Card club card (February)

January in Review

Highlights included: Pingpong at Mowers (New Years), out to breakfast on MLK day, Braces, and a new puppies for the Farrell's (Lily) and us!

Metal Mouth Millers

Like father, like daughter! Jason and Megan BOTH got braces on today. Jason's took longer and will be a much more difficult fix. Megan's should be on for about 12-18 months. They both are pretty sore and just want soup and Jamba juice! We can't wait for the before and after post. I'm sure there will be a lot of sore mouths before then.

It's a Girl! 8lbs 2 oz

We adopted a black baby (not from Haiti) Labradoodle and named her Maya! She was born on December 1. We brought her home on January 24th at 7 weeks old. She weighs about 8 little pounds. She is half Labrador (black) and half Standard Poodle. The best of both worlds: A hunting dog with webbed feet for Jason and a "non-shedding" smart dog for the rest of us.

The kids are more than ecstatic. Now, we have wanted our kids to have a puppy (kind of) and have never agreed on the breed to get. We always said when we moved we would make a final decision. Well, as life goes, we have been saying that for 5 years now and Megan only has about 6 years left at home, so it is about time. Farrell's just got a cute new puppy last week and gave us the bug, too.

So this is how it went down. We were driving home from Tyler's soccer game and saw a truck by Draper Park with a sign: "PUPPIES". He had been there a couple times before, but we never stopped. This time, I thought, "Oh, let's just let the kids play with them." BIG MISTAKE! Warning/Note to self: Do not EVER stop where there is a sign offering ANY type of baby animals!

Anyway, we instantly fell in love with the little girl. There were 8 puppies in the litter. He had 2 boys left and this little girl. Man was the guy a good salesman. He convinced Jason what a good hunter Labradoodles are and what a good pet because of the poodle. (She won't be huge, but a little bigger than I ever wanted.) The mother is the lab and the father is the poodle. The only thing we were surprised was the big price tag. "Designer" dogs cost a pretty penny!

We finally pulled the kids away and said we needed to go home and think about it and look on line as to how much these really sell for and about the breed. We really had not considered Labradoodles. I thought they were huge dogs with really frizzy hair! Apparently, that is when the mother is a poodle. The great salesman/breeder offered to let us take her home and let her walk around then bring her back in an hour. (Smart guy-like we were going to rip her away from our kids.) So we went home, looked up Labradoodles...and apparently they are fantastic dogs! They were "designed" in about 1995 to be hypoallergenic guide dogs. How smart! We could not find anything bad about them! Well, that was good enough for me. Jason negotiated the price and we had a new member of our family. I could not believe I was agreeing to this! But, everyone was so excited, and with a little luck and A LOT of training I think she will be fine. We found a Crate on KSL, went to Walmart and loaded the cart with $100 in supplies and now the fun training begins! Welcome home little Maya Miller!

HAWAII WAS WONDERFUL

A few pics of our trip: Nov 13-20 2009. It was just the two of us- all by ourselves- that means no kids! We were on Oahu for 3 days and the Big Island for 4. We did a lot of sight seeing on Oahu, then relaxed and really enjoyed ourselves and the gorgeous resort on the Big Island (Hawai'i). My favorite things were the waterfalls, the best pina coladas every day, chocolate covered macadamias (everyday) snorkeling at Point of Refuge and of course the Plumerias. I was constantly picking them. I had to do this post because there is 3 feet of snow falling outside right now and I wish I could be in Hawaii right now! I miss is so much. We really had a great time.
Couldn't go anywhere without my plumerias.
The view from our lanai (back patio) at the Grand Kona. I had breakfast (of course POG and Hawaiian bread) every morning looking at this view with the warm breeze on my face. Ahhhh.
Yes, that is a wild turtle that swam up to Jason when we were snorkeling at Point of Refuge. (It knew we needed a picture.) It was the best snorkeling we have ever done! The reef is "Two Step" (two levels) and seriously, compared to Caman, Cabo and Hanama Bay, it was unbelievable! Too bad we did not have an underwater camera.... there were hundreds of schools of fish- every color of the rainbow, morey eels, turtles, etc!

Shouldn't every day look like this?

A Condo complex named after me!

The Royal Kona had the BEST pina coladas!
And you wonder where my temper comes from? Not Kileuea! It's barely blowing smoke!
Akaki Falls National Park is one of my favorite places. It looks like the Garden of Eden to me.
I showed Jason around my old stomping ground. It was EXACTLY the same 17 years later...so fun! Did I really say, 17 years later? Woah, Susan if you are reading this, how did we get so old?

Just a little ditty of Jason on the surf.

2009 Family Year in Review

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Emergency Break