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Friday, August 22, 2008

Taylors Dog Obedience Gradutation...

Last night was Taylors Graduation from Dog Obedience Training.
It has been such a long week already, and we were really tired, but so excited to finish up this course.
She has come so far and we were proud of her, but we knew she was still sloppy in some of her commands, so we weren't sure if she would get a diploma or not. But we were hopeful!
Warm up went well when we got to the park, she was sharp and clean with all her commands. My Strong Silent Mysterious Man and I were really feeling good, but the wind was blowing pretty strong, and the last time we did class with lots of wind... it threw her way off. As a matter of fact it threw lots of dogs way off in the class. Something about all the smells blowing around and the noise from the wind... it is very distracting!
We always tease about her free spirit being so "free spirited" that her head spins around, but I have never been able to get it on camera... well this is it... the head spin!
(it actually goes all the way around... too weird)

(it should have been a red flag that her wild hair was flaring up again, but I guess we have just gotten used to it, and didn't think twice about it)

So after all the dogs have done a couple of laps in the healing circle... the instructor decides to move class to a different area in the park. Its a huge park and she thought if we move out from under the trees, maybe the noise would be less distracting in the open area.

So I watch on as the entire class moves across the park, and I see Taylor and my man jogging over... then Taylor slowly starts to get farther and farther from her heal position by his side and he stops and she didn't!

He called her name, she looked back, and she realized... no rope, no chain, no chords... then she BOLTED AT FULL SPEED!! (going the other direction)!

This park is HUGE, and she ran and ran and ran and then went for a swim in the river than runs through the park and when she came up out of the side of the bank, he was there and snagged her. My heart was in my throat! I thought I would puke!

Once I knew she was safe, I had to laugh! Good Grief what had gotten into her!

He corrected her all the way back to the class... but I was not sure she was feeling the pain, so we decided to hook the leash up to her (just in case). But she was good the rest of the graduation.



She got her little graduation cap.

And her diploma... although there was a stipulation put out there before they were handed out.

If you had a star on the top of your diploma, stars were not good, and it meant she wants to see you back in her classes again. So Taylor earned a free entry into any of her classes for the rest of her lifetime! (yeah cool, a lifetime of free classes, sounds good huh... :( oh well)
Taylor wasn't the only dog who bolted and went nuts at graduation. Sasha the boxer sat out the last half of class after finally being caught... but she just circled the other dogs, she didn't actually go to the other side of the park and go swimming, Taylor held the record of the 4-5 dogs who bolted from their owners for distance and speed. It was a crazy night for uncharacteristic behavior, but like I said the wind does crazy things to dogs in obedience class.

Here they are (notice on leash) with her cap and diploma.

He finally found a way to forgiver her in his heart!

Doesn't she look sorry!

I couldn't resist... some of the dogs looked really cute in their caps and wore them well.


Others ate their hats...

This is Taylor and her friend Newbie who look like they could be sisters!

We are so proud of her and even though she still gives us grey hair, she is a totally different dog that we had 10 weeks ago. She will be so much more fun to take camping now!

But look out Lions and Tigers and Bears, and TROUT... oh my!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Fantastic Four...

A LIST OF FOUR
My SIL has this on her blog and put me down as one person who would respond... no pressure!

1. four family members:
lynn,
panda,
della,
leigh leilani
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2. four people who email me regularly :
Cliff (forwarded jokes only... but sitting and deleting them all makes me think of him while I am doing it, so I love the daily task)
lynn,
della,
lindsey/julie ("subject: mail"... everyday I see it, I say in my head... "you've got mail" and then giggle)
.
3. four of my favorite places to eat:
Ivars at the waterfront in Seattle (mostly feeding the seagulls),
PF Changs,
bread fruit and cheese picnic anywhere with a view,
The Sandbar
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4. four places i would rather be right now:
Beijing (it would just be fun to be there now)
Seattle waterfront
Top of Mt. Rainier
The fudge shoppe at San Francisco waterfront
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5. four people i think will respond:
Lindsey,
Lynn,
Mike,
Rachel
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6. four tv shows i watch over and over:
Monk,
biggest loser,
Psych,
Jon and Kate plus 8
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7. four of my favorite pass times:
game night,
walking the dogs at dusk with my strong silent mysterious man,
coloring,
& blogging of course!

The teenager and the tree...

When looking at this picture of a tree being pruned one might think this home shelters a hardworking "teenager" motivated and willing to help out to earn his keep. The real story behind the hacked up tree goes like this...

