Our New Dog!

Now that we have a house and a yard, we've decided to end our 4 year petless period and get a dog!

Below is the ad we found on KSL:

Beautiful Black German Shepherd - AKC Purebred. $50
Salt lake city, UT 84116
Dogs do not get any better than this. Cleo is a pure bred German Shepherd who is smart, sweet, and obedient. She is amazing around children and plays well with other dogs. She only barks when she needs to (like when someone tried to break into our house... or when the creepy guy was walking towards the kids). But she does like to sing with an occasional fire truck.Cleo is 6 years old. She is 90% black with some tan markings. She's laid back but loves a good run or play. She's in great health and will come with all relevant paper work for vaccinations, spay, and micro chip. She has paperwork from the AKC. She is accustomed to being indoors with family and is trained to stay off furniture.

She responds to:

Sit,Stay,Come,

Down (lay down),

Leave it (drop steak on the floor and tell her leave it - she won't touch it. Also works with dogs and other things).

Take it (OK...go ahead and take the steak I just dropped),

Back it up (give me some space),

Gentle (used around children playing or giving her treats.)

Release - release a tug-toy.

Drop it - drop a toy or a ball.

Go Potty - umm, yep. You guessed it.

Outside - will run to door to go out

Inside - will run to door to go in.

Find it - find hidden treats.and the list goes on...
I'm in school and am looking to join the military... So we are looking for a good home.Cleo will come with an insulated outdoor house, toys, leashes, food, treats, back-pack, and heart worm pills.

Aaron has always wanted a German Shepherd and I was hesitant because I didn't think they'd be good with kids. But everything this ad says about this dog is true!
the above picture makes me happy


Do me a favor, will you please, and spare me the comments about how bigger dogs are more work...I know that. We are in a house with a big yard now, and this dog is so well-trained it will be nothing like having a puppy. Aaron and I are going to have a nice, lengthy discussion tonight about responsibilites that come with a dog like this. He is so happy right now I'm pretty sure I could get him to commit to anything. I'm sure there will be hiccups here and there, but I just couldn't say no to Aaron's dream dog for this price, with this temperment, with this training and with all that extra gear. Bring on the name suggestions!

Finnisms

Inspired by my sister Andrea, I have started making an effort to write down all the funny things Finn says. He is constantly coming up with great one-liners and silly questions but I have a hard time remembering them...so I've started jotting them down with the intent to capture them for all time on this blog. Here is installment numero uno:
*****
Finn runs out of the bathroom pantsless.
Me: Finn, did you wipe your bum?
Finn: Nope!
Me: Finn, I'm pretty sure you pooped so you need to wipe your bum.
Finn continues running around half-naked.
Me: Finn, if you pooped, you need to wipe your bum right now.
Finn: Mom! I didn't poop! I went diarrhea!
*****
Finn is playing with a Woody doll in the backseat of the car. Woody normally talks but the battery is dead.
Finn: Dad! Woody talked!
Aaron: Oh yeah? What did he say?
Finn: He said, um...he, he said uh 'Hooooooooooowwwwwwwwwdy Paaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrtnerrr'
*****
We are leaving the theater after watching Toy Story 3.
Finn is playing with his 3-D glasses.
Finn: I like these glasses Mom.
Me: Yeah they're pretty cool, huh?
Finn studies me for a minute, notices my regular glasses.
Finn: Are your glasses 1-D Mom?
*****
Finn is in the corner for a time out. Kate is standing beside him and trying to play.
Finn: Mom! Mom! Kate is over here while I'm in the corner! Take her away Mom!
Me: She's not hurting you Finn, just pretend she's not there.
Finn: I can't because I'm ignoring her!!!

Family Photos

Our friend Nataly Harris needed a family to take pictures of for her latest promotion, and we were happy to volunteer! Since it was only a 30 minute session, we just have a few shots to choose from:

I think I'm going to print the one in the middle with us all standing, even though Kate's tongue is sticking out. I like the bench one, but I think Finn's smile is weird in it.
I LOVE these shots that she got of Finn and Kate:

As soon as I print these we will finally have something up on our living room walls!

Halloween 2010

Nana Lana gave these cute Halloween shirts to the kids last year, but they actually fit perfectly this year. (Yes, Kate still fits in some 6-12 month shirts even though she is 16 months old!) They had fun wearing them this Halloween season

Our festivities started off with a Halloween playgroup at our house. Trying to get all the kids in one picture was difficult to say the least. This is the best shot I got...right after Finn accidentally fell over with Kate!

Friday afternoon we went trick or treating at Novell. Finn just went desk to desk and raked in SO MUCH CANDY. Here are a couple shots I got of the kids in the car on the way there: Finn the 'scary' dragon. (He made sure I knew he was a scary dragon, not a nice one.) And Kate as Snow White.

The next day was our ward Trunk or Treat. Since I had more time, I decided to have more fun dressing Kate up. Her "Bride of Frankenstein" get-up won second place in the costume contest!

At the party:

Kate's prize was a box of Sour Patch Kids which she thoroughly enjoyed:

Both kids had a great time trick or treating at the party, but were both so thrashed afterward that we opted not to take them around the neighborhood this year. Kate even shook her head 'no' when someone at the party tried to give her a piece of candy. That was the signal that we were definitely done.

On the way home: