Year in Review

Our second year of competitive agility was AWESOME!! Here is our summary:

2011

Trials - 8

• ASCA - 1 - February
• AKC - 7 - January, February, May, June, July, and September

Q's - 23 (this is DOUBLE from last year!!)

• ASCA - 3
• AKC - 20

Titles - 7

• ASCA - GS-N (novice gamblers)
• AKC - NAP (novice agility preferred), NFP (novice FAST preferred), OJP (open JWW preferred), OAP (open agility preferred), OFP (open FAST preferred), AXP (agility excellent preferred)

I truly LOVED our year of agility! My little dog did me proud on almost every single run. The only ones he had a lot of trouble with were the ones at our Idaho trial. The thing I wish I had tried harder with was practicing and keeping him fit. He may or may not have injured himself during our last trial, and part of that is probably because he wasn't fit enough. I openly admit that, but it is tough to keep a dog fit with a two year old and being pregnant most of the year. I will do better this next year! If he had been fit, we could have had 3 more months of agility this year. Instead, I was trying to keep him sane while he healed.

*Our Agility goals for next year:

*Get out of Excellent A!!! - or at least get an Excellent JWW Q
*Earn a QQ towards Hobbs' PACH
*Earn half of our speed points towards a PACH (that is 375 points)
*Trial more in ASCA
*Attend a seminar
*Attend AKC Nationals! Lol as a spectator anyways
*Get and keep Hobbs fit
*Practice 3x per week (at least)
*Come up with a pre-run routine
*Get a reliable A-frame contact
*Complete the weave pole challenge
*Trust my dog more at trials
*Trial like I practice
*Have FUN!!

2011 in Review

Yet another year coming to a close! 2011 went by so quickly! I am happy to say, that even after all the no-so-wonderful stuff that happened this year, it was still a great one. Robert and I learned a lot, and had some wonderful times together. So, for a quick year in review:

January - We announced our second pregnancy to the world, and Kaylee turned 18 months old.

February - Robert and I celebrated 4 years being husband and wife, I got to call Poison Control for the first time in my life, and we got to see our new little baby for the first time on an ultrasound.

March - I went to war with my cloth diapers, and won. We enjoyed the first taste of spring.

April - I successfully "April Fooled" people into believing I was expecting twins. We found out we were expecting another girl and that she had an increased risk of having Down syndrome. We started house hunting, and celebrated Easter together for the first time as a family, and ended up with a rabbit.

May - We bought and moved into our first house!

June - Our brand new TV broke, I started the 3rd trimester of my pregnancy, and I competed in a couple agility trials.

July - Kaylee got her first real taste of fireworks, and parades, and loved them both. I finally got going on Cadence's nursery. Kaylee turned 2!

August - Hardest month of the year by far. Found out our little Cadence had returned to Heavenly Father, we got to hold her for several hours after she was born. My little brother came home from his LDS mission in Russia!! I started on some serious weight-loss fitness goals. We buried our child, and survived for the rest of the month.

September - BEST month of the year!! Hobbs and I competed in two agility trials to help keep my sanity. Robert, Kaylee, and I were sealed in the temple as an eternal family! We

October - I lost the camera and it was returned by the person who found it. We all went to the zoo and had a wonderful time. We moved Cadence to a cemetery closer to us. Kaylee got to go trick or treating for the first time, and loved it!

November - Kaylee potty trained in 3 days!

December - We had Christmas at our house with just us. Kaylee LOVED Christmas!

Resolutions for 2011:

* First and most importantly, I am going to make sure to keep my priorities straight while still blogging. Unfortunately, if that doesn't work the blog will be coming down permanently. - Thankfully, I have been good about this one.

* Be the best mom I can be! - I feel like I could have been better. I want to do more teaching, art, crafy stuff with Kaylee next year.

* Eat healthier food. Serve healthier food to my family. Serve more home made food to my family. - Eh, not great, but not horrible.

* Compete with Hobbs in as many trials as I can afford this year. - We did this, and it was such a fun year of agility!

* Read/Finish the Book of Mormon - Wow, this so did not happen :(

* Have Family Home Evening at least twice a month - neither did this :(

* Find a way to make some extra money to pay for Agility - Nope

* Pay off the car loan and become DEBT FREE!! - Darn it! This didn't happen either!

* Get my weight down to 150 by the end of the year - I have an excuse for this one.....or so I think. It could have been done, I just didn't work hard enough. I have lost 28 lbs since having Cadence though, so not a total fail.

