While Mikayla is Away . . .

Mikayla is at Disneyland with her sisters-in-law, and today I helped Guy with the kids. Brick and Cora had soccer games, but Guy took them off to do stuff. Kal also had a soccer game, and I volunteered to take him and the girlies to that. So, this morning and into the afternoon, I had three of the five Johnsens. Freya and Thea and I watched Kal play, then we all came to my house. I had strawberries I wanted to make into jam, and I had the girls help me with that. They ran the Cuisinart and stirred sugar and berries together. We had a bit of lunch then went back to their house. I had them help me tidy up the family room upstairs, then we all vacuumed. It was warm out, so we went out to play in the street. Kal rode his bike, and the girls rode wiggle cars. They went up and down and up and down and up and down the hill, speeding down at break-neck speeds. I worried that would happen and we'd end up in the ER. Kal had a hard time stopping his bike and rode into the street in front of Rock Canyon, freaking both of us out. Fortunately, there were no cars coming down the road. We stayed on the safer side of the complex. 

I do love being with these little people. They are busy and active but easier in some ways than my own children. 

Pirates of Penzance

 

Brandt has been heavily involved in the Timpview production of Pirates of Penzance. As lead sound engineer, he's been making sure everyone sounds good. Kent and I went to see the show this evening. It was a smashing production; we could hear everyone singing, the actors were full of energy, and the music was toe-tapping. We really like to see Brandt involved in great activities at school.

L&L Pawn

My dad's former business partner, Leland Stout, died on April 11. Over the last couple of years, Kent adopted him in much the same way he adopted David Davies. Leland has suffered with almost constant pain for many years, and Kent would help him with things around his place. He came to dinner often and Kent would regularly talk to him on the phone. 

While helping sort through Leland's house following his death, Kent came across this article about the pawn shop Dad and Leland owned together. Leland always had stories to tell about the pawn shop, and it was fun to see this article which probably appeared in either the Daily Herald or some American Fork paper. 

Laundry Mountain

Doing laundry for seven people is an overwhelming job. I am continually amazed at how many clothes Mikayla must maintain on a weekly basis. It's SO. MANY. CLOTHES. This evening I went over and helped get kids into bed, then she and I watched a movie together as we sorted and folded the ENORMOUS pile of clothes. (The pile was nearly to my waist as I stood up.) It was nice to be with my sister, and so nice that I could help her with that overwhelming job.

Well and Truly Happy

 

Brandt took this picture of Moo Moo lounging on the couch. Ten days into belonging to our family, Moo Moo seems well and truly happy to be with us. We are well and truly happy to have her.

A Penny Short

At the end of every workday, we have to balance our drawers, comparing the work we have done to the money in our drawers. I hate to be off and so do most people. Today, Cinder was off a penny and couldn't figure out why. That happens sometimes. It's not a terrible thing unless you are hundreds of dollars off. Being off a penny is no big deal, but Cinder was kind of irritated about it. 

I had to make a Costco run and wanted to do it before tomorrow, so I went right after work. As I walked in, just at the threshold between the outside and the inside, I saw a penny on the ground. I stopped, took a picture, then sent a message on our group work chat saying, "Cinder, look what I found! Your missing penny!" 

Oddly, she didn't think it was very funny.

Easter Sunday

Easter today. I love this day to remember the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the hope and joy that gives us. I love our Savior and am so grateful for his life, atonement, and resurrection. 

We had a lovely sacrament meeting, with good talks and beautiful music. The ward choir sang which always brings a wonderful spirit.

We gathered this afternoon at Christopher and Tysen's house for dinner and an egg hunt. It was nice to be together.

Moo Moo Settles In

Moo Moo is settling nicely into our family. She is very pleasant, she doesn't bark, and for the most part, she pees outside. She's adjusting to our schedule, and to her own surgery recovery. I've thought she was doing great, but she keeps peeing in the northwest corner of the living room, next to the ficus. She's hardly been in the living room, and that's apparently why she has chosen there to pee. I think she'll get over that, but in an effort to help, I've sprayed that area with the animo acid killing smell remover stuff after cleaning up, then covered the area with pee pads. I've wondered if we should get a crate, but I think she'll be fine in a day or two.

Mikayla brought her kids over to meet Moo Moo and they LOVE her. Everyone thinks she is great. I'm not sure that Moo Moo feels the same way because the Johnsens can be a bit overwhelming, but she has been very good with them. She's a good dog!

Look at that cute face!

Moo Moo Joins the Family

We picked up our dog this evening. Brandt was at a movie with Mikayla, so Kent, Blythe, and I went to get our new family member. Moo Moo was slightly woozy still from her surgery, and she did not want to get in the car, but the woman who runs UVAR scooped her up, stuck her in the car, wished her well, and sent us on our way after we paid her the extremely reasonable fee of $200 for her adoption. We really liked that price tag as some new dogs start at $2,000. 

Moo Moo is filthy, having been outside with the other dogs. She desperately needs a bath, but because of her surgery, it will be a couple weeks before we can remove the stitches and scrub her clean. She' got a little hitch in her get-along; her left rear leg is a bit shorter than her others, so when she runs, she tucks it up. She walks just fine, however, and doesn't favor it at all unless she's running. She snuggled with Blythe as we drove home but was happy to be out of the car when we got back. What dog doesn't like to ride in the car? She wandered around the house sniffing at everything, then jumped up on the couch when Kent and I sat down. She snuggled up between us and settled happily in. I turned to Kent and said, "In just a few years, the children will go away, and this is how it will be--you, me, and dog watching TV together." 

