NEW DOG!!

We got a new dog from the animal shelter after putting down our old dog, Meg. It is a male Doberman Pincher/Beagle Mix, and the name he had at the shelter was Darby. However, we named him Chancho, in honor of, yes, Nacho Libre's orphan friend.

He was about 1 year old when we got him so now he is about 1 yr 3 mos old.

We are still trying to train him not to jump up or bark at people, and it is a work in progress. That ball in the picture is now in the garbage. He played with it all day every day and tore it up VERY badly. Good thing it was an old one! It was in shreds when we finally had to throw it away.

WE LOVE CHANCHO!! ;-)

Alexis' Soccer Season!

I played soccer at Skyview High School and was on the JV team. It was fun, and we finished 3rd in the Treasure Valley at Districts!

My mom didn't feel like buying pictures :), so we took some of our own in the backyard

Fun in Utah!!

At a park with the Dingman cousins- Kendyl, Madi, Lauren, and Melynn

Chase and Ethan LOVED playing with Archie, Grandma and Grandpa Hamilton's dog, while we were at their house!

This is Madi and I at our grandparent's house, having tons of fun!

This is ALL the cousins (except Kiarra) on the Hamilton side!!! It is a rare event to have Tiana and Malia, our cousins from Hawaii, there, so it was very cool!

This is our uncle Wayne and his 5 month old baby (4 months in the picture-ha!)

Lauren's Dance Recital (LATE!!!)

Lauren is the 2nd one in from the left, striking a cute little pose for her "Cruella de Vil" dance.

Lauren's dance class with their costumes for "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". I loved their costumes and the manes!

Lauren's cute 'dalmation' costume for her dance!

Lauren, Marrissa, and Emalee posing before a dance.

The class before "It's a Small World After All".

This was on June 3, 2010... See how late I am? Wow. Just reading it makes me realize that was over a month and a half ago! :) Lauren said her favorite dance was the Cruella de Vil dance.

Promises...

I PROMISE there will be a new post soon! We got back from Oregon on the 24th, then on the 29th Madi, my mom, and I went to Girls Camp. We got back on July 2nd and I just haven't had time to blog at all! Sorry about that...

Parade America

This one was cute because all the little girls were out dancing in their fancy dresses and handing out candy! OH, I forgot to mention that we got TONS of candy! Good times.

A huge tractor!

There were TONS of horses.

I thought this one was pretty funny. You can't see it, but on the bottom they had little flowers made out of plungers! Hilarious...

Here's another shot of Ethan and Mom.

My mom and Ethan got to be on a float for the Soccer Program Ethan is in. Here you can see my mom pointing at us! :)

Here are some pictures from "Parade America" we had in Nampa. I took a bunch but didn't want to bore you, so here are some.

Academic Awards

My mom and me after the program.

A picture with my dad (and Ethan... :) after the ceremony.

Standing up there with the 4 other kids who won the Golden Circle Award. The one on the right of me is actually one of my best friends!

Shaking all the teachers' hands... :)

Our school had an "Academic Awards" celebration and I was chosen to go. I got 4 academic awards for doing good in school, 1 achievement award for being exceptionally kind, positive, or helping others, and 1 Presidential Award for keeping a higher than 3.5 GPA for the whole 8th grade year. But, most importantly, I got the Golden Circle Award. This award is given to 5 eighth grade students who contribute greatly to the school in academics, service, citizenship, athletics, and more. I was HONORED to get this award! I was very happy and surprised. I got a plaque with my name on it and my name engraven on a plaque in the school for everyone to see!

Fabric Flowers!

We got this idea from my cousin, Laura, when we went to Logan of making fabric flowers. You can put them in your hair, on necklaces, or just for decorating things! We are using these ones for our hair. The CUTE fabric was left over from some aprons my mom made.

I love these--I think they are the cutest accessory!

I did a close up of this one so you could see the types of cute brads we had in the middle. They matched perfectly, and were adorable!

Ethan in the hospital

At Ethan's follow up appointment the x-rays showed that his bone shifted out of place. The Dr. decided he needed to have surgery that very day to put the bone back in place and have pins inserted to hold it in place while it healed. Ethan's biggest concern about surgery was the fact he couldn't eat or drink anything beforehand. He fasted from 8a until his surgery at 3:15p. I picked him up from school at lunchtime so he wouldn't have to sit and watch all his friends eat! We waited for quite a while in pre-op. First in his street clothes, then in the nifty gown they gave him. He made himself at home in the hospital bed!

After the surgery, which lasted about 30 minutes, Ethan was very drowsy and took a while coming out of recovery and the anesthesia. He kept falling back to sleep!

Finally, I put him back in his clothes while he was half asleep and we got him into the wheelchair and it was time for us to go. We didn't leave until about 6:30p. after having to check in at the hospital at 1:30p. It was a long afternoon! Luckily, the surgery went perfectly. He has two pins in his bones, underneath the cast.

(This writing was by my mom, because I didn't know all the 'details' of the surgery. Sorry the pictures are not in order, I could NOT figure it out!)

Paint Job

My parents finally got around to painting my room! Just kidding... :) I have had this vinyl saying for the longest time, and we bought the little polka dots and butterflies at Hobby Lobby in Logan with Laura and Sherri. We did 2 walls pink and 2 walls chocolate brown. I love it so much, and my parents did awesome! :)

This is my dad carefully painting the wall next to the ceiling...

Mom in her "paint" clothes doing the main wall.

Look at that concentrated look on her face...

Alexis' Tennis Tournament

These were the 1st place medals we got.

After the match..

My doubles partner and I. CHAMPIONS!

This is me going for a backhand shot.

I have been playing tennis at my school, and I made the "A" team. My doubles partner and I went to the Tennis Tournament on May 8, 2010, and got 1st place out of all of the Treaure Valley! There was a lot of waiting around because South had a lot of byes since we are up at the top in a lot of events. Finally, Morgan (my partner) and I played Syringa, and won 6-0. Then, we played Vallivue and won 6-2. Then, we were finally in the championship with Lonestar. We played for the LONGEST time and I was so nervous! Finally, it got to 6-6, so we had to do a tiebreaker, which was first team to 5 points. I was so nervous--my hands were shaking like crazy! We played and won the 5 points, giving us first place! It was very fun!

Lauren's 9th Birthday!

Lauren's birthday was April 7, 2010, and she turned 9! Sorry these pictures are really late... This is her blowing out her candles.

Taking the first bite of her Key Lime Pie! She picked this for her dessert all on her own, and I think dad was really happy about that!

Dad cutting the pie for everyone.

This is Lauren's present from Chase...

As you can see, this is what she got. Look at Chase's face! Hilarious! I think he looks happier than Lauren does!

Opening another present...

She got some really cute little tinted purple flats! She loves them!

Here is Lauren and Madi!

I gave her a cute little outfit with plaid shorts and a matching shirt. Sorry the pictures aren't the greatest...

A new little winter coat!

Silly pictures