A boy, his dog and a bucket

I was just telling someone the other day how lucky we have been this winter.  Kaleb has been very healthy and has not had any of the "bugs" going around.  On the way home from church he said, "mom my stomach hurts", and then proceeded to fall asleep in the car.  I have a kid who only ever sleeps in his bed, and has not napped since he was 4, so I knew he was getting sick.  After we got home he laid around for a couple of hours looking pale and pathetic and then puked all over the place.  He said, "Oh, that's why my stomach hurt!"  
 My older dog, Sam prefers not to be too close to kids, but he's a big softy when someone is sick.  He stayed by his side for quite sometime.  It's been about 2 years since Kaleb had a stomach bug, but he quickly learned that having a puke bucket nearby was a smart thing to do!  It left just about as quickly as it came.  By the next morning he was feeling pretty decent.  Of course mom let him stay home from school, made him mashed potatoes, and let him play Wii.  All that puking ought to get you some sort of award, right??

Be my Valentine!

This was the first year at school Kaleb had to make a valentine's box at home.  We had a lot of fun creating a robot box for him.  It was a big hit at school!  A little spray paint and some odds and ends from Dad's tool box was all it took.  Who wouldn't want to be his valentine???

Pizza Pie

Pizza Pie

Another view of Pizza Pie!

Due to the amount of time I spend at work mixed with the lack of motivation I often experience, we still have a lot of "builder's white" in our house.  I have picked out colors for the house and really wanted to paint this wall with one of my accent colors, pizza pie.  I love it.   It will look nicer when I paint the surrounding walls with sandstone.  I might be a little slow, but I will get it done!

Snow Ice Cream

I found a recipe in a magazine for snow ice cream.  I was skeptical, but kept it so we could try it on a snowy day.  I was surprised how easy and good it was.  Here's the recipe.  Give it a try, and don't worry, you don't actually eat the snow!   Next time I want chocolate!


1 cup milk or cream (we used skim)
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
SNOW
1/4 cup salt


Mix milk, sugar and vanilla in a small ziplock bag, seal bag.  Fill a gallon size ziplock bag halfway with clean snow and add salt.  Put smaller bag inside bigger bag, squeezing out the air.  Knead bags until milk mixture solidifies, 5-10 minutes.  (You might want to wear gloves:)  Open bigger bag and remove smaller bag.  Rinse outside of smaller bag in cold water then open and squeeze ice cream in to a bowl.  Grab a spoon, or if you are like Kaleb skip that step and just start licking!  

Old Dogs

Sam & Sasha

smaller collar bones

I was attacked by a neighbor's dog when I was 5 years old, my dad had to strangle the dog to get it to let go of me, and I was left with scars (beauty marks:) on my face and head.  Needless to say I did not grow up being very fond of dogs.  I wanted to get married and have babies, and these are the babies that I got!  I love these guys like crazy, but have noticed after being blessed with a real human child, that they now live more like "dogs".  Not enough walks, home alone, nothing to do.  They bark, shed, and puke on the carpet, but I still love them!  I don't think there will be any more pets in our future, so we will cherish these two for as long as possible.    This Christmas we wanted to do something special for them, so I dug out my dog bone cookbook, and we made them a frugal present, smaller collar dog bones.  Maybe next time we'll do bark-b-q!

Let Earth Receive Her King

Rose and Kaleb

marshmallow baby Jesus!

I would have to say that Christmas Eve was the best day we had this holiday season.  We spent the afternoon in Kirtland Ohio.  We saw nativity sets from all over the world.  Big ones, tiny ones, beautiful ones, silly ones (marshmallow baby Jesus).  It was a nice way to remind us what Christmas is all about.  This room was just for kids, and it was great!

Number Eight

Welcome
Alonzo Christopher Guerrero
Born 12-21-11
5 lbs 15 oz
19 inches 

Keith and I now have 8 nieces and nephews as we welcome my little sister Kristen's newest little one.  Kristen's birthday is in December, and her daughter, Layla was born last December.  My sister will always be extra busy during this month with birthdays and holidays!  My sisters are keeping Kory Harward busy as he will deliver a baby boy for my sister Kelly in the spring.  We are looking forward to our trip to Utah in April to see all of these little ones!