Meet Lexi

Well we finally got a puppy on Thursday, August 14th. Dave and I have been talking about getting the kids a dog for quite some time, longer than I can remember actually. I asked Dave what kind of dog we could get and it turned into more of a...what kind of dog I can't get. I asked him about 5 months ago if I could just bring a dog home then when I found one. He reluctanly said yes, and then forgot that he told me that. (he wasn't very happy) I found "Molly" on KSL classifieds and they said she was 2 1/2 months old and a Border Collie/Lab mix. Dave and I don't think she has any lab in her, she looks a lot more like a Border Collie/Terrier. She has a scruffy muzzle like terriers do.

When I brought her home, Ali changed her name to Lexi or Lex for short. I think the name fits. Ali bonded with her the second she saw her. She would be with her 24/7 and loves to clean up after her and play with her. We will see how long that lasts. She nips and chews on things since she is a puppy so Zach loves to play with her but if she scratches him he is done for 5 minutes until the next time it happens.

She is really a great puppy so far. She plays and does all the fun things that a dog does and yet she is really quiet so far. Doesn't really bark, unless it is at the cat. She just doesn't understand that Simon doesn't like her one bit, and thinks that when he hisses at her and chases her with his hair up on ends that he wants to play with her instead of a clue that she better run away.

I am having some trouble with the potty training though, I really don't like that. She can hold it all night long, but if she has been outside for 3 hours and I open the door she runs right in the house and goes on the carpet. That needs to change fast or she might be finding her time mostly outside, which I really don't want. Any tips you have for me...greatly appreciated!

We love her and are happy to have her as a new addition to our family. Maybe that is the only way I would get a baby....just bring one home like I did a dog. Dave is starting to warm up to her and plays with her now. He wasn't so happy about the idea in the beginning. To bad I couldn't get away with that on a new baby Bliss. Ha ha ha

Discontinued Scentsy - If Interested

The following items are discontinued this month - if you are interested in one of these items at 10% off let me know. My sister is sending in an order this weekend.

Alicyn Jeanne Bliss Turns 8

My baby girl turned 8 years old today! What a nice young lady she is turning into. I am so proud of her. My official due date was August 19th. My Doctor was going out of town and kind of talked me into inducing labor before she left. I was naive and just did what she told me she thought would be best.

I love to remember the day she was born and how much Dave and I wanted her. We were so excited. Since I was induced we had to be to the hospital at 6:00 am. On our way to the hospital I looked out my window the whole way with tears running down my cheeks. I didn't want him to know how scared I was. I was really glad that it was dark....I was trying to be tough. It was scary, exciting and wonderful all at the same time. What a roller coaster of emotions I felt that day.

Alicyn Jeanne Bliss was born at 2:46 in the afternoon on August 16th, 2000. She was 8 lbs 9 ounces and 19.5 inches long. She has been a little blessing to our lives ever since.

A couple funny things I remember:

She used to be scared of Swiper on Dora. One night when she was saying her prayers she said... "if Swiper comes to my house please make him go to Jade or Ella's instead". Oh it was hard not to burst out laughing.

One of the very first movies that Dave and I took her to was Piglet's Big Movie. She was glued to the screen and ate her popcorn. The second the movie was over she asked us over and over for about two weeks... "What happened to the bees?" In the very beginning of the movie Pooh and friends are chased by a bunch of bees and they ended up getting away. They out smarted the bees and made them go inside of something to trap them. She was so worried they were hurt. That is the only movie on DVD that I have ever seen actually wear out from watching it so much. Ali and Zach loved it when they were little. The DVD peeled apart. We don't have that one anymore.

Ali loved throwing the laundry down the stairs as I sat on the couch trying to fold it. She was pretty fast though and I ended up folding things over and over.

She is a water baby, anything to do with water and she is there.

She didn't like the Grinch either (How the Grinch Stole Christmas).

One day I went to my mom's house after work to get her and she was in the backyard on the pony. My mom told me when I walked in "I have a little bad news, Colby cut Ali's hair" He said he was playing doctor and cut her hair. I told him that doctor's don't cut hair and he said, YES THEY DO!. So I went in the backyard to see how bad and just started to cry when I saw her mullet head. She said, oh mom don't cry, it really is ok. It was just hair but man she looked like a little punk rocker 3 year old boy.

