Battle of the Peeps

When Canberra was just a pup, we bought her a pack of stuffed peeps for Easter. Every year she anticipates the return of the peeps. She goes nuts over these stuffed, bouncing, sugar coated marshmallow imitation birds. Much to her disappointment, she realized she not the only one who thinks these toys are awesome. Hence, the battle of the peeps begins. Rivers vs. Canberra. 

laundry

in my second attempt to make friends (yoga class at the church) i found myself leaving the room twice with a sweet little boy who was  uninterested in sleeping (even though it was his nap time). . . . or maybe it was the strange music playing in the background keeping him up rather then soothing him to sleep (that's what i get with a "highly distractable baby"). as we drove home only a half hour after class began, i explained to little rivers, that he musn't feel bad. i told him i would choose him any day over having friends. 
when we arrived home he immediately fell sound asleep. so i did what i do best: laundry. yes the never ending task of laundry. 
when the day was through and little rivers went to bed for the night, i sat down to take a break and read up on some blogs. that's when i opened my sisters blog to find a quote i adore. so naturally, like little sisters are suppose to do, i copied it. 


"Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future…If you are still in the process of raising children be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled, will disappear all too soon, and that you will, to your surprise, miss them, profoundly." 
— Thomas S. Monson 


i'm already missing (profoundly missing) the early days of rivers life. the sleepless nights and the sleepless days. i miss his tiny body. and his snoozing eyes. i miss his arching back when he stretches. and his tight fists. i miss his one eyed stare. and his constant love for cuddles. i miss the way he would sleep on my chest. and the way his hand would always rest on his cheek. 
the speed in which babies grow, reminds you not to let a single second pass without appreciating it. yes, i know right now, i am up 8+ times each night, rolling my sweet angle back over to his back, but i also know that within a few weeks this will be but a memory. something i am sure i will miss. i have yet to experience the sticky finger prints on all the clean surfaces, or the toys scattered across the room. but the laundry. yes the laundry. is something i will someday miss. and even though canberra appears to question this, i know, for a fact, she will miss it all too. 

little hiker

upon moving to colorado, rivers has become a little hiker. everywhere we go, we hike. even our evening walks are on narrow dirt paths that lead straight up the mountain. rivers loves riding along observing the scenery while he tries endlessly to stuff his entire fist into his mouth. when he gets tired he sleeps, when he gets hungry, we all gratefully accept the needed break and he eats. and when he rides with dad, well, he yells. yea, we don't know what it is. maybe the different energy mom vs. dad puts off. but when he rides with me he's very quiet and cuddly. but when he rides with ben, he will talk and talk and talk and talk all the way down the mountain. he has a huge smile on his face but he is very boisterous letting the whole mountain know we are on the trail. so it is we sing songs and chat making such a racket that we can scare any bear or mountain lion away - no problem. with little rivers as our hiking partner we have nothing to worry about. 

frog eyes

in the middle of gardening last weekend, we noticed canberra dancing around a new discovery (she always does this primitive dance before attacking her prey - hence the reason she would never last one day in the wild. even miniature bugs are able to disappear before she has completed her dance - for the record she's never gotten to the "attack" part of her tribal-like ceremony). always curious of canberra's findings ben went over to check out who she was celebrating over. he figured it was most likely a worm, an ant or maybe an old bone, but nope, this time it was a toad. a baby toad, out for his first real adventure in the overgrown grass and away from the ponds edge. after getting my obnoxious camera up in his face (poor guy) we set him free, only to make canberra search for him the remainder of the evening and the following morning. i think she has finally gotten over her lost discovery and forgiven us for hiding such a great prize. thank goodness for dogs amazing ability to forgive and forget, and, well, finding cool creatures for photo opportunities.

gorgeous days

dogs just know how to fully appreciate a gorgeous day.

can april 2nd seem any more perfect? 79 degrees, blue skies, and sunshine.

bliss

afternoon walks = 1 hour of blissful ecstasy

friends (?)

ben's sister melissa, came to visit us last month. and along with her, came her cute dog waverly. now canberra has been to a lot of dogs houses. she loves to hang out at my brother troy's house where he has three: shady, abby and spring (they are now bringing in foster dogs on a regular basis, as well). she also enjoys my parents house, where they have two dogs: fanzie and dolly (although dolly will have nothing to do with canberra). and then she goes to ben's parents house where they have one (that equals three) elsie, a german shepherd, whom canberra has nothing to do with. but never has a dog come to canberra's house. and canberra really was not sure how to act, i mean having a similar specie on her territory and all - that's a little risky. so, she took it upon herself, to spend the next 37 hours guarding her kennel (canberra is kind of a nerd and thinks that other dogs are just dying for a chance to hang out in her kennel). and then spent the remaining 11 hours trying to figure out how to play with dogs. it felt weird to let them "play." i felt like i should be sent to prison for dog fighting (thankfully no blood was drawn). so between guarding and playing, the only face melissa and waverly got to see of canberra was the one in the middle (a face, i have really never seen). hopefully someday melissa sees the sweet side of my best friend. but until then this is what we get.

relaxing

this is the only "butt shot" ben would ever allow me to take/post (but then again, he won't even know until tonight . . . lucky for you, i maybe able to sneak a few more . . . watch out ladies!).

bambi

reconsidering her dream as a future olympian in figure skating.

post script: thank you everyone for all of your sweet comments. grandma handled the surgery surprisingly well, and has begun physical therapy. when the physical therapist isn't working with her, my mom is lecturing her about an attitude change. "accept walkers as your friend, not as your enemy." i don't know if grandma will ever listen to such nonsense - a walker might make her look old.

trick dog

here's canberra and ben practicing tricks in our "backyard" last saturday afternoon. canberra absolutely loves frisbee time with ben. she likes when i play with her, but her favorite playmate is ben. they play tag together, hide and go seek, fetch, and jumping tricks (shown here). now, the two best friends are miles apart and missing each other dearly. that's right, i took canberra with me. surprisingly, it was nearly as expensive to fly canberra and have her join us in utah to go xc skiing and snowshoeing for two weeks as it was to board canberra in a cooped up kennel with 15 minutes of play time/day for a week. so i took her with me. we are having a blast together in utah, and canberra thinks the snow is awesome. the only thing missing is ben. we both wish i had spent the extra, probably $40, to have him come in before the weekend rather than after the weekend. but that's how it goes when you have a cheapskate for your travel agent.

nosy

delivery

forget that sweet carolina, mouthwatering, mustard base, bbq sauce. I WANT THE BUBBLE WRAP!