Mr. Bullwinkle

Meet Bullwinkle.





I told Matt when he was done with school we could get a dog. I figured I was safe until at least June. But the beginning of summer is a great time to get a dog. We are much more active, I don't feel guilty making them stay outside and we can devote more time to him.

Well Matt took a small break this term. He has the tendency to take on a million classes and devotes everything to those classes. But at work, Oct- Dec are Nutso. So somehow we convinced him to take a small break and go back in January. That left him a little bit of free time, and while browsing on KSL one night found this gorgeous Bull Mastiff. Our friends, the Bennett's, have this gorgeous dog named Mallie.





Matt instantly fell in love and tried to find another Mastiff out there. Well he found a few and I could argue the money card, cause these dogs are not cheap, but this particular dog was being offered for free. We checked him out and fell in love. Our kids loved him, Matt loves him, and I am slowly but surely coming around and loving him too.





He lets the kids sleep, jump, climb, sit and do anything on him. He is the laziest dog ever, and if I didn't have to vacuum
his hair up every second I would love him.





Most times he thinks he is human but I quickly remind him he is a dog.
My most favorite thing? He loves to be by my side. No matter what I'm doing he will follow me around and try to be right by my feet. He really is just like a cat.



Here is to many more memories with Bull our big ol dog.

The big apple

For family night, Matt's mom Lisa wanted to make caramel apples.
Sidenote- I think I won Scott (Matt's Dad) over when we were dating, I brought over caramel apples and Lisa said "Ohhh Scott loves these!!" He got a huge smile and I knew it made him excited. So when Lisa asked if I would teach her how to do it, I knew Scott had to come.

We invited the Smith crew over to Gygi's (Shan we missed you, sorry Hyde was sick), plopped some caramel in the ovens and had a party. And let's be honest- anything with caramel is a party.


Saige and Abby were the best helpers and very patient to wait for the adults to do theirs. I love their imaginations and how much they love to be together!

After brief demonstration and some instruction everyone dipped away and hopefully had a great time!





There he is the man of the hour, I think Matt was a bit of a distraction, but he did great!



After the caramel comes the chocolate and of course all the goodies. This is my favorite part, I love seeing everyone's creativity.


Oreo, butterfingers, m&m's, toasted coconut, peanut butter cups, almonds and on and on and on. It was yummy.


Aunt Pete showing off her dipping skills while on the phone- that's talent people.



All done and packing them up. I was so impressed with everyone, and think we need to do this more often!! Guys are you up for that?


We all know Milo is!

Thanks for this great Family Night Lisa. We all had a great time, and love being with our great family. How lucky we are to live so close together and be able to do things like this. Love you all.

And if you want to do this, check out this link where Brittany and I will give you some tip-eroos.

While the boys are away....

Our family isn't quite use to Priesthood night. Yes our Dad has ALWAYS gone but he would come home right after and we enjoyed root beer floats. But now most of us have husbands that go out, enjoy the priesthood session and go out for traditional sushi afterwards. So while the boys enjoy the night we party together!












And by party we mean Chinese food and some dancing on the Wii. Our kids love it and I would be lying if I said I didn't like it as well. I'm a terrible dancer but love the slight competitiveness and of course being able to shake my groove thang. Haha





Just don't tell Milo that the remote is not a controller. He loves it and won't use anything else.











Thank heavens Bonnie, staci, and Connie were just as excited as we were to dance cause we danced the night away!











Sweet baby Asher was a little worried why he would be left with all these crazy girls but Mimi made him feel like it would be okay.
If I could figure out how to get my Videos up here I would show you some scary dance moves. Until then you will just have to dream.

We love conference Sundays.

There are many things that we look forward to- trips to St. George, seeing our loved ones, sushi nights as a family and one big one is conference Sunday. Twice a year we get to enjoy Sunday's at home, in our jammies, and listen to the sweet words of our prophet and leaders.





Our kids are to a really good age that bribing works wonders and we can actually hear quite a bit of what is being said-while my favorite is always the Ensign Conference edition (sometimes reading it means so much more).
So after lots of pipe cleaner, crayons, notebooks and stickers we enjoyed ourselves a great little Sunday.





A little bit of make-up and a hair brush kept kids entertained for many talks.











And the kids most favorite was delivering cinnamon rolls to some
of our favorite people.





The opportunity to listen to these wonderful speakers gives me such hope. It comes at the most needed times in life and gives me that extra push needed to continue on. I hate to see it end but am grateful for it to come again in April.

Family fishing

Fishing. To our little family, fishing is a much different thing than it is to most Americans. Our Dad, sweet Matt, is highly passionate about this pastime and we take it quite serious.


Most the time I am not allowed to touch the rods, so I enjoy a good photo op.


Oh my sweet Milo. Just could not help himself and had to throw the little rocks in. Much to Matt's disliking.



Saige the poser, will take any chance to get her photo taken.


Feeding the ducks.












Getting a lesson from the master fisherman.


Teaching her pupil.


And last but not least a little bit of our own photo shoot, while Dad fished away.








And one last one with my love. It's not very often I get a photo with him, so have to take advantage when he is in his element!

Reminiscing

As October began the weather seems as if it were just begging to turn, and was finally given permission to change. I was hoping to slowly get back to pants and sweaters but in good old Utah fashion we dropped a good cold one and reminded us all that Mother Nature is in charge here. While there are many things I enjoy about the fall- pumpkins, Halloween, cider, leaves and sweaters- I really miss the warm weather and what it brings in the summer time. So before it is entirely gone I'm spending some time remembering the good old summer.



Cowabunga:
Matt was going to be gone over Saige's birthday, so to celebrate with her he took her, Milo and Jake to COWABUNGA BAY!! she loved it all and had the best time ever!


And Mr Muscles had to come out at some time right??



Bath time. Our kids adore bath time. Sometimes getting them out takes about a half hour and a whole lot of water on the floor.


I love the imagination.

Trips to the mall.


There is something about your kids that will get you to do things that you promised you never would do. One of those being the carousel at the mall. I always walked passed and never really noticed- now with children it's as if their every ounce of being just has to step foot on it.



So we ride.

Porch Sitting.


Being able to send the kids outside to enjoy their dessert is priceless. Catching a picture of them together and being nice to one another is a mother's dream. Our porch seems to be the perfect place for that.

Air drying our clothes:



My Grandma Foote messed us all up by raising us with the smell of line dried clothes. I LOVE IT! if you could bottle that up, I would buy them all.

Bbq's:


Even if it means Adam has to wheel his over- we make a mean BBQ.
And seeing some of our good old friends and their massive dog


Splash parks:


Which makes us miss some of our two favorite girls.


Ms Ella and Mimi.



Summer Concerts with our loved ones!!


This was one of the highlights of my summer. Surrounded by most of my favorite people, amazing music --Brandi Carlisle and Ray-- and of course my sweet love Matt. Just wished my kids were there they would have been in heaven.

Having all the cousins together, right before the Hewards moved.



Bath time at the Foote's:



This red tub has memories for everyone in our family. We packed as many kids in there as possible and had the best time! Here is to hoping my kids have lots more.




Face Paint:


Why don't we face paint in the winter? It's such a fun summer tradition and sometimes wish I was a kid again and could walk around with a huge butterfly on my face!




The summer activities that make you just pass out on the couch! Promising that you are just not tired!





We love the summer. And hopefully have created some amazing memories this year that we will just have to top.