10 Days... (and going private)

10 Days ago the Miller family acquired their first family pet.

A fish.

Wow! You say? (I know its a major hard animal to take care of)

Obviously it is acutally because 10 days is the longest we had "Nemo" for. (yep we are really creative with names too huh?)

Kaysen got Nemo from his primary teachers. They had a lesson on loving fish and other creatures that Heavenly Father created.

I don't think I've ever seen that kid so excited.

He ran up and down the church halls shaking the bag. Poor Nemo.

We told Kaysen he couldn't shake it or the fish would die.

He actually caught on really fast and quit doing it.

Then he saw a classmate doing it and told them, "Stop. You gonna kill your fish!"

I told Jerry that I would be happy if this fish lived to the next day because that's the longest my fish lived.

I won a fish at the County Fair when I was about 10 years old. This too, was my first pet. I was extatic.

However, I didn't know anything about taking care of fish. I didn't know that you had to change the water. Or that you could OVER feed a fish. Let's just say he only lasted in the Duncan home for a mere 24 hours....

Here are the boys showing off Nemo.

Don't mind thier dirty faces. They just got done digging with Daddy for the umpteenth time.



Today we were heading to Show Low and I told Kaysen that we needed to feed Nemo and change his water before we left.

I should have looked for Nemo before I said this.

As soon as Kaysen came in the kitchen he saw Nemo floating near the bottom of the glass as stiff as a board.

He told me Nemo was sleeping.

Here Kaysen got his first talk on death.

The poor boy cried a good cry for a few minutes. Then we told him that the fish was living with Heavenly Father and he was okay. Now he wants a new one and wants to bury this one.

I am not an animal person. I don't know why. I just can't talk myself into cleaning up its crap, paying for the expensive food and training it.

That's why a fish was perfect.

It was easy.

Or it was supposed to be.

We have promised Kaysen a new one. Maybe even two so they can play together. That little fish actually taught him a lot of responsabilty. Everyday he wanted to help feed it and clean its bowl.

This experience has ALMOST convinced me to get a Brindle Boxer...Jerry has wanted one forever. Maybe someday he'll get his wish too.

Until then I'll be happy with a few fish.

R.I.P NEMO

ps. Just realized that by posting this you may not see that I'm going private. Send me your email if you want an invite.

GOING PRIVATE

For months now I've been telling Jerry that I am going to go private with this whole blog thing...but I kept putting it off. I'm just too lazy to go through and add everyone.

Well now I've finally decided to stop being lazy.

There have been waaayyyy too many freaky stories happening to people I know and I don't want it happening to me.

Sorry but there's crazy people out there who ruin it for everyone.


I plan to make it officially private on the 5th of April so send me a note by then.

Send me your e-mail address to let me know if you want to keep in touch. When comments are posted and I have added your e-mail I will delete the note so others don't see your e-mail too.

Hopefully we'll be talkin to ya soon!!!

Spring...what Break?

So this week is Spring Break for school.

However all of my classes are a self pace, hurry up and get it done kind of classes.

It is nice because I choose when to turn things in and what tests to take.

But it is rough because I technically don't have a spring break. My teachers say I don't have to do work this week.

Yeah right.

I have 6 more tests, a 3 page report and a 12 page report due by May 7th in Geography. The only plus side is that I currently have a 96% in this course so if I don't bomb any tests and do decent on my reports I'll keep that A.

Plus I have 7 more tests for Math, which is a rough class and takes major studying for me to pull of the 79% that I currently have in that class. Plus side to this is that if I can keep at least a C in this class (which I HATE getting c's) then I will never have to take another Math class again!!! YAY!!!

Luckily, I've completed my Arizona Constitution course (got an A) so I no longer have that to worry about.

So while many of you are out enjoying your spring break...I'll be sitting here on my laptop researching cotton for my 12 page report.

Oh man aren't you all so jealous??

Two Weeks...

The past two weeks have been great.

Jerry has been off the whole time. He took his nights off then had long change. Its been heaven. It's been the first time in a LONG time that he has taken time off and used it for a family vacation instead of working on a house.

It feels strange.

It feels great!

So what did we do with all this time off??

We planned on going to the Phoenix Zoo, a spring training game, Freestone Park, Jeepers and the Arizona Museum for Youth.



However, the day we planned to go to the zoo was the day it poured in the valley. Luckily we were there for 3 days and were able to be flexible with our scheduling. So on the rainy day we went shopping and also enjoyed In-N-Out Burger and Texas Roadhouse! Our favs. Mmm.mmm.mmm



So since it poured Tuesday, we went to the Zoo on Wednesday. We usually go right when it opens in the morning but this day we decided not to be in such a hurry. I'm so glad we chose that. It was the best day we've ever had at the zoo. Usually the animals are just laying around doing nothing and are so far away the kids can't even see them. This time the baboons were right next to the window picking bugs out of each other's hair and Kaysen was right next to them. The rhinos were close to the fence eating and we got to throw a carrot at the elephant and watch him walk over to us for more. Kaysen's favorite animals were the Orangutans. The baby one was playing peek a boo with a sheet, making Kaysen laugh like crazy.


Jerry and the boys in front of the elephants.
Cheesy boy. Gage always has to smile like this if we tell him to smile for a picture. He rarely does his real smile anymore. He's still cute and funny though. Kaysen was much too interested in the elephants to stop and take a picture with me though.

Here Kaysen is pretending to be a flamingo. He thought they were "silly" because they only stand on one leg.

The next day we went to the Arizona Museum for Youth. They had soooo many fun activities for kids. Plus, I didn't really have to worry all that much about my kids breaking something. It was all for kids. They boys were able to draw all over, make numerous puzzles, go in a tree fort, play in a kitchen, garden and bedroom area and much more. It really was a neat place for kids to go. They loved being able to run around from one thing to the next without Mom and Dad nagging at them to be careful. We will definitely be making another stop by this place again.
Finally! A REAL smile. Isn't he cute?


After the Museum we headed to the Mesa Temple so that Kaysen could see Jesus. One of the recent Friend issues had the Christus on the cover and ever since Kaysen saw it he wanted to see it in person. So we took him here. Kaysen and Gage loved it. Gage would just point and smile. We asked one of the Sister missionaries to take a pic and I love it....even though it took a few tries to get us all looking at the camera, without Kaysen's finger in his nose.


I may be bias but aren't these the cutest boys in the world??

It was a very good, much needed trip but I think ALL of us were so glad to finally be home. Although I can't wait to do it all again!!!

Once we got home we hit it hard. Well the boys did at least. We are still digging away on our trench for our retaining wall. Kaysen and Gage have so much fun digging with Dad. They think they are as big as he is.

Now Jerry is back at work. Kaysen woke up this morning and asked where Dad went. When I told him he was at work he said, "Why? He doesn't need to work anymore. He needs to be with us." I wish that he didn't HAVE to work sometimes but I'm sure glad that he has the job he does and that we live where we are now. We see each other so much more and it's making life better then I thought it could be.