Copper

Copper passed away on May 21, 2012.  She was the best dog in the world.  For someone who was not excited to get her, and not fond of animals generally, she was the perfect dog.  She was mellow, protective, and very loving.  We have had her since Jake was a baby, and it seems weird to be without her.  Some of our favorite Copper memories: She loved getting out of the kennel and as soon as you would spring the lock she would push the door, hit you in the head with it, and then do a few victory laps.  She was very smart and spent most of her life undoing the locks, chewing through the fence, or tunneling under the kennel.  The kennel is very beat up.  She collected rocks and put them in her dog food bin to chew on, because of this her teeth were very clean.  The kids tell me that once she stole someone's broccoli.  I did not witness this.  She would dump her water bucket so she could get out more.  When I mowed the lawn she would get behind me and follow me up and down the rows.  When I stopped she would stop.  It was kind of fun to have a companion.  When we moved to South Jordan she did not like it here.  She tunneled out and led the entire animal control on a chase through Bangerter Highway and the west side of the town, until she led them right back home.  They were exhausted and she was happy to make new friends.  It cost us a warning.  When she wanted to be loved she would hit your hand with her nose. She was very sick toward the end with cancer and diabetes but she still managed to save our lives.  Someone tried to break into our house in the early morning hours and she let out the most vicious bark I had ever heard.  She alerted us to the intruder and he ran off.  She was our hero.  The sicker she got the more and more water she drank.  Jake was constantly out filling her water and making her comfortable.  Torey was assigned to just love her whenever she was out.  We miss her so much and can't wait until we see her again.

The Fun Bus is 12!

Happy Birthday to our little Boots.  She adds the sparkle to our family and is everything we could hope for in a daughter.  She is a delight most of the time, and dramatic a lot of the time.  Before we tell you our 12 favorite things about her, we will list all of the nicknames that she answers to that total at least twelve:

Tor, Torbug, Torus, Torus the Borus, Bussy, Bus, Bussy Boots, Boots, Bussarooni, the Fun Bus, the Party Coordinator, Shortcake, Birdseed, TNT, and Tornado (but she has grown out of that).  We are very aware how odd this is, but we can't help it, she just needs a nickname.

Now for our twelve favorite things about her:
1.  She doesn't mind the dozen or so nicknames.
2.  When she was little she used to wake us up very early in the morning by shoving a board game in our head and asking if we wanted to play with her.
3.  She is so loving and compassionate, and is always concerned about others feelings.
4.  She is quite the dancer.  She never walks from point to point, she always dances.  Sometimes we have to tell her to stop because it is so distracting.
5.  She is a great little hostess, and loves to plan parties.
6.  She is smart.  She talked very early and her vocabulary was nuts for a kid her age.  It made her look even more amazing because the words came out of a tiny little girl who looked like she shouldn't even be walking.
7.  She is very motherly and loves holding babies.  She can't stand to see one hurt or crying.
8.  She doesn't mind an adventure and sometimes forgets to look at the outcome of a decision because the opportunity for fun is just too great. (ex: jumping off the high dive while not knowing how to swim.)
9.  We are so happy she will be in Young Women's.  Taylor and I have been waiting forever for this.
10.  "Here's the dealio.  I don't really like reading for fun." - Direct quote
11.  "Torey.  You are the only girl I know who wears a bra and still rides in a car seat." - Jeff.  Sadly, up until a few months ago this was true.  The weight limit had not been reached.
12.  The apple of our eye, the cream in our Oreo, the spunk in the tribe - we love her very much and can't wait to see the Young Woman she becomes.  Even if it does make us cry our eyes out....

Tonsil surgery...

Due to the fact that we have two children who snore like bear cubs, one more than the other... I'm talking to you Jake.  And the fact that we had strep throat more time in a year than we thought was humanly possible, we took that plunge and decided to remove the offending organs.  Namely, the tonsils and adenoids had to go.  It was Tuesday the 19th.  Taylor was at Oakcrest and we were at the hospital.  The before picture was illustrative of both kids.  In all fairness I had been incredibly blunt.  They knew it would hurt, but were hopeful just the same.

The after pictures looked a little less exciting.  They were both so good but came out of anesthesia very differently.  Jake was very quiet and a little sad.  Torey, on the other hand, was chatting all the way down the hall from recovery and didn't shut up unless she was eating a snow cone.  She was cracking us up.  Then next few days were pretty rough with the pain settling in their ears, and their tummies grumbling for food they could not eat.  We did a lot of snuggling and a lot of meds.  Oh, the meds.  Why did you run out so soon???

