A Week without the Girls

Saturday Chris drove the girls to Joplin, MO and came back to Dallas all in one day!  Since I had in-service and weird hours all week, I worked it out with my mom that they stay with her all week.  It was a blessing, because there were a few days I wasn't home until 8:30 at night!  This is the first summer ever I have not been to StL, and that hurts my heart so much!  I'm glad the girls could go though.  They had a blast hanging out with Aunt Colleen and Shannon, Uncle Ryan, Baby Brendan, and of course the grandparents.  Uncle Craig was even in StL for a night or 2 for business so they got to see him too.  And maybe best of all, Gianna and Sophia got to reunite twice, thanks to my mom coordinating with Rebecca.  Then, after a week, I drove back to Joplin to pick the girls up.  It was wonderful to see them!

Aunt Colleen and Rebecca's baby, Mary

Love everything in this pic!

Aunt Colleen took the girls to the Magic House!

We found a park in Joplin.  Glad to see Ry!

WE stopped on the way home near Lake Eufala- prettiest place in OK if you ask me!

 The next day (Sunday) we hit the ground running- taking the girls to the park with the dog.  This is their latest trick- DarDar running next to G on her bike, while Elia tries to catch up.

This was literally seconds before Daria took off across the street and almost got hit by a car, 

just so she could say hello to another dog across the street.

Then we had a back to school mass and came home to get ready for the first day!

Top 10 of our Trip- # 3

3. Hikes.
I am in LOVE with mountains.  They are so beautiful and so fun to climb.  We started the climb up Mount Humphries, which is the left most peak in the picture that shows Uncle Dave's view from his porch.  The peak is at 12,000 feet, and we made it to 10,000.  Chris got altitude sickness so we had to get down, pronto.  The hike up and down the mountain is 10 miles round trip and we did 6 miles round trip.  Not bad for us being out of shape!
Later in the week some of us girls went into Sedona and climbed Bell Rock.  It is basically a huge rock in the shape of a bell.

A before Picture

One of the many beautiful views

Taking a break.  Our pup was a champ going up and down that mountain.

Before Picture

Everywhere we looked there was a beautiful view!

Last pic we took before we went down.
We were getting nervous about that storm rolling in- you can see it in the top left corner.

Weekend Shenanigans

Saturday started early with a garage sale at the McBrides.  She was wanting to have a sale and I had a lot of junk to get rid of so I brought all my stuff over.  I made cloud dough, a pinterest find, to help entertain children.  Chris had to work so there were only 3 adults to corral 5 kids.  The cloud dough was a hit but only lasted an hour before most of it got dumped in the grass.

We came home, rested, and then had a barbecue with the Carses, McBrides and Kiowskis.

For some reason a table full of children eating makes me so happy!

Then Sunday was as usual- cartoons, church, and lunch.  We took Daria to Lake Lewisville to meet Matt and Sarah's dog JuJu for some playtime at the lake.  Fun times!

Daria Update

Well, she is definitely part of our family now.  We have trained her pretty well- she hasn't had any accidents since her first 3 days here at home.  She knows she can't go in anyone's bedroom and she can't get on the furniture.  She is very protective but also sometomes overly friendly.  I think there is definitely some puppy left in her because everytime she sees another dog she seriously goes crazy.  We have to work on that with her too, hopefully she will get it soon!

Thank God she doesn't chew anything!

Her favorite thing to do is chase the water/

Best part of Daria is we are outside (even when horribly hot) a lot more doing things as a family!

Chris was cooking bacon and she was as close as she could be to him without getting in trouble.

Gianna likes to put her jewelry on her!

Elia reading her a good night story!

Independece Day

Chris of course had today off so we had a full day of fun! In the morning, we went on a glorious 2 and a half hour hike at the hiking park. This was probably the most fun for Daria, but a clsoe second for the girls. We found a water hole and didn't intend for the girls to get in, but one thing lead to another and Elia was pretty much fully submerged.  Showers for everyone as soon as we got home!

We headed over to the McBrides to barbecue before we went to watch fireworks.

What do you call these?  Poppers?

Yum cupcakes!

Daria

Well, we came up with a name, Daria. CaMo was a close second because it was a mix of the 2 state's abbreviations Chris and I are from.  There is a song named Daria by Cake, one of Chris and I's fave bands.  And it kind of goes with our whole kids whose names end in -a theme.  We brought her home Wednesday evening and she was pretty drugged up from her Spay surgery.

I have been reading some Cesar Millan books and have learned so much about how to interact with a dog and train them well.  We have had a very calm environmnet so that she can be calm and submissive.  So far, so good, but she is still recovering and on pain meds.  The vet thinks she is a year old, which is much older than the shelter believed- they thought she was 6-8 months.  I guess that means she won't grow too much more, which I am perfectly fine with. But we do need to get her to fill out- she is super skinny!

See those ribs?

Elia, as usual.