Xander the Great

After 3 days, our dog finally got a name. We went through web sites of baby names and dog names and tried out everything from Jazz to Oreo, Fredric Chopin (Fred) to Jax. But we finally all agreed on Xander. Kyrie wanted a 'real person' name for him. Zach wanted to name him after the Utah Jazz or D. Will. Poor Halle was just confused because we kept calling him different names to see how we liked them. Xander is doing great, though. He is the best dog ever. He goes potty when we take him outside and has only had a few accidents in the house. I give a lot of credit to my kids on this one. They keep an eye on him and run him outside if its been a couple of hours or if he acts like he needs to go. It has been so much fun to watch these kids fall in love with this dog. This dog has made my kids so happy. They just light up whenever he is around. And they have been doing better at picking up their things because they don't want the dog to chew on it! He is going to be very spoiled. He's been OK in the night until last night. I heard him wandering and whining at midnight. He was hiding in 'his corner' and crying. Zach had fallen asleep watching TV and didn't put him in the cage. We spent this morning looking for "surprises."

Today we are leaving to go to Clarkston to load up our trailer. We are leaving on Sunday to go to Bear Lake for 5 days. I'm excited to go. I love Bear Lake and this is the first time we've taken our trailer to Bear Lake. We are staying at Rendezvous Beach State Park with my mom and dad. So, no internet, no blogging until we get back.

Happy Birthday, Zach!!

Zach turned 11 years old today. He is the best son a mom could ever ask for. I am so proud of him for being such a kind person, for being a hard worker and for being a fantastic brother. I love you, Zach. Happy Birthday, Buddy!

IT'S A BOY!

You didn't even know we were expecting an addition, did you? Well, he was born April 28. He currently weighs 3 pounds. He is eating solid foods and is working on potty training. He is very advanced for an 8 week old baby. The only problem is, we haven't totally decided on a name for him yet.



We found him on KSL.com and drove to Santaquin today to see him. We got him from a very nice lady named Carmen. As Kyrie said, it was 'puppy love' at first sight. He is a Maltese, Shih Tzu, Yorkie mix. He will only be about 5 pounds fully grown. He is very calm and sweet. Already, he is cheering the kids up when they are sad. He is the sweetest, most adorable creature ever.

Name to be announced soon. We have to figure out what to call him.

Where's Halle

I went to the best workshop for the last 3 days. The Arts Express workshop is put on through BYU and is about integrating arts into the classroom. I had classes on publishing student's writing, jazz history, media literacy, dance and media arts. We learned how to do some fun movie stuff and when I got home yesterday, Halle and I made this movie. She has watched it about 100 times already. Teachers- can you just think of the possibilities? Today, each of my kids made a clay-mation video. Once they are totally finished, I will post them too. Believe it or not, the media arts class wasn't even my favorite, the dance class from Marilyn Berrett was. She has so much energy and so many great ideas. If some of you my school want to go next year, talk to me and maybe we could pay for it with music money!

Wicked Tickets!

I have Wicked Tickets for SLC next spring!!!

I am so excited. A couple of weeks ago my friend, Gina, called me to tell me that her mom has season tickets to the Capitol Theater and could get me tickets to Wicked if I wanted. Well, after thinking about it for like 1/10 of a second, I told her YES!!! She got 5 tickets for us today. She text messaged Gina during lunch today to let her know that she got really good seats and was very excited. I'll find out tomorrow what day the tickets are for. I can't wait. THANKS GINA & GINA'S MOM.

