Enoch's Talk

Enoch gave a talk today in Primary.  We talked about what he wanted to say and I helped organize his thoughts.  He did a wonderful job.  He got up all by himself and read his talk without any problems.  He did great!

 Heavenly Father gave us agency.  He wants us to make our own choices.  When we make good choices, Heavenly Father is happy.  We need to make good choices so we can live with Heavenly Father and Jesus again.
I can make good choices by praying and asking Heavenly Father for help.  After praying, I need to listen to the Holy Ghost for an answer.  I can always remember to choose the right.  If I make a wrong choice, Heavenly Father lets me repent and make a better choice.
I am happy I can make my own choices.  I am thankful that Heavenly Father, Jesus and the Holy Ghost will help me with the choices I make.

A Cold Winter

Just yesterday we were basking in sunlight.  Today we are dealing with snow and wind.  Welcome to Utah.
It has been a crazy winter, full of conflicting weather, although I suppose it should snow in the winter.  Greg, Enoch and Coal were thrilled!  Gavin, Kate and myself were less thrilled.
After dinner everyone bundled up and went outside to play in the snow and shovel the driveway.  All the kids have their own shovels, so it makes fast work getting the driveway done.

Kate came in after the driveway was done.  She had a lot of fun, but was cold and ready to warm up.

After the work, the fun began.  The boys started by making a snowman in our front yard - a fairly big snowman.  We dug out the snowman kit and added eyes, a nose, a mouth, buttons and a hat.

They still weren't ready to come in yet, so they rolled together some snowman children (Gavin proclaimed it too difficult to make a snowdog).  They put these snow children in our neighbor's driveway with a school crossing sign.  Like I said, they were having a lot of fun!

 

Everyone had such a fun time.  The boys spent at least 90 minutes out playing in the snow.  Coal loved it.  She doesn't get cold and has mounds of fur, so she lasted as long as the boys.

Okay, we had our snow.  Now I'm ready for spring!

A Warm Winter

This winter has been unseasonably warm.  I'm not complaining one bit.  I enjoy the warm and the sunshine.  And, I've been spending a lot of time standing in the backyard waiting for Coal to take care of business, so the warm has been welcome.
Today after church, we spent some time outside as a family.  The kids rode their wiggle cars and bikes, we took Coal for a walk (kind of, she is still struggling with that) and we sat outside, talked and enjoyed the sun.

 

We had a lot of fun running around with Coal.  She enjoyed all the attention.  Coal adores being outside, especially in the front yard because we usually have her in the back.  She runs, jumps, explores and sits in the mud.  Really?  Why can't she lay down on the grass?

Scattered Thoughs on Coal

People are probably wondering if I have kids still, or just a puppy.  Since Coal is the most demanding in our house right now, she is obviously getting the most attention.  But all of us are enjoying having her here.  We are trying to put in extra time with Coal right now so she will hopefully be a well-trained dog later on - hopefully!

1.  She loves to play outside.  I will take her out to use the bathroom and she will stay out there and play for quite awhile.  I just leave the back door propped open a bit and she comes in when she is done playing.  She loves to dig in the flower beds (hmmm) and is obsessed with a spot out by the fence.  I'm pretty sure that is where Greg threw our BBQ pork drippings over the fence last week.
Greg took down the Christmas lights yesterday, so Coal went out and played while he was in the front yard.  She loved it!  We are trying to teach her to stay in our yard and she gets quite testy when I carried her back to our property.  She must be a Fowler - so stubborn!
Speaking of being a Fowler - a few days ago she fell down into the window well.  All of our kids have done that at least once - Enoch, I think twice.  We really need to get those covered.  Greg was on pooper scooper duty and was using the shovel to clean up and Coal went crazy, barking and chasing the shovel.  She got a little too excited and backed into the window well.  She wasn't hurt, just surprised.

2.  We are trying to get her to take naps in a doggie bed.  Her favorite place to lay down is under the kitchen table or under the family room chairs.  I don't mind her under the family room chairs, but the kitchen table is hard because we are constantly dodging her.  She is having nothing to do with her doggie bed, but we are hoping that will change.

