Eat, Sleep, Ride...

Baker vs Bellingham 12.15.10

2010-12-16T13:46:00.001-08:00

Last night was the wrestling match between Baker and Bellingham High Schools. My friend Megan came to watch and brought her camera and press pass along so she could be on the mat taking pictures. She got some great action shots but some are blurry. Hailey pinned her in the first round. Poor Dave missed it, he was on his way when I called him and told him they had already called her name. Not that he wont have plenty of other chances to watch her. Lindsay, Jake and Madi were there to watch as well. Madi was completely unimpressed but kept herself entertained by singing little songs to her purple bear :)

December 2010

2010-12-12T09:55:00.000-08:00

Wow, time is flying by! November is just a blur-hardly even remember it happened. First week of December however, is another story. On Thursday December 2nd I got the surprise of a lifetime! Cody came home almost a month early and managed to keep it secret until he walked into my office and surprised me. What a great moment that was, I couldn't believe my eyes! We have been having so much fun visiting with him and spending time with him. He is probably leaving today to spend the night in Seattle then head back over the mountains in time for work on Wednesday. He should be back on or around Christmas, were not sure what day yet. Hailey had the holiday choir concert and her first two wrestling tournaments. It's been hectic and busy. Last sunday the kids came over and we went and got our trees then had a BBQ afterwards with a belated birthday celebration for Cody. We got him a new TomTom GPS for his truck, he had been borrowing one from his dad for a while but had to give it back and really wanted to get one of his own. Dave ended up getting me one as well so I would spend less time getting lost looking for schools in cities like Yelm, Tacoma and Puyallup. So far I am two for two and it's not much fun wandering around looking for them. Nearly all of Hailey's wrestling tournaments are at least two hours away and start at 9:30. We have to have her to the bus by 4:45 then I try to leave as early as possible after that to not miss too much. Last weekend she won two of her matches and lost two, she wrestled all day with a sore throat and fever, which we later learned was strep throat. Bummer! Yesterday she wrestled three times and won only one match. We are really newbies to this whole thing and are slowly learning the difference in a round robin tournament, a bracket tournament a dual meet and one other thing I can't recall. Cody and I drove down yesterday but had to leave by 5:30 as he had plans. The bus got back to the school at midnight so she had a pretty long day and is still sleeping. Next weekend is in Puyallup and is a bracket tournament with only girls so should go faster. Our next tournament is in Kelso which is forever away and they are talking about spending the night. All this driving is practically killing me and I am quite thankful for my nice little car with good gas mileage!

Halloween 2010 and The Birthday Present

2010-11-08T08:14:00.001-08:00

I know it's been forever since I have updated this blog, to tell the truth I am finding it difficult to maintain two social networking sites. You probably have noticed this by now :)
Anyhow here is the little witch on halloween night all hopped up on sugar and the 4-wheeler birthday present she got on Saturday.
Pictures from her party on sunday will follow...if you simply can't wait head on over to my facebook and check them out ;)

Haileys Invasion!

2010-11-01T19:07:00.000-07:00

I realized my mother has not added any pictures of our little prickly pear. Her name is Pryxi and she is approximately 3 months old. She has many names that Mom and Dave call her. But is usually referred to as Prickly Pear or a Sea Urchin. She is a Pinto Pygmy African Hedgehog. We are waiting for our new edition, his name will be Sonic. We are hoping for a tan one, but we will not be picky. Eventually we will have little baby "hedgies" to add to the blog and spread the Prickly Pear joy!

A Little Witch?

2010-10-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

Madi's 2010 costume for Halloween....

TEN.TEN.TEN

2010-10-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

I just realized that was todays date, cool day to get the barn done and horses moved home :) Here are a couple of pics, we have many things to do yet but putting that barn together was worse than putting all the walmart furniture in the entire world together! The double S ranch sign we had made at the fair and it stands for the horses sandy and stetson, just in case anyone was wondering :) Figured I would throw a picture of our "wild child" in as well so you can see how much he has grown...

Well Apparently...

2010-09-29T18:22:00.000-07:00

My blog about the hydra bull clinic, which I thought was quite interesting, did not count. So here is the post about the updated yard situation and just to commemorate the occassion I threw in a couple of pics of the progress on the barn.

Hydra Bull Cutting Clinic

2010-09-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

So I spent my entire day today at a hydra bull cutting clinic/competition. A hydra bull is a motorized bull that is basically a superb training aid for a cutting horse that is just learning. The clinic was first from 9:00 am to 2:00 where each participant had 2 turns to practice working their bull. The competition started at 4 and each participant was judged on various skills that I wont bore you with here. Dave came and took some pictures which was really sweet, sadly he forgot that if you rotate the lens you can zoom in so the pictures are pretty far away but you can probably get the idea of what it looked like. We ended with a score of 68, high score of the day was 72 1/2. It was a lot of fun and there will be many more hours spent honing my skills at cutting :)

Progress Cowden style

2010-09-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

as is better late than never. Well we have been here for over three months and up until this past weekend next to nothing had been done. But thats all changed now, the yard has been leveled, the hill has been built and nicely sloped, the front planter area in back of the shrubs has been filled pretty much all thats left now is for the ground below the house to be graded so we can put up our stalls oh and putting up the carport. Today they came and hydroseeded everything, amazing stuff really. They did hydroseed the hill area but plan to put some sort of ground cover there eventually as it would be next to impossibe to mow. Not sure when we will be able to fence it in and actually use it but in the mean time it sure looks much nicer and we were happy to discover how large the yard actually is now that it is all level. The dogs are going to be very happy :) As a bonus my new car is in some of the shots...

First day of School 2010/2011

2010-09-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

Hailey is so super excited to be going back to school!! (She says dripping with sarcasim) She did dutifully get out of bed and get ready but she was openly indignant regarding our long standing tradition of first day of school pictures, whats up with that? She did it albeit with a sarcastic expression...whom does she remind me of?????

For the loyal believers....

2010-08-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

We had a scorcher of a weekend, it was really warm both days. On Saturday Lindsay and Jake took Madi down to Woodland Park Zoo and had a great time. They got a few good pictures as well. On Sunday they came over to the house to BBQ and play with Lindsay's 4 wheeler. We tried to walk all the dogs down to the river afterwards but there was about a trillion people already there. Lindsay, Madi, Myself and all the dogs walked back to the house and roasted marshmallows while the guys took the three wheeler, four wheeler and fishing poles and headed back down to the "private" camping spot at the river. Hope everyone else's weekend was just as nice and relaxing as ours :)

Just in Case.....

2010-08-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

Anyone at all even bothers to check anymore :) Well I can assure you that I haven't been in a coma and plenty has happened I just have not been making the time or effort to update my blog. Sorry...
There is actually so much news that it would be impossible to catch up from my last post which was sometime in June or maybe early July.
The most recent news in a nutshell is I found a new/used car-a Honda Civic Lx. And I got a new tattoo-a fish on my foot-pretty exciting stuff.
NOTHING at all has been done at the house as far as the yard or property goes so there is no news there, work is going well and Dave is busy. Hailey is enjoying her summer of leisure and Madi has grown leaps and bounds in the past few months.
Cody is being deployed again at the end of the month which really sucks since he will most likely miss the holidays and the winter in Spokane which I know he was looking forward too.
Other than that we are happy healthy and extremely blessed.....
My thanks to any of you who actually might have bothered to check in to see if I was ever gonna update again :) Your optimism is inspiring....

Chili in Motion..

2010-06-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Lee, Madi and I went over to see how Kyla and Chili were getting along over at the breeders. We brought them out to the yard so Chili could run around and Kyla could eat some grass. We hadn't seen him since thursday and he seemed to have grown! He had so much fun running around and prancing and dodging Madi who was on a mission to catch him.

Happy Sweet 16 Hailey!

2010-06-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

So I know it's been a very long time since I have blogged but we have been very busy! Dad & Edith came to visit for a few days on Tuesday, the same day Chili was born. We had lots of fun visiting and we ate very well! They took a couple of day trips while Dave and I had to work. On Saturday Don & Cathi came over on the way home from their Vacation Cruise and later Mom, Lee, and all of Don & Cathi's kids came over along with Lindsay Jake and Madi and we had a huge BBQ! We actually had 18 people in this house! It was amazing, luckily the weather was good and we were able to be outside as well. Dad Edith Don Cathi and all the kids headed out around 7:00 and Mom & Lee started their stay with us. For the entire week we continued to be pampered and spoiled with dinners and long walks in the evening. Friday the 25th was Hailey's 16th birthday and we woke up to a sign in the driveway made out of tape by Steven! It was really cute. After that she opened her presents then spent the day with her dad and his girl friend having lunch and shopping. Friday night we all went out to dinner at Olive Garden. After dinner Lindsay took Hailey and Steven to play laser tag and drive go-carts and we took Madi home with us. I think Hailey had a pretty great 16th birthday!

It's a BOY!!!!

2010-06-15T13:24:00.000-07:00

Kyla had her baby in the early hours of the morning today. Dave went over to the barn to feed and Kyla had a surprise for him! He was already dry and up and nursing so he must have been at least a few hours old. Dave named him VooDoo Chili-long story-but we'll just call him Chili for short. He is super tiny and super adorable! You must come and see him with your own eyes, oh and Kady gladly let him borrow her coat to keep warm on this chilly June day.

Madi has a new hobby...

2010-06-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

Jake has a guitar and has been getting pretty good-not to be outdone, Madi has been practicing too! Pretty soon they will have jam sessions and I am hoping they will be more country than rock n roll..

Some Updates..

2010-06-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

So there is one good advantage to having to come into work on Saturday...I get to update my blog! Having Monday off was awesome until about Thursday when I realized how terribly far behind I was with all the stuff that would go to print on Tues. Oh well, at least I am not salary!! Just a couple of quick pics of the outside of the house, and equipment shed, big change..If you want to see how cute the inside is you'll just have to come visit :)
A couple pics of Madi and the puppies who will thankfully be leaving next weekend, they are sweet and adorable and I will be sooo happy when they go to their new homes.

A Great Weekend

2010-06-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

Well since it was a long weekend I had lots of plans to do lots of things. Saturday morning I got highlights in my hair, which was fun. After that I picked up Lindsay, Madi and Hailey to go to the mall to have some lunch and do a little shopping. While we were on our way Cody called, as we were chatting he asked what I was up to which I proceeded to explain; lunch at the mall, sale at Old Navy, etc... Anyway I was standing in Old Navy when someone grabbed my shoulder from behind ('bout scared me to death) and it was Cody! He had driven up to surprise us and we had surprised him by not being home! Apparently I give up information too easily :) We all had lunch together then Lindsay and Hailey did some power shopping while Cody and I wrangled Madi. We actually had a lot of fun and finished off the day with a BBQ.
Sunday we had everyone over and the boys all worked on the Hot Tub and shot at things with Dave's BB gun.
On Monday I went to my first ever cow horse clinic where we worked the "flag" which is actually a motorized cow looking thing that dangles from wires that is controlled by someone hopefully willing to take pity on you. The idea is for the horse to track the cow and even though I am a newbie along with my horse we still got to shake things up a little. On my second turn I rode Joey, who is my horses' daddy. Also a professional at this game so all I had to do was Hang On! Which believe it or not is harder than it looks. We had a great time and I can't wait to go do it again!
Oh, and I sold one of the puppies :) he hasn't left yet but it is one less to advertise...So even though the weather was not exactly perfect I would have to give this long weekend Two Thumbs Up!

Madi & Danner

2010-05-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

Madi finally has her OWN puppy, and she is very happy. Now she has someone else to boss around 24/7. Danner is a bull terrier and he is 9 weeks old. Apparently he has been adjusting to his new home really well, going to the bathroom outside and sleeping all night in his crate already. Of course he did fly to Washington via Florida so he had a lot of time to get cozy with his crate. Dave can't wait to "train" him!

Prom 2010

2010-05-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hailey and Steven decided at the last possible minute that they were going to go to prom. With the help of Lindsay and a borrowed dress they managed to pull it together and left only 20 minutes late last night. I have no idead whether or not they had a good time, she is still sleeping!

Remember this?

2010-05-04T16:51:00.001-07:00

Puppy Love....

2010-05-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

Kady's stolen puppies are 2 weeks old already, eyes open and scooting around. They are SOOOO fat and huge. I guess with only two mouths to feed there is plenty to go around!

Mack & Jack

2010-04-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

Updated pics of the puppies! They are almost a week old already, they have had their dew claws and tails done which they did not care for. They look identical with the exception of a bit of white on one of them. We aren't really calling them Mack & Jack at least I dont think we are :)

BirthDay, Tax-Day, Labor Day

2010-04-17T09:08:00.000-07:00

So our April 15th was busy, first of all it was Dave's 44th birthday, he often thinks that at all of his birthdays he is turning 42 so I have to clear that up in case he told you otherwise :) We got him a massaging chair for his van, it attaches to his seat and plugs into the cigarette lighter so he can relax between appointments. So far he loves it! Tax day for us was no big deal because it was done months ago, although for some people (Jake) it was a big deal! April 15th was also Kady's due date. Of course it's not that simple and there is much more to the story so here goes:
It started on Wednesday morning when Suzy was acting strangely, panting, shaking and being sort of neurotic. We left her in the house when we went to work and Dave checked on her throughout the day. Wednesday evening she was totally fine, ate and went outside, no big deal. Thursday morning it was the same thing, panting and shaking and sticking to me like glue. So we left her in again, and at this time Kady was totally fine, no signs of labor. Dave again checked on her throughout the day and she was always the same-in our room, panting and shaking. Hailey got home and was worried about her because she was acting so strangely. I left work early, called the vet on my way home and arranged to bring her right in. She did not look pregnant at all and had no bag so we were concerned that something was not right. The vet examined her then decided to x-ray her, they found 2 puppies on the same side of her uterus, they ultra-sounded her and they were both alive and although bigger than they would have been had there been more, not to big to be delivered normally. So we took her home and waited. By the time I got home Kady was panting and shaking, apparently in labor as well. So this is how the entire night went: Kady and Suzy in side by side beds panting and shaking. I dozed off and on throughout the night when I could. Kady had her first puppy at 10:42, second puppy at 1:30, and the third puppy at 4:15. Suzy worked at it and pushed frequently but never produced anything. Kady's puppies were all born with a condition I learned about from my friend Jennifer as Red Bag. The way I understand it is the placenta is inside out and attached to the uterus wall. Each puppy came out without a sac or without their placenta, covered in blood. It was very strange and really messy. She has never had a delivery like this. The puppies were all very small and looked like little weiner dogs. Friday morning at 7:30 we called the vet and arranged to bring Suzy in at 8:30 for a C-section. We didn't have high hopes that the puppies would be alive but they needed to come out one way or another. I left her there and headed into work, I had some stuff that absolutely had to be done, I was loopy from lack of sleep and looked like hell but what are you gonna do?
The vet called me about 12:00, said mom and two boy puppies were all fine and healthy, phew! Big relief.
I left work early again to go pick her and the puppies up because she was very uncomfortable being there and would not pay any attention to her puppies. Big shocker I know-anyone who knows Suzy is not surprised by this.
I got home and got Suzy and pups situated in Madi's room and went to check on Kady.
First of all there were four puppies instead of three and two of them were dead. They had apparently not nursed at all. Kady's bag was huge and full of milk. I took the two remaining puppies of Kady's and moved them with Suzy on the heating pad. I then took Suzy's two big healthy, nursing puppies and put them on Kady to help releive her. It worked great, they were happy and anxious to be nursing and today Kady looks much more comfortable and normal.
The bad news-apparently one of the problems with the Red-Bag is that the puppies are born oxygen deprived which is probably one reason they werent nursing. I tried bottle feeding the two living puppies but the little male was just not into it at all, he wouldnt suck or really swallow. The little girl seemed to be stronger and got better and better at it. I finally moved her in with Kady to let her nurse. She latches on really well and seems to be a pretty good sucker, but gets knocked off easily by the bigger puppies. I got up every two hours to help her get attached and make sure she nursed. I don't know if she is going to make it or not it's hard to say right now. The other little boy did not make it, we knew he woulnd't but we had to try anyway. Right now all 3 puppies are with Kady as she has a lot of milk and is doing a good job taking care of them. Suzy wants the puppies but has no interest in nursing them or cleaning them which is a problem. I know she is sore and uncomfortable and on pain medication so we just decided to have one combined litter and give it to Kady.
For now we have 3 puppies, 2 boys and 1 girl. The all look the same a brown color like Maxx with a little white on the chest. We will keep you posted and what a way to spend April 15th.

House Progress

2010-04-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

I just ran over to the house this morning and snapped a few pics, they have been working A LOT! It is starting to come together, the bedrooms and bathrooms are done with the exception of the carpet. The mud room is almost done and the tile in the dining room and kitchen is about half way done. There is still some cement to pour outside and the rest of the skirting to go up but it's getting closer! Dave hauled off a load to the dump today and will pick up a couple more cedar panels for the front yard which we hope to get in sometime this week. There is a ton of yard work to do but we will just keep plugging away at it until we have it looking like we want it to. The space down below the house will be where the horses will go and that will take a bit of time to get ready. Our goal is to have a couple of shelters with paddocks and a riding area at least as big as the one we have now. Kyla will probably live up above by the storage area as soon as they tear down that old house. Still not quite sure where the dog houses are going to go but at least we will have either cement, rock or grass so they should keep pretty clean :) Oh and we know our address: it is 3536 Cedarville Rd, Bellingham WA 98226.

Yard Sale Half Time Show

2010-04-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

Lucky for us the weather on Saturday was near perfect, pretty cold and a little windy but sunny and dry. We got rid of quite a bit of stuff and made enough money to get Hailey a bed and dresser. Lindsay, Jake, Madi and Hailey were there all day, they were a huge help! At one point though we took a little break and let Madi ride her pony, lots of people got a kick out of that. Notice I said people? Klya was completely un-impressed with the idea :) and mostly tried to pretend it wasn't happening.

Getting Closer.....

2010-04-08T06:55:00.000-07:00

The move is getting closer...Steve came over last night to measure the carpet to see how far it will go. He thinks it should do all 3 bedrooms. They are going to put our nice ceiling fan from the office in the dining room over at the new house so that will be good. They are also taking all the appliances out of the kitchen here to put over there. They have also decided that they would prefer us to keep the horses down below the house rather than in the shed, which is fine with me. So now we are going to put some sort of doors on the front of the wood building and that will all be storage. Which will solve one problem...We are hoping that by the end of summer we will be able to come up with some sort of shelter for the horses, but until then we can have them in some fencing down below. They also said the horses are more than welcome to stay over here for as long as we want since there will be people here everyday. So first thing is the moving sale this weekend where hopefully we will sell just about everything we have, second step is I guess we better get to packing :)

Driving Grandpa's Jeep

2010-03-28T17:06:00.001-07:00

Hmmm...I think we know what kind of car she will want when she turns 16....

if you raise them with dogs...

2010-03-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

they may think they're a dog.....

Not Mart.....

2010-03-21T12:12:00.003-07:00

Rylie waiting patiently for the door thats not there to open...It's gonna be a long couple of weeks!

Miss Madi

2010-03-19T19:15:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Madi spent the night with us and since the weather was pretty nice we played outside with the dogs. She loves being outside and she loves playing with the dogs. Luckily they are so good with her, I think they kind of like her too :)

Ok, so I lied.....

2010-03-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

This is sort of news. My new "Stetson" tattoo.

No News.....

2010-03-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

Making Progress...

2010-03-06T18:22:00.000-08:00

We took advantage of having Cody's braun here today and got one whole section of fence done at the new place. They also finished taking down the rest of the trees and we can see baker now. Slow progress for sure but it's getting there.

Cody's New Digs

2010-03-06T18:17:00.000-08:00

Cody came home last night for a quick visit, he wanted to pick up the rest of his things, actually he just wanted to pick up his guns and I am making take the rest of his things! He has a great little house, actually the house is big, but he lives in the top half. It is a one bedroom one bathroom right on the river. He got enough furniture to furnish it in two days, mostly from the BX. It sure looks peaceful enough :)

February 20, 2010

2010-02-20T09:18:00.000-08:00

It's the middle of winter, my horse is outside naked, and these are growing in my back yard....I'm just sayin'

The Big Date!

2010-02-13T22:35:00.000-08:00

On Saturday night Dave and I went to a semi-formal dinner/dance thing that was hosted by his do-jo. It was a lot of fun, they had some yummy appetizers and wine and italian sodas and free Salsa Dance lessons. We totally sucked at the dancing but had fun anyway and it was a great chance for me to get to know some of the other crazy people who like to beat each other up for fun! Plus I had to get a new dress, new shoes and my hair done for the event, darn! It was a really fun way to celebrate Valentine's Day early....
On the way to the Bellingham Ferry Terminal, which is where it was held, we stopped in at Lindsay and Jake's so they could snap some pics of us all dressed up!

Life is Funny....

2010-02-13T09:40:00.000-08:00

Just when you think that everything is working against you something incredible happens...
About a year ago I interviewed for a Graphics Position with a Ferndale paper, they chose another candidate and more recently I interviewed with a sister company, the Lynden Tribune, and they also chose another candidate. Even more recently I interviewd with my own company for a production assistant job and it was a complete disaster. ( I wont go into details here )
Friday afternoon I recieved an email from the Ferndale paper asking if I was still looking for a graphics position...I answered "yes"
This morning she called me and offered me the job. And I said "yes".
Wow! Just like that! Isnt if funny how life works out sometimes??

New pics of Madi

2010-02-11T18:21:00.000-08:00

I thought some cute pics of Madi would help soften the blow of the new pics of the house....

As bad as it gets?

2010-02-11T18:10:00.000-08:00

I snapped this picture today so we can remember what the house used to look like (see how optimistic I am) I am sure that in no time at all this will just be a dim memory (I desperately hope) and it will be cute and homey and all landscaped. I haven't taken pics of the property lately but there have been some changes like they have cut down all the trees behind where the house is now sitting. Maybe this weekend we will head over there and get some updated pictures.

Winter Ball 2010

2010-01-29T20:16:00.000-08:00

Thursday night was Hailey's first official High School Dance. She willingly let me take pictures of her for the occassion and not one to be left out of a photo op (that doesnt involve her parents)-fresh out of the bath- was Miss Madi.

Random Cuteness...

2010-01-29T20:11:00.001-08:00

Pictures I have been hogging apparenty...on my camera and I forgot all about them until I took pictures of Hailey all dressed up for Winter Ball.

More Mickey Mouse!

2010-01-25T07:43:00.000-08:00

Madi spent the night with us on Saturday and when she woke up Sunday morning all she wanted to do was watch Mickey Mouse. Now luckily we have "On Demand" so there is always a Mickey Mouse to watch! As soon as it is over she says "more mickey mouse please" and who could say no to someone so cute with such nice manners?

Not Christmas anymore.....

2010-01-21T18:08:00.000-08:00

I know it has been weeks since I have posted anything, in truth now that the holidays are over and everyone is gone life has been pretty boring and routine. Work has been busy (for me) Dave's schedule changes daily and Hailey is back full force into school. The exciting news for Hailey is that she is getting her permit this saturday so she can start practicing driving. (yikes for me) She is signed up to take driver's education in April and that will end in June. Unfortunately she will still have to wait the alloted six months from getting her permit before she can get her license, so that puts her on the road solo around mid-july. Just a friendly warning....And thanks to the ridiculous amount of money it costs to teach your teen to drive we wont be taking any trips in the near future :)
No news on the house or when we may be moving, we are just waiting to hear some news and then we will gladly share with all of you.
One good thing about Dave's wide open schedule was that he was able to get his enhanced license! I am going to go get mine this saturday too...I know that will make a few people happy. Even though it's not a passport it must count for something. I guess Dave really wants a chance to come and "train" Don & Cathi's new dog Harley! Other than working I have been riding constantly-well really every other day, but it seems like a lot to me. I will never buy another young horse! You can all beat me senseless if I do:)
Since I have no new pictures of anything to show you I will bestow upon you my favorite grandchild with her faithful and ever-so-patient favorite dog.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-28T09:15:00.000-08:00

Here are some highlights of Christmas Day.. We were all spoiled and so very lucky to be able to celebrate together. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Cody's Home!!!

