I have been wanting to take some studio shots of Gus for the last week or so. I knew I had to do it soon….he is getting bigger every day. The kids are back in school after spring break and Scott left on a trip this morning. It is pouring rain out and this seemed like the perfect day for it. It was hilarious. I wish I had someone taking pictures of me so you could see how many times I had to put him back in the props! But, I’m thrilled with how they turned out.

Meet Gus, 10 weeks old.

A couple of weeks ago we had a really sad event at our house. Our family dog, Rex, bit Nora on the face. It wasn’t the first time he had bitten her. Thankfully, she wasn’t seriously hurt. It was heart breaking for all of us, but we knew that he could not live with our family any longer. It was really one of the hardest things I have ever done, I had no idea how attached to him I was. I was on the verge of tears for days. I missed him constantly. I felt empty each morning when I woke up and he wasn’t next to my bed. I missed him at night when I went to sleep. I tried to keep busy, because that seemed to help. But every once in a while something would pop in my head and all my emotions came back. I knew we had made the right decision, but it didn’t help me miss him any less. Our house felt so empty without him.

I knew right away that I wanted to get another dog. Rex showed me how much I loved being a dog owner. I loved having him around and spending my days with him. I started thinking about what kind of dog we would get, but I felt like we should wait a while. I didn’t want to replace Rex. I knew that this time I wanted a dog that would be great with our kids. I thought about adopting again, but decided that it was more important that we get a young puppy so we could do all the training. Just to take my mind off things I started looking on the internet at Golden Retriever Puppies. I found photos of the most adorable puppies. I saw one puppy that was ready to go in Erda, Utah at Oquirrh Mountain Retrievers. I went to their website and looked around. One thing that struck me was that their dogs are their family members and that they breed for good temperment. I read a story about the father of these puppies being killed in a tragic accident and how much they missed him. When I read that, I felt like this puppy was meant for us. We decided that we couldn’t wait any longer. We needed another dog in our lives.

I was out of town for the weekend. I called Scott and he and the kids drove down and picked him up. I was sad to miss it, but excited to get home and meet him.

I haven’t had a puppy this young since I was a child. It has been an incredible amount of work, but very rewarding at the same time. I was exhausted the first week because he got me up 2-3 times a night to go to the bathroom. But he has settled in nicely. He is doing great with the kids and everyone loves him. We are so happy to have him in our family and we are looking forward to lots of fun times together.

All three kids got new belts today! Nora became an orange stripe, Emma became an orange belt, and Ian became a green belt. I’m proud of all the hard work they have put into earning their new belts!

Ian joined the Black Belt Club at Bobby Lawrence Karate. What it means is that he has made the commitment to stay in karate until he earns his black belt. He had to write a paper about why he wants to be a black belt. Then he had a meeting where he sat down with Mr. Klekas and went over all the belts he must earn on his way to black belt. For Ian, it will probably take around 2 1/2 years, depending on how hard he works. He is really excited and I am proud of him for making such a big commitment.

Nora’s school has been having parents come in to observe for the last few weeks. Nora has been dying for me to come in. Yesterday she finally got her wish. I took her in the morning and stayed for a couple of hours. She couldn’t wait to make me a drink. She was skipping all around the classroom, she could barely contain herself. Her teachers helped her and she brought a little tray over to me and asked if I would like coffee or tea. Then she heated the water herself and served it to me. She loves the food prep works at school and I think that may have been her favorite part of my visit.

She is just on the verge of getting her workbook. She is really recognizing all her letter sounds and is starting to sound out words. They have been working with her and she has been doing her practice pages and will have her workbook soon. She is excited about it and it is really cute to watch. Everywhere we go she recognizes letters and tells me the sounds. Last week she saw a logo on a rug at the ice rink. She started jumping from letter to letter saying each sound as she jumped.

In class, she decided to show me a work from the pink reading group. She climbed up on my lap and started showing me all the words. She really is reading! It is such an amazing process. I am always awed and surprised by each of my kids. Watching them learn to read is really inspiring. I love watching their little faces light up as they blurt out the word. Nora was so very proud of herself. She sounded out the letters to each word. When she recognized the word she yelled it out as she jumped up and down. Her whole body just lit up. She was thrilled. It was really cute to watch.

I wasn’t really looking forward to observing in the classroom. I have had kids in montessori for about 6 years now. I love the whole philosophy and I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what is going on in the classroom. But seeing how excited Nora was to have me there made me glad I did it. I can’t believe she is reading now too. All of my babies are growing up!

