Meet Carson

Time to meet the newest member of our family, Carson! We've been talking about getting a dog for a long time and even fostered a friend's dog for a while to try it out. Dan was always showing me pictures of cute dogs from the local Humane Society website, we went to some open adoption times at PetSmart, and still just couldn't decide.

Then the other day he showed me this adorable poodle that was at the Humane society and I said, let's go meet him! You're allowed to view 2 dogs per day so we picked another likely candidate to meet as well. The poodle came in the room and was super super cute, but super super shy. He wouldn't respond to us and just wanted to leave the room. Then you wonder if it would be fine once it got home, would it play with our kids, or just be shy.  So they brought Carson in and he was full of energy but super sweet and submissive at the same time. I was initially against buying Carson, partially because the poodle reminded me a lot of my first dog, and probably because it was going to be a big decision whenever we made THE choice. But, after watching him for a little while longer, we decided that he would be great for our family, and boy he hasn't let us down. Here is our 8 month old miniature schnauzer, Carson!

We've had him for about 3 days now, and he's only had one accident in the house, loves to cuddle, loves to play (with us AND the kids), and has been great around others. He is still a puppy and has some behaviors to learn, but he has been very trainable so far. Dan mad a great choice in Carson and I feel like our little family is complete now. We took him to the Garden of the Gods today and he got pretty excited around other dogs, but loved going on the trails and climbing the rocks with us. I'm sure he'll show up in many pictures to come!

Bucket List progress

Remember my bucket list for 2013? I have some progress to report

• Pay off the minivan (hoping for a good tax refund!)
• Obtain an animal, cat or dog
• See the new elephant exhibit at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
• Play with friends more
• Go camping at least 5 times
• Go hiking at least 10 times
• Go to the top of Pikes Peak either by driving or by the cog railway
• See my Dad
• McBride family reunion!
• Yes, I would like to lose weight...

I'd say that since it's only April, being able to cross off FOUR things from my list already is awesome!

I don't have any pictures of paying off my minivan, or of the elephant exhibit (oops!)

BUT, I did get to see my dad for the first time in about 2 1/2 years while I was visiting Valerie in Phoenix for Emma's baptism. 

I just had to take this picture of all of Valerie's kids with their bikes upside down pretending they were making ice cream. This is something we would do as kids and she has passed it onto them. Kyle is the best at making pretend ice cream!

Now for some photo-ops!

Me and Valerie

Dad and his girls

Mom and her girls

It's too bad Kevin couldn't make it, or we would have all been together for the first time in 6 years! But now we've all had the chance to be together at some point or another since we've been back from Korea.

And here's the special girl on her baptism day. It was a wonderful baptism and I was so glad to be there!

Now you may have noticed that another bucket list item was crossed off; getting a dog. Stay tuned for my next post!

Golden Birthday

Yesterday Cade had his golden birthday! He turned 7 on April 7th, and we had a wonderful weekend celebrating. I really mean that, because we had hardly any tantrums and truly enjoyed spending time together. Hooray!

Since his birthday was on a Sunday (which Cade noticed like 6 months before his birthday and was super bummed that he'd have to go to church on HIS day...lol), we celebrated some on Saturday and some on Sunday.

Saturday daddy surprised Cade with his first present, the jumbo ball. What kid wouldn't love one of these??

Then that afternoon Grandma Kathy and Uncle Kevin arrived to keep the party going. Colorado has a place called ITZ, which is a cross between Chuck E. Cheese's and Dave and Busters. It is nice and spacious, has a pizza buffet, pasta, salads, desserts, actual rides like bumper cars, a little roller coaster, ticket games and lots of other cool stuff. We all had a great time.

He was excited that he had gotten ahold of Dan's air hockey paddle, hahaha...

 You can't tell from the pictures, but in this game you picked a color, and whenever your color showed up on the wall you had to hit it before it disappeared. The person who hits the most of their color wins. Fun!

Uncle Kevin is Alex's best friend. The rest of us get NO attention when Kevin is around :)

Now it was the actual birthday! We let him pick his meals for the day and of course had cake and presents. After chocolate chip waffles, the present opening began. He got a blanket and a birdhouse kit from Grandma Kathy, Spiderman sticker book from Uncle Kevin, Spiderman sunglasses and goggles from Alex, and water guns, Snap Circuits and some new bath toys (and that jumbo ball!) from Mom and Dad.

Here's Cade playing with the Snap Circuits. These things are COOL. You build your own circuit board and make lights turn on, sound effects, even making a propeller blade launch into the air. 

The finished birdhouse!

