Early Morning Call

Whenever the phone rings during the night or early in the morning, it usually isn't for a good reason. So when Greg's Dad called around seven, there is always that scare especially when he starts with the name of my sister-in-law, Kathryn. He called to tell us their adoption went through and they now have a little girl! They have been waiting so long for a baby when they finally decided to adopt about a year ago. They received the call last night saying a lady went into labor 6 weeks early and asked if they wanted her daughter for their own. They have been exstatic ever since. Since she is so premature, she has been on a ventilator to help her breathe but as soon as she is breathing allright on her own, they can take her home. Esther Hope McNielis was born July 29th. She is 5 lbs 8 oz and a beautiful little one with lots of dark hair. They are going today to sign everything to make her theirs and they will be able to take her home. We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet her. Congratulations!

Dog Attack

So last night we took Molly for a walk down to Main street to get some ice cream and walk home. On our way back this huge dog comes tearing out of a back yard dragging a tire that he is chained to. The tire catches on a tree and his collar snaps. He took off after Molly and attacked her. He was about one and a half of her and chewing and growling and going crazy on her. I booked it to the door and was ready to go through it if they didn't come out any faster when they finally opened the door. I turn around and Molly is in a heep with the dog towering over her and her leg in his teeth. I have never heard an animal cry like she did. Greg finally got the one dog off her enough for Molly to run and hide under a car with the other dog just growling and trying to attack. The owners finally got ahold of their dog trying to get control and we grabbed Molly and just held on to her so tight. All of us were shaking so bad. It was awful.

We grabbed the cell phone and called the police to get a report in case Molly needed stitches or had to go to the vet and the other people freaked out. They started yelling at me not to call and that they would pay for any vet bills just don't call the police. Right there it was the immediate "I'm calling now". Obviously, if you get mad because someone calls the police, it sounds like you have something to hide which means I need more officers over here now! He then started getting mad at us that we walked past and how dogs guard their territory and we should have not been there. We were walking on a city street and their dog attacked us when we weren't even close to him. That is when we walked across the street to get away from him and to wait for the police. We got looking Molly over and she was so wet. It was dark enough though that we couldn't tell from what, whether it was blood or saliva. The cops finally showed up with a flashlight and we went over her with a fine tooth comb. She just stood there and shook. It didn't look like any skin was broke though so that was a great relief. She was covered in saliva and her fur was so matted from him.

As we were filling out a report, the one owner brought over the collar that was on the other dog. It was a leather strap about 2 inches wide and he snapped right through it. We also found out it was a Russian Mastiff. No wonder it was huge! They were given a citation for a loose dog, an aggressive dog attack, and not having the dog registered with the city. They should have got one too for just being a jerk but I guess there isn't a law that says people have to be decent. We did find out what made the dog snap though. Molly was in heat last week but has been done for a couple days but it looks like she still has the scent on her. Boys, they just can't control themselves. One of the neighbors came out and she was so cute. Her name was Michelle and she noticed I was shaking and came over and gave me a big hug and said that she is an animal lover too. We finally got home around 11 when we started our walk about 8:30.

It's That Time Again

This is what the counter tops at my house look like right now, covered in apricots. Greg's parents have this huge apricot tree in their backyard and invited us to pick what we wanted. We brought home mulitple grocery bags full of large plump apricots and will be spending the next few nights making it all into jam. There just isn't anything like homemade jam or home grown food. My dad loves them so we gave him a bag but come to find out, they give him quite the tummy ache if he eats too many. As we were leaving, he gave me a hug and says "thanks for the belly ache I hope I don't get." Greg did get the stomach ache though. He ate about 8 of them and, by the time we went to bed, was thinking he should have stopped long before he really did.

The picture looks really blue when in reality, my counters are white and the apricots are a bright orange.

Molly, The Rabbid Killer Dog Of Death...

So, I thought I would make a post about our killer dog. She is so scary that we haven't had any problems with people breaking in since we got her, no not one. In fact, she annihilates flies, bees and other pesky bugs from our home right out of the air in one single chomp of her death jaws. I have footage to prove this horrific scene of attack.

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VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED:

NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART OR THOSE WHO ARE AFRAID OF DOGS

Here we see a predator in the home. If you have ever seen "Little Shop of Horrors" you will know what kind of havoc these creatures can cause.

This next clip of destruction is when we were attacked by the horrid flood of fury.



As you can see our home is one not to be messed with. So, robbers BEWARE!!