2009-12-23T15:48:00.000-08:00

Cody came home on sunday evening and we have been so enjoying spending time together and just hanging out with him. My parents came on sunday afternoon right on time as well, thanks to the weather cooperating-ie: no fog or snow. On monday night all the Murphy's came for dinner along with Lindsay and Madi. We spent all day monday and tuesday in town doing last minute shopping and spent the day wednesday taking it easy. Madi spent the day with us on wednesday so we didnt totally take it easy ;)
Lindsay, Jake, Madi and Hailey are spending the day of Christmas Eve down in Seattle with their dad and then everyone will be here on Christmas day. Sadly grandma and grandpa will be leaving us on Christmas day to spend the rest of their time with the Murphy's. We love when they are here because they spoil us so much! I hope everyone is able to enjoy their holidays as much as we are enjoying ours! Pictures will follow, apparently blogger is not in the mood to load them right now, grrr....

A reoccuring theme....

2009-12-06T19:38:00.000-08:00

This evening we took family pictures for Lindsay, Jake and Madi. Madi was well rested, fed, in a great mood and happy to be dressed up, however, she still does not want to sit and take a picture with her parents. We did two sessions with a break in between to help Madi live a little longer :)
During the break she willingly and sweetly sat up there and took a brilliant picture with her Auntie Hailey, needless to say her parents didn't find it nearly as funny as we did!
In the end we had some keepers, but as promised they are going to be a surprise for family so you'll have to wait...but in the mean time here are a few that were on the cutting room floor.

"Happy Birthday"

2009-12-05T16:58:00.000-08:00

That was what Madi said when she first came in and saw the tree with lights and the snowmen and other decorations. That was the only obvious explanation she could come up with to explain the transformation of the living room. We explained to her that it was a "Christmas tree" and that it was "Merry Christmas", she was VERY interested in touching the lights and wanted to know what each and every decoration was. I was hoping to get a picture of Hailey and Madi in front of the tree, however she was not interested in my idea. Hailey tried holding her and wrestling her to stay in front of the tree and in the end just read her a book. That worked as long as you didnt want her smiling at the camera. Tomorrow is "family picture day", wish us luck :)

Cody sent us a picture!

2009-11-29T14:03:00.001-08:00

This is him and his commander and no we have no idea what the piece of paper is he is holding...but it is so good to see he looks healthy anyway :)
Sidenote: apparently they had to retake the picture because the commander had no idea of the expression cody was wearing, he did it for a laugh.....

Happy Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-26T18:27:00.000-08:00

Yikes! It is almost the end of the year! We had a very quiet Thanksgiving day, the kids got here around 1:30 and we tried to take some pictures before everyone (madi) got dirty but didnt have a whole lot of luck. Madi refused to cooperate when it came to a family photo and didnt even mind when they traded her in for a willing substitute, she did however relent to having pictures by herself :)
After her nap we had dinner, then watched a movie and then made our Christmas candy calendars. All in all it was a great evening and we have tons of left overs for the next week or so. We did miss our family who wasnt with us and they were included in our prayers. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

(p.s. Madi didnt have her nap with the dogs on the dog bed, I just caught her laying there with them, in case you were thinking that was a picture of her nap...)

Good news or Bad news????

2009-11-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning Cody called again, 3 times in 3 days...I was a little nervous and warned him not to give me more bad news. He said it wasn't bad news it was interesting news. He found out yesterday that he had orders for Spokane Washington, reporting on March 30th! Of course he has to re-up to get this BOP, and he did, for an additional year. So the great part of this news, Cody will be in Washington state-just a mere 4+ hours away, the only down side of this is that now he can quite possibly be deployed yet again...(sigh)
Still don't know how Christmas is going to pan out but we will just have to be patient and hopeful.

well, that was short lived....

2009-11-23T08:33:00.000-08:00

I just found out in an email from Cody that he will not be home in time for Christmas after all. Now he will not be leaving Afghanistan until December 12th. Apparently with the in-processing and required time to be on base after deployment he will not make it home until sometime in January. Dissapointed doesn't even come close to describing how I feel right now.

Two in one day! (don't get too used to it)

2009-11-22T18:13:00.000-08:00

Since Madi spent the night last night Lindsay came over to hang out for a while when she picked her up. After Madi and Lindsay had their nap we played for a while and ate and basically killed time waiting for the weather to do something other than rain. We finally got a break sometime after 3:00 and bundled up to go outside and ride. Madi loves to ride now, she is no longer afraid of horses' heads. She really likes Buffy and luckily Buffy seems to like her too. We all took turns riding and you can see by the background we were definitely on borrowed time where the weather was concerned!

Sunday afternoon...

2009-11-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

The best part of the day so far was that Cody called and said it looks like he may be heading back to the states on either Nov 30, or Dec 5th, which means he will be home for Christmas! I am so very happy and excited, I was realllllly wanting Cody to be home for the holidays. The last time he was home for Christmas was '05, I'd say it's about time. Anyway all the people who live with me can breathe a sigh of relief as I will surely be easier to live with now :)
As promised I had a few pictures on my camera of the dogs and Madi (shocker I know) so I am going to share them even though they have nothing to do with my news!

Madi's 2nd Bday party!

