Saturday morning hike for Sally

It was this past week a year ago that Sally-Wally moved to Doggie Heaven.  It was a very sad time for our family and really impacted Katie.  Having never had a family pet, I was surprised at the emotions and the loss you feel -- after all, she was just a dog, right?  I've learned now that dogs are not just dogs and the loss you feel for a good pet is equal to the loss of a human family member.

Sally was cremated and we scattered her ashes off the beaten path atop a hill overlooking her favorite trail.  Her final resting spot is located between two Palo Verde trees somewhere in the mountains near our house where she used to love hiking off the leash.  When she used to go hiking with us she would run ahead on the trail and lay down and wait in the shade for us to catch up.  Katie painted a tombstone and wrote Sally a letter.  She put the letter and a picture in a ziplock bag and left it under the rock for Sally to read.

One year later and the paint still looks great!  The area has not been disturbed.

Gus with his "bacon" tongue and Katie having a little quiet time with Sally.

After we each let out our best Sally howl, Katie was all smiles again and ready to hike.

I love that Gus blinked.  Come on lil dude, pay attention!

Gus has blossomed into quite the awesome trail dog. 
He either follows right behind you or returns as soon as you say his name.

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time.  She rocks.

Once we get down to the main trail and close to the car, we let Natalie do a little hiking on her own.

All smiles!

Situps with daddy

Natalie currently loves to do whatever you are doing.  She saw daddy doing situps on the floor and decided that she wanted to do them also.  So here's Natalie trying to work off her belly...

http://youtu.be/hfuV62_cVz4

Fun with paint!!

Natalie was very careful not to get paint on herself ... until I painted her hands to make handprints.  Then she continued to say "mess" every time she realized her hands had paint on them.

Fall is here!!!

Ahhhhh, Fall is finally here...so we went for a morning hike at SanTan Regional Park.

Nat with her hat in her "pack pack"

"Manimal" crackers once we got to the top

Gus was a good boy and got some off-leash time.  He is a trail dog for sure....but he needs to get in shape.

 

Hiking with daddy.  This lasted for about 10 minutes...until she tripped.

Hiking is hard.

Desert Botanical Gardens

Last Friday, our friends the Carranos (Anita, Elizabeth, Julia and Jonathan) and Natalie and I tried to go to the Zoo to see the "manimals" on our day off.  Natalie was so excited - she kept saying "manimals" in the car while we were on our way.  It was perfectly overcast with a forecast high of 75.  PERFECT.

But when we arrived at 10, the parking lot was completely full and there was a line about a half mile long.  Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Apparently everyone else had the same idea as Anita and I did.  Bummer. 

So rather than fight the crowds, we decided to go next door to the Desert Botanical Gardens instead.  We got ourselves an annual membership and intend to go back a few times while the weather is nice.

We saw lots of "tactus" (cactus), "flowwwwers," "treeees" and "ushes" (bushes) while we were there. We had a nice little picnic lunch on a bench under a large tree.



It is Monarch Butterfly season so we were able to go into the exhibit and look all all the butterflies.  As soon as we went in, Natalie let out a very loud "oooooooooooooooooooh" and started pointing at all the butterflies.  She sat very still and was very quietly observing all the butterflies around us.

"Oooooooooooooooh.  Ooooooooooooooh.  Bubba fly."

Miss Elizabeth was so patient looking at the butterflies and holding her finger out hoping the butterfly would crawl onto her finger.  It never did, but she sat there and concentrated on holding still for 4-5 minutes, which is nearly an eternity for a 4 year old.

 

Elizabeth wanted so badly for one to land on her finger,
but she settled for one landing on her shirt.

Fall is here!

Fall is finally here!!!  This week it has been in the mid-80's, finally.  Perfect!!  Since the weather is so amazing, Natalie and Gus and I went to the park to run around outside with the soccer ball for a bit... 

Silly girls

This rocking stuffed elephant was Katie's when she was little.  Since then we loaned it to good friends of ours and their two girls used it.  Now it is back and Natalie is getting a chance with it too. She loves it!!

