My Snugglebunny

You probably thought I was going to say my husband, but I have several snugglebunnies - my husband, my son, my dog and my cat. But of the ones of the four-legged kind, my favorite would have to be my dog Sebastian. He's a miniature schnauzer that we've had since he was a puppy, and his big personality and attitude is what caught our attention at the puppy store.

Whenever I sit down at home he hops right up beside me. If I'm at the computer he lies by my feet under the desk. He doesn't go to bed until momma goes to bed. In the mornings after my husband leaves for work Sebastian gets right next to my side in bed and just "snuggles." He's a complete teddy bear and very sweet, but if you ask the UPS delivery lady or the FedEx delivery guy they would tell you that he would eat them up if Sebastian could just get through the window to them!

Sebastian looks like an ewok when he's in bad need of a grooming, but he's quite a handsome little guy when he's been groomed. He's my protector and my alarm and visitor notification system. If you asked him what he wished most for in life right now he would probably tell you that he wishes he could catch just one of those squirrels or rabbits in our back yard.

He's 5 1/2 years old and he really is a very good dog. No damage ever to any furniture, shoes or other household items. But he did have a thing for paper when he was younger. He has a little bit of separation anxiety (he always wants mommy to stay home with him!) so in payback he's taken wads of paper or even kleenex out of the garbage can and we've come home to find shredded pieces in areas of the house. My favorite memory is when we came home from church one Sunday a few years ago and he had taken some white tissue paper out of one of the christmas gift bags and shredded it all over our family room. It looked as if it had literally snowed indoors!

I love my snugglebunny!

Solo Prayer

I've been so busy over the last several months that blogging just took a back seat, but I've been wanting to get back to it for a while now. Well, after what happened this morning it created the perfect opportunity to get back to the blog and get it written down.

I sat down at our breakfast table this morning with Nicholas to eat our cereal. He likes chocolate cheerios like his mommy, but SAM's hasn't been carrying it lately, so we've had to settle for honey nut cheerios instead. Nicholas had just started eating so I bowed my head to say a quick silent prayer. When I looked up Nicholas had his arms folded and his head bowed with his eyes open looking directly at me.

Well, I felt bad about not saying a prayer out loud with him so I asked him if he wanted to say a prayer. (I guess I just wasn't going to take the time because I wasn't feeling good and he was already eating). I was happy that Nicholas said, "yes," that he wanted to say the prayer, and I thought to myself that I would let him try it without me saying anything and him repeating my words as we normally do.

This was his prayer: "Heavenly Father, thank you for this food and for something to drink, amen." You can imagine my surprise. I couldn't believe my 3 year old was saying his first prayer all by himself! It was so cute. And it surprised me even more when he included the "something to drink" part because he had asked me for some water in a cup which we usually don't have with breakfast. He really likes orange juice but for whatever reason it was water this morning.

Nicholas has been parroting words, conversations, and even prayers for quite a while now but he had never attempted a prayer on his own until this morning. We usually giggle during family home evening after someone has said the prayer because Nicholas will pray right along with you repeating exactly what is being said.

I couldn't wait to tell Rick and my parents about Nicholas' first solo prayer today. Yes, I'm a proud mommy.

Fish Food

Last night Rick and I were both sitting in our office. I was finishing up some things on the computer and he was watching some kind of show on television. It was getting late and I was just about to put Nicholas in the bed. Nicholas had been in the room with us a while and then he was watching television in the family room.

I asked Rick he if wouldn't mind putting Nicholas down for the night and he said he would when he got ready to. I hadn't seen Nicholas for a few minutes so I was just about ready to get up to check on him when Rick decided to get up. The next thing I hear is Rick yelling and I knew something bad had happened.

I walked into the kitchen to see Rick fuming over by our small fish tank in the breakfast nook. Apparently, our sweet little boy had decided to feed the fish. There was water all over the floor, his shirt was wet, and there was cat food in the fish tank. Yes, I said cat food.

Nicholas had put some of our cat's pellet type food in the fish tank and there was a lot of it! Rick was so upset because he was already very tired and was just about to go to bed himself, then he had a mess to clean up. It was important to get the food out of the tank before the fish ate too much of it or they would die. Well, I got Nicholas in the bed and let Rick cool off as he cleaned up the mess.

I haven't turned on the fish tank light yet today, and I'm sort of afraid to look in case there are dead fish. I know this is one of those things that children do, and I could even find some humor in it last night after it happened. However, I think it will take quite a while before Rick can find any humor in it. One day, when we are much older, we'll both be able to look back at this and laugh.

I should probably mention here that this isn't the first time that Nicholas put something in the fish tank. I walked into the kitchen a few weeks ago to see Nicholas on his little stool by the fish tank and he had just dropped a small clock in the tank. Well, I could kind of see why he thought the clock should go in the tank because it's actually a clock in the shape of a fish!

