Right now.....

Outside my window...Some wonderful rain, many colorful leaves falling all over. My absolute favorite time of the year!

I am thinking...about my kids a lot right now, Mattias and Marisa are getting a lot better however Justin is still struggling with pain in his legs and joints.

I am thankful for...a lot has happened this month and I'm thankful it didn't all happen at once. .

From the kitchen...Sour cream enchiladas....mmmmmmmmmm.

I am wearing...a black hooded sweatshirt, jeans and slippers.

I am going... to sleep a full 8 hours tonight. Hopefully

I am reading....nothing, with all that has been going on my attention span is very short.

I am hoping...to do a lot of scrapping soon.

I am hearing...All the kids in the kitchen, carving pumpkins, singing and laughing. It is good for the soul.

One of my favorite things...My craft room full of potentials......

A few plans for the rest of the week...work, parent/teacher conference, The Dog Spot, carving more pumpkins, scrapping, Dr. appointments, laundry and blah, blah, blah.

A picture to share...

Dasher Jones and Dinner parties....

Last Saturday morning I heard Dash get up and go outside. A minute or so later I heard him Scream....I jumped out of bed and ran out on the back deck screaming for him. I heard a lot of movement in the bushes on the ground, I kept screaming for Dash and then I heard at least 3 animals run out in the backyard. I ran inside to get a jacket and shoes and heard Dash scratching at the front door. I ran down and let him in and he came in and ran up stairs. I thought for a second he was ok and then I saw blood come from his neck! I grabbed a towel wrapped him up and a yelled for Marce. He threw shoes on and we ran out the door. Thank God we live less than 10 minutes from the Vet Hospital. The nurse took Dash back right away and we were left in the waiting room pacing and crying. It turns out the wounds around his neck were the least of our problems, Dash had a huge hernia from the attack his intestines were outside of his muscle lining and only held in by his skin! He needed emergency surgery or he would die. We were terrified and heartbroken. Not to mention it was going to be $2700.00 minimum. With Nanci's help we were able to come to an agreement with the Dr. and she took him into surgery. We were devastated for our poor little puppy. The surgery went well he had many puncture wounds and scratches around his neck and down his back. His hernia was the worst of it and part of his intestines were too badly injured and they had to remove part of them. They put drain tubes in his neck to help with drainage. When we went back to see him that afternoon he was pretty drugged up and beaten up, I could not believe how bad he was. He was black and blue and swollen around his neck and on his belly so bad we all just cried and cried. They kept him until Sunday night and then let us take him home. We have been nursing him back to health this last week and I am so happy to say that it looks like he is making a full recovery! I can not believe how Strong our little dog is! Now I have gone from spoon feeding him and carrying him everywhere to keeping him from jumping all over and playing fetch. I am thanking God for saving Dash!

On a lighter and happier note...Marisa is turning 15 on Tuesday and we had a wonderful dinner party for her birthday on Saturday night. It was a great night and I have some great pictures...but too tired to post them tonight. But pretty excited to post them soon! Need to get to bed now, tomorrow is the Mitochondrial specialist appointment that we have been waiting months for!!!!!

What's your number????

Jared's # is 19. It feels so weird with Him and Wytia away at school, but I'm so happy for them!

The Dare for the week.......Dare 148 it's all about the numbers, favorite numbers, lucky numbers, combination of numbers how do they influence you? Mine was so easy its Him and Me + Him, Him and Her = 5 happy us.

In Getting ready for the grand opening for The Dog Spot we had a fun little photo shoot at Debbies with all our dogs. Its funny the things you say when you are shooting dogs, things like "Jake can you please put your toung back in your mouth" and "Can you please not lick yourself right now!" The best was when Dash realized that there were cows across the street and decided it would be loads of fun to chase 5 cows around in circles....good times. No matter what I'm doing with my crazy sisters there is always lots of laughter. I love it.

We have a little cold going around our house right now so we have had a lazy Saturday and it is lovely to just relax and get some scrapping done. I ordered a mini kit from one of my Fav. scrapbookers last night so I'm anxiously awaiting to get my hands on it!!! Until then I am still working on our Puerto Rico trip and doing some Halloween minis and getting ready for 25 Days of Christmas (only 3 months to go:) and today I want to do dare 148, whats your number combo.

T minus 24 days until Marisa starts driving school!!! We are planning a dinner party for her birthday and now I'm trying to work some games in between the different courses. Moriah did a test run for the dessert and it was delish. Molten Choc. lava cake with raspberry sauce! Going to be a fun one!

Justin auditioned and is now part of the Jazz band for his college! We are very happy for him! What a great start for him!

weak

This weeks Dare was weakness...what are your weaknesses. Wow do I have a lot! Not to proud to say but at least I know what they are:) so lets see....

-Scrapbooking supplies by the truck load

-Coffee

- Sweaters

- Boots

- Free gift time at the Clinique counter

- Shopping in Seattle

- Fresh cut flowers

- Desinger hand bags

- My Family

- Warm & Cozy body wash & lotion (Victoria Secrets)

- Anthropologie

- Going Hiking

and many more. Things I just can't say no to!

A New Start....

One Senior, One Junior, One Sophomore and One 4th Grader.....week one down and things are going good. Lots of homework, soccer games and practices. I can't believe how smoothly we have fallen into a routine. These kids are so cool, so easy, so much fun!! The older kids are loving their brand new, state of the art school and Mattias is enjoying his first year with a male teacher and his co-teacher Theo (his dog:) We are now looking forward to the upcoming Holidays (even started deocorating..shh..don't tell anyone)

Still kind of emotional from 9/11 but have been feeling extra grateful for all I have! Been scrapping a lot lately and can't wait to post some stuff. The Dog Spot is moving along nicely, we will be doing a photo shoot this weekend with all our dogs for a little something I'm working on for opening day, November 1st!!!!

T minus 29 days until my daughter turns 15 and gets to start driving(with us of course). That is a little nutty I think! And in 24 hours Justin will be home, what is with my kids the travelers...I love it!

Savoring Our Summer Memories.....

So much happened this summer and I just don't want to forget any of it. Our summer was full of sunshine, family time, laughter, tears, some really good times and a couple of really bad times.

Recap:

In June we had Marce, Justin, Jared and Wytia's graduations. My Mom and Dad were here which always makes me happy. We had Marce, My Moms, and Dashes birthdays. Marisa went on her own little vacation down to Cali, had a great time with her cousins! Mattias started his first summer of summer camp(did not really make him happy:) Marce and I went away for our lovely 3 day getaway!!

In July We had our Utah family and more family up from California and a wonderful 4Th of July at Debbie and Bill's. I had all three of my God Children here together:) We had Paramore and No Doubt. We had our Anniversary 16 years of marriage!! Justin put together a Jazz band and played on the main stage at Tour De Terrace. The Twins and Josh came back to finish their summer here.

In August we had the big float down the river and fun times after the big spill of 2009 that is. My kids and Marce had the Warpped Tour that they are still smiling from. We had Justin's Diagnosis given to us which has really thrown us and given us a lot of tears and times of grief.

We had a wonderful family vacation to San Fransisco and So Cal. I reunited with my High School Friends. We celebrated with my parents on 50 years of love. That was a wonderful night. Nanci got here facility to open The Dog Spot!!

What I didn't mention was all the little get together's, hanging out at home together, Sunday dinners, the record heat we had, the BBQ's, the hikes, the waterfalls, the coffee shop gigs, now thinking back the list goes on and on. I'm still sifting through all the pictures I took. Savoring, just savoring our summer memories......