Goodbye 2011! This will be a year I wont ever forget, and don't want to forget! Looking forward to the new year tomorrow!

Another great course

Hobbs and I went to the open practice again this week, and had a great time. Hobbs was tired really early again, but I am trying to work on his fitness so hopefully that will get better.

This course was pretty fun!

The only tricky parts were 3-5 and 17 to the end. I decided to do 3 -4 as a threadle with Hobbs on my left. It worked wonderfully on the first try! The end was only hard because I had to get ahead of Hobbs enough to do a front cross after the tunnel. I guess I could have tried a rear cross at 19, but I chickened out. Hobbs was super fast at first, but the deep dirt of the arena takes a lot out of him.

I think we are going to plan for an ASCA trial in February. It will be a nice first trial because we are still in Novice in almost everything lol. I wish I had the money to trial in ASCA regularly too, but I would prefer to get his AKC titles first. Then we can go back and do ASCA later. I think there is also an AKC trial in February that would be fun.

Monday will begin our regiment of 3x a week training. Monday, Wednesday (most weeks), and Saturday we will be doing agility! I think I am going to work on handling/obstacle behaviors on Monday, run whatever course is set up on Wednesday, and then we will do a little of both at our group practice on Saturdays. This will be the most we have practiced agility each week since we first started, and I am excited to see what kind of difference it makes.

Merry Christmas!!

It was SO wonderful to have our Christmas celebrations at home with just us three! It was a chance for us to really enjoy Kaylee's excitement.

Christmas Eve we went to a late lunch at my aunts house with a few of my cousins. It was great to see everyone, and hard at the same time because one of my cousins has a little girl just younger than Cadence would be. I held her and it was wonderful, but it made my heart hurt for a while. There was an elephant gift exchange that Kaylee had a bit of a problem with. She didn't understand why she couldn't be the one to open all the presents. Once she found one that she wanted, and wisely traded for it, she was happy to just play with that.

When we got home from lunch we took our neighborly gifts around (late, I know!). In the evening we read the Christmas story out of Kaylee's little book, and just spent the evening together.

After Kaylee went to sleep, Robert and I put the presents under the tree and the stockings on the couches. The next morning, everything was ready for our little girl.

We were blessed so much this year! We have the best families in the world!

he was up super early (6:30) and we were barely able to contain her excitement. I really wanted to beat her into the living room to get a video or picture of her face as she saw what Santa brought. She beat us into the room and was climbing on her rocking horse when I finally got a picture.

I love that she is getting on the horse while looking at the Snow White doll at the same time

She was SO thrilled with this horse!

Nursery Rhymes book

Opening a present from her Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin

It was so nice to let her open presents at her leisure. She would usually open a few and then find something to play with for a while. Robert and I took advantage of those times to open our own presents.

Fabulous boots!

Kaylee is a very loved, and blessed little girl!

Robert and I got some great stuff as well!

One last shot from later Christmas day:

We are back!!

Hobbs and I are FINALLY back to doing some agility! We went to a local agility practice, and had a great time running a full course for the first time in two months.

Here is the course we did:

Our first go through was surprisingly good! He went off course a few times but every time it was my fault because I was handling slowly and sloppily.....and Hobbs was FAST! Hobbs was obviously tired after the first run, so we only did it one more time. The second time it was perfect and Hobbs' A-frame was amazingly gorgeous!

I am planning to take him back again next week, but I expect the courses to get more difficult as people are preparing for Nationals. I am excited to see how crazy they get.

Oh, and I am BEYOND excited to go to Nationals as a spectator!! March is SO far away!

Christmas at home

I am really excited for Christmas this year! It will be our first Christmas morning at home just me, Robert, and Kaylee. This year was supposed to be Robert's side of the family, but they are in Hawaii until Christmas morning. They will be coming over for dinner that day, but Christmas eve and morning it will be just us.

I was determined to get our tree up early this year, so we got one shortly after the first of the month. It is a perfect fit for our little house.

A couple days after we set it up we all decorated it.

Kaylee had a great time helping us put the ornaments on, and has been pretty good about leaving them there.

We don't have a ton of ornaments yet, but I still love our little tree.

We haven't put any presents under the tree yet because I am afraid that Kaylee would sneak in there some time and unwrap all of them. I can't wait until Christmas morning when she can open all of her gifts!

The Lack of Agility :(

There has been a significant lack of agility around here lately :(

After our last trial it seemed like Hobbs was moving oddly. I couldn't pinpoint anything, so I decided to just let him rest. He seemed to be better, and I was ready to get him back in agility, when he broke a toenail. So we are done for the year. My plan is to start up again in January, and will be entering two trials in February....hopefully.

