We miss you, Praia!

We went to Jared's cousin's wedding reception in Heber on Dec. 1.  When we got home, I was getting ready for bed and Jared went to let Praia in and she didn't come to the door, so Jared went looking for her and found that she had passed away.  She was getting old and we figure she probably had a heart attack or something, as she looked like she died in her sleep.  We got her as a 6-week-old pup the weekend that we moved into our first house--the weekend after Thanksgiving in 2000; we got Chloe, our cat, the same weekend.  She was such a great dog--sweet, loyal, loving, obedient, and smart. She was awesome to take

camping and fishing, which she loved. We enjoyed 12 great years with her and will miss her terribly. We are sad but somewhat thankful that she didn't have to get even older and suffer any more on this earth. We love you, Praia!

She was such a cute puppy!!! (this was in 2000)

And she grew into a beautiful dog (this was in 2005)

Halloween party

On 10/24, Kiki and a friend of ours had a little Halloween party for our kids. We decorated my basement, dressed up, had pizza, cupcakes, and candy, and played games. So fun!

Carma as Smurfette

Snacking on some Tootsie rolls before dinner; I didn't have their official Halloween costumes ready yet, so I put them in their tiger suits. :)

 

 

Wy-wy as Iron Man

The DELICIOUS pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes Kiki made

Cleo in her Halloween dress

It says "Witch & Famous"

Avery "participating" in one of the games we played--We played a game called Trick or Treat Bonanza where the kids picked a strip of paper from a witch hat that either said "treat" and they could go find a candy hidden around the room or "trick" and they had to perform that trick. Avery just wanted to grab a paper out, she didn't actually do a trick or find a treat, ha ha.

Typical Makenna

Juddy was too cool to dress up, but not too cool to play the games

Makenna "playing" Pin the Tail on the Cat

Kiki, Me, and Michelle--I am holding up my mask because Avery broke it

 It was a fun party and the kids had a blast!

Girls' 1st 4th!

First, some other random pics:

{This is how Avery sleeps a majority of the time; I think it's adorable but it bugs me at the same time that she wakes up with marks on her face and I'm always worried her hands and arms are falling asleep; 6/30/11}:

{The girls insist on sitting crooked in their Boppy seats while I'm feeding them--makes feeding super easy, NOT! Avery is worse about it. 7/1/11}:

Thought I'd share some pics of two of the furbabies; 7/1/11}:

{This is why I ordered a playard (a gate that goes all around to "corral" the girls in); Avery pulled that little theatre system speaker off the bottom shelf and starting chewing on the cord! 7/2/11}:

Our first 4th of July with the girls: Jared had to work but went in a little later than usual. I cleaned the kitchen, changed 6 poopy diapers, and had to change the changing pad cover twice. Jared came home early enough for us to go over to one of my friend's mom's house for a BBQ. We had a nice time with them. This is the only pic I got the whole day (well, I took 4, but they're all this same basic pic}:
Those are onesies I painted. Avery had a rough night--we woke them up to get in the car to go there so she was grumpy most of the night and I think she had a hard time with all the people and activity going on there. Then, we stayed past their bedtime so they were both getting really tired. We put them to bed as soon as we got home, then Jared and I sat on the back porch and watched the Safford fireworks display. Then, I watched the 2nd half of the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Special while I worked out on the elliptical. The day ended up being pretty good. I'm gonna take more pics of the girls in those onesies later today.

We're not really doing anything for my birthday today but it is a great birthday, anyway, since I have my sweet girls to spend the day with. :)

Parties, VB, & painted toes

Another long catch-up (seems like I'm always doing these):

At the end of Sept., Jared's boss and his wife threw us a going away party at their house. Lots of Jared's co-workers came and there was a LOT of great food there, as well as the LSU game on TV. :) It was really fun.

Becky and the girls came over to watch the Saturday sessions of General Conference with me. The girls loved Cleo and I painted Brenna's cute little toenails afterward.
The weekend after Conference, I had a Girls Night Out with some friends that I play volleyball with every Friday morning. We went out to eat and went and watched the LSU Women's Volleyball game--LSU spanked Kentucky.
The next night, I went to my parents' house to watch the LSU vs. Florida football game. It was a CRAAAAZY game (like most of the games so far this season) but we beat them!

This is what Cleo looks like after a bath. Pretty funny, huh?

A new member of the family

--a 4-yr.-old female Pomeranian, Cleo (short for Cleopatra--yes, now we have a Cleo and a Chloe (the cat)). She is so sweet and good. Jared had her here waiting for me when he picked me up from the airport last Sat. night. She is so good. There have been no accidents and she's not a yapper. She's so cute and sweet! She was given to us by Jared's boss and his wife; they breed Pomeranians and she was one of the moms. She gave birth to 4 litters, which is the maximum # of times they breed their females. She was one of their favorites and wanted her to go to someone they know. Thanks Dave and Darlene!!!
Welcome to the family, Cleo!

Our Gift Exchange

Jared & I exchanged gifts last night, since we are flying to Utah tonight and don't want to pack more than we absolutely have to. Jared got a pretty little red bag filled with.......coal. Bwahaha!


He gave me a new LSU bumber sticker:


I also gave him a cell phone charging station:


And he also gave me an LSU 2007 National Championship wooden football to match the 2003 one I already have in my scrapbook room:


A few minutes ago, I was wrapping a small present we'll be taking with us to Utah and Chloe decided to jump right in and "help me"; she's so funny!:


I'm so excited to go to Utah tonight! There is lots of snow in the forecast, including snow on Christmas Day! Woohoo! One problem: I left my big snow coat at Kiki's and we're not going to her house until Friday. Ooops! Guess I'll freeze to death in the little fleece jacket I'm bringing!

I'm most excited to see the nephew (on my side) and niece (on Jared's side) that we haven't been able to see yet. I'll have to wait 'til Friday to see the nephew and next Sat. to see the niece. Unfortunately, Jared was asked by his company to cut his trip short so he'll be leaving Utah next Sat. and won't be able to see the niece in Idaho (they're not coming down for Christmas, so I'm going with Jared's mom and brother up there). So sad that Jared won't get to see the 7 nieces and nephews who live in Idaho! But I'm sure we'll have a great time on our trip and I can barely wait!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!

Hell froze over!!!

It snowed here in south Louisiana today!!! Jared woke me up at 5:30 this morning as he was leaving for work because there was already a small amount of snow on the ground:
The snow kept coming and here's what the pond looked like at 7am:
And our street at 7am:
The backyard at 7:30am:
The woods in the back of our house at 7:30am:
Praia playing in the snow at 7:45am (she was probably thinking "Hey, I remember this stuff!" since she lived in Utah her first 6 1/2 years):
The pond at almost 8am:
The street at almost 9am:
Our house after it mostly stopped snowing around 11am:
Here's a quick video of the snow, so you can see just how much was falling. Every few minutes, I'd hear the crackling of branches snapping of their trees as they gave way to the heavy snow. I wanted to catch the sound of the snapping of branches but I wasn't able to.


It is now 2:30pm and here is what it looks like now:
It's 42* right now and the sun is coming out, so I'm sure the snow will melt almost completely by this evening. It was beautiful while it lasted and I loved it--especially since I didn't have to drive in it--well, I was supposed to drive to Hammond for a doctor appointment but I skipped it. I'll be looking out my window, as I have been all day, enjoying the snow until it's all gone. I'm definitely in the Christmas spirit now! :)