Meet Cricket

We thought we would NEVER get a dog. The kids have begged for one since I can remember. Matt works with a lady who breeds Miniature Schnauzer's and her dog had a litter recently. She brought them in and Matt liked them. We surprised the kids this past Monday at family home evening by having them figure out a hangman puzzle that said "We bought a dog." The kids were so excited! We then went together to buy the cage, bed, collar, leash, toys picked out by the kids. When we checked out, the cashier said, "It looks like you are getting a new baby." Little did we know, it really is kind of like getting a new baby! When Matt brought her home, the kids went crazy with excitement. We decided to name her Cricket because she bounces around in the grass. She really is a sweet and quiet dog so far. She has also done well with potty training. I think the breeder threw us a bone on that one. She had her pretty much trained by the time we got her.



Wait...that's Spencer!

Hill Reunion

The bug to end all bugs!

Lindsay found this amazing creature when we were walking out of our temporary apartment to our car on the morning of July 3rd. Who knew such sweet, exotic insects lived in North Carolina. We decided we had to catch it. We didn't know what to do with it so we just took it too the ward activity where we were headed. The penny and child's finger are to give you perspective. (Yes that is a rhinoceros horn.)

The Final Teaser

Okay, so it is 5am and we are hanging out in the Las Vegas airport. It has been an unexpectedly long trip home, but we should be there one flight from now. Thanks to our beautiful baby, the airline went out of their way to find us a hotel even though their regular rooms were all booked. Thank you Sweet Baby! We were only able to enjoy it for 3 hours, but it beat spending that time in the airport/casino that this place is. We hope that many of you meet her before you see this post, but as one last teaser...(plus a few just for fun) The pool pictures are in the wrong order, start from the bottom and work up!

Modeling the "Bear Hat" knit by a ward friend.

Learning Cheersmate with our friend Steve.

Hanging out a final night with our good friends Steve and Janet.

The revival of the lemon tree! Who knew what a little light could do.

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At our friend Meredith's for Memorial Day...this place is beautiful and we will miss Aunt Meredith.

Her first dip in the pool! Here she was actually enjoying it (or at least tolerating it).

Just hanging out.

Getting comfortable.

Completely shocked.

Mom, Dad, this is nothing like my bath!

Dad getting ready to take her in for the first time!

Her first tummy nap...so cute.

Hanging out with Dad!

some random pictures

Emma and Lily have such a good time together. A couple of weeks ago Lily and Emma had a sleepover so more pictures of that still to come. These ones are from the centerville parade.

As you know Prest is a DJ on the weekends, I got to go with him a couple of weeks ago and see him at work, it was seriously so fun and I was very impressed.

Just some pictures from fathers day

Our own "Toothless"!

Our view over the fourth!

Our view today! Ellie has been hanging on to one lone front tooth for weeks. It slowly migrated to the middle hanging crooked and driving her parents crazy. We referred to it as her "Kentucky" tooth. We are so glad that it came out today! Here's our toothless girl!