Annual migration to the North

Here is a sum up of our annual migration to the north! Every year we go up to visit my parents in Washington. I love it and want to move "home". I love the spring in Washington when its starting to get warm and people are starting to think about planting gardens. My brother and his family had recently moved up north too so we were able to see them and their new house, dog, and chickens!

Breeona went fishing and caught one!

Here is the view from my parents deck. I love this view. It is so relaxing to go out there in the morning or evening when it cools down.

The kids built a fort

Jaxon loved eating and watching outside.

Sunsets are so beautiful there

We got a pretty good storm while we were there and it was beautiful too!

Here is Stormy being naughty- chewing a bone and sitting on a kids chair.

Breeona got to visit her dad.

Here is Jaxon looking out the window at the kids playing.

We also got to meet Kira! It was so funny to watch kira and Stromy play together. They are the same age, only a day apart, and Kira is bigger. They would growl and fight and chase and tackle all day long

Crazy Hair

Breeona had a week of fun at school. This is what we did for crazy hair day!! It was out by the time she came home. She said it was itchy and people couldn't see around it. lol

Jaxon is an artist- a tattoo artist

 I was down on the computer and Jaxon was upstairs playing quietly......

too quietly....

I went upstairs to get Jaxon because we NEEDED to be at Breeona's school in five minutes to eat lunch with her. It was a special day for her where parents can come in and have lunch and read books.

I get upstairs and find that Jaxon has somehow reached into that cardboard box and pulled out some of Breeona's markers.....

It was everywhere!! Legs, carpet, doors, walls, laundry basket, more walls..... everywhere except on the cardboard box!

I had no time to clean up because I was running late as it was so I just slipped a pair of pants over what he already had on and we where out the door!

Baseball season

 Here is Miss B's baseball team! They were the Mets this year. She had a ton of fun, as always. This year it was super nice for Kevin and I too. (we didn't have to coach!) She had some great coaches and all her friends were on the team. She was one of the older kids on her team this year. 

 It took her some time to warm up this year. Last year she was a big slugger. This year she was a bit more timid. After a few games she got some good hits.

 Most of the time though, was spend playing. Not baseball.

A few scary things happened this year:

#1 Breeona was almost up to bat and she was probably standing a bit too close to the batter. Well the batter took a big swing, launched the ball and then lost his grip on the bat. The bat was flung backwards and dinged right into B's shin! Ouch! She dropped to the ground and was out for the rest of the game (about 5 min).

#2 A week or so later we were sitting watching the game and Jax saw his sister sitting waiting to bat so he went and sat right in front of her. We all thought it was so cute of him to try to be like his sister. Not even 10 seconds later a foul ball was hit. Hit on a line drive to Jax's forehead. Clunk! It makes me sick to my stomach to think of the sound it made. He instantly fell backwards and started to scream! We grabbed him and someone brought us some ice for his head. He got a welt and you could see the laces of the ball in his forehead! K and I had no idea of how bad it was of if it was bad. Lucky for us we have an awesome pediatrician in our ward who -again lucky for us- was there so he checked him out and told us he should be fine.

Miss B's New Friend

Breeona's school is quite congested after school. Everyone either walks or drives. No one rides the bus- I don't even like getting close to that place! It is crazy! Breeona walks about 1 block and I pick her up there. I was a little late picking her up and as I drive up to where we normally meet there she is with - wait what does she have- its pink- huge- what??-

Its's a huge flamingo balloon. HAHA It was so funny to watch her try to carry this ginormous bird. Her class has been testing lately and it was the last day so they had a fun drawing for her class- this is what she won.

Bed fellows

A friend is moving and gave a huge tiger to Kevin for our kiddos. Breeona has been playing with him for a while but one night about a week ago she let Jax play with him in his crib. Last night when we went into check on Jaxon he totally has a cuddle buddy! Look at those toes sticking out. lol

Best Big Sister

I came downstairs to find this:

 Jaxon has the best big sister ever!- He know it too.

He sat there with her for the longest time just watching her on the computer.

Nice people Rock!!

Last night I  lay my head on my pillow at about 10pm and BAM! All of a sudden I remember a flash of something: I see my clutch wallet in the shopping cart in front of the neighborhood Walmart. My head comes off my pillow. CRAP!!

I went shopping at about 8:30am that day and I haven't seen my wallet since. CRAP! I check my car-purse-drawers-everywhere- even though I know the truth: in my rush to get back home I left my wallet in the front of the store in a shopping cart 14 hours earlier.

Kevin calls Walmart- they find nothing- The next day I swing by Walmart justincase- they don't even look. The lady says if they didn't have it last night they haven't found it (same lady Kevin talked to the night before)

I start calling my debit card peeps to cancel the card- she says that someone from walmart called and they have it...... (say what???!!!)

