Introducing the newest member of our family... Winkie Bear Sprinkles

But we're gonna call him Bear.

Lauren saw the pictures on the internet and out of 14 puppies as soon as she saw this one she said that's the puppy I want. We went down last night to see them in person before making our final decision and Bear was it!

Reagan just loved all the puppies and kept picking them up and loving on them. Both kids were in heaven and so excited.

Everyone who knows us well knows we are pretty anti-dog around here. I've (Jenifer) never had a dog before and have always wanted one. I just didn't want to go through potty training and all the messes.

Troy has been very anti-dog becuase he knows who the pooper scooper will end up being after the novelty wears off :)

So you can imagine my shock when I got a call Thursday morning from my sweet husband Troy. He said "Do you want to get a dog?" I almost fell over. Now life is a bit hectic for us right now. Lauren is in school and so I drive carpool now in the mornings. Then I put Reagan down for a nap and work our new business while Lauren is in school. Then we have our afternoon activites and getting dinner on the table before I head off to work at night.

My first thought was no but then he explained that someone walked away from their house down in Gilbert and left 20 dogs in the house. 14 of them were brand new baby puppies and they needed homes. He said he just really had a feeling that we are supposed to take one.

I felt the same way even though I was wondering how we were going to add one more thing to our life. But it just felt right. Then when we saw the pictures of the puppies and Lauren said that's the puppy I want ... I knew it too.

When we got down to see the puppies last night as soon as Troy picked up Bear he said yes this is our puppy. He wouldn't even look at the others.

So our puppy should be able to come home to us in about 4 to 6 weeks. He still needs to be with his mommy right now.

If anyone else is interested in getting a puppy I can send you the pictures we have of them. They really are all so cute and need a home.

We are ADOPTING again!

Pictures coming.....

Who knew CLEANING could be so much fun?

I thought the kids were still too young to clean but they really wanted to help so I put them to work. We had such a great time together that afternoon and our bathroom was very clean when we were finished.

Kids at Play!

The kids were playing so cute the other morning I had to take some pictures of them. Lauren was listening to her ipod and playing Barbie's. Reagan was of course playing with his letters. He really loves the alphabet.

I joined the GYM!

This is huge news. I have been wanting to go to the gym since it was built by our house. We just haven't had the money to do it and my cute hubby really doesn't care for the gym sucking money out of your account on a monthly basis.

But out of the blue last week he said I could go as long as I didn't make him go too :)

So on Labor Day I went in to see if I could get a guest pass. Let's just say I went back to do a class the next night and the manager and his salesperson were very rude to me about not signing up yet. They were irritated that I wanted to try it out first.

So I walked out thinking I would go to a different gym. I looked online at the schedules and they just weren't what I wanted. So I went back to LA but went to a different location to sign up on Friday. The girl was very nice but didn't want to give me the best deal. So I went to walk out again without a membership when she said that since I had a bad experience and was coming back to them that she would call the VP of sales and see what they could do.

Within an hour I had my deal and walllaaaa... it is official. Last week I did a Bodyworks, Step and a Cycle class. Then I went with my awesome neighbor to work out and we did weights and the eliptical. It is so much fun.

Yesterday I did another Step class and it kicked my butt worse than it did last week. But it feels good to work out so hard. I'm also already starting to see results in my body which is always a great thing to help keep you motivated to keep going.

We didn't go this morning and my kids kept asking "mom do we get to go to the gym today?" I guess I'm not going to have a day off very often with them keeping me going. I'm very happy about that and that they like it so much.

Lauren is excited because she is making lots of new friends. Whenever I go to pick her up she has kids waving goodbye to her. She is really turning into an outgoing kid. Last year at school she was pretty shy but this year she is really putting herself out there and loving all the new friends she is making.

Reagan likes to go and play with his sister. He is still a little small to be making friends but at least he enjoys going. He also is acting as a protector for his sister because she had a little boy who was mean to her last week and Reagan yelled at him to stop. So cute that he is already being protective of his sister.

Tomorrow will be Bodyworks again!

The 1st HUT!

