Meet Nixon

This is Nixon or (mixon if you are Eliza). We picked it up early this afternoon and the kids haven't left it's side since. Which is good because it definitely misses its mom and siblings. It wants them to be with it all the time. I am hoping we can figure out how to train this dog quickly. Hopefully it will be like everyone says and I will fall in love with it too...time with tell but to see Susanna not freaking out has probably been worth it.

7 weeks old. The proud owner...Nathan saved his Birthday money, Christmas money and allowance money to buy this with his own money. (thanks Browns for charging us a great price...feel just a little guilty but appreciate it tons)

I wish puppies stayed this soft and cute all the time. Jack our dog loving cousin came over a couple times to check out the puppy. I think he was remember when his big dog Rocky was this small.

What a change. This girl would not ever go play at her friends houses if they had a dog. Now she wants to hold and pet it constantly and loves it. She brought tons of friends over to show it off.

Clara once again is my early sleeper and didn't make it long enough for pictures but she loves it too. I will post one of her so she is not left out later. Eliza calls it her puppy and wants to be with it too. She is fetching the puppy toys and climbing in its bed. I may have two puppies for awhile. And soon, I will have to train her to not put yucky puppy toys in her mouth. These are still pre-puppy chewed.

How happy is she?

Eliza our other puppy.

So...if I have a few stressful blogs, you will know why. I told Nathan he has 8 weeks to whip this puppy into shape before we add a real baby to the mix. EEEK.

EASTER 2010

Eliza had a her first real memory of the easter bunny. She thought it was pretty great.
Can you tell that they woke up really early. clara still looks half asleep.

We surprised Nathan with a few dog items. He has been waiting to hear word if he was going to get a puppy he was hoping for. He has been saving his own money for awhile and we found out he was for sure getting one the day before. He played with that puppy stuff all day. I hope he plays with his puppy as much.

Justin still humors me and lets me take a few pictures every once in awhile. It is really hard to find things to put in the basket of an almost 14 year old who doesn't like candy. He did get a book he wanted that he already knew about and read it all the first day.

Justin headed our egg dying this year. He helped all the kids decorate their eggs beautifully. Eliza was in love with the whole process and wanted to look at her eggs all day. I love it when they do things all together so nicely.

At the end of the day of watching conference, Justin decided to turn his closet into a reading loft. The kids wanted to turn them into reading lofts when we moved in but of course we just blew it off. He dusted off the closet and moved this mattress on top of his closet and had a blasts reading away.

Nathan tried to copy but after scaling the walls(which are now have black smudges all over the walls and ceilings) dad brought a ladder to help him out. Overall a pretty fun Easter.

Kansas Cousins

Have you ever heard of "snuggies" (which between you and me is the worst name ever)? Well, my sister in law Kim showed my kids what they are. They are giant blankets with arms in them. Susanna fell in love with them and Kim loves my kids and spoils them rotten. Of course she had to buy the super nice ones from Brookstone and not for one but 3 of my children. susanna was in heaven and sleeps in hers every night. I still think they are super strange.

The little red heads get along so great. Ryleigh and Susanna

Clint moved the ping pong table into the front room and there were some serious ping pong battles. Hunter practiced and got so good I think he even beat Clint once or twice.

Nathan loves his big cousin Morgan who just turned 19. We would have liked to visit with her more but she brought her best friend (her texting cell phone) and we didn't get much talking time. We still think she is pretty great.

I was interrupting her.

I didn't take as many pictures as I should and by the time I found my camera, Clara had conked out. So, we staged this picture so she could be included a little.

My favorite thing about their visit is little Eliza and Hunter (really she had all of them wrapped around her little finger--how could they resist) But Hunter was her buddy. She made him watch strawberry shortcake over and over with her (this 16 year old secretly loved it and now knows all the characters) along with having him take her everywhere and be her personal best friend. She has asked for him several times over the past few weeks and misses him tons. He was so good to her and melted my heart a little. (he is usually pretty rough and tumble)

Their trip was full of cold swims, fun shopping trips, and lots of laughter. Uncle Kevin got in four days of golf and we even made our traditional trip to Claim Jumper to share desserts. Aunt Kim spoiled us all rotten and overall it was a great visit. Thanks Nicholson crew.

