AZ Trip

We went to Arizona to attend the Funeral of Great Uncle Ken (Ken Frost). He was such a wonderful man! He stepped in and took on the role of our grandpa. Our grandpa died when we were very young. He had such a grat impact on my life! I only really got to know him over the past 2 years, and it was a joy to spend time with him. He loved his horses and told wonderful stories about my grandpa and the adventures they had. We visited and stayed with him in Feb 2008. Kellie fell in love with Uncle Ken. She called him "Mr. Hinckley". Aunt Shirlyn got a huge kick out of that and just laughed. Kellie and Uncle Ken hit it off right away. They had never met before, but Kellie climbed up on his lap and wrapped her hands around his neck and they have been buddies ever since! We were getting ready to leave, and Uncle Ken said "If you would just leave Kellie here for about 6 months, I think I could get better!" That just about broke my heart! Uncle Ken was suffering from back pain and was having a hard time.

I am so grateful for the Gospel in my life and the knowledge that we will see him again!

We were also able to see The Frost and Johnson Families! It is always wonderful to visit with family!

Top Left: Paula, Marilyn, Amy

Top Right: Ken and Amy

Botton Left: Amy, Marilyn, Amanda and Allana

Kellie's Ms. Debbie Graduation

Kellie has gone to Pre-School with Ms. Debbie for 2 years. Kaitlyn also went to school with her. She is FANTASTIC!!!! I can't believe that we are all done with Pre-school and Kellie will be in Kindergarden in the fall!

Wings of Fancy Butterfly Fieldtrip

Every Year we go to the Wings of Fancy Butterfly exhibit as a field trip for the Pre-School class.

Here are some of our best pictures.

Play Date with Toby

Drake ALWAYS has a great time playing at Toby's house! This was his first time in the pool. He was a filthy, dirty, tired mess when we were done. We gave him a bath before we took him home.

The Violin (Kellie and Drake)

This is the Video I promised. Drake was sleeping and Kellie came in to play her violin. Enjoy!

One Month with Drake

Toby and Drake playing together. They have so much fun!

Digging in the Sandbox.

Kellie - I came down stairs and found Drake on the couch with Kellie. I guess he decided to hop up there with Kellie. Again....breaking the rules....


Exhausted from playing! It is hard work being a puppy!

Happy Birthday Shannon!!

Shannon turned 12! She is so happy to be in the Young Women Program!Shannon requested German Cholocate Cake and Sheperd's Pie for her birthday dinner. She received her birthday gift early this year.....His name is Drake!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

Week 1 with Drake....

Jason with his new baby.... (Breaking the rules already..

he is not allowed on the furniture!)

Drake and Toby (his brother from the previous litter) playing

Drake decided he likes sleeping and sitting in my TV cabinet.

Week one....it has been fun! The girls and I picked him up last Saturday.

We had a 1.5 hour drive home and with potty breaks for Drake and the girls, it took us about 2.5 hours to get home. We had lots of visitors. Drake was very sad on Sunday and missed his litter mates, so we asked Debbie if she could bring Toby over. Drake was VERY happy to see him. Drake, in an effort to find his spot in our family, took it upon himself to insert himself above Kellie. We had to buy him a stuffed animal that was a little bigger than him that he could "dominate". He loves his stuffed dog and has been placed under Kellie and above the stuffed dog.

Jason has been sleeping on the couch at night so he can take "his baby" out for a potty break in the middle of the night. We hear that in a few weeks he will be able to sleep all night without a trip outside. I was a nice wife on Wednesday and let Jason get a good nights rest. Drake decided that he wanted to play from 11:30 pm to 1:15 am. He was running around the kitchen like crazy! He is getting better. Last night he was only up twice!

As many of you know all of my girls play the violin. Drake was dead asleep and Kaitlyn began practicing her violin. He jumped up, ran to the gate , and started barking and howling at her! He only does this when Kaitlyn and Kellie practice (they are still a little screechy and scratchy). He apparently has a good ear for music....He enjoys Shannon's playing.

My nanny duties are going well. ( I am Drake's Nanny from 8:30 to 3 pm) I stayed home the first few days so that he could get used to us and our house. Now I have to plan my activities around Drake. It usually works out, but I was really busy this morning. It was pouring and I misplaced my umbrella. Drake was taking his time going potty. So, I am standing outside my house in the pouring rain with a Ledo's Pizza box over my head waiting for Drake to stop rolling in the puddles and go potty! I called Jason and told him he was going to have to pay me extra today for standing in the rain!

All kidding aside, Drake is very cute and we love him! He just cracks me up! He always sleeps on his back in this weird position that can't be comfortable. We look forward to all of our new adventures!

And the winner is........

DRAKE! After a total of 55 votes, Drake has 22 votes or 40%. Thanks to everyone who voted! Jason is happy that his favorite name won!

On Friday, the Girls, Ms. Debbie, Toby (Ms. Debbie's Dog from the previous litter ) went to visiti the puppies. In the 3rd picture, Toby stuck his head in and all the puppies rushed over to say hello to him. It was so cute! The owners said we can bring Drake home next weekend! We will keep you updated!

New Puppy

As many of you know, Jason and the Girls have been trying to talk me into getting a dog for YEARS! I always had good excuses/reasons (little kids, not enough room, we lived in a townhouse ect). I am now officially out of excuses. I knew I would loose the battle eventually, I just didn't know when. As you know, my girls are obsessed with dogs. Their favorite game is still pretending to be different dogs they know.

The Surprise...... Jason and I decided that there are very few surprised left in this world, so we would do our best to make it a good one. We made all of the arrangements for Sunday after church. We packed clothes and lunches so we could leave just after church was over. It is about a 1.5 hr drive to VA to see the puppies. We told the girls that we were going to look at a house to buy. When we arrived, the girls were thrilled to see that the owners had a few grown dogs. Then Paula mentioned that they had puppies.....They went nuts! Then Jason said "Girls, do you think they would let us keep one?"

They just flipped out.....They were sooo excited. (I did capture this moment on video, but I have to figure out how to upload it to the blog...this may take some time...)

We had 3 boys to choose from. We ended up picking the Orange collared puppy. We will be able to bring home our new addition on April 3rd. We are very excited! We have not decided on a name as of yet, but we are working on a few. I will post a poll so you can help us decide!

We will keep you updated!

Snow Day

So much for Global Warming! On Sunday Evening (March 2nd), I received the dreaded call cancelling school on Monday due to a significant snow storm (for MD). After all the snow had fallen, we received about 10 inches. The kids had a great day off and enjoyed sledding in the back yard. Here is a picture of our winter wonderland back yard.
How many more weeks of Winter do we have???