I have been trying to give the teenager, the newest driver, who has been incredibly blessed with accommodating parents who allow him to operate one of their most efficient vehicles, without incurring any cost of his own, living rent free, with no food bill, in our home a little more freedom and allow him to make some decisions on his own so that he will continue to grow and develop.

So I planted the idea that the lawn needed to be mowed, then I suggested it be done by a certain day (last week), and tried to lay back and let him do this particular chore on his own time, I was sure he would step up and get it done without me having to prod too long. After all he was living rent free, eating our food, driving our car without incurring any cost. Surely he would step up to help out around the house... surely!

The next day I reminded.... then I jogged his memory.

The following day I prompted again...... and gave him a brief recap of what was expected.

The next day I had to lay down the law.... the lawn had to be mowed, and it had to be done by the end of the day!

So much for trying to let the kid take some responsibility on his own, and do some things in his own time.

So, with attitude in full swing, he went out to mow the lawn.

I was busy working on some chores in the house, and after about 15 or 20 minutes I bee-bopped outside to take a bag of trash to the big outside garbage can.

I see "the teenager" under the tree in the front yard, but I could only see from about his knees down as the tree branches full of huge leaves hang really low... and I hear a sawing noise, I realized it was not that of a lawn mower. And then notice 4 or 5 huge limbs from the tree laying on the ground underneath it!

I yell out for him to stop! I yell his name, loud enough to be heard in Beijing... still he continues to saw... I run out to him bending under the tree, to find him sawing to the beat of what ever music was thumping on his ipod! I stop him, and I get this look as he pulls the ear plugs from his ears... like what do you want lady?

In a complete panicking rage, I ask what the heck is he doing?

He huffs out an explanation that he can't mow the lawn without racking his 6'2" reaching noggin' on the tree branches, so he is cutting them down! Like he can't believe I wouldn't be anything but happy about this, what was my problem??

So trying to calm down, I explain (with no real logic or scientific knowledge, only personal experience from killing a tree in my recent past from trying to trim it into a bonsai... another story for another day) that trees don't like to be cut at certain times of the year. And this would be one of those times, and if he continued... I was certain it would die!!

And while I begin to offer this explanation, I see the stumps sticking straight out at me, I add... and didn't it dawn on you that there might be some kind of specific technique other than just grabbing a saw and hacking away...

While I look down at our feet and see the huge branches covering the base of the tree, and add... and what were you thinking you might do with all the debris you were creating when we don't have a pick up or any means to haul them off with?

(all said with that motherly, stretching to be calm, but in reality hysterical, guilt casting voice)

Well to make a really long story short... after some time and many words trying to see eye to eye on the entire deal (of which we never did) we were able to kiss and make up. The teenager cut up some of the big branches and they made it into the garbage can and his new weekly chore is to saw up each limb and fit as much into a weekly garbage run without filling up our can so we can't fit garbage into it until it's all gone from stack on the side of our house. And he got the lawn mowed (even under rest of the low tree limbs... its a miracle) all before his father came home.

Of course the tree didn't go unnoticed by his father, but apparently he was much less worried about a dead tree in the front of our house than I was.... so it was all good.

I was reminded of when he was 4 years old and a friend told me as he was trying to climb to the top of an old willow tree in our yard... while I was panicking trying to stop him. She told me to let him climb, at 4 he would know his limits and only climb as far as he was comfortable... he might fall and break his arm, maybe. But if I kept him from climbing at all, he might then one day be a teenager and had never climbed a tree and be pressured into climbing a tree by his peers and he will be doing it out of pressure without any experience or past knowledge and potentially get hurt much worse than a small broken bone.

If I had only known back then he would not be facinated with tree climbing, but rather hacking them down...

I have so much to learn about being a good mother... 16 years just hasn't been enough, and I am certain he can't get me trained in the next 2-3 years either... he needs much more time... you gotta love him! He is a great kid, he gives me heart attacks and hives and grey hair on a daily basis, but I wouldn't have it any other way!!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

County Fair...

I took some time off to go to the fair with a friend Tuesday.

I couldn't get my boys to go, they just aren't big on fairs... and going with a girlfriend I could go see all the things I really wanted to see with any whining about "the animals stink", or "when will we get to the rides", or "your not really going to eat that are you?"
Yes, something to be said about having free reign at the fair! he he he


In all seriousness, I would have liked to experience it with my boys... I thought about them all day, and saw many many things they would have enjoyed if they would have been there.

I was a little bit nervous about having high expectations at the fair, since I grew up around one of the best fairs in the northwest....... "Do you do the Puyallup"!!!!

But I was sure these Idaho cowboys and farmers could come together and put on something spectacular!