Another time at my mom's I went in the back yard and she and Colby we covered in grey dirt. Their clothes, hair, mouth, eyes, shoes were full. I said what did you do? She said, oh Colby and I were making snow angels. I asked her to show me where, so she did. It was in my dad's fire pit. They were both covered in soot.

Ali has always loved to play house. When she was young this is where her baby would sleep while she did other things that mom's do. The oven was also a place to store things that she was playing "house" with. After I melted a few things turning on the oven....I learned to look in the oven first before turning it on....still do, thanks to little Ali.

A few things about Alicyn:

*Loves her family

*Loves her cousins and friends

*Loves to play house

*Loves to wrestle with her brother

*Loves 4-H (horse club)

*Loves her puppy Lexi

*Loves her cat Simon

*Loves Ginger Ale

*Loves makeup

*Loves to hang out with Grandpa

*Loves school

*She is the sleep over queen

*Loves to go camping

*Loves Yellowstone

*Loves Sea World and wants to work there

When she grows up she wants to be a mom, babysitter, work at Sea World, Be a singer so she can be rich and buy mom and dad a huge house - ha ha!

I don't know what I would do without her. She is my sweetheart!!

Music to Our Ears - Tag!

I love music! Music is the best thing ever! There is a song for everything, every mood, every emotion, every feeling. Music that makes you feel like dancing, music that is inspiring, music that makes you cry, happy music, sad music, music that makes you want to belt out the words at the top of your lungs etc...you name it - it is out there for our ears and enjoyment.

OK, so my good friend told me that her favorite song right now is Dream Big by Ryan Shuppe.

Well I hadn't even heard of it so I of course had to go to my music and listen to it. I happen to love it too...(should be playing right now).

Please leave a comment on my blog and tell me what your favorite song is. I have many favorites and it depends on my mood at the moment, so I am going to have to think a bit on my favorite song right now. Share yours with me! You can post on your blog also for others to share their favorite song. You are now tagged.

Thanks...this will be fun!

Family Photo Shoot

We had a family picture session at Sundance. Although I don't like to be in any picture's myself (I am really self conscience of how I look these days) I love how they turned out.

Tiffany with Follow Your Art Photography did a great job and took some beautiful shots.

http://www.artphotographs.blogspot.com/

I love my family!

Sitka, Alaska 2008 - Day Four - Saturday, July 26th

More to Come

Little Ali

Yesterday Ali called me at work like she does every day when she gets home from school. I look forward to that phone call and expect it at the same exact time.

This time I answered and she sounded just fine at first, then she said with a really crackly voice. Mom, ...then really started to cry...I said yeah, what's wrong?? She said, I am really sorry about this morning when you told me to keep my pants pulled up and I snapped at you (all broken up with sobs). I said, Ali, don't worry about that why are you crying about that? She said well I am just really worried that I hurt your feelings...lots more sobbing.

Just then I heard Dave open her bedroom door, Why are you crying?? What is going on? Ali why are you crying? She didn't want to tell dad and he wasn't letting up so I told her to let me talk to him and I would talk to her again after.

I told him that this morning I had tightened her pants with those buttons the pants come with cause the waist was too big. Her pants I have to buy big because she needs the length but her waist is so small that the pants never are the right size in the waist. Well I had them too tight and they were pinching her. So I loosened them, I must have too much cause when she hopped out of the car to walk in the school, her pants dropped a little. I just said, pull your pants up, try to keep them up today. She turned around and Yelled..WELL I WOULD IF THEY WEREN'T TOO BIG!! Dave giggled that she was so upset for that.

I spoke with Ali again and she was fine. I just loved that she would call me to tell me she was sorry, and she is such a thoughtful girl about everything. Especially to recognize when she makes a mistake and wants to correct it.

Oh Zachary

Zach is really addicted to the computer and the games on PBS Kids, Nick Jr, Disney.com etc. I have a hard time getting him to stop EVERY DAY! Well the other night it was getting late and he kept playing and playing. I would say, Zach last game, when that one it over you need to stop. Well he would pretend the game wasn't over yet and start a new one.