I call Walmart back and different lady says- oh yeah its right here- even has the cash still in it!

I go pick it back up from Walmart approx 26hours after leaving it there!!

Thank you nice random person who turned in my money-cards-insurance-recommend-licence- without taking anything. You are AWESOME!! And I appreciate your kindness.

PS -Walmart your employees need to communicate a bit better :)

Stormy

Kevin has always said when Bandit dies we won't get a new dog for two or three years. WELL, that didn't happen. I think because of the trauma we all experienced we needed something nice and happy. Both of us were extremely unsure of this decision. We both went back and forth and back again. I was always so bugged with Bandit for jumping on the back door as soon as we would pull into the drive way but as soon as I walked in our house without that- it felt so empty. So we did the crazy thing- not to replace Bandit- but to try to forget his death- we got a new puppy.

Meet Stormy:

I found her on craigslist, she is a black lab. She is 11 weeks old. Now when Kevin called the lady she really didn't want to sell her. She breeds dogs and had picked this dog to keep from the last litter. That is why she is so old. (usually you get a puppy at about 8 weeks) She was the "pick of the litter" but the lady and her husband needed the money and so about a week ago he tried one last time to put her online. No one called so she had decided once again to keep her. Then we called. She cried a bit on the phone talking to K when she talked about this dog. She loves this dog. She didn't call us back- for hours- I thought she never would- then she did- She said we could come and see her but only if we were seriously thinking about her- we were- That is when we told Breeona about MAYBE getting a new puppy- and we had a good talk about it- so we left Jaxon with K's parents and Kevin, Breeona, K's sister Kelsi, and I, went to see her. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT- It was fun because we were able to see both her mom and her dad- Her mom is a yellow lab and her dad is a huge black lab. Her mom was friendly but mellow and her dad was friendly and not so mellow. He picked up a ball and tossed it to Kevin, K threw it and the dog would bring it back and with its mouth toss it back to someone. Of course we got her and brought her home. The lady got teary eyed and gave us so many things for her! She gave us a Lab book, a Lab magazine ( both of which are FILLED with awesome info), a collar, and a leash. Then came the sentimental things; some toys she likes, a rawhide she has started chewing, the tiger stuffed animal she sleeps with, the blanket she sleeps on- all to give her comfort at her new home and so she doesn't get sad on her first night.

She is a great little puppy! She has a great little personality. One minute she is jumping and running and chasing her tail and trying to chew on EVERYTHING- the next she will just sit and watch what is happening. She sleeps in her crate at night ( with her blanky and tiger) and even during the day when she is tired she goes right in there to take a nap. She is house trained and hasn't had even one accident yet!

Jaxon thought her crate was his new play house and was going in and out and in and out banging the door and filling her house with his toys. She just checked him out for a while and climbed on him. When she had seen enough she curled up in the back and took a nap and let Jax play in the front.

Bandit's last day- A trip to the mountians

Saturday we went to Mt. Charleston to play in the snow. Our kids haven't had a chance to play in the snow yet this winter so we made a few trips to Savers and DI to find snow clothes and packed the family into the truck. We had a wonderful day. It was Bandit and Jaxon's first time to see snow. They both loved it. Bandit didn't want to jump out of the truck- he was scared of the snow. Once he was down he loved it!! He was running and playing and trying to eat it. We were sledding and enjoying the few hours we had.

 - Then tragedy struck -

Jaxon and Kelsi were in the truck getting warm. Kevin was taking pictures of Breeona and I sliding down the hill one last time. Bandit decided to run into the main road and we started calling him back- as he was wandering back a big green truck came around the corner and even though the driver tried to stop he ended up hitting Bandit. Kevin, Breeona and I saw the whole thing. It was the most horrific thing ever. Breeona started screaming and screaming so I grabbed her and pulled her away. I looked down the hill and saw Bandit limping toward Kevin so I thought maybe he's just hurt. The truck didn't seem to hit him that hard. The driver had stopped and so I had Breeona run back up the hill to Kelsi. I ran down to see if I could help. I talked to the driver and he was so sad and sorry. He almost had started to cry. He said he had tried to slam on his brakes but could stop. I told him it wasn't his fault- and I really do believe that- it is our fault for not keeping better track of him. He left and I went to Kevin and Bandit. Right as I got there Bandit was slipping away. I cried hard. As did the rest of the family. We went back up the hill to see how B was doing. Needless to say it was a rough afternoon.  That night Kevin gave Breeona a blessing and luckly she slept pretty well. I can't say the same about Kevin and I. Both of us had bad dreams. Downstairs feels so empty now.

Here are some pictures from that day.