A Little Love From My Love

For Valentine's Day this year, Mike got me a present that he will probably never be able to top. He got me a dog! We named her Foxy because she kind of looks like a fox and she has red fur. She is 1 year old and their guess is that she is part Australian shepherd, corgi, and queensland heeler. She is absolutely adorable and she is all mine!! (And the family's too I guess.)


Here's the story: We have been talking about getting a dog for me, but always as in "some day in the future when we get a dog . . ." We have always wanted an Australian shepherd.
We were at Petco getting a cage for a lizard that Mike's school kids found him and they were doing their adopt a pet day. I saw the dog and took her over to Mike and said (in my most adorable voice), "Isn't she cute . . . she's part Australian Shepherd . . ." So Mike said let's find out more about it. We asked a lot of questions, spent some time with her, talked about it and I asked Mike, "What do you think?" He gave me that adorable half smile with a dimple on the side, leaned in and said, "Happy Valentine's Day."

Mike told me that the real clincher was that she had such a great personality. She is such a good dog who is a pretty good listener. We think she was with a family before us because she never comes in the house (she's an outside dog for now), even when the door is left open and she goes right into her crate at night (she sleeps in her crate at night) without us having to coerce her.
She has been so good for Emma who has someone's undivided attention whenever she wants it. She has stopped crying and whining as much as she was and she's been better about doing her chores. I think I am going to have her help me train Foxy, as soon and I figure out what I am doing.
Anya and Foxy have an interesting relationship. She gets nervous if Foxy gets too close, but she loves watching her run and play. She will pet her if Foxy isn't too excited. Anya's new favorite thing is using the hand sanitizer every time she touches her.
Here's a video of all the kids playing in the backyard. (I was just watching it with the sound turned on a realized that I was talking on the phone with Liz in the background, so please turn your sound down. : )


P.S. Everyone has been asking me, so what did you get Mike since he got you something great? I will give myself some credit and say that I already got him a big gift (because a lot of his Christmas gifts from me didn't work out) and he got a fire pit. He really, really wanted it, and he really, really loves it. We have already used it even.

Swimming in the Park

We had a huge week of rain and all our washes and park bowls got really full of water. A lot of our streets flooded and made some great puddles. Emma and I decided to go puddle jumping and park swimming one evening and we had a lot of fun. We got into our grubby clothes, rolled up our pants (not that it mattered much) and set out to find the biggest puddles and the deepest wash.
We splashed each other and got thoroughly wet.
Emma floated her sandal, literally, around the block and down the storm drain that goes down to the park bowl.
And at the end of it all, Mike surprised us with hot apple cider and warm kettle corn to help us warm up. (Aren't we so lucky to have such a great husband/dad?) It has been one of my favorite memories made in Arizona so far.

Catching Up for January

We have done some fun things since we got back from Oregon:

New Years! Yes, Emma has three party blowers with more stuck in her pockets. We spent the evening at Kristi & Tony's house. Mike's parents were also in town so it was a really fun time for all of us. Of course, Kristi and Tony had some deliciously awesome food. (As always!)
Later during the break, we went to the science museum in Phoenix with the Kings. Mike couldn't go, but the girls and I had a blast! Plus I got some great ideas of supplies to have and activities to do with my preschool next year.

Here is Emma on a bed of nails.

Sabrina riding a bicycle two stories up in the air.

A very cool computer program that has a screen that has "pebbles" dropping down it that change directions based on where or how you are standing.
I had to put up this last picture. Anya has such a huge belly. I just love to rub it!

Christmas - A Few Months Late

Christmas this year was an absolute blast! We spent the time with my family in Oregon. It was so great that we could all be there together for a few days and have some fun. We drove, 17 hours each way, and our drives were surprisingly pleasant. It was so much fun to be stuck in a car with Mike and to talk to him and get his undivided attention. The girls played with each other, watched movies, ate, and slept. We also finished reading the Hobbit which Mike and Emma had been reading together at night. When we got there, we had so much fun relaxing, playing games, and hanging out with the family. Every night was a huge, delicious dinner followed by ping pong, no dice, or some other fun game. We didn’t do any really big outings, just a perfect smattering of activities here and there. It was so nice because it was enough to keep us busy, but enough that we had time to relax too.

Emma had her first sleep over at her cousins' house which was so exciting. I was kind of nervous for her, but Aunt Sunni said she did fine! Who better to have your first sleep over with?!

Emma and her cousins played together so much and they played so well, that I hardly got to see her the whole trip.

Grandma made sugar cookies with the little grandkids and while messy and kind of tiring, they all had a lot of fun.

My mom made my brother Scott this beautiful quilt. I am so impressed, that I had to put up the picture.

My mom and I spent a day at the children’s museum with the little ones while Aunts and Uncles did last minute shopping and wrapping.

During the reenactment of the Nativity, our family was the shepherds. The girls were pretty darn cute! Anya was very attentive of her sheep and always made sure that she had it. Emma was always attentive of Anya and tried to herd her in the right direction for the play.

Here are Emma and Anya waiting to go down stairs Christmas morning.

Emma got just what she wanted (more or less): a pink unicorn from the wild forest. She didn't waste any time riding it all over the house.

Kisses for the camera. What a cute little dimple!

My favorite stocking stuffer: a headband with mistletoe attatched. I got kisses all morning! (My mom even borrowed it for a minute ; )

Anya was so excited to get a busy ball popper. All the kids ended up playing with it, even Tyler!

We went to the temple after Christmas to do some baptisms for some family names that Lance and Sunni had found. It was very special and the only sad part was that Scott had gone home earlier for work and couldn't be there. It was very peaceful and the first time we had all been to the temple together since my wedding. Logan was old enough to go as well and it is neat to see how our family grows and expands.

Here is Logan squishing our heads. : )We were very spoiled and very blessed this Christmas! We all had so much fun!

One Upset Mommy

Some mean, heartless, cruel, immoral, awful, horrible, rotten, selfish person stole my baby's scooter. She saved her allowance and her birthday money and paid for the whole thing by herself . What kind of person does something like that? Maybe we can pray that they will get a heart and return it out of deep remorse. Maybe I can guilt them into it by putting up lost scooter signs. Sigh, we are very sad in the Chipman house tonight. I think I need some chocolate.