Happy Birthday Dad!

In honor of my Dad's birthday today I just wanted to share some cool/interesting things about him.

-My dad knows everything. If you ask him a question he will have the answer.
-He is a great cook. My mom said he taught her how to cook (she is a great cook too).
-He is such a good dad and husband that I have some seriously high expectations for Brad. Luckily I married a good man so it isn't that bad.
-He is one of the most selfless people ever.
-He gets really mad if a waitress/waiter takes his food away before he is finished.
-He is in great shape and really takes care of himself. He does his age in pull-ups everyday. That's 59 a day now, Dad!
-He is a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and has a very strong testimony of the gospel.
-He is the greatest Grandpa and my girls love him sooo much.
-He is a very talented architect and I can't wait until he designs my perfect house!
-He has always put family first and I really believe that is why we are such a close family.

Obviously I am a Daddy's girl but it is in a good way! I love you Dad. Happy Birthday!!

River

Ayden about 12 months old with River.

Just a few pictures I took of him today. Most of our pictures of him are pre-digital.

I feel like River is a little left out on our blog so in honor of his birthday a few weeks ago and just for posterities sake I will tell you a few things about River.

30 things about River
-Brad didn't want him but I convinced him we should have a dog.
-My little sis, Hillary, should be credited for finding him in the paper.
-He is our first "kid" and just turned 7 last month.
-He comes from a line of award winning sled dogs and show dogs.
-He is a sled dog reject.
-He has three names. He was named Nixon by his breeders, his papered name is Castleroock's Scandalous Afair and we named him River Lewis.
-He isn't loyal to us. (that is very normal for the breed)
-He is amazingly gentle and good with kids.
-He still has some nateral instinct that comes out around cats.
-He killed a kitten once and we had to go to court for it.
-He LOVES to exercise and "work" since he is a working breed.
-He doesn't bark.
-He doesn't slobber.
-He will howl with you if you get a group of people howling.
-He is very hairy.
-He has a very strong urge to run.
-He has run away from us over 100 times but only ended up in the pound once luckily when he gets tired of running he just finds a nice person who calls us.
-He has an ID chip in him but that has never been used.
-He loves to pull us on our long board.
-He hates getting in water and eating peanut butter.
-He is a self regulator meaning he only eats when he wants and will go days with out food.
-He saved my life from a man who tried to break into our house.
-He and Alex are best friends. He likes Ayden too, but not as much.
-His favorite place in the world is visiting his grandparents in Park City.
-We gave him back to the breeders twice when he was a puppy because of things he destroyed but we couldn't really live without him and always went back for him.
-He remembers people and will greet you with some excited howls when he sees you if he likes you.
-He mostly sleeps in my closet during the day.
-He jumped out of our car one time while it was moving and we ran over his leg.
-The only way to keep him in our back yard is with a small pony electric fence.
-He loves other dogs and runs up to them very quickly which usually makes them attack him.
-When we first got him at six months old, he was very babied and slept on our bed and would cuddle in our lap even though he was full grown.

River really is the greatest dog. We love him so much and we will all be really sad the day he isn't with us anymore. Lets just pray he keeps getting back home when he runs away and is able to live another happy 7 years with us!

Don't forget to watch the video of him going down the slide in our back yard. Ayden is about 2 in the video.

Beautiful Alex

It is a good thing I am feeling good enough to take care of my kids now becuase this couldn't go on much longer with out a neighbor thinking we adopted a feral child.

Don't come knock'in on our door anytime soon.

I think death came and visited our house this past week at least it feels like death. In fact death probably feels better. I came down with the good old influenza on thursday and lets just say I think I got one of the worst cases you can possibly get. High fever, chills, aches, bronchitis (on the verge of pneumonia), no appetite, vomiting. It is like taking the worst stomach flu you have ever had and combining it with the worst cold you have ever had and getting to enjoy it for at least 5 days and who knows how many more. Brad got to wait on me and take care of the girls only so he could get a good look at what he was going to go through because sure enough he got it last night too. Ayden couldn't escape it either. Now we are just praying for Alex. She is going crazy in a house full of sickies though. AHH, it is days like this that make you feel like life sucks but even though right now it is hard to believe, I know it is going to pass.

Trash The Dress

Why didn't I wait to get married until now? Wedding photography has really gotten so cool. I wish I did a TTD session with my dress. Maybe I still will.
Check out this site and this site to see what I am talking about.