Hercules

After Trouble died, I decided to fix the cage to make it a little more comfortable.  I tore off the wire top and made a lid out of the same exterior siding that we’d used for the house.  I also drilled extra ventilation holes in the side of the house itself.  (Thanks to mom, for bringing me the piece of exterior siding, and to dad, for cutting it for me – it was just the right size!)

Then we went to the store (the only store around here) that sells rabbits.  I found this adorable little boy, and since he’s really my rabbit  (sure, it’s our family pet, but who’s going to be taking care of him?) I got to pick which one.  He’s a mix breed, so there’s no telling how big he’s gonna get.  We think he must have some lop in him, because his ears fall down every so often, and some of his litter mates had really loppy ears.

It took Trouble a few hours before he went in the rabbit house, but this little guy hopped right in there, first thing.

And he surprised both me and C by hopping up on top of the roof, no problem!

The girls don’t approve of any of the names I come up with, but we’ve finally settled on Hercules.  Welcome to the family, Hercules!

Summertime!

Wow, my babies are growing up fast! J's learning a lot of new tricks:
He's getting around pretty well these days. But he was a little wary of the grass and cement when we went outside ...
It didn't take him long to get used to it, though, and when he found the mud in the driveway seam ... he wasn't afraid to try a new flavor, either!
And that's not the only new thing to go in his mouth lately. I was so good with my girls to not give them sweets until they were bigger. And here's J at 9 months with a cookie!
The girls are learning new things, too.

Although, it is hard to keep up with them sometimes while I'm taking care of J! I have been brave enough to take the kids to the pool, and I even got L and S in swimming lessons!

Missing so many loved ones!

I think I was pretty sheltered from death growing up.  Even when my great-grandparents died, being in the military, they hadn’t been a huge part of my life.  Lately, though, I think I’ve started making up for lost time.  And this morning, I got another reminder of how precious this life is:

http://www.kold.com/story/15093145/tucson-woman-killed-in-crash-on-i-10

Kristina and I were in the same class in high school.  We sometimes ate lunch in the same group.  Honestly, we weren’t close friends, but like I said about Gabe Zimmerman (http://www.giffordsforcongress.com/2011/01/10/a-tribute-to-gabe-zimmerman/), when your graduating class is only 142 people, you pretty much know everyone.

Since we moved to Idaho two and a half years ago, we’ve lost one of C’s cousins, C’s grandma, C’s mom, and one of my grandmas.  And lately, one of my good friends from high school lost her husband.  (I don’t keep in touch so well, so I never knew him, but it just breaks my heart for her!) 

Times like these, I’m so very grateful for what we know about eternal life.  They may be gone from this world for now, but the day will come when we’ll all be back together again.

http://mormon.org/faq/life-after-death/

http://youtu.be/O_WnZNQf1ao

Goodbye Trouble

In the words of my dear husband:

I looked out the window, and what did I see?

Trouble’s buried ‘neath the apricot tree!

(For anyone unfamiliar with the LDS Church, we have a kid’s primary song about “popcorn popping on the apricot tree".”)

I’ll spare you the rest of the song, but you get the gist.  We lost our rabbit on the first hot day of summer.  We went from the 70s to 95 in the shade, and that was it.  Even with water in his bowl, he got too hot, and died in my arms, as I was trying to cool him off.  I was pretty upset about it, but my dad put it in perspective for me, “It’s a bunny, not a child.”  All too true.  You can see the little patch of dead sod to the left of the tree where we buried him.

We’re making a few modifications to the cage, and then we’ll get a new bunny (after all, we only had Trouble for a few weeks, and I put a lot of effort into that rabbit hutch).  The girls cried until I told them we could get a new rabbit, and now they just bug me about, “When are we getting a new pet?”  Until then, RIP, Trouble. 

How I get my laundry folded

Happy Independence Day!

We went to the Parade again this year – mostly because C was assigned again to do the inspections for the fair, but I didn’t see any use in him heading off to the fair and us staying at home.  So the kids and I fought the crowds to see the parade while C worked.

At first, the girls were content to watch the parade and wave their flags.  Then some people came by throwing candy …

Then they had to join the ranks of kids standing out in the road, waiting for candy.

J was content to sit in his stroller for the first half, and after that we have no pictures, because I was trying to hold him while helping the girls get candy.  Why, you ask, was I helping the girls get candy?  Because my little girls are a bit timid when the other kids leap in front of them and grab it up, and they probably only ended up with 10 pieces between the two of them from the whole parade … and that’s because at least 3 times, some other kid heard me saying, “I’m sorry, Baby, if you want candy, you’re gonna have to jump in and grab some.” … and gave them a piece or two.  Seriously, I was very impressed with little 7 or 8 yr old kids who would turn around and offer my girls some of their bounty.  (And a bounty it was – some of those kids had whole trick-or-treating bags full of candy by the end of it!)  I tried to show the girls how to wave and cheer so the people throwing candy would throw some at them, and I tried to show them how to stand in front, so they’d be right there when the candy did come … all with little success.  S started picking up on it, and I think she actually got most of the candy between the two of them, but L likes to stand there and survey which piece she wants before she tries to get any, and by the time she makes her move, it’s all gone!

Luckily, they didn’t have to catch all their treats that day:

We also set up our little pool in the back yard:

Even J got to play,

And this picture doesn’t fit in anywhere, but it was just too cute to pass up!

I don’t even know where to start!

The last eight months have been very busy for us, and this last month was no different. 

We started May by sending C home to get his baby.  I don’t have any pics since we’ve been back, but here’s a pic of it back home:

Then we went back to Utah for two weddings.  I had an old roommate get married, and then my little brother, with a week in between … a week of fun with my mom!  We did a little of everything.

We visited with relatives …

We went to the zoo … (you can tell poor J got tired out with all the excitment!)

We went to the aquarium …

And then we got to the main event!  Congrats to my brother and his beautiful bride!

You’ve never seen a wedding like this one!  They did a really good job of putting their personality into their wedding.

I have to say the flower girls were especially cute,

as was this little man!

We wore ourselves completely out!

Meanwhile, the kids keep getting bigger.  I hate it when I get outfits given to me, and then when the kids grow into them, the season doesn’t fit!  Poor J has this beautiful fleece outfit, and now it’s summer!  Oh, but he’s so cute in it!

L got this shirt from her Great Grandma (the one she’s named for), when she was born, and she’s finally grown into it.  (This one does fit!)

It reminds me of Grandma, how simple, but classy it is.

At home, I’ve finally “mastered” that laminated dough recipe.  This one I put some marzipan and chocolate in the inside, and wow, I was very pleased.

And …. We added to our family this month!

My friend down the street was trying to get rid of her bunny, and I couldn’t help but think how a rabbit would fit all our pet restrictions and requests … so I brought him home!  Meet Trouble, who is actually a lot of trouble!  First, I had to make him a new cage … some thing he could live in outside without my worrying about if it will rain on him.  So, in our final trip to my parent’s house, my amazing dad took a day and helped me buy and cut the lumber to put together this:

We’re really enjoying him, and as rabbits go, he’s a very friendly bunny.

So, that’s our life in a nutshell.  Hopefully I’ll do better keeping up with the blog posts in the future.  :-)