Looking For Some Quick Lovin'???

I know where you could find some!!! Looking to stay away from quick lovin'??? I know the area to avoid! This town (Norman, OK) is SO helpful with letting me know about these areas of town...

Beware of what is ahead....

I kid you not, this is a REAL sign in our town!!!

And for those of you who are wondering what the big deal is about this sign that makes it so funny...well, in Idaho (as well as EVERYWHERE else I've seen), these signs say Speed BUMPS, not Speed HUMPS!!!

For My Brother....

In case you thought you were hiding from me REALLY well...you're NOT!! I have my sources, and my sources here in Oklahoma have told me where I need to look to find you!!!

He he he...it's pointing WEST!!!

(I couldn't resist...I thought this was so cool!! I know, I know, I'm a dork...)

What Good Is A Poll?

If no one will "poll"???? Hint Hint.... I put up 2 polls under my "About Me" section...

Dallas Baby!

On Saturday the 21st, a friend of mine was taking some furniture to Dallas, so I hitched a ride and kept her company. In return for my selfless act, she nicely drove around Dallas so I could take pictures of things since I'd never been. They aren't the best pics, but it's what I got so I thought I would share with you. Enjoy!

In the distance you can see a building with a white dome top. That's where the Dallas Cowboys play!

This hotel reminded me of the "Park Barrington" from Family Guy...it's a hotel that doesn't allow any Asians, so the reporter (Tricia Takanawa) has to stand outside.

Just some really tall buildings.

Sidways stop lights... Also, if you notice the walkway in the distance that goes over the street, there is a sign hanging down off of a building below that and to the right (it looks like a little red line in this pic).

Here is a closer-up view of that little red line. That's right, it says "First Baptist Church"... I thought it was funny since it looked like the old signs they used to hang that said "Motel"...

Here's a side of a HUGE building...Guessing it's either a Disney/Pixar building (or something to that effect), or they are sure getting paid OODLES to have this on there...

Here's a mural painted on the Dallas Aquarium that is just opposite the Wall*E mural building. They've got penguins in the basement...

Here's an "oddly" shaped (HUGE) building by the two mural buildings.

Another "oddly" shaped building.

Um, it's a Paramount sign...

We thought this was odd that there would be two huge wooden owls in downtown Dallas, but as we got a little further up the road we realized that the building right behind it was Hooters. Oh well, the owls were a sight to see!

I had no idea what to expect when I saw this...

Here's what's in front of Dick's (it's a restaurant).

I'd never seen these in real life, let alone a "herd" of them...

I thought this was interesting and just had to take a picture of it. You decide....

A college SO fancy they have their own banner announcing it!!! Actually, just down from this banner is a nice permanent sign.

View from the truck's sun/moon roof. REALLY tall buidling...

Thought this was a cool looking building.

This little log cabin/building was amongst all the cement downtown.

"American Airlines Center" Home of the Mavericks (basketball) and the Stars (hockey). It had a lot of parking and was located right next to the freeway as well as rail tracks. Talk about options! They have concerts etc. here too.

You might be asking why did I take a picture of a Coors Light billboard as I was going down the freeway...well, it's because it has a REAL LIVE WATERFALL built into it. I thought that was pretty cool!

Here's a better pic.

I thought this was odd...these stores are everywhere down there... It's a regular site, just like passing a Burger King or a Blockbuster in Idaho...

Texas has a day AND night speed limit. I didn't know this, but thought it was interesting when I saw the two signs...

And arriving back in Oklahoma. They went all out on the sign...it's made of stone.

All in all it was an interesting trip. Mostly because I learned that I'm only about 200 miles away from Dallas...I thought I lived A LOT farther away. I'm glad I got the chance to go, expecially because I wasn't using MY gas, but wish Jordan could've come too. (-He had to stay at home with the kiddos since there wasn't room in the vehicle, and I don't think my friend wanted the vehicle covered in dog hair!!!!) Jordan and I will have to go down sometime when gas prices go down....hopefully we're still alive then! :)

Happy Birthday!

