Spring in Boise

April is a weird month for weather in Boise. One minute the sun will be shinning with blue skies, and the next minute hail will be bouncing a foot off the ground (brings back memories of our wedding). Today is one of those great days. Blue skies and warm temperatures.

The dogs are enjoying the weather for a couple of reasons. For Beck it means getting to change up our running routes so she gets to stop for a swim (Cassius runs up and down the shore because he will sink faster than a ship anchor) and Cassius enjoys napping wherever he can find a patch of cool grass or his bed.

I caught a cute photo of Cassius and unfortunately Beck was up and about by the time I brought out the camera.

I am excited to get out my cruiser and have a leisurely ride to school this afternoon.

The Capes

While I was in Seattle I was able to give Ethan and Aidan the capes I made for them. They LOVED them! I thought I should post a picture of them in their capes.

Auntie D Goes To Seattle

Last Friday I flew to Seattle to watch my nephews Ethan (5) and Aidan (2 1/2) while my sister and brother in law went to Vegas for my sister's birthday. The boys and I had a FANTASTIC time. Friday we went grocery shopping and Ethan was great about picking out the produce and making sure that it was weighed properly. Aidan loved putting the items in the cart and making sure that I didn't get far from the cart. Friday evening Ethan loved helping me make dinner and both boys inhaled their dinner of flank steak, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.

Saturday morning we got up and made pancakes, Ethan's favorite. Later we drove grandpa into Seattle to pick up his car. After lunch the boys took a long nap and woke up to the news that we were going to be able to go and visit my friend Linda. Linda lives on a couple of acres and has horses. The boys love it there and argued about who was going to be able to scoop the most horse poop (they like to help clean the horse stalls). While at Linda's we played an intense game of duck, duck, goose. It was hilarious! Ethan, Aidan, Linda, Nelson, Lizzie (16), myself and the two dogs all played. We all laughed so hard.

Sunday we got up and headed to the Pacific Science Center. The boys had a great time playing and exploring. Ethan really enjoyed the I-Max movie about Mummies which gave Aidan and Auntie D a few minutes to snooze. Ethan watched a demonstration about combustion and was very excited about the explosions he witnessed. After we finished up at the Science Center we were surprised to discover that the Seattle Cherry Blossom Festival was going on. We caught a great performance by a group of Japanese singers, musicians, and performers.

I had such a great weekend with the boys and I can't wait for our next adventure in June. I think we will have to hit the Seattle Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, and maybe the Burke Museum.

I couldn't get the photos to upload so try this link to my Kodak Gallery Slide Show

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=7fv1i10.2xvj0dpk&Uy=-68vo1i&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=707246047355_410829527208&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

Yard In Progress

This summer will be our third in our house. Every year we try something new to make the yard better and for the past two years we haven't been so successful. We bought this house because of the yard and we are determined to make it beautiful, this is the year! We started working earlier in the spring this year which will help us beat the horrible heat of the summer. Mike has been doing most of the work on his four days and I have been helping in between work, school, studying and working with the dogs.

We started by tearing out the existing path and the rocks that surrounded it. Mike and I filled it in with dirt and seeded it for grass. The hard part is waiting and trying to play with the dogs in the back yard.

Mike made a nice path on the side of the house which took away the dogs mud pit and made a nice place for the recycling center and garbage can. We also added to an existing patio off of our main patio that will be a great spot to put the barbecue.

There will be a raised patio in the corner of the yard complete with a fire pit, and the horseshoe pits will be moved for better viewing and heckling. I will be sure to post more pictures as we make progress.

Dog Models

A while back my nephew Ethan asked to talked to me while my sister and I were talking on the phone. In his cutest five year old voice he asked me if I would make him a super hero cape. I am a sucker for Ethan and agreed to make one for him and Aidan. I had bought the fabric and finally got around to finishing the capes today just in time to get back to the grind stone of school.
Since I didn't have any two or five year old children at my disposal, I had to be a little bit more creative. I used Beck and Cassius to model the finished products so I could send a picture to my sister showing her what the capes look like. I will get to personally deliver them in a couple of weeks when I travel to Seattle to hang out with of Ethan and Aidan.

I had the day off from work today, and I was pretty bored. I didn't feel much like studying this evening, since I had spent most of the morning with my nose in a pathophysiology book. I decided to work on a little bit of dog training. I worked with Cassius on his recalls and worked on "head up" heeling with Beck. The photo below doesn't depict any particular obedience task, I guess it just shows how I can make them wait for something they want. They both did well resisting the temptation of the hot dog chunks, well Beck didn't hold out the entire time, so she got a double down of hot dogs. Cassius passed the test with flying colors and resisted eating the hot dog nibblets even when I left the room to retrieve the camera to document this event.