Milo's Firsts

We decided to put up our Christmas decorations the day we got home from Nampa. Well, we put most of them up. I have been wanting to hang lights up outside but the weather has not allowed us to do that. It's unusually wet this year and sometimes very windy. It likely won't happen since Christmas is now less than two weeks away. Oh well, we can at least see our Christmas tree through the big window in front and our village in the family room windows downstairs and that will have to do. 

The tree is not perfectly centered because we don't want to cover the air vent. Milo is happy to be home and loves his bed.

Coco getting cozy under the tree. We slid Milo over on his bed so they could be close.

We have since moved those low hanging ornaments up higher.

We hung up our diamond painting that we had done a couple of years ago.

We rearranged our living room for the tree and we love it. It feels cozy. No real fire this year but it's fun to have it on our tv screen thanks to Youtube. Sometimes with just the crackling sound of fire and sometimes with Christmas music.

Found a good spot for Milo and his bed.

With having a puppy we are having fun experiencing some firsts with Milo. This will be his first Christmas. I also took him to his first actual veterinarian appointment since we have owned him. He's been to one before we got him. His 2nd round of shots was at Petco, so that doesn't count. He was very nervous going in but once we got him in the room, he was able to settle down and even fell asleep on the floor while we waited. He did really good. This appointment was on the 30th and he weighed in at 25.6 lbs. He's growing fast!

That very same night Milo also experienced his first snow as we received our first snow fall of the year. He loved it! Curtis and the girls would roll up snowballs and throw them for him. Sometimes he was able to pick them up in his mouth and carry it around but sometimes it fell apart in his mouth. He would get so excited and jump around in circles when he did get one in his mouth. It was so fun to watch. I only got one picture of him and he happened to squat to go potty right when I took it. 😂 The rest are videos. So I won't be posting any pics of that event on here. Ha ha  I was able to play with him in it the next morning but it all melted by the time the girls got home from school.

It snowed a bunch more in the morning but melted by the afternoon.

I'm thankful I didn't have to drive in it but it's so pretty.

You can see the reflection of our Christmas tree lights in the window.

Things are going really well with Milo. He's really good at "sit", "stay", "come", "shake", "leave it" and now "lay". We couldn't get him to lay down with the command of "lay down". Charlotte said we should just say "lay" and it worked like a charm. He's also learning the words "down", "bed" and "kennel" and going in the kennel on his bed on command. Milo learned how to use the potty bells at one of the houses he stayed at while we were gone for Thanksgiving. I got some ordered and hung one on the sliding door upstairs and one on the doorknob in the family room downstairs that leads to the garage. He'll bump the bell when he needs to go out. We're trying to train him to just bump it when he needs to go potty, not just when he wants to go outside. For the most part, he's been doing well at it. He's also gotten better at not coming in the kitchen or the bedroom when our door is left open, although sometimes he still tries. Milo is such a good dog and so cute! I'm glad we have him and that I didn't give up on him in the first couple of weeks. He is really good at not chewing on things that we don't want him to because we'll say "leave it" and then give him his bone or something else to chew on.  This morning it was so cute to watch him after I took him potty first thing, he ran into his kennel and grabbed his bone and then ran upstairs with it in his mouth. Something we also started doing this last week is to cover his crate at night. He has been sleeping better because of it and whining less when he goes in. I think it feels more secure. He can't see us walking around and it helps keep it warm in there also. I also started playing a sound machine with the sound of rain to help him sleep through our noises instead of the fan. It was just too cold to have the fan on down there. Maybe during the summer he'll need it.

Milo discovered the cat toy that now only has one ball in it that rolls around when they try to get at it. I figure since the cats don't play with it, that he can. I just have to watch him because he has gotten the ball out once and started chewing on it.

As you can tell, this post has been all about Milo. He's been fun to have and things are getting easier. Even Jack has played with him a few times. We love him!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Two days after going to Lewiston for Alex's farewell, we were packing up and getting ready to go to Nampa for Garrett's orthodontist appointment and Thanksgiving, BUT first I had to get the girls in for their first dental appointment since moving here. I waited because I wasn't sure whether to take them to a pediatric dentist or just take them to the one the boys and I are using. I was told by Michelle to be careful with going to a pediatric dentist because they might want you to come in more often and use up your dental benefits quicker. With that, I finally decided to take them to our dental office at Southridge Dental. Apparently, Alice has several cavities that need attention, and one is deep enough that they might either do a baby root canal or pull the tooth. Since it's a baby tooth and her molar has already started emerging then she wouldn't need a spacer if it was pulled. I think they should just pull it since it's a baby tooth anyway and it's cheaper. The funny thing is, this dental office needed to refer Alice to a pediatric dentist since it's more of what they deal with. I took her into one of the places they referred her to and she's now scheduled to get the first and worst tooth taken care of next Monday, the 18th. We're breaking it up into 2, possibly 3 visits. I have to say, my kids do awesome with going to the dentist. They are always so calm and wanting to do what the hygienist or dentist says while they're poking around in their mouths. They also love that they get to watch TV during their visit. They were watching Bluey.