The weather was just gorgeous so we spent the day playing with his new presents, playing outside, and then ended with a BBQ dinner and a pazookie for his birthday dessert. What a great day and great to spend it with family. 

Happy 7th Birthday Cade!!!

This week I am headed to Phoenix for my niece's baptism, and considering that it's supposed to snow here tomorrow, I'll take that Phoenix heat!

Spring Fun

It's officially Spring, even though it snowed last weekend, but we are all anxious for warmer weather. In Colorado it fluctuates like crazy, but honestly I love it because those few weeks of warm weather in January were the perk up I needed. Now it's nearly April and I'm hoping it trends a little warmer now for good.

Just thought I'd share a few things we've been up to.

Last week for FHE we made bunny puppets out of paper sacks and using scrap paper I have laying around. They boys had a lot of fun with them. The next day we made candy necklaces from a kit I found at walmart for $2. Fun!

Trampoline fun!

Then, for the 3rd quarter in a row Cade received a GOLD award at school. They do Renaissance cards, white, silver or gold, based on performance in school, attendance, behavior, etc. Congratulations Cade! This quarter I got there early to get a good seat and brought my special lens to get a good picture of him, but when Cade accepted his award he stood right in the middle of the row of kids, which is where everyone else was receiving there awards, so I didn't get a very good shot of him. In the brown bag is a free homework coupon, kid's meal at Applebee's, and various other pencils, toys and candies.

Then yesterday, to kick off Spring Break we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Our first stop was the planetarium, which it was one of the cooler planetariums I've ever been in. The boys loved the show about the Wildest Weather in the Solar System.

It was super crowded, so we ate our packed lunch on the floor.

Cade's always looking at the map!

The museum was super awesome, and we got a membership so we plan go go again since there was no way to see everything in one day. But somehow we didn't take any more pictures, lol.

Now I'm just trying to make it through spring break keeping both kids occupied without killing each other. Riiiiiight   ;)

Handsome

Yup, these are my handsome boys ready for church this morning!

Yup, he still has the mohawk, and i think he's rocking the hipster look!

February So Far

We've been keeping busy with the usual life stuff like work, piano lessons, homework, etc.

But this weekend was full of fun for the whole family, starting with Valentine's Day! Before the actual holiday, the boys and I made some fun heart decorations. Sometimes crafting doesn't have to be super fancy, just spending time with those you love.

On Valentine's Day we set up a trail of hershey kisses for the boys to follow to a few little gifts. I should've expected this, but instead of following the trail they just plopped down and started eating them all! The candy they consumed plus the heart shaped pancakes I made for breakfast certainly added a little 'pep' to our morning! Cade had a party at school and all in all it was a fun little day.

Friday Dan and I got a babysitter and took a much needed date. It had been awhile. I made all the plans and surprised him by agreeing to get a pedicure with him. He loves them, and I never wanted anyone to touch my feet, so it was a fun event together. That plus Thai food and Dairy Queen = an awesome night.

Saturday we double dated with our good friends and took them to a Korean restaurant. It's so fun sharing something we've come to love with other people, and they loved it too! It was also fun just chatting and laughing with them while our kids all had fun together at home. Score!

But the fun wasn't over. After leading the ward choir on Sunday the kids and I headed up to Denver for a visit with Uncle Kevin and Grandma Kathy! Cade had Monday off for President's Day so we had to take advantage of having family close.

The weather on Sunday was in the 60s so we headed to the park to feed the ducks and run around. (It's snowing right now, so I wish it were Sunday again!)

We even barbecued for dinner, it was that nice out!

Monday we all went to the Butterfly Pavillion that is in Westminster, CO.  This place is really fun if your kids love live bugs and fish, which mine do! You can hold a tarantula, touch starfish, horshoe crabs, and then walk through the humid butterly room where hundreds of butterflies are all around you. If you're still enough they may even land on you!

Alex wouldn't hold Rosie

But Cade did! Way to go buddy!

After the Butterfly pavillion we got lunch at Cici's Pizza and then headed to the Brass Armadillo, an awesome antique store. The boys were less than thrilled about it, but it's not always about the kiddos, right? We said our goodbyes and then just 'had' to stop at IKEA on the way home. Sweet!

What a weekend. I need another...

Why not?

I just had to share this sweet moment with you. It's been great having a backyard for the first time in our family's life, and we put a trampoline back there the week we closed on the house. Since the weather has been oddly mild lately, the boys were out playing on the trampoline. I noticed that it was pretty quiet out there, which caused us to go check on them. This is what we found. Haha... so sweet!

Just having a chat outside :)