Can you spot the real kitty?? This was the girls having fun with their "cats" and also with the camera. I had no idea they'd taken these pictures until weeks later. Pretty cute!

Sofie Milestone

We hit a milestone with our puppy, Sofie today! This was the first day she's been able to stay all day in her crate without any potty accidents. For those of you with puppy experience, you understand what an awesome thing this is. I was ecstatic when I got home to find her still clean and dry. No messes to clean up! Woo hoo!!

She is currently 5 1/2 months old. From what friends have said, this is about the time we expected her to start being able to do this. She is much more solid with the housetraining as well, with only an occasional accident, usually as a result of us humans not paying attention to her subtle body language and signals.

We are trying to train her to bump a bell with her nose that we have hanging from the door knob, but so far she doesn't seem to be making that connection very well. With time, perhaps she will pick it up.

NaBloPoMo

In honor of National Blog Posting Month, I am commiting to getting back into the habit of posting to this blog on a regular basis. Thank you, LP, for posting this on your blog so that I'd hear about it. =0)

Halloween 2009

Halloween was a lot of fun. The weather couldn't have been better, we met some great new people, the girls looked awesome in their costumes, and there was no sibling fighting (thanks to Ally spending most of the evening with her friends).

Ally went Trick-or-Treating with her friend Samantha from across the street, and her new "very good friend" Nathan from school. N's parents took on the threesome and drove them to two neighboring subdivisions, choosing to follow in the car rather than try to keep up with the running group of candy monsters.The three of them came back with at least 8-10 lbs of candy each!!

Ally was dressed as the vampire Jane of the Volturi, from the Twilight Series. Obviously, Angie dressed as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.

Angie stayed behind to eat some pizza, but was soon invited out to join a group of about 10 little munchkins that visited our house and just about cleaned out our candy bowl. We turned out the lights and joined the mob, puppy dog leading the way. No, that is not lipstick on her lips... we think she found some red frosting on the ground somewhere... hmmm....

This is Angie's buddy, Cooper. He lives in our neighborhood, and is also in Angie's class at school. He invited her to join his little clan after she'd given out candy to all of them.

Ma and Pa Strickland stopped by for a few minutes to see the girls and to share some goodies.

State Fair 2009

We had a great time at the fair, as we always do. It was quite chilly again this year, but fortunately not windy like last year. We spent most of our time on the midway with the girls, and sampled lots of tasty fair food. Here are a few pics from our day.

Grand Canyon Skywalk

When in Vegas we took a day tour out to the west rim of the Grand Canyon. In this picture we are standing on the new skybridge that extends out beyond the edge of the cliff and also has a glass floor so that you can look down into the canyon below. It was an amazing experience, and definitely raised our heartrates as we walked out over the edge and looked past our feet, far down below to the bottom. It sends chills up your spine.

The rock formation you see behind us is called Eagle rock because it looks like an eagle with it's wings spread. Very cool!

First Wedding Picture

We're still working on getting our pics from the photographer at the wedding, but here's a preview. More to come!

Picture from the airplane headed to Spain

Ally and Angie are spending a few weeks in Spain this summer with their Spanish family. Have a safe flight and a wonderful visit! We miss you girls!

Washington D.C. Trip

The weekend of June 6th my best friend from college was in DC for her husband's family reunion. I took Friday off of work, took the girls out of school, and drove up to DC to see them. It was so great to see Lyndee again... it's been way too long since the last visit. We had a wonderful time with her, Dan, and their son Lincoln, who is almost 4 years old.

We left town bright and early Friday morning and arrived at our meeting place around 2pm (after sitting in traffic for an extra hour due to an accident). We arrived just in time to grab some lunch at Chipotle and then proceeded to the metro so we could head into the city. The girls got a kick riding the metro, especially when we suddenly dropped underground into a dark tunnel. Ally thought it was funny to hang from the overhead bar and let the momentum of the train swing her legs out from under her. (Yes, she is tall enough to reach the bar on the ceiling!) The weather was chilly and rainy, and I definitely did not plan for that... I dressed the girls in summer clothes and flip-flops... oops. Before the afternoon was over we had to make a stop to get some socks, a sweatshirt, and some tennies. Ridiculous. Anyway, some of the things we got to see on the first day were: the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial. We topped off the evening with dinner at ESPN Zone and got back to our rooms pretty late. We stayed at Dan's Uncle's Retirement home across the Potomac in McLean, VA. It worked out very nicely, as it was only a couple of miles from a metro station and outside the hub-bub of DC. It was nearly midnight by the time we got to sleep, then we were up again at 6am to get showered and head back to the city for breakfast and a "Duck" Tour. This is where we rode around on a funny little bus that looks like a boat on wheels... getting a little tour of the city... then we drove right into the Potomac River and the bus became an actual boat. This was definitely a first for me, and we really got a kick out of it. As we were cruising along the river, the driver handed out "quackers" which are extremely loud devices you blow like a whistle to make a quacking sound. Naturally, the kids thought this was the best part of the tour. Our driver was very knowledgeable and I really enjoyed learning so much about the local history and architecture. I would highly recommend a guided tour of DC if you haven't done it already.

After that we walked the streets a little, trying to figure out what to do next. We wanted to go inside the National Archives, but the line was very long and about a 45 minute wait. Instead of that, we decided to cross the street and check out the Museum of Natural History. WOW... was that an awesome place. It was a bit overwhelming at first, trying to figure out where to start since we only planned on staying for a short while. We hit the mammals first, and I was so impressed with how much time and detail they put into the hundreds of life size models. After that we stopped in to see some dinosaur bones, then grabbed a quick lunch in the cafe. Can I just say... it's no wonder the museum is free... they must make a killing off of what they charge for food in there. Yikes! Anyway, I digress. At this point Lyndee and family really needed to head back to their room to prepare for their family picnic that afternoon. Ally was disappointed at not getting to see the ocean exhibit, so we decided we'd say our goodbyes then and there so that the girls and I could stay at the museum a little longer. It was sad to see them go... I definitely feel like we didn't get enough time with them. Although I am so grateful for what we did get. Lincoln and the girls had a lot of fun together, and I really love that our kids got along so well.

The ocean exhibit at the museum was very impressive. They had displays of just about any sea creature you could possibly imagine, along with enlargements of microscopic organisms and a live aquarium with a very diverse collection of creatures. We spent at least an hour in there, and then wandered on until we found ourselves in the insect and reptile exhibit. Again, very impressive. Ally and Angie both got to hold a large green caterpillar in their hand, but passed on the huge grasshopper and hissing cockroach. When I decided we really needed to hit the road and head home, we were so deep into the museum it took us 10 minutes of winding through mazes just to find the front entrance. It would take me hours to describe everything, so please forgive me for being so vague in my re-telling. I ask you to simply trust that this place is awe inspiring and I think everyone I know should visit this museum... with plenty of time to spend. =)

Below are some pics from our trip. Some are not the best quality because they were taken with my cell phone, (due to the girls playing with the video camera so much I couldn't keep the battery charged) but hopefully you can get the gist of what I was trying to capture.