2009-11-08T20:13:00.000-08:00

Today was Madi's birthday party and it was really super fun for her. I think she was a little bit overwhelmed initially but really got into opening her presents, the books were a big hit!, and also really enjoyed her cupcake! All of her favorite boy friends were there and to even things out a little Aunt Cathi brought Patience and Jordyn. She had almost all of her grandparents there, just missing one grandpa. The house looked really cute, the food was good, somehow everyone found a place to park and it didn't even rain. A huge success all the way around! Madi is a lucky little girl, good luck trying to think of ANYTHING to get her for Christmas! I'm pretty sure she has just about everything a 2 year old could want....

Happy Birthday Madi!

2009-11-04T07:41:00.000-08:00

Today Madi is two years old! Hard to believe, time is just flying by. Here she is at dinner last night showing us how old she is by holding up her two fingers. She also sings "happy birthday to me" and says "I'm the birthday girl" she pretty much has this stuff figured out!

Halloween 08 & 09

2009-11-03T22:12:00.000-08:00

Last year Madi was a snail for Halloween, a very cute snail. This year Madi was a little logger for Halloween, a very cute little logger with a wicked mean glare!

Carving pumpkins 08 & 09

2009-11-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

I guess I did this backwards...again, here are pictures of the same event just one year apart..

Stoney Ridge Farms 08 & 09

2009-11-03T21:55:00.000-08:00

Stoney Ridge farms is a great place to get pumpkins and apples, they have hay rides and a petting zoo and it is a lot of fun. I copied these pictures from Lindsay's camera and thought it would be fun to put last years pictures up along with this years pictures to see how much she has changed in just one year.

Accomodations Ala Afghanistan

2009-10-31T15:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, Hopefully I wont be in trouble for posting these photos Cody sent me of the NATO base he is stationed on in Afghanistan. At least I'm not saying where it's located...right? Well if you really want to know you can email me! Anyways it looks pretty much like I figures it might, bleak and depressing.

Painting at CreativiTEA

2009-10-27T15:19:00.000-07:00

Last sunday night LIndsay, Jake, Hailey, Madi and myself went to a paint your own pottery place in Fairhaven. It was a fund raiser for one of my friends at work, they were raising money for their international adoption. In this picture Madi looks all sweet and innocent like she didnt paint the table, her arm, her binky, hailey's project, my sleeve...you get the picture. Lesson of the day, probobly dont take your almost 2 year old to a place filled with breakable objects then give her paint and a paint brush! You'd think we were new or something :)

Happy Birthday Cody!

2009-10-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

Today is Cody's golden birthday, he is 24 on the 24th! Of course it probobly doesn't feel very golden as he is Afghanistan and I doubt there is cake :) But of course we are all thinking of him and hoping he knows we are sending birthday wishes his way. I sure do miss him and am really looking forward to the day he will be home.

Aahhh the clean house...

2009-10-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

It is so nice to be able to drive home to our house after looking at the possible new home site for 2010! It's hard to remember how much work it was to get it to look like this so I suppose it's possible to do it again. (sigh)

Prepare to be un-impressed

2009-10-18T15:24:00.000-07:00

is what we should have said to Hailey first....
Sunday we drove over to the property to see what if any progress has been made. Were not expecting it to look great until probobly the spring but it's really hard to look at it now and know what to really expect. The photos show where the house will sit (between the orange markers) the other buildings on the property that are there and will remain used by the cowdens, the pole building thing and the exsisting house with the lawn mower on the roof (dan's house) There is so much to do and a lot of stuff were not sure about so if anything changes in the mean time we'll keep everyone posted. You have to really use your imagination and Hailey was so NOT impressed that she went back to the car immediately after the first picture....teenagers, sheesh!

Madi and her Baby

2009-10-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

Madi LOVES her baby dolls, she carries them around and kisses them and feeds them and lays them on her blanket and all in all is sweet and gentle with them. The dogs should be so lucky!

Madi's Crown

2009-10-14T08:45:00.001-07:00

When I picked Madi up from daycare last Thursday they had made crowns for their craft project. She knew she was a princess, now she had the proof!

More of Macy and Maxx

2009-10-14T08:41:00.000-07:00

You know how packaging for almost anything makes the best toys? Well Macy thought this bottled water box would make the perfect bed. That is until Maxx demolished it by pouncing on her and smashing the nice dome effect. He couldn't quite fit in there and he was not about to be left out!

Cody Called!

2009-10-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know I heard from Cody. He called me on wednesday evening around 7:30 which was thursday at 10:30 his time. He seems to be doing pretty good and is currently on a NATO base somewhere in Afghanistan that is fairly large. There were a lot of other details that I probobly should not post on the internet and didn't really help settle my nerves but what are you gonna do? The connection wasnt great, there was a delay and it would click often which made it sounded like you were disconnected but it was great to hear his voice. One thing I can tell you, Camel Spiders are real! Yuck!

Gone Gone Gone

2009-09-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

The Cowden's were over this weekend and decided to start cutting down some trees, they are going to completely re-landscape once they remodel the house. The first one to go was the big plum tree right out front, sure changed the lighting situation in the house and the way the place looks. We are assuming some more trees will be coming down this weekend....

Kelsey and Buffy

2009-09-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

Kelsey spent the weekend with us and I let her ride Buffy, she really liked her. Of course she is a super nice girl and I like her too!

So today is the day....

2009-09-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

that I have been dreading for a couple of months now. Cody is on his way to Afghanistan to do whatever is necessary to accomplish this seemingly impossible task. He joins thousands of other men and women in the armed services who's job it is to protect our country. While all their families know this and understand this I can tell you right now it does not make it any easier. I believe in my heart he will be fine and return home safe and sound but as a mom it's hard to know your child is going to be facing real and life threatening danger. Cody has always been lucky, things usually seem to work out for him, and we have always teased him that he has a rainbow following him. I hope it reaches across the world to follow him now. I know this will be a life changing experience for my son and I hope he has the inner strength to not let it change who he is completely. I know there are many people praying for his and everyone else's safe return and for that I am eternally grateful.