Extreme Makeover

No, I'm not talking about me or my home. Not yet anyway.

Today while I was out and about with my parents, Nicholas and my sister-in-law, Darla, we happened to be going by where the crew from the television show "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and volunteers are building a home in the Middleburg area.

Over the years I've watched the show from time to time. It usually has some kind of tear-jerker moment that makes me cry, but you never get to see some of the behind the scenes action. Anyway, I told my parents that I really wanted us to drive by since we were so close, so they did. After all, when would I ever get another chance to see something like this so close to home?

Security is pretty tight, and fortunately we were able to give the security guard the address of someone we knew in the neighborhood, so we got to drive right by the house. We saw the staging area, the shuttle for people who wanted to do some spectating, and buses for all of the volunteer workers. They even had an "eating schedule" posted on a pole at the work site. There was a lot of activity going on, and we could see some of the workers completing work on the roof.

The house looks huge! We were told it's about a 4,000 square foot home and it's being built for the girl's volleyball coach at Middleburg High School. She took in three girls who are sisters that lost their parents, and she's also done a lot more to help people over the years. The news report I recently saw said that this particular episode of the show is scheduled to air on Mother's Day. I'm definitely going to watch it and can't wait to see how the inside of the house looks.

The Grinch?

I'm finally back again! My PC has been repaired and files have been restored, so I'm ready to start making blog entries again.

We had a wonderful Christmas and spent time on Christmas Eve with Rick's side of the family, then Christmas day with my side of the family. While we were at Rick's parents house I wanted to get a picture of Nicholas. I got out the camera, called his name and told him to smile, and this is the picture I ended up with. Yes, I think the Grinch made a brief appearance that night!

Then on Christmas Day at my home we had my parents over, along with my Grandma Luke, and my brother. I always try to get a family picture on Christmas Day of me, Rick and Nicholas for my "Family" hallmark picture ornament that has the year on it. So I had my mom and also my brother trying to take pictures so that we would at least end up with one good one. Nicholas would only sit still for a brief moment, so we thought if we added our dog, Sebastian, to the family picture that Nicholas would sit still beside him. It worked, and here's what we ended up with. Success!

Technical Difficulties

Yes, there's been a few. I have pictures to share and things to blog about, but my PC was hit with a nasty trojan virus and I keep getting an error message that pops up, then my computer freezes, then I have to restart it. So trying to post pictures or do much of a blog post is very frustrating to say the least. Sometimes I have only minutes before the cycle begins again. My PC has supposedly been cleaned of the infection, however I was told that it had corrupted my operating system. So I've yet to reinstall it because it is such a process and I just hate the thought of having to do it. At least I have an external hard drive that backs up my files, but then you have to transfer everything back, and.........well, okay, I've been putting it off. I hope to get it done sometime this week, but I'm trying to motivate myself and trying to build up to it. Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

On Monday, August 30, 2010 my dad turned 69 years old. It's hard to believe that in only one more year he will turn 70, but I'm not trying to rush things. I'd like to keep him around for many more years to come. You know the saying, "they broke the mold when they made him?" Well, it's so true about my dad. He is one of my absolute favorite people in the whole world, and I can't imagine what my life would be like without him. If you hadn't guessed it by now, yes, I'm a daddy's girl. Always have been and always will be!

For my dad's birthday my mom cooked a special dinner for him that we all enjoyed very much. Then he got to open his presents. My sister-in-law, Darla, got him a nice tie that has the little deseret beehive all over it. My brother and grandma gave him some money, and then came the present from me, Rick, Nicholas and my mom. My dad was so surprised when he opened his present and saw the book, "The Joseph Smith Papers, Revelations and Translations." This book is pretty expensive but I lucked up on a 40% off sale online and snagged one for him!


After opening presents the rest of our Family Home Evening group arrived and we watched another segment of a DVD series by Truman Madsen where he's over in the Holy Land and gives wonderful insights into the life of Christ. I've learned so much from him, and he just explains things in a way that makes things "make sense" and so much easier to understand. The scriptures literally seem to "come alive" as he shares his knowledge and provides cultural customs, traditions and background information. Plus, the scenery is absolutely beautiful!

When Family Home Evening was over we got to eat a special cake for my dad's birthday. My mom makes a homemade carrot cake and makes a homemade cream cheese icing that is so yummy! I'm not a big fan of carrot cakes, but I never pass up a slice of my mom's carrot cake.


I'm not sure where she found the recipe, but I've never ever tasted a carrot cake as moist and fresh as this one. You would never believe it from tasting it, but there's no sugar in the frosting! Anyway, my dad had a great birthday and we all had fun helping him celebrate it.