I am still debating whether he should go in to see a vet or not. He doesn't seem to be in any pain and willingly runs around like his normal self. The only thing I have noticed is that his walking gait has changed from a regular 4 beat to more of a pace gait. Patriot has walked this way since he was pretty young, but until recently, I hadn't noticed Hobbs doing it. That is why I am wondering if I should still take him in even though he doesn't seem to be in obvious pain.

As for Patriot, he is doing well for his age. He is going to be 10 in May!! He is really slowing down and I had to get him some stronger joint supplements because he was starting to have a hard time on the stairs and getting up after laying down for a long time. He is pretty content now not going on walks very much. He still enjoys them, but after 30 minutes he is ready to come home. It is really sad to think that he is getting old. I hate thinking about when he isn't here anymore. Hopefully that wont happen for another few years.

I have been really bad lately about taking pictures of the boys

I am going to try to do better next year!

Loving Her Hair!!

Kaylee's hair is getting long. It is down to her shoulders for the most part, and is starting to get really fun. Now, as a kid, I was never one to do my hair up or do my dolls' hair much. Heck I can't even braid my own hair. For some reason though, I really enjoy trying new things on my little girl's hair.

So far, new includes

Braids:

a French Braid:

I actually don't think I did it right....

and some weird ponytail crown thingy that didn't really work:

Thanks to Pintrest, I have plenty more ideas of things I want to do with her hair. I am trying to be patient and wait for her hair to grow just a bit more, but it is just too fun to try new things!

And one more picture:

Just so you know she still has a cute face!

First Snow

We had our first snow of the season about mid-November, and Kaylee loved it! The snow really made me miss having a lawn. Mud under the snow wasn't very fun. We were able to make a small snowman....even though he was a lot brown from the mud.

The dogs were going crazy!

I love Patriot's face in this one

A close-up

Kaylee's first ever snowman!

I didn't even realize she was posed very similar to the snowman

Yes, we let her eat snow....every child should have that chance.

Making snowballs with Daddy

I love this little girl so much!

Funk

I am in a bit of a blogging funk right now. I have half a dozen posts started, and absolutely no motivation to finish any of them. Hopefully I will get to it before too many posts pile up. That just makes it harder.

The Fairy Princess

First off, let me say that pictures for Halloween this year were an epic fail. I have one that is good. ONE! Next year will be better hopefully. Second, yes I realize we are over halfway to Thanksgiving. Sorry for the delay.

Lol, I look these a couple days ago. Kaylee wasn't happy about it at all. She has been having issues with pictures lately.

She was a Fairy Princess. This was her basic costume, with a long sleeve white shirt under, white sparkling tights, and white shoes.

A closer look. Never mind the wound on her face.....she got in a fight with a door frame and the door frame won.

Kaylee's first Trick or Treating door! I have to admit that I teared up a little.

Our house on Halloween

Our neighbors scary house

Kaylee Trick-or-Treating at our house with a group of kids

Robert and I dressed up as a Queen and King....we were the only parents we saw the whole evening who were dressed up.

We got a pretty late start Trick-or-Treating because we went up to visit Cadence and to light her pumpkins and decorations.

Kaylee visiting her sister

Going from house to house was crazy! There were a lot of people, and Kaylee wasn't sure what exactly she was supposed to do. She also never caught on to the fact that she was only supposed to take one candy at a time. We went to almost a whole street of houses, and Kaylee didn't want to stop. When we finally ended her fun and came home she melted into a rage if tired, sugar-high tears and we rushed her to bed. After that we didn't have more than a handful of people come trick-or-treating so it was a quiet evening.

Dreaming of Her

I had a dream last night that our little Cadence was here with us. It was a dream of normal life down the road a couple years. We were at a park or the zoo or something, and we had both our girls with us. I remember watching Robert leading Kaylee by the hand and Kaylee in turn had Cadence's hand. They were both smiling and laughing and I was so happy we were all there (wherever it was) together. In the dream, and for a while after I woke up, I could feel her strong spirit and the feeling of overwhelming love that I feel whenever she is close. When I woke I was surprised that, in my dream, Cadence still had Down syndrome. I am not sure why that surprised me but it did/does. It was such a peaceful dream to have. It is the first time I have dreamed of her being older, and the first time a dream of her hasn't been a horrific nightmare. It was wonderful, and made me ache horribly at the same time.

