59: our shield of faith

Tonight was the cub scout Blue & Gold dinner.  The boys had to make a cake to go along with the Medieval theme. It was more like mom made it, but they helped by mixing the cake, telling me what they wanted and eating the frosting! I was pretty impressed with my chocolate lion, if I do say so myself, both because it looks cool and because it was so dang simple! I just printed up a picture of a lion, melted some chocolate, put it in a ziplock bag and traced the picture.  Stick it in the freezer for a few minutes and bam..instant edible art!
CTR..Choose the Right! 

58: naughty puppy!

Buddy is not my favorite individual right now!!

He can eat my baseboards, my furniture, our socks, tear apart all his chew toys and toilet paper, but he has entered the danger zone!  My scrapbooks are more important to me that anything else {materialistically speaking}. Don't even know how he got to them, but the damage is done. I guess this is his way of adding himself to our memories! Maybe someday I'll look back at this and love that I have this little memory of him..but right now, I'm not very happy with him!

57: buddy

It's been awhile since I've had a Buddy post! Our noble dog!!
Jim thinks we should change his name to Isis..all you Downton Abbey fans will get that!

56: the joy of a dog

EVERYBODY POOPS!  

Some, more than others! As is the case with our pooping pooch!  Skyler is feeling the love just about now!

55: driving home

Driving home..Virgin River Gulch

54: the actual run

Jenniffer..Me..Tiffany..Theresa..DebbieRACE DAY

It was COLD!!! We're not use to running in 30 degrees and having our lungs burn! I'm on vacation so I chose to run the 5k..the others ran the 1/2 marathon. No thanks! Immediately finishing my 3.2 miles, I was put on microphone duty. I guess my big mouth is useful sometimes!

53: run like a girl

No matter where I go with these ladies, I always have a fun time! And we always try to improve upon our self-timer shot!

52: girls getaway

 Random, but terribly interesting building in Las Vegas!  On our way to St. George for the RUN LIKE A GIRL retreat.

Girls weekend has officially begun once the disco ball turns on!

51: unhappy baker

Ryder is not crying, rather, he is revolting against me for taking his picture.  He felt I was cutting into his morning recess and said that he would frown for all the pictures.  He had a career project due today.  Why he chose a Baker, is anyone guess? But didn't Jim Ryder do a great job! I especially love the mustache.  Open up the jacket and you can read Ryder's report on what a baker does.

50: colonial days

The 5th grade at Tony Tobin had "Walk through the American Revolution" today!  We call it Colonial Days.  Jayden was

Paul Revere..."the British are coming, the British are coming!"

The entire class dressed up in period clothes and memorized various parts.  It's actually a very cool program that comes to the school to put this on!

My cute little Paul Revere

49: experiencing the space shuttle

Presidents day and I was craving an adventure.  The boys would have been happy to stay home all day and play XBOX, but that's unacceptable with me!  I tried to get them to agree on this activity back in January, but they whined and complained their way to a day of chores and boredom while I soaked up the sun at the beach all by myself. Today was not without it's share of complaints, but when all was said and done, they told me they had a great day!  It's sad to think that Skyler is outgrowing museums..we use to go all the time when he was younger. 

 {I guess this is the only way I make it into the shot}

California Science Center..home to the Space Shuttle Endeavor! We watched an incredible IMAX film: The Blue Planet and learned all about our universe. It was surreal to be next to something that had flown in outer space.

48: visit from grandma & grandpa

Grandma & Grandpa Watkins decided to come down and go to church with us this morning!  They hadn't seen Buddy since Christmas and wanted to see him before he was unrecognizable!  They wanted to see the other grandkids too!

47: first grooming

We got a coupon for a free grooming at Petsmart so I decided to try it out.  I don't know what I liked more..the bath and grooming, or the fact that it was free babysitting for 4 hours! He got an A on his report card and in the words of his groomer, "was a pleasure to work on!"

46: pre-pre ragnar party

With so many new runners on our 2 Ragnar teams, we thought it would be fun to have a potluck dinner to get more acquainted.  It was a mexican fiesta!

45: happy day of love

My husband loves me, he really, really loves me! 

Tulips and Cadbury eggs would have been enough and he knows that..but he took it MUCH further! He actually combined Valentines and my 40th birthday {coming in July} and booked us a 12 day Mediterranean cruise. At first it was 7 days through Italy, Croatia, Greece, and Turkey, but then he thought, since we're

over there, we might as well see more! So now it's Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey.  It's not till September so I have something amazing to look forward to!!

44: making valentines aglow

With a no food policy at school, it's tricky to come up with Valentines..thank you Pinterest for making my task a little easier!

43: why must you tempt me so

My biggest weakness this time of year! Why must they come out so soon. Easter is still 1 1/2 months away!

42: mock trial

In seminary this morning we had a mock trial.  The honorable Judge Garrison was presiding.  We did this to show that Christ is our advocate.  He gave his life so he could defend ours. We were studying the intercessory prayer that Christ gave just as he began the Atonement process. The prosecutor was like Satan constantly pushing for you to do things. The defendant was symbolic of us and the defense attorney was like Christ. The bailiff was like the prophet, a bishop, a leader, or anyone who is there to help in time of need. My students had a great time with this and I think it helped to make them understand it just a little bit better.