Finally I just had to shut down the computer, with his disapproval. He cried and cried. I took him to the couch and sat him on my lap. I started to talk to him telling him that he needed to listen to dad and I when we were asking him to do something. He was acting like he wasn't paying much attention to me, so I asked him. Zach, do you understand what I am telling you? He said, I can't hear you. I said well do you know what I am trying to tell you, if you look at the computer all day long and don't do anything else you aren't going to be healthy and your eyes might fall out of your head. He said, I can't hear you. By this time, I understood what he was doing. I said you can't hear me? He said "NO"!! So I said well maybe you need to go and sit in time out until you can hear me again.

Time out for Zach is the ultimate torture. So I carried him over to a chair in the kitchen, and of course he fought me every second. I told him to sit there and not move. He weep'd and wailed for a bit. After he stopped crying I walked over and asked him, CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? (like Verizon) He said no. I said OK and walked away. He turned around and in his whinny voice, said mom, OK I can hear you now. So we had a little talk about listening and the computer. For the last 4 days or so, he has been much better when you ask him to stop. So for now it seems to have worked. LOL kids!! crack me up. Dave was in the living room trying not to laugh out loud during all this. That is the hard part, you don't want them to know you think it is funny or you get the wrong result.

Carbonation Mania!

So, I got in the freezer to get some peas and corn out for our casserole I was making for dinner. There was a Pepsi that had exploded and it was in every nook and cranny. I peeked around the corner and gave Dave the look. You know that one that says...Oh Man! I said, honey your Pepsi!! He said, what??? I said your Pepsi exploded in the freezer, as he is known for putting a warm Pepsi in the freezer when he doesn't have a cold one - for a rapid solution. He jumped up and said, Oh I am sorry!! I didn't think I put one in there.

I pulled out the ice cube compartment and guess what??? It was a diet...Dave doesn't drink diet. My mind quickly rewound to a few hours earlier, I WAS THE GUILTY ONE! Poor Dave, I apologized to him and told him I was sorry for accusing him right off the bat. I didn't think to take a picture of the brown, sticky, slushy mess, but I did take a picture of the end result. HA HA! Next time I won't be so quick to accuse! (don't have picture at this time)

Sitka, Alaska 2008 - Day Three - Friday, July 25th

The alarm went of again at 4:00 am. We proceeded to get ready for our day and went over to Level II for breakfast. Today Ali and I shared a breakfast, there was plenty of breakfast for both of us with one order. She wanted Biscuit's and Gravy. After breakfast we went back to the hotel to wait for the van's to drive us to the harbor. We were also waiting to see if we had another person with us today, since they fish 4 people to a boat there was a high chance we would have a stranger with us. Which is just fine usually because you don't stay strangers for long being together for 10 hours at a time. They did have a single person and today was his first day to fish. His name was Jarod and we met him on our drive to the harbor.

Jarod Sapp - being silly with Ali.

When we booked our trip 2 years ago we scheduled our whole trip to be with Tim (captain). Octobre called us back in January and asked us if we would fish one day with Roman (captain) because she had a party of 6 that wanted to do a crab and shrimp day. Tim's boat is the only boat they have that can accommodate that many people at the same time. So we told her we would switch for a day.

So we were with Captain Roman and his deckhand's name is Dan. On our way out of the harbor and while we were headed to where we were going to fish for the day, Roman told us stories and was quite the little tour guide. Everything we passed he would tell us about. It was great. He also told us how he proposed to his wife, which was an awesome story. They were married in December last year. He took her scuba diving and had a giant sign that he had sunk and a plastic ring in a little treasure chest.

The weather today was really bad. They were announcing on the radio that we would need to be prepared for gail force winds. Roman was taking us to a protected area so we wouldn't be out in the high seas and bad wind. We fished for a while and didn't catch much.

Ali wanted me to ask Roman about her giant muffin....so I did. He said, I don't do muffins, I said ok that is fine, Ali just wanted me to ask you. I think that made him feel a little bad cause he pulled out his pound cake that his wife Rachel made and sent with him for the day. He let her eat most of it. The muffins must be a treat that Tim does for those who fish with him. Anyway, Ali had me ask Rachel for the recipe, she loved it so much.

He decided to switch from salmon fishing to rock fish. Ali caught a rock fish, they usually aren't very hard to reel in. Well Ali was having a hard time with that thing. I thought, wow what did she catch. Dan helped her by holding her pole and she reeled. When we finally saw the fish it had what they call a chaser on it. While she was reeling up the rock fish a Ling Cod latched onto the the Rock Fish and was trying to eat it. It was a nice size Ling Cod. It was so cool. She was amazed to see that. They actually had to nudge the Ling Cod off the Rock fish cause he wouldn't let go. If the Ling Cod would have been in season we could have kept it too but you can't keep those right now. We caught our limits of rock fish fairly quick.

