Miracle in the Garage...

My Strong Silent Mysterious Man got a promotion at his job last week. We are pretty excited about it. And with the changes for him, he was offered a company truck. In these times with gas prices, that was huge for us! So the teenager and I worked 2 hours yesterday getting the garage ready to house a couple of vehicles so all of our cars don't begin to spill out into the street!

It was a dirty messy job, somehow we only ever remember doing this job without his Dad, we were for sure he missed the last 3 cleanings... where is that guy when it comes time to cleaning out the garage anyway?

I wish I would have taken before pictures, but here is the finished product!

Two cars in the garage, a car for the teenager on one side of the driveway, and the company truck for my man on the other. And I can still get to my freezer and the boys can still get to all the fishing and camping gear and tools. It is still my dream to have a garage organizer come in and put up the necessary shelves and racks to house all of our "stuff", but in the meantime it is up and out of the way and in a semi organized manner.
I am officially moved in now... these were the final boxes of files and paperwork that had been moved from house to house to house waiting to be sorted. My man threatened a thousand times to throw them out. Now they have been sorted. I knew there was tons of junk in them, but I also knew there were some really important things in them... I just couldn't remember what.

Until I found these precious pictures!

( I knew they contained hidden treasures I couldn't live without)

(Jacob and his Uncle Clyde on his baptism day)

The teenagers baptism!

(entering the waters of baptism with all his cousins and his family watching on)

I know I am pretty silly for not knowing exactly where these priceless pictures were, and not having them in a scrapbook by now.

But I have them now and I am feeling much more motivated to get scrapping... remember I have a goal to get all the Halloween pictures scrapped in a book by the end of summer! I haven't forgotten!

Misery loves company...

Back to the Doctor again... I am really feeling like a big loser lately!

It is like my 4th trip in a month and I was officially sick the entire month of July.

I hate complaining, but I really feel like I have to have some kind of excuse for not getting anything done these days. I have just been so sick!

I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!

There... so now I got that out of my system... I don't have to complain anymore, right?

Well, at least I have had good company. These guys don't leave you alone when you are sick... they lay right with you. Even Rudy came out from under his blanket to lay with me.... and that is a huge sacrifice for his little "all about me" personality. He kind of only gives love when "HE" wants to. So I feel privileged to have him by my side these days.

With Morgan, it's a given... she is there, no matter how you feel, good times and bad right by your side!

And then there's Taylor, well if that seat is taken, she will just pig pile up and double decker that spot. She totally cracks me up, she will lay anywhere, and almost as funny as her laying on top, is that Morgan is so layed back, she lets her stay there!!

"She aint heavy, she's my sister"

This is about all we have had the energy to do in our spare time, watch the birds!

They are almost as entertaining as kitty cats at our house... they can really raise some feathers in short time around here!

Taylors Dog Obedience Class, Week 7...

Here we are... on our way to obedience training, without Dad!

He called and had to work late... I hate it when he has to work late on Thursday nights, this is a big night for our baby. Plus, with me being so sick lately, I have really needed him to step in and do the work with her.

She LOVES to work, we really need to come up with a new name for it... like "dogapaloosa" or something, she has allot of fun working and especially going to class (probably more fun than she should be having, as you will see in the videos... she squirms and plays with sticks a bunch).

We laugh at her allot, she sits on her behind like a bear with her back paws all sticking forward. Too funny!
Dad showed up in time to take over for me before class started, whew!

My Knight in Shining Armor to the rescue, again!!!

Morgan came to get a peek at what we make such a fuss about every week.

"whatever" she just enjoyed hanging in the cool shady grass and watching all the comotion.

This week we were off leash, just the 12ft nylon skinny cord dragging on the ground and not attached anymore!

Very scary for me, but Taylor did pretty good and never broke off in a full run across the park as she did in all my nightmares. We try not to compare her to the other dogs, and just remember what she was like the 1st day of class with my arms falling off from tugging and yanking on the leash.

Yep, leaps and bounds! This girl has come so far!!

Our emotions and feelings are so much like if she were our human child... you want her to do good in class and impress the coach. But you don't want to put too much pressure on her, because she has come so far, you want to reward her for her accomplishments and feel good about herself and know she is a daughter of God.... oh yeah, well it's just hard not to see her as human sometimes.

So here we have to put the dogs on a down stay and walk around in a complete circle around all the other dogs until we make it back around to our own dog without them breaking the down stay. Taylor made it! She was really tempted, but she did it!!

I was such a proud Mom, and you can see her Dad was pretty proud of her too!

Here is what Coach called the pyramid.

She put the dogs in a pyramid shape in order of the breed and size of dog... so all the bigger large breads made the base, on up to the tiny toy breeds at the top of the pyramid.

We put them in a down stay and walk out of the pyramid. Then if they pop up or break their down stay, we go pull our dog out, until the last dog is still staying.

Labrador retrievers are not on the top of the list of intellegence, they are down around 7... but Taylor being so young is still working on maturity etc. I know excuses, excuses! But I would have never ever thought she would make it this long off leash in a pile of dogs!!

So Proud of her!!!

These were the last 5 left in the pyramid... the border collie (#1 on intellegence list), the Labradoodle (Poodles are #2), the old brown lab, the Aus. cattle dog (#10), and the yellow lab.

They were cement, we threw frisbee's and balls through them and not one moved. The herding dogs were really aware of the frisbee and the ball, but they didn't budge. The labs were just so mellow, I think they couldn't have cared less, they were tired from working so hard all night.

It is really hard work, as with any kid. But so worth it!

We haven't worked with Morgan on any training yet, she was exhausted just watching!

We think she will pick it all up really fast, and do really well. We kind of always thought she was obedient enough, she minds pretty well, and knows commands. But it would even make a huge difference with her, to be able to give her a command from a distance and have her mind. And have confidence that she would mind even with the distraction of a kitty cat or a bird in the yard, or someone coming over to visit.

Happy Birthday ~ Sis!!!

Happy Birthday Sis!!!

It's my Sisters Birthday today. I miss her so much anyway but I really miss being with her on her special day.

I was really excited when I found out she had taken the day off work... that means she is getting better at taking time for herself and knowing that she is WORTH IT!!

But I was a little bummed because I mailed her birthday present to her work address... and since today is Friday, she won't get it until Monday. Darn!

The good news is, I got an update from her during the day and a girl she works with is bringing the package home with her, so she might get it tonight or at least tomorrow... yippee!!

My SIL who taught me all I know about blogging is such a great example to write the things she loves about her kids on their birthday and post to her blog, so in her tradition, I wanted to do that for my Sis today!

Just some of the things I LOVE about my sister (because there isn't enough room in the blogging world to post them ALL)!

I love that I can talk to her about anything and everything.

She is my bestest girlfriend.

She is so giving of herself to anyone who would need it around her.

She has a great sense of style.

She is ultra intellegent, but doesn't make you feel dumb when you don't get her.

She always includes everyone, she has no weird boundaries when it comes to family... she carries "the more the merrier" attitude with her everywhere.

She takes really good care of ALL her parents and grandparents, and loves them even when they can be challenging.

She is determined, and can do anything she sets her mind to.

She loves to be around people, and doesn't need much alone time.

She loves dogs, and even mine unconditionally.

She is understanding when I am grumpy.

She is the best listener, EVER!

She is a great writer.

She loves and teaches my teenager like he was her own.

She is there to remind me when I am out of control.

She appreciates unique things and places, but is simple and easy to make happy.

We share a love for good bubbles! And she knows of their important place in our lives.

I love my sister!

Happy Birthday Sis!!!