Dogs R Us

We got all the old games from OG Nintendo on the Switch. 

I was playing Dr Mario and my kids were amazed at how "expert" I was. 

I'm actually really rusty. You should have seen me in my hay day, kids. 

You will see by the end of this post how my dog has doubled in size. 

We were so excited about her leaping over this creek. 

Now I bet she could step over it without even realizing. 

Evan has become a pogo stick pro. 

His record is 708 hops. 

I went mountain biking with Jim about 2 weeks ago. 

This cool bench is at Mullet trailhead. Someone integrated it into the surrounding tree stumps. Cool.

This is the day I fell on a stupid bridge and landed rib cage to log. I have a suspicion that my rib is cracked. It still hurts to sneeze and roll over in bed. 

The end of May was so warm. Currently it is Juneuary - so cold and rainy! - 

but May was beach day, every day. 

Koda loves digging to China at the beach. She digs and digs a nice sized hole, then curls up in it for a beach nap. 

3 months of no flying, then out of nowhere Jim got an assignment to fly a military charter to Alaska. 

I was like, whoa whoa, what is this uniform you are wearing? 

He also cut his hair and shaved his face, and I did not know who this strange man was. 

Another day at the beach...The kids found lots of wildlife in the low tide. 

Saturdays at Galbraith. 

Treasures everywhere. 

Koda is the more feral looking dog.

Scout is the adorable one. 

The crazy thing is, Koda has Larsen features - sharp, pointy,

and Scout has Black features - round, big eyes. 

They love each other.

Oh geez. Here is the amiibo saga.

Andrew has the stinkiest, dirtiest feet. 

Gus made a deal with him: wear socks every day for a whole month, and you can borrow my amiibo.

Andrew became OBSESSED with wearing socks: first thing after a bath he would work his wet feet back into socks. 

Bedtime - socks on. 

Going to the beach - he insisted he wear socks (because Gus would be there and see!). 

I insisted that no one wears socks to the beach. Over my dead body. 

He counted down the days and finally he got his prize. 

PS I love Gus. He is such a good example to all the kids in the hood. 

Jess Express! Jess Express!

The kids chant while riding in the truck bed throughout the neighborhood. 

The past few weeks we have really relaxed our school expectations. We do a lot of legos and board games. 

Andrew created this cool bird from his own little brain.

Lately he says "darn gosh" (instead of gosh darn) and it cracks me up.

"That's pretty darn gosh cool!"

Also, he runs around in these ridiculous shoes. His toes flap out, and the soles are worn down to the waffle bottom. haha. I don't even care because he can put them on himself, so I just say "got your shoes on? great!"

He still has a pair of crocs, but with the new sock wearing situation, crocs don't work out as well. 

More beach days.

Koda slept in her hole the HOLE time. 

Avery has a weekly play date at Elyse's house. They have a heated pool. 

Jim was getting the dogs to high five. 

Groot the french bull dog was in on it. 

Evan broke his two little toes on his right foot. 

They were playing some game on the trampoline, and voila. 

On the morning of the second day of limping around, I woke up with a start just knowing I needed to get him in to x-ray. 

He got a little boot-shoe and can walk/run/play/ride his bike around the neighborhood just like normal.

I don't feel like writing about what's going on in the country right now. 

It's too complex and charged and topsy turvy.

One day we met our friends at the Blaine vigil. 

We will just continue to dialogue with our kids that 

of course we love and respect people no matter what they look like, what color they are.

Of course we love and respect our police officers.

Of course we obey the rules. 

Of course everyone deserves to be treated fairly. 

I hope this is nothing new for them. I hope that has always been true in our home. 

ONE of the most insane parts of all this is how we went from strict isolation to gathering in HUGE mobs and yelling in each other's faces. It could not be a bigger juxtaposition. Remember a few posts back I was talking about how everything is such a paradox? Here is the biggest of them all. 

PS when Koda sits like this, she is ON DUTY. She is on high alert - a serious soldier, making sure we are all accounted for.

She's such a good dog. 

A good dog, a tired dog. 

For Jim's birthday, he got a good morning lick from Koda. 

Unlike Piper, Koda isn't even allowed UPSTAIRS, so this was a big deal. 

She doesn't even like being cuddled much, so she lasted about 3 minutes on the bed, then wanted OUT. 

We are taking our dogs to obedience school. 

It was a large, echoey room full of psycho, disobedient dogs. 

Our puppies were the best behaved in the room. Koda was a little timid, but lay sleepy under the chair most of the time. 

Lastly: 

Our ward has been doing virtual talks that show up on youtube for the day.

Lisa and I did a "conversation" about family history. She loves/does it. I do not.

So she convinced the hesitant to get into family history. 

Then bishop asked me to do another talk the following week wherein I tell about my experience with "getting to know" my ancestors who have already been "found". 

Watching yourself give a talk is fuuuuun!