A little bowl of ice cream.......

A few days ago I walked in the kitchen to find this going on. Tate told me he was just getting a "little bowl of ice cream."

He thinks he is so big and is independent.

He may be in a little bit of trouble. We just laughed, but he was a little concerned since we told him he could not have any ice cream before he decided to help himself.

A birthday surprise......

My sweet husband spoiled me for my birthday.  He worked so hard to plan the best getaway weekend and it was nice to have time alone together.  Once again I forgot my camera and we were having too much fun to snap a photo. We went downtown and stayed and enjoyed a night at City Creek and then at Temple Square.  It was beautiful and the weather was perfect.  We went to a nice romantic dinner and just enjoyed being together.  I know he spent a lot of time and effort planning the perfect weekend for my birthday and I am so lucky to have him as a husband. I love you babe! The boys stayed with our family friend who made arrangements last minute to take them. Thanks Tiff! I had a wonderful weekend and it helped me to forget that I am getting older.

A family game night........

 

We love family game night and the boys are really into playing family games right now.  Nick and Bridgette came one night to cheer up Dylan after Lulu passed and we decided to play Head Bandz. It cheered him up a bit I must say. Thanks Nick and Bridgette! 

 

Goodbye Lulu, you will live in our hearts forever.......

Our sweet Lulu was put to rest on November 29th. She will live in our hearts and memories now.  It was a hard day for our family. Lulu was 11 years old and had become a permanent family member.  I remember when Mike and I brought her home around the middle of December, 11 years ago in a tiny little box.  We chose her because she was the runt and Mike connected with her quickly.  When we brought her home she cried all night and I remember thinking should we just take her back to her sisters.  She warmed our hearts though and we fell in love with this sweet ugly looking dog.  She was cuddly but stubborn and she was so ugly that she was cute. That was Mike's favorite saying when describing her.  If you know a pugs personality they usually bond with one person. But not Lulu.  She bonded with Mike and then when Dylan came she bonded with him.  She always obeyed them better then she would me or Tate. Lulu was our little girl and then came Dylan and she became the big sister.  She would protect him like no other.  I remember getting in the shower after we brought Dylan home from the hospital and she sat right by his bed.  As he grew she would stay right by him if I left the room.  One time I was in the bathroom and she came barking like I needed to go check on Dylan.  Sure enough Dylan was getting into the cupboard where I kept some cleaning supplies.  As Dylan grew she would follow him around the house even if he had friends here. Alot of times we placed her in her crate just because she would follow him and his friends everywhere.  Tate came and she became his guard dog too. She was awesome with our boys. She followed them everywhere and would always protect them . The boys loved to take her on walks around the neighborhood and we noticed this past year the boys would take her half way around the block and bring her back saying she was tired.  Lulu would be panting and we knew she was aging. I loved to sit in my recliner in my room and she would sit on the floor and wait for me to pet her belly.  She was such a cuddly dog and I think that has helped our boys in being so cuddly. Since Mike has been working at home she would sit in his office and would sleep in there often.  Mike has really missed this and says our house is too quite now. We never realized how loud she was with her sneezes, her coughing, and her pug noises until she was gone.  Our house is really quite and that has been really hard. Over the month of  Novemeber Lulu really starting aging and I could tell she was in pain.  She had been battling an ear infection since April and we had her into the vet often trying to get her better.  The ear infection would go away and then a week or two later it was back.  We put her on thyroid medication and changed her diet, but nothing seemed to help. Her arthritis was also bothering her and she began to wimper when the barometric pressure dropped.  The weekend before we put her to sleep I noticed that her right side was swelling and then she began coughing.  I told Mike it was time and he was not ready yet.  I could not see her suffer anymore and so we decided to take her to our awesome honest vet for further care. When the vet saw her she told us she had fluid in her lungs and she was not able to fight the ear infection.  We both knew it was time to say goodbye. We just did not know how hard it was going to be. They say dogs know when they are going to "doggy heaven" and I can tell you Lulu knew. She was giving me loves all the way to the vet office and she was calm and cuddly with Mike. We said our goodbyes and then they gave her a sedative.  She did not suffer and went peacefully. After they gave her the sedative we could see she was already going. Her respirations were very shallow and then the vet gave her the medication to stop her heart.  It was the first time I saw that little tail of her's go completly straight and we knew she was gone.  Mike and I bawled like little babies and then Mike when home to get the boys and brought them to see her. We stayed for about an hour with the boys and our little family shed a thousand tears or more.  We will miss her in "pug mode,"  all of those noisy sounds, and her little personality around here. Many people have asked us about getting another dog, but as for now we just want to remember her for a little while.  I can say she has taught our family true love and what the cycle of life is all about. She has also taught our boys about responsibility and Dylan misses doing her chores. We love you Lulu...

 

 

 

 

 

 

We love you Lulu.........

 Dylan loved Lulu. Mike and I have never seen him cry so hard as he did when we put her to sleep.  They had a special bond and she was always following him; she was his sidekick. He is doing better now and is recalling some good memories with her.  He would not talk about it for 3-4 days and we even took him out of school one afternoon to a movie because he was struggling.  A friend told us to make a memory book and put pictures around the house of her.  That has helped him.  Tate also knew Lulu from when he was a babe and he was always giving her hugs.  He has been more open to talk about her passing then Dylan. He just keeps saying, "I miss Lulu. I love her." Tate was able to say goodbye before we took her to the Vet and Dylan wasn't.  I think I made a mommy mistake not pulling Dylan out of school to say his goodbyes before we put her to sleep.  He was able to say goodbye after she was gone and it was very emotional for us all.

