A Second Chance

We've all seen them, the cute pets on the billboard for the human society, or on the morning news. First your thoughts are, "Oh what a cute cat/dog" and then your heart sinks and your stomach turns... they don't have a home. My heart goes out to these and all animals every day. I love animals. I love being with them. And I love helping them whenever possible. This is my passion... after my family.

Recently Grace and I went to Petsmart to help Petsamaritan with their dogs potty breaks, while they were waiting to be adopted. We had a great time. All the dogs were very nice and grateful for any amount of love and attention. A few of them were even patient enough on the leash to let Grace walk them out to the potty spot.

At the end of the day, the Petsamaritan staff was very pleased to have had us come. We offered our help any time. They asked if we would be willing to foster any of the animals. There was a cat without a foster home. And they have so many dogs. Well Adam okayed the offer, as long as we didn't have to pay for it... we just can't right now. But the food is donated as well as cat litter. So all we do is provide a good home. We decided to take the cat, and also a dog, since the cat is no trouble at all. We chose a puppy because all the kid safe, older dogs were too big for our kennel. I've posted thier pictures on the blog, they are so great.

It's been two days and all is going fine. Grace has had so much fun with the puppy. She likes to call her Chocolate, or Fluffy. She took her share of breaking in Monet, the cat, as well. We will most likely have them until they are adopted, so if any of you know of anyone who is looking for a pet, I have two! Also any time you can, suggest the Pet Rescue groups... give a pet a second chance.

Ok, enough of that. Have a good one!

Dark and shady comes to life!

Our latest excitement and proud project is the dark corner in our backyard. Adam and I really didn't know what to do with it. It was always muddy and the grass wouldn't grow. Then a month or so ago I saw a picture in a gardening magazine that gave me an idea... and what was once dull and boring is now our cute little "Shady Nook". The best part is that we did it for next to no $, which is good cuz we didn't have any to spend!

Here is the space before we started.

The first thing I did was go online to ksl.com (which I highly recommend for everything) and searched the classifieds for dirt. Once we found it we removed the brick from another part in our yard (that we will remodle next year) and made a patio sample. Then while Adam went to get the dirt the kids and I started pulling out grass. Which wasn't hard since it wasn't really growing.

So then Adam, my brother Tyler and I all unloaded the dirt. It's not topsoil, but it was free.

Then we put down the patio, again. This time level. Which I must say this was the hardest part. But Adam did a great job.

The kids and I had to test out the new bench.... that I put together! Not with ease though.

Add in a few hostas, impatients and some moss to fill the patio spaces...

Tada! We love our new spot. Oh and the two stepping stones to the left are so the kids can still visit with the neighbor dog through the hole in the fence, without killing my plants.

Here it is again at night. I can't wait to see the plants grow and fill in. We love working in the yard and this was a lot of fun.

Is this thing working...

I haven't heard from anyone and don't know if my emails got sent, so someone let me know if you receive this! Thanks...


In the mean time I will try and add some photos.
I know it was a couple months ago but these are from Kaleb's first birthday...

Here's our handsome little man!!

We had a beach party so I made a cake shaped like a surfboard...
I made him his own little cake too, and he really had a great time eating it... first he had to squish it between his fingers for a while though.

He loved opening his presents, and got very excited when he saw the Fire Car that Adam and I got him!

He was nice enough to share with his big sis too.

Elmo got into the present action too, literally!

After cake there was lots and lots of swimming and water sliding. I couldn't believe how brave Kaleb was going down this slide, it was going fast!! He caught some good air at the bottom!

Here's a good looking bunch!!

Adam and his brothers: Jonathan, Adam, Aaron and Ethan.

Such a fun party!! Thanks a ton to my wonderful sister in law, Stace, for taking the pictures!! You did a fabulous job, you rock!

I will put more pics of the summer on as soon as I know this is getting to people!

Here we are...

I have discovered blogging through an old friend I've gotten in touch with and decided to give it a try. I know absolutely nothing about blogs so it will take some time to get this going I am sure. But I thought this would be a great way to keep all our family and friends updated. You'll all have to bear with me though, I'm not a writer! That's not the point anyway, right. I hope to keep it up to date either on a daily or weekly basis. Weekly is probably more realistic. If you have any suggestions, comments or helpful hints on how to create a fun blog for everyone to see, please let me know. Love you all!

Angelique