Copper is 3!

How time flies! It seems like just yesterday that we brought home this little bundle of joy!

Just like kids, Copper has his naughty moments, but is a good boy most of the time! Lately he has been my running buddy! I grab the leash and say, “Do you want to go for a run?” He can hardly contain his excitement as we get in the car and head to Bountiful Boulevard, our favorite running spot. Hopefully we can both continue to get in better shape as we continue exercising together.

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures of my boys.

Happy birthday to my little furry boy!

Dog-a-POOL-ooza

Another one of our Fall traditions is the South Davis Recreation Center’s “Dog-a-POOL-ooza.” Every September, they close the pools for two weeks, drain them, and clean them. The outside splash pad is the last thing they do. So right before they drain it, they hold the Dog-a-POOL-ooza, letting doggies run wild in the splash pad and pool.

I’m pretty sure Ryan & I enjoy it more than Copper does.

Bear Lake – Monday, August 8

August 8-13 was our annual week at Bear Lake, one of our favorite weeks of the year! It was so packed with fun and excitement that I’m going to break it into daily entries.

Monday, August 8 we took Copper to a new kennel – the Utah Dog Park. Until now we’ve been pretty loyal to Coddled Critters, but I had a coupon for the Utah Dog Park. :)

We left after lunch and drove to our first traditional stop - Aggie Ice Cream at Utah State University.

Our second traditional stop - the Bear Lake overlook. Ryan did a big of yoga, and then I proved my brute strength by giving him a piggy-back ride (on my SHOULDERS!).

We got to the condo, unpacked, and relaxed a little bit. Then we went to our third traditional stop – Bear Lake Pizza. We enjoyed people watching while we ate, and then went next door for our chocolate covered raspberries! We enjoyed an evening of relaxing and visiting with friends who were also there.

Ryan’s Birthday ~ April 25, 2011

Even though we celebrated Ryan’s birthday on Saturday, April 23, that was also partially our Easter celebration. So we made sure that Ryan had a fun birthday day.

He got a morning hug and kiss from Copper…
And a bow and arrow from mom…I took treats to Ryan’s school class, and then he went to swim team after school. Rara, Papa & I picked him up from school for a special surprise. We drove to Layton to his favorite restaurant – Brick Oven!
I had also found a Tron Wii remote, so I gave him that at dinner. He had never seen one before, and could hardly contain his excitement there in the restaurant!

As always, we really spread out the celebrating. We had a fun few days!

Early April Fools’ Day?

Whenever I relate funny and/or amusing stories, my boss always asks, “Is there a video of that?” Wednesday, March 30, would have been a great day to have a head-cam. Since there is no video of the day, I’ll try to be as descriptive as I can. Sorry, no pictures either.

I drive carpool on Wednesdays. Ryan attends a school a little further away than our neighborhood school, so it takes us a while to drop off the other kids in the carpool and then make it home. Wednesdays he has scouts at 4:00, so it is usually pretty tight to get home, get him changed to his scout shirt, get his scout book, and get him to scouts on time. March 30 was particularly stressful, as I had the conference call for my PhD comprehensive exams at 4:00. I told Ryan that morning that we’d really have to hurry, and that I’d have to take him to scouts a few minutes early so I could make it home in time to call in and log in to the web conference.

The day was warm and sunny – a switch from the Utah Spring snow we had the days before and after. Ryan BEGGED to “shoot hoops” for “just a minute.” That should have been my first warning.

Ryan and Copper have this high-contact basketball routine. As Ryan shoots hoops, Copper plays an excellent defender, trying to prevent Ryan from shooting. (As I type this, I realize that I really do need to video one of their games.) As they were playing, apparently Copper just unexpectedly ran off.

A couple of minutes later, Ryan shot the ball, and it went into the yard. He noticed Copper near the house, and went to investigate. Copper was standing over a newly-killed RAT! I have lived in this house on and off since 1972, and I have NEVER seen a rat!

Copper was standing over it, but kind of pawing at it. I knew we had to dispose of it immediately, especially before we left. I didn’t want Copper to be left alone in the backyard with it. I asked Ryan to hold Copper back while I went for the garbage can, which was outside of our back gate at the time. I opened the gate to bring in the garbage can, and Copper went running by!!!

Copper has escaped the yard a handful of times, and once he’s gone, he is usually gone for a very long time. Ryan and I have spent many hours chasing him around the neighborhood. As he ran down the driveway, I came to the horrific realization that I would not likely be making it to my conference call on time.

About that time, I had a thought. Copper loves to go for rides in the car. I yelled, “Copper, do you want to go for a ride in the car?” He ran back up the driveway! I opened the car door, he jumped in, and I closed the car door. He looked at me with the most betrayed look on his face! I yelled to Ryan to get the leash, and we got him a bit more restrained.