Afterwards we tried to fish for Yellow Eye. We had these giant grubs with a piece of meat on them and Roman would keep going over the cliffs under the water beneath us. The rocks were so jagged that you had to be careful as you drifted that your grub didn't get stuck in the rocks. We drifted really fast because of the wind. Yellow Eye dwell within and around cliffy rocks like that and you had to keep your bait bouncing on the bottom. Well mine got stuck in the rocks so there was a scramble to get it free before the line broke and they lost their gear. Jarod caught one Yellow Eye, but nobody else did.

Roman called one of the other captains that works for Tim to see where he was at and how they were doing. They happened to be out in the unprotected area fishing. They were catching salmon here and there and the seas were 8 foot swells. Roman asked me if Dave and I were alright going out there, especially since we had Ali. I said yes (we would just watch her good).
It was a bit of a rough ride out there, not terrible but the water was rough. Roman sai

d he only wanted 2 people out on the deck at a time because it was rough weather. Ali and I stayed inside the cabin and Dave and Jerod went out first. After Dave caught one I went out and Dave came in etc. When it was Ali's turn I stood behind her and held onto her life jacket. We did catch some salmon and then it just died. No fish, we had a hard finding them again. While we were waiting and waiting we saw a Hump Back Whale again. Dave went into the cabin to check on Ali and she was feeling sick. Dave and I think it was because it was hot in there and of course the up and down motion of the boat and rocking back and forth. She needed some air so Dave pulled the drink cooler over in front of the door and held her on his lap. It was raining (it really never stopped raining the whole trip). Well she crashed. It was really cute, dad just sat there and held her until she decided to wake up.

Just as we started catching fish again Roman called it quits and had us bring our lines in. We headed back to the harbor to be done for the day.

When we returned to our hotel room I called my mom's cell phone to talk with Zach. My mom handed the phone right to Zach. He said, mom, "I am in San Diego" he can't say Diego it sounds more like "eago". I said you are in San Diego! He said yeah, I am walking on the beach and I see some seals. WOW! I was so happy he was able to do something fun and go on a little trip. My sister Hilerie works for Jet Blue and she took her kids, my mom and Zach to San Diego for the day. My mom told me that when they landed in San Diego they went to get a rental car. When they drove away, Zach said, "Hilerie, Why are you stealing this car?" They all laughed. Hilerie said, I am not stealing it Zach I am just borrowing it. About 5 minutes later he asked her again..."Hilerie, why are you stealing this car?" I think he asked her about 4 or 5 times, and she tried to explain that she paid the man money to use it and they are going to return it. I still don't think he understood. He thought they were highjacking a car to go to the beach. LOL!!! that made me laugh! What a great sister and mom I have, make sure my little guy is having some fun too since he was missing out. Man we sure all missed him REALLY BAD!!

For dinner we went to Roma's. It is a little Italian joint run by Chinese people right across the street from the hotel. The last time we were in Sitka I had vegetarian lasagna and it was the best lasagna that I had ever had. I was looking forward to that again. Well they didn't have that on the menu anymore. Ali had a kid's pasta dish that I think you could have fed the entire Foothills Primary with. It was huge. I ordered a pasta with artichoke hearts and asparagus. Dave had a seafood pasta. It was a really nice dinner. I felt sad to leave all that food sitting there to be thrown away. There was no way for us to take left overs, no fridge or microwave and we certainly couldn't take it home. LOL! I am silly.

We went straight back to our hotel room, watched a few minutes of TV and we all passed out. I am sure we were in bed by 6:30 or 7:00 again.

Rock Fish

Sitka, Alaska 2008 - Day Two - Thursday, July 24th

The alarm went off at 4:00 am, we had a wake up call that morning also just in case we didn't figure out the alarm clock correctly. Ali woke up really well and we all got ready to leave with our rubber boots on. You wear rubber boots because they are constantly washing off the deck of the boat.