Later that same day we were packed up and heading to Nampa! Again, Garrett said he wanted to drive and this time he drove the whole way there, 4 1/2 hours in the dark. He likes driving on the freeway and highways but still doesn't like driving around town. Anyway, this time we stayed with Curtis's sister Jeanie and her husband, Glen. We slept in their basement, and it was freezing the first night. They mostly heat their house with a fireplace but they also rarely go downstairs and so they hadn't turned on the thermostat yet. They did the next day! Curtis and I stayed in one room and the boys in another and then the girls slept in sleeping bags on the floor in the family room. I was lucky to have found a heater downstairs in that room and turned it on for them. Alice had started coughing on the trip and I think that heat made all the difference because she was coughing less the next day and just kept getting better each day there.

Since Garrett drove, I sat in the middle back with Jack. He had his XBOX all set up to play. I tried playing with him for a while, but it just wasn't my type of game. I did watch him play for a bit after that but then had to rest my eyes.

The girls loved having me closer to them.

We got into town around 10:30pm and went straight to bed. Curtis woke up early the next morning to go work in the office where Jeanie works so he would have a quiet space. Wednesday was a work and errands day. I took Garrett to his 8:30 appt with the orthodontist. I came home for a little bit before deciding to take my van over to the dealership in Boise to get the oil changed. I thought I had one more free oil change, but I guess you have to use them in a certain time frame, or it expires. Since it expired, the guy helping me was able to call someone to get a coupon code for a discount at least. They also ended up replacing a couple of filters for me and doing the alignment, which I knew needed to be done. 

One thing that impressed me was the guy helping me, Lanny, changed the battery for my key fob right then and there at no charge when I asked him if they could change out batteries. Mine had been acting up and just that morning my van told me the battery was low. So, I got a lot more done on the van than I anticipated but I'm glad they are done. Another thing about my van. The day after I picked up the van after they installed the new star connector, the check engine light came on again, but there weren't any other messages flashing. I just ignored it because last time it turned off on its own. Sure enough, while driving to Nampa, it just turned off. It was off for a couple of weeks and last week it decided to turn on again. What a pain! I'm ignoring it again for now and we'll see what happens. 

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving break. We decided to go visit Tamara and Chris Wednesday evening and had a good time. We ate pizza and salad and then played our Skyjo game that we brought with us. We were there for a couple of hours before coming back to Jeanie's to visit. Jeanie's daughter Sarah brought over her daughter, Remi, so she could play with my girls and have a sleep over. The girls loved it.

The next morning the girls colored some pictures while we were getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. Most of Jeanie's kids came over at some point in the day. Two of them live far away though. They have 6 kids. My in-laws came over as well with Ricky. Ricky just got into town to start work at St. Luke's in Meridian. His family will be moving down from Alaska at the beginning of the year and have found a house in Meridian. They liked Alaska but it was time to come back to Idaho.

They also got to help feed the chickens.

Playing a game and munching on appetizers before Thanksgiving dinner.

Enjoying dinner!

Dishing up food.

They had a nice big room for eating in.

We did a lot of visiting that day and then at the end of the day, some of us watched Home Alone 2. 

Stillman knew we were in Nampa for Thanksgiving and so were they. He had two extra Boise State game tickets and asked if we would like to go because Alex couldn't go since he started home MTC and Jayden didn't want to go. Jeanie was good enough to watch our kids for us so that we could go. The game started at 2pm and so we met Stillman around 11:30. We had a lot of fun and it was a great game to attend. Jordan came also because he's a student and can get a discount. It's more fun when you're with a group.

The teams warming up prior to the game starting.

The band at halftime.

After the game.

We didn't get home until about 7pm and thankfully, Jeanie had made two different kinds of soup for us to eat for dinner. There was Zuppa Toscana and Tomato basil. They were good but apparently she likes to add mushrooms to the Zuppa Toscana and I wasn't a fan of that. I don't think Jack was either, and that's his favorite soup.