While Ryan was holding the leash, I went to our shed to grab a shovel. The handle would not budge! It is a metal handle, and it appeared to have rusted a little bit during the winter. We still had two snow shovels out, so I grabbed one of those.
For those of you who don’t know, Ryan and I both have extremely weak stomachs. That has caused many humorous scenarios over the years. I won’t go into great detail, but let’s just say that we both get grossed out pretty easily. Ryan held Copper on the leash as I tried to pick up the rat in the snow shovel. (I’m seriously grossing myself out just typing this again.) After a couple of minutes, I realized I was not going to be able to do it.

Ryan is greatly motivated by money. Sometimes that really concerns me, but in this case, it came in handy. I offered Ryan $10 to pick up the rat with the shovel and carry it to the garbage can. He handed me Copper’s leash, and he did it! Ryan carried the rat in the snow shovel to the garbage can, while I held on to Copper, who was still trying to jump up to see the rat. Those few steps, with us both maneuvering across the yard with crazy animals, was probably quite a sight, too!

We went inside and washed (scrubbed raw, really) our hands, Ryan put on his scout shirt, and I took him to scouts. Believe it, or not, he was on time for scouts, and I was on time for my conference call!

Some Watchdog!

Before we had Copper, we used to have deer in our yard almost daily. Now we only have deer every month or two. A few days ago, Rara, Ryan & I were in the kitchen, and Copper was sleeping on the back porch, when a deer entered our yard. Here is the story in pictures.

We told Copper to “go get the deer.” The look on his face seemed to ask, “You want me to WHAT?!?!”
“Oooh, but it looks so much bigger than me!” (He even took a moment to relieve himself before the attack.)“I think I can scare it out of the yard. I’ll go try.”“Run away!”The deer appears to be the winner…this time.

Christmas Day

Ryan has a tradition of leaving cookies, egg nog, and a note for Santa. I realize that most kids do. However, Ryan’s note to Santa is interactive. He asks questions. That require full-sentence answers. Of course, we all know that Santa is busy, but he has done a pretty good job of answering the questions to Ryan’s satisfaction.

According to tradition, Rara & Papa, Marc & Frances & Alice & Claire come to our house on Christmas morning. Ryan is always so patient to wait for everyone to arrive. He even ate breakfast while waiting! Rara & Papa made it first, and we decided to let Ryan open a couple of his presents to keep him occupied until Marc, Frances, Alice & Claire could arrive.

When they arrived, we had a lot of fun watching Alice & Claire open presents. Their excitement was hilarious! They got a rocking giraffe that they LOVED! They kept making the horse-clicking sound to let us know that they wanted to ride. They shared and took turns quite well.Copper even received some gifts! Santa left a cute paw print stocking with a bunch of treats and toys. Ryan gave Copper a very large rawhide bone (that he bought with his own money).

After presents, Marc & Frances made our breakfast (another tradition) of Kronski’s Polish sausages and egg not French toast. MMMmmmmm!!!!!

In the late afternoon, we went to Rara & Papa’s for a yummy dinner, and then came back to our house for another tradition – gingerbread cookies on Christmas night.

It was a wonderful Christmas day. We enjoyed every single minute together!

Giving Thanks

Our Thanksgiving weekend began late Wednesday afternoon, when Ryan and I went to see “The Blind Side” with Rara & Papa. For anyone who may not know the story, it is the true story of Michael Oher, an extremely poor young man (one of many children of a single mother), who is taken in by a wealthy family. They help him leave his old life behind and begin a new life of academics and sports. He graduates from high school, attends college, and now plays for the Baltimore Ravens (Ryan was excited that we just saw the Ravens' stadium a couple of weeks ago).

We saw a couple of friends at the movie. As we talked about it after, one said, “Doesn’t it make you want to go out and do something nice for someone else?”

The past few years, Ryan and I have taken food to the Bountiful Food pantry. Last year, as we were walking in with our food, several young families with kids Ryan’s age were walking out with food. It helped Ryan see that REAL people and REAL kids benefit from what we were doing. However, there are a couple of families in our own neighborhood who are greatly in need. Several weeks ago, Ryan and I talked about the possibility of anonymously delivering food to these families. We had tithing settlement with our bishop on Sunday (for those of you who don’t know – that is when we talk with our bishop about our financial donations throughout the year), and I mentioned our idea to him, including the families we were considering. He said that one family had received some church help, but not much, and the other family had declined help from the church. He thought it would be great if we wanted to deliver food to each of them.