Okay, This is some serious camping... really can you even call it camping anymore in this contraption?
Oh the babies are my favorite!!!
What could they possibly be thinking when they are thrown into such a crazy environment, when they just want to be with their mama's!
My next favorite is the babies looking at the babies!
(I love the hands plastered up against the glass)

This chicken and her doo made me not so self conscious about having a bad hair day!

Its all in the attitude right! I just had to laugh, these girls definitely need Katies phone number.
Really cool sting ray exhibit, they even let you pet them... notice I didn't post a photo with my fingers in the water. No desire to pet a stingray, but they were cool none the less.
I'll admit, I just wanted to open the cage and let him free.
He should be home on the range... not being gaulked at in a cage at the fair!

On the range he is big and bad, but in a small cage, this is just awkward.

Some elements at the fair I should have just skipped, I worried for too long about how he would get his head and horns back through the fence.
I am such a worry wart!
I got over it after I saw all these guys coming out for food... they obviously know how to work the system!
More babies... and sleeping babies are even cuter!!
I would be on my knees praying about what to do with these unruly horns if I were him too.

My hair does this some days, it's just not fun!

The African Acrobats, fun music, and they did some crazy stunts!
I like to go through all the exhibits too, the photography and painting are fun to go vote for the peoples choice for the day. It was hard to pick a favorite, there was so much amazing talent, but I think it would be cool to get some recognition if I had something on display at the fair.

This won "best in show" for the hand made crafts... it was beautifully crafted! Of course I thought of My Strong Silent Mysterious Man... he would have loved this!

The wood was amazing!

I ran into three associates that belong to an association I do work for. They were working a booth at the fair... if you can call this working! I think they were having way too much fun grubbing on their Fred Flintstone Turkey Legs, if you ask me.

I didn't meet Big Bubba, but I loved his sign, and the boys said his smoked turkey legs were awesome! I've never met a smoked meat I didn't love!

Me and and my friend Janice, it was a really fun girls day at the fair!

Monday, August 18, 2008

Fun filled weekend...

Friday afternoon a friend and I went to see Mamma Mia.
I loved it!

So fun, a few naughty parts they could have just left out.. but such a fun, toe tapping movie.
And for the most part followed the musical with a few more details thrown in.

The cast was amazing!!! I love Meryl Streep. And when Pierce Brosnan busted out singing SOS, it was weird at first, but his eyes just pull you into believing every word. Oooo la la! He is a cutie pie! Also, that little Amanda Seyfried who played Sophie was so adorable... what a cute girl, she did a great job, and I loved her.

Of course I loved the music the most... I felt like dancing all weekend.

I just heard this week on the radio, that on July 24, 2008, the album topped for the first time the US Top Pop Albums charts being ABBA's first #1 ever in any one of Billboard's Album charts. It had only made it to #17 when it was originally released. I know they didn't tour much in the U.S. to promote their albums... but so interesting that the movie has helped launch it to the top so fast.

Fun and entertaining... we had a blast watching this movie.

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Then Saturday after meetings and chores blah blah blah, some friends who had moved away last year, were back in town and stopped by! How fun to see them and catch up!!

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Then the boys wanted to have a family outing, so we decided to go see a movie and chose this...

We all really liked it! It was my 1st 3D movie, so that in itself kept you entertained.

But it was new and different, not too Sci Fi for me, but enough to keep my strong silent mysterious man there until the end. If you like real to life stuff this wouldn't hit the mark, but for the entertainment value we loved it!!

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Sunday was a quiet reflective day. A ward missionary came by our house to check up on our family mission plan. It it always a good to keep in the forefront of my mind, to be sharing my knowledge and joy of the gospel with everyone I know. I am slowly beginning to learn to do this in my own way. I never did enjoy getting into religion discussion with anyone, but I will be forever grateful to missionaries who were willing to serve and follow promptings to come to my house and teach me what they knew and loved and gave them joy in their lives. It was never awkward and I always enjoyed every discussion and learned and felt so much. I would want to be able to share and teach everyone I love in the same way. I can not imagine my life without the Gospel now! What joy and peace it gives me!

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But they gave me opportunity to learn it for myself. And at the time, it was right for me, and I was in a place to hear it and accept it and receive my own testimony of the words I was taught.

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I hope that I will know and find those whom I love at the right time when they are ready to learn and know and love it in their own process, and that I will be able to share what I have come to know to give them the opportunity to learn for themselves.

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I know I will have to continue to keep the commandments and keep living in a way that I know God would be able to use me as a tool, when those opportunities come along.

I love that he knows us so well, he often does use us in that way.

I know I am not perfect, but I hope I never let him down!

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