 

3.  I still can't believe how sharp her teeth are.  We all have cuts on our hands and arms from where she has nipped us (except Greg, she doesn't bite Greg).  She has shredded a toy already.  I made a braided fleece rope for her to play with and she ripped apart within a few days.

The kids and I made new ones the other day.  I hoping these will last longer.  We added some 'tags' to it because she loves to chew on the tags of her other toys and she has torn them all off of every other toy she has.

4.  We started puppy classes yesterday.  Coal did very well.  She was by far the youngest and smallest dog there, but she held her own.  We are working on the 'sit' and 'watch me' commands and potty training.  The kids enjoy working with her, although I'm still mostly in charge of potty training.  Greg and Kate are anxious to teach her how to take walks (I thought that was instinctive, but apparently not with every dog).  A picture Kate drew:

 

At puppy class, the teacher asked us what she does that makes us laugh.  Greg loves it when she growls while they are playing.  She has this really low growl for such a little puppy and it seems so out of place.  Gavin and I think she is confused.  She can't decide if she is a dog, a bunny or a cat.  She bounces when she runs like a bunny and paws at things like she is a cat.  It's quite funny.

5.  Greg went out the get the paper this morning and Coal followed him.  When he realized she was out there, he told her, "Coal, go get the paper."  She trotted over to the paper and started pulling it toward Greg!  Smart dog.  We can't wait to get the basic commands down so we can teach her other things.

She is so much fun!

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Kate is truly three.  I think every fifth word out of her mouth is, "Why?".  And considering that Enoch has yet to outgrow this 'why' phase, I'm hearing this a lot.  A LOT!
They are times when I wish I was smarter, when I wish I knew how to answer all their questions.  I hate having to say, "Let's ask your dad when he gets home."  Not that I don't appreciate the fact that Greg usually has the answer for everything, but I wish I did too.
I appreciate my children's curiosity.  I'm not really a curious person - things happen, this is the way it works - I don't need to understand why, I just go with it.  Not Kate and certainly not Enoch - they need to understand.  I think, especially with Enoch, it is necessary to his peace of mind, his identity, his place in his world, to understand how and why things happen.  What a blessing and a curse!
My favorite way to deal with the why question is to turn it back to Enoch and Kate and asked them "Why do you think it works that way?"  I love the answers they come up with to their questions.  It is sometimes hilarious and sometimes sobering to realize how much they really do understand.
Just another joy of being the mom!

Coal's First Bath

When we picked out Coal she was living with her sisters and brother in a pile of hay.  We brought her home and didn't get her a bath for another few days.  Yikes, she needed it!
I took the kids to Petsmart (they love going there because we can take Coal inside with us) and we picked out all the bathing equipment we needed - puppy shampoo, a brush, a microfiber towel and a shower head attachment.
The big morning came on Saturday.  Greg volunteered to do it (since I'm having a hard time bending over the tub these days, plus he is great with Coal - they have a special bond).  We soaped her down and lightly scrubbed all the grime off of her.  She really wasn't that dirty, but it was nice to know she was clean. 
Poor little thing - she did not like it at all.  She barked, whined and cried.  She is such a fluff-ball that when all her fur was wet and matted down, we could really see how little she is (at her vet appointment she weighed 5 lbs.).

 We dried her off and wrapped her up in a towel.  She was shaking and shivering.  I just held her tight and tried to get her warm.  We ended falling asleep on the couch together.

 I know she doesn't like baths, but she is getting one a week.  A clean pet makes for a happy family and therefore a happy pet!

Coal

Our family is in love.  It is amazing how quickly it happened.  Meet our new puppy, Coal.

