Ralphie's Progressive Haircut

13 Jan 2009

Ralphie needs haircuts. When his hair gets too long then it gets dirty really fast, takes forever to dry after his bath and gets tangled and matted in just a few days. The problem is that cutting it takes forever. I tried some clippers once and he really freaked out so I decided that it might be easier (and probably faster too) to just cut it by hand with scissors. I use the width of my fingers to judge the length and just go all over his body. Since Holly is such a busy body lately, I had to do the cutting while she was napping. This meant that the entire grooming process was slowly completed over four days.

Before (hairy and slobbery)

Middle (tee hee - doggy clown pants)

After (sleek and trim - and sleepy)

Back on the Job!

12 Jan 2010

So, I've been slackin' off the blog for the past two months and I feel sorta bad. So...to make up for it, I thought that I'd post these little gems. Watch them in order.

Snow Day!

20 Dec 2009

While we were in Utah for Christmas, Jared and the kids went sledding at Grandma and Grandpa James' house. They both had a lot of fun.

Everything was going just swimmingly until Tyler decided to start a snowball fight. However, Kevin was easy to defeat, so it was still a great day!

Riverwalk Boats

1 Dec 2009

Right after Thanksgiving we took the kids on a boat tour of the Riverwalk. They loved it.

Funny, Funny, Tyler

28 Nov 2009

Not to be outdone by his younger brother (see previous post), Tyler came up with some good quotes of his own today:

While we're driving on the freeway Tyler started yelling from the back seat, "Dad! Dad! Look at that cloud! It looks like a flying hamburger with a patch over it's eye! It really does! Do you see it?"

While holding up two ticket stubs from our boat ride on the riverwalk Jared said, "Hey Tyler, these can be our new scripture bookmarks." Tyler replied, "Are they scented?"

Happy Thanksgiving

26 Nov 2009

So our orders to Minot are on hold, but we are still thankful for many, many things. We are most thankful to have the fullness of the gospel and the influence of the Holy Ghost in our lives. We love the Lord and we know that he is sending us blessings even though we are so worried for our future. We go to church, read our scriptures, say our prayers and pay our tithing so we know that everything will be okay.

Tonight we were having family scripture study and after a verse or two of First Nephi Derek said that he wanted to take his turn reading. So he opened up his Bible and after a lot of effort to find a scripture that contained both a "3" and an "H" he quoted this to us in the most serious little three-year-old voice he could muster, "And it came to pass that Nehi and Mefi saw an angel, and Nehi and Joseph Sniff saw each other...and they killed each other and then...and then...and then they killed them and they were both all dead."

Halt!

20 Nov 2009

Well we got Jared's orders on Wednesday and we were super excited. We were finally going to be moving to our new house! However, on Thursday we got the news that there is a problem with Jared's dissertation. Now our orders are on hold again. He needs to meet with a group of his supervisors at the hospital and see what they can work out. We don't know when they will be able to meet or how long it will be before we can move - if we can move at all. Needless to say, we are really frustrated. Jared has been working as hard as he can to make everything right - but he still needs to do more. We ask that each of you please try to remember us in your prayers. We're fine - just discouraged. Thanks for reading my blog - I work hard on it and I really like to see your comments.

Love,
Suzie

Countdown to Joining Air Combat Command!

14 Nov 2009

[from Jared] Ralphie has a weird little scabby lesion behind his ear, so now he has to wear a lampshade around for the next week or two. He is NOT ok with his new accessory, and has been moping around the house. A depressed Bichon is probably the saddest thing imaginable.

We had always wanted to see the San Antonio Spurs play, and the boys and I had tickets to go to the AT&T center on Dec 4...and then we got orders to Minot. Tyler was bummed, so we ate corndogs, then went to the store and bought him a Tony Parker jersey (I pushed him to get a Duncan jersey, but Tyler liked the name 'Parker' better). Derek got a Dallas Cowboys mini football. He says that a football is his favorite kind of ball.

Suzie's been working non-stop to get the house boxed-up. She's got it all worked-out that if we arrange the move ourselves (DITY move), then we might make some money on the deal! At the very least, it give us a chance to get into our home before Christmas.

My new commander sounds very friendly and approachable. I'm excited to get to work, I've heard that Minot AFB is a very friendly, supportive base to be associated with.

Dissertation is coming along well, I defended my prospectus (proposal), and now I'm waiting for IRB approval. If all works out, I should be able to graduate this spring! Dr. Cooper!

Here's To Being Cute

4 Nov 2009

I found these cute pictures on Jared's camera phone yesterday. Enjoy.

Derek's favorite toy "Monkey" in his bed of peanuts at Texas Road House.
What in the world? How can she be so cute all at once?

She is saying, "You can't get this dart away from me! Hee hee hee."

Now she's saying, "No really. Don't take it. I'm serious."

Ralphie is Ready for the Circus

3 Nov 2009

Yay! The AF says that Jared will graduate from his intership on Nov 30th! I'm excited to finally move into the house that I bought 6 months ago. I'm not super excited to leave this beautiful weather for the frozen tundra of North Dakota but I'm excited to get on with our life.

Here is a cute video of Ralphie doing one of his favorite tricks. It took me weeks to teach it to him but now he's really good at it.