I snapped a few photos of Ian on the morning of his birthday. I wanted to capture those last few moments of being 6. I also wanted to get a few more photos while he still had his front teeth. These were taken shortly after he got up. I love how he is still in his pj’s and how his hair is a mess. I just love how these capture him just being himself.

I snapped a quick photo with my phone this morning on Emma’s ninth birthday. She asked for a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and I served it on our family’s “birthday plate”. I can’t believe that she is nine.

Today is Ian’s 7th birthday. I can’t believe how time flies. I can remember the night he was born like it was yesterday. The drive down Parley’s Canyon was torture. I was doing everything I could not to have him in the car. That was the only time I have ever asked Scott to drive faster. His birth was fast and furious–and that pretty much describes Ian to this day.

Today he is about to lose his first front tooth. It has been hanging by a thread for the last few days. Maybe today will be the day that it falls out. I’m not looking forward to it, really. I know that once it falls out that little boy smile will be gone forever. A big new tooth will come in it’s place and his smile will be forever changed.

Ian is in the first grade this year. His teacher is Mrs. Laura Johnson. He likes school, but it has been a challenging year. He has had a hard time conforming to the rules. Sitting still and keeping his hands to himself continue to be issues for him. Never the less, he is doing really well academically. He is an excellent reader and really good at math. Spelling, however, is a constant struggle. He works really hard on the words all week, but can’t seem to get them right on the tests.

Last week he was diagnosed with ADHD. At first, I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. It was so hard to hear that my little guy was not “normal”. I just thought that he was a boy and that they were all like that. The first few days I read everything I could get my hands on. I wanted to figure out how to “fix” everything. I think the reality hit a few days later when I realized that nothing is going to “fix” him. This is an issue that he will deal with for the rest of his life. I felt really down about the whole situation. As the days have gone by, it has gotten better. I am learning about the ways we can help him, and we have an appointment with a new doctor to get a plan in place. I feel good about the future for him. I think we are lucky to have found out now when he is still in first grade.

He is still doing karate at Bobby Lawrence Karate. He is a blue belt now, and loves that he gets to spar! He is begging to join the Black Belt Club. We are just so busy right now, I don’t know how we can fit anything else in. Hockey is still going strong. He really likes it and he keeps getting better and better. Ski season is also in full swing, and he is skiing with the Saturday Adventure program. He has a great group of boys that he is skiing with this year, and they are all improving by leaps and bounds.

He loves to be busy and active, but under all that craziness is the sweetest little boy. He is so sensitive and caring. I love that about him! He still loves to hug and I love getting hugs from him. I keep savoring every one of them because I know that soon he won’t want to hug his mama. I can see the little boy smile disappearing and I know that his sweet little boy hugs won’t be too far behind.

We snapped a few photos on Christmas Eve before we headed off to church and dinner. Just thought I’d share them!

Last week we went on a little adventure to visit the Surfing Goat Dairy. My mom saw a flyer for it and she was dying to go check it out. We all really love animals and thought that it would be a fun family adventure.

We went in the afternoon so that we could help bring the goats in from the fields, help them feed the goats, and then assist with milking. After that we got to watch the cheese making process.

What an incredible place! You could tell that everyone that was there truly loved the goats and what they were doing. Even though they worked HARD! The farm is owned by an adorable German couple. They vacationed in Maui from Hamburg Germany, fell in love with Maui and decided to stay. They have been running the Surfing Goat Dairy for the past 9 years.

And the goats were so cute. They had something like 30 babies born the few days before we came. It was so cute to see the babies play. We went down to the field and watched them run and jump all over. They reminded me of puppies. I was surprised at how big they were at just a few days old. We helped herd the goats from the field up to the barn where they were going to be fed and milked.

Here they are being led into the barn and getting ready to be milked.

The goats got to eat while they were being milked. They showed us what the goats eat, and even let us try some. These goats are well taken care of! All the food they eat is suitable for people to eat too.

As we were milking the goats it started to pour rain. The workers went down to the fields to collect the babies from the rain. They put them in huge rubbermaid tubs and dragged them back to the barn. It was really cute to see a tub full of baby goats. The kids helped to towel dry them before they went into the pens in the barn.

It was a really fun afternoon. We all thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the Surfing Goat Dairy. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun adventure in Maui!