Our Third Dog????

Yes we "kinda" have a third dog it seems. Nixon LOVES to go through the dog door whenever he can and walk to the edge of the lawn and sit down in the dirt. Man if he isn't ALL boy!

What we did this August.....

So this last August I learned a lot about making some of my favorite things. Karen taught me how to make FREEZER CORN. It is a lot of work but with the help of family we were able to get it done pretty quick and easy. Jon has many "fond" memories of making freezer corn with his siblings. They are pretty funny and somehow get more funny when you are actually making the corn at the time.

Doesn't that look YUMMY?!

Then I made LOTS of freezer jam. I think I made 6 batches of strawberry and 1 batch of strawberry/raspberry and then 4 or 5 of just raspberry. Man we are set for the year! I LOVE jam... especially on homemade bread, but that will have to wait.

Lot at all that jam.

I have always wanted to can pears and peaches and this year I finally did it. My ward was ordering boxes of pears and peaches for a great deal so I thought I would dive in.
I got two 30 pound boxes of each and Karen and Emily helped me with the canning.

The pears were harder, but we did them first so I didn't know just how much harder.
But YUM they tasted just like I remember. We did 4 batches of pears on a Thursday.

Then that same week we did 3 batches of peaches. They were super easy and it went quickly. We did break one bottle in the hot water...oops!

It is a HIT at our house too, Nixon LOVES the peaches and pears. I just hope they last 'til next year. He is eating them like crazy.!!!

Dolly Parton Cake....

WARNING!!!!
This post contains adult content, proceed with CAUTION

So I might have been a little bored this last weekend. I have these cake pans that are round and I bought them for Nixon's baseball cake. But when I made them and set them on the rakes to cool it totally looked like boobs. Well of course anytime I thought of making a cake after that I thought of making a "Dolly Parton" cake. And Yeah, I did.

First, I thought to make a cake for Cameron's 21st birthday. BUT he might be too "young" for the cake I wanted to make. SO, I decided Mark needed a cake when he got released from the bishopric of the singles ward.

First we had to make the cake, and the frosting.
So we might have "added" a few M&M's to make it funny.

We went with the bikini look.

It turned out AWESOME!! I think we did a great job designing such a cake.

Mark thought it was funny, and delicious!

Enjoyment!!

Here is our cute back yard that Nixon won't stop playing in. He just stands at the back door and points and goes "uh uh"

Then it's all smiles when you take him out.

There is a little bench in the garden. Perfect size for our little guy.

Isn't he cute?

This one is my favorite! It's fun to take a bunch of him at the same time and see what turns out.

Yes - Nixon has figured out how to go all the way THROUGH the dog door on his own. I find things outside on the rug like a spoon, or a cup or a book. He thinks it's fun to take things and drop them onto the other side of the dog door.

All three "dogs" looking out the front door. Watching the neighbors.. hee hee.

Nixon was in the tub and the dogs and Jon are all in there watching him. It was adorable.

After the bath Jon was wrapping Nixon up when he felt something a little too warm to just be water......

Yep... Nixon peed all over Jon. And honestly this is the FIRST TIME for Jon. And it figures that it had to be a BIG one.

Ok, we went into Nixon's room to wake him up for church and this is what we saw. He was SO out of it and fast asleep. I love that he sleeps all squished up.

Nixon playing with his dump truck.

This is a video of Nixon laughing at Darby chase the ball that Jon is throwing against the wall. It is a little bouncy because I couldn't help but laugh along with him.

This is of Nixon dancing to the music. He loves when we put on cd's and we all dance around. It is so stinkin' cute I love the knee bends.

MOVING DAY... AGAIN!

The little Spear Family moved again!! Well we moved out of Jon's parents house up to the North Side of Spokane. We love it!! We decided to move just a week or so ago on a Tuesday and then moved everything Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It was crazy as usual but fun to be here.

Nixon is really enjoying the back porch where he likes to collect rocks.. and stick them in his mouth. :( But he also likes it when he sprinklers come on in the mornings....

He walked into the sprinklers the first time and just got a little wet and then came running back out, looked at them and went and sat down. He loves the water and to be outside so of course he would love the sprinklers.

He got so wet... silly boy!!

This is the back porch! By Jon is where the kitchen door is.

You look out to see the back yard... very cute.

More back yard. We back up to a big mountain of rocks so no back neighbors. The dogs are loving to explore all around.

The basement/ Jon's office. Moving day!!!

Nixon found the dog door and I think he is a big fan. While Jon and I were putting up ceiling fans Nixon was roaming and all of a sudden I heard him outside. YEP, he went through the dog door into the backyard.. don't worry it's fenced! What a little monkey.

The dog door is downstairs in the laundry room, where the dog WATER BOWL is also. Which Nixon loves as well.

The rest of the laundry room. F.Y.I. this picture was taken before I put anything away. Still in the putting away mode.

There is a downstairs bath right off the basement living room. It is kinda squishy to get into with the shower but I don't mind it at all.

It opens up to this. It's small and cute I think. Plus who doesn't like a third bath .. I mean really.

This is the dining room, before I put things in order.

Ta-Da and after!

Before... mass confusion!

After!

The kitchen, BEFORE

And more BEFORE!

And after!

When you walk into the house this is what you get to the left. It is kind of a three level house I guess, at least that is what Jon said it is.

Nixon's room. There isn't any neighbors behind us so there isn't any blinds on the back windows. Nixon has been sleeping in a VERY DARK room so I had to shade it with a blanket.

The master bedroom, it is really big and fits everything. I love it!

Jon and I got this dresser off of craigs list for 36 dollars. It is awesome and nice to have a dresser for the small stuff. We got rid of our last dresser before we moved to Texas.

This is our door stop to the master bedroom, it makes me smile every time I see it and maybe chuckle a little too.

The master bath, it has a shower to the left that you can't see. The counter top is zebra wood, it's pretty sweet.

The other bathroom upstairs. Jon says I have to spray my hair in THIS bathroom, not the master bathroom. Ha Ha He hates the way it smells.

And here is a spoon in the hall. RANDOM!! Nixon was "helping" me unpack and looked taking the spoons out and placing them all over the house. They endup everywhere, it's cute.

For an older house there isn't much storage but they have done a great job with making it work. I have extra room even after it was all done. This is a cupboard outside the second bath. So all the towels and linens can go in here.

And of course here is Nixon brushing his teeth. Don't try and take his tooth brush away unless you have something else to give him. He is very protective of his toothbrush.

So we are officially moved in, but we aren't changing our address really because we are keeping our PO Box since it is so much easier and I think the post office might get us all confused if I put in yet another 'change of address' request.