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EDITORS NOTE:
The weird noises in the video is the camera zooming in and out, don't ask why it was making this noise, I don't know.

Abby's Birthday

Kim gave us a CD of pictures from Abby's birthday back in May. Abby is such a funny girl that we all just giggle. Here are some of my favorites off the CD.

She soesn't slow down for much but she will for a cupcake.


"Dad, stop buggin me."


What a ham!



Here is one of Ryan's side of the family at Kaden's blessing.

Happy Independence Day!

Holidays are always good but this past weekend was excellent. We went non-stop and finally slowed down yesterday long enough to get in a nap but it was well worth it and wouldn't have it any other way. The festivities started Thursday. Greg's family all got together and had a big dinner and played some volleyball. It was fairly warm but we had so much fun. We then set up sleeping bags and had a big slumber party in the backyard and watched Muppet Treasure Island. Greg's dad bought a projector from Greg's best friend so we set it up on the back of the house and ate popcorn and licorice. The next morning most everyone headed to watch the hot air balloons while Greg, Kay, and I got ready for breakfast. We had two Camp Chefs going with griddles on each and then another grill and griddle. We had quite the feast with pancakes, eggs-to-order, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns, orange juice, and milk. We were all so full we just laid around for awhile while we digested.

We then headed up Diamond Fork in Spanish Fork Canyon to shoot Greg's new shotgun. Jill and Mike, Becky and Ryan, Dominik and Cindy, and Kevin, along with good old Molly all came with us and had a great time. We had 3 rifles, 4 shotguns, and 2 pistols to keep us enterained and then added a few charges of tannerite. Greg, Becky and I were the only ones there who had ever seen tannerite before so we had to do a couple of those. For those who don't know, tannerite is a binary exploding target. When shot with a high powered rifle, it completely disinegrates everything around it. We put a log on it once and all we had left were splinters. It is quite the amazing thing especially with how small it is. At first, we shot one by its self and it was cool but then we put an old broken laptop on it. It completely shredded it and blew pieces about 100 feet into the air. We were shooting for about 3 hours and had a lot of fun. We then came home and found out that Ryan and Molly got into some poison oak and were covered in red spots and rashes. Ryan wasn't too bad but the dog was covered. She got a bath in hydrocortisone which she just tried to lick off but it seemed to do the trick. They were completely gone yesterday.

When we arrived home, we all loaded up the Jeep and went to a park in Provo to watch the fireworks. We did some hamburgers and once again played some volleyball. It was so fun to see friends and be able to goof around with them. Dom was pretty funny all evening. We noticed he was gone all of the sudden and we found him lighting sparklers with the group next to us and eating watermelon with them. At least he was having fun. We then watched the fireworks which were amazing as always (loved the smiley faces). We booked it out once they were done and were able to beat the traffic out of Provo. We got stuck in it one year and didn't get home for another 2+ hours.

Saturday we slept in! Yay! I had a baptism for Primary I had to be to as part of the presidency and it was so good. Baptisms are always good but this one was so amazing. The boy was so scared of the water but did it anyway and just beamed. It was so good to see. I got home and found out Greg got suckered by a traveling salesman. It wasn't bad though. He was selling this soap stuff that supposedly cleans everything. I was impressed. It cleaned an oil spill that was in the drive-way (from Greg's first attempt at changing the oil in the motorcycle), paint spots from when we painted the kitchen and carpets. It is even safe to drink the gallon straight so I figured it wasn't too bad. If only it would work to treat poison oak.

We then went out on the lake with Kyle and Jill Gardner on their boat that he has been working on for the past year. We mostly wanted to see if it would run and what else he needed to work on. It fired up after playing with the choke but didn't want to stay running. It worked pretty well though so we took it off the trailer, picked up Greg after he parked the truck and headed out to sea (Utah Lake, close enough). We started to open it up when we heard a sound that was like it backfired horribly. We take the cover off to find it was sitting wrong on the engine and had rubbed and snapped the timing belt. Thankfully, another boat was nice enough to give us a tow back in to the ramp. We loaded it on the trailer and spent the rest of the afternoon eating snadwiches and fishing with a great time had by all. It was a great weekend that went all too fast.

Not Fair!

My sister is moving from Murray to St. George! Not fair! She is like my best friend and she is going to ditch me and go to my favorite place leaving in October. Becky moved up here a year and a half ago and it has been so fun giong rock climbing and playing baseball and making jam and just all around playing but now she is going to leave. That is enough to make a sister really sad. Everyone help me convince Greg to move south as well!