Puppy Love

Here is the newest member of our family. Last night we took her outside for about an hour and Ry and Grace literally ran around with her for an hour. She was at top speed chasing them around the yard. Then we came in and gave her a bath...we were laughing that it was just like having a baby...get them tired, give them a bath, a snack and hope they sleep through the night! The exercise and stress of the bath and blow drier wiped her out. Zzzzzz...
The biggest news is that Gracie will hold her now! Grace has always been terrified of pets in general. Not a big fan of the jumping, licking, growling etc that accompanies the furry friends. Right before this picture was taken Snickers (or as we affectionately call her, Snicker-poo, Snicks, Snickerdoodle, Snickerpoodle, or my personal favorite "Naughty!") was licking Grace's chin. Amazing progress, and one of the reasons we embarked upon this stinky-poopy-pet thing.
It is also quite the opportunity for personal growth for my youngest son, our resident germ-o-phobe. He is the one who filled her food and water dishes, gave her a bath, brushed, blow dried and held her to keep her warm until she dried off.
Of course, afterward his entire outfit went right in the laundry basket and he had to take a Silkwood Shower, but baby steps have been taken.....

Follicular Entertainment

Grace and I were outside last night waiting for the puppy to pee. We were sitting on the back porch, chatting about I don't know what when she suddenly gathers her hair into a side ponytail and with a completely straight face says, "Look! I'm from the 90's!"
Are you serious? How in the world did she come up with that? She wasn't even born until well after Y2K. I'm not even sure I WANT to know....
On a related note: during Family Night last night Ty somehow got Ry to agree to a cutting his hair into a mullet. You'll definitely want to be around the week before Ryan enters the MTC....that is when it will happen, and they even pinkie swore on it.

She's leaving home... (bye bye)

Here is her front door...
The kitchen...
The bedroom...
And us saying goodbye...it's definitely a college apartment. Last year she lived on campus in a dorm. This year she's off campus in a smaller 2 bedroom apartment that is at least 30 years old and a little dicey in the cleanliness department. I realize that it's all part of the "struggled and suffered to earn my degree" thing, but yipes.
Isn't it supposed to get easier to let them go?
Bonus question: who sang the song that titles this post?

10th and 12th grader

Back to school poster? Check. Surly Sophomore? Check. Delighted Senior? Check.
Girlfriend with a car to give you a ride to school? Check!

First Day for the 2nd Grader

Monday was the first day of school for the baby. She got the teacher she wished for, the new backpack of her dreams, new shoes, and friends from last year in her class. What a perfect life!?

In Which the Boy Rocks Chinese Camp

He's been home for a week now. He slept for 2 days. Then we went to Cafe Rio and Walmart for a bit of "BYU detox" before he was his normal self.
The banquet this year was so much more entertaining, organized and high-tech. StarTrek the TV series vs. StarTrek the 2009 movie better. Ry was one of seven 4th year students who MC'd the event. They whipped on and off the stage with witty dialogue worthy of Spock and Kirk.There was a chinese yo-yo demonstration, tai-chi, poetry, some songs, the 4th years did tongue twisters and a Ry did a number rap that would boggle your mind if we had it to show you. We don't. Perhaps the Klingons captured it. All I know is that it's impossible to hear on the recording.
ANYWAY. Below is a small snippet of what we enjoyed that night. He is the second from the left, and the first and almost last speaker on the video. He learned so much this year. He can basically now understand most of a normal Chinese conversation. AND a couple of Chinese guests came up to him after the performance and told him that he had the best tones of any white honkey they'd ever heard. Or something to that effect....

Snickers

Meet Snickers. We adopted her last Monday. She is part Shih Tzu and part Toy Poodle. She's adorable. Tyler wanted her so much he's been willing to be the point person for everything dog related...she thinks he's her mommy.
He is frantically trying to potty train her in a week before school starts. This includes taking her outside every 4 hours...around the clock. Yes folks, he gets up and goes outside at 3:00am. She's been sleeping curled up on his neck...he tried to put her in the kennel after the 3:00am bathroom break and she whimpered so much he gave up and let her get back in bed with him. (Sound familiar to any of you parents out there??? Hee.)
This afternoon I came home from work to a frantic family. Snick had been throwing up for 2 hours. She looked terrible. Her little doggie eyes were listless and sad. I called the vet and Ty and Kenzie took her right in (I had to be at the school for the Back to School night...I'm PTA President again this year....it was a crazy enough day already!)
The good news is that she's going to be fine. We only had to give her droppers-full of doggie pedialyte EVERY FIVE MINUTES FOR 4 HOURS. I'm not kidding. Even Ryan took his shift. The bad news is that the whole event cost me $70. Sigh.
Pets are good for a family, right??? It teaches unconditional love and responsibility and all of those marvelous pet-related things.....
Anyway. We welcome Snickers to our family....dubiously.

My Athletic Offspring

The First video is my son WAKESKATING. That's right. Just his bare feet on top of a rubber board. The second video is him wakeboarding. He's crazy good at both sports. He certainly does not get his athletic ability from my side of the family :)

Lake Powell '09

Just home from a fantastic week long trip to Lake Powell. Gracie conquered her fear of riding the tube...
Zzzzzzz.....
Tyler conquered the wake-skate, wakeboard, skis, and tubed...I'm going to have to dedicate another post entirely to him :)
Best. Brothers. Ever. (I look so goofy because they're tickling me. Sigh.)
AND Andrew and I tubed together. All in all a fun filled week....family, sports, sun, water!

I Saw My Boy Today!

We got to go to BYU tonight for a semi-authentic Chinese open air market. My boy has been gone for almost 2 weeks...it was so good to see him!
The baby is clearly very happy too ;)

We had to ask prices and haggle in Chinese. They gave us a DVD when we dropped him off 2 weeks ago that we were supposed to watch and study...we pulled it out yesterday and tried to learn the key phrases. Then I made a cheat sheet to use. Grace and I actually tried it and bought a hair clip, some ice cream and watermelon and played a game. My favorite part came when we walked up to the ice cream booth. Grace walked right up and asked for ice cream in Chinese, and then haggled the price down all by herself. In Chinese. Awesome. She IS learning something at this school that takes up so much of our time!

But the best part came when we bought some water balloons...it was Ryan's turn to be the target. Grace loved pelting him and getting him soaked.

He's having a ball. It was so funny to hear him casually conversing in Chinese. He's in the highest level they offer and they basically speak the language exclusively. He actually had a hard time talking to us at first.
One of his teachers came up to meet us and raved about how great Ry is. I'm so glad he's had this opportunity!