A Long Overdue Update...

Some may be wondering what we have been up to these last few months in far away South Jordan, where hardly any one comes to see us.   It's a long drive to a barren subdivision.  Since we have moved we have become small time farmers in the beekeeping sense.  So not really farmers at all, more like beekeepers or raisers, or just nerdy.  The idea popped into my head one day after Jake had been complaining about his lack of employment.  A gentle whisper said, "You should get bees."  And once that idea planted itself in my cranium there was no getting it out.  This is Reed and Taylor "hiving" the bees.  That's bee lingo for putting the bees in the hive, which simply put is that you bang the box until you knock them out and then pray they all go in the hive while still stunned.  It got a little hairy on the second hive when Reed dumped in the bees before the queen.  I'll let you imagine....

 Here is a little close up of the box of bees.  We got two boxes totally about 40,000 bees.  We now have probably triple that, due to breeding, but we keep losing count.

 This is Torey.  She is the family photographer, so she is constantly getting left out of shots.  She has to take care of number one occasionally.

 This is Taylor and Jake as they helped Reed build the hive stands.  Things got a little dicey with a neighbor after this.  If you know Reed you can imagine how that went.

 This is Taylor.  She is a poser and a little self-important.  She also has a deep fondness for props.  This was the perfect pairing of the two qualities.

So the backyard is finally all the way in, minus some gravel.  The grass looks lovely, the zucchini are thriving, and the bees are working hard.  More pictures to come.

Happy Independence Day...

This year we shook things up a bit and instead of waking up early to go to the Fire Department Breakfast, we woke up early to eat at Jim's Family Restaurant.  After which we went shopping at Macey's, made a batch of strawberry jam, and then went to Reed's parents for a barbecue.  Following that we went and watched the fireworks extravaganza with my family in Lehi.  Miraculously we didn't get caught in traffic and were home in a half an hour.  Which considering road construction was pretty noteworthy.  It was a very busy day, but we had a great time.

We are patriotic from the top of our head...

To the tips of our toes!

Trek

Taylor had the opportunity to go on the handcart trek this year, and we were pretty excited.  We spent a lot of time getting ready.  We made her pioneer clothes, read books, and researched our handcart ancestors.  She trekked for her Grandmother Charlotte Priscilla TAYLOR Richins.  We thought the name thing was pretty cool.  She was quite the lady.  She lost a daughter, gave birth to a son, had her hair frozen to the ground and subsequently cut off, and arrived in the valley with frostbitten feet.  Taylor wore a necklace with her picture on it and it provided a lot of opportunity for discussion.

The family had the "opportunity" to drive to Wyoming and pick her up.  Jake and Torey saw their first buffalo, so that was exciting.  They trekked at a place called "Muddy Creek" which is along the actual trail.  The landmarks included pioneer graves, wheel indentations, and "Brigham's Arrow" which is a rock formation Brigham Young created to point the way to Zion.

We welcomed the weary travelers in by waving the white handkerchiefs.  Some of the kids looked tired and dirty but we were met with a smile!

We were so happy to see our baby after a long three day absence.  We discovered that she does about 95% of the talking in our house, and we couldn't stand the silence any more.  We were unable to get a trek family picture because as I gave her a welcoming hug, she clearly stated she needed a hamburger now.  We happily obliged and made it to McDonald's before the crowd.  Some of her trek highlights included the women's pull, and a special outdoor Sacrament Meeting.  She was a little disappointed that they wouldn't let them cross the creek, which was at flood stage, and also that "all they did was walk."  Turns out that is exactly what the pioneers did too!

Yankees

This year Jake and Reed were fortunate enough to be on the Yankees.  Jake as Center Fielder and Reed as Coach.  We had a great time, and it was a good way to get to know other people.  The baseball is a little different here, not as competitive or political, but we had a great time.  The highlight was probably when Jake hit a triple, which he wanted to stretch into a home run.  He rounded the corner on third only to be met with a clothesline from the base coach and loud instruction to stay put.  

On another note Taylor also played softball this year.  We decided to try a rec league, something that didn't require our whole summer, our whole paycheck, and our very souls.  She did well, and even learned how to play third base, which is like first base except exactly the opposite.  It was a lot for our lefty to wrap her brain around.  As our coach did not draft any pitchers we kind of had a struggle, but even then we had a good time.  Taylor likes things a little more competitive though, so maybe next year she will be on a better team.