Horseback Riding

On July 3rd we went horseback riding which was so much fun. It's nearly impossible to find somewhere that allows double riders and it took a lot of searching on the internet to find this place. The guy leading us was a little weird, but it was a fantastic time for a great price. It was so beautiful outside. Here are some dang cute pictures. Not too many since most were blurry, but we did get some good ones.

Then on July 4th we went to a Greyhound Adopters BBQ. A bunch of people met at the home of the couple that we went through to adopt our greyhounds and we all brought our dogs along. It ended up being a great time, but didn't start so well. We had Rameses and Patch on their leashes and of course when you get there all of the greyhounds (maybe 20 of them) had to come smell the newcomers. Patch was not a fan. He was freaking out! All of the greyhounds, except one, had their muzzles on as a safety measure, and Patch was getting his leash all stuck around their legs. We know from past experience that this is not a good idea. If Rameses leash touches his legs he freaks out and runs around all crazy like and we're afraid he's going to break his own leg. So anyway, I'm going to drop the leash and Jared is going to grab it as I drop it. Unfortunately Patch is faster than us and ran. Fast. But not fast enough. The greyhounds perked their ears and I'm sure thought, "BUNNY!" with Patch being all white, with his pink little ears. So they chased him as he slammed into a chain link fence, I went running, screaming like a mad woman. I broke the group, but wasn't fast enough to grab Patch and he went running again, "BUNNY!" Poor guy. Ran into another chain link fence. I finally got to him and grabbed him and he proceeded to bite me, HARD. He had no idea it was me, so I don't blame him. His side was covered in blood (which I thought was his) and his jaw was open in a snarl, so I thought it was broken. I totally freaked out in a screaming crying fit and someone carried Patch inside to be checked over by a vet in training. Luckily the blood on him wasn't his. Unfortunately, that one greyhound that didn't have her muzzle on probably got bit by Patch while he was defending himself, which made her bleed, so she attacked him getting blood on his side. He ended up being okay with nothing broken, except his sweet little spirit. He had a major bruise, which still swells up randomly. Anyway, here's a picture of his bruised and battered body. She took a big bite on his side, so that bruise was really big and hurt his ribs a lot. He also has a scratch on his neck and we're hoping the hair will grow back in.

For a few days he cried every time he jumped on or off the couch (I really tried to convince him not to jump, but that's just how Italian Greyhounds are). I tried to carry him up the stairs and stuff, but it hurt him when I picked him up, so it was just a rough few days for both of us. Lucky guy, if he had been a normal sized IG he would have been dead, I'm sure of it. He's great now, and it actually took longer for my hand to heal than it did for his pain to go away.

Anyway, while we stayed on the deck together with ice on his bruises, Rameses had a grand ol' time with his friends in the creek behind the house and in the pools (that were nasty dirty) that were in the yard.

The dogs also enjoyed eating strawberries during the 4th of July weekend (before Patch got attacked).

I love his crazy ears. They can turn in the weirdest directions.

This week my brother will be here and I'm sure we'll do some fun stuff to blog about later.

Third Birthday

It's late, but the little girl (age 5, I believe) across the street just fell out of the house's second story window. Jared gave her a blessing and rushed mom and daughter to the hospital since mom was way too frantic to drive, and she is single so there were no other adults home able to drive her. She didn't have insurance for an ambulance or else we would have insisted she call one; we are so worried about head, neck, and back injuries. Her three boys are at our house. I asked her if she wanted them to come over and she said they would be fine. I guessed not so after they drove away without her telling them anything I went over to make sure they were okay. I could see them staring out the upstairs window as if they were just waiting for them to drive back. Upon opening the door I asked if they wanted to come over and the youngest and teariest said yes, so the older brothers agreed. The second Rameses greeted them they cheered right up. They picked out a movie and have eaten chocolate cupcakes. The youngest said, "Where's the frosting??" once receiving the cupcake, so I had to frantically find some and slather it on top. All I know so far is that there is no sign of a head injury and that she is headed into a catscan to check for internal injuries. Poor thing. So, now to more exciting things. Halle's third birthday party. On June 27 Halle had the joy of having her first friends only birthday party. She had been looking forward to it for weeks, and every time she got in trouble she would pout and say, "But it's almost my birthday!" It was a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday party.

This present was wrapped in a napkin. The dad said that had his wife been home things probably would have been done differently. This same child came with a skirt and long sleeve black shirt. Keep in mind the invitations said bounce house with kiddie pool which equals outside and requires a bathing suit.

Molly, Ava, and Caprie eating yummy food. Who can resist chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, watermelon, and apple juice?

Caprie (on the right) is the one that came in the skirt and black shirt. She went outside and got in the pool and then came in and told us she was all wet. Luckily we had an extra bathing suit that fit her.

Bonnie and Connor weren't really interested in the whole party. They ended up going inside and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV.

This is Hank:

Unfortunately he suddenly disappeared from the party. One second he was there, the next he wasn't. We all went searching. Turns out he decided to walk home (not too far) and some neighbors heard him saying, "Party's over." That was embarrassing, but the parents assured us at church the next day that he does it at their house as well and not to worry. They said THEY were embarrassed.

Ava going down the slide into the pool

Molly:

Halle

Kaden:

Silly Loretta forgot a bathing suit as well so Kaden wore this awesome Little Mermaid swim diaper. It took him the full two hours to finally be interested in the water, but he finally made it!

Cake time!

Presents!

The present in the napkin was this cool little purse of candies so that you could make your own candy necklace. Halle spent hours using every piece of candy for this. She's still making her way through eating the whole thing.

It was a great party. Two hours was a perfect amount of time for play, lunch, cake, presents, and a little more play time. I couldn't have handled any longer.

June 30 was Halle's actual birthday. At preschool she got this cool crown.

We kept her big present for that day instead of giving it to her at the party. It is a princess scooter with a princess helmet and knee pads. Darby on My Friends Tigger and Pooh rides a pink scooter and has a pink helmet, which is why Halle wanted them so bad. She was so thrilled.

She's grown up so fast!

Update on the girl that fell out the window: catscan came out negative for any issues. Now they're just going to do a urine test and let some drugs wear off and have her walk around to make sure she's okay. Hopefully they'll be home in an hour or so. At first an aunt was going to come get the boys, but apparently now maybe now. I have this feeling that unfortunately this single mom doesn't have much close family. I think that's really sad, but I'm glad we have been able to help her out. Jared is a great guy and so selfless.

Brian Head - Day 3

The last day was dreary and rainy with some hail. By about 5:30 it had finally stopped and I was so tired of sitting in the cabin with the TV on.

We decided to go fishing even though it was freezing outside. Some family came with us, namely Uncle Richard, the fishing guru. He was appalled at our lack or fishing gear and we just had to deal with what we had. Sorry, Richard. Next time you come you should come shopping with us and tell us what we need to buy so we can have more than power bait, those weenie weights, and a few hooks in our tackle box.

So, we attempted to fish and mostly just got stuck, lost a few hooks, and found lots of nasty green stuff. You can see that I caught that green stuff on my hook, and we got a great picture of Halle's face looking at it:

Eventually we had to leave, and Halle was not happy about the situation. She was so sad we hadn't caught a fish and wanted to keep trying. Our hands were freezing and we were really hungry. She tried to control her crying:

But just couldn't:

We had to drag her back to the car where she continued to cry until we saw deer. We ended up seeing 18 deer on our 20 minute drive back to the cabin. They were so close to the road.

That's the end of our Brian Head vacation. I'm almost caught up...kinda. Okay, really I'm like a month behind, but I'm excited to post next about Halle's birthday.