Susanna Turns 9

I think 9 sounds so much older than 8 and it makes me so sad to think that this little girl is getting so old and big. Kind of a goofy picture of her at her competition a couple of weeks before but I never remember to take any dance pictures and she does that with the majority of her time. She is pretty amazing for her age and so fun to watch. She gets to go to Las Vegas for Nationals this year (with her mom and a probably 2 week old new baby sister--eeek). Her birthday was the end of Spring Break and this was not a birthday party year but since we didn't do much we decided to put one together last minute. She loved it and had a blast.

We had a movie late night and had pizza first and a big candy counter for the movie after. I think the girls had fun just being together after not seeing eachother at school all week. A few of her good friends were out of town and she missed them but was glad so many were back in town to help her celebrate.

I love this picture of Eliza just hanging on her wanted to see and her almost 14 year old brother so involved and helping and wanting to be a part of it.

In the morning I took her shopping and then her dad and I took her and a friend out to lunch. She loved all the attention. She got an ipod nano with money from Grandma and Grandpa Garner and mom and dad and was in heaven.

This is the silly picture the girls took--they were super silly.

What a fun group of girls. I hope she keeps such good sweet girl friends forever.

And I have to say, her little sister Clara is only five and looks as old as the others...so sad. No cake, she wanted ice cream. What a fun birthday for the birthday girl. I love you Susanna Belle.

Quick trip to the mountains-spring break

This was the first year in forever that we didn't make the trip to Ventura for spring break. We decided with Clint just starting out in his company and with his family coming to visit a couple weeks later, we needed to save a little money and stay home. We did a few fun things and played with lots of friends (except poor Justin, all of his friends were gone). We made a quick overnight trip to Pine (about all this mom can handle). Grandpa has a great rope swing that kept the kids busy for hours. Here is Clara holding on for dear life--with a smile.

Nathan took a friend and he and Sam spent a lot of time roaming the mountains.

All the boys hanging out.

Susanna took one of her best friends. Brynlee was so much fun and they played with Clara and Eliza too. There were little orange beetles everywhere so unfortunately both Susanna and Eliza were not very adventurous after being attacked my their swarms.

My favorite picture. Little Eliza got on Brynlee's slippers, and her backpack and was "camping" She kept telling me that baby "milla" was back home packing. She talks so much and says some funny things. She is so much fun.

Justin hooked up the hammock since he was the man of the house and it only fell down one time with kids in it...OUCH. The kids had fun laying in it all together. It was a fun trip all around.

Grandma and Grandpa--We miss you already

Elder and Sister Fillmore

Okay, I totally admit it--I am currently in total denial. Anyone that knows my parents know they frequently disappear on extended trips to do dental work where I can't reach them for a couple of weeks at a time. Everyone keeps asking me how I am doing and if I am sad. Well, so far I am just "pretending" they are on a little dental trip. I still go by their house almost every day to check the mail, or take out a trash can, or get a birthday card so I am just doing business as usual. People keep asking if it will be hard when the baby comes. Anyone that knows me knows I don't really accept too much help and will be just fine--physically. But number 4 and 5 speed dial on my cell phone has really been neglected. I know I need to erase number five since they got rid of that number forever. But, who do I call 10 times a day now to say stupid things or who do I text my sarcastic remarks too? Did you know last year I made my dad come over and kill a scorpion for me? It is starting to settle in and it is a good thing they are off doing something good because my 2 year old complex (that is all my moms fault) is starting to hit.

The first time we went over, Eliza went through the house yelling Grandma, where are you? Now she knows they are in Guanamala.

Clara has always been a little obsessed with this lady. I think she has her wrapped around her little finger.

I am not a nice mom and didn't pull Justin out of junior high for a last goodbye and picture. The rest of the kids keep asking me if I have developed these yet. They want to put them on their nightstands.

Seeing the Positive

In January Arizona was hit with lots of wonderful rainstorms. We love storms of any kind and any chance to cool off and get caught up on rainfall. However, our poor roof did not get so excited and leaked into our home, and down the walls. There was some damage but luckily we have some good friend that could come over and get things fixed up. Our insurance company has declined to cover our damage which I am a little bugged about. Anyone have a good insurance company out there? Clint had to repaint our entire vaulted ceiling by himself. He rented scaffolding to get the job done and the kids were on cloud nine. Now that is a fabulous fort just waiting to happen. Sunday morning they got busy and spent most the day up there.