Romney Rally

So on Febuary 16th Kyle and I took a spur of the moment trip to Boise, to go to a Mitt Romney rally. It was so much fun! On our way out of Eastern Idaho we stopped in Blackfoot and picked up a half gallon of A&W Rootbeer, to drink during our trip, this is the second time we've done this...I think it might have to be a new tradition.

We arrived in Boise at around 8:30-9 at night, we checked into our hotel room and walked to a nearby restaurant (sticking to our rule of not eating anywhere we can eat in the Rexburg/Idaho Falls area.) We had a yummy dinner and went to bed around 11. We woke up at 7:30 and enjoyed a yummy continental breakfast, then headed out to the outlet mall to do some shopping! We came back and got ready for the rally and checked out of the hotel. We were only about 30 minutes, even though were shooting for being there an hour early. We got a spot to the left of the stage, which wasn't terrible, but not the best either. He was about 40 minutes late due to interviews with the news stations, it was well worth the wait though! He was really inspiring and really got the crowd going! Afterwards Kyle and I even got to shake his hand!! It was so so much fun! I am really glad we went!

Waiting

Romney!

I took this right before Kyle and I shook his hand!

After the rally we went to a burger/vegetarian place called The Boise Fry Co. It was pretty cool they had about seven different potatoes to choose from and different cuts for each kind, and then they had two different kinds of hamburgers to choose from buffalo or regular. I loved the fries (I can't remember what kind I got, but they were tasty!) Wasn't as huge of a fan as Kyle was on the burger, which Kyle thought was amazing, but all in all it was pretty good!

We stopped at the outlets once more to go to the stores we didn't have a chance to before and then headed home.

It was a super fun trip and a much needed get-a-way!

Mischief Managed

I was sitting on the couch downstairs finishing up a quiz for my Child Development quiz, when all the sudden the girls' come running down the stairs, past the couch, and I hear the baby gate open and shut with a clang, I turn around to see Sequoyah sitting on the side of the gate that I'm on and hear Aurora jump up and grab something off the counter, I jumped up to go see what she had gotten, she panicked and tried to swallow whatever it was whole, started choking on it, I tried to pry it out of her mouth causing her to try to swallow it faster, thus choking more, so then I stopped trying to get it, she finally managed to swallow it, upon further investigation of the kitchen, I found out it was a whole slice of pizza she managed to swallow without chewing!

So back to the beginning of the story I'm pretty sure Quoyah and Aurora went upstairs to "discuss" how/who was going to try and get a piece of yumminess on the counter, and they succeeded, thusly saying "mischief managed."

(I do not envy the tummy ache Aurora will probably have later)

Aurora goes to the groomers!

So yesterday we took Aurora to Petsmart to get groomed! This was her first time going to a professional. The lady said that she did really good! And that she was quite the talker! She said Aurora talked when she was being bathed, when she was being brushed, when she was getting nails trimmed, even when they were brushing her teeth!

She also did Sequoyah a few weeks ago, and said that Aurora definitely makes up for how quiet Sequoyah is!

Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures, because they were all done when we got there, even though we got there 20minutes early in hopes to see how she was doing. Oh well!

Worse than a newborn...almost

So for the past week little miss Aurora hasn't been wanting to sleep at night, which equals no sleep for Kyle or I either. I'll explain...

She'll be sleeping down stairs, then when we go upstairs to go to bed, all of the sudden she'll start whining and whining and whining.

Step 1: run her back down stairs, to see if she has to go to the bathroom again

Step 2: check to see if she has water

Step 3: try and ignore here whining

Step 4: We can't

Step 5: try and put them in the kennel...She starts barking and whining even louder

Step 6: let them out and give them a rawhide

Step 7: take rawhide away cause Aurora starts growling and barking at Sequoyah, because she's paranoid of Sequoyah taking it away from her, even though she's in the depths of under our bed.

Step 8: Give Aurora her favorite ball and listen to squoosha squoosha squoosha, and deal with the bed rocking for the rest of the night cause of her head hitting the bottom of bed from playing with the ball.

Repeat Step 1 two-three times throughout the night

This has basically been our nights for the past week with a few variations, but pretty much lots of whining, and no idea why...

Although last night she only woke up once and went right back to sleep after taking her potty! So hopefully that continues because getting only 3-5 hours of sleep a night is not fun!

Aurora

So this started out being a post in my year 2011 in review post but ended up being a little long so I turned it into its own post!

On February 28th we made a 4 hour spur of the moment drive to go look at some Siberian Husky puppies in Evanston, WY. We had been debating on whether or not to get a brother or sister for Sequoyah, and also wanted to experience "puppy" stage, since we got Sequoyah when she was 13 months old. We found the add in the ksl.com classifieds and decided that we would just go and "look" at the puppies, even though deep down we both knew we would be coming home with a puppy. Kyle ended up letting me pick out which puppy we wanted, we ended up going with the tubby fluff ball!! We named her Aurora after the aurora borealis (northern lights). I almost feel as though we rescued her, because the lady we bought her from was a musher, who we think had over 40 dogs. Aurora had never had contact with a human before the day we picked her up, she had never been bathed either, so she was one stinky and scared little puppy.