I'm sending out Happy Birthday wishes today to my mom who turns the young age of yeah-right-you-think-I'd-tell-and-end-up-murdered??? This is the woman who brought me into the world, so she's probably okay with being the person who takes me out of it!!! Just kidding. Anyways, just wanted to send birthday wishes out to my mom! Happy Birthday Mom (aka Di, Diane, Di-Di, Gramma Di, Grandma Diane AND, Karen)!!

We Y!

Because the accounting firm I work for prepares the yearly audit for the Cleveland County YMCA, they are nice enough to purchase the firm members a membership to the Y. So, since I had a membership, I had them payroll deduct for Jordan's membership. It turned out to be a really great deal, plus we get 6 guest passes too! So Jordan and I go to the Y and work out, and often go swimming to get our cardio in when it's really hot.

Well, a couple weeks ago Chase & Meghan were our guests at the Y and they brought Kate for her first swim. It was really fun, and she was really cute too! She seemed like she was half duck the way she was kicking around and splashing the whole time. We all had fun, and Meghan was nice enough to take some pictures while we were there, including these two of Jordan and I.

Father's Day at Our House

I know I should've shared this before, but I'm just now getting around to posting it. For Father's Day, Jordan got a photo of the kids. Here's what it looked like!

This Summer's Favorite Is.....

The swimming pool!!! On occasions when it's hot and we've taken the dogs to the dog park, Molly will go to the 'water bowl' and lay in the water that has overflowed (there's always an overflow). So we figured that she must like the water. Well, with it being so hot here in Oklahoma, we decided that we would fork over the $12 to Walmart and buy a plastic pool. We bought the little 5 foot pool and set it on the back patio (ie cement slab) and filled it with about 1 1/2-2 inches of water. Then we let the dogs out of their kennels and took them outside.

Molly immediately took to it, got right in, and got herself a drink of the cool water. She LOVES to be in the pool. She also LOVES to dig for the designs on the bottom of the pool too!

Miller wasn't sure about it, but Jordan put him in and once Miller saw he wasn't going to die, he decided to tolerate it. He doesn't get in and lay in it like Molly does, but he will get in occasionally. Mostly when we tell him to.

Jack was VERY unsure about it, so when we put him in it, he immediately jumped right out. He likes to get his front feet up on the side of the pool, but he doesn't like to get in.

Jill was also unsure about it, but did the peeking in thing like Jack, but she was a little braver than Jack, at least she acted like she might jump in.

This past Sunday was particularly hot, so I put my plastic patio chair in the pool and put my bare feet in the cold water. I figured that felt pretty good, so I sat there in the sun a while. Well, Jack (being the mama's boy he is) needed to see what I was doing, so he jumped in the pool long enough to be able to jump on my lap and see what was up. Since then I think he's jumped in once.

Miller gets in once in a while, but will not sit or lay down in it. Molly lays down in it all the time. Jill has actually started hopping in there on occasion too. Here are a couple pics of the girls in the pool!

Walking the "herd" on 6/13

I'm a little behind on updating, even though I have tons I want to say!!! On Friday the 13th after I got home and relaxed a little while, we decided to take the 'herd' out for a walk. :) Well, Jill has never been on a walk with us, and Misty told us that when she tried walking her she would just sit there and wouldn't go anywhere. We decided that we would bypass this fun trait, and carry her. Yes, I know, carry her. Well, I didn't carry her in my arms, I have the equivalent of a dog/puppy snugli. I got this when Jack was really small and we would ride our bikes around Boise. It goes on just like a snugli, but instead of having the legs go through, it's basically just a bag that cinches tighter at the top. It's really handy to have if you have a really small dog you want to take biking. Anyhoo, we loaded everyone up in their harnesses and leashes. (We use harnesses that go around the chest instead of hooking the leash to their collars because we don't want the kids to choke themselves if they decide to pull to go look at something.) So, we grabbed Eddie and put him inside (because he WILL follow us...he followed Jordan and Miller about a mile on one of their walks before Jordan looked back and noticed him) and set off.

