Keiko at 10 weeks

KEIKO!

Against the wishes of Trent, we finally got a puppy. (According to Mitchell, we had to get either a puppy or a baby) I was searching different rescue centers for the perfect dog for our family...and when I saw Keiko, I had to have him. He is sooooooo cute! We debated on several names, and my sister finally suggested the name Keiko, which means "spot" in Hawaiian. How perfect! Now anyone who has a dog knows...puppies are ALOT of work. Keiko is a biter, and we are struggling to get him to understand it hurts! But no one is detered...and we all love him regardless. I just hope we can teach him well. He seems so smart (he already sits, and comes - and is mostly housebroken although he is young and we have to still watch him) but we are not professional dog trainers. It'll be interesting to see what the next few months bring! The best part of having a dog is that the house actually stays cleaner. The kids understand very well that anything they leave out will become a chew toy for Keiko. Also, one of the conditions of having a dog was trying to ensure that our house did not smell like a dog. So cleaning has taken top priority in our house. I LOVE IT!

Temple Square

Temple Square was a tradition in my family growing up. Every year, we bundled up, and braved the cold and the crowds just to see the millions of lights on the trees. (ZCMI had the coolest candy windows too - too bad that's gone!) The first few years my kids were younger, I managed this tradition as well. Then life got in the way, not to mention I'm a wuss when it comes to being too cold AND having whiny kids. But this year...I put my foot down and we went. We decided to make a theme of it...get in, get out, oh yeah...and wear CRAZY HATS! It was fun, but I'm so glad we only do it once a year!

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008

For Christmas this year, we opted to take a vacation instead of getting gifts for each other. The destination chosen? Rome, Italy. It was the first time my kids had been out of the country...and I have to say they did AMAZINGLY well. The 11 hours plane flight wasn't even enough to send them over the edge! We rented a tiny apartment....yes I meant tiny! It was 2 rooms, and 2 bathrooms, but the entire apartment was the size of my kitchen! (ok...maybe my living room too) We were all able to sleep in a bed though, and it was extremely clean. The showers were ridiculously small...and the hot water was not always available, which made for miserable showers. No oven left us fewer options for dinner. We took a suitcase full of food to keep our costs down. Soup was the main dish at all meals. I think we've had enough soup to kill us. Ha ha. But all and all - we loved it. The location was central enough that we were able to walk everywhere. Even Mitchell managed the walks! The only time it was bad was walking to the Catacombs...we took a minor detour that added an extra 3 hours to the walk!
Our itinerary included the Vatican, the Colleseum, the Piazza Novana, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, shopping in general, and the Catacombs. It managed to rain almost every day, which made the umbrellas we brought some of the most valuable things we owned. We loved having the time to see something so amazing as a family...and the kids are already planning the next family trip!

You may have heard of catching fish...but what about fish catching? McCoy spent half a day trying to catch a small school of fish with a bright green bucket. As you may guess....no success. But extremely entertaining!