Quite the popular elephant!

How to Speak Wookie

This book was a gift from my sister, and the girls had lots of fun listening to daddy read it to them and then listening to the correct Wookie pronunciation of the phrase.

America the Beautiful

This is an old video, but now that we have a working computer ... I'm playing catch-up.

http://youtu.be/6m4KBLtro7A

Week with Grandparents

Grandpa ("Bop-pa") Husker and Grandma Becky came to stay with us at the Casa de Hayes for a while.  Daddy had already left for a backpacking trip with his buddies when they arrived and then mommy got up very early one morning a day or so after they arrived to meet daddy in Colorado for their annual kid-free summer vacation in Colorado.

Katie was at her mommy's house most of the days they were here but Bop-pa and Grandma got to see her after school everyday.  They took her to her swimming practice and let me splash around in the wading pool. Bop-pa and I read tons of books, many of them several times in the same day.  I can easily identify items on the page like shoes, mice, clock, moon, comb, books, dog. One day they took me for a ride in their really cool mini-van (I heard my mom say she wants to sell the Bronco and get one) and I got my first taste of Chic Fil A.  Grandma was very surprised that I ate the entire 4-piece nugget kids meal with fruit.  She even shared her waffle fries with me -- they were delicious!  We took a few trips in the car to Target and Home Depot and I got to walk around and look at things with Bop-pa while Grandma was doing the shopping.

Reading Goodnight Moon with Bop-pa

Every day after breakfast had a chance to settle, Bop-pa took me swimming for an hour or so in the backyard.  If he wasn't moving fast enough to get ready to get into the pool, I would go into my room and bring out my swimsuit or a swimmie diaper (if I could reach it) for Grandma to help me put on.

 

 

I'm not sure who looks more excited in this picture.

Swimming to Bop-pa looks a lot more like flying in this picture.

Sporting the new swim hoodie from Grandma

Grandma brought a set of matching pajamas for the Katie and me.  After a really fun bath with Grandma one night, I put on my new froggie nightgown.  A little while later, Katie came out of her room wearing hers and I thought it looked familiar.  So I looked down at my PJs and then up at Katie's and said "wow" before I started laughing.

After daddy and mommy returned home, I showed them how much I like to read books.  Since then, we've probably read Cinderella ("ella"), Pat the Bunny, Goodnight Moon ("moooooon") and various other books together at least 4-5 times each.  Every time I point to things in the book and tell you the word for that item.

 

The house is now very quiet and dinners have been boring now that mom is cooking again.  We were all a little sad to see Bop-pa and Grandma leave but we hope they have fun on their road trip home through Colorado and during their visit to see Auntie Adrienne in Denver.  We are glad we were finally able to convince them that summertime in Arizona, while yes, it is hot, is not so bad after all.  It just gives you an excuse to spend as much time as possible indoors or in the pool.

We love you --- come back soon!!!

Love, Natalie

Serious Baby

A few months ago, Katie taught Natalie how to be "serious" and this is the best video I was able to get of her doing "serious baby" pose.

Sadly, she no longer does serious baby.  But she now flexes her biceps and does "strong baby" pose which I am currently trying to capture on video.

http://youtu.be/B5bjOSwsUY8

It's a dry heat ...and a warm pool

For the past 7 days, our low temperature has not been under 90 degrees.  So as you may guess, our pool is a wonderful 90 degrees also.  Not super refreshing.  More like a giant bathtub.  Nonetheless, we all love it.

Here is a video of Natalie sporting goggles for the first time and playing in the shallow part of our pool this past weekend.

 

http://youtu.be/0r9mK0aI48M

Kino Swim Meet

This summer Katie joined her first ever swim team.  The final meet of the summer season was the Kino Meet with swimmers from all types of swim teams.  It was a pretty big deal.  She didn't let the large audience and year round swimmers intimidate her though.  She did a great job!