Both Blythe and Brandt are over the moon about having a dog. Blythe was texting Lily the whole way home, sending pictures and exclaiming about how cute she is. Then she loved on her all evening. Brandt got home and nearly cried when he saw her. I hope they will share in the responsibility of taking care of Moo Moo, and will be good to her. And I hope the dog quickly settled into our family. We think she'll be a good addition.

Because she just had surgery, we've got to keep Moo Moo quiet and largely inactive for the next week to ten days while she heals. 

Final Tree Burning

Brandt more than enthusiastically collected Christmas trees after Christmas ended, claiming we needed as many trees as possible for burning. Kent disagreed. I might have been complicit in the tree collecting, partially because I have been driving around with Brandt as he is working towards getting his 40 hours behind the wheel to qualify for his driver's license. He/we probably collected ten or so trees, and they have been lying along the side of the house, creating a large pine tree mess. Tonight was the night to finish them all off and be done with the tree mess. 

The trees were dry and lit up spectacularly!

Science!

Brandt has chemistry this year. It's been a struggle. For extra credit, over spring break and in anticipation of Easter, Brandt could dye Easter eggs using natural products to make the different colors. Today I helped him get that going.

Brandt chose to do four different colors, mostly because we had the necessary "ingredients" on hand. He chopped up red cabbage to make blue, beets to make red, spinach to make green, and then used turmeric to make yellow. He let the various stuff steep in water, then after a time, poured the colors into deep mugs, added some vinegar, and then dropped in the eggs. He left them sit on the counter for a long time, trying to soak up as much color as possible. 

The end results were not bad. The blue, red, and yellow all turned out great. The green was pale and sickly. We should probably have used kale instead of spinach as that might have made it a bit darker, but all in all, the process was a success. And Brandt got the extra credit, boosting his grade out of failing range.

Looking for a Dog

For years, the children have been pestering me and Kent to get a dog. At least once a week, one or the other of them has said, "Can we please get a dog?" And if one says it, the other quickly joins in with a "Yeah! Please can we get a dog?" I've been resistant because a dog is just one more thing to take care of, to feed, to walk, to deal with. I've been unwilling.

Then, at Christmas, we watched Emmet, the Stovall's dog. He's so charming. He was here for three weeks, and I realized, at the end of his stay, when he was going home, that I had really, really liked him being here. It was so nice to be happily greeted every time I came home. Emmet was glad to see me every time. In his defense, Brandt is also happy to see me every time I come home, but he is also a bit more demanding about food as soon as I walk in the door, so having Emmet there, only wanting a scratch, was refreshing. 

So, I told the kids we could get a dog. 

I've been looking around for a suitable furry friend, but I've had very specific qualifications for a dog. We can't have a puppy because there is no one around to take care of the baby, the dog had to be housetrained, not too big because Blythe doesn't like big dogs, and the dog had to be good with children and other dogs because of Mikayla's kids and the other, extended family dogs. Does that seem like a lot to ask? 

This week is spring break, and I took two days off work to take the children to look for a dog. I told them if we could find a suitable beast, we would bring it home. We had looked online at Utah Valley Animal Rescue and at the South Valley Animal Shelter, and we found a couple of options we thought might work. So, this morning, we drove to far west Spanish Fork (really Lake Shore) to look at dogs. 

We went to UVAR first. The woman who worked there was very patient as we had her bring us out several dogs. She was good to tell us about the dogs. The first one we looked at and had thought we would really like was an outdoor dog that liked to chase cows. The woman said if we had horses, that dog would be perfect. We don't have horses and want an indoor dog. Then we looked at another dog that was pleasant but big. He put his paws up on Brandt's shoulders and was nearly as tall as he is. He was too much dog for Blythe. There was another dog that had just had puppies, but she was a bit too energetic. 

Finally, the worker brought us a cute dog called Moo Moo. She is part corgi, black and white, with a pleasant disposition. We were told she was very pleasant, likes the other dogs, and would be a good dog. She came when she was called, she didn't bark, and she wasn't too big for Blythe who fell in love with her immediately. We said we were very interested, but Moo Moo hadn't been fixed yet, and UVAR won't let a dog be adopted until it has been fixed. So, although she is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday, we couldn't take her away with us. Everyone was fairly crushed.

We soldiered on, however, making a stop at the South Valley Animal Shelter. There were lots of dogs there, but we happened into the building 10 minutes before they closed for lunch, and so we weren't able to really look at all the dogs. Our quick perusal didn't seem to present many appropriate options, so we went home. As we had looked and looked prior to going on our search, and then didn't see any other dogs that felt like our dog, I called UVAR and told them we would take Moo Moo and we would pick her up Tuesday evening, after her surgery. 

We are super hopeful that Moo Moo will be a good dog and that we won't regret making the decision to add a furry beastie to the family.

Afternoon Nap

 

It's spring break this week. The kids are out of school and looking to catch up on much needed sleep. Nothing quite like a mid-afternoon couch nap with the sun streaming in and no real responsibilities. 

The Kids

The kids' interests have diverged significantly over the past couple of years, but occasionally they act like they still like each other. Or at least, still tolerate each other. Here's photographic proof.

 

Artsy Selfies