First Day of School

Can't believe summer is over

and it is back to the grind!

 Clark

Senior at Mountain View

Weight Training, Seminary, English 101, AP Statistics, AP Government and Sports

will take up ALL of his time.

Bennett

Sophomore at Mountain View

His morning begins bright and early for 5:30AM swim practice!

English, Algebra II, Seminary, Chemistry, Computers, Social Studies and Sports

make for a very busy schedule for this guy!

Of course, this BIG DOG misses Bennett's love and attention while he is at school.

I guess we are all in for a few adjustments this year!

We are one of THOSE Families!

September 2nd was Echo's First Birthday!

So we did what any normal family would do...

we baked him a "Pupcake", donned our birthday hats,

and took lots of pictures!

 Bennett, Haley, Cassidy, Katie

 THE BOY and HIS DOG

 

Love these two  (or should I say 3?)!

Echo's First Haircut

Bennett had been reminding harrassing me to make an appointment for Echo to be groomed.

I kept reminding repeating that he was lucky to even have a dog.

 I was beaten down once again and the appointment was made.

Echo BEFORE

and AFTER

I must admit, he does look and smell so much better!

I tease Bennett that in my next life I want to come back as one of his animals.

There is no messing around with THIS boy and HIS dog!

Never Say Never

You would think after all this time that I would learn...

I said I would NEVER have a December baby...I had 3!

I said I would NEVER have babies less than a year apart...

Haley and Cassidy are 11 months apart!

I said we would NEVER have a dog...and then this child came along!

He loved every kind of animal!

So, we bought him the giant bucket of plastic animals to play with.

We subscribed to Kids National Geographic.

We watched Animal Planet and every special on PBS that referenced wildlife.

We bought the documentary "Planet Earth" and watched all the animal sequences.

We read "Where the Red Fern Grows" and he couldn't understand why I cried.

But none of it was enough!

 So, we let him play with the neighbor's puppies.



We told him to enjoy the baby chicks in his Kindergarten class.

We let him participate in a rodeo.



We took him to the ranch...several times.

He was chosen to hold the lamb in the Easter Pageant,

STILL...it just wasn't enough and I was getting tired!

So, we let him get chickens,

 

 and more chickens,

 

 and a tortise named Ned.

He started a little business taking care of the neighbor's dogs while they were out of town.

He lovingly cared for Oreo, Zeus, Sundance, Barkley, Red Dog and Winston.

But, it still wasn't enough...and I am now OLD AND TIRED!

So, after hours and hours of research, begging and bartering,

 

WE HAVE A DOG!!!!

an 11 week old Goldendoodle named ECHO...

and this boy couldn't be happier!

Haley encouraged and paid for this little guy

because this boy NEEDED a dog!

Thanks, Haley for your love and generosity!