Baker Pride

2009-09-15T20:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Grandma Hailey has a brand new red & black scarf to show her Baker Pride at all the football games! Of course the first game was this past friday night and the temperature was about 80 degrees, so she wore her tank top and the scarf anyway! One thing about football season, eventually you will need a scarf, sweatshirt, jacket, blanket, gloves.......

First Day of School 2009

2009-09-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

Well down to one kid...I was half expecting a protest from her this morning but she stood there willingly. It must be all those years of training for the "first day of school" pictures. First day of 9th grade, let's hope its a good 4 years!

The Low Rider Gang

2009-09-02T07:34:00.000-07:00

It was not as easy as it looks to get them all to hold still up there. The puppies kept trying to jump down not quite sure what the game was.....you can tell by the look on the big dogs' faces how fun this was for them :)

Then they crash....

2009-09-02T07:32:00.001-07:00

Wonderful Weiner Dogs....

2009-08-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

Maxx and Macy have so much fun together! They play super hard then crash and sleep. Most of the time Maxx gets the best of Macy because he outweighs her although she is going to catch up with him in size then she will let him have it.

The Three M's and One H

2009-08-26T07:54:00.000-07:00

Madi spent the night last night and got to meet Macy for the first time. She is naturally quite intrigued with her and was very gentle. She keeps calling her Maxx, apparently all puppies are Maxx. She let us take pictures of her with the puppy and then wanted to take a picture with Maxx although he wasnt really into sitting still at the moment. She can say Macy, it just sounds like "messy".

Maxx & Macy

2009-08-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

Maxx got a new friend to play with! He loves her and they have a lot of fun together, she is a silver dapple with grey eyes. She did not cry at all last night, of course she did sleep in Hailey's bed with her! We woke her up this morning to go out with the other dogs then she ate and went back to sleep. she sleeps a lot, and prefers to be held (like Maxx) while she is doing so. I'll post better pics of her later but for now you get the idea.

New pictures...

2009-08-24T19:21:00.001-07:00

of fun with family. Dave's uncle Robert sent us these photos he took while we were visiting and believe it or not he has a camera that is even fancier and nicer than mine!

Buffy's new Halter

2009-08-22T16:20:00.001-07:00

Now Dave will know for SURE which one is hers!

New & Improved-Just add Money

2009-08-17T21:21:00.000-07:00

Finally, we have pretty much finished, with the exception of the perfect "thing" to hang over the mantel. I am leaning towards one of those metal cut out sculpture things, they usually have a booth at the fair so I will keep you posted. After new carpet, and paint, and curtains in the living room the house feels different and it smells a lot better too. The old carpet was between 20 to 30 years old and was definitely tired! Dad, Grandpa and Dave got a wonderful ceiling fan/light installed in the office and Dad and Grandpa installed a new light in the hallway. The current one had not been working for about 3 years. It's amazing how long you can let some things go....anyway now we have decided to paint the office with the left over paint and call it a day. Maybe next summer we will tackle the hallway and bedrooms.

Fun with Family!

2009-08-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

In July we had a ton of fun with Mom, Lee, Lisa and Troy. In August we have been lucky enough to have more family come and visit giving us more reasons to have the marinated Tri-Tip from Costco and a lot of fresh Black Berry Cobbler.
Dave's uncle Robert came to visit with his friends Lymon and Laurie, they have a friend with a beautiful home on Lake Whatcom. They invited us for dinner on saturday night and spoiled us with all kinds of appetizers from Haagen and then we had BBQ'd Salmon, which was wonderful, along with corn and salad. They purchased everything fresh from the Farmer's Market. After dinner we had ice cream with fresh peaches and blue berries and home made cookies. Did I mention we also drank several bottles of wine? But who's counting anyways :) We had such a wonderful time visiting with them, it has been more than twenty years since Dave has seen his uncle. We hope they will come back soon and stay longer!
My grandfather and dad have been here since thursday and saturday respectively. They have been a HUGE help in accomplishing so many projects. I think we have gotten more done with them here than we have gotten done in a 3 year period of time. Of course there is not one single thing that they are not capable of, so that makes it a bit easier.
On sunday afternoon Don, Cathi and 5 of the 6 kids came for a BBQ. This is where the tri tip comes in, and the cobbler. We had a blast, the weather cooperated and we just hung out and visited. The little girls had a ton of fun playing on "the park" thats what they called Madi's little play area. Then they had fun playing "catch" with their dad and riding Annie with Uncle Dave. Don rode by himself and did really well, since he doesnt have a very good track record with horses, we were all pretty impressed! Little Nick is really mobile now and really wants to be doing what ever his big sisters are doing. I think it wont be too very long before he is walking along behind them! Cathig is really going to be a busy girl, if she could possibly be any busier than she already is. It was really good to see the boys too, Dylan had a great time in France and Sean enjoyed his summer at Quadra but was happy to be home. We finished off the evening with warm blackberry cobbler and ice cream which was soooooo good! So far August has been pretty darn good.

Girls and their Horses....

2009-07-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

The girls and I went to the barn today to ride Buffy, and Dave met us there to do her feet afterwards. It was really super hot today, hot and humid. We even had thunder and lightning last night and it really poured. Crazy weird weather.....
Maxx is even hot!

Hangin' out & Mom's Inner-Cowgirl

2009-07-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

Some Favorite Pics....(Deception Pass)

2009-07-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

We had such a wonderful time while Mom & Lee were here, and then Troy and Lisa came and we had even more fun. Of course there was a lot of great food and it was so nice to be able to just sit and enjoy the weather and each other's company. Our side trip to Deception Pass was a lot of fun too and beautiful as well. We were all pretty tuckered out by the end of the day, I think it's the wind and the sun that gets to you. Saturday night was great especially when Mom reconnected with her inner cowgirl and rode Annie!

Finally!

2009-07-24T18:59:00.001-07:00

As soon as I complained about Blogger not letting me post pictures, it magically worked! Hmmm....very strange. Anyways here are the dogs' new summer haircuts. I know it's not a good look for them but they are soooo much happier and way more comfortable, with all this hot weather comfort is more important than looks. Right?