Really, how could we not love her?  She is adorable and so sweet!
I realize that many people will be surprised to see that we now have a puppy.  To be honest, I'm still a bit surprised myself.  The kids have been asking for years.  Greg and I have been talking about for quite awhile.  But to actually do it - it took faith.  Greg and I are not pet people.  But, we felt like now was the right time for our family (before the baby).  And we haven't regretted it once (okay, maybe for the hour when she pooped twice on my carpet).
We found Coal on ksl.com.  Greg had Monday, January 2, off of work, so we took the day to look at puppies. We knew we wanted a border collie mix, so we picked out a few to look at and went driving.  We stopped in Coalville (Coal was the first puppy we looked at), Wellsville, Hyrum and Providence - yep, out in the boonies and ranches in small Northern Utah towns.  After looking at a lot of puppies, we went back to Coalville and picked out Coal.  We had four puppies to choose from, but she stole our hearts.
After loading up everyone in the car, the kids were starving (we left home at 10am and by now it was 6pm and we had survived on snacks so far).  We stopped at the drive-through at Burger King.  We weren't sure how it would go with Coal in the car, but Gavin held her on his lap while he ate and she would occasionally lick the salt off his fingers.  We drove right to Petsmart to pick up food, a crate, some toys and a leash.  It was a long day, but so worth it.  The kids got the bed late, but were up extra early the next day to play with Coal.

Her name is Coal because she is black like coal and was born in Coalville.  We had a difficult time picking out a name.  I suggest Coal and the kids started calling her that and it stuck.  I think it is perfect.  She is 1/2 border collie and 1/2 Australian Shepherd.  We can already tell how smart she is going to be.  Potty training is going very well, considering how young she is (only 7 weeks), and she is starting to obey simple commands - down, drop it and coming when called.  She adores playing with the kids and prefers Greg to anyone else (border collies are very alpha male oriented).

She is very playful and has her favorite toys (a fleece braided rope and her purple hippo, which is actually a rhino, we obviously don't know our animal here).  She sleeps with hippo every night in her crate.  She hates being in her crate, a lot of whining and crying.  But, she has slept through the night since the second day we have had her.  She still naps a lot during the day and has plenty of energy to play when the boys get home.  Then, she will nap again in the evening because the boys have worn her out.  Greg tries to take her for a walk every night, but she hasn't quite figured that out yet.  Greg has to coax and bribe her to the corner, where she sits down and gives him the look, "This is as far as I am going."  Greg will then say, "Okay, Coal, let's go home."  And, she will perk right up and run all the way home right up to the front door.

She is such a sweetie, and I can say that after being her favorite chew toy for the last week.  She loves to chew and bite (we are really working on that) and while she has many toys, her favorite things to gnaw on are wicker baskets, the kitchen table chair legs, my Crocs and me.  She has yet to destroy anything, but it is just a matter of time with those needle sharp puppy teeth she has.  I have holes in four of my shirts (which really stinks because I have a limited supply of maternity shirts).  But the upside, the kids are a lot better about picking up their things!

Since we are all obsessed with Coal these days, watch for a lot more posts about our cute puppy!

2011 in Review

• Gourmet S'mores in Backyard - Tresa (Aug 20)
• 4-Wheeling - Gavin (Jul 4)
• Cabin - Greg (Aug 19-20)
• St. George - Tresa (Jul 22-25)
• Go Fishing - Enoch (Aug 6)
• Clark Planitarium - Greg (Jun 25)
• See Penguins - Enoch (Nov 14)
• Have a Tea Party - Kate (Apr 12)
• Lagoon - Gavin
• Disneyland - Enoch (Jun 1-3)
• Snowboarding - Gavin (Jan-Feb)
• Camping - Tresa (Aug 5-8)
• Make Ice Cream - Greg (Aug 15)
• Make a Kitty House - Enoch (Apr 2)
• Make a Snow Fort - Gavin
• Get new toys - Kate (Feb 19)
• This Is The Place State Park - Tresa (Dec 17)
• Greg & Tresa's Weekend Getaway - Greg (Jul 22-25)
• New Bedroom Furniture - Greg (Jan-Jul)
• Geocaching - Enoch
• Train Show - Greg (Jan 28)
• Make a Sword - Greg & Gavin
• Go to California - Greg (Jun 1-7)

Well, we accomplished most of the things on our list.  Only a few left for next year:  Lagoon, Make a Snow Fort (it has to snow first!), Geocaching (how did a whole year go by and we didn't do this?) and Make a Sword (that has been on the list for quite a while - I wonder when it will get done?).
Look for our new list coming soon!