41: lounging buddy

Make yourself at home...why thanks, I think I will!  

Buddy's Sunday nap! What a difference a week makes. And if you were wondering, YES, he is spoiled! 

{even in sleep, labs always look like they are smiling}

40: first scrimmage

It looks as if my son thought he was in the boxing ring! No Ryder...you don't punch them out, you just take their flag!

39: book of memories

It's February and I finally took down my Christmas Card pictures. 

They just make me so happy! I love looking on my wall at the bottom of our stairs, and seeing friends and family. I'm one of those sentimental saps..I never throw away pictures! This is my 5th book I've made of my cards..the other years I just added to the end of that years scrapbook!

38: blankie..aka..blank

Are you dying?  Wasn't my firstborn just a chunk of cute love? I was teaching a lesson on the COMFORTER..Holy Ghost, and I used Skyler's blanket as an example.  When I got home, I had Skyler reenact the picture taken when he was 3. I can hardly believe that this was 11 years ago!  Where has the time gone? What an amazing young man he is growing up to be!

37: what a difference a day makes

I've never been more excited then when I saw Buddy run up the stairs and go in Jayden's bedroom and come out with a belt.  Our Buddy was back! Ready to start chewing everything again. His appetite is slowly coming back and he is drinking on his own. He has more energy and we can see his little personality shining through.  He's still really skinny, but I'm sure that'll change in no time! What a blessing and miracle our little Buddy is!

36: buddy's home

While Buddy was in the hospital, I think I called about every 4 hours to see how he was doing. Every time they answered about the same..he wasn't vomiting anymore, but wouldn't eat. Then, as I was teaching at the kids school, I got the most glorious call!  Buddy was ready to be released!  I quickly finished what I was doing and checked Skyler out of school to come with me.  We were beyond excited to see him.  We had missed him so much the past couple of days.  When they brought him out, his tail was wagging and he was equally excited to see us! I was even more surprised when they said I was getting a refund because he hadn't stayed the full stay. We had to pay $1,800 up front..yikes, I know! Ask me 2 months ago if I would ever pay that much for a dog and I'd say you were crazy! We got about $300 back, but more importantly, they felt he was ready to come home!  He had a little bandage on his arm where the i.v. was and had medication that I had to give him.  He still looked very lethargic, but we had to give it time.

I didn't leave his side all day! Sadly though, when I tried to feed him, he threw it up.  Oh no! I thought he would only get better being surrounded by love. Anytime we gave him water or food {which he didn't each much of}, he threw it up. By 9:30 that night, Jim felt like we needed to take him back in to the pet hospital.  They decided not to keep him but instead gave him 3 injections: anti-nausea, antibiotic, and an injection of fluid.

Jim slept on the couch with him all night to monitor him. 

It was reassuring to me when I came down the next morning and he ran to me. I think he has turned the corner!!

35: happy national pancake day

In case you didn't know, today was National Pancake Day!

34: it started off with a chaotic morning...

Note to self: always check your children's shoes before running out the door for church.  

It was a very rushed and chaotic morning.  We were racing to get to church by 9:00 a.m. I'm pretty spoiled on Sundays!  Jim usually has all the boys' clothes ironed and laid out for me before he goes to his early meetings.  This morning he must have been running late himself because the clothes weren't laid out. As I sat down in church, I looked down at Jayden's feet and gasped. 2 different shoes and one without laces.  He also had 2 different socks on.  How ghetto are we? At least we made it to church. 

Sadder note..when we got home from church, Buddy just didn't seem right.  He wanted nothing to do with his food..which is completely out of the norm.  Then, he started vomiting.  I thought maybe he had a stomachache and just watched him.  He continued vomiting throughout the afternoon. Jim knew something was wrong so we took him to the pet hospital.  He was so lethargic and looked depressed. They ran a test and we got the worst news ever: PARVOVIRUS.  This is a death sentence for puppies. Skyler and I immediately started bawling. I knew what this meant and the future wasn't looking so bright.  I was perplexed..where in the world could he have gotten it?  The only time he has ever been out of the house is to go to the vet and I'm sure he couldn't have caught it and it manifest itself in just a couple days.  I was a wreck.  The vet said his best chance of survival is to be hospitalized. They showed me an estimate with the low end and high end of treatment. I called Jim and he said to do whatever we had to to give Buddy a fighting chance.  It was heartbreaking not coming home with Buddy.  Our house seemed so quite and empty.  We were all so sad! In just a short month and a half, we had gotten so attached! We knew he was in good hands, but it was still difficult.  

And by the way...Happy Birthday Mom!

33: grown up derby

Jim had a stake primary/cub scout meeting this morning.  As one of the activities, each ward had to make a pinewood derby car using only things they had on them or in their cars.  There were some pretty interesting entries! I especially like the burrito attached to a tub of spackle. The hammer was also a clever idea. They looked a little too dangerous to race, but they did.  I think the burrito won!

32: 3 month vet visit

Buddy had his 3 month vet visit today!  He has doubled his size from last month and weighed in at 29.2 lbs. This is going to be one large dog. We are always getting comments on how big his paws are..I guess that indicates size.  I still have so much to learn about being a dog parent!