The END of Cloth Diapers......

..........because Kaylee is POTTY TRAINED!!

Yes, this is just the start of it, but as of 7 days ago, we have a "mostly" potty trained two year old! She is still in her disposables for nap and bed, but NOTHING during the day!! I literally mean nothing. She is going to be bare bottomed for the next month or so whenever we are at home.

I have been testing the waters with her in regards to potty training about once a month for almost a year now. She was VERY interested in going in the potty when we first bought one when we move to Oregon last fall. I used the "excuse" of having a dislocated rib to not take advantage of potty training then, and have been regretting it. She lost interest in the potty for a long time, and wouldn't sit on it for more than a minute, and sometimes not even that long. I had heard, read, and been told multiple times that if we tried and she wasn't making any progress in getting it after 3 days that she just wasn't ready.

This past couple months, I decided that we would get more serious about it. I watched for signs that she might be ready. Finally, after stumbling upon a potty training boot camp website, I decided it was time. As soon as I watched the videos on that site, I scrounged up salty snacks, juice (watered down melted otter pops?), and a little candy left over from last Halloween. I decided we would lock ourselves in the basement, and I would only come up to get her food for meals. I took both little potties down, set them up with Kaylee's help and prepared for war. Really, I was expecting it to be really difficult and involve a lot of tears.

The first thing I did was have a serious talk with Kaylee. I kindly, but firmly, explained to her that it was absolutely NOT ok for her to pee or poop on the floor and that if she needed to go, it was her responsibility to go sit on her potty. Then I explained that if she had an accident on the floor she would be responsible for cleaning it up. Last of all, I let her know that if she went pee or poop in the potty she would get a candy. She had the first meltdown of the day after I said the work candy. She figured she could have some right then, and didn't understand that she had to wait until she went potty.

For the first and second day, I reminded her of what she was supposed to do just about every 15 minutes for the whole day. The first time she went in the potty, I did a happy dance, gave her her piece of candy, and explained that that is how a big girl goes potty and she needed to keep doing it. I think that was a major light bulb moment. She had one pee accident that day and one poop accident the first day, both of which she cleaned up. I think the second accident really made her realize what was going on. On day two she had one accident first thing in the morning because I hadn't set up the potty stuff for the day. I had the "genius" idea to lock us in the kitchen for the day and that lasted all of 1 hour. Then she started saying she needed to go potty and asking to go downstairs even though her potties were in the kitchen. We went back downstairs and she immediately started taking herself to the potty for the rest of the day.

We are now on day 7 and she has only had 2 accidents in 5 days. She is now free to roam the whole house (still bare bottomed) and has been wonderful about either going on her own or coming and telling me she has to go. We have been out shopping, to church, and on walks with her in underwear, and she has stayed dry! She is even ok with using public bathrooms, which is something I hope she stays ok with.

I can't believe how easy it has been so far. Yes, I know it could fall apart any day and we could have a battle on our hands, but I truly think she enjoys being so grown up and responsible for her potty stuff.

I haven't decided if I want to post her potty pictures on here yet. If I decide to later I will add them.

Seriously, I can't believe I have a potty trained two year old!

Day 31

Do you feel like 31 days has helped you open up more about your angel and your grief?

Yes I do. I am not sure if my family and friends have been reading my blog much this month, but am happy I had the opportunity to write about her. It will be interesting to look back and see how my thoughts and feelings change as my grief process progresses.

I love you Cadence! I am so happy to have dedicated 31 days of this blog to you!

Pumpkin Carving

I have to admit, I absolutely LOVE carving pumpkins! It has gotten more and more enjoyable every year. Kaylee was much more interested in what was going on with the pumpkins this year, and Robert did a great job helping her with her pumpkin.

She didn't quite have the desire to put her hand inside her slimy pumpkin

But she liked dumping the seeds into the bowl one spoonful at a time

Kaylee and Robert with his pumpkin

After three good hours of carving (Kaylee went to bed after one) we were finished with all four pumpkins.

They were awesome!

Kaylee's, Mine, Cadence's, and Robert's

Robert's

Mine! I am SO happy it turned out the way it did. I am thinking of adding the symbols for the other two books onto this same pumpkin.....or I might have to go get two more pumpkins.

Kaylee's - When asked what kind of face she wanted on her pumpkin she replied "smiley face"

Cadence's - Butterfly #1

Butterfly #2

All 4 in the dark.

I am excited for trick-or-treating tomorrow night. I hope Kaylee loves it!