It's not that I haven't been trying

2009-07-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to add new posts with pictures for a couple of days now and Blogger is not letting me upload my photos, I have no idea why but it's really super frustrating.......

Happy Birthday Papa!

2009-07-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

On tuesday we celebrated Lee's birthday at home with a bar-b-que and a carrot cake! It was very yummy! The weather was Ok,not great but definitely better than sunday and monday. On wednesday Mom & Lee took off to spend some time in Leavenworth then we will celebrate my birthday on Friday, most likely with another BBQ. Dave's sister Lisa and brother in law Troy will be here too. On Saturday we are planning on heading down to Deception pass and the Whidbey Winery for a day trip. Of course we are counting on the weather being good.....

Things Madi Likes...

2009-07-15T21:43:00.000-07:00

Madi definitely likes Maxx, but not getting kissed by Maxx.
Madi discovered she really likes corn on the cob, especially with butter!
Madi usually likes her pony but really likes to help lead her pony.

Spoiled or Lucky??

2009-07-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, definitely both! Dave got me this very nice wonderful saddle for our anniversary/birthday today! I was so surprised! He is the best at HUGE surprises! Madi loves it too, especially since it is not on top of a horse with a face! I know I am lucky and spoiled, but really lucky!!

A Pool!

2009-07-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

After checking out Cathi's new waterpark for Nick we decided Madi needed something to do to cool off with these record breaking temperatures we have been having! Dave found this great pool at K-Mart and Madi loves it, she doesnt even care that the water is freezing!

Dog days of summer

2009-07-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

Hailey has officially been on summer break for two weeks now which means Madi has been hanging out over here for the last two weeks. She LOVES the dogs, she follows them everywhere always tells them what to do, loves helping to feed them. It's definitely a one sided relationship, they tolerate her but don't return her undying feelings of love. With the exception of Maxx, he enjoys her attention because well he is just a puppy and he doesnt know any better!

Isabell's visit and Hailey turns 15!

2009-06-26T20:39:00.001-07:00

Isabell came to visit for the week, it was a quick trip but Dave managed to take some time off and do a couple of things while she was here. On Thursday Hailey turned 15 and to celebrate she and Isabell did some shopping at the mall then we had dinner at Taco Lobo and went to a comedy show at the Mt Baker Theatre. It was a pretty fun evening and we had a good time seeing Isabell after so long.

Madi vs Maxx

2009-06-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

Madi absolutely loves Maxx, and he is pretty crazy about her too! Since I had the day off today we kept Madi while Lindsay went to work. Madi and Maxx got to spend a lot of time together today. They fought over things, Madi loves to tell Maxx No No whenever he takes something she thinks he shouldnt have, which is almost everything that Madi has. Her sandal, her binky on a string, her little bath fish pretty much anything she is playing with. At the same time she follows him everywhere and loves to pet him, she is still being gentle although she did almost fall on him today! I think overall they will have a great time growing up together.

8th Grade draws to a close...

2009-06-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

Today was Hailey's 8th grade ceremony. All the girls dressed up and a lot of the guys did too. They did a recap of the year and some of the teachers spoke about the class. There was a slide show of the kids during the year, which was really funny. They called each student who was just supposed to rise in their seat as opposed to go up on the stage like a real graduation. It was pretty fun, and luckily not too long since we had Madi and she loves an audience! Mr Gosda, all my kids' personal favorite teacher ever tried to steal Madi and take her to the stage with him but she was having none of it! He was naturally crushed since the last time he saw her she liked him just fine, babies are so fickel. Hailey had a great time and we took her picture with as many friends as we could before the buses left. High school here we come!

This is Maxx!

2009-06-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

This is what Dave got for Father's Day (a little early) He really wanted one, imagine that!, and since we never say "No" to each other.....He is a seven week old mini doxie. He is very cute, sweet and cuddly. Madi and Lindsay came with me to pick him out and he was the unanimous favorite. Madi calls him "putty" and has been very gentle with him. However, we know better than to turn our back on her ;)
All the dogs seem to like him, well ok they are actually completely indifferent towards him unless he thinks about looking for a likely place to nurse. He started his crate training last night, he hated it, and proceeded to cry for an hour. He did eventually settle down and slept until 4:30 this morning. Dave took him out and then he put him back in the crate, a couple of minutes more of the crying and then back to sleep until 6:15 when he decided he was ready to be awake!
We made him this little shirt/coat out of one of Dave's sock because he kept shivering when we took him outside to go to the bathroom. We are used to hairy puppies so this was the best we could come up with given our lack of experience. Dave embellished it with "Tap Out", naturally.

Side Note: We know we are crazy, we will start saving for therapy soon :)

Hangin' out on Friday night....

2009-06-05T22:23:00.000-07:00

Madi came to spend the night with us on Friday night, we are of course having a blast. We waited for Grandpa to get home then we went outside to do chores, then drove to Ferndale to do more chores and after all those chores decided Dairy Queen was a great idea! Which of course it was, and now we are all headed to bed! It's a late nite for us old boring folks.....

It all starts innocently enough.....

2009-06-05T22:15:00.000-07:00

but then Madi realizes that pushing her stroller towards the dogs makes them scatter, which of course makes pushing the stroller even more fun! Ford was horrified as evident by the look on his face but I think Joey found it sort of funny.. (Hair and Wardrobe compliments of Daddy)

Technical note: I have no idea why my photos flipped when I uploaded them....

Just humor me.....

2009-05-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

My friend Jen came over this morning and helped me get these great shots of Buffy. Actually it was way more than helped, without her they would have looked like all the other pictures you have seen up until now! She looks like a million bucks, well at least a couple thousand! :)

Coffee Table -1 Madi -0

2009-05-21T21:42:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I don't have a coffee table is partly because I want a round or oval one to avoid Baby Head/Sharp Corner conflicts. The sharp corners always win. The other night Madi was running around the coffee table at her house and tripped then hit her head on the sharp corner. Luckily the cut is very small and the bruise is small as well but it does make me cringe to think what could have happened.....which is why I am still looking for the corner-less table.