The Royal Family in 2008

Happy Birthday To Our Prince

Nine years ago today this picture was taken of our first prince. He was born just a few hours before it was taken. He had a rough entrance into this world but in this picture it's easy to tell that he was blessed with a peaceful, laid back, sweet disposition. That is not to mean that he is not all boy, for he is all that and more, but he is slow to anger and quick to share what he can. He adores his older sister, even though she doesn't suffer him well, and he loves his younger brother and can't stay mad at him even when he pesters the fool out of him. All of those nice things being said, he's not one to be pushed too far because he will defend himself and as Mr T. used to say, "I pity the fool!" He is athletic and can play any sport with all of the coordination necessary to be good at what game he's playing. He is a homebody ... he doesn't like to be gone from home too long and he doesn't like any family member to be gone too long either. When we went on our two week vacation last summer, we weren't even down the road 30 minutes before he asked me when we were going to get back home!! He has a beautiful singing voice and is quite talented at playing the piano and violin even though he detests having to practice. He is a natural performer and will volunteer to sing or give a talk in front of a group at a moments notice. Once in Primary one of the kids that was to give a talk didn't show up, so the Prince volunteered and got up and was able to give a talk on Daniel and the Lions Den, because he had watched the Liken video of it about 20 times the previous week. Here is an odd fact about him, he loves to watch videos with the captioning on. Here is just a fact, the boy loves to eat!

The Queen and I love our first born son and wish him many happy returns on his special day.

Our Puppy

We have a puppy. Her name is Sam and she's been with us for about 2 months. We got her from Amanda and Josh. Her mother is a Lab and we don't know what breed her father is (Amanda leave a comment if you know what breed her father is) Her veterinarian thinks the father could be a hound of some sorts. I think the vet is right ... she smells like a hound and she has an unruly side like a hound/hunting dog. The kids thought she was cute when we first got her, but they're not nearly as excited about her now ... they moan and groan a bit when it is their turn to take her out. Basically The Queen and I are her primary caregivers. She has been a lot of work, but she has worked her way into our affections.

Here are some pictures I took sleeping in her puppy bed. In the picture on the left I had wrapped her up in her blanket ... the picture on the right shows her 5 minutes later. It's how she sleeps all of the time, on her back all stretched out. She out grew this bed about a month ago.

Sam loves water! This is her pool and she loves to get in and play or just lie down to cool off on hot days. She can't stay away from the water sprinkler when we are watering the lawn which she will demonstrate for you in the video below.