So when I left for work last week Lauren and Reagan wanted Troy to build them a hut. So he went out and got into our camping equipment and pulled out our little emergency one man tent. This is what I came home to. She was so happy and so asleep in her little HUT!

So the next night they thought they would get a little fancier and step it up a bit... So this is the

2nd HUT... I came home too...

They both were able to sleep in it. As you can see they left room in the middle for their daddy to sleep in the tent with them. I don't have a picture of it but the 3rd night we got even fancier and it became 5 star accomodations - they got their mattresses from their beds. They were in heaven. But at the end of the weekend we had to take it all down.

Wheat!

I realized the kids love pizza and it is actually something they will eat really well. So I went online to find a new pizza dough recipe that was more healthy for our family. I found one with 1/2 white flour and 1/2 wheat flour. We tried it and the kids loved it. So we have been making it each week with a different type of topping.

The kids really got excited when I opened my bucket of wheat so we could grind it into flour. It was a great teaching opportunity. It helped me to realize I really need to be more patient when it comes to cooking because the kids love to help me but most nights I just want to get dinner finished and cleaned up before I go to work. I need to be more patient and let them help me more because they enjoy it so much.

Later in the day... I guess Day 1 of school wore her out!

So sweet.

First Day of School!

We had to include a picture of Reagan on his sisters firstday of school. She is in a Young Learner program becuase her birthday came too late for her to go to Kindergarten this year. She is loving the social aspect of school and is making some great friends.

Lauren!

Lauren was all dressed up to go meet her teacher for school. She was so excited!

Lauren is a sweet little girl. She is so creative. Many days you will find her pretending to take pictures of things with my tripod, designing some kind of art project, dressing up, pretending to be a teacher to her little brother and her imaginary friends, or planning a birthday party. She also is really into playing house and playing with her barbie dolls. Oh and she really likes to play the Wii. Uncle Chad just bought her the Princess game and Ratatouille. She also loves to play Wii Fit and Wii sports.

This summer she learned how to swim without her arm floaties. She likes to play in the pool and pretend she's a mermaid. Her and Uncle Chad eat pretend to eat Mermaid Shuishi :) Every since she was really little she has really hated getting her face wet. This summer was a huge thing becuase now she puts on her googles and swims underwater more than she swims above it.

She loves to learn too. She is a very smart little girl and is starting to use some really big words for a 4 year old. The other day we were trying to find something of hers and I was having her retrace her steps. She was explaining what she had sone with it and then said "well it's certainly not here!"

She prays all by herself and says the cutest things in her prayers. She loves to help Reagan during his prayers by telling him what to pray for. She is a little mommy to him and she loves him very much.

She is so anxious to learn to read so we ordered her a bunch of beginning level words to help her learn her site words so we should have them in a couple weeks. She can't wait.

Reagan!

Where do I start with our sweet boy. He is so full of life and keeps us on our toes to say the least. He is always running from one thing to the next. He is very good at multitasking too. He will ask for a movie and then within 5 seconds he wants a game on the computer and then he's hungry and then he's thirsty etc etc etc... He will have 10 things going at once and if you turn off any one of them he knows immediately and will let you hear about it. He is pretty high maintanence at times and demanding which can try his parents patience some of the time. :)

On the other hand is so sweet and kind and lives his life to the fullest. He is so smart too. He knows his entire alphabet by site and he knows all the sounds too. It is the cutest thing you've ever heard. He loves the letters of the alphabet and you'll always find him playing with some toy that has the letters on it. When we drive around town he will point out all the signs with letters and he gets so excited.

He can pray outloud all by himself and it is so cute. At the moment he loves running around the house with one of Lauren's magic wands turning us all into different things. He will say "I wish I wish - turn you into a chicken and then he'll swing the wand at you. It's a pretty hard wand so you don't want to stand too close or it could hurt. Just ask Lauren. She's got it by accident a few times.

Reagan's favorite food right now is a Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwich. He asks for them for breakfast lunch and dinner. He'll take 2 bites and will be off playing hard again. It's impossible to get him to sit for 2 seconds to eat. So we just give him bites on the run. It's not so bad at least we are getting our excersise too.

There's nothing better than seeing your children peacefully sleeping!

The first picture I came home from work late one night and found my kids asleep in our bed. They looked utterly peaceful. I love how Lauren has her leg sprawled out over her brother.

This was a different night and we let the kids have a sleepover in the hidabed in the office. (Or as Reagan calls it Gama's room). They are both little snuggle bugs and sleep so much better when there is another warm body with them. I love how Reagan is snuggled up right on Lauren. She didn't seem to mind.

Our Summer in a Nutshell...

Troy had a birthday in June. He is a big 38!

The many faces of a man getting older...

Troy is an amazing husband and father. We love him so much and appreciate everything he does for us. We celebrated his birthday with both sides of our families this year. It was fabulous timing that both sets were in town for the big bash. We got together at our house and had cake and ice cream. We played the Wii and everyone had so much fun together.

Happy Birthday Ol' Man :)

I found the cord to my camera... New pictures will be posted today!

Isn't it annoying when some people don't update their blogs for 2 months! ...

I know I have heard all of your complaints and I have so many pictures that I need to post and so much to share that I just keep putting it off because it's going to take me awhile to get caught up.

I'll get some pictures posted very soon. I went to download my camera on Monday and the battery was dead. By the time it charged the feeling passed of wanting to do it and I got busy with something else. Isn't that how life goes.

Reagan and Lauren are both sick with colds right now. Lauren started school last week and is loving it. She is so excited to be making friends. She said she is just going to stick with the girls though because the boys are "no good"! It was so cute. She came home and informed me that after just a couple days of school. Troy said it's all right that once she gets a little older she'll have a use for the "boys" again but for now we are so happy we don't have to worry about it right now.

Anyway I'm being paged by my kids so I gotta run. I'll post again with pictures very soon.

Why can I photograph everyone else's children but my own?

Are we done yet?
Okay I'll smile but I won't look at the camera!

So I got this bright idea that I needed pictures for my desk at work. What better way than to go on a photo shoot and take some really cute adorable pictures of my kids.

We go outside and it's stinkin' HOT! So I told the kids okay just cooperate and it will be fast and we can get back in the air conditioning with our Sonic drinks.

They did do really well for how hot it was but neither of them would look at the camera at the same time for their group shot. But they did ham it up for their individual shots.

Heather M... is that you who posted a comment on my blog tonight??? If so please get in touch with me!!!! I can't get ahold of you through your blog anymore and am sad we lost touch. Leave a comment if you need any of my contact info...

This weeks Photo Session!

I love photographing my neighbors little girl. This is the 3rd shoot we have done with her and everytime it's been so fun. Now she is one so we did pictures for her 1st birthday. Here are just a few! Let me know what you think. I am open to critics so I can improve my photography. I love it. There's nothing like holding a camera in your hand and capturing the little moments in a childs life.

My 33rd Birthday!

(Yes I'm crazy and sharing my age)

So my kids wanted me to bake an Elmo cake so they could decorate it for me.

Of course they ate more icing than actually made it on the cake!

But oh the fun they had...

Troy came home from work with a dozen roses and a card and a Chocolate Bar. (My sweet husband knows how much I love chocolate :)

The finished product of the cake. They are so proud.

By the end of the day this is what my counter looked like. Lauren had colored me a picture and wrapped it all by herself in spongebob paper.

Jan Erica came over earlier in the day and brought me a nice relaxation kit and a CD of Josh Groban and a cute angel because she is my angel friend.

Jamie Zobell brough me over a bouquet of flowers from the Young Women Board.

When Troy got home from work we went to Crazy sub for dinner becuase a girl shouldn't have to cook on her birthday. We also found out that night that the Wii Fit couldn't be found in stores unless you pre bought it. So we found out we could get one in Utah so my mom got it and brought it down with her when she came and we just paid her for it. I was so excited to get it.

My mom and dad couldn't be here for my birthday but I got to talk to them on the phone. It turned out to be a really nice day. When my mom was in town she took me shopping for some clothes at Kohl's for my birthday. We had a great time and hit some really great deals.