 

Memories of Lulu

                                              A family photo that was taken in 2003

Lulu was such a great guard dog when the boys were little.  This is Dylan and Lulu on guard when he was a babe.

This is HALLOWEEN......

This year for Halloween Dylan was the King of Rock and Tate was the King of Pop. Tate has been a huge Michael Jackson fan and Dylan likes Elvis so it was very fitting.We have been watching videos of both of the legends on Youtube for months.

Dylan had fun being Elvis. He also had a microphone but he did not want to carry it around with him.

 Mike and I caved after Tate had a melt down that we were not dressing up.  I found a witch's hat and had some face painting done at Gardner Village. Mike found a mullet and became a throw back from the 80's.  It was fun!

 I LOVE this..... Joey was the Hunchback of Notre Dame and they looked so great!

 Trick or treating around our neighborhood.

 Dylan and Jake ran around the neighborhood as fast as they could to collect their treats.  Again, my auto focus does not want to cooperate. Dylan is always moving so much.

 You can tell this is a huge Michael fan. He knows all the moves.

Halloween school festivities.....

Dylan or Mr. Elvis had a school parade costume. Dylan was really shy when I went to take his photo and started walking to fast for my auto focus to work.  You can see his cute smile though:)

 Here is the "Ninja guy" all ready for his preschool Halloween party.  He had to show off this great costume to his little friends at school.

His friend, Lincoln, was also a Ninja.  They were so cute!

The boys with their spider cupcake when I picked them up from preschool.

Carving pumpkins......

 Tate found a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch that he wanted to make into Boogie Woogie from his favorite movie.  Mike is really good at carving pumpkins and it is one of his favorite things to do for Halloween.  He did a great job and Tate loved his pumpkin.

 Dylan chose to make his pumpkin into Harry Potter.  Mike had him carving it this year

The Harry Potter pumpkin turned out to be "awesome" according to Dylan

....... and we had to have a Jack Skellington pumpkin again this year.

The annual corn maze fun......

This past Monday we had our annual fun night at the corn maze.  We ate pizza at the Pie and then walked through the corn maze. This year they had a clue game that helped you find your way through the maze and we were correct with the first clue so it lead us to the end of the corn maze in less then 5 minutes.  So, we decided to go backwards and we were able to walk through the entire maze.  Mike and I scared the boys by jumping out of the corn a few times and so they decided to stay by each other just like this picture below. It was pretty funny.

Tate and Dylan pulling their scary faces.  I think Tate won this.  He loves Halloween and he can pull some scary faces!

The boys told us do this.  What you do for the love of your children:)

That would be Dylan as Frankenstein. He was a little short:)

This year the corn maze had a paint ball zombie shoot out.  Both the boys wanted to shoot at the zombies multiple times.  It was pretty fun and the corn maze has become a fun tradition for our family.

A Witches Hunt......

Dylan has been off track and we have been having a lot of fun playing.  We started reading Harry Potter with him and he is obsessed with it.  He asks constantly if we can read it.  He is a great little reader and we are glad he enjoys it so much.  It has been more fun to read it with him then it was when I read it the first time.  One day we invited the McNees boys to go with us to Gardner Village. They have a Witches Hunt game and the boys had a blast trying to find all the decorated witches based on a few clues.  They were able to find the Witches pretty fast and so we enjoyed a little treat at the Naborhood bakery.  Can you guess what treat Tate chose? Of course, it was a chocolate donut.

 

 

 Dylan and Jake voted this witch to be their favorite.Dylan liked the owl because it reminded him of Hedwig from Harry Potter.

Gardner Village is awesome at this time of year.  Tate's favorite witch was in the outhouse.

A trip to St. George for Tate's Birthday..........

Rewind to October 9th.......It was a special little boy's 5th birthday.  We celebrated the day in St. George with the McNees and Weston family and it was a fun few days.  The kids were off track and we played in St.George in the McNees time share.  Thanks McNees family for letting us enjoy your time share and for creating fun memories!  We were able to go to Aladdin and the boys loved it. Part of the production was in 3D and the boys were so excited to wear the 3D glasses.  I was horrible at snapping photos because we were playing way too much:) On Tate's birthday his dream came true.... He was able to swim all day in the pool with friends.  We sat at the pool the entire day and the kids played non-stop.  They also enjoyed the arcade and just being together. The weather was beautiful and it was fun to relax and not drive anywhere.  Here was Tate's 5th birthday interview:

What is your favorite food: Nutella Sandwiches

What is your favorite thing to do: Swim and play Lego's and I like preschool too.

Who is your best friend: Daddy, Joey, Lincoln, Carter and who else mom?  Oh ya it is Dylan

What do you want to be when you grow up: a swimmer and a Mormon

What is your favorite thing to do with mommy: read books

What is your favorite thing to do with daddy: play Lego's and wrestle


We just love this little guy.  He is growing so fast and he has a great sense of humor.  I love that he still snuggles with me at night and he will say spontaneously to every member of our family, "I love you."  He loves swimming and is a great little swimmer.  He does not want to quit his swimming classes...ever.  And so we just keep him enrolled.  He also enjoys Preschool and movies.  We LOVE you TATTEY BEAR!

 He is full of personality!

 The boys being silly in St. George

If only every day could be like this:)

It's a Jack Skellington PARTY......

    Tate had a fun Jack Skellington birthday bash for his 5th birthday.  He had a great time and it was fun to share his special day with friends and a few family members.

 The kids enjoyed the bounce house and it was a fun way to burn off all that boy energy.

 

Tate is blessed to have so many great friends.