Breaking up is hard to do

Chester found a new home last week. It was a hard decision, but since Bear was born, he hasn't gotten the attention he is accustomed to. He licks obsessively when he's stressed and it got to the point that he licked his entire leg bald. Plus, if we'd leave him for a long time in the day (like to go to the zoo), he'd get us back by having accidents (not while we were gone, but after we'd get home). With me going back to work and DMP at school all day, that added up to both an unhappy dog and a very unhappy me...

In the end, I can't even feel TOO bad since he found a home in his version of doggie heaven. He went to live with a woman who is retired and lives alone. She had a doxie for 15 years who just died and she is looking for a little dog to hang out with her all day and be spoiled. He'll have so much attention, petting and treats. He'll even get to sleep on her bed (something never allowed here!). We'll miss him, but I think it was a solution that works best for everyone.

I was particularly impressed with how EJ handled things. She is typically melodramatic and still occasionally has dramatic moments where she "misses" Grandma and Grandpa's dog, Holly, that died 3-4 years ago. I was really afraid that she'd have a hard time. She cried when we talked about it, but she understood that it was better for Chester and ended up comforting me. Maybe my girl is growing up a bit?

Mountain of Lumpus

Aunt Cyndi had a great idea to hike to Timp Cave and invited us along. Birdy couldn't remember it's name and called it "Mountianoflumpus".

After a trial run with Bear in the baby backpack, we decided to join her. Boy, I'm WAYYY out of shape and it is super-duper steep, but it was totally worth it!

Bear had the easiest trip up the mountain- he slept the whole way!

It wasn't too hot, and there were beautiful fall leaves along the trail and all through the canyon.

Don't we look like a bunch of tough hikers?

Bear had a bottle at the top of the trail just before we went into the cave. I think it qualifies as the craziest place we've ever fed our kids. They also had a pit toilet near the top, too. Birdy used it and happily told everyone "I peed in that hole!".

The kids thought the inside of the cave was so cool. Birdy says "The cave was awesome. We saw cave bacon."

EJ says "Timpanogos cave was great. I liked the formations in the imagination room. There was a big long crocodile I saw."

Check out that hair!

Having a baby with long hair is so much fun (we're also really easily amused!).

Plus, check out Bear's new trick- he can get his fist to his mouth! He just wishes he could figure out how to shove the whole thing in!

Baby Bear's Blessing!

Baby Bear's blessing was lots of fun. It was the first time we blessed on of our kiddos in our own home ward! DMP gave him a great blessing. He blessed him that he would know of Heavenly Father's love for him and use that knowledge and understanding to help others. It was really special.

Baby Bear is so big that he was almost grown out of his cute blessing outfit! Good thing we didn't wait any longer to bless him!

I'm lucky to have a super-creative SIL. Look at the cute present Tennille brought:

I've seen diaper cakes, but I've never seen a diaper baby before -so cute!

See- we still do fun stuff...

On Labor Day, we went to the Hogle Zoo. It was Bear's first trip. As you can see from the pic above, he was really into it :). (Also notice that he is wearing a "Hogle Zoo" jacket. That is because his parent's are kind of dorks and were unprepared for the cooler morning weather.)

We had a lot of fun. DMP and I were talking and realized that we hadn't been to the zoo in over a year, so it was fun to see all the changes. Our favorite was the baby elephant Zuri. She was so cute to watch.

The Best Big Sisters

EJ and Birdy are the best big sisters. They love to kiss, cuddle and love on their baby brother. I can always count on them to help keep him amused and help out. The best part is that he loves them back. He gives them the biggest smiles. He only has to hear Birdy's voice and he's all grins.

EJ is a great little "second mommy". She is an expert at locating his burp cloths, paci's and blankets. She makes up songs to sing to him, holds his hand and finds toys and books to play with him.

Service & a Birdy Funny

EJ was asked to draw a picture of some service she could do for someone in church last week. We asked her to tell us what she drew (above). She explained that her service would be to feed Holly, my parent's dog (who died 3-ish years ago), when she is resurrected. I would have settled for "helping my Mommy" but feeding a resurrected dog is good, too!

I was changing Bear's bum the other day and birdy came up and started laughing. I asked her what was so funny and she pointed to his, ahem, boy bits, and said "He has a catapillar bum!"

Baby Bear- Now with Smiling Action!

The one above is one of my new favoritest pictures of the boy...

Aunt Kate and Amelia!

Aunt Kate and Amelia are here! We had a "Welcome home" party at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was so much fun!

Bear and Amelia have the same shirt!
This pic makes it look like Amelia was more jealous than she actually was- she thought bear was pretty interesting and didn't mind (too much) that her Mommy was holding him!

The grandkids all played really well together. Mostly this is thanks to Abby- she is our own babysitter's club!

Second First- EJ's First Day of Kindergarten!

EJ finally started Kindergarten this week. She was so excited to go to school she could hardly sleep the night before! She has wanted to go school since she turned 3 and the babysitter's daughter started "Kitty Garden" so this was a big deal.

For the past couple of weeks I've seen other Moms who have been sending their kids to school for the first time and they are talking of being traumatized or crying. Not here- we are all just excited for her to go and learn and make new friends!

EJ has this to say of her first week of school:

"Kindergarten is great. You get to go out to recess, you can do fun things. It's just fun. That's all I need to say."