Meet Sam

Twenty-four hours ago, she was a typical long haired golden retriever.  Twenty-four hours ago, she was my brother's dog.

Now, she is a somewhat untypical short haired golden retriever.  Now, she is our dog.  I really wouldn't call myself an animal lover.  In fact, I've never wished for a pet.  The only pets I've ever had were a hampster named Goldie, and a beta fish named Professor Plum, and they weren't all that exciting.  I could very happily go through life without a pet.  However, I have a husband and children who I love and who love animals.  I also have a brother who needed a new home for his dog (a dog which I admittedly like and who is great with children).  So we agreed to take her once we were settled.  My only conditions are that she doesn't shed and stink all over our house.  We spent two and a half hours cutting her hair and bathing her last night.  Her fur is now 1/2 an inch long and she smells better; we could have knitted a new dog with all that we cut off!  The kids are loving her, she's following Jim around like a shadow, and she is loving all the new smells out here.  She even came back when I let her roam free.  So far so good.     

Baby Love

This little guy is just incredibly cute and I love it!

This has been cracking me up lately.  He constantly crosses his little feet like this when he's sitting on the floor.

True Love

This Thanksgiving I'm grateful for true love...

...all of them. 

I'm incredibly thankful for Jim.  He's such a wonderful husband and father.  He sacrifices so much of his time and energy, in fact most of it, for us.  He's willingly and happily allowed me to stay home with our kids from day one, even though he was a full-time student and full-time provider.  When Alex was born, he encouraged me to go out alone so I could have a break while he watched all three kids on his own...numerous times.  That might not sound very heroic, but I think it is!  I love this man! 

Logan is my favorite four year old.  What can I say?  I guess I'm biased!  This kid loves books.  I think they are number one on his list.  This is his reading spot now.  

He loves Primary and he constantly talks about when he is going to be a missionary and go to the temple. 

He is a wonderful big brother.  Lately he's been begging me to let him "watch" Alex when I need to do something downstairs.  He plays with him, reads to him, and makes sure he has a pacifier when he needs one.  I love this kid!  (Even if he did try to push me out the door when I dropped him off for a slumber party with my mom tonight..."Mom, when are you going home?!")

My Annie girl has so much spirit.  She loves to make messes, run, giggle, tease, and she is a total mischief maker.  She's incredibly sweet too.  She "nurses" us when we are sick or hurt or sad, and she has the most sympathetic little voice I've ever heard.

I love getting glimpses into how her mind works.  While my boys seem to look at their world and learn like Jim does, my girl reminds me of myself.  She is curious, and not afraid to figure things out; she's independent!  She's very logical too.  Already she can put together regular jigsaw puzzles (to a certain degree) and when we played Memory yesterday, she could remember where the matches were better than I could!

She loves her brothers!  Poor Alex continues to receive the full brunt of it since he can't escape yet.  I love my little sweetheart! 

Alex is such a neat little guy.  I've never seen a happier baby.  All day long he smiles at us, babbles, and examines his toys.  He is very curious and has to look at everything long and hard.  Logan did that too as a baby.  He's my happy spot when I get stressed.  I just have to look at him and he'll smile and often giggle at me.  He just emanates sweet innocence.  I'm so glad this little man has joined us, and I can't believe he's already 8 months old!

More Progress

Today I finally started unpacking our books.  I'd had the book boxes all stacked up in one area and I guessed there were about 30 boxes.  I was wrong.  There were 40!  In any case, after working hard there are only 12 left (and they are the smaller ones)!  Woohoo!  I never realized how much having shelves filled with books make it feel like home.  Now if I can just get pictures on the walls and curtains on the windows...

Annie Says

So a few minutes ago, I was changing Annie's soiled diaper.  She sniffed the air and exclaimed, "I not like that smell!"  (Me either little girl.  I'm glad you're finally noticing.)  Hee hee.

Earlier today, Annie was looking at some fake plants we have on a decoration and she thought some of them looked like carrots.  When I told her they were cattails, she sadly said, "Oh!  It's not on the kitty cat anymore?"

