Puppy Love...

We have a new family member to introduce, but first let's get caught up.

Nov. 9 was our Young Women Evening of Excellence. It was cool to see all the displays of our girls! They have been working hard this year on their Personal Progress. Rachel's display was of her Guys and Dolls performance at Dixon, her Junior High.

Rachel just finished her time in Joseph. She had a blast and the production was terrific! The whole family went to see her.
I was amazed at how much of a young lady my daughter is! I know I'm biased, but she is an amazing dancer, singer, and stage performer. It's been such a big part of her(rehearsing every day for three months)life that I know she'll miss it!

Thanksgiving was awesome. Lots of yummy food and the whole day spent in our jammies. Heaven! We missed all of you and hope your Turkey Day was as good as ours. We are very thankful for the many blessings we have and we consider friends and family to be right at the top!

And...Introducing...Simon!

We have wanted a puppy for a long time. Allergies always seemed an insurmountable obstacle. After seeing the kids take care of Beatrice so well and knowing we would have to find her another home because our cat allergies are really bad, I really wanted to see if there were any breeds of dog that we could all have around and still be healthy. I had a Shih Tzu growing up and never reacted to him at all.

After many trips to the pet store we narrowed down possible non-allergenic candidates to Shih Tzus and Maltese. Both breeds were really expensive in the store and we weren't too impressed with the way they took care of their puppies so we looked around and found a local breeder who had our adorable Simon.

He is half Shih Tzu and half Maltese. His coloring, tale, and eyes are more Shih Tzu but he has a Maltese snout and is super soft. The breeder already had begun house training him and had socialized him really well.

He is pretty mellow at times and a fuzzy Tasmanian Devil at others.(In other words, a typical, healthy puppy.) Overall,he has behaved so well! No accidents in the house yet at all. He loves the kids and they cannot get enough of him. They knew this would be most of their Christmas the year but they don't care at all.

Grandpa Brown footed the bill for him, so he is the most loved and appreciated Grandpa in the world right now! Thanks so much, Dad!