Baby pool toss

Natalie loves to play in the pool with her daddy.  And if you've ever wondered what babies look like under water, here's your answer...

http://youtu.be/k5qfMwX_xhw

Our lil fashionistas

Katie loves to dress up her little sister.  Lucky for Katie, her little sister loves to be dressed up...

Sunglasses for Nat...

...and a sparkly blue slap watch...

...and a shiny black purse tucked under her arm...

...and a hat.  Lookin pretty good Natalie!

Second day of 6th Grade

Fortunately here in Arizona, 6th grade is still in elementary school so we do not yet have to say that we have a middle schooler / junior higher in our house.  Because she went to school the first day from her mommy's house, we didn't get to take a picture on the first day of school ... but the second day of school is close enough.

Watch out world.  Here she comes...

Garmin baby

I know, she's not really a baby anymore.  But it still just rolls off the tongue so easily.  Last weekend we were just chilling around the house and Scott was watching and admiring how BUSY Natalie is around the house.  So he slapped his Garmin GPS watch on her wrist, turned it on and let her loose.  She walked about 0.1 miles in 30 minutes - which burned approx 30 calories.

Mom told me not to push the buttons, but I really want to.

While still wearing the watch, Natalie and Gus both continually offered to help daddy put his new bike together.  Sadly though, he is still in the process of cannibalizing his original mountain bike (not the one he currently rides) and then researching and selecting additional parts for the bike.

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaa-da, do you need any help? Just remember,  I have small fingers if you need them.

Ice Skating, Haboob, Swimming, Cake, Sleepover and French Toast

Ice skating in Arizona in July, giant haboob and crazy monsoon, backyard swimming, Nerd-cake, a sleepover and Daddy's World Famous French Toast:  yup, the title pretty much sums up Katie's mega-birthday party with her friends.  And yes, it was quite the production.  The afternoon started at 1pm with ice skating at Polar Ice with 6 of her friends and ended the next morning at 9am when parents arrived to pick up their wiped out kids.

Sitting in the penalty box while the zamboni works its magic.

A giant haboob/monsoon storm rolled in near the end of the skate party and everyone got drenched as they headed home.  While driving Katie home, I had to pull over 3 times because I couldn't see the hood of my car.  After the winds and rain cleared out, the weather was perfect for a swim party.

The girls ate pizza and Katie's special request birthday cake made with Nerds.  It was a big hit with the kids.  Scott and I thought it was way too sweet.

Double layer Strawberry cake with Strawberry Nerds in the batter and vanilla frosting. 
Middle layer of frosting was dyed purple with Grape Nerds.

After swimming, the girls took over the family room with their sleeping bags, pillows, stuffed animals, iPhones, iPods, hot pink nails, Justice gear and lots of giggles.   They watched "Flushed Away" (a movie about a British rat that gets flushed down the toilet) and crashed out by 10:30.  Gus made himself at home with the girls and curled up on the floor in the family room to watch the movie.



The next morning they were all treated to Daddy's World Famous French Toast and sausage before packing up and heading home.

Daddy makes his world famous French Toast for the ladies.

Gus makes himself right at home underneath the table.

Happy Birthday Katie!!

Where has the time gone?  I'm sure her daddy feels this more than I do, but HOLY COW, she's 11 now.  That means we have just 5 years until we have to worry about her driving and 6 years until we have to start dealing with AP classes, college applications (at least she won't have to do hers on a typewriter), college essays, SAT scores and college tuition.

Happy Birthday to one of the happiest girls I know

Katie requested a vanilla cake made with Nerds (the little pellet candy - leftover from Halloween) ... and so I delivered.  It was interesting.  Very sweet.  Almost too sweet for me.  Now for her birthday party with friends this Saturday (ice skating then swimming at our house then sleepover with daddy's special french toast in the morning) she has requested to tweak the recipe slightly and instead start with a strawberry cake and add Nerds.  We shall see...

June 2012

Here's a brief look into what was going on in our life in June, as captured by my trusty cell phone...