The drive home

First bath

Tired out after her bath

Once we got home she ran and hid from us trying to get as close to Sequoyah as Sequoyah would let her...Quoyah did not like Aurora at first, and kept getting up and walking to the other side of the room, only to find little Aurora right behind her...we tried to go and pet her...but she would run and hide, the only time we ever got close to her is when she ran into a corner or we held a treat out for her, but even then we had to be really still.

It was like that for weeks Kyle was afraid that she would never come near us, I reassured him that it would just take time, and she would eventually grow to love us...even though I had that same fear as well, I think it took a month and a half for her to not be afraid of us, she was still frightened of new people, but we didn't mind as much, cause she loved us. We don't regret getting her, in fact she was quite the blessing, she taught us patience, and that great things come with time. We love our little Aurora SO much! (And Quoyah loves her too...they cannot be separated, without the other crying and searching the house the entire time the other is gone, it's so cute)

A funny side note: Aurora loved hiding under our bed when we first got her and it is still one of her favorite places to be, it amazes me she can even fit under there still!

Another side note: She loves people now, as long as you don't make any sudden movements or loud noises =]

What a fantastic start to the new year!!

Okay so first off I will start by saying I am not a huge sports fanatic, with the exception of the 49ers...I grew up watching them, through the good and bad, but my devotion has never wavered. I have always loved them. I remember growing up and having our Christmas tree decked out in true 49er style with red and gold ornaments and garland. Now it is true that I myself did not"choose" this team, It was my step dad's and grandpa's team. As you can see from this picture (and this isn't even a fraction of what 49er memorabilia my grandpa had)

And why you might ask are we 49er fans when the Sea Hawks (or how they were known in our house as the Sea Chickens) are so much closer to where we all grew up? Well the answer is quite simple the Niners were there first, so it kind of shows how deeply devoted to our team we are.

I will admit, however, that I took a little hiatus from football the past few years, after moving out...but have I ever rooted against the Niners? HECK NO!! Will I ever? NO WAY!! They will always and forever be my team through the good and bad =]

Okay, so what's this fantastic start, I speak of? It's the 49er vs. Saints game last Saturday! It was the most nail biting, heart attack inducing, greatest football game I have ever seen. Kyle and I went to Winger's to watch the 2nd half of the game...Poor Kyle I think I embarrassed him for how much I was yelling at the tv the last few minutes. It went something like this:

"go go go GO GO GOOOOOO!!! YEAAAAAAAAAA!!"

to

"no no no NO NO NOOOOOO!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?! NO!!"

to

"okay, they can still do this"

"30,29,28,27,26,25,24,23,22,21,20,19,18,17,16,15,14...13,12,11,10..."

to

"OH MY GOSH!!! THEY DID IT!!!! YES!! YES!! YES!!!!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbxMz5h11CU

^the last minute and a half of the game, hopefully I'll be able to find one of the last 5min soon...but to summarize my yelling, basically the Niner's scored a touchdown, then the Saints scored to take the lead, then in the last 14 seconds of the game the 49ers scored ANOTHER touchdown for the WIN! With all that happening in the last 5 minutes of the game! This game is something I will never forget!!!

Celebration of Life - A farewell to Spencer

Last week Spencer Kimball Riddle passed away at the age of 23, after his battle with Cystic Fibrosis.

Spencer was a close friend of mine who I have known since I was 14. I met him on Star Bright World, an online place for seriously/chronically ill children to go and chat and forget about their icky illness and just chill and be "normal."
Spence was an extraordinary person, who always knew how to put smile on your face even in the toughest of times. He was so full of life and always silly. His favorite band was They Might Be Giants, which is a very silly band and if you haven't heard of them you should go listen, they are pretty fantastic.
He helped me through my parent's divorce, just letting me cry on the phone, he always knew just what to say. He also kicked my hiney when I got lax about my meds =] He was always always there for me.
He touch so many lives during his short time here on earth, I can only hope to inspire and touch half as many people as he did.
Yesterday his wife Nikki organized a worldwide release of red and purple balloons to honor his life. I got 7 balloons on which I had Kyle write some things Spence used to say..."*tackle hugs*" "you're amazing!" "love ya lots," along with til we meet again, breathe easy.
Letting go of the balloons was alot harder than I thought it would be...I asked Kyle if he was ready (to take pictures) and he replied "yes" and I just kept holding on, until finally after a couple of minutes I let go, and watched them sail away into the sun...





I love you my dear friend Spence, you will missed by many, but never forgotten <3