Jill was very nervous about the whole thing, especially when the cars would go by, or when we would pass by other dogs in their yards barking their heads off. In case you don't know, Chihuahuas have a tendency to shake, almost like their shivering from cold when they are scared or nervous. Jill was shaking at least half of the way. She sat in her little snugli and intently watched the other dogs walking with us, and observing as much as she could. Well, about 3/4 of the way into the walk, we decided to take her out and test the waters so to speak. And, guess what happened? She happily bounced along with Jack and Miller. Molly's kinda crazy on walks looking and smelling EVERYTHING. Not that the other dogs don't do that, but not to the extent that Molly does. We're pretty sure this is because she's still very much a puppy. We did have one incident where she was a little unsure of the surroundings and tried to go the other way, but other than that, she mostly happily bounced along with us, and if she got distracted with something while we all walked on, all I would have to do was call her and she came happily running. We were very excited about this. We were talking about it and we thought that perhaps she was scared walking with Misty because Misty has a toddler who I'm sure was being pushed in a stroller. Jill is just at 5 pounds, so EVERYTHING is bigger than her, and I'm sure she was just afraid of getting squished. Jack is almost 9 pounds and he's still like that, but not at her level. -He used to be though.

Anyways, we were very happy that Jill felt comfortable and safe enough with us to go walking on her own, and she's warming up more and more every day. While she's taken to Jack and tries to play with him a lot, she's also taken to Miller as well. Miller, being the oldest, has kinda settled into a leader-of-the-pack mode (after dad and mom) and kinda watches out for her and is very gentle with her, and is very good about not invading her personal space. -Molly hasn't learned this. With anyone or anything. BUT, Miller is doing very well leading the group. Jill has also gotten comfortable going in and out of the dog door into the garage to get outside/inside. She has to jump up about 5-6 inches to get out the dog door, then into the garage is an immediate step down. She's leared to judge this correctly, even though she still has trouble judging other distances (and sometimes has to make 2 attempts to get up on the couch). We're very happy with all of the progress she's made. Here's a pic of her relaxing in Jordan's lazyboy.

Jill now has a baby tooth...check it out!

It's under the "Who Loves ya?" post

South Beach?

For those of you who didn't know, I've been on the South Beach diet (more or less) for one month now. I say more or less because I haven't been following all of the recipes, but I've been trying like crazy to stick to the approved lists, but I haven't done it perfectly. (Hey, give me a break, it's my first real attempt at a diet!!!)Phase 1 is supposed to be for 2 weeks, and here's the 'list' for that phase.



Then you move on to Phase 2 for two weeks. Here's the Phase 2 list.

Here are some pics of the progress I've made so far on the diet.

Who loves ya?

It was the first thing that came to my mind when I went to post this morning. I guess I could say that our 'kiddo's love us. We dote on them like children, and like children, it hurts to see them hurting.

When I went home for lunch yesterday, Edddie came in to eat (as is his norm) and I noticed he had a puncture wound on his head, some scratches and a scratch/gouge down through his ear. Obviously there was blood. Not a lot, but still. So, as I'm texting Jordan in one hand trying to see when he's going to be done with work, I'm on the house phone on hold with the vet to see if I could bring him in. Well, after figuring out when Jordan would be done, and scheduling an appointment for Eddie, we were all set. Miller lately has had what we thought was pinkeye, so we'd been giving him some medicated eye drops, but we thought we should probably take him in too. Afterall, it's about time for his yearly shots too. And ya know what? I think it might be time for Molly's booster shots too. Well, come to think of it, it's time for Jack's shots too. And Jill has only had her first set of shots and she's due for another set (including her rabies shot) too. SO.... we talked with the vet's office and got it all scheduled...

We hauled Eddie in to the vet clinic in a kennel, I carried Jack and Jill, and Jordan rangled Miller and Molly. Needless to say, it was an ordeal!!! We did have to wait 30-45 minutes PAST our appointment time because they were going to take everyone in the same room and they wanted to 'clear out a room' for us. (Jordan and I would've been fine to take them in in shifts in case you were wondering...)

So, we finally got them all back and seen, everyone got shots (all 5 of them), Eddie ended up with an antibiotic he has to have 2 times a day for 10-14 days (I can't remember) and Miller ended up having 'dirty ears' so we need to wash them out with a special solution and then put in another solution and leave that in there. -The vet told us that it's very common in labs to have dirty ears. (This was new to uss.) She also said that it looked like Miller had allergies, and to give him some benadryl and that should clear up his eyes and make him feel a ton better. Poor Jill when she got her shots, she was terrified. The first shot she did wonderfully with, but the second one she cried out and was hurt by it. Next was Jack's turn, and as everyone in the world probably knows by now, Jack is my BABY, and I knew I couldn't see him crying out from the shots so I handed him over and faced the wall. He did perfectly fine though.

After all was said and done and we were finally out of there, it had been over 2 hours, and we were all tired afterwards. So, we ran over to my work to get my stuff (at lunch I'd just grabbed my phone, wallet and keys) and then home. We took the kids out to potty, kenneled them up, washed up as best we could, changed clothes and then headed over to Chase & Meghan's to celebrate his birthday with presents, cake and ice cream. All in all, while it was a stressful day, it wasn't horrible.

And no, the events didn't stop there.

We went to bed around 10:30-11:00. In the middle of the night, Miller is the one who normally initiates Jordan or I getting up and letting everyone out to potty. Well, he decided to wake me up (as is regular, he's pretty much given up on waking up Jordan). It was only about 12:30 too. So, I got up and took out Miller, Molly and Jack, then we went back to bed and dreamland.

Unfortunately around 4:00-4:30, dreamland was shattered by Miller again. This time I woke up Jordan. He took out Miller, Molly and Jill this time. And Jill need to be carried because she's still a little unsure of everything. Well, I'm laying there in bed, and I hear a little cry, and I know it's from Jill. I lay there and wonder what's going on and did I just imagine it because I'm half asleep. So I lay there longer. Pretty soon Miller comes in and jumps up on the bed to his spot. Molly comes in and lays on the dog pillow/bed on the floor. Jack has been with me the whole time. -Where's Jordan and Jill I wonder??? Pretty soon the bathroom light turns on and the door closes, but no noises. I lay there for another minute and finally think to myself that something must be wrong. So I got up and went to the bathroom door and asked Jordan what was going on. He told me go go ahead and come in, and there he was just holding Jill. He told me that in Molly's excitement she had gotten between his legs as he was walking outside with Jill, he lost his balance and was starting to trip, so Jill jumped and landed hard (hence the cry). He was sitting with her to see if she was okay. Well, after we both examined her and were satisfied that it probably just scared her, we decided to go back to bed. And, since there's a plethora of mammals in our bed each night, we decided to turn on the light and fix the blankets. Near one of my pillows I noticed a little white thing. It kinda looked like a crinkled up piece of paper, but I picked it up and it was a baby tooth from Jill. Then Jordan went over to his side of the bed, and low and behold, he found one identical to the one I'd found. So, on top of shots and falling, she also lost some of her baby teeth all in one day. It was definitely an eventful day for her!

Here's a pic of one of her baby teeth.

Happy Birthday Stacie!

Today is my sister-in-law's birthday. (Stacie is my brother's wife) Stacie is WAY over in Salt Lake City and turning the ripe old age of 25... :) So here's farther-away-than-I'd-like-hoping-that-you-enjoy-your-birthday wishes!!!

Happy Birthday Chase!

Today is my brother-in-laws birthday. (Chase is my husband's baby brother.) Chase is also turning the ripe old age of 25... he he he... Luckily for him though, he WILL have the pleasure of seeing me on his birthday!!! Jordan and I are going to go have cake and ice cream with Chase, Meghan & Kate tonight to help him celebrate. Hope it's a great day!!

Christmas 2008

This is mostly for the benefit of my siblings, but I thought I would post it on my blog so that it can be referred back to as we get closer and closer to Christmas.

For those of you who don't know, I have a large family. And, while it's really fun to give all of your siblings and their families a Christmas present, it's not so fun on the pocketbook. So, we rotate names every year. It works out great! All you have to do is remember who at least ONE person gave to, and you can figure it out since the names rotate. Here's the list for Christmas 2008.

Rob & Sonia give to Ryan & Stacie

Cody & Chantelle give to Lorne & Amy

Ryan & Stacie give to Ashlea & Jordan

Lorne & Amy give to Brandon & Nykki

Ashlea & Jordan give to Jamie & Jeff

Brandon & Nykki give to Rob & Sonia

Jamie & Jeff give to Cody & Chantelle

May 13th...Again???

So, back on May 13th, we welcomed our sweet Molly into our family. Things have been going very well with her, her health, demeanor and personality have all improved. She's become fast friends with Miller & Jack, and has found her place in our home and hearts as well.

Well, since then, Molly plays with both of the boys, and it's all fun and games for the lot. Obviously Miller and Molly can play a lot more rough than Molly and Jack, and at times it's been hard for us to see Jack sitting on the sidelines desperately wanting to play with Miller & Molly, but knowing full well that he could get hurt in the process. Well, we've now remedied the situation.

Not only have Jordan and I been talking about getting a girl puppy, but we've been talking about getting a girl Lab and/or Chi. We've chosen the 'and'. Jordan found the sweet baby girl on Craigslist on Thursday. We emailed her mommy Misty and told her that we would love to add her to our family. After sending her the link to see our family and what we're about, she decided that we might not be serial killers and decided to give us a shot! he he he.... She sent us some pics of her, and much to our delight, she was EXACTLY what we were hoping for. We wanted a short-haired black and brown baby (or at least I did, I can't speak for Jordan on this one). Her name was Spinelli (because she's a spinner).

Well, Saturday (yesterday) we were able to drive into downtown OKC and pick her up. We talked with Misty and William for about an hour in the lobby of their building, and she seemed to be OK with us, but still nervous.

After getting her a new collar (to match the rest of the family), retractable leash, kennel, puppy food and toys, we brought her home. MUCH MUCH MUCH to our surprise and very much DELIGHT Jack has done AMAZINGLY at accepting her. He growled for about 4 seconds, and the rest of the time since then he's been keeping a close eye on her and trying to play with her. Unfortunately the times he's trying to play with her and the times she's trying to play with him haven't quite matched up yet, but hey, it's only been ONE day. It took Jack about a week and a half to get this okay with Molly. AND, what's really surprising to us about all this is not only the time frame in which he's warmed up to her, but the fact that she's a little dog too. -Whenever we take the kids to the dog park, Jack HATES (and I can't stress this enough) little dogs. So we've been really happy with his adjustment this weekend. And, since she's only 6 months old, she's still small, and very timid most of the time as well. She is warming up to the both of us, but seems still unsure about whether or not we're going to hit her when we're reaching to pet her. Misty (and I now too) think there's some sort of history of abuse (and from what Misty told us about where she came from originally, there was neglect too as she was kept in a kennel all day).

Anyhoo, we've named her Jill, but have mostly been calling her Jilly and Jilly Bean. She seems to be adjusting to the name well. Here are some pics of her (some from Misty, and some that we've taken of her).

At Misty's house lounging on the couch!

Another at Misty's house, with Goomba in the background.


"Are we friends?"

"You called me???"

"I'm so pretty!!"

Miller & Kate

I'm sure some of you saw these pics on Chase & Meghan's blog, but I had to add them to mine as well. Kate thinks Miller is pretty great, and Miller is quite happy to see her each time he does too. In the first picture you'll notice Kate was trying to 'get' Miller, and in the second one she's reacting to being 'kissed' right in the face from him! Too Cute I Say!

Molly and Jack

Molly and Jack have adjusted very well to each other. So much so that Jack and Molly play much like Jack and Miller do. Here's some pics of the two ferocious kiddos playing. (The last picture is my favorite of Jack)