Happy Father's Day

Cliche', I know. But here are the top 10 reasons I adore my dad:

10. My dad is a very hard worker. He not only worked full time as a project manager for Thiokol forever, he ran the family farm, too. Now, even though he doesn't work at Thiokol anymore, he still works full time 'rustling' cattle and on the farm.
9. My dad is a very good teacher. He taught us the value of working hard (we hauled hay, cleared rocks out of fields, pulled rye, fed calves, etc., etc.), he taught us the value of money and even more importantly the value of the gospel.
8. My dad loves church history and the scriptures. He always amazed me with his knowledge of the scriptures. He has a special love for Joseph Smith and early church history. He passed on his love and testimony of Martin Harris and the Book of Mormon to us.
7. My dad is faithful in his church callings. Whether it was as bishop or scout leader, he gives each calling as much dedication as the other.
6. My dad loves to sing. Unfortunately, the family genes for singing 'on key' passed him by, but he still loves to sing with vim and vigor. I will never forget when he was in the bishopric and you could hear his singing voice over the microphone.
5. My dad tells a good story. When we were little, we loved it when the power went out and dad would tell us scary stories. One night he even took my brother out to the cemetery to drop him off and walk across it- I don't think my brother succeeded.
4. My dad loves his grandchildren. He claims that he spoils them, and he is right. However, it is not with material things. It is with 4 wheeler rides, popcorn and snuggles. Those kids have him wrapped around their tiny, grimy fingers.
3. My dad loves the outdoors. He hates being inside for very long. He used to ride horses and snowmobiles all of the time. Now, he rides 4 wheelers and front end loaders. He loved to hunt and play golf. He fishes now and loves to camp. Camping however must include the trailer, tv, dvd player and microwave.
2. My dad loves his hometown- Clarkston, UT. He was very honored to grow up there. He loves Gun Sight peak. He loves to farm the land. He loves that his ancestors have lived there for 6 generations. He loves to go for drives in the mountains. He loves that Martin Harris lived there (with his aunt Nancy Homer Harris) and is buried there. That must be why he hates to leave home for more than a few days at a time.
1. My dad is not only smart, he is wise. He thinks things through. He gives great advice.

I love you, dad! Happy Father's Day.

Interesting

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 6 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

There were 0 people with Kyrie's name, how's that for unique?

Brittley the Brave!

Richie, Brit, Diana & Carson

I spent yesterday morning at the hospital with my niece Brittley. When Brittley was born, they found out she had a problem with her heart and told her parents that she would eventually have to have it fixed. Now that she is 7, it was time to take care of it. My sister, Diana, and her husband, Richie, took her a couple of weeks ago to Primary Children's for an appointment and they set up the procedure right away.
When I got there at 7:00 am, Brittley was just changing into hospital p.j.'s. She was very nervous. They had given her a little blue stuffed puppy with colored patches on it. Brittley named him Patch and the nurses put a hospital band around his tummy with his name on him.
We went across the hall to wait for them to come and get Brit. They asked her if she wanted to walk, ride in a bed or have her dad carry her. She definitely wanted to ride in the bed. The nurses had her wave to people as we passed- Princess Brit should've worn a tiara! They took us downstairs to the Cath Lab. The whole procedure took place right there. Brittley was SO BRAVE when we said goodbye to her. I could tell she was scared, but she put on a happy face and gave us all hugs. I told her to take good care of Patch because he was a little nervous and she hugged him a little harder as they wheeled her into the room. They gave Diana a pager and told us that when it beeped we should come back here. Richie had a really hard time leaving his little girl. We decided they should have anesthesia for worried dads and just knock them out, too.
We went to the cafeteria to get a little something to eat and wait. After eating, we went back down to the waiting room nearest Brittley. We waited about an hour and half before the beeper went off. We walked back by the room and the doctor was there waiting for us. He took us in a little room where he showed us an ultrasound of the whole procedure. One of the valves in Brit's heart was too narrow and there was a lot of pressure on it. The procedure was a lot like an angioplasy. They sent a catheter up through her leg to her heart. They inflated a balloon through the valve to stretch it and make it bigger. The final result was exactly what they'd hoped for, there was less pressure on that valve and the blood was flowing through it better. They took Brittley up to post-op where all three of us were able to go sit with her. Her tummy bothered her a little, but she did so well.
Post-op was so noisy. I don't think I could work in there all day. At least in my job, I have some control over it. If you have upset screaming children, there's not much you can do. Brittley spent the day in post-op. I sat with her while her mom and dad went and got lunch. She slept the whole time and when they got back, I left for home.
I'm so proud of you Brittley. I love you and I hope you're up running around soon so you can enjoy your summer!!!