So, Wednesday night, after the inspiring movie, Ryan and I (with Papa as our “getaway” driver so our car wouldn’t be recognized) delivered very large boxes of food to these families. When we got home, we talked about the characters in the movie, and how poor they were. We talked about the single mom, and the choices she made in her life that led her to that point with her children. We talked about some of the choices of some of the “friends” in the movie, and how it affected the rest of their lives. We talked about how blessed we are, and the importance of “paying it forward.” Ryan always tells me how happy he feels when we do things for others. Me, too!

Thanksgiving Day was a lot of fun. We all met at Rara & Papa’s and had dinner there. Here is Frances’ picture of all of us at the table.

Alice & Claire LOVED watching Copper through the windows. It was almost as good as being at the zoo!Marc & Frances decided to go see a movie, so Ryan & I and Rara & Papa tended Alice & Claire. It was fun being with them for so long! We brought Copper inside since it was getting cold, and put him in his crate. Alice & Claire enjoyed watching him and touching his nose.We also had fun playing together in the toy room (formerly known as “Ryan’s room”).

I am so thankful for my family. I am thankful for the sacrifices they have made for me over the years. Most of all, I am thankful for their love and support, through sad and difficult times as well as through happy times.

On “Black Friday,” I did most of my shopping online. I got some great deals on things, without getting up at horrendous hours of the morning or fighting crazy crowds. I LOVE the Internet! I got $130 worth of boots & shoes at Famous Footwear for $56, and over $200 of stuff at The Children’s Place for $42! Between a “woot off” at woot.com a couple of weeks ago, and my Black Friday shopping, I think I’m just about done!

I did venture out to Radio Shack. They had a FREE BlackBerry Curve with a T-Mobile service extension in their ad. I actually looked online to see if I could do it there, and I would have been able to, but they didn’t have my current service plan listed. Everything else was about $15-$20 more a month, so I decided it would be worth it to go in. I was able to extend my plan and get this lovely phone FREE!I was even able to pick something up for Marc & Frances that they wanted. And this was all at about 11:00 am with NO crowds!

Friday, Marc & Frances and Ryan & I also went to see “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” together at Jordan Commons. Alice & Claire stayed with Rara & Papa while we went to the movie. Ryan & I decided that we liked “The Blind Side” more than “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” but the stop-motion animation was wonderful, and there really were some hilarious parts (perhaps more for adults than for kids). It was fun to hang out with Marc & Frances a little bit more, too.

I'm thankful that I was able to spend so much time the past few days with my great family! We always have a lot of fun together!

Fairs, Festivals, and FUN!

It has been a very crazy last couple of weeks. Needless to say, the blog is often the thing that gets bumped down the priority list. The good news is that I finished two more classes toward my PhD. The great news is that I earned As in both of them! I wish I still got paid for my As!

This is a fun time of year with the Greek Festival and State Fair. The Greek Festival was last Thursday through Sunday. Thursday night we had Pack Meeting, Friday I worked all day, and then Ryan had soccer from 4:00 to 5:00. As we were looking at our weekend last Friday afternoon, we realized that we had a full day on Saturday. If we wanted to make it to the Greek Festival, we’d have to go right after Ryan’s soccer practice. I can’t remember a year since we moved back to Utah that we’ve missed the Greek Festival. We knew we had to go.

We had a great time. We enjoyed our dinner – I got “the usual” – spanakopitakia (spinach, feta, phyllo), dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves) and stefatho (beef and onion stew). We watched the dancers for a while, and Ryan played a couple of games, winning a couple of stuffed animals. Then we got our dessert to go in order to make it all last a few days. Again, “the usual” – galatoboureko (custard and phyllo), pasta flora (raspberry tart), an almond tort, and my favorite – kataifi (kind of like baklava, but with shredded phyllo on top). As always, we were glad that we squeezed this great event into our schedule.

Bright & early Saturday morning, Ryan had a soccer game. He scored his first goal of the season! (I bribed him with 5 “Mom Money”).We came home & Ryan changed his clothes, and we took Copper to DOG-a-POOL-ooza at the Rec Center. Every year at this time, they drain all of the pools (Ryan doesn’t have swim team for 2 weeks). They do the outdoor pool and splash pad last. Right before they drain it, they invite people to bring their dogs to play in the pool. It was hilarious! Copper was one of the smallest dogs there, and was very intimidated by the bigger doggies. He also WOULD NOT get into the pool at all. Ryan finally dragged him (quite literally, as you can see from the pictures) through the splash pad part.Kristin & Abby invited us to go to Orchard Elementary’s carnival tonight. Since my classes officially ended at 4:00, we decided it would be a great way to play and celebrate my classes ending. It was really windy, but the kids had a great time together. They enjoyed the bouncy toys until they were taken down after one went airborn! They spent the rest of the time in the carnival games and on the playground. We always love hanging out with Kristin & Abby!