the shelter was nice enough to scan her chip for me so we can register her in our name. Her little adventure gave Ryan and I a glimpse of what it will be like when we have to say goodbye to our dog, and I don't think either of us are ready!

Mom's Visit

Last weekend my Mom came to visit from Texas. It was really nice to see her again since it's been almost a year since she moved. She spent three nights at our house, and two night's at Eric's. We set up a double bed downstairs in our theatre room and not only did my Mom seem to enjoy it, Andrea loved jumping on it!
My sister-in-law Amy and I had discussed some fun activities to do with the kids while she was here and everyday we got to do something different for the kids. Friday (the day after she arrived) we went swimming with the kids at Deseret Peak. Saturday Ryan and I were having a date night for his birthday so we opted out of the activities, but My Mom went to a movie at the Clark Planetarium with the other grandkids.

Sunday we had a family dinner at our house where the kids got to enjoy the playhouse and bubbles. It was night to have everyone together. Since it was Ryan's birthday, his parents and Grandma also joined in the fun.

Eric tried teaching the kids crochet but I don't think they paid attention!

Monday we all went to the zoo. I hadn't taken Andrea yet this year so I was excited to go, but it was just too hot!

They had some new animated dinosaurs at the zoo, and it may sound evil, but I loved watching my nephew Roland scream and cry. He hated those dang dinosaurs. Of course my little Tom Boy wasn't bothered at all by them.

We didn't stay too long because of the heat, but we got all the important stuff in there... train, carousel, giraffes, monkeys, and elephants!

Tuesday my Mom headed back to Texas, I'm so mad at myself for not getting a picture of her and Andrea! I hope she enjoyed her visit as much as we did!

My Man

Some of the many reasons I love my husband:
*He is the hardest working guy I know. He always ignores the pain of his crohnes disease to make sure his family is taken care of.

*He has such a weakness for Andrea. I could buy that little girl anything I want and he wouldn't say a word.

*He treats me like I am the most beautiful woman in the world.

*He has such a great sense of humor. He comes up with quirky come backs that I never would have thought of.

*He dreams big. He loves talking about our future and all the things he wants to accomplish (I just wish more traveling was part of those dreams)

*He is so smart. Whether it's a house repair, car repair, or computer repair. Ryan can fix it! And then answer most of the questions on Jeopardy while he's at it.

*He always says "love you" at the end of each phone call.

Ryan's birthday was on the 14th, his last year in his 20's. I am so lucky to have this guy as my eternal companion, he's a great Daddy and I know he would do anything for us. Happy Birthday Honey!

Flower Pillows

Saw some adorable flower pillows on a friend's link and loved them. I felt Andrea needed something on her bed so it would look more "made" than just pulling up the covers. Mine and Ryan's bed has 10 pillows when fully "made", so I definately needed something on hers. They turned out ok, they photograph a lot better than looking up close.

They really were as easy to make as the website said, and I thought they were fun to do. The only think I don't like is that the petals are really floppy, so I have to fix them when I "make" the bed. The red one was made with thicker fleece and I liked working with that better. Also, I used felt for the middle yellow, instead of fleece. I just figured it was easier to purchase a couple of sheets of felt for such a small area.

This project did come with a few injuries. First, a blister from the hot glue on my thumb as I was folding the center pieces.

And as I quickly removed the material from the thumb, it ended up in my armpit (don't know how) and I figured I better let it stay there and cool before I do more damage. When I did remove the piece it took off some skin, so I figured now Andrea will know that I really put a part of me in these pillows for her :)

Andrea loves the pillows, one night when I carried her to bed she asked "where's my flower?" and then snuggled up against it. For those of you interested in making these pillows here is the orignal link http://cometogetherkids.blogspot.com/2011/03/fleece-flower-petal-pillows.html

Wood Workers

Recently I was contemplating buying a cricut cutting machine. I got it into my head to make some seasonal letter blocking after I realized I didn't have any spring decor. My friend Kristi offered to lend me her cricut to see if I liked it. I am so glad I didn't buy one! After trying to scrap the vinyl off of the sticky pad without ruining it, and having to reprint a few letters because the "material saver" button didn't work like I thought it would, I was very frustrated! Not to mention the cost of vinyl and cartridges just isn't worth it to me! That being said, I am still very happy with my blocks!

Ryan was nice enough to cut the wood for me, but I should have thought to have him run the wood through the plainer first. The natural woodgrain often caused my paper to bubble and I had to re-do a few of them.

I think my favorite letter is the "a" in "Fall". You can't see it in the picture but it has a spider crawling down.

The bigger project finally done at our house is Andrea's playset. I've been begging Ryan to get this done, simply because I hate being asked to go to the park everyday (now I'm just asked to go in the back yard everyday). Originally Ryan wanted to design it and build it himself but we found this set at Walmart that was much more cost effective. We had set aside some of our tax refund just for this purpose, so even with all of Andrea's medical expenses lately, we could still afford it.

Andrea does well with climbing up the ladder and going down the slide but she still likes me to hold her hand so she doesn't go to fast, and of course, I have to push her on the swing. Hopefully one day she will go play by herself, but not quite yet.

I love the little playhouse in the bottom, and it also has a picnic bench on the backside. This was probably the first project in a long time that didn't cause marital problems for Ryan and I. We worked very well together, I would read the instructions and hand him what he needed. I just hope it holds up to the weather, and we need to figure out how it's going to work with mowing and watering the lawn, but that will come.