Last night we watched Toy Story 3, and for any of you who haven't seen it the end is sort of bittersweet/ sad.  When Andy left the toys behind Annie started sobbing!  "He left the toys!"  She felt all of the emotion packed into that scene and maybe a little more because it was so real to her.  It took lots of hugs and several minutes to calm her down, and when it was mentioned this morning she nearly started crying again!  We are finding out that we have a very tender hearted little girl!

Making Progress

This is what the kids' room looked like for the first two weeks we were here, and Logan was a great sport about sleeping on the floor.

The reason we didn't have beds set up for them was because I wanted to re-finish a bunkbed that had been given to us.  It really didn't look bad before, but there was some writing on it that would only come off with sanding.  So I sanded and stained the whole thing.  The kids have been so excited about this!  And it has helped with Annie's graduation to a big bed.  She has a hard time settling down to sleep, and I'd kept her in the crib as long as I felt I could because I knew she would be a terror once she wasn't trapped.  (I was right.)  She finally started sleeping like a big girl when we moved, and bedtime was pretty painful.  Actually having the bunkbed up has helped her be slightly more inclined to go to bed.

Everyday I'm trying to unpack a little bit, but I still have a lot to go!  It's amazing how long it takes to unpack with three kids underfoot.  Progress is slow, but it is happening!  Jim says it looks a little better everyday which is great encouragement. 

Mining Museum

For a school activity this week, we went to the Museum of Mining and Industry.  I didn't know how interested my kids would or would not be, but thought it would be worth finding out.  When we arrived and she told us the tour would take an hour I had my doubts (since I knew it was a small museum), but they loved every minute of it!

We learned how to pan for gold.  Here they are getting directions; they all paid attention and followed instructions!

The lady who gave us the tour was named Audrey...which little Audrey thought was pretty neat.

Digging in!  The kids stayed surprisingly dry for this part.

When she asked if we were ready to move on, no one budged.  There's nothing better than water and dirt!

She turned on several of the big machines for us.  Logan was a little nervous about the first couple; he's hiding behind a post here. 

The other kids weren't bothered by the noise, though; they were dancing to the beat!

We walked through a pretend mine, but first we had to put on our gear...and there was no way I was going to get the kids to look at me for a picture.

Laura was a good sport; she even tried on the boots and got stuck in em!

Audrey is holding a stick of dynamite there; watch out!

They are standing inside a cowhide belt for one of the machines. 

Watching another machine.  By this point Logan was begging for more.  He REALLY liked those machines.

Alex was an amazing guy through the whole thing!  He happily sat in the stroller for two hours (one hour tour, one hour to look around by ourselves inside and out).  He was all eyes for pretty much everything we did; I think he enjoyed it too!

Group picture!  Annie is actually in there, but she is behind everybody.  We were looking down a real mine shaft! 

They also had two donkeys which may have been the highlight for the little girls.  Did you know that donkeys used to live down in the mineshafts?  They used them to pull the mine cars, and if they were ever brought out of the mines, they were blind from being in the dark so long!

This field trip was even better than I'd expected, totally worth it!

Snow!

Night before last we had our first snowfall of the year, and since we no longer live four flights up I was able to send the kids out to play while I stayed inside with the baby.  Definitely a bonus of our move!

They were ready to play by 8am (which was a very good thing because it started melting promptly after that).

Making a snow angel.

Sampling the snow...eating it was the best part!

Halloween

Logan was Thomas the Train again this year...

Annie was a purple fairy, but if you asked her what she was she either said she was "purple" or a "butterfly".

My little pumpkin...he was very interested in his shoes.

We went to the party in our old ward...sort of our last farewell.  Annie was feeling a bit anxious during the dinner; it was really crowded and she didn't know what to think about all the costumes.

We played a few games...

Afterward they had a trunk or treat.  The kids had a blast going from car to car for their candy!

Cute Pics

Cuddle time with Daddy...

Watching outside... (not loving how easy it is for them to climb up there)

More cuddle time with Daddy...