Saturday Jeanie invited her grandkids and my kids to decorate cookies. The boys also went to do some target shooting with Glen using his guns. Jack had Porter over all day on Friday and then his friend Rhett came over and went shooting with the guys on Saturday. I'm glad Jack got to see a couple of his friends. While the boys went shooting, I took the girls over to see Ashlie and Sydney. It was fun visiting with them again.

Sydney and Alice

I almost forgot that Saturday morning, Curtis and Jack helped clean up the leaves in Jeanie's yard. Garrett would have helped but he went over to hang out with Hailey Hansen and her brothers from the 30th ward. That was the same girl that went to the dinosaur place with us last year, which was technically his first date, I think.

Good thing Jack already had practice with one of these at home.

Jeanie also trimmed Charlotte's hair for me while we were there. She likes it short but afterwards she told me she wants to grow it long and style it. Funny girl. Jeanie and Glen were great hosts and it was nice to stay with them. We wanted to hit the road early Sunday morning so we would have time to relax before getting back to school and work the next day, so the only 9am church we knew of was our old 37th ward. It was fun going back to see old friends. I gave out lots of hugs and it just made me so happy. I saw Aunt Cori and Uncle Ken also. It was a great Thanksgiving weekend!

In-Laws Visit and Alex's Farewell

I'm a month behind on posting but I'm going to attempt to do some catching up today. Jack had a jazz band concert a month ago. I always love watching him play and to know that he loves doing it. This concert was performed in preparation for the jazz band festival competition that would happen later that week. I still don't know how they did in that competition.

Jazz band concert at his school.

He's in the middle back and plays the trumpet.

After the show.

This was at the jazz band festival.

Curtis's parents finally made a trip up to see us and our new house the same weekend that Jack had festival, which was the 17th-19th. They were delayed about 4 hours because there was a crash westbound on I-84. They sat on the road for 1 hour close to Ontario before they decided to take another route around through John Day, Oregon. It was slower but they finally made it safe and sound! Again, like we did with my parents, we drove them around to see the lighthouse and the temple and Curtis's office building. Saturday morning I took Jack to his festival by myself because he performed at 8:30 and that's too early for everyone else. Curtis made the kids and his parents a big breakfast while we were gone. Afterwards, I went with my mother-in-law to the bazaar at the school put on by the music department. She bought a few things and I bought two ornaments to give to the sisters I minister to. We did go out to eat with them on Saturday night as well. 

Charlotte had learned how to make some origami Christmas stars in activity days and taught my mother-in-law how to make them. They even went to the store together to pick up shiny wrapping paper to make them with. Gaya loved the stars and wanted to learn how to make them for her ward Christmas party decorations.

This is the star she made at activity days.

They would have stayed another day and gone to church with us, but we had already planned on driving over to Lewiston Sunday morning to be there to hear our nephew, Alex, speak before leaving for his 2 year mission to Ventura, CA. After we were all dressed and had dropped Milo off to be watched for the day, we got a group picture using my tripod. It was short but it was great to have my in-laws here. Curtis even got to smoke some food with his dad while here. I tell you, he's addicted to it!

After saying goodbye to the in-laws, we took off for Lewiston. I was surprised that Garrett decided he wanted to drive. He hasn't driven in at least 2 months! He drove the first hour before Curtis had to switch with him because we were running behind and he wanted to make up some time. Fortunately, he did, and we went from being 2 minutes late, to be being 15 minutes early by the time we pulled up to the church building. It's nice to have Google maps on our phones that can help us know how much time we have. 

Alex gave a great talk and even had several of his nonmember friends there to hear him and all of them were crying. He's going to do great things in California!

After Sacrament meeting, we went over to Stillman's house to hang out and help Michelle get food ready for the open house. It was fun to visit and the girls absolutely loved Donna's new little puppy, Maple.

Maple is just the right size for Alice.

Later Alex needed to be set apart as a missionary officially, so our younger kids stayed at their house while we went to the church with Garrett. The stake president had many good things to say and the spirit was so strong. I was glad that Garrett came to be there also and so was he. Garrett is still saying he wants to go on a mission. He said the Sunday after he graduates high school he's going to meet with the bishop about getting ready to go. He's got 1 1/2 years for that. It was great to be there and it was also great that Garrett wanted to drive the whole way home afterwards, even in the dark. He did a good job. 

The group that was there for Alex's setting apart.