Girl's Camp

Four months of planning and Girl's Camp is finally over! The camp wasn't a stake camp this year, just individual wards, which meant we got to pick our own theme. We chose Boot Camp, which ended up having a lot of possibilities. So the first day of camp we gave all the girls their "rations" packets. The packets had a hoodie, a t-shirt, a camo bandana, dog tag, canteen, and gun. Each leader also wore a certain color camo bandana that matched which age group they supervised.

The bandanas actually really came in handy. The girls usually had some kind of duty (make dinner or clean up a meal) that was pre-scheduled according to their year. I could just glance at their bandana and figure out who was who. The first years wore orange, the second years blue, the third years purple, and youth leaders were pink. I wore a purple bandana which meant I was over the 3rd years, handled their certification, kept track of their where-a-bouts, and such.

We also assigned each year a miltary rank: 1st years- Cadets, 2nd years- Sergeants, 3rd years- Majors, Youth Leaders- Colonels, and all the leaders were Generals. The girls had a lot of fun with this and came up with creative nicknames for each other. Ones like "Major Moustache", "Cadet Kitty", "Sergeant Smalls". I was given the nickname "General Goldilocks". The girls wrote their names on their dog tags and canteens, which I thought was really cute!

I've really struggled with my calling as camp director... I was positive that after I completed this years camp I would asked to be released. I felt that through the whole planning process, no trust was placed in me. I didn't get to choose the theme, the crafts, shop for food... the things I did get to plan happened because I just went ahead and did them on my own. Ryan said I should have been happy with less responsibility, but what's the joy in that? If I am asked to do something I want to do it whole-heartedly! One day at camp my assistant and I were surprised by a "heart-attack" on our beds from one of the tent groups. I literally had to get my composure before I went back outside. I doubt the girls thought it would have made me cry, but it made me realize that this calling is about the girls, not my own frustrations.

When I think back to my young womens years I can remember all of my leaders, but can't tell you who all the girl's were or what the themes or activities were. The leaders are what make it special, that's why I spent as much time with the girls as possible... hiking, around the camp fire, doing crafts. I was so happy I got to know them all better!

Thank heavens for my assistant Mickell, the Lord truly inspired me while choosing an assistant camp director. I hadn't even talked to Mickell when I gave her name to the Bishop, she had just moved in the ward. But she has helped me "keep it real" and listen when I was frustrated or needed someone to share ideas with. The day before camp she got us these cute shirts, and we must think alike because I also got us some hats.

Here are some random pictures of the activities at camp.

Hike

Prayer Rugs

Sword fighting

Certification

Snipe Hunting

We had some really creative meals, and that credit belongs to the YW President Tawna and her counselors Danielle and Janalee.

 

MRE's (we thought that was fitting for our soldiers)

 

Boiled omelets (put all your omelet ingredients in a plastic baggy and boil it.)  

Banana boats and apple crisps in the fire

Walking tacos (place taco ingredients in a plastic bag, and some tortilla chips, mix it up and you have a taco salad).  Plus the good old buddy burner burgers, and lots of more delicious goodies. I don't ever remember having a camp with so much delicious food. Tawna always made sure we had lots of additional side options as well as snacks to keep the girl's happy.

Our destiny topics each day also pertained to our Boot Camp theme with a gospel twist. Day 1- Battle Strategies, I spoke about the basic training we have been given to combat temptation: Prayer, scriptures, word of wisdom, the commandments, and self worth. Day 2- Armor of God, Mickell related the Armor of God to modern day army equipment: bullet proof vest, tank, helmet, gun. Day 3- Battle stategies, theYW stake presidency was kind enough to host this day's destiny, and talked about taking out specific temptations with specific gospel ammunition, and they stayed for dinner. The last night of camp the Blacks were so kind to make dinner not only for us, but all of our visitors... the Bishobric, and the stake YW Presidency, and even Ryan came up to spend the night and drive the storage trailer back home for me. We had delcious dutch oven chicken and dutch oven carrot cake.

We were very lucky to have Bro. and Sis. Black lend us their camping location for the week. They were such good sports to put up with all the girls and they really seemed to enjoy themselves. The girls slept in tents, the leaders slept in a trailer and Mickell and I were in the cabin. When I informed the other leaders that I like my sleep they felt that the cabin would be the best place for me.

Here is the whole group minus Jim (Tawna's husband, he was taking the photo) he was also such a great help all week, it was nice to have two priesthood holders there to help us out with whatever was needed. I was so impressed with the girls in our ward and their willingness to do anything asked of them. I think between the great leaders and the great girls everything went really well. Just a fun week of bonding and camping! I think I'll stick this calling out for a while :) At least now I know more what is expected and feel more confident in my abilities.

Independance Day

Since my parents have moved to Texas, we weren't sure where to watch the parade this year. Their next door neighbors were out of town, and offered their curb to our family and friends.

Grandma Linda and Grandpa Gary were tending Petyon and Meryn while Matt and Sara were in California, so they got to join us for the parade as well. Linda had bought Andrea and Meryn matching outfits for the 4th.

 My brother Eric's family came as well as my brother Brent and his wife Becky, my friend Kristi, her Mom Laura and sister Jenna, and Jenna's husband Carl. This is why the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays... getting together with family and friends to laugh at the silly floats in Tooele's parade. Unfortunately there was no fly over this year by the jets, and no statue of liberty float doing the limbo under the power lines :( But the kids really enjoyed all the candy, even otter pops, flags, and necklaces were given out.

We really didn't do any other activities. Later in the day I had to help load all of the luggage for girl's camp and we had watched fireworks the Friday before at the high school football field. So a pretty relaxing 4th, the best kind of holiday!