Sariah at Six Months

We've had some big changes in our day-to-day puppy life in just one month!  Sariah has completed her six month shots, she's been spayed, and she's ready for the playground!  We've had her out to the dog park near our house and on the trail nearly every day.  Kelly' has worked a lot with her on "heel," and she is really obedient.  People have been super impressed with her ability to be off-leash at this age and really obedient.  Sariah is LOVING her freedom, new places, new smells, and new friends.  When we ask her if she wants to go for a walk, she wags her tail and does a happy dance.  She'll run to the car and wait patiently by the door so she can hop in.  It is amazing to see her run.  She is so fast.  She is also...a swimmer!  Kelly took her to the dog beach and by the second visit, she was more interested in swimming around than the other dogs that were there.  She loves running around with Jenna and the soccer ball, and we recently had her fitted for a backpack in anticipation of our first hike (REI has everything--good grief!).  When Sariah isn't outdoors she's usually sleeping or chewing on a toy.   She gave up on bringing sticks in the house, and her teething issues are pretty much non-existent.  Of course she still likes to chew, and we've named her "the surgeon" for all of the stuffed toys she's pulled apart, but she can go for longer periods of time without having something to chew on.  She loves bones and can usually be found over to the side of the room gnawing on one.  She is really sweet and although she does have a mind of her own sometimes, she will listen to us.  The girls love to snuggle with her, and Kelly always gets down on her bed to play.  She's fine with that as long as she gets to lay there too.  We are having a blast with this puppy and we're looking forward to some fun outdoor adventures with her in the months to come.

Earthquake

Normally I wouldn't post about earthquakes.  It's California, they happen.  This one was pretty jarring.  We were watching an action movie and didn't realize we were having an earthquake right away.  It was a 5.3 near La Habra, so good size and kind of close.  The blog worthy part about this earthquake was that Heather was in the middle of a science experiment, and her group had set up their dominoes for the next day's recording.  The dominoes were all over the yard.  We were worried about rain, but of course that ended up not being the issue.  The earthquake started the chain reaction on the carefully laid out dominoes.  What can you do? They were all set up again the next day, and the experiment was recorded successfully.  At least we have a fun story to tell, right?

Selfies

We're smack dab in the middle of the age of Selfies!  I've kind of scoffed at all the selfie talk when I've heard how into it people can be taking hundreds of selfies all the time.  My favorite is to scroll through our Photostream when I'm looking for blog pictures and discovering numerous selfies that I didn't know I had on my Photostream!  Sometimes, they're not even of my own children (yes, friends grab cameras and take random selfies, usually several).  Anyway, this post is dedicated to the selfie and all the fun surprises I find now and then.  Dad even got in on the action at one point, and we have some fun ones with him.  Here's to the Selfie!

Sunday Walk on the Trail

We have a great trail by our house that runs along the Santa Ana River Bed.  It's part dirt and gravel and part pavement with a ton of wild grass and plants growing along the trail.  Sariah loves to run along here off-leash, and she is very well-behaved.  She gets so excited by the trail walk or dog park experience that she knows to run to Kelly's car and hop in.  Today we decided to take a family walk so Sariah could get her exercise, and Sariah hopped in the driver's seat!  We had a great walk on the trail talking and enjoying each other's company.  Sariah was in heaven.

Activity Days in Oz

My friends, Kathy and Suzie, who do directing, costuming and props for our church productions, were in charge of this year's Stake Activity Days for the 8-11 year old girls.  The theme was Wizard of Oz, and the decorations were to die for.  Jenna, Sarah and other 12-year-old girls were asked to be the poppies (helpers) for the day.  I've put captions below.  It was just too awesome for words.

The dining room

The class themes followed the brain, heart and courage wishes of the travelers, and a witch or two were present in that courage class.

The poppies helped the young girls come into Oz and travel around.  The entry had a house, red slippers and an awesome tornado!  Jenna and Sarah were tasked with helping the girls get ready to visit the Emerald City.  I'm so impressed with everything I saw.  I wanted to stay and be a little girl in Oz!

Saint Patrick's Day

I'm not sure if it's age or the season of life we're in, but I am not as on top of my holidays as I'd like to be.  No decor for Saint Patrick's Day this year, but I did manage some See's coins and leprechauns.  The green cups happened to be a color we had in our disposable cup stash, so there ya have it.  Some yummy candy is better than nothing, right?

Redondo Beach Invitational

Heather ran in the Redondo Beach Invitational today.  She did not place well, but she was happy to be there.  She cheered on her teammates and congratulated her friend who finished first in her heat.  These invitationals are hard!  There were about 50 schools participating, and a ton of very, very fast athletes.  They are a great experience though, and then venues are really nice.  We didn't know how close we were to the ocean until we started to drive home.  We located a Ruby's right at the Marina down the hill.  Score!  We enjoyed a yummy lunch while looking out at the water.

Pi Day and Temple Trip

Happy Pi Day (3.14)!  My girlfriends and I met for lunch at Stonefire, and Kim was gracious enough to provide a French Satin pie from Marie Calendar's right next store.  Loved the box!

Later in the afternoon, the Young Women traveled to the Newport Beach LDS Temple to perform baptisms.  The girls can do this when they turn 12, so Jenna and Sarah were able to go with us.  Yay!  It was a lovely afternoon and a great experience for the girls.

Track Meet FVHS vs. Newport Harbor

First home meet against Newport Harbor today.  Heather was happy to be there with her friends doing what she loves.  It was a clean sweep victory for FVHS.