We decided to go to the restaurant Level II for breakfast. It is called Level II because it is on the second level. lol...We had our vouchers and headed across the street. It was light outside, just like it is at 8:00 in the morning in Utah. It was a little darker though, cause it was raining and cloudy. Ali decided to get a side of bacon for breakfast, that was $4.50 and a coke. She never gets to have a coke, I am not sure why I let her this time but that is what she ate for breakfast. I also gave her some toast and hashbrowns of mine. I had scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, toast and ham for $11.00 plus my $3.00 drink. Dave had eggs, hashbrowns, toast bacon for the same price.

Ater breakfast it was 5:15 am, time to go back to the hotel and wait for the van to take us to the harbor. Today it was just Dave, Ali and I with our Captain Tim and Deckhand Dave. Normally they have 4 people in the boat, but we wanted to do a crab and shrimp day which you have to travel a lot farther to the crab and shrimp grounds. So we had to buy the boat for the day and purchase the 4th persons slot on the boat. I must say...."IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT"! We had a spectacular day and I will explain why we thought so.

I had told Ali about Tim and how great he is. I also told her that he always had a nice big muffin on his boat in case you got hungry. She was looking forward to that muffin for 2 weeks. Talked about it every time she told someone where she was going for vacation. Well she finally got her muffin. Today she had a chocolate chip muffin (didn't take a picture of the chocolate one).

We headed out of the harbor and we didn't get to far and saw a young sea lion up on a rock. It had a flasher hanging out of it's mouth which meant that it had a hook inside caught. He probably tried to eat a fish that someone was reeling in. We could see that it was hurting. Tim got on his radio and called his wife, Octobre. He gave her the coordinates off his GPS and also the name of the island so that they would be able to come out and help him. We don't know what ever happened because when we came back 10 hours later he was gone.

The first thing we saw on our trip to the crab grounds were Hump Back Whales. WOW it was incredible. They were breaching and slapping the water. So exciting to see and I have always wanted to see that with my own eyes, not just on the Discovery Channel. You could hear them when they would blow out of their blow holes, sounded so cool. My camera shutter speed isn't fast enough so we couldn't get great shots, we captured the splash and never could get a tail shot. I hope I was able to capture it all on our video recorder, which we haven't had time to watch yet.

We also had an awesome opportunity with Dahl Porpoises, which are smaller than dolphins and are black and white. Tim set the boat to the right speed that they like, and they were jumping and crossing in front of our boat. We were able to go out on the bow of the boat and watch them. It was fantastic....again...shutter on the camera not fast enough to capture those fast little critters. I am sure the video will make us all sick when we watch it cause I couldn't find them in the view finder a few times.

We also saw a lot of sea lions, seals and bald eagles.

When we arrived at the location for the shrimp pots, we had to write our names on the buoy's that connect to the pots as part of the law. Here is a photo of Ali writing her name on her pots.

When we arrived at the crab grounds we were pulling in and way off in the distance you could see two little dots. You couldn't even tell what they were, but Tim could. He said, there are two bears up there on the beach and drove up there for us to take a look. It was great!

The whole trip up we also saw Sitka Black Tail Deer. They looked like the size of a large dog under the giant pine trees. They would be reaching up and eating the branches and stop for a few minutes to look at us.

Dave had to bait our crab pots. I was happy that he was there, cause I sure didn't want to do it. For bait they use salmon carcasses and heads, usually poking the wire through the salmon eye socket to hold it there....not my cup of tea.

Ali wouldn't hold a large crab but she did hold some babies that we had to throw back. Our limit of dungeness (snow) crab was 15 and we caught 13, so not to bad.

Then it was off to the shrimp area to check our pots. As we brought them up they didn't look like they had very much in them. By the time we pulled up 5 strings of pots, we had a large barrel full. On our way back to town, Dave and deckhand Dave pulled the heads off . I tried to help but they squirmed in your hand and I didn't do it fast so some goo would come out. I quit...they had so much to do, I felt a little guilty. Ali was even braver than me and did some. We ended up with 40 pounds of shrimp tails. After all the shrimp heads were pulled off and tails deveined our captain cooked us up some. They were delish and fresh!

Ali was so pooped before dinner that she took a little cat nap. When I snapped the picture she woke up. Dave and I weren't hungry but Ali was, so Dave ran across the street and got her a BLT sandwich at Subway, I